title: Ian Beale

text: As a teenager, Ian argues with his father Pete Beale (Peter Dean) over his desire to become a caterer but his grandmother Lou Beale (Anna Wing) encourages him. He starts several businesses and buys a local café soon after graduating from catering college. Ian has several failed romances, including with his childhood friend, Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean). Sharon becomes interested in Simon Wicks (Nick Berry), who was believed to be Ian's half-brother, but they remain close friends. When his cousin Michelle falls pregnant, he is initially suspected to be the father by Pete and Kathy. He starts a relationship with Tina Hopkins (Eleanor Rhodes) and the pair decide to move in together, renting one of Kelvin Carpenter's (Paul J. Medford) father Tony Carpenter's (Oscar James) flats. Ian eventually loses his virginity to her, to his glee. Ian and Tina break up when Tina's parents make an unannounced visit and are unhappy with their living conditions, so they take Tina to Ilford. Ian's uncle Kenny Beale (Michael Attwell) and cousin Elizabeth Beale (Lucy Bayler) visit from New Zealand and Ian and Elizabeth taking a liking to each other, but they break up when Elizabeth constantly flirts with men and she returns home. Ian begins to develop a relationship with Donna Ludlow (Matilda Ziegler), not knowing she is his half-sister until his mother Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth) tells him she was raped as a teenager and gave Donna up for adoption.


title: Ian Beale

text: Ian gets engaged to Cindy Williams (Michelle Collins) in 1989; however, a one-night stand with Simon leaves her pregnant. Cindy marries Ian and claims that the baby she is expecting, Steven Beale, is his, resulting in Ian attempting suicide when he learns the truth. He recovers and causes Simon to have a car accident in revenge so Simon, Cindy and Steven leave Walford together. Ian immerses himself in his catering business but his exploitative working practices alienate his friends, employees and family. He and Cindy later reconcile and Ian is overjoyed to become a father to twins, Peter (Ben Hardy) and Lucy Beale (Melissa Suffield/Hetti Bywater). After opening a fish and chip shop, Ian becomes so obsessed with building his business empire that he neglects Cindy, who decides to leave him for his half-brother, David Wicks (Michael French). Ian wins custody of their children, and makes Cindy so miserable that she hires John Valecue (Steve Weston), a hitman to kill him. Ian is shot but is only clipped by the bullet and recovers. Cindy leaves the country with Steven and Peter and spends a year in Italy before Ian traces them and retrieves the boys. Cindy returns to Walford and wins back custody of the children but is implicated in Ian's shooting. She is jailed on remand and dies several months later in prison during childbirth.


title: Ian Beale

text: Ian has a serious romance with Mel Healy (Tamzin Outhwaite), the manager of his bric-a-brac shop. She proposes to him but later cheats on him with Steve Owen (Martin Kemp). Suspecting that she is planning to leave him, Ian manipulates her by falsely claiming that Lucy is dying from lymphoma. They marry in 1999, but she leaves him during their wedding reception after discovering that Lucy is fine. Ian then pursues a new business venture: development of high-market flats. He begins a casual relationship with his nanny, Laura Dunn (Hannah Waterman), but only commits to her after being declared bankrupt. Laura buys back the fish and chip shop and, despite fearing that Ian is only interested in an inheritance she has received, they marry in May 2001. Their marriage deteriorates when Ian attempts to kiss Mel. He refuses to have a child with Laura, who frequently belittles him. Steven learns that Ian has been visiting local prostitute Janine Butcher (Charlie Brooks), and tells Laura, before moving to New Zealand to live with Simon. Laura forgives Ian on the condition that they have a baby. Although he agrees, Ian has a secret vasectomy and throws Laura out when she becomes pregnant later that year after conning her into signing over control of their businesses.


title: Ian Beale

text: Laura's son Bobby (Kevin Curran) requires a blood transfusion shortly after his birth, making Laura realise that Ian must be his father, as her lover Garry Hobbs (Ricky Groves) is not a match. Laura dies in 2004, breaking her neck after falling down the stairs. Ian takes custody of Bobby and also takes in his half-brother Ben Mitchell, following the death of their mother. Ian fights Ben's father Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) for custody, worsening their long-standing enmity which stems from Phil's disastrous marriage to Ian's mother Kathy. Ian meets a new romantic interest, Jane Collins (Laurie Brett), in 2004. He helps her to come to terms with the death of her husband, David Collins (Dan Milne) from Huntington's disease, and, although their relationship is severely tested when Jane has a brief affair with Phil's brother, Grant Mitchell (Ross Kemp), they marry in July 2007. Steven returns to Walford and stalks Ian, escalating to holding him hostage for several weeks. He accidentally shoots Jane during an altercation, which results in her needing a hysterectomy. Ian forgives Steven but banishes him from his life when he helps Lucy run away. Ian and Jane temporarily separate over Ian's reluctance to adopt a child. When Lucy falls pregnant, she suggests that Jane raise the baby as her own. Jane and Ian agree but he secretly helps Lucy to have an abortion, lying to Jane that she miscarried. Jane later learns the truth and decides to steal Ian's money and leave him. Ian arranges for her to adopt Bobby, and is devastated to discover Jane's plans. Although she decides to remain with him, Ian begins an affair with Glenda Mitchell (Glynis Barber), who later blackmails Ian, forcing him to confess the adultery to Jane. A disgusted Peter leaves Walford and joins Lucy in Devon. Jane and Ian divorce but continue to live together; however, their acrimony upsets Bobby