title: 501(c) organization

text: In 1969, Congress passed a law stating that social and recreational clubs were permitted to engage in some unrelated business income, subject to income tax.


title: 501(c) organization

text: The society must have members of a similar calling, recreation, or profession, or members who work together to accomplish a worthy goal. The members have associated themselves in order to help each other and to promote the common cause. The society must have written documentation of its eligibility standards for membership, classes of membership, a process of admission, and rights and privileges of members.


title: 501(c) organization

text: The members must have a common bond, which may be based on religious beliefs, gender, occupation, ethnicity, or shared values.


title: 501(c) organization

text: The society must have a supreme governing body and subordinate lodges into which members are elected, initiated, or admitted in accordance with its laws. The supreme governing body should be composed of delegates elected directly by members or intermediate assemblies.


title: 501(c) organization

text: The society must offer benefits to members, which may include life insurance, medical insurance, scholarships, educational programs, travel opportunities, and discount programs. Revenue generated from providing benefits to non-members must be insubstantial to the society and may be taxable as unrelated business income.


title: 501(c) organization

text: An individual's donation to a fraternity is only a tax-deductible charitable contribution if the contribution "is to be used exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, literary, or educational purposes, or for the prevention of cruelty to children or animals."


title: 501(c) organization

text: Fraternal benefit societies trace their lineage back through mutual benefit societies, friendly societies and eventually to medieval guilds. Many fraternal benefit societies were founded to serve the needs of immigrants and other under-served groups who shared common bonds of religion, ethnicity, gender, occupation or shared values.


title: 501(c) organization

text: Section 38 of the Payne–Aldrich Tariff Act of 1909 was the first law to provide a tax-exemption for fraternal beneficiary societies. The tax-exemption was later codified as section 501(c)(8) with the Internal Revenue Code of 1954.


title: 501(c) organization

text: There are two primary types of eligible cemetery companies. A mutual cemetery company must be either "owned by and operated exclusively for the benefit of its lot owners who hold such lots for bona fide burial purposes and not for the purpose of resale" or engages in the burial of impoverished people performing similar charitable activities. A nonprofit cemetery corporation must be incorporated solely for the purpose of the burial or the cremation of bodies and no part of its net earnings inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual. Any net gain by the cemetery must be devoted to certain cemetery functions, such as the cemetery's operations, maintenance, and improvements; acquisition of cemetery property; and investment of the net gain in order to provide additional income for cemetery functions. Net gains are not allowed to be distributed to individuals.


title: 501(c) organization

text: The cemetery may restrict burials and cremations to a certain group of people, such as impoverished people, people adherent to a certain religion, or people who lived in a certain community, as long as it still serves a broad class of people and operates for public purposes, but a 501(c)(13) organization may not enforce overly restrictive restrictions.


title: 501(c) organization

text: A perpetual care fund that is used by a profit-making cemetery to maintain cemetery properties and burial lots is not eligible under 501(c)(13). On the other hand, a nonprofit organization may have a perpetual care fund without jeopardizing its exemption under Section 501(c)(13).


title: 501(c) organization

text: A cemetery that owns or operates a morgue, whether on its own grounds or elsewhere, is not eligible under 501(c)(13) because the Internal Revenue Service does not consider mortuary services necessarily incident to burial purposes. The provision of traditional burial services that directly support and maintain basic tenets and beliefs of a religion regarding burial of its members" may still be eligible under 501(c)(13).


title: 501(c) organization

text: A cemetery company wishing to be recognized under Section 501(c)(13) needs to prepare and file Form 1024 with the Internal Revenue Service.


title: 501(c) organization

text: Charitable contributions to a 501(c)(13) organization are tax-deductible to the donor. Payments for perpetual care of a particular lot or a particular crypt are not considered tax-deductible charitable contributions. Payments made as part of the purchase price of a burial lot or crypt are not considered tax-deductible charitable contributions, even if a portion of the payment is for the perpetual care of the entirety of the cemetery. Bequests or gifts to a 501(c)(13) cemetery is not deductible for federal estate tax purposes or gift tax purposes.


title: 501(c) organization

text: Historically, cemeteries were exempt from local property taxes and excise taxes in most states because states generally considered cemeteries to be performing a recognized civic service.


title: 501(c) organization

text: The Tariff Act of 1913 provided an exemption from federal income taxes for mutual cemetery companies that were organized and operated exclusively "for the benefit of their members". In 1921, Congress extended the tax-exemption to cemetery companies that are not mutual and to cemetery companies that are not operated for profit as well as any corporation solely incorporated to operate a cemetery and whose net gains do not inure to any person.


title: 501(c) organization

text: In 1970, Congress included crematorium in the definition of cemetery for the purposes of Section 501(c)(13).


title: Bitter Moon

text: Bitter Moon is a 1992 erotic romantic thriller film directed by Roman Polanski and starring Peter Coyote, Emmanuelle Seigner, Hugh Grant and Kristin Scott Thomas. The film's French title is "" (a pun on the French phrase "lune de miel", meaning "honeymoon"). It is based on the novel "Lunes de fiel" by the French author Pascal Bruckner, published in English as "Evil Angels". The score was composed by Vangelis.


title: Bitter Moon

text: British couple Nigel and Fiona Dobson are on a Mediterranean cruise ship to Istanbul en route to India. They encounter a beautiful French woman, Mimi, and that night Nigel meets her while dancing alone in the ship's bar. Later Nigel meets her much older and disabled American husband, Oscar, who is a failed writer—acerbic, cynical and jaded.


title: Bitter Moon

text: Oscar invites Nigel to his cabin where he tells Nigel in great detail how he and Mimi first met on a bus in Paris and fell passionately in love. Nigel relates all to Fiona. Both are appalled by Oscar's exhibitionism, but Nigel is also fascinated by Mimi, who provokes him. Later, Oscar narrates how they explored bondage, sadomasochism, and voyeurism. As a contrast to their sexual adventurousness, we see Nigel and Fiona meeting a distinguished Indian gentleman, Mr. Singh, who is traveling with his little daughter Amrita.


title: Bitter Moon

text: Invited by Mimi, Nigel, escaping from a bridge game, goes to meet her in her cabin, but it turns out she and Oscar have played a joke on him. Nigel wants to leave, but another session unfolds, with Oscar describing how their hate/love relationship developed. Bored, he tried to break up, but Mimi begged him to let her live with him under any conditions. He complied, but started to explore sadistic fantasies at her expense, humiliating her in public. When Mimi became pregnant, he made her have an abortion, saying that he would be a terrible father. When he visited her in hospital, he was shocked by her condition and almost relented in his attempts to drive her away. He promised her a holiday in the Caribbean, but he got off the plane just before takeoff. Mimi departed alone, crying.


title: Bitter Moon

text: Leaving Oscar's cabin, Nigel meets Mimi and they kiss. Afterwards, he finds Fiona in the bar flirting with a young man. She warns Nigel not to stray too far, and that anything he can do, she can do better. Nigel goes to Oscar, who continues his narration. After two years of parties and one-night stands, he drunkenly stepped in front of a vehicle by accident. To his surprise, Mimi came to visit him in the hospital where he was recovering from minor injuries and a fractured femur. Mimi shook hands with him, then pulled him out of his bed and left him hanging in his traction device. Having become paraplegic this way, Oscar had no choice but to let Mimi move in with him again and take care of him. She reveled in dominating and humiliating him, seducing men in front of him. When Oscar was desperate and wanted to die, she gave him a gun as a birthday present. Having experienced highs and lows together, they realized they needed each other and actually got married.


title: Bitter Moon

text: Nigel clumsily tries to woo Mimi, encouraged and coached by Oscar. Things come to a head at the New Year's Eve party, when Fiona sees them dance together. Fiona tells him that Oscar had made her come to the party. She goes on to dance erotically with Mimi, which culminates in a passionate kiss, cheered on by the other partygoers. A stormy sea interrupts the party and the two women leave together. Nigel goes outside clutching a bottle of liquor and screams his frustration into the wind and waves.


title: Bitter Moon

text: Nigel finds Fiona in Oscar's cabin, sleeping naked side by side with Mimi. Oscar claims the women have had sex together. Nigel grabs his throat, but Oscar points a gun at him and he backs off. Oscar shoots the sleeping Mimi several times, then kills himself. While the bodies of Oscar and Mimi are being stretchered off the ship, Fiona and Nigel, shaken, embrace each other. Mr. Singh encourages his little girl to comfort them.


title: Bitter Moon

text: On its release in Europe (in 1992) and North America (in 1994), "Bitter Moon" was a commercial failure and received mixed reviews from critics. "Variety" commented that "Roman Polanski approaches rock bottom" and called the film "a phony slice of "huis clos" drama" with "a script that's all over the map and a tone that veers from outre comedy to erotic game-playing." Janet Maslin wrote in "The New York Times": "Whatever else Mr. Polanski may be – nasty, mocking, darkly subversive in his view of the world – he definitely isn't dull. "Bitter Moon" is the kind of world-class, defiantly bad film that has a life of its own." A positive review came from Roger Ebert, who said "Polanski directs it without compromise or apology, and it's a funny thing how critics may condescend to it, but while they're watching it you could hear a pin drop." "Time Out" commented that "Polanski treats this slightly protracted tale of erotic obsession partly as deeply ironic black comedy", "rich and darkly disturbing" and "also wickedly entertaining." Reviewing the film in 2009, Scott Tobias wrote: ""Bitter Moon" is my favorite of the later-period Polanski films...nasty, potent, and psychologically knotty in a way that recalls the devil-may-care, "enfant terrible" Polanski of old." According to journalist Matthew Tempest, he and film director Christopher Nolan shared "a soft spot" for "Bitter Moon" as students.


title: Bitter Moon

text: The film's score by Vangelis was never officially released for sale, although bootlegs of the music taken directly from the film itself have since been produced.


title: Mamnoon Hussain

text: Mamnoon Hussain was born in Agra, British India in 1941 to Ustad Zafar Hussain. His family's ancestral occupation was in the trade of leather and footwear. They moved to Karachi in 1949. After being homeschooled, Hussain enrolled in the Karachi University where he studied for the Commerce degree. After graduating from the Karachi University in 1963, he entered in the master's program at the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) in Karachi, and obtained his MBA degree in 1965.


title: Mamnoon Hussain

text: Initially supporting and strengthening his father's business, he later founded his own textile company in Karachi. He later joined the center-right Pakistan Muslim League in 1970, working as a party worker. In 1997, he earned public notability as a business leader when he was elected as president of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry, serving until May 1999.


