title: Diving bell

text: A closed bell may be fitted with an umbilical cutter, a mechanism which allows the occupants to sever the bell umbilical from inside the sealed and pressurised bell in the event of an umbilical snag that prevents bell recovery. The device is typically hydraulically operated using a hand pump inside the bell, and can shear the umbilical at or just above the point where it is fastened to the top of the bell. Once cut, the bell can be raised and if the umbilical can then be recovered, it can be reconnected with only a short length lost. An external connection known as a "hot stab unit" which allows an emergency umbilical to be connected to maintain life support in the bell during a rescue operation may be fitted.


title: Diving bell

text: The divers in the bell may also be monitored from the diving control point by closed circuit video, and the bell atmosphere can be monitored for volatile hydrocarbon contamination by a hyperbaric hydrocarbon analyser which can be linked to a topside repeater and set to give an alarm if the hydrocarbon levels exceed 10% of the anaesthetic level.


title: Diving bell

text: The bell may be fitted with an external emergency battery power pack, carbon dioxide scrubber for the internal atmosphere, and air conditioner for temperature control. Power supply is typically 12 or 24V DC.


title: Diving bell

text: A bell will be provided with equipment to rescue and treat an injured diver. This will normally include a small tackle to lift the disabled diver into the bell through the bottom hatch and secure them in an upright position if needed. A bell flooding valve, also known as a flood-up valve may be available to partially flood the interior to aid in lifting a disabled diver into the bell, once inside and secure, the bell is cleared of water using the blow-down valve to fill the interior with breathing gas at ambient pressure and displace the water out through the hatch. A first aid kit will be carried.


title: Diving bell

text: A variant of this system used in the North Sea oilfields between early 1986 and the early 90s was the Oceantech Minibell system, which was used for bell-bounce dives, and was operated as an open bell for the descent, and as a closed bell for the ascent. The divers would climb into the bell after stowing their umbilicals on outside racks, remove their helmets for outside storage, seal the bell, and return to the surface, venting to the depth of the first decompression stop. The bell would then be locked onto a deck decompression chamber, the divers transferred under pressure to complete decompression in the chamber, and the bell would be available for use for another dive.


title: Diving bell

text: Diving bells are deployed over the side of the vessel or platform using a gantry or A-frame from which the clump weight and the bell are suspended. On dive support vessels with in-built saturation systems the bell may be deployed through a moon pool. The bell handling system is also known as the launch and recovery system (LARS).


title: Diving bell

text: The bell umbilical supplies gas to the bell gas panel, and is separate from the divers' excursion umbilicals, which are connected to the gas panel on the inside of the bell. The bell umbilical is deployed from a large drum or umbilical basket and care is taken to keep the tension in the umbilical low but sufficient to remain near vertical in use and to roll up neatly during recovery, as this reduces the risk of the umbilical snagging on underwater obstructions.


title: Diving bell

text: Wet bell handling differs from closed bell handling in that there is no requirement to transfer the bell to and from the chamber system to make a pressure-tight connection, and that a wet bell will be required to maintain a finely controlled speed of descent and ascent and remain at a fixed depth within fairly close tolerances for the occupants to decompress at a specific ambient pressure, whereas a closed bell can be removed from the water without delay and the speed of ascent and descent is not critical.


title: Diving bell

text: A bell diving team will usually include two divers in the bell, designated the working diver and bellman, though they may alternate these roles during the dive. The bellman is a stand-by diver and umbilical tender from the bell to the working diver, the operator of the on-board gas distribution panel, and has an umbilical about 2 m longer than the working diver to ensure that the working diver can be reached in an emergency. This can be adjusted by tying off the umbilicals inside the bell to limit deployment length, which must often be done in any case, to prevent the divers from approaching known hazards in the water. Depending on circumstances, there may also be a surface stand-by diver, with attendant in case there is an emergency where the surface diver could assist. The team be under the direct control of the diving supervisor and will also include a winch operator, and may include a dedicated surface gas panel operator.


title: Diving bell

text: Deployment usually starts by lowering the clump weight, which is a large ballast weight suspended from a cable which runs down from one side of the gantry, through a pair of sheaves on the sides of the weight, and up the other side back to the gantry, where it is fastened. The weight hangs freely between the two parts of the cable, and due to its weight, hangs horizontally and keeps the cable under tension. The bell hangs between the parts of the cable, and has a fairlead on each side which slides along the cable as it is lowered or lifted. Deployment of the bell is by a cable attached to the top. As the bell is lowered, the fairleads prevent it from rotating on the deployment cable, which would put twist into the umbilical and risk loops or snagging. The clump weight cables therefore act as guidelines or rails along which the bell is lowered to the workplace, and raised back to the platform. If the lifting winch or cable fails, and the bell ballast is released, a positively buoyant bell can float up and the cables will guide it to the surface to a position where it can be recovered relatively easily. The clump weight cable can also be used as an emergency recovery system, in which case both bell and weight are lifted together. An alternative system for preventing rotation on the lifting cable is the use of a cross-haul system, which may also be used as a means of adjusting the lateral position of the bell at working depth, and as an emergency recovery system.


title: Diving bell

text: A closed bell handling system is used to move the bell from the position where it is locked on to the chamber system into the water, lower it to the working depth and hold it in position without excessive movement, and recover it to the chamber system. The system used to transfer the bell on deck may be a deck trolley system, an overhead gantry or a swinging A-frame. The system must constrain movement of the supported bell sufficiently to allow accurate location on the chamber trunking even in bad weather. A bell cursor may be used to control movement through and above the splash zone, and heave compensation gear may be used to limit vertical movement when in the water and clear of the cursor, particularly at working depth when the diver may be locked out and the bell is open to ambient pressure.


title: Diving bell

text: A bell cursor is a device used to guide and control the motion of the bell through the air and the splash zone near the surface, where waves can move the bell significantly. It can either be a passive system which relies on additional ballast weight or an active system which uses a controlled drive system to provide vertical motion. The cursor has a cradle which locks onto the bell and which moves vertically on rails to constrain lateral movement. The bell is released and locked onto the cursor in the relatively still water below the splash zone.


title: Diving bell

text: Heave compensation equipment is used to stabilise the depth of the bell by counteracting vertical movement of the handling system caused by movements of the platform, and usually also maintains correct tension on the guide wires. It is not usually essential, depending on the stability of the platform.


title: Diving bell

text: Cross-hauling systems are cables from an independent lifting device which are intended to be used to move the bell laterally from a point directly below the LARS, and may also be used to limit rotation and as an emergency bell recovery system.


title: Diving bell

text: Commercial diving contractors generally use a closed bell in conjunction with a surface hyperbaric chamber, These have safety and ergonomic advantages and allow decompression to be carried out after the bell has been raised to the surface and back on board the diving support vessel. Closed bells are often used in saturation diving and undersea rescue operations. The diving bell would be connected via the mating flange of an airlock to the deck decompression chamber or saturation system for transfer under pressure of the occupants.


title: Diving bell

text: The air lock diving-bell plant was a purpose-built barge for the laying, examination and repair of moorings for battleships at Gibraltar harbour. It was designed by Siebe Gorman of Lambeth and Forrestt & Co. Ltd of Wivenhoe in Essex, who built and supplied it in 1902 to the British Admiralty.


title: Diving bell

text: The vessel came about from the specific conditions at Gibraltar. The heavy harbour moorings have three chains extending out radially along the seabed from a central ring, each terminating in a large anchor. Most harbours have a soft seabed, and it is usual to lay down moorings by settling anchors in the mud, clay or sand but this could not be done in Gibraltar harbour, where the seabed is hard rock.


title: Diving bell

text: In operation the barge would be towed over the work site, moored in place with anchors, and the bell would be lowered vertically to the bottom. and the water displaced by pumping. The work teams entered the bell through an airlock in the central access shaft. Working in ordinary clothes they could dig out anchorings for the moorings.


title: Diving bell

text: The German service barge "Carl Straat" is similar in concept, but the bell is lowered by swinging the access tube. "Carl Straat" was built in 1963 for the Waterways and Shipping Directorate West in Münster. The 6 m × 4 m × 2.5 m bell is accessible through a 2 m diameter tube and an airlock. A pantograph system keeps the bell and internal stairs level at all depths. Maximum working depth is 10 m. The vessel is used on those inland waterways which have locks large enough to accommodate its 52 m length overall, 11.8 m beam and 1.6 m draft.


title: Diving bell

text: Diving bells have been used for submarine rescue. The closed dry bell is designed to seal against the deck of the submarine above an escape hatch. Water in the space between the bell and the submarine is pumped out and the hatches can be opened to allow occupants to leave the submarine and enter the bell. The hatches are then closed, the bell skirt flooded to release it from the submarine, and the bell with its load of survivors is hoisted back to the surface, where the survivors exit and the bell may return for the next group. The internal pressure in the bell is usually kept at atmospheric pressure to minimise run time by eliminating the need for decompression, so the seal between the bell skirt and the submarine deck is critical to the safety of the operation. This seal is provided by using a flexible sealing material, usually a type of rubber, which is pressed firmly against the smooth hatch surround by the pressure differential when the skirt is pumped out.


title: Diving bell

text: A closed bell, generally operated with internal pressure at atmospheric pressure, which provides an observation platform that can be lowered to depth with one or more occupants who can observe the environment through viewports, but are generally not provided with a means of interacting physically with the outside environment. A bathysphere is a similar structure.


title: Diving bell

text: Divers qualified to work from bells are trained in the skills and procedures relevant to the type of bell they will be expected to work from. Open bells are generally used for surface oriented surface-supplied deep air diving, and closed bells are used for saturation diving and surface oriented mixed gas diving. These skills include the standard procedures for the deployment of the working diver from the bell, the tending of the working diver from the bell by the bellman, and the emergency and rescue procedures for both working diver and bellman. There is considerable similarity and significant differences in these procedures between open and closed bell diving.


title: Diving bell

text: As noted above, further extension of the wet bell concept is the moon-pool-equipped underwater habitat, where divers may spend long periods in dry comfort while acclimated to the increased pressure experienced underwater. By not needing to return to the surface between excursions into the water, they can reduce the necessity for decompression (gradual reduction of pressure), after each excursion, required to avoid problems with nitrogen bubbles releasing from the bloodstream (the bends, also known as caisson disease). Such problems can occur at pressures greater than , corresponding to a depth of of water. Divers in an ambient pressure habitat will require decompression when they return to the surface. This is a form of saturation diving.


title: Diving bell

text: The diving bell spider, "Argyroneta aquatica", is a spider which lives entirely under water, even though it could survive on land.


title: Diving bell

text: Since the spider must breathe air, it constructs from silk a habitat like an open diving bell which it attaches to an underwater plant. The spider collects air in a thin layer around its body, trapped by dense hairs on its abdomen and legs. It transports this air to its diving bell to replenish the air supply in the bell. This allows the spider to remain in the bell for long periods, where it waits for its prey.


title: Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk

text: Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, 3rd Marquess of Dorset (17 January 151723 February 1554), was an English courtier and nobleman of the Tudor period. He was the father of Lady Jane Grey, known as "the Nine Days' Queen".


title: Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk

text: He was born on 17 January 1517 at Westminster, London and was the son and heir of Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset (1477–1530) by his wife Margaret Wotton (1485–1535), daughter of Sir Robert Wotton (c. 1463–1524) of Boughton Malherbe in Kent. Through his father, he was a great-grandson of Elizabeth Woodville, the wife of King Edward IV, by her first marriage to Sir John Grey of Groby.


title: Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk

text: Before 1530, Grey was betrothed to Catherine FitzAlan, the daughter of William FitzAlan, 18th Earl of Arundel, whom he later refused to marry.


title: Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk

text: In 1533, with the permission of King Henry VIII, he married his half-second cousin Lady Frances Brandon (1517–1559), the daughter of King Henry's sister Mary and Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk. They had three daughters:


title: Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk

text: Henry Grey became the 3rd Marquess of Dorset in 1530 following the death of his father. Before Henry VIII's death in 1547, Grey became a fixture in court circles. A knight of the Bath, he was the king's sword-bearer at Anne Boleyn's coronation in 1533, at Anne of Cleves' arrival in 1540, and at the capture of Boulogne in 1545. Twice he bore the Cap of Maintenance in parliament. He helped lead the army in France in 1545. In 1547, he became a Knight of the Order of the Garter.


title: Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk

text: After Henry VIII's death in 1547, Grey fell out of favour with the leader of King Edward VI's government, Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset and Lord Protector of England. Returning to his home in Bradgate, Leicestershire, Grey concentrated on raising his family to greater heights. Thus, with the Protector's brother Thomas, Lord Seymour, Grey conspired to have his daughter Jane married to the King. This plot failed, ending in Seymour's execution, but Grey emerged unscathed.


title: Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk

text: In 1549, John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, overthrew the Protectorship and secured power by appointing loyal friends to the Privy Council. Grey joined the Council as a part of this group. In July 1551 his wife's youngest half-brother, Charles Brandon, 3rd Duke of Suffolk, died. Henry Grey was created Duke of Suffolk "jure uxoris" on 11 October 1551, in the same ceremony that elevated John Dudley to the Dukedom of Northumberland.


title: Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk

text: Henry Grey was best known for his zeal for the Protestant faith. The Swiss reformer Heinrich Bullinger dedicated a book to him in 1551 and frequently corresponded with the family. In Parliament and on the Privy Council, Grey pushed for further Protestant reforms. He is credited with making Leicestershire one of the most reliably Protestant counties in early modern England.


title: Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk

text: Seriously ill, and fearing his own death, King Edward VI granted Northumberland's request for the marriage of Suffolk's daughter Lady Jane Grey to Northumberland's son, Lord Guildford Dudley, on 25 May 1553. Edward later altered his will to make Jane his designated successor. Edward died on 6 July 1553, and three days later Suffolk, Northumberland, and other members of the Privy Council proclaimed Jane queen.


title: Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk

text: This proclamation failed; not by a large-scale rallying of forces in the country to Henry VIII's eldest daughter, the future Queen Mary I, as is often thought, but by a wavering Privy Council switching its allegiance to Mary during Northumberland's absence on the campaign against her. The decision was led by Henry Fitzalan, 12th Earl of Arundel, and William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke. Arundel had been imprisoned earlier by Northumberland for having sided with the previous Protector, Somerset; but it is not clear why Pembroke revolted, especially since his son and heir, Henry Herbert, married Henry Grey's other daughter, Katherine, the same day as Jane's wedding. The country was divided in its loyalties to the two contenders for queen at the time.


title: Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk

text: By his wife's friendship with the new Queen Mary, Grey and his daughter and son-in-law temporarily avoided execution. However, Mary had Henry Grey beheaded on 23 February 1554, after his conviction for high treason for his part in Sir Thomas Wyatt's attempt (JanuaryFebruary 1554) to overthrow her after she announced her intention to marry King Philip II of Spain.


title: Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk

text: According to Walter George Bell (writing in 1920), in 1851 the severed head of the Duke of Suffolk was discovered in a vault in the Church of Holy Trinity, Minories, in the City of London, suggested to have been preserved by the tannin-rich oak sawdust used to pad the basket on the scaffold on which he had been beheaded 297 years earlier. Bell believed the head might have been hidden by the Duke's widow to prevent it from being exposed on a spike on London Bridge. Both of them had worshipped in the chapel at Holy Trinity. The church was closed in 1899 and deconsecrated, when the head found a new resting place at St Botolph's Church, Aldgate, to which Holy Trinity Parish had been annexed.


title: Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk

text: The head was examined in the late 19th century by Sir George Scharf, former Keeper of the National Portrait Gallery, who noted a strong resemblance between its features and those in the portrait of the duke then in the possession of the Marquess of Salisbury at Hatfield House. However, Bell also notes a scandal at Holy Trinity in 1786 in which a sexton had been found sawing and chopping up coffins in the vaults and using the wood to stoke the fire in his quarters. Many of the bodies had been partly dismembered in the process, and Bell warned his readers that the surviving head might well have resulted from this debacle.


title: Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk

text: In later years, the head was sealed in a vault in the crypt at St Botolph's, until a planned conversion of the space into an office resulted in an archaeological investigation of the site between April and July 1990. The archaeologists recovered the head from the vault and the Rector of the church buried it in the churchyard.


title: Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk

text: The arms of the head of the Grey family are blazoned "Barry of six argent and azure in chief three torteaux gules".


title: Champions League Twenty20

text: The Champions League Twenty20, also referred to as the CLT20, was an annual international Twenty20 Cricket competition played between qualifying domestic teams from some major cricketing nations. The competition was launched in 2008 with the first edition held in October 2009. It was jointly owned by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa, and was chaired by N. Srinivasan, who was also the chairman of the ICC. Sundar Raman was the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the CLT20 as well as the IPL. The last champions were the Chennai Super Kings, who won their second title in 2014.


title: Champions League Twenty20

text: The tournament was held between September and October for a period of two to three weeks in either India or South Africa. It had a total prize pool of US$6 million, with the winning team receiving $2.5 million, the highest for a club cricket tournament in history. The format involved qualifying teams from the premier Twenty20 competitions of the eight Test-playing nations, favouring the teams from India, Australia and South Africa.


title: Champions League Twenty20

text: Owing to poor viewing figures, a lack of audience interest and unstable sponsorship, the three founding cricket boards announced in July 2015 that the tournament would be cancelled, making the 2014 Champions League Twenty20 the last edition of the tournament.


title: Champions League Twenty20

text: Twenty20 cricket was launched by the England and Wales Cricket Board in 2003 with the Twenty20 Cup as a result of a long-term decline in the popularity of county championship and domestic limited-overs cricket. By shortening matches to around three hours, the format was designed to attract a younger crowd and boost attendances. Cricketing nations began adopting the format and creating domestic Twenty20 competitions.


title: Champions League Twenty20

text: This was followed by the creation of international Twenty20 tournaments. The was an early attempt at an international Twenty20 club tournament. It was held in 2005 and featured domestic Twenty20 teams from three countries. Twenty20 International, the form of Twenty20 played between national cricket teams, began in February 2005 and the ICC World Twenty20, the Twenty20 version of the Cricket World Cup, was first held in September 2007.


title: Champions League Twenty20

text: Immediately after the end of the first season of the Indian Premier League, the cricket authorities in India, Australia and South Africa entered into discussions to create a new international club competition and capitalise on this success. The plans for the creation of the Champions League Twenty20 were first announced on 13 September 2007. The inaugural edition was to be held in October 2008, run by the cricket boards of India, England, Australia and South Africa, and featuring two teams from each country.


title: Champions League Twenty20

text: However, the tournament encountered problems when the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which owns 50% of the tournament, decided to bar players from the Indian Cricket League (ICL; a league unsanctioned by the BCCI and other cricket boards as a result) from participating. England featured ICL players in many of their teams, including their domestic tournament's runners-up the Kent Spitfires. The BCCI decided to replace Kent's slot with a team from Pakistan and was prepared to also replace the remaining England team. In response, ECB devised plans for their own Champions League. ECB eventually agreed to the terms from the BCCI. The CLT20 was founded by the BCCI, Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa with one team from England and $6 million in prize money.


title: Champions League Twenty20

text: Following this, another problem arose with the International Cricket Council over the tournament dates, which clashed with the ICC Champions Trophy, and the CLT20 was moved to December 2008. Plans were also made for the second edition to be held in late 2009 with 12 teams. In November 2008, the tournament was again put in jeopardy when Mumbai suffered terrorist attacks and the organisers attempted to reschedule again to early 2009. In December 2008, it was finally pushed to September 2009, when it was successfully held as per the plans for the 2009 edition.


title: Champions League Twenty20

text: The tournament received strong support from its creation. Its $6 million prize money pool was described by the organisers as "the single largest prize money pool in any cricket tournament so far." ESPN Star Sports paid $900 million for the global broadcasting rights to every match for 10 years, a deal comparable to when Sony Entertainment Television and World Sport Group purchased the rights to the Indian Premier League (IPL) for $1.026 billion for ten years. Ahead of the 2009 edition, Bharti Airtel bought the title sponsorship rights for three years for reportedly $40 million.


title: Champions League Twenty20

text: Despite this, the inaugural 2009 edition, held in India, was not highly received by its targeted Indian audience, who only showed interest for the IPL teams. This was demonstrated by low attendance and television ratings. According to TAM Media Research, it drew an average television ratings point of 1.06, much lower than the 4.1 achieved by the 2009 Indian Premier League. Low viewership led to Bharti Airtel ending its five-year sponsorship deal after two years. Nokia signed a four-year deal to replace Bharti Airtel as the title sponsor but also withdrew after one year. Karbonn Mobiles replaced Nokia in 2012. From 2014 onwards Oppo bagged the title sponsorship rights.