title: Mamnoon Hussain

text: Hussain began to take interest in national politics in 1968 when he became chairman and joined the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) led by Nurul Amin. Initially, an activist with reformist zeal in 1968, Hussain became joint secretary of the Pakistan Muslim League's Karachi chapter. In 1993, he officially joined the PML(N) led by Nawaz Sharif and was appointed the Finance Secretary of the PML(N) in Sindh.


title: Mamnoon Hussain

text: In June 1999, he became the Governor of Sindh, but his term was cut short on 12 October 1999 when the PML(N) government was ousted in a military coup. His credentials as a politician devoted to the cause of democracy were established when he became a political prisoner after raising his voice against the military regime of Pervez Musharraf.


title: Mamnoon Hussain

text: Azhar Haroon, the former president of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said: "He had no political affiliation until 1999 but his polite discourse and professional ability impressed Nawaz Sharif, who appointed him as the Governor of Sindh". He was a relatively lesser-known figure, described as loyal to Nawaz Sharif, and was elected as President of Pakistan as the official nominee of the PML-N in the July 2013 presidential election. Hussain secured 432 votes and his only rival Wajihuddin Ahmed received 77. He was sworn in on 9 September 2013 in a ceremony held at Aiwan-e-Sadr, attended by mainstream political and military leadership alongside foreign dignitaries, media personnel and his close relatives. At the time of assuming the office of president, he became the second oldest president of Pakistan. His term for the presidency ended on 8 September 2018.


title: Mamnoon Hussain

text: On 19 October 2017 while giving a speech at the USTB, Hussain blasted the leadership of his own party saying that the government had taken a loan of 14,800 billion PKR but no new schools or hospitals had been built in the past 4 years. The speech was ignored and not broadcast on mainstream media.


title: Mamnoon Hussain

text: In February 2020, Hussain was diagnosed with cancer and was under treatment. On 14 July 2021, he died in Karachi, aged 79.


title: Jaws (novel)

text: Jaws is a 1974 novel by American writer Peter Benchley. It tells the story of a great white shark that preys upon a small resort town and the voyage of three men trying to kill it. The novel grew out of Benchley's interest in shark attacks after he learned about the exploits of Montauk, New York shark fisherman Frank Mundus in 1964. Doubleday commissioned him to write the novel in 1971, a period when Benchley worked as a freelance journalist.


title: Jaws (novel)

text: Through a marketing campaign orchestrated by Doubleday and paperback publisher Bantam, "Jaws" was incorporated into many book sales clubs catalogues and attracted media interest. After first publication in February 1974, the novel was a great success, with the hardback staying on the bestseller list for 44 weeks and the subsequent paperback selling millions of copies in the following year. Reviews were mixed, with many literary critics finding the prose and characterization lacking despite the novel's effective suspense.


title: Jaws (novel)

text: Film producers Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown read the novel before its publication and bought the film rights, selecting Steven Spielberg to direct the film adaptation. The film "Jaws" released in June 1975, omitted practically all of the novel's several subplots, mainly focusing on the shark and the characterizations of the three protagonists. "Jaws" became the highest-grossing movie in history up to that time, becoming a watershed film in motion picture history and the first summer blockbuster film. Three sequels followed the film, which were met with mixed to negative responses.


title: Jaws (novel)

text: The story is set in Amity, a fictional seaside resort town on the south shore of Long Island, New York within the "Hamptons" region; the novel places it halfway between Bridgehampton and East Hampton. One night, a massive great white shark kills a young tourist named Chrissie Watkins while she skinny dips in the open waters after she and a man make love on the beach. After finding what remains of her body washed up on the beach, investigators realize she was attacked by a shark. Police chief Martin Brody orders Amity's beaches closed, but mayor Larry Vaughn and the town's selectmen overrule him out of fear for damage to summer tourism, the town's main industry. With the connivance of Harry Meadows, the editor of the local newspaper, they hush up the attack.


title: Jaws (novel)

text: A few days later, the shark kills a young boy named Alex Kintner and Morris Cater, an elderly man, not far from shore. A local fisherman, Ben Gardner, is hired by Amity's authorities to kill the shark, but disappears. Brody and his deputy Leonard Hendricks find Gardner's boat anchored off-shore, empty and covered with large bite holes, one of which has a massive shark tooth stuck in it. Blaming himself for these deaths, Brody again attempts to close the beaches, while Meadows investigates the Mayor's business contacts to find out why he is determined to keep the beaches open. Meadows discovers Vaughn has ties to the Mafia, who are pressuring the mayor to keep the beaches open in order to protect the value of Amity's real estate, in which the Mafia has invested a great deal of money. Meadows also recruits ichthyologist Matt Hooper from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution for advice on how to deal with the shark.


title: Jaws (novel)

text: Meanwhile, Brody's wife Ellen is missing the affluent lifestyle she had before marrying Brody and having children. She instigates a sexual encounter with Matt Hooper, who is the younger brother of David Hooper, a man she used to date. The two go to a motel after Ellen invites him to lunch at a restaurant several miles away from Amity. Throughout the rest of the novel, Brody suspects the two have had a liaison and is tormented by the thought.


title: Jaws (novel)

text: With the beaches still open, tourists pour into the town, hoping to glimpse the killer shark. Brody sets up patrols on the beaches to watch for the fish. After a boy narrowly escapes another attack close to the shore, Brody closes the beaches and hires Quint, a professional shark hunter, to kill the shark. Brody, Quint and Hooper set out on Quint's vessel, the "Orca", and the three men are soon at odds with one another. Quint dislikes Hooper, dismissing him as a spoiled rich college boy. Hooper is angry over Quint's methods, especially when he disembowels a blue shark, and uses an illegally caught unborn baby dolphin for bait. Brody and Hooper also argue, as Brody's suspicions about Hooper's possible tryst with Ellen grow stronger; at one point, a heated argument ensues with Brody strangling Hooper for several seconds.


title: Jaws (novel)

text: Their first two days at sea are unproductive, although they do come in contact with the shark by the end of the second day. Upon seeing it for the first time and estimating the shark must be at least long and weighing over , Hooper is visibly excited and in awe at the size of it.


title: Jaws (novel)

text: Larry Vaughn visits the Brody house before Brody returns home and informs Ellen that he and his wife are leaving Amity. Before he leaves, he tells Ellen that he always thought they would have made a great couple. After he is gone, Ellen reflects that her life with Brody is much more fulfilling than any life she might have had with Vaughn, and begins feeling guilty over her prior thoughts of missing the life she had before marrying Brody.


title: Jaws (novel)

text: On the third day, after seeing the size of the shark, Hooper wants to bring along a shark-proof cage, to take photos of it and then to use it in an attempt to kill it with a bang stick. Initially, Quint refuses to bring the cage on board, even after Hooper's offers to pay him $100, considering it a suicidal idea, but he relents after Hooper and Brody get into a heated argument. Later that day, after several unsuccessful attempts by Quint to harpoon the shark, Hooper goes underwater in the shark cage. However, the shark attacks the cage, something Hooper did not expect. After destroying the cage, the shark kills and eats Hooper. Brody informs Quint the town can no longer pay him, but Quint is determined to kill the shark regardless of the reward.


title: Jaws (novel)

text: When Quint and Brody return to sea the following day, the shark begins attacking the boat. After Quint manages to harpoon it several times, the shark leaps out of the water and onto the stern of the "Orca", tearing a huge hole in the aft section which causes the boat to start sinking. Quint plunges another harpoon into the shark's belly, but as it settles back into the water, Quint's foot becomes entangled in the rope attached to the harpoon, and he is dragged underwater to his death. Brody, now floating on a seat cushion, spots the shark slowly swimming towards him; he closes his eyes and prepares for death. However, just as the shark gets within a few feet of him, it succumbs to its many wounds and dies before it can attack. The shark slowly sinks down out of sight, dragging Quint's still entangled body behind it. The lone survivor of the ordeal, Brody watches as the dead shark disappears into the depths and then he paddles back to shore on his makeshift float.


title: Jaws (novel)

text: Peter Benchley had a long time fascination with sharks, which he frequently encountered while fishing with his father Nathaniel in Nantucket. As a result, for years, he had considered writing "a story about a shark that attacks people and what would happen if it came in and wouldn't go away." This interest grew greater after reading a 1964 news story about fisherman Frank Mundus catching a great white shark weighing off the shore of Montauk, New York.


title: Jaws (novel)

text: In 1971, Benchley worked as a freelance writer struggling to support his wife and children. In the meantime, his literary agent scheduled regular meetings with publishing house editors. One of them was Doubleday editor Thomas Congdon, who had lunch with Benchley seeking book ideas. Congdon did not find Benchley's proposals for non-fiction interesting, but instead favored his idea for a novel about a shark terrorizing a beach resort. Benchley sent a page to Congdon's office, and the editor paid him $1,000 for 100 pages. Those pages would comprise the first four chapters, and the full manuscript received a $7,500 total advance. Congdon and the Doubleday crew were confident, seeing Benchley as "something of an expert in sharks", given the author self-described "knowing as much as any amateur about sharks" as he had read some research books and seen the 1971 documentary "Blue Water White Death". After Doubleday commissioned the book, Benchley then started researching all possible material regarding sharks. Among his sources were Peter Matthiessen's "Blue Meridian", Jacques Cousteau's "The Shark: Splendid Savage of the Sea", Thomas B. Allen's "Shadows In The Sea", and David H. Davies' "About Sharks And Shark Attacks".


title: Jaws (novel)

text: Benchley only began writing once his agent reminded him that if he did not deliver the pages, he would have to return the writer's advance. As this money had already been cashed and spent, this was a problem. Benchley's hastily written first-draft partial manuscript was derided by Congdon, who did not like its comic tone. Congdon only approved the first five pages, which went into the eventual book without any changes, and asked Benchley to follow the tone of that introduction. After a month, Benchley delivered rewritten chapters, which Congdon approved, alongside a broader outline of the story. The manuscript took a year and a half to complete. During this time, Benchley worked in his makeshift office above a furnace company in Pennington, New Jersey during the winter, and in a converted turkey coop in the seaside property of his wife's family in Stonington, Connecticut during the summer. Congdon dictated further changes from the rest of the book, including a sex scene between Brody and his wife which was changed to Ellen and Hooper. Congdon did not feel that there was "any place for this wholesome marital sex in this kind of book". After various revisions and rewrites, alongside sporadic payments of the advance, Benchley delivered his final draft in January 1973.


title: Jaws (novel)

text: Benchley was also partly inspired by the Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916 where there were four recorded fatalities and one critical injury from shark attacks from July 1 through July 12, 1916. The story is very similar to the story in Benchley's book with a vacation beach town on the Atlantic coast being haunted by a killer shark and people eventually being commissioned to hunt down and kill the shark or sharks responsible. There is another similarity in the 1916 incident and the book where kids are attacked in a body of water other than the ocean – in the 1916 incident a child and an adult who attempted to save him were attacked and killed in Matawan Creek, a brackish/freshwater creek and in the film adaptation Mike Brody is nearly killed in the "pond" which in reality is a small inland cove that connects to the open ocean through a small tributary.


title: Jaws (novel)

text: Shortly before the book went to print, Benchley and Congdon needed to choose a title. Benchley had many working titles during development, many of which he calls "pretentious", such as "The Stillness in the Water" and "Leviathan Rising". Benchley regarded other ideas, such as "The Jaws of Death" and "The Jaws of Leviathan", as "melodramatic, weird or pretentious". Congdon and Benchley brainstormed about the title frequently, with the writer estimating about 125 ideas raised. The novel still did not have a title until twenty minutes before production of the book. The writer discussed the problem with editor Tom Congdon at a restaurant in New York:


title: Jaws (novel)

text: We cannot agree on a word that we like, let alone a title that we like. In fact, the only word that even means anything, that even says anything, is "jaws". Call the book "Jaws". He said "What does it mean?" I said, "I don't know, but it's short; it fits on a jacket, and it may work." He said, "Okay, we'll call the thing "Jaws".


title: Jaws (novel)

text: For the cover, Benchley wanted an illustration of Amity as seen through the jaws of a shark. Doubleday's design director, Alex Gotfryd, assigned book illustrator Wendell Minor with the task. The image was eventually vetoed for sexual overtones, compared by sales managers to the vagina dentata. Congdon and Gotfryd eventually settled on printing a typographical jacket, but that was subsequently discarded once Bantam editor Oscar Dystel noted the title "Jaws" was so vague "it could have been a title about dentistry". Gotfryd tried to get Minor to do a new cover, but he was out of town, so he instead turned to artist Paul Bacon. Bacon drew an enormous shark head, and Gotfryd suggested adding a swimmer "to have a sense of disaster and a sense of scale". The subsequent drawing became the eventual hardcover art, with a shark head rising towards a swimming woman.


title: Jaws (novel)

text: Despite the acceptance of the Bacon cover by Doubleday, Dystel did not like the cover, and assigned New York illustrator Roger Kastel to do a different one for the paperback. Following Bacon's concept, Kastel illustrated his favorite part of the novel, the opening where the shark attacks Chrissie. For research, Kastel went to the American Museum of Natural History, and took advantage of the Great White exhibits being closed for cleaning to photograph the models. The photographs then provided reference for a "ferocious-looking shark that was still realistic." After painting the shark, Kastel did the female swimmer. Following a photoshoot for "Good Housekeeping", Kastel requested the model he was photographing to lie on a stool in the approximate position of a front crawl. The oil-on-board painting Kastel created for the cover would eventually be reused by Universal Studios on the film posters., albeit slightly bowdlerized with the woman's naked body partially obscured with more sea foam. However, the original painting of the cover was stolen and has never been recovered, leaving Bacon to speculate that some Hollywood executive now had it.


title: Jaws (novel)

text: The story of "Jaws" is limited by how the humans respond to the shark menace. The fish is given much detail, with descriptions of its anatomy and presence creating the sense of an unstoppable threat. Elevating the menace are violent descriptions of the shark attacks. Along with a carnivorous killer on the sea, Amity is populated with equally predatory humans: the mayor who has ties with the Mafia, an adulterous housewife, criminals among the tourists.


title: Jaws (novel)

text: In the meantime, the impact of the predatory deaths resemble Henrik Ibsen's play "An Enemy of the People", with the mayor of a small town panicking over how a problem will drive away the tourists. Another source of comparison raised by critics was "Moby-Dick", particularly regarding Quint's characterization and the ending featuring a confrontation with the shark; Quint even dies the same way as Captain Ahab. The central character, Chief Brody, fits a common characterization of the disaster genre, an authority figure who is forced to provide guidance to those affected by the sudden tragedy. Focusing on a working class local leads the book's prose to describe the beachgoers with contempt, and Brody to have conflicts with the rich outsider Hooper.


title: Jaws (novel)

text: Benchley says that neither he nor anyone else involved in its conception initially realized the book's potential. Tom Congdon, however, sensed that the novel had prospects and had it sent out to The Book of the Month Club and paperback houses. The Book of the Month Club made it an "A book", qualifying it for its main selection, then "Reader's Digest" also selected it. The publication date was moved back to allow a carefully orchestrated release. It was released first in hardcover in February 1974, then in the book clubs, followed by a national campaign for the paperback release. Bantam bought the paperback rights for $575,000, which Benchley points out was "then an enormous sum of money". Once Bantam's rights lapsed years later, they reverted to Benchley, who subsequently sold them to Random House, who has since done all the reprints of "Jaws".


title: Jaws (novel)

text: Upon release, "Jaws" became a great success. According to John Baxter's biography of Steven Spielberg, the novel's first entry on California's best-seller list was caused by Spielberg and producers Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown, who were on pre-production for the "Jaws" film, buying a hundred copies of the novel each, most of which were sent to "opinion-makers and members of the chattering class". "Jaws" was the state's most successful book by 7 p.m. on the first day. However, sales were good nationwide without engineering. The hardcover stayed on "The New York Times" bestseller list for 44 weeks – peaking at number two behind "Watership Down" – selling a total of 125,000 copies. The paperback version was even more successful, topping book charts worldwide, and by the time the film adaptation debuted in June 1975 the novel had sold 5.5 million copies domestically, a number that eventually reached 9.5 million copies. Worldwide sales are estimated at 20 million copies. The success inspired the American Broadcasting Company to invite Benchley for an episode of "The American Sportsman", where the writer wound up swimming with sharks in Australia, in what would be the first of many nature-related television programs Benchley would take part in.


title: Jaws (novel)

text: A 6-part abridged adaptation read by John Guerrasio was broadcast on BBC Radio 7 in 2008. A 10-part abridged adaptation read by Henry Goodman was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2018 as part of their "Book at Bedtime" program.


title: Jaws (novel)

text: An unabridged audio adaptation read by Erik Steele was released by Blackstone Audio in both CD and downloadable format in 2009. A French translation, "Les Dents de la Mer", read by Pascal Casanova was released exclusively by Audible Studios in downloadable format in 2018.


title: Jaws (novel)

text: Despite the commercial success, reviews were mixed. The most common criticism focused on the human characters. Michael A. Rogers of "Rolling Stone" declared that "None of the humans are particularly likable or interesting" and confessed the shark was his favorite character "and one suspects Benchley's also." Steven Spielberg shared the sentiment, saying he initially found many of the characters unsympathetic and wanted the shark to win, a characterization he changed in the film adaptation.


title: Jaws (novel)

text: Critics also derided Benchley's writing. "Time" reviewer John Skow described the novel as "cliché and crude literary calculation", where events "refuse to take on life and momentum" and the climax "lacks only Queequeg's coffin to resemble a bath tub version of "Moby-Dick"." Writing for "The Village Voice", Donald Newlove declared that ""Jaws" has rubber teeth for a plot. It's boring, pointless, listless; if there's a trite turn to make, "Jaws" will make that turn." An article in "The Listener" criticized the plot, stating the "novel only has bite, so to say, at feed time," and these scenes are "naïve attempts at whipping along a flagging story-line." Andrew Bergman of "The New York Times Book Review" felt that despite the book serving as "fluid entertainment", "passages of hollow portentousness creep in" while poor scene "connections [and] stark manipulations impair the narrative."


title: Jaws (novel)

text: Some reviewers found "Jaws"'s description of the shark attacks entertaining. John Spurling of the "New Statesman" asserted that while the "characterisation of the humans is fairly rudimentary", the shark "is done with exhilarating and alarming skill, and every scene in which it appears is imagined at a special pitch of intensity." Christopher Lehmann-Haupt praised the novel in a short review for "The New York Times," highlighting the "strong plot" and "rich thematic substructure." "The Washington Post"s Robert F. Jones described "Jaws" as "much more than a gripping fish story. It is a tightly written, tautly paced study," which "forged and touched a metaphor that still makes us tingle whenever we enter the water." "New York" reviewer Eliot Fremont-Smith found the novel "immensely readable" despite the lack of "memorable characters or much plot surprise or originality"; Fremont-Smith wrote that Benchley "fulfills all expectations, provides just enough civics and ecology to make us feel good, and tops it off with a really terrific and grisly battle scene".


title: Jaws (novel)

text: In the years following publication, Benchley began to feel responsible for the negative attitudes against sharks that his novel engendered. He became an ardent ocean conservationist. In an article for the "National Geographic" published in 2000, Benchley writes "considering the knowledge accumulated about sharks in the last 25 years, I couldn't possibly write "Jaws" today ... not in good conscience anyway. Back then, it was generally accepted that great whites were anthropophagus (they ate people) by choice. Now we know that almost every shark attack on a human is an accident: A shark mistakes a human for its normal prey." Upon his death in 2006, Benchley's widow Wendy declared the author "kept telling people the book was fiction", and comparing "Jaws" to "The Godfather", "he took no more responsibility for the fear of sharks than Mario Puzo took responsibility for the Mafia."


title: Jaws (novel)

text: Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown, film producers at Universal Pictures, both heard about the book before publication at the same time. Upon reading it, both agreed the novel was exciting and deserved a feature film adaptation, even if they were unsure how to accomplish it. Benchley's agent sold the adaptation rights for $150,000, plus an extra $25,000 for Benchley to write the screenplay. Although this delighted the author, who had very little money at the time, it was a comparatively low sum, as the agreement occurred before the book became a surprise bestseller. After securing the rights, Steven Spielberg, who was making his first theatrical film, "The Sugarland Express", for Zanuck, Brown and Universal, was hired as the director. To play the protagonists, the producers cast Robert Shaw as Quint, Roy Scheider as Brody and Richard Dreyfuss as Hooper.