title: Champions League Twenty20

text: Several attempts were made at improving reception. The marketing campaign for 2010 included television commercials featuring Bollywood stars while the 2011 edition had Shahrukh Khan as brand ambassador and an opening ceremony featuring international hip-hop artists. The ratings for the 2010 edition, held in South Africa, improved to 1.45. This is attributed to better performances by the IPL teams: the final, won by the Chennai Super Kings, drew an all-India rating of 3.30 while matches with the Mumbai Indians had an average rating of 2.11. The tournament format was changed in 2011 to introduce a three-day qualifying stage which allowed the inclusion of a fourth IPL team and weaker teams to be eliminated early. The 2011 edition saw the average rating increase to 1.64 but depended on IPL teams featuring in both semi-finals and the final.


title: Champions League Twenty20

text: Despite low viewership, the tournament succeeded in providing a global stage and significant financial support for low-profile teams. Players have also capitalised on the opportunity to further their careers in Twenty20 cricket. Kieron Pollard helped Trinidad and Tobago finish runners-up in the 2009 edition, including an innings where he scored 54 runs off 18 balls. This earned him an IPL contract at the 2009 IPL players auction where he was sold for an undisclosed amount after attracting the maximum possible bid of $750,000. Sunil Narine and Kevon Cooper also earned IPL contracts after competing for Trinidad and Tobago in the 2011 edition. Previously relatively unknown, Narine and Cooper were sold for $700,000 and $50,000 respectively at the 2012 IPL auction and made immediate impacts to their teams. In particular, Narine helped his team win the 2012 Indian Premier League and was named Player of the Tournament.


title: Champions League Twenty20

text: Similarly, in the 2012 edition, Chris Morris helped Highveld Lions to reach the final and in return it earned him an IPL contract at the 2013 IPL auction where he was bought by Chennai Super Kings for US$625,000, 51 times his base price.


title: Champions League Twenty20

text: Although each edition held had a different format and had a different number of participating teams, each had a group stage and a two-round knockout stage. A qualifying stage was introduced in 2011, reducing direct entrants to only teams from India, South Africa and Australia. Each team (including qualifying stage participants) receives a participation fee of $500,000. Every edition had a total prize money of $6 million. Since 2010, it had been distributed as follows:


title: Champions League Twenty20

text: Before the commencement of the tournament, each team names a squad of 15 players. All players must be contracted by the team for their domestic tournament. Mirroring the IPL rule, each team can field a maximum of four international players. Most of the other tournaments have a lower limit on both contracted international players and how many can play in their matches. In 2011, an exception to the rule was made for the Mumbai Indians who, due to players being unavailable, had a squad of seven Indian players and would have been unable to put together a playing team of eleven players should another be injured. They were allowed to field five international players. That year, Mumbai won the CLT20.


title: Champions League Twenty20

text: Should a player be a part of more than one qualified team, he can play for his "home" team (the team from the country he is eligible to represent in international cricket) without consequence. If he plays for any other team, that team must pay the home team a compensation fee ($150,000 from 2011). Indian Premier League teams have been the most popular choice for these players. In the 2010 edition, controversy arose when an IPL team contractually forced three players to play for them by utilising a clause in the rules of the IPL. The clause states that the IPL teams have first rights over their players should they qualify with another team.


title: Champions League Twenty20

text: The choice of the players and the nature of the rules are common subjects of debate with every edition. It continued to cause confusion until 2013 when it was clarified that the CLT20 rules state the players are free to choose their team. However, for a player named in an IPL team's squad, he would have to forego 20% of his salary to choose another team. The IPL offers the most lucrative salaries and is the only tournament to have a clause relating to the CLT20 in its contracts. As a result, players are unlikely to choose against their IPL teams. For non-IPL teams wanting to keep their players, not only would they be forfeiting the compensation fee, some have felt the need to offer their players compensation in an attempt to sway their decision.


title: Champions League Twenty20

text: The only player to have chosen another team over his IPL team was Kumar Sangakkara in 2013. His team, the Kandurata Maroons, lost all their matches and did not advance beyond the qualifying stage. This incentive was lessened when IPL contracts were changed in 2014 to not have player salaries cover participation in the CLT20. A player will instead receive an additional 10% of his IPL salary for representing his IPL team in the CLT20.


title: Champions League Twenty20

text: The participating teams are from the top cricketing nations and determined by the premier Twenty20 tournaments of those nations. Each edition has featured teams from India, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, the West Indies and Sri Lanka. England have been in three editions but refused further participation after 2012 as their domestic season clashed with the tournament's dates. Pakistan has not been invited to participate in the tournament until 2012 due to the hostility between India and Pakistan since the 2008 Mumbai attacks.


title: Champions League Twenty20

text: As the tournament is mainly targeted at the Indian audience, all editions have featured more teams from India than any other country. From 2011, four Indian teams competed while other countries had two teams at most. India is the first choice for hosting the tournament.


title: Champions League Twenty20

text: While the tournament format remained almost unchanged, the qualification tournaments have changed to include more overseas players and create stronger teams. The Caribbean Twenty20 was created in the West Indies after their representative finished runners-up in the 2009 edition. It was later expanded to become the Caribbean Premier League in 2013. Australia and Sri Lanka have expanded their tournaments to create the Big Bash League in 2011 and the Sri Lanka Premier League in 2012 respectively.


title: Champions League Twenty20

text: Participation in the tournament is highly desired. Since the Bangladesh Premier League was created in 2012, its organisers had hoped for their teams to be included in the tournament. A Bangladeshi team has yet to participate in the CLT20. The Dhaka Gladiators, winners of the 2013 BPL, expressed their disappointment after being excluded in 2013 despite the efforts made by their management.


title: Champions League Twenty20

text: It was originally intended for the host of the tournament to be rotated between the countries of the three shareholders: India, South Africa and Australia. The broadcasting agreement also demands that at least five of the first ten editions are to be held in India. However, Australia has yet to be considered due to its unsuitable weather in September and due to its time zone being undesirable for the broadcaster. South Africa first hosted in 2010 but India has since been the first preference for hosting. South Africa was only chosen to host in 2012 when situations made it infeasible for India to host.


title: Champions League Twenty20

text: As of the 2012 edition, 30 teams have competed in 103 matches. Individual players have appeared in as many as four editions and 20 matches. Four players have scored centuries, 16 players have taken four wickets in an innings and three players have taken five wickets in an innings. One player has taken a hat-trick.


title: Champions League Twenty20

text: The table below provides an overview of the performances of teams over past editions of the Champions League Twenty20.


title: Champions League Twenty20

text: Some teams participated only in the qualifying tournaments and never reached the group stage of the tournament.


title: Alex Désert

text: Alex Désert (born July 18, 1968) is an American actor and musician, known for his roles in the TV series "The Flash", "The Heights" with Jamie Walters, "Becker" with Ted Danson, and Mr. Williams on "Boy Meets World", as well as the voice of Nick Fury for "". Désert has been seen in "Mom" and "Grey's Anatomy". Other television credits include "Tyler Perry's House of Payne", "House", "Reno 911!", and "The Sarah Silverman Program". In 2020, he started voicing Carl Carlson and Lou on "The Simpsons", replacing Hank Azaria.


title: Alex Désert

text: Désert was born in New York City on July 18, 1968. He graduated from Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School.


title: Alex Désert

text: His motion picture credits include the independent hit "Swingers", "Playing God", "High Fidelity", "Bob Funk" and "PCU" with Jeremy Piven, David Spade and Jon Favreau, and "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day", from Disney Studios.


title: Alex Désert

text: Désert has lent his voice to various animated series and video games including; "" as Nick Fury; as Wise in the web series "The LeBrons"; Crystal Dynamic's "Tomb Raider"; and, "Scarface: The World is Yours". He also portrayed the auto-tuned pimp Zimos in the 2011 THQ release, "Saints Row: The Third"; In the "World of Warcraft" expansion "Battle for Azeroth" he portrayed the loa Bwonsamdi.


title: Alex Désert

text: In addition to his acting career, Désert is one of the lead singers in Hepcat, a ska/reggae band that has toured the United States, Australia and Europe with bands such as The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and The Specials. Having released four albums, Hepcat's exposure has included national magazine features and an appearance on "Late Night with Conan O’Brien". He also lends his vocal talents to the Los Angeles-based reggae collective The Lions.


title: Alex Désert

text: In 2020, he took over the role of Carl Carlson and Lou from Hank Azaria on "The Simpsons" in light of the George Floyd protests, starting with "Undercover Burns", which premiered on September 27, 2020.


title: Tirunelveli

text: Tirunelveli (,) also known as Nellai () and historically (during British rule) as Tinnevelly, is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of the Tirunelveli District. It is the sixth-largest municipal corporation in the state after Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchirappalli and Salem. Tirunelveli is located southwest of the state capital Chennai, away from Thoothukudi, and from Kanyakumari. The downtown is located on the west bank of the Thamirabarani River; its twin Palayamkottai is on the east bank. Palayamkottai is called the Oxford of South India as it is a hub of many schools and colleges. It boasts several important government offices.


title: Tirunelveli

text: Tirunelveli is an ancient city, recorded to be more than two millennia old. It has been ruled at different times by the Early Pandyas, the Cheras, the Medieval Cholas and Later Cholas, the later Pandyas, the Vijayanagara Empire and the British. The Polygar War, involving Palaiyakkarars led by Veerapandiya Kattabomman and forces of the British East India Company, was waged on the city's outskirts from 1797 to 1801.


title: Tirunelveli

text: Tirunelveli is administered by the Municipal Corporation, established on 1 June 1994 by the Municipal Corporation Act. The city covers an area of , and holds a population of 473,637 in 2011. The total population after the inclusion of other municipalities is 968,984. Tirunelveli is well-connected by road and rail with the rest of Tamil Nadu and India. The nearest domestic airport is Thoothukudi Airport. The nearest international airports are Madurai International Airport and Thiruvananthapuram International Airport. The nearest seaport is Thoothukudi Port.


title: Tirunelveli

text: Industries in Tirunelveli include administrative services, agricultural trading, tourism, banking, agricultural machinery, information technology and educational services. The city is an educational hub of southern India, with institutions such as Anna University Regional Campus – Tirunelveli, Tirunelveli Medical College, The Tirunelveli Veterinary College and Research Institution, Tirunelveli Law College, the Government College of Engineering, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University and much more.