title: Jaws (novel)

text: Benchley's contract promised him the first draft of the "Jaws" screenplay. He wrote three drafts before passing the job over to other writers; the only other writer credited beside Benchley was the author responsible for the shooting script, actor-writer Carl Gottlieb who appears in the film as Harry Meadows. Benchley also appears in the film playing a brief onscreen role as a TV reporter. For the adaptation, Spielberg wanted to preserve the novel's basic concept while removing Benchley's many subplots and altering the characterizations, having found all of the characters of the book unlikable. Among the major changes were the removal of the adulterous affair between Ellen Brody and Matt Hooper and Mayor Larry Vaughn's connections to the mafia. Quint became a survivor of the World War II disaster, and changing the cause of the shark's death from extensive wounds to a scuba tank explosion. The director estimated the final script had a total of 27 scenes that were not in the book. Amity was also relocated; while scouting the book's Long Island setting, Brown found it "too grand" and not fitting the idea of "a vacation area that was lower middle class enough so that an appearance of a shark would destroy the tourist business." Thus now the setting was an island in New England, filmed on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.


title: Jaws (novel)

text: Released in theaters in 1975, "Jaws" became the highest-grossing film ever at the time, a record it held for two years until the release of "Star Wars". Benchley was satisfied with the adaptation, noting how dropping the subplots allowed for "all the little details that fleshed out the characters". The film's success led to three sequels, with which Benchley had no involvement despite them drawing on his characters. According to Benchley, once his payment of the adaptation-related royalties got late, he called his agent and she replied that the studio was arranging a deal for sequels. Benchley disliked the idea, saying, "I don't care about sequels; who'll ever want to make a sequel to a movie about a fish?" He subsequently relinquished the "Jaws" sequel rights, aside for a one-time payment of $70,000 for each one.


title: Vienna Secession

text: The Vienna Secession (; also known as "the Union of Austrian Artists", or "Vereinigung Bildender Künstler Österreichs") is an art movement, closely related to Art Nouveau, that was formed in 1897 by a group of Austrian painters, graphic artists, sculptors and architects, including Josef Hoffman, Koloman Moser, Otto Wagner and Gustav Klimt. They resigned from the Association of Austrian Artists in protest against its support for more traditional artistic styles. Their most influential architectural work was the Secession Building designed by Joseph Maria Olbrich as a venue for expositions of the group. Their official magazine was called "Ver Sacrum" ("Sacred Spring", in Latin), which published highly stylised and influential works of graphic art. In 1905 the group itself split, when some of the most prominent members, including Klimt, Wagner, and Hoffmann, resigned in a dispute over priorities, but it continued to function, and still functions today, from its headquarters in the Secession Building. In its current form, the Secession exhibition gallery is independently led and managed by artists.


title: Vienna Secession

text: The Vienna Secession was founded on 3 April 1897 by artist Gustav Klimt, designer Koloman Moser, architects Josef Hoffmann and Joseph Maria Olbrich, Max Kurzweil, Wilhelm Bernatzik and others. The architect Otto Wagner joined the group shortly after it was founded. The goals stated at the founding included establishing contact and an exchange of ideas with artists outside Austria, disputing artistic nationalism, renewing the decorative arts; creating a "total art", that unified painting, architecture, and the decorative arts; and, in particular, opposing the domination of the official Vienna Academy of the Arts, the Vienna "Künstlerhaus", and official art salons, with its traditional orientation toward Historicism.


title: Vienna Secession

text: The movement took its name from Munich Secession movement that was founded in 1892. The goals of the new movement in Vienna were expressed by the literary critic Hermann Bahr in the first issue of the new journal begun by the group, called "Ver Sacrum" ("Sacred Spring"). Bahr wrote, "Our art is not a combat of modern artists against those of the past, but the promotion of the arts against the peddlers who pose as artists and who have a commercial interest in not letting art bloom. The choice between commerce and art is the issue at stake in our Secession. It is not a debate over aesthetics, but a confrontation between two different spiritual states."


title: Vienna Secession

text: At the beginning, the Secession had fifty members, and at its first elected the painter Gustav Klimt as its president. Other founding or early members included the architect Josef Hoffmann, the designer Koloman Moser, the designer and architect Joseph Maria Olbrich, and the painters Max Kurzweil and Alphonse Mucha, who resided in Paris and was already famous for his Art Nouveau posters. The established painter Rudolf von Alt, eighty-five years old, was chosen as the Honorary President of the group, and he led a delegation with an invitation to the Emperor Franz-Joseph to attend the first Exposition.


title: Vienna Secession

text: The first architectural project of the Secession was the creation of an exhibit space which would introduce international artists and art movements to Vienna. The architect was Joseph Maria Olbrich, a student of Otto Wagner; and his domed gallery building, with a sculptural frieze over the entrance, in the center of Vienna, became the symbol of the movement. It was the first dedicated gallery of contemporary art in the city. This helped make the French Impressionists and others familiar to the Viennese public.


title: Vienna Secession

text: The 14th Secession exhibition in 1902, designed by Josef Hoffmann and dedicated to Ludwig van Beethoven, was especially famous. A statue of Beethoven by Max Klinger stood at the center, with Klimt's Beethoven frieze mounted around it. The Klimt frieze has been restored and can be seen in the gallery today.


title: Vienna Secession

text: In 1899, Olbrich left Vienna to join the Darmstadt Artists’ Colony. In 1900, he obtained Hessian citizenship and did not work in Austria again.


title: Vienna Secession

text: In 1903, Hoffmann and Moser founded the Wiener Werkstätte as a fine-arts society with the goal of reforming the applied arts (arts and crafts). In 1907, Wiener Werkstätte and Hoffmann personally became founding members of Deutscher Werkbund.


title: Vienna Secession

text: An important division soon emerged inside the Secession between those who wished to give precedence to the painters and the traditional fine arts, and others, including Klimt, Hoffmann, Wagner, Moser and others who favored equal treatment for the decorative arts. This dispute came to a head in 1905 when a prominent painter in the group, Carl Moll, proposed that the Secession purchase the Gallery Miethke, as an outlet for its work. This was supported by Klimt, Wagner, Hoffmann, Moser, and others. The issue was put to a vote by the members, and Klimt and his supporters lost by a single vote. On June 14, 1905, Klimt, Hoffmann, Moser and a group of other artists resigned from the Secession.


title: Vienna Secession

text: The Secession continued to function after the departure of Klimt, Hoffmann, Wagner and their supporters, giving regular exhibitions in the Secession building, but they lacked the originality and excitement of the earlier period. The designer Peter Behrens became a member of the Secession in 1938. Under the regime of the Nazi Party the Secession building was destroyed as a symbol of degenerate art, but was faithfully reconstructed following World War II.


title: Vienna Secession

text: In 1945, following the War, Hoffmann rejoined the Vienna Secession, the artistic movement from which he, Klimt and Wagner had dramatically quit in 1905. He was elected President of the Secession from 1948 to 1950. The Secession continues to function today, holding regular exhibitions in the Secession Hall.


title: Vienna Secession

text: Along with painters and sculptors, several prominent architects were associated the Vienna Secession, most notably Joseph Maria Olbrich, Otto Wagner and Josef Hoffmann. In 1897-98 Olbrich designed the Secession Building to display the art of Klimt and the members of the group, and also by foreign artists, including Max Klinger, Eugène Grasset, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and Arnold Bocklin. Josef Hoffmann became the principal designer of exhibitions at the Secession House. The dome and stylized facade became a symbol of the movement.


title: Vienna Secession

text: A group of artists including Koloman Moser, Othmar Schimkowitz, Jože Plečnik, and others, under the direction of architect Otto Wagner, decorated two apartment buildings Wagner designed; the Linke Wienzeile Buildings in 1898–1899. The building at Linke Wienzeile 40 is known as "Majolikahaus" or Majolica House. Its facade is entirely covered with majolica, or colorful fired clay tiles in floral designs. The Art Nouveau ornaments of its facade was done by his student . The other building, "Linke Wienzeile 38", is known as "House with medallions" because of its decor of gilded stucco medallions by Wagner's student and frequent collaborator, Koloman Moser. The most ornate earlier decoration was removed but later restored.


title: Vienna Secession

text: During this period, Otto Wagner also built extraordinarily stylized stations for the new Vienna urban transport system, the Stadtbahn, which also became the symbols of the Secession style. The most famous of these is the Karlsplatz Stadtbahn Station in the center of Vienna, Joseph Maria Olbrich was his collaborator for this project. The style of these buildings marked a transition toward more geometric forms, and the beginnings of modernism.


title: Vienna Secession

text: Wagner's later buildings built after 1899, including the Church of St. Leopold (1902–1907) and especially the Austrian Postal Savings Bank (1903–1906, extended at 1910–12), had straight lines and geometric forms, a striking use of new materials, such reinforced concrete and aluminum, and a minimum of decoration on the facade or inside.


title: Vienna Secession

text: The work of Josef Hoffmann also showed a gradual transition away from floral designs and curving lines. His best-known building, the Palais Stoclet in Brussels, had a tower of stacked cubic forms, minimum ornament on the facade, and an interior of right angles and geometric designs. The only Art Nouveau elements were the murals by Gustav Klimt. The Palais Stoclet best illustrated Hoffmann's transition from Art Nouveau toward modernism.


title: Vienna Secession

text: Secession architects often designed furniture to accompany their architectural projects, along with carpets, lamps, wallpaper, and even bathroom fixtures and even towels. The furniture presented by the Secession at the 1900 Paris Universal Exposition was particularly praised, and won international attention for its creators, including Else Unger and Emilio Zago.


title: Vienna Secession

text: Later in the movement, in 1902, the architect Otto Wagner designed chairs using modern materials, including aluminum, combined with wood, to match the architecture of his Austrian Postal Savings Bank building. In 1905 Josef Hoffmann produced an adjustable-backed chair which reflected the more geometric forms of the late Secession.


title: Vienna Secession

text: Glass, particularly stained glass windows, played a significant part in the Vienna Secession. Leopold Forstner was in important artist in this domain, working closely with Otto Wagner and other architects. He designed the windows for the Austrian Postal Savings Bank, one of the landmarks of the Vienna Secession style, and also for the St. Charles Borromeo Cemetery Church, the most notable of Vienna Secession churches.


title: Vienna Secession

text: Another notable figure in Secession glass art was Johann Loetz Witwe, who made a striking series of iridescent vases which won a gold medal at the 1900 Paris Exposition.


title: Vienna Secession

text: Mosaics of ceramic tiles were another important element of the Vienna Secession style. They were used to decorate both building facades and interiors. Otto Wagner used them to decorate the Majolika House, where they served both as decoration and for a practical purpose; the facade could be efficiently cleaned with the use of fire hoses.