title: Tirunelveli

text: Tirunelveli has a number of historical monuments, with the Nellaiappar Temple being the most prominent. The city is also renowned throughout the state for a sweet called 'Irutu kadai halwa'.


title: Tirunelveli

text: Tirunelveli is one of the many temple towns in the state which is named after the groves, clusters or forests dominated by a particular variety of a tree or shrub and the same variety of tree or shrub sheltering the presiding deity. The region is believed to have been covered with Venu forest and hence called Venuvanam. Tirunelveli was known in Sambandar's seventh-century Saiva canonical work "Tevaram" as Thirunelveli. Swami Nellaiappar temple inscriptions say that Shiva (as Vrihivriteswara) descended in the form of a hedge and roof to save the paddy crop of a devotee. In Hindu legend, the place was known as Venuvana ("forest of bamboo") due to the presence of bamboo in the temple under which the deity is believed to have appeared. The early Pandyas named the city Thenpandya Nadu or Thenpandya Seemai, the Cholas Mudikonda Cholamandalam and the Nayaks Tirunelveli Seemai; it was known as Tinnelvelly by the British, and Tirunelveli after independence. The word "Tirunelveli" is derived from three Tamil words: "thiru", "nel" and "veli", meaning "sacred paddy hedge".


title: Tirunelveli

text: Tirunelveli was under the rule of Pandya kings as their secondary capital; Madurai was the empire's primary capital. The Pandya dynasty in the region dates to several centuries before the Christian era from inscriptions by Ashoka (304–232 BCE) and mention in the "Mahavamsa", the "Brihat-Samhita" and the writings of Megasthenes (350–290 CE). The province came under the rule of Cholas under Rajendra Chola I in 1064 CE; however, it is unclear whether he conquered the region or obtained it voluntarily. Tirunelveli remained under the control of the Cholas until the early 13th century, when the second Pandyan empire was established with Madurai as its capital.


title: Tirunelveli

text: The Nellaiappar temple was the royal shrine of the later Pandyas during the 13th and 14th centuries, and the city benefited from dams constructed with royal patronage during the period. After the death of Kulasekara Pandian (1268–1308), the region was occupied by Vijayangara rulers and Marava chieftains (palayakarars, or "poligars") during the 16th century. The Maravars occupied the western foothills and the Telugas, and the Kannadigas settled in the black-soil-rich eastern portion. Tirunelveli was the subsidiary capital of the Madurai Nayaks; under Viswanatha Nayak (1529–64), the city was rebuilt about 1560. Inscriptions from the Nellaiappar temple indicate the generous contributions to the temple. Nayak rule ended in 1736.


title: Tirunelveli

text: The region was captured by the subjects of the Mughal Empire such as Chanda Sahib (1740–1754) who declared himself "Nawab of Tinnevelly" as well as the Nawab of the Carnatic.


title: Tirunelveli

text: In 1743 Nizam-ul-mulk, lieutenant of the Deccan Plateau, displaced most of the Marathas from the region and Tirunelveli came under the rule of the Nawabs of Arcot. The original power lay in the hands of the "polygars", who were originally military chiefs of the Nayaks. The city was known as Nellai Cheemai, with "Cheemai" meaning "a developed foreign town". The "polygars" built forts in the hills, had 30,000 troops and waged war among themselves. In 1755, the British government sent a mission under Major Heron and Mahfuz Khan which restored some order and bestowed the city to Mahfuz Khan. The "poligars" waged war against Mahfuz Khan seven miles from Tirunelveli, but were defeated. The failure of Mahfuz Khan led the East India Company to send Muhammed Yusuf for help. Khan became ruler, rebelled in 1763 and was hanged in 1764. In 1758, British troops under Colonel Fullarton reduced the "polygar" stronghold under Veerapandiya Kattabomman. In 1797, the first Polygar war broke out between the British (under Major Bannerman) and the "polygars" (headed by Kattabomman). Some "polygars" (such as the head of Ettaiyapuram) aided the British; Kattabomman was defeated and hanged in his home province of Panchalaguruchi. Two years later, another rebellion became known as the Second Polygar War. Panchalankuruchi fell to the British, after stiff resistance. The Carnatic region came under British rule thereafter.


title: Tirunelveli

text: Tirunelveli District was formed on 1 September 1790 (Tirunelveli Day) by the East India Company (British) and named it as Tinnevelly district. The history of Tirunelveli was researched by Robert Caldwell (1814–91), a Christian missionary who visited the area. After acquiring Tirunelveli from the Nawab of Arcot in 1801, the British anglicised its name to "Tinnevelly" and made it the headquarters of Tinnelvelli District. The administrative and military headquarters was located in Palayamkottai (anglicised as "Palankottah"), from which attacks against the "polygars" were launched. After independence both cities reverted to their original names, and Tirunelveli remained the capital of Tirunelveli district. In early 1900s, parts of Tirunelveli district was made as Ramanathapuram and Virudhunagar districts. In 1986, Tirunelveli district was further split into two districts for administrative purpose such as Chidambaranar (present-day Thoothukudi district) and Nellai-Kattabomman (later Tirunelveli-Kattabomman, present-day Tirunelveli districts). In 2019, Tenkasi was split from Tirunelveli District forming Tenkasi District.


title: Tirunelveli

text: Tirunelveli is located at , and its average elevation is . It is located at the southernmost tip of the Deccan plateau. The Tamirabarani River divides the city into the Tirunelveli quarter and the Palayamkottai area. The river (with its tributaries, such as the Chittar) is the major source of irrigation, and is fed by the northeast and southwest monsoons. There are several small lakes of ponds (known as Kulam) in the city. These include Nainar Kulam, Veinthan Kulam, Elantha Kulam and Udayarpetti Kulam. The area around the Tamirabarani River and the Chittar has five streams: Kodagan, Palayan, Tirunelveli, Marudur East and Marudur West, and the Chittar feeds fifteen other channels. The soil is friable, red and sandy.


title: Tirunelveli

text: Tirunelveli has a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen: "BSh") bordering on the relatively rare dry-summer tropical savanna climate (Köppen: "As"), scattered irregularly across the world but relatively common in areas near the Laccadive Sea.


title: Tirunelveli

text: The climate of Tirunelveli is generally hot and humid. The average temperature during summer (March to June) ranges from to , and to during the rest of the year. The average annual rainfall is . Maximum precipitation occurs during the northeast monsoon (October–December). Since the economy of the district is primarily based on agriculture, flooding of the Tamarabarani River or a fluctuation in monsoon rain has an immediate impact on the local economy. The primary crops grown in the region are paddy and cotton. Pineapples were introduced during the 16th century, chilly and tobacco during the late 16th and potatoes during the early 17th centuries. The most common tree is the palmyra palm, a raw material in cottage industries. Other trees grown in the region are teak, wild jack, "manjakadambu", "venteak", "vengai", "pillaimaruthu", "karimaruthu" and bamboo. Livestock of the city and district comprises cattle, buffalo, goats, sheep and other animals in smaller numbers.


title: Tirunelveli

text: According to 2011 census, Tirunelveli had a population of 473,637 with a sex-ratio of 1,027 females for every 1,000 males, much above the national average of 929. A total of 46,624 were under the age of six, constituting 23,894 males and 22,730 females. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes accounted for 13.17% and 0.32% of the population respectively. The average literacy of the city was 81.49%, compared to the national average of 72.99%. The city had a total of 120,466 households. There were a total of 182,471 workers, comprising 2,088 cultivators, 5,515 main agricultural labourers, 18,914 in house hold industries, 142,435 other workers, 13,519 marginal workers, 166 marginal cultivators, 913 marginal agricultural labourers, 1,828 marginal workers in household industries and 10,612 other marginal workers.


title: Tirunelveli

text: According to provisional data from the 2011 census the Tirunelveli urban agglomeration had a population of 498,984, with 246,710 males and 252,274 females. The overall sex ratio in the city was 1023, and the child sex ratio was 957. Tirunelveli had a literacy rate of 91 percent, with male literacy 95 percent and female literacy 87 percent. A total of 42,756 of the city's population was under age six.


title: Tirunelveli

text: As per the religious census of 2011, Tirunelveli had 69.0% Hindus, 20.02% Muslims, 10.59% Christians, 0.01% Sikhs, 0.01% Buddhists, 0.02% Jains and 0.35% following other religions.


title: Tirunelveli

text: The city covers an area of . The population density of the city in the 2001 census was 3,781 persons per square kilometre, compared with 2,218 persons per square kilometre in 1971. Hindus form the majority of the urban population, followed by Muslims and Christians. Tamil is the main language spoken in the city, but the use of English is relatively common; English is the medium of instruction in most educational institutions and offices in the service sector. The Tamil dialect spoken in this region is distinct, and is widely spoken throughout Tamil Nadu.


title: Tirunelveli

text: Inscriptions from the eighth to the 14th centuries (during the rule of the Pandyas, Cholas and later Tenkasi Pandyas) indicate the growth of Tirunelveli as a centre of economic growth which developed around the Nellaiappar temple. The drier parts of the province also flourished during the rule of the Vijayanagara kings. From 1550 until the early modern era, migration to the city from other parts of the state was common and the urban regions became hubs of manufacturing and commerce. Tirunelveli was a strategic point, connecting the eastern and western parts of the peninsula, as well as a trading centre. Records of sea and overland trade between 1700 and 1850 indicate close trading connections with Sri Lanka and Kerala. During the 1840s, cotton produced in the region was in demand for British mills. The chief exports during British rule were cotton, jaggery, chillies, tobacco, palmyra fibre, salt, dried saltwater fish and cattle.


title: Tirunelveli

text: Occupations in Tirunelveli include service-sector activities such as administration, agricultural trading, tourism, banking, agro-machinery, cement manufacturing, information technology and educational services. In 1991, the Tirunelveli region ranked second in the number of women workers. Service sectors such as tourism have developed, due to a growth in religious tourism. Tirunelveli has beedi and cement factories, tobacco companies, workshops for steel-based products and mills for cotton textiles, spinning and weaving; there are also small-scale industries, such as tanneries and brick kilns. The agricultural areas, hand-woven clothes and household industries contribute to the economic growth of the city. Food-processing industries have developed since the late 1990s; at the district level, it is the foremost industrial segment. Industries involving rice-making, blue-jelly metal manufacturing and jem power generating are located on the outskirts of the city. The major agricultural produces in the region are paddy and cotton. Beedi production during the 1990s earned an annual revenue of 190 billion and a foreign exchange of 8 billion across the three districts of Tirunelveli, Tiruchirapalli and Vellore.