title: Vienna Secession

text: Art Nouveau is called after Vienna Secession in languages of former Austro-Hungary: , , , . Vienna Secession also influenced the Polish movement "Młoda Polska" (Young Poland), that was also inclusive of other than Art Nouveau artistic styles and encompassed a broader approach to art, literature, and lifestyle.


title: Vienna Secession

text: Vienna Secession influenced not only movements but also particular architects, e.g. Russian Illarion Ivanov-Schitz who created his own unique style on its base.


title: Vienna Secession

text: From the mid-1890s onwards, Mintons in England made major contributions to Art Nouveau ceramics, many designed by Marc-Louis Solon's son Leon Solon and his colleague John Wadsworth. Leon Solon was hired by Mintons after his work was published in the hugely influential design magazine "The Studio" and he worked for the company from 1895 to 1905, including a brief stint as Art Director. Solon introduced designs influenced by the Vienna Secession, and a range in earthenware made from about 1901 to 1916 was branded as "Secessionist Ware". It was made mostly using industrial techniques that kept it relatively cheap, and was aimed at a broad market. The range concentrated on items bought singly or in pairs, such as jugs or vases, rather than full table services.


title: Vienna Secession

text: The Secession movement was selected as the theme for an Austrian commemorative coin: the 100 euro Secession commemorative coin minted on 10 November 2004.


title: Vienna Secession

text: On the obverse side there is a view of the Secession exhibition hall in Vienna. The reverse side features a small portion of the "Beethoven Frieze" by Gustav Klimt. The extract from the painting features three figures: a knight in armor representing Armed Strength, one woman in the background symbolizing Ambition and holding up a wreath of victory, and a second woman representing Sympathy with lowered head and clasped hands.


title: Vienna Secession

text: On the obverse side of the Austrian € 0,50 or 50 euro-cent coin, the Vienna Secession Building figures within a circle, symbolising the birth of the movement and a new age in the country.


title: Vienna Secession

text: Some artists from other cities and countries, like Max Liebermann from Berlin or Auguste Rodin and Eugène Grasset from Paris were made corresponding members.


title: Paul the Octopus

text: Paul the Octopus (26 January 2008 – 26 October 2010) was a common octopus used to predict the results of international association football matches. Accurate predictions in the 2010 World Cup brought him worldwide attention as an animal oracle.


title: Paul the Octopus

text: During divinations, Paul's keepers would present him with two food-containing boxes decorated with the flags of the teams in an upcoming match. Whichever box Paul ate from first was considered his prediction for which team would win the match.


title: Paul the Octopus

text: His keepers at the Sea Life Centre in Oberhausen, Germany, mainly tasked him with predicting the outcomes of international matches in which the German team was playing. Paul correctly chose the winning team in four of Germany's six Euro 2008 matches, and all seven of their matches in the 2010 World Cup—including Germany's third place play-off win over Uruguay on 10 July. He also correctly chose Spain as the winner of the 2010 FIFA World Cup final. In all, Paul amassed an overall record of 12 correct predictions out of 14: a success rate of approximately 85.7%.


title: Paul the Octopus

text: Paul was hatched from an egg at the Sea Life Centre in Weymouth, England, and was then moved to a tank at one of the chain's centres at Oberhausen in Germany. Paul's name derived from the title of a poem by the German children's writer Boy Lornsen: "Der Tintenfisch Paul Oktopus".


title: Paul the Octopus

text: According to Sea Life's entertainment director, Daniel Fey, Paul demonstrated intelligence early in life:


title: Paul the Octopus

text: "There was something about the way he looked at our visitors when they came close to the tank. It was so unusual, so we tried to find out what his special talents were."


title: Paul the Octopus

text: The animal rights organisation PETA commented that octopuses are some of the most intelligent of invertebrates, with complex thought processes, long- and short-term memories, and different personalities. They can use tools, learn through observation, and are particularly sensitive to pain, according to the group. They said it would be cruel to keep Paul in permanent confinement. Sea Life Centres responded that it would be dangerous to release him, because he was born in captivity, and was not accustomed to finding food for himself.


title: Paul the Octopus

text: Following Paul's rise to fame, businessmen in Carballiño, a community in Galicia, collected about €30,000 for a "transfer fee" to get Paul as main attraction of the local "Fiesta del Pulpo" festival. Manuel Pazo, a fisherman and head of the local business club assured people that Paul would be presented alive in a tank and not on the menu. Sea Life rejected the offer nevertheless.


title: Paul the Octopus

text: Paul was last checked by staff on 25 October 2010, and was in good health, but the following morning he was found dead. He was aged two-and-a-half, a normal lifespan for the species. His agent, Chris Davies, said "It's a sad day. Paul was rather special but we managed to film Paul before he left this mortal earth". Sea Life Centre manager Stefan Porwoll remembered Paul as an octopus who had "enthused people across every continent".


title: Paul the Octopus

text: Paul's career as an oracle began during the UEFA Euro 2008 tournament. In the lead-up to Germany's international football matches, Paul was presented with two clear plastic boxes, each containing food: a mussel or an oyster. Each container was marked with the flag of a team, one the flag of Germany, and the other the flag of Germany's opponent. The box which Paul opened first (and ate its contents) was deemed to be the predicted winner of the match. There was no method for Paul to pick a draw, despite this being a possible outcome for group stage matches.


title: Paul the Octopus

text: Professor Chris Budd, of the University of Bath, and Professor David Spiegelhalter, of Cambridge University, both compared Paul's success to a run of luck when tossing a coin. Under the hypothesis that Paul was equally likely to choose the winner or the loser of a match, and neglecting the possibility of a draw, he had a 1 in 2 chance of predicting a single result and a 1 in 64 chance of predicting six in a row. This feat would be unlikely to happen by chance alone, but not hugely so. Spiegelhalter points out that there are "other animals that have attempted but failed to predict the outcome of football matches"; it is not remarkable that one animal is more successful than the others, and only the successful animals will gain public attention after the fact.


title: Paul the Octopus

text: There was discussion as to whether differences in flags design could have influenced Paul (despite "Octopus vulgaris" being almost certainly colour blind), or whether he could have been choosing boxes based on differences in their smell.


title: Paul the Octopus

text: In UEFA Euro 2008, Paul predicted Germany to win all of their games, a correct prediction in 4 out of 6 cases. He failed to predict their defeats by Croatia in the group stage, and by Spain in the championship's final.


title: Paul the Octopus

text: Paul's accurate choices for the 2010 World Cup, broadcast live by German news channel n-tv, endowed him with celebrity status. Paul predicted the winners of each of the seven 2010 FIFA World Cup matches that the German team played — against Australia, Serbia, Ghana, England, Argentina, Spain and Uruguay — as well as the tournament's Netherlands vs. Spain final. His prediction that Argentina would lose prompted Argentine chef Nicolas Bedorrou to post an octopus recipe on Facebook.


title: Paul the Octopus

text: Paul correctly predicted the outcome of the semi-final, by choosing the food in the box marked with the Spanish flag. German supporters drew hope from his incorrect choice for the Germany versus Spain match in the UEFA Euro 2008 but were disappointed. The prediction led to German fans calling for Paul to be eaten. In response, the Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero offered to send Paul official state protection, and the Industry Minister Miguel Sebastian called for Paul to be given safe haven in Spain.


title: Paul the Octopus

text: Paul's notoriety attracted criticism from the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who accused him of being a symbol of Western decadence and decay. Ahmadinejad went on to say that "Those who believe in this type of thing cannot be the leaders of the global nations that aspire, like Iran, to human perfection, basing themselves in the love of all sacred values."


title: Paul the Octopus

text: Some other German oracles did not fare so well in the World Cup. The animals at the Chemnitz Zoo were wrong on all of Germany's group-stage games, with Leon the porcupine picking Australia, Petty the pygmy hippopotamus spurning Germany's apple-topped pile of hay (instead of Serbia), and Anton the tamarin eating a raisin representing Ghana.


title: Paul the Octopus

text: Mani the parakeet of Singapore became famous for correctly predicting the results of all four quarter-final matches. Mani contradicted Paul by picking the Netherlands to win the final, resulting in some media outlets describing the game as an "octopus-versus-parakeet showdown".


title: Paul the Octopus

text: Rabio the Octopus who correctly predicted the results of all of Japan’s group stage games at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, was killed and sent to market, on 2 July 2018 by the Japanese fisherman who had caught it.


title: Paul the Octopus

text: A 2010 Chinese thriller film "Kill Octopus Paul" depicts Paul's predictions as being part of an international match-fixing scheme.


title: Paul the Octopus

text: On 17 June 2014, during the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Paul was featured in a Google "doodle". He was represented as in heaven, perched on a billowy bed of clouds and adorned with a halo; when animated, he appeared to vacillate in his predictions for the day's matches. Paul was again featured on 13 July in the doodle for the 2014 final. In that doodle, clicking on the clouds in the upper left brings up an image of Paul, similar to that in the earlier doodle, "cheering" on the final from heaven.


title: FIFA 19

text: FIFA 19 is a football simulation video game developed by EA Vancouver and released by Electronic Arts on 28 September 2018 for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Microsoft Windows. It is the 26th installment in the "FIFA" series.


title: FIFA 19

text: As with "FIFA 18", Cristiano Ronaldo featured as the cover athlete of the regular edition: however, following his unanticipated transfer from Real Madrid to Juventus, new cover art was released. He also appeared with Neymar in the cover of the Champions edition. From February 2019, an updated version featured Neymar, Kevin De Bruyne and Paulo Dybala on the cover of the regular edition.


title: FIFA 19

text: The game features the UEFA club competitions for the first time, including the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League and the UEFA Super Cup as well. Martin Tyler and Alan Smith return as regular commentators, while the new commentary team of Derek Rae and Lee Dixon feature in the UEFA competitions mode. Composer Hans Zimmer and rapper Vince Staples recorded a new remix of the UEFA Champions League anthem specifically for the game.


title: FIFA 19

text: The character Alex Hunter, who first appeared in "FIFA 17", returns for the third and final installment of "The Journey", entitled, "The Journey: Champions". In June 2019, a free update added the FIFA Women's World Cup as a separate game mode. It is the last FIFA game to be available on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and the last known game to be physically available for the PlayStation 3 worldwide.