title: Tirunelveli

text: Tirunelveli is a major area for wind-power generation. Most wind-power-generation units in Tamil Nadu are located in Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari Districts. In 2005 they contributed 2036.9 MW to the state power-generation capacity. Many private, multinational wind companies are located on the outskirts of the city. In June 2007 the Tata Group signed a memorandum of understanding with the state government to open a titanium dioxide plant, with an estimated value of 25 billion, in Tirunelveli District and Thoothukudi District. However, the state government put the project on hold after increasing protests against it.


title: Tirunelveli

text: Tirunelveli has two Special Economic Zones in the outskirts of the city, one located in Gangaikondan in the North along NH 44 and another one located in Nanguneri in South along NH 44. They house several MNCs such as Atos Syntel, Coca-Cola, Yokohama Rubber Company, Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Novo Carbon Private Limited, Bosch Limited, Alliance Tyre Group, Ramco Cements, India Cements, and the like.


title: Tirunelveli

text: The Tirunelveli Municipality was established in 1866 during British rule. It became a City Municipal Corporation in 1994, bringing the Palayamkottai and Melapalayam municipalities, the Thatchanallur town panchayat and eleven other village panchayats within the city limits. The municipal corporation has five zones: Tirunelveli, Thatchanallur, Palayamkottai, Pettai and Melapalayam. The corporation has 55 wards, with an elected councillor for each ward. The corporation has six departments: general administration and personnel, engineering, revenue, public health, city planning and information technology (IT). All departments are under the control of a municipal commissioner. Legislative power is vested in a body of 55 members, one from each ward. The legislative body is headed by an elected chairperson, assisted by a deputy. Tirunelveli city is the district headquarters for the Tirunelveli district.


title: Tirunelveli

text: The city is part of the Tirunelveli assembly constituency, electing a member to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly every five years. Since the 1977 elections, the assembly seat was held by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) for three terms (following the 1989, 1996 and 2006 elections) and the All India Anna Dravid Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) for six terms following the 1977, 1980, 1984, 1991, 2001 and 2011 elections. The current MLA is Nainar Nagendran, ex-minister, and legislative party leader of BJP


title: Tirunelveli

text: Tirunelveli is a part of the Tirunelveli Lok Sabha constituency, which contains six assembly constituencies: Tirunelveli, Nanguneri, Ambasamudram, Alangulam, Radhapuram and Palayamkottai. The current Member of Parliament from the constituency is S. Gnanathiraviam of the DMK. Since 1957, the Tirunelveli parliament seat was held by the Indian National Congress for four terms: 1957–1961, 1962–67, 2004–09 and 2009–14. The Swantantra Party and the CPI won once each, from 1967 to 1971 and 1971–77 respectively. The DMK won the seat twice: 1980–84 and 1996–98. The ADMK won the seat seven times: 1977–80, 1984–89, 1989–91, 1991–96, 1998, 1999–2004 and 2014 elections.


title: Tirunelveli

text: Law and Order of the city is maintained by the Tirunelveli City division of the Tamil Nadu Police, headed by a commissioner. There are units for prohibition enforcement, district crime, social justice and human rights, district crime records and a special branch operating at the district level, each headed by a deputy superintendent of police.


title: Tirunelveli

text: Tirunelveli has an extensive transport network and is well-connected to other major cities by road, rail and air. The corporation maintains a total of of roads. The city has of concrete roads, of BT roads, of water-bound macadam roads, of unpaved roads and of highways. Twenty-two kilometres (fourteen miles) of highway are maintained by the State Highways Department and thirty kilometres (nineteen miles) by the National Highways Department. In 1844, a bridge was built by Colonel Horsley across the Tamirabarani River, connecting Tirunelveli to Palayamkottai. The city is located on NH 44, south of Madurai and north of Kanyakumari. NH 138 connects Palayamkottai with Tuticorin Port. Tirunelveli is also connected by major highways to Kollam, Tiruchendur, Rajapalayam, Sankarankovil, Ambasamudram and Nazareth.


title: Tirunelveli

text: The main bus stand (popularly known as the New Bus Stand), opened in 2003, is located in Veinthaankulam and there is regular bus service to and from the city. The main bus stand has been developed under the Smart City Projects at a total cost of Rs. 50.72 crores (500.72 million). Renamed as the Bharat Ratna Dr. MGR Bus Stand, it was inaugurated by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on 8 December 2021 through video conferencing. The other bus stands (for intracity services) are the Junction and Palay bus stands. The Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation has daily services to a number of cities, and the corporation operates a computerised reservation centre in the main bus stand. It also operates local buses serving the city and neighbouring villages. The Periyar bus stand commonly known as the old bus stand is fully demolished and a new bus station will be built under smart city plan. The State Express Transport Corporation has intercity services to Bangalore, Chennai, Kanyakumari, Trivandrum and other cities.


title: Tirunelveli

text: Tirunelveli Junction railway station is one of the oldest railway stations in India. The line from Tirunelveli to Sengottai was opened in 1903; the connection to Quilon, which was completed later, was the most important trade route to Travancore province in British India. The city is connected to major cities in all four directions: Madurai and Sankarankovil to the north, Nagercoil and Trivandrum to the south, Sengottai and Kollam to the west and Tiruchendur to the east. Tirunelveli is also connected to major Indian cities with daily services to Chennai, Coimbatore, Tiruchirappalli, Madurai, Kanyakumari, Salem, Tirupati, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mangalore, Ernakulam, Trivandrum, Mumbai, Guruvayur, Kolkata, Jabalpur, Varanasi, Delhi, Jammu, Kollam, Palghat and Ahmedabad. There are daily passenger services to Tuticorin, Madurai, Tiruchendur, Tiruchirapalli, Coimbatore, Mayiladuthurai, Nagercoil, Palghat and Kollam.


title: Tirunelveli

text: The nearest airport to Tirunelveli is Tuticorin Airport (TCR) at Vaagaikulam in Thoothukkudi District, east of the city, which offers daily flights to Chennai and Bangalore. The nearest international airports are Madurai International Airport, away and Thiruvananthapuram International Airport (TRV), about away.


title: Tirunelveli

text: Nellaiappar Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva in the form of Nellaiappar. The deity is revered in the verses of "Tevaram", a seventh-century Saiva work by Sambandar. The temple was greatly expanded during the 16th-century Nayak period and has a number of architectural attractions, including musical pillars. The temple has several festivals, the foremost an annual festival when the temple chariot is brought around the streets near the temple. It is one of the "Pancha Sabhai" temples, the five royal courts of Nataraja (the dancing form of Shiva), where he performed a cosmic dance. The Nataraja shrine in the temple represents copper, and features many copper sculptures. Tirunelveli has its fair share of temples, dating back to ancient times. It also prides itself as being the site where the Nellaiappar Temple is located


title: Tirunelveli

text: Tirunelveli is also known for halwa, a sweet made of wheat, sugar and ghee. It originated during the mid-1800s at Lakshmi Vilas Stores, which still exist. The art of sweet-making spread to other parts of Tamil Nadu, such as Nagercoil, Srivilliputhur and Thoothukudi. Tirunelveli halwa was popularised by Iruttukadai Halwa, a shop opened in 1900 which sells the sweets only during twilight.


title: Tirunelveli

text: Tirunelveli has a number of cinemas which predominantly play Tamil movies. It is among the 40 cities in India with FM radio stations. Tirunelveli's stations are Tirunelveli Vanoli Nilayam (All India Radio, from the Government of India), Suryan FM (operated by Sun Network on 93.5 MHz) and Hello FM (operated by the Malai Malar Group on 106.4 MHz).


title: Tirunelveli

text: A number of state- and national-level sports events are sponsored in Tirunelveli annually. The VOC grounds (in central Palayamkottai) and the Anna Stadium (on St. Thomas Road) are popular venues in the city, and some events are held at scholastic sports facilities. As in India generally, the most popular sport is cricket. Also popular are football, volleyball, swimming and hockey, played on facilities provided by the Tirunelveli Division of the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu.


title: Tirunelveli

text: The Government Exhibition, an annual event at Exhibition Grounds, attracts thousands of visitors from in and around Tirunelveli. the District Science Center - Tirunelveli is in the centre of the city. Near the city are regional tourist attractions such as the Manimuthar and Papanasam Dams, the Ariakulam and Koonthakulam Bird Sanctuaries, Manjolai and Upper Kodaiyar.


title: Tirunelveli

text: During the 1790s, Tamil Christians established a number of schools in Tirunelveli. The missionary educational system included primary and boarding schools, seminaries, industrial schools, orphanages and colleges. The first boarding school for girls was opened in 1821, but its efforts were hampered by the emphasis on Christian education. Thomas Munro (1761–1827) of the British East India Company established a two-tier school system: district schools, teaching law, and sub-district schools teaching vernacular languages in the Madras Presidency. Tirunelveli had four sub-district schools: two teaching Tamil and one each for Telugu and Persian.


title: Tirunelveli

text: Tirunelveli city has 80 schools: 29 higher secondary schools, 12 high schools, 22 middle schools and 17 primary schools; the city corporation operates 33 of these schools. The city has eight arts and science colleges and six professional colleges. The Manonmaniam Sundaranar University is named for poet Manonmaniam Sundaranar, who wrote ""Tamil Thai Vazhthu"" the state anthem. Most Christian schools and colleges in the city are located in the Palayamkottai area.


title: Tirunelveli

text: Anna University of Technology Tirunelveli was established in 2007, offering a variety of engineering and technology courses for undergraduate and graduate students. Tirunelveli Medical College, Veterinary College and Research Institution, Government Law College, Tirunelveli and the Government College of Engineering, Tirunelveli are professional colleges operated by the government of Tamil Nadu. The Jesuit 'St. Xavier's College' and St. John's College (operated by the Church of South India diocese), MDT Hindu College, Sadakathulla Appa College and Sarah Tucker College are notable arts colleges.