title: FIFA 19

text: Gameplay changes on "FIFA 19" include the new "Active Touch System"— an overhaul of player control, "timed finishing"— where the kick button may be pressed a second time to determine the exact moment the ball is actually kicked, "50/50 battles"— a system for determining how likely a player will win loose balls, and "Dynamic Tactics"— which allows players to configure strategies, and switch between them in real-time during a match.


title: FIFA 19

text: "FIFA 19" introduces the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Super Cup competitions to the game, after their licenses with Konami's "Pro Evolution Soccer" expired. The game will have support for promotion and relegation between the Champions League and Europa League. Martin Tyler and Alan Smith return as regular commentators with Derek Rae and Lee Dixon as Champions League commentators. Geoff Shreeves also returns as the touchline reporter as well as Alan McInally providing updates from around the league. New graphics and stadiums have been implemented.


title: FIFA 19

text: Composer Hans Zimmer and rapper Vince Staples recorded a new remix of the UEFA Champions League anthem for "FIFA 19". It can also be heard in the game's reveal trailer.


title: FIFA 19

text: The Nintendo Switch port will receive upgrades over "FIFA 18". On 9 June 2018, EA Sports uploaded an official reveal trailer on their YouTube channel. Cristiano Ronaldo returned as the global cover star for a second consecutive time. He and Neymar appear on the Champions and Ultimate Edition packs. However, Ronaldo was taken off the cover in February. Now, it features Neymar, Kevin De Bruyne and Paulo Dybala on the cover. It includes 55 national teams with 35 licensed leagues.


title: FIFA 19

text: It was confirmed that the game would have a licensed Serie A after being called "Calcio A" (due to licensing issues) in "FIFA 17" and "FIFA 18". The game will include the Chinese Super League, the first FIFA title to do so. However, it was confirmed that the game will not include the Russian Premier League, as it did in "FIFA 18" and previous FIFAs. Russian Premier League teams CSKA Moscow, Spartak Moscow, and Lokomotiv Moscow were kept, while Dinamo Zagreb, Dynamo Kyiv, Slavia Praha, and Viktoria Plzen were added to the game. Boca Juniors appears as "Buenos Aires FC" in the game since the club signed a deal with Konami; for the same reasons, Colo-Colo appears as "CD Viñazur". Once again, due to Konami securing deals with certain Brazilian clubs, the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A is featured in an incomplete form, this time with only 15 clubs, with the notable omissions of São Paulo, Palmeiras, Corinthians, Flamengo and Vasco da Gama, all of which are Konami partners. The remaining Brazilian clubs, while appearing with licensed branding, do not have any of their players licensed due to an ongoing judicial dispute over image rights, which are negotiated individually with each player, unlike other countries.


title: FIFA 19

text: As with every FIFA game, there are new skills included, with Andrés Iniesta's signature move, "La Croqueta" and Watford legend Luther Blissett's famous skill the Emery Spin, featuring in "FIFA 19". 25 new icons have been added to the Ultimate Team in "FIFA 19", including Rivaldo, Roberto Baggio, Johan Cruyff, George Best, Luís Figo, Steven Gerrard, Roy Keane, Ryan Giggs, Bobby Moore, Franco Baresi, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Eusébio, Hidetoshi Nakata, Fabio Cannavaro, Michael Ballack and Frank Lampard. New goal celebrations featured include Kylian Mbappé's 'Little Brother', Roberto Firmino's 'Matador', Mohamed Salah performing a sujud, Neymar's 'Hang Loose', while Cristiano Ronaldo and his nearest teammate both perform Ronaldo's 'Siii' jump together.


title: FIFA 19

text: New stadiums confirmed for "FIFA 19" include the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Molineux Stadium, home of Wolverhampton Wanderers, Craven Cottage, home of Fulham, and the Cardiff City Stadium, home of Cardiff City and Wales national football team, ensuring all 20 English Premier League grounds are featured. There will also be 16 new stadiums from the Spanish La Liga, with 3 more from the Spanish Segunda Division. The only absent stadium from La Liga will be the Camp Nou, due to Barcelona's exclusive deal with rival game "Pro Evolution Soccer 2019". The only new Major League Soccer stadium featured is the Mercedes-Benz Stadium of Atlanta United, joining LA Galaxy's StubHub Center and Seattle Sounders' CenturyLink Field.


title: FIFA 19

text: The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions, known as "FIFA 19: Legacy Edition", do not contain any new gameplay features aside from updated kits and squads.


title: FIFA 19

text: On 29 May 2019, EA announced a free update featuring content from the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup tournament. The DLC updates the women's teams already featured on the game and adds the remaining 10 teams that are participating in the tournament. 20 of the teams in the tournament feature licensed kits and players (Italy has unlicensed kits but correct player names, Chile and Brazil have licensed kits but generic player names, South Africa is completely unlicensed). These new teams can be played in Kick-Off, but not in the fictionalized International Women's Cup mode. The Kick-Off mode features a new scenario in which the player can compete in the final at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais. It is the first time that the FIFA Women's World Cup has been utilized in a video game of some form, though it debuted early in "The Journey: Champions" in Kim Hunter's story mode, with fewer women's teams as opponents along with a fictionalized arena since there was still qualifying during that time as "FIFA 19" was still being developed.


title: FIFA 19

text: The story-based mode that was introduced in "FIFA 17" returns in this installment and continues for the last installment under the title "The Journey: Champions". In this installment, Alex Hunter signs for Real Madrid and tries to become their star player after Cristiano Ronaldo leaves for Italian giants Juventus. As "FIFA 19" has the full Champions League licence, Hunter also competes for Champions League glory. Danny Williams returns trying to carve out a name for himself and compete for the Champions League hardware. Alex Hunter's half-sister, Kim Hunter, tries to compete for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. The game mode features guest stars such as Kevin De Bruyne, Neymar and Paulo Dybala. Gareth Walker and Dino, who previously appeared in "FIFA 17" and "FIFA 18", do not appear in the storyline for unknown reasons, though Walker does send the characters a few abusive tweets during the story. The game also introduces other fictional new characters whose names include Beatriz "Bea" Villanova, who is Alex Hunter's new agent, Danny Williams' estranged brother and Paris Saint-Germain F.C. defender Terry, USWNT coach Marriane de Silva, Real Madrid C.F. coach Bartholomew Cazares, Danny Williams friend Ringo, and Melanie Trembley, a player of the Canada women's national team who serves as Kim Hunter's rival in her story. Also, this story mode is somehow out of order as it allows the player to choose between 3 different characters, altering between different months in the series.


title: FIFA 19

text: The story starts out with Alex Hunter, his half-sister Kim, and Danny Williams watching a video of Hunter's grandfather, Jim Hunter, scoring his 100th career goal for his club in a First Division match at Coventry City. Prior to that (as the calendar flashes back to previous months), they train with their respective teams for the pre-season friendly tournament which is being held in Japan, where in semifinals Danny faces Club América, and Alex is playing against Juventus, who has Cristiano Ronaldo and a mysterious defender (who, in twist of events, is Danny's brother Terry Williams) - ending with Alex and Danny's teams facing each other in the tournament's final (or third place match if Danny's team loses). After it, Toro says to Alex that he never received his apology. Alex either apologizes and reconciles with his former friends, with Li-Li suggesting that they go to eat some sushi, or either becomes Toro's arch-rival, with Li-Li explaining that Alex is just not hanging on with Toro, who is looking forward to face Alex in the next game. Kim Hunter trains with the USWNT and forms a partnership with Alex Morgan. Alex Hunter later meets with Beatriz Villanova, the football agent that contacted him at the end of the previous journey – promising to make Alex an icon in world football. She keeps her promise and tells Alex that Real Madrid have offered him a 5-year contract, which he accepts and heads over to Spain to his new club. Alex is yet to make his Champions League debut and gets help from various mentors in the team to help him boost his stats.


title: FIFA 19

text: Alex and Danny play in the Champions League group stage matches. Alex's group include Tottenham Hotspur or Manchester United (Hunter faces Manchester United if his Premier League club previously was Tottenham Hotspur; Hunter faces Tottenham Hotspur if he didn't choose that club in previous games), Olympique de Marseille and Sporting CP while Danny's group involves his brother Terry's team Paris Saint-Germain (he moved there from Juventus in the transfer window), Ajax and Shakhtar Donetsk. Both Alex and Danny's teams make it out of their groups and are drawn at opposite ends of the bracket. By this point Alex has become increasingly caught up in his brand and sponsor duties from his agents demands and the increasing fame is starting to drive a wedge between his family. This is further seen when Kim comes to visit Alex before the World Cup and Alex does not go to pick her up from the airport due to him being too busy with his new clothing brand, much to both Kim and his mother's dismay. Due to this, Alex is dropped from both the starting XI and substitutes before the second-leg of the first knockout round in the Champions League against Borussia Dortmund, meaning he has to fight his way back to the starting lineup to regain his manager's trust. At the same time Danny is also having agent issues as his friend Ringo and his agent Michael which results in both agents having an argument over Danny wanting a new house or not, with the player given a choice as to which person he sides with. Alex and Beatriz then go to visit Kim before the first Women's World Cup knockout game and Beatriz, having been impressed by Kim's abilities, tells her that she should go pro and not go to college. Back in the Champions League, Alex faces Juventus in the quarterfinal and Manchester United or Manchester City in the semifinal (Hunter only faces Manchester United if his Premier League club previously was Manchester City; Hunter faces Manchester City if he didn't choose that club in previous games) and Danny faces A.S. Roma in the round of 16, Bayern Munich in quarterfinal and once again, his brother's side PSG in the semifinal. Both defeat their rivals and progress to the Champions League Final.


title: FIFA 19

text: Kim and the USA team reach the final of the 2019 FIFA Woman's World Cup where they face up against their national rivals, Canada, led by Melanie Trembley. If USA win the final, Kim celebrates and is later implied to have signed a professional deal with a club. If the team loses the final Kim returns to college to finish her studies, but still hopes to go pro one day. In the 2019 Champions League Final at the Wanda Metropolitano in Madrid, Real Madrid face Danny's (Alex's former) Premier League side. Regardless of who wins the final, the losing character takes their defeat graciously as the other celebrates being crowned the best club team in Europe. Both Danny and Alex reconcile after the final, along with Li-Li and Toro (who was apologized earlier; if Alex was hostile, Toro leaves the pitch). The game ends with Jim telling Alex that he has never been prouder of him and that when he retires, he will be the greatest Hunter of all time, drawing Alex Hunter's journey to an end. The ending of Danny Williams story mode has either him congratulating Terry or being confronted for his loss.


title: FIFA 19

text: In the United Kingdom, "FIFA 19" opened at number-one on the software sales chart, but opening-week sales were down 25% compared to "FIFA 18". In Japan, "FIFA 19" sold 155,641 copies.


title: FIFA 19

text: On Metacritic, the PlayStation 4 version has an aggregate score of 83 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable reviews". "GameSpot" rated it 7 out of 10, with praise towards the presentation, licenses, and new modes, but criticism towards the pitch gameplay, comparing it unfavourably to "PES 2019". "IGN" rated it 8.2 out of 10, stating that it is "an improvement on last year's effort, despite not all new additions quite hitting the mark."


title: Maruti 800

text: The Maruti Suzuki 800 is a city car that was manufactured by Maruti Suzuki in India from 1983 to 2014. The first generation (SS80) was based on the 1979 Suzuki Alto and had an 800 cc F8B engine, hence the moniker. Widely regarded as the most influential automobile in India, about 2.87 million 800s were produced during its course of which 2.66 million were sold in India itself.


title: Maruti 800

text: Produced for 31 years, the Maruti Suzuki 800 remains the second longest production car in India, next only to Hindustan Ambassador.


title: Maruti 800

text: In the 1980s and early 1990s, the name "Maruti" was synonymous with the Maruti Suzuki 800. It remained the best-selling car in India until 2004, when the Maruti Suzuki Alto took the title. It was also exported to a number of countries in South Asia including Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and was also available in Morocco and selected European markets, often sold as the Suzuki Maruti. In an elaborate ceremony held in New Delhi on 14 December 1983, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi handed over keys of the very first car to Mr. Harpal Singh S/O Haridas Singh, who won the ownership rights through a lucky draw. The original 800 was based on the Suzuki Fronte SS80, but a modernized aerodynamic version using the body of the second-generation Alto (SB308) was presented in late 1986. The introduction of this car did revolutionize the automotive industry in India. Right from its inception, it was considered as the first affordable people's car, the first modern era front wheel drive and high speed small contemporary vehicle, and the only reasonably modern car available in India, the incumbent mainstay Hindustan Ambassador and Premier Padmini being based on long-obsolete 1950s designs. The delivery was against bookings done directly with Maruti Udyog Limited (A Govt. of India undertaking). The prospective owner would then have to wait for almost three years after booking till delivery. Such extended waiting times gave rise to some people indulging into black marketing and earning premiums as much as 40%. Cars produced during the early years were essentially Suzuki OEM components imported from Japan and merely assembled by Maruti Udyog Limited at the Gurgaon plant.


title: Maruti 800

text: Exports to neighboring countries commenced in 1987, and were followed by a shipment of 500 cars to Hungary, with the first car arriving on 24 October 1987. Soon, exports to Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia followed, two other markets with less restrictive homologation requirements than Western Europe. After successes there, and in spite of Suzuki's objections, Maruti Suzuki tackled more competitive markets and entered France in 1989, the Netherlands in 1990, followed by England, Malta, and Italy. In markets where Japanese cars had a quota, the 800 was sold as a Maruti, with all mention of Suzuki carefully removed – even the manuals were revised, so as not to fall afoul of the quota requirements. The 800 continued to be sold in Italy and other Western European markets until 2004, when it could no longer be made to meet emissions and safety equipment. The Maruti Suzuki had never been equipped with seat belts until exports began, meaning that such parts originally had to be imported from Japan to be fitted to export market cars, as with everything relating to building left-hand-drive cars. The Maruti also got its first catalytic converter to meet European requirements. The cleaner version first arrived in August 1992 and was originally reserved for Europe.


title: Maruti 800

text: Maruti Suzuki had begun a phase-out of Maruti Suzuki 800 beginning in April 2010. Maruti Suzuki did not have plans to upgrade it to Euro IV or BS IV emission norms. Starting in April 2010, Maruti halted sales of the car in 13 major cities: the four metros of Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and 9 other cities including Kanpur, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad, Agra and Surat, where the law made it mandatory for the vehicles sold to be Euro IV compliant.


title: Maruti 800

text: Another reason cited was the relatively outdated model's declining sales. Maruti Suzuki 800 sales were down by 3.7% in April 2010, when compared with April 2009. Total sales of Maruti Suzuki 800 was 33028 for the period April 2009 to March 2010. The Indian Automobile industry is the seventh largest in the world, with an annual production of over 4 million vehicles and exports of about 600,000. In 2009, India emerged as Asia's fourth largest exporter of automobiles, behind Japan, South Korea and Thailand.


title: Maruti 800

text: After a full model change in 1986, the 800 has undergone some minor facelifts but overall it still remains the same as it was on introduction. The car has reported slipping sales in recent times, mainly due to the introduction of the Alto at a comparable price. The car produces approximately of power and runs on 12 inch wheels. Curb weight is and four passengers (including the driver) fit in. Maruti Suzuki had earlier launched a version with a twelve-valve version of the engine producing , coupled with a five-speed manual transmission (currently found in the Suzuki Alto) but discontinued it after a couple of years. The second generation Maruti Suzuki 800 that was produced from 1986–1997 underwent some changes in its appearance. The original grille that was introduced in 1986 was a horizontal slat grille with 'Maruti 800' monogram at the right hand corner. This grille was replaced by a mesh grille with the Maruti Logo on the centre in October 1994. Also, the bonnet opener that was placed on the bonnet was replaced by an ejection button inside of the car. The hubcaps were also changed from the shiny silver ones to plastic ones. Several new colours were also introduced, such as Maruti Green, St Germaine Red, Pearl White, Neptune Blue, etc.


title: Maruti 800

text: A Euro III emission-compliant version of the car was released in 2005 to meet Indian emissions regulations. An LPG version of the vehicle was also released in 2008. As of September 2009, the company has yet to reach a decision regarding the manufacture of a Euro IV-compliant version of the vehicle because it would increase the retail price. However even stricter emissions regulations which came into effect by April 2010, would mandate Euro IV compliance in major Indian cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore and 2015–2016 for the remainder of the country. By 2005, Maruti Suzuki had planned to phase out the 800 around 2010. but it was still on sale in October 2011. Its main competitor is the less expensive Tata Nano (123,000 compared to 184,641 rupees) which has an 8 percent smaller exterior size and a noisier engine with less torque. But in 2011, Maruti Suzuki declared to relaunch Maruti Suzuki 800 compliant Euro IV emission norms to tap the small car market directly competing Tata Nano but later on Maruti Suzuki decided to phase out as it was not feasible for the company.


title: Solomon Burke

text: Solomon Vincent McDonald Burke (born James Solomon McDonald, March 21, 1936 or 1940 – October 10, 2010) was an American singer who shaped the sound of rhythm and blues as one of the founding fathers of soul music in the 1960s. He has been called "a key transitional figure bridging R&B and soul", and was known for his "prodigious output".


title: Solomon Burke

text: He had a string of hits including "Cry to Me", "If You Need Me", "Got to Get You Off My Mind", "Down in the Valley", and "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love". Burke was referred to honorifically as "King Solomon", the "King of Rock 'n' Soul", "Bishop of Soul", and the "Muhammad Ali of soul". Due to his minimal chart success in comparison to other soul music greats such as James Brown, Wilson Pickett, and Otis Redding, Burke has been described as the genre's "most unfairly overlooked singer" of its golden age. Atlantic Records executive Jerry Wexler referred to Burke as "the greatest male soul singer of all time".


title: Solomon Burke

text: Burke's most famous recordings, which spanned five years in the early 1960s, bridged the gap between mainstream R&B and grittier R&B. Burke was "a singer whose smooth, powerful articulation and mingling of sacred and profane themes helped define soul music in the early 1960s." He drew from his roots—gospel, jazz, country, and blues—as well as developing his own style at a time when R&B, and rock were both still in their infancy. Described as both "Rabelaisian" and also as a "spiritual enigma", "perhaps more than any other artist, the ample figure of Solomon Burke symbolized the ways that spirituality and commerce, ecstasy and entertainment, sex and salvation, individualism and brotherhood, could blend in the world of 1960s soul music."


title: Solomon Burke

text: During the 55 years that he performed professionally, Burke released 38 studio albums on at least 17 record labels and had 35 singles that charted in the US, including 26 singles that made the "Billboard" R&B charts. In 2001, Burke was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a performer. His album "Don't Give Up on Me" won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album at the 45th Annual Grammy Awards in 2003. By 2005 Burke was credited with selling 17 million albums. "Rolling Stone" ranked Burke as No. 89 on its 2008 list of "100 Greatest Singers of All Time".


title: Solomon Burke

text: Burke was born James Solomon McDonald, according to some sources on March 21, 1936, in the upper floor of his grandmother Eleanor Moore's home, a row house in West Philadelphia. Other sources give a similar date and month, but with the year as 1939 or 1940.


title: Solomon Burke

text: Burke was the child of Josephine Moore and an absentee father. His mother Josephine was a nurse, schoolteacher, concert performer and pastor. Burke was consecrated a bishop at birth by his grandmother in the Solomon's Temple, a congregation of the United House of Prayer for All People, which she founded at her home in Black Bottom, West Philadelphia. When Burke was nine, his mother married rabbi and butcher Vincent Burke and had his name changed to Solomon Vincent McDonald Burke. Burke's friends and family called him "Sol". Burke was the godson of Daddy Grace.


title: Solomon Burke

text: Burke credited his grandmother as his main spiritual and musical influence. He learned how to sing all forms of music from his grandmother's coaching him to listen to music on the radio. Burke began preaching at the age of seven at the Solomon's Temple. He was described in his young preaching years as a "frantic sermonizer" and "spellbinding in his delivery"; and was soon nicknamed the "Boy Wonder Preacher" for his charismatic preaching in the pulpit. Burke became a pastor of the congregation at the age of 12, appeared on the radio station WDAS, and later hosted a gospel show on WHAT-AM, mixing songs and sermons in broadcasts from Solomon's Temple. On weekends he traveled with a truck and tent, to Maryland, Virginia, and the Carolinas to carry on the spiritual crusade of his church. Influenced by Superman, "the first sign of a royal persona was evident in the cape that he wore only on Sundays, made from his "blankie" by his grandmother.


title: Solomon Burke

text: Burke had six younger siblings – a sister, Laurena Burke-Corbin (born June 23, 1946), and five brothers: Elec Edward "Alec" (born February 16, 1948), Vladimir H. "Laddie" (born July 31, 1949), Mario "Chuck" (born September 13, 1953), Daniel S. "Danny" (born March 10, 1955), and Jolester R. M. Burke (born September 24, 1958). From an early age Solomon Burke worked to supplement his family's income. He recalled: "I used to deliver grocery orders in a little wagon I made out of fish boxes. When I was seven, I sold newspapers out of my own newsstand on the corner of 40th and Lancaster. I had the first 99-cent car wash, which was located at 40th and Wallace outside Al's Barber Shop. We had it there because he was the only one who would let us use his water. We could wash your car in 20 minutes. I had four or five guys, gave 'em each a nickel for each car." Another briefly held early job was as a hot dog seller at Eddie's Meat Market, where his friend Ernest Evans, later known as Chubby Checker, also worked. Burke eventually graduated from John Bartram High School. He first became a father at 14.


title: Solomon Burke

text: During high school, Burke formed and fronted the quartet, the Gospel Cavaliers. He received his first guitar from his grandmother, later writing his first song, "Christmas Presents". The Cavaliers began performing in churches. It was around this time that Burke met Kae "Loudmouth" Williams, a famed Philadelphia deejay with help from Williams' wife, Viola, who saw Burke and the Cavaliers perform at church. Before entering a gospel talent contest in which a record deal was first prize, the group split up.


title: Solomon Burke

text: Burke entered the contest, held at Cornerstone Baptist Church, as a solo artist and won the contest against eleven other competitors. Soon, several labels including Apollo, Vee-Jay Records and Peacock Records pursued the 15-year-old. Before pursuing the deal, Burke signed Kae Williams as his manager. Williams then took him to Apollo Records introducing him to Bess Berman, who signed him to the label. The move was made after Williams added four years to Burke's age, which led to confusion from the press about his age.


title: Solomon Burke

text: Burke signed with Apollo Records in late 1955, following the departure of gospel singer and the label's primary star Mahalia Jackson to Columbia. After he signed with Apollo, the label's founder Bess Berman and its handlers were reportedly trying to make Burke "the next Harry Belafonte".


title: Solomon Burke

text: Burke recorded nine singles for the label during his two-year tenure, releasing his first single, "Christmas Presents", on Christmas Eve of 1955.


title: Solomon Burke

text: He recorded with musicians including King Curtis and Lester Young. His other Apollo recordings during this early period included "I'm in Love", "I'm All Alone" and "No Man Walks Alone", later collected as his first long-player, "Solomon Burke". These early records did not sell well, although the self-titled album was re-released in 1964 after Burke had experienced some chart success.


title: Solomon Burke

text: Burke gained some notoriety for the Apollo single, "You Can Run (But You Can't Hide)", which he wrote with Charles Merenstein. Due to the song's title borrowing from Joe Louis' quote, "he can run, but he can't hide", Louis was credited as co-writer. Louis helped promote the song by having Burke appear on the "Steve Allen Show" in early 1957. Burke was abruptly dropped from Apollo following a violent argument with manager Kae Williams over performance royalties; Burke claimed Williams had him "blackballed" from the industry following this move. After releasing a few singles for other labels, Burke briefly returned to Apollo under the pseudonym "Little Vincent", releasing one song in 1961, and the label issued a self-titled album in 1962.


title: Solomon Burke

text: Following his initial Apollo departure, Burke struggled to record or get club dates, and an argument with his mother left him homeless. He later moved into a home owned by Ohella Thompson, after Thompson accidentally hit him with her car outside a club.


title: Solomon Burke

text: During this time, Burke studied the Islamic faith and married, but the marriage was annulled. Soon afterwards, he married Delores Clark, Thompson's niece, and soon had seven children.


title: Solomon Burke

text: As his family grew, Burke trained for a while to be a mortician at Eckels College of Mortuary Science, graduating from mortuary science, and finding work at a funeral home. Burke later had his own mortuary business in Los Angeles.


title: Solomon Burke

text: Burke was briefly signed to Herb Abramson's Triumph Records. However, Burke could not record for the label because his contract with Apollo had not yet been dissolved.


title: Solomon Burke

text: In 1959, Philadelphia businessman Marvin Leonard "Babe" Chivian (1925-1972), a "body-and-fender man" and real estate speculator, offered Burke a red Lincoln Continental convertible if he would agree to a management contract with him. Chivian arranged for Burke to be signed to Singular Records, a Philadelphia-based label that was owned by WPEN disc jockey Edwin L. "Larry" Brown and vocal coach Arthur "Artie" Singer, who had a distribution deal with Chess Records. Burke released just two singles for Singular, "Doodle Dee Doo" and "This Little Ring", written by Delores Burke and Marvin Chivian"; neither song charted.


title: Solomon Burke

text: In November 1960, he signed with Atlantic Records. According to Burke, he signed with the label within ten minutes of entering Jerry Wexler's office, reportedly signing a "handshake deal" with Wexler and Ahmet Ertegun.


title: Solomon Burke

text: At the time of Burke's signing, two of Atlantic Records' major stars, Bobby Darin and Ray Charles, had left the label for better deals with Capitol and ABC respectively. According to Alex Halberstadt, "Salvation arrived in the person of Solomon Burke, a soul singer of overwhelming charisma and remarkable stylistic range. ... Wexler and Burke created a string of hits that carried the label financially and represented the first fully realized examples of the classic soul sound." Burke reportedly helped keep Atlantic Records solvent from 1961 to 1965 with his steady run of hit records.


title: Solomon Burke

text: Burke recorded thirty-two singles with Atlantic, most of which hit both the pop and R&B charts. Burke's second single for the label was the country single, "Just Out of Reach (Of My Two Open Arms)", which became his first charted single, reaching No. 24 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and peaking at No. 7 on the R&B charts. The song also became Burke's first million-seller. His next hit came with "Cry to Me", which reached No. 5 on the R&B chart in 1962 and was described as one of the first songs to mix country, R&B and gospel. After the release of "Cry to Me", Burke was one of the first artists to be referred to as a "soul artist". Other hits included Wilson Pickett's "If You Need Me"; "You're Good for Me"; his co-written classic, "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love"; his only number-one single, "Got to Get You Off My Mind"; and "Tonight's the Night". Burke became the first R&B artist to cover a Bob Dylan song with his cover of "Maggie's Farm", which became the B-side of "Tonight's the Night". In 1965, Atlantic released his fifth album, "The Best of Solomon Burke", which peaked at No. 22 on the US charts.


title: Solomon Burke

text: Almost immediately after signing to Atlantic, Wexler and Burke clashed over his branding and the songs that he would record. According to Burke, "Their idea was, we have another young kid to sing gospel, and we're going to put him in the blues bag." As Burke had struggled from an early age with "his attraction to secular music on the one hand and his allegiance to the church on the other," when he was signed to Atlantic Records he "refused to be classified as a rhythm-and-blues singer" due to a perceived "stigma of profanity" by the church, and R&B's reputation as "the devil's music". Burke indicated in 2005: "I told them about my spiritual background, and what I felt was necessary, and that I was concerned about being labeled rhythm & blues. What kind of songs would they be giving me to sing? Because of my age, and my position in the church, I was concerned about saying things that were not proper, or that sent the wrong message. That angered Jerry Wexler a little bit. He said, 'We're the greatest blues label in the world! You should be honored to be on this label, and we'll do everything we can – but you have to work with us.'"


title: Solomon Burke

text: To mollify Burke, it was decided to market him as a singer of "soul music" after he had consulted his church brethren and won approval for the term. When a Philadelphia DJ said to Burke, "You're singing from your soul and you don't want to be an R&B singer, so what kind of singer are you going to be?", Burke shot back: "I want to be a soul singer." Burke's sound, which was especially popular in the South, was described there as "river deep country fried buttercream soul." Burke is credited with coining the term "soul music", which he confirmed in a 1996 interview.


title: Solomon Burke

text: Despite his initial reluctance, shared with several former gospel singers including Aretha Franklin and Wilson Pickett, Burke was "molded into a more secular direction when he signed with Atlantic in the '60s", and became one of "the "backsliders", artists who "preferred a secular acclaim to the gospel obscurity".


title: Solomon Burke

text: He decided eventually that "secular music was not the antithesis of the church but, rather, 'a new avenue, a new dimension to spread the gospel.'" Despite this, "leaving gospel for secular music, as well as integrating secular music into gospel performances, was controversial."


title: Solomon Burke

text: Noted blues scholar Paul Oliver maintains that when Sam Cooke and Burke "turned from gospel singing to the blues", unlike others who had done so previously, "they took the gospel technique with them"; "even the words often secularized gospel songs", and this was coupled with a "screaming delivery, the exploitation of emotional involvement, [and] the frenetic displays of dancing singers."


title: Solomon Burke

text: For Burke, "gospel influences were pervasive. Gospelly chord progressions, organ accompaniment and a style of singing which can only be described as "preaching" have now spread widely into much black popular music." Music critic Mark Deming described Burke as having: "one of the finest voices in popular music, that possessed a churchly authority that was the ideal match for his material which balanced the pleasures of the flesh with the price of the transgression."


title: Solomon Burke

text: "Burke sounded like a Baptist preacher in a country church, and for [Jerry] Wexler he was the first and possibly the greatest of all '60s soul men." Wexler, who considered Burke to be "the greatest male soul singer of all time", pronounced him a "vocalist of rare prowess and remarkable range. His voice is an instrument of exquisite sensitivity." Wexler also described the young Burke's vocal style as "churchy without being coarse."


title: Solomon Burke

text: In 2000, Wexler indicated: "Solomon was beautiful, baby. He sounded just like Dean Martin." In 2003 Wexler assessed Burke: "I rate him at the very top. Since all singing is a trade-off between music and drama, he's the master at both. His theatricality. He's a great actor." Despite his admiration for Burke, Wexler also described Burke as "a piece of work: wily, highly intelligent, a salesman of epic proportions, sly, sure-footed, a never-say-die entrepreneur", while also branding him "a card-carrying fabulist. Solomon has told so many versions of the same happening that it's unreal."


title: Solomon Burke

text: After a string of a dozen hit records, by November 1963 Burke had agreed to be crowned the "King of Rock 'n' Soul" in a ceremony at the Royal Theatre in Baltimore by local deejay Fred Robinson, known professionally as "Rockin' Robin", who also gave him a cape and crown that he always wore on stage. Burke accepted the appellation the "King of Rock 'N' Soul", indicating "without soul, there'd be no rock and without rock, there'd be no soul." The ceremony was repeated each night during the week Burke performed in Baltimore.