title: Tirunelveli

text: The Indian Institute of Geomagnetism (IIG) operates a regional unit, the Equatorial Geophysical Research Laboratory, conducting research in geomagnetism and atmospheric and space sciences. The city has a District Science Centre (a satellite unit of Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum, Bangalore) with permanent exhibitions, science shows, interactive self-guided tours, a mini-planetarium and sky observation.


title: Tirunelveli

text: Tirunelveli and the district have a high rate of child labour. The drop in female school attendance between ages 15 and 19 is almost four times greater than that in the rest of Tamil Nadu.


title: Tirunelveli

text: Manimoortheeswaram Uchishta Ganapathy Temple in Tirunelveli is 900 years old and is located at about 2 km from Tirnelveli Junction railway station.


title: Tirunelveli

text: Electric service to Tirunelveli is regulated and distributed by the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB). The city is headquarters for the Tirunelveli region of the four-division TNEB and, with its suburbs, forms the Tirunelveli Electricity Distribution Circle. A chief distribution engineer is stationed at regional headquarters. Water supply is provided by the Tirunelveli City Corporation from the Tamirabarani River, throughout the city.


title: Tirunelveli

text: About 100 metric tonnes of solid waste are collected from the city daily in door-to-door collection; source segregation and disposal is performed by the sanitary department of the Tirunelveli Municipal Corporation. The underground drainage system was constituted in 1998, covering 22 percent of the corporation area. The remaining system for disposal of sewage is through septic tanks and public conveniences. The corporation maintains a total of of stormwater drains, 27 percent of the total road length. The clinics operated by the corporation provide primary health care to the urban poor through family-welfare and immunisation programs. In addition, there are private hospitals and clinics providing health care to citizens.


title: Tirunelveli

text: Tirunelveli is part of the Tirunelveli Telecom District of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), India's state-owned telecom and internet-services provider. Both Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and Code division multiple access (CDMA) mobile services are available. In addition to telecommunications, BSNL also provides broadband internet service. Tirunelveli is one of a few cities in India where BSNL's Caller Line Identification (CLI)-based internet service, Netone, is available. The city has a Passport Seva Kendra, a public-private-sector collaboration, which accepts passport applications from the Tirunelveli region for the passport office in Madurai.


title: Changes (Justin Bieber album)

text: Changes is the fifth studio album by Canadian singer Justin Bieber. It was released through Def Jam Recordings and RBMG on February 14, 2020. The album features guest appearances from Quavo, Post Malone, Clever, Lil Dicky, Travis Scott, Kehlani, and Summer Walker. The production was handled by Poo Bear on every track, Sasha Sirota, Tainy, Josh Gudwin, the Audibles, Kid Culture, Harv, Pierre, Laxcity, Boi-1da, Vinylz, CVRE, Jahaan Sweet, Philip Beaudreau, Tom Strahle, the Messengers, Sons of Sonix, and Joshua Williams. It was released on Valentine's Day and serves as the follow-up to Bieber's previous album, "Purpose" (2015). "Changes" is a pop, R&B, electro-R&B, and trap album.


title: Changes (Justin Bieber album)

text: "Changes" was supported by two singles. "Yummy" was released as the lead single on January 3, 2020. "Get Me", which features Kehlani, was released as the sole promotional single. "Intentions", which features Quavo, was released as the second single on February 7, 2020. On January 28, 2020. For additional promotion of the album, Bieber's 10-episode docu-series, "" premiered on January 27, 2020. The series was described as an in-depth look on his musical creation process. On February 8, 2020, Bieber performed his first "Saturday Night Live" performance in seven years.


title: Changes (Justin Bieber album)

text: The album debuted atop the U.S. "Billboard" 200 chart, selling 231,000 album-equivalent units within its first week, which was considerably less than the first-week sales of "Purpose" (2015), which moved 649,000 units. Bieber released a series of dance videos for each of the tracks on the album, titled "Changes: The Movement". The singer's 2021 Changes album tour was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Bieber later embarked on the Justice World Tour to promote "Changes" and its successor, "Justice" (2021). The album received mixed reviews from music critics, many of whom favored Bieber's vocal performance and certain production elements, but criticized the album's lyricism and the lack of variation between tracks. At the 63rd Grammy Awards, "Changes" was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album, whilst "Yummy" was nominated for Best Pop Solo Performance. It has since been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).


title: Changes (Justin Bieber album)

text: At the 2019 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Bieber joined American singer Ariana Grande on stage to perform his 2015 single, "Sorry", which he then announced that a new album was coming soon. On October 27, 2019, Bieber announced that he would release his upcoming album before Christmas if his Instagram post reached 20 million likes; however, it failed to do so. The post has since been deleted and the release was consequently postponed.


title: Changes (Justin Bieber album)

text: "Changes" kicks off with the opening track, "All Around Me", which sees Bieber using metaphors to profess his love for his wife, Hailey Bieber, singing, "Anything's possible since you made my heart melt / Gave me the best hand that I'd ever been dealt". On the next track, "Habitual", Bieber describes unconditional love. "Come Around Me" features lyrics about getting sexual with his significant other. The fourth track, "Intentions" sees Bieber and featured artist Quavo give compliments to their love interests. The fifth track, "Yummy" is another sex-driven track that also details how attractive his wife is. On "Available", Bieber compares to the "soft-boy" style of Drake, asking when she is available for him. The title track features Bieber sing about how human beings go through changes on a regular basis and how his changes have affected him, while delivering a short outro that features him praising God.


title: Changes (Justin Bieber album)

text: The lead single of the album, "Yummy", was released on January 3, 2020, and peaked within the top 10 in numerous countries, debuting at number two on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart in the United States. It was remixed a month later on February 3, 2020, with American singer Summer Walker. The album title along with its cover were revealed on January 28, 2020. The announcement was accompanied by the release of the promotional single "Get Me", featuring American singer Kehlani. The second official single, "Intentions", featuring American rapper Quavo, was released on February 7, 2020.


title: Changes (Justin Bieber album)

text: On February 8, 2020, Bieber performed his first "Saturday Night Live" performance in seven years. He was introduced by the host RuPaul, before performing "Yummy" and "Intentions", with Quavo there to perform his verse in "Intentions".


title: Changes (Justin Bieber album)

text: The 10-episode docu-series, "" premiered on January 27, 2020, sharing insights about his personal struggles including battling with health issues and overcoming drug addiction while detailing his return to music after cancelling the American stadium leg of his Purpose World Tour in 2017. The series was described as an in-depth look on his musical creation process.


title: Changes (Justin Bieber album)

text: The album was originally going to be supported by the Changes Tour. The tour was scheduled to begin on May 14, 2020, in Seattle at CenturyLink Field, but on April 1, 2020, it was announced that the tour would be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On July 23, 2020, Bieber announced rescheduled dates for the then called "Justin Bieber World Tour" slated for 2021, starting on June 2, 2021, in San Diego at Pechanga Arena. On May 6, 2021, Bieber announced rescheduled dates for the tour, now called "Justice World Tour". Bieber will hit the road on February 18, 2022, at Pechanga Arena in San Diego.


title: Changes (Justin Bieber album)

text: Though Bieber's vocal performance on the album was praised, many criticized its repetitive tone and lyrical content. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 57, based on sixteen reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: Changes (Justin Bieber album)

text: "Rolling Stone" listed it among the worst albums of 2020, saying that "Minus “Intentions”, the album is pure filler", saying that it's "so low quality and lacking any inspiration". Writing for AllMusic, Andy Kellman gave the "R&B-pop" album an overall positive review, particularly commending Bieber's vocal skills, describing his falsetto pleas as "neither bitter nor entitled, strictly genuine and adult". Mikael Wood of the "Los Angeles Times" defined the album as "a low-key set of gentle electro-R&B jams that depicts his relationship with Hailey Baldwin, as a refuge from the unkind world he's still not quite ready to reenter". Noting the trap beats prevalent in the album, Wood commented that "the sprinkling of on-trend trap drums indicate he's [Bieber is] thinking about it, as do streaming-bait guest spots by Post Malone and Travis Scott". "Variety"s Jeremy Helligar wrote that Bieber "never sounded better, or more in love, but the nonstop bedroom romanticism doesn't leave much room for exploring demons or expressing joy", expanding that Bieber's voice and the production are "flawless", and "his soul is in the right place", but there's "something airless about the album, too, like he could have left the window open a crack to let some sunshine in". Helligar compared the sonic cohesiveness of "Changes" to that of Ariana Grande's fifth studio album, "Thank U, Next" (2019).


title: Changes (Justin Bieber album)

text: Rating the album two stars, "Rolling Stone"'s Brittany Spanos defined "Changes" as a "one-note toast to marital happiness" that is "sweet and tender, but ultimately shallow", stating that the tracks "are not bad, exactly, but they're almost universally forgettable, with little of the catchiness that's been Bieber's hallmark in the past". Spanos called the album as the "honeymoon phase in R&Bieber form", thus "sweet, uncomplicated, and maybe just a bit hard to imagine lasting forever", with Bieber's "charming malleability as an artist" missing. She added that the album is devoid of the "dangerous eroticism" of Bieber's 2013 project, "Journals". "Insider"'s Courteney Larocca and Callie Ahlgrim were favourable towards Bieber's "pristine" vocal performance, but dismissed the "subpar" lyrics, concluding "Changes" is "ultimately a snooze fest". They pointed out "Habitual" as "easily the best track" on the album, while "All Around Me" is "underwhelming" as the opening track. Emma Garland of "Vice" commented: "Each track is built on a simple hook or a looping beat, in favor of subtle melodies and lots of repetition, that laid back pace gives his voice room to luxuriate, but the songs often fall flat", with "no tension, no build". She highlighted the "formulaic arrangements and wandering melodies", which struggle "to hit home in a major way", like "Purpose" did.


title: Changes (Justin Bieber album)

text: In a two-star review, Roisin O'Connor of "The Independent" stated that "Changes" "isn't so much an album that would rile you to the point of turning it off. Rather, it washes over you, with its mostly average beats and seemingly random cluster of guest features", adding that it is "full of vague platitudes about love from a singer who has yet to grow up". O'Connor concluded that Bieber "hasn't come all that far" since the days of "Baby", as "a number of songs about his new wife Hailey Baldwin are so uninspired that he may as well be declaring his love for a household appliance". Rating the album two stars, Hannah Mylrea of "NME" wrote that Bieber's "limp comeback" results in a collection of "a knackering, loved-up slog lacking substance", that is "overly reliant on trendy production and profound(ish) romantic proclamations". She added that it is "a disappointing comeback from an artist who has a track record in creating hits", as it is "one romp that never reaches climax". "Evening Standard"s David Smyth expressed his disappointment in the album's subject matter, but complimented its production: "In fact, so single-minded is his [Bieber] approach this time that it feels like she's [Baldwin] his only intended audience", and thus Bieber's audience at his tour "are going to be underwhelmed by the unchanging, lounging pace of the new material, gently ticking beats and lack of memorable choruses".


title: Changes (Justin Bieber album)

text: Rating the album a 4.5 out of 10, Jayson Greene of "Pitchfork" wrote that ""Changes" settles into a middle-distance, stream-friendly murmur that is more sleepy than salacious", adding that its songs "are all cold angles and frictionless surfaces, devoid of intimacy and heat". He pointed out that "nearly every song on "Changes" resembles every other in tempo, arrangement, and often in lyrics, which seem to be sourced from the same 10 or 15 pastel candy hearts". Writing for "Clash", Nick Roseblade opined that the main problem with "Changes" is that "it isn't exciting or dynamic and suffers from dragging in places", citing the "lack of variation" on the album, as a reason.


title: Changes (Justin Bieber album)

text: "Changes" debuted at number one on the US "Billboard" 200 with 231,000 album-equivalent units, including 126,000 pure album sales in its first week. It is Bieber's seventh US number-one album. Bieber became the youngest soloist to have seven US number-one albums at the age of 25 with the record being previously held by Elvis Presley at the age of 26. The album's tracks earned a total of 135 million on-demand US streams in its first week. In its second week, the album dropped to number four on the chart, earning an additional 66,000 units. In its third week, the album dropped to number six on the chart, earning 62,000 units.


title: Changes (Justin Bieber album)

text: It additionally debuted atop the Canadian Albums Chart as well as the UK Albums Chart, where it became Bieber's second number-one album.


title: Changes (Justin Bieber album)

text: According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), "Changes" was the 8th best selling album of 2020 globally. Aided by "Changes", Bieber placed at number nine on the 2020s top global artists list by IFPI.


title: Sprite (folklore)

text: A sprite is a supernatural entity in European mythology. They are often depicted as fairy-like creatures or as an ethereal entity.


title: Sprite (folklore)

text: The word "sprite" is derived from the Latin "spiritus" ("spirit"), via the French "esprit". Variations on the term include "spright" and the Celtic "spriggan". The term is chiefly used with regard to elves and fairies in European folklore, and in modern English is rarely used in reference to spirits.


title: Sprite (folklore)

text: The belief in diminutive beings such as sprites, elves, fairies, etc. has been common in many parts of the world, and might to some extent still be found within neo-spiritual and religious movements such as "neo-druidism" and Ásatrú.


title: Sprite (folklore)

text: A water sprite (also called a water fairy or water faery) is a general term for an elemental spirit associated with water, according to alchemist Paracelsus. Water sprites are said to be able to breathe water or air and sometimes can fly.


title: Sprite (folklore)

text: These creatures exist in the mythology of various groups. Ancient Greeks knew water nymphs in several types such as naiads (or "nyads"), which were divine entities that tended to be fixed in one place and so differed from gods or physical creatures. Slavic mythology knows them as vilas.


title: Sprite (folklore)

text: Water sprites differ from corporeal beings, such as selkies, mermaids, and sirens, as they are not purely physical and are more akin to local deities than animals.


title: Galanthus

text: Galanthus (from Ancient Greek , (, "milk") + (, "flower")), or snowdrop, is a small genus of approximately 20 species of bulbous perennial herbaceous plants in the family Amaryllidaceae. The plants have two linear leaves and a single small white drooping bell-shaped flower with six petal-like (petaloid) tepals in two circles (whorls). The smaller inner petals have green markings.


title: Galanthus

text: Snowdrops have been known since the earliest times under various names, but were named "Galanthus" in 1753. As the number of recognised species increased, various attempts were made to divide the species into subgroups, usually on the basis of the pattern of the emerging leaves (vernation). In the era of molecular phylogenetics this characteristic has been shown to be unreliable and now seven molecularly defined clades are recognised that correspond to the biogeographical distribution of species. New species continue to be discovered.


title: Galanthus

text: Most species flower in winter, before the vernal equinox (20 or 21 March in the Northern Hemisphere), but some flower in early spring and late autumn. Sometimes snowdrops are confused with the two related genera within the tribe Galantheae, snowflakes "Leucojum" and "Acis".


title: Galanthus

text: All species of "Galanthus" are perennial petaloid herbaceous bulbous (growing from bulbs) monocot plants. The genus is characterised by the presence of two leaves, pendulous white flowers with six free perianth segments in two whorls. The inner whorl is smaller than the outer whorl and has green markings.


title: Galanthus

text: These are basal, emerging from the bulb initially enclosed in a tubular membranous sheath of cataphylls. Generally, these are two (sometimes three) in number and linear, strap-shaped, or oblanceolate. Vernation, the arrangement of the emerging leaves relative to each other, varies among species. These may be applanate (flat), supervolute (conduplicate), or explicative (pleated). In applanate vernation the two leaf blades are pressed flat to each other within the bud and as they emerge; explicative leaves are also pressed flat against each other, but the edges of the leaves are folded back (externally recurved) or sometimes rolled; in supervolute plants, one leaf is tightly clasped around the other within the bud and generally remains at the point where the leaves emerge from the soil (for illustration, see Stearn and Davis). In the past, this feature has been used to distinguish between species and to determine the parentage of hybrids, but now has been shown to be homoplasious, and not useful in this regard.


title: Galanthus

text: At the top of the scape is a pair of bract-like spathes (valves) usually fused down one side and joined by a papery membrane, appearing monophyllous (single). From between the spathes emerges a solitary (rarely two), pendulous, nodding, bell-shaped white flower, held on a slender pedicel. The flower bears six free perianth segments (tepals) rather than true petals, arranged in two whorls of three, the outer whorl being larger and more convex than the inner whorl. The outer tepals are acute to more or less obtuse, spathulate or oblanceolate to narrowly obovate or linear, shortly clawed, and erect spreading. The inner tepals are much shorter (half to two thirds as long), oblong, spathulate or oblanceolate, somewhat unguiculate (claw like); tapering to the base and erect. These tepals also bear green markings at the base, the apex, or both, that when at the apex, are bridge-shaped over the small sinus (notch) at the tip of each tepal, which are emarginate. Occasionally the markings are either green-yellow, yellow, or absent, and the shape and size varies by species.


title: Galanthus

text: The six stamens are inserted at the base of the perianth, and are very short (shorter than the inner perianth segments), the anthers basifixed (attached at their bases) with filaments much shorter than the anthers; they dehisce (open) by terminal pores or short slits.


title: Galanthus

text: The inferior ovary is three-celled. The style is slender and longer than the anthers; the stigma is minutely capitate. The ovary ripens into a three-celled capsule fruit. This fruit is fleshy, ellipsoid or almost spherical, opening by three flaps, with seeds that are light brown to white and oblong with a small appendage or tail (elaiosome) containing substances attractive to ants, which distribute the seeds.


title: Galanthus

text: The genus "Galanthus" is native to Europe and the Middle East, from the Spanish and French Pyrenees in the west through to the Caucasus and Iran in the east, and south to Sicily, the Peloponnese, the Aegean, Turkey, Lebanon, and Syria. The northern limit is uncertain because "G. nivalis" has been widely introduced and cultivated throughout Europe. "G. nivalis" and some other species valued as ornamentals have become widely naturalised in Europe, North America, and other regions. In the Udmurt republic of Russia, "Galanthus" are found even above the 56th parallel.


title: Galanthus

text: "Galanthus nivalis" is the best-known and most widespread representative of the genus "Galanthus". It is native to a large area of Europe, stretching from the Pyrenees in the west, through France and Germany to Poland in the north, Italy, northern Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, and European Turkey. It has been introduced and is widely naturalised elsewhere. Although it is often thought of as a British native wild flower, or to have been brought to the British Isles by the Romans, it most likely was introduced around the early sixteenth century, and is currently not a protected species in the UK. It was first recorded as naturalised in the UK in Worcestershire and Gloucestershire in 1770. Most other "Galanthus" species are from the eastern Mediterranean, while several are found in the Caucasus, in southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. "Galanthus fosteri" is found in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, and, perhaps, Palestine.


title: Galanthus

text: Most "Galanthus" species grow best in woodland, in acid or alkaline soil, although some are grassland or mountain species.


title: Galanthus

text: Snowdrops have been known since early times, being described by the classical Greek author Theophrastus, in the fourth century BCE, in his "Περὶ φυτῶν ἱστορία" (Latin: "Historia plantarum", "Enquiry into plants"). He gave it, and similar plants, the name λευκόἲον (λευκος, leukos "white" and ἰόν, ion "violet") from which the later name "Leucojum" was derived. He described the plant as "ἑπεἰ τοῖς γε χρώμασι λευκἂ καἱ οὐ λεπυριώδη" (in colour white and bulbs without scales) and of their habits "Ἰῶν δ' ἁνθῶν τὀ μἑν πρῶτον ἑκφαἱνεται τὁ λευκόἲον, ὅπου μἑν ό ἀἠρ μαλακώτερος εὐθὑς τοῦ χειμῶνος, ὅπου δἐ σκληρότερος ὕστερον, ἑνιαχοῡ τοῡ ἣρος" (Of the flowers, the first to appear is the white violet. Where the climate is mild, it appears with the first sign of winter, but in more severe climates, later in spring)


title: Galanthus

text: Rembert Dodoens, a Flemish botanist, described and illustrated this plant in 1583 as did Gerard in England in 1597 (probably using much of Dodoens' material), calling it "Leucojum bulbosum praecox" (Early bulbous violet). Gerard refers to Theophrastus's description as "Viola alba" or "Viola bulbosa", using Pliny's translation, and comments that the plant had originated in Italy and had "taken possession" in England "many years past". The genus was formally named "Galanthus" and described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, with the single species, "Galanthus nivalis", which is the type species. Consequently, Linnaeus is granted the botanical authority. In doing so, he distinguished this genus and species from "Leucojum" ("Leucojum bulbosum trifolium minus"), a name by which it previously had been known.


title: Galanthus

text: In 1763 Michel Adanson began a system of arranging genera in families. Using the synonym "Acrocorion" (also spelt "Akrokorion"), he placed "Galanthus" in the family Liliaceae, section Narcissi. Lamarck provided a description of the genus in his encyclopedia (1786), and later, "Illustrations des genres" (1793). In 1789 de Jussieu, who is credited with the modern concept of genera organised in families, placed "Galanthus" and related genera within a division of Monocotyledons, using a modified form of Linnaeus' sexual classification, but with the respective topography of stamens to carpels rather than just their numbers. In doing so he restored the name "Galanthus" and retained their placement under Narcissi, this time as a family (known as "Ordo", at that time) and referred to the French vernacular name, "" (Snow-pierce), based on the plants tendency to push through early spring snow (see Ecology for illustration)]. The modern family of Amaryllidaceae, in which "Galanthus" is placed, dates to Jaume Saint-Hilaire (1805) who replaced Jussieu's Narcissi with "Amaryllidées". In 1810 Brown proposed that a subgroup of Liliaceae be distinguished on the basis of the position of the ovaries and be referred to as Amaryllideae, and in 1813, de Candolle separated them by describing Liliacées and Amaryllidées as two quite separate families. However, in his comprehensive survey of the Flora of France (Flore française, 1805–1815) he divided Liliaceae into a series of "Ordres", and placed Galanthus into the Narcissi "Ordre". This relationship of Galanthus to either liliaceous or amaryllidaceaous taxa (see Taxonomy of Liliaceae) was to last for another two centuries until the two were formally divided at the end of the twentieth century. Lindley (1830) followed this general pattern, placing "Galanthus" and related genera such as "Amaryllis" and "Narcissus" in his Amaryllideae (which he called The Narcissus Tribe in English). By 1853, the number of known plants was increasing considerably and he revised his schema in his last work, placing "Galanthus" together, and the other two genera in the modern Galantheae in tribe Amarylleae, order Amaryllidaceae, alliance Narcissales. These three genera have been treated together taxonomically by most authors, on the basis of an inferior ovary. As the number of plant species increased, so did the taxonomic complexity. By the time Bentham and Hooker published their "Genera plantarum" (1862–1883) ordo Amaryllideae contained five tribes, and tribe Amarylleae 3 subtribes (see Bentham & Hooker system). They placed "Galanthus" in subtribe Genuinae and included three species.


title: Galanthus

text: "Galanthus" is one of three closely related genera making up the tribe Galantheae within subfamily Amaryllidoideae (family Amaryllidaceae). Sometimes snowdrops are confused with the other two genera, "Leucojum" and "Acis" (both called snowflakes). "Leucojum" species are much larger and flower in spring (or early summer, depending on the species), with all six tepals in the flower being the same size, although some "poculiform" (goblet- or cup-shaped) "Galanthus" species may have inner segments similar in shape and length to the outer ones. Galantheae are likely to have arisen in the Caucusus.


title: Galanthus

text: "Galanthus" has approximately 20 species, but new species continue to be described. "G. trojanus" was identified in Turkey in 2001. "G. panjutinii" (Panjutin's snowdrop) was discovered in 2012 in five locations in a small area (estimated at ) of the northern Colchis area (western Transcaucasus) of Georgia and Russia. "G. samothracicus" was identified in Greece in 2014. Since it has not been subjected to genetic sequencing, it remains unplaced. It resembles "G. nivalis", but is outside the distribution of that species.


title: Galanthus

text: Many species are difficult to identify, however, and traditional infrageneric classification based on plant morphology alone, such as those of Stern (1956), Traub (1963) and Davis (1999, 2001), has not reflected what is known about its evolutionary history, due to the morphological similarities among the species and relative lack of easily discernible distinguishing characteristics. Stern divided the genus into three series according to leaf vernation (the way the leaves are folded in the bud, when viewed in transverse section, see Description);


title: Galanthus

text: Stern further utilised characteristics such as the markings of the inner segments, length of the pedicels in relation to the spathe, and the colour and shape of the leaves in identifying and classifying species


title: Galanthus

text: By contrast Davis, with much more information and specimens, included biogeography in addition to vernation, forming two series. He used somewhat different terminology for vernation, namely applanate (flat), explicative (plicate), and supervolute (convolute). He merged "Nivalis" and "Plicati" into series "Galanthus", and divided "Latifolii" into two subseries, "Glaucaefolii" and "Viridifolii" .


title: Galanthus

text: Early molecular phylogenetic studies confirmed the genus was monophyletic and suggested four clades, which were labelled as series, and showed that Davis' subseries were not monophyletic. An expanded study in 2013 demonstrated seven major clades, corresponding to biogeographical distribution. This study used nuclear encoded nrITS (Nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer), and plastid encoded "matK" (Maturase K), "trnL-F", "ndhF", and "psbK–psbI", and examined all species recognised at the time, as well as two naturally occurring putative hybrids. The morphological characteristic of vernation that earlier authors had mainly relied on was shown to be highly homoplasious. A number of species, such as "G. nivalis" and "G. elwesii" demonstrated intraspecific biogeographical clades, indicating problems with speciation and there may be a need for recircumscription. These clades were assigned names, partly according to Davis' previous groupings. In this model clade, the group containing "G. platyphyllus" is sister to the rest of the genus.


title: Galanthus

text: By contrast, another study performed at the same time, using both nuclear and chloroplast DNA, but limited to the 14 species found in Turkey, largely confirmed Davis' series and subseries, and with biogeographical correlation. Series "Galanthus" in this study corresponded to clade nivalis, subseries "Glaucaefolii" with clade Elwesii and subseries "Viridifolii" with clades Woronowii and Alpinus. However, the model did not provide complete resolution.


title: Galanthus

text: "Galanthus" is derived from the Greek γάλα ("gala"), meaning "milk" and ἄνθος ("anthos") meaning "flower", alluding to the colour of the flowers. The epithet "nivalis" is derived from the Latin, meaning "of the snow". The word "Snowdrop" may be derived from the German "Schneetropfen" (snow-drop), the tear drop shaped pearl earrings popular in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Other, earlier, common names include Candlemas bells, Fair maids of February, and White ladies (see Symbols).


title: Galanthus

text: Snowdrops are hardy herbaceous plants that perennate by underground bulbs. They are among the earliest spring bulbs to bloom, although a few forms of "G. nivalis" are autumn flowering. In colder climates, they will emerge through snow (see illustration). They naturalise relatively easily forming large drifts. These are often sterile, found near human habitation, and also former monastic sites. The leaves die back a few weeks after the flowers have faded. "Galanthus" plants are relatively vigorous and may spread rapidly by forming bulb offsets. They also spread by dispersal of seed, animals disturbing bulbs, and water if disturbed by floods.


title: Galanthus

text: Some snowdrop species are threatened in their wild habitats, due to habitat destruction, illegal collecting, and climate change. In most countries collecting bulbs from the wild is now illegal. Under CITES regulations, international trade in any quantity of "Galanthus", whether bulbs, live plants, or even dead ones, is illegal without a CITES permit. This applies to hybrids and named cultivars, as well as species. CITES lists all species, but allows a limited trade in wild-collected bulbs of just three species ("G. nivalis", "G. elwesii", and "G. woronowii") from Turkey and Georgia. A number of species are on the IUCN Red List of threatened species, with the conservation status being "G. trojanus" as critically endangered, four species vulnerable, "G. nivalis" is near threatened and several species show decreasing populations. "G. panjutinii" is considered endangered. One of its five known sites, at Sochi, was destroyed by preparations for the 2014 Winter Olympics.


title: Galanthus

text: "Galanthus" species and cultivars are extremely popular as symbols of spring and are traded more than any other wild-source ornamental bulb genus. Millions of bulbs are exported annually from Turkey and Georgia. For instance export quotas for 2016 for "G. elwesii" were 7 million for Turkey. Quotas for "G. worononowii" were 5 million for Turkey and 15 million for Georgia. These figures include both wild-taken and artificially propagated bulbs.


title: Galanthus

text: Celebrated as a sign of spring, snowdrops may form impressive carpets of white in areas where they are native or have been naturalised. These displays may attract large numbers of sightseers. There are a number of snowdrop gardens in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. Several gardens open specially in February for visitors to admire the flowers. Sixty gardens took part in Scotland's first Snowdrop Festival (1 Feb–11 March 2007). Several gardens in England open during snowdrop season for the National Gardens Scheme (NGS) and in Scotland for Scotland's Gardens. Colesbourne Park in Gloucestershire is one of the best known of the English snowdrop gardens, being the home of Henry John Elwes, a collector of Galanthus specimens, and after whom "Galanthus elwesii" is named.


title: Galanthus

text: Numerous single- and double-flowered cultivars of "Galanthus nivalis" are known, and also of several other "Galanthus" species, particularly "G. plicatus" and "G. elwesii". Also, many hybrids between these and other species exist (more than 500 cultivars are described in Bishop, Davis, and Grimshaw's book, plus lists of many cultivars that have now been lost, and others not seen by the authors). They differ particularly in the size, shape, and markings of the flower, the period of flowering, and other characteristics, mainly of interest to the keen (even fanatical) snowdrop collectors, known as "galanthophiles", who hold meetings where the scarcer cultivars change hands.  Double-flowered cultivars and forms, such as the extremely common "Galanthus nivalis" f. "pleniflorus" 'Flore Pleno', may be less attractive to some people, but they can have greater visual impact in a garden setting. Cultivars with yellow markings and ovaries rather than the usual green are also grown, such as 'Wendy's Gold'. Many hybrids have also occurred in cultivation.


title: Galanthus

text: Propagation is by offset bulbs, either by careful division of clumps in full growth ("in the green"), or removed when the plants are dormant, immediately after the leaves have withered; or by seeds sown either when ripe, or in spring. Professional growers and keen amateurs also use such methods as "twin-scaling" to increase the stock of choice cultivars quickly.


title: Galanthus

text: In 1995, Árpád Pusztai genetically modified potatoes to express the GNA gene, which he discussed on a radio interview in 1998, and published in the "Lancet" in 1999. These remarks started the so-called Pusztai affair. This early research caused the GNA to be found in the edible part of the plant, i.e. in the potato.


title: Galanthus

text: Using improved techniques, 22 years later, in 2017, a research team at the Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, China created another transgenic potato plant. These plants produce potatoes that do not contain any GNA. These plants express GNA in their leaves, stems, and roots. They show a reduction in the number of potato aphids and peach-potato aphids per plant of up to 50%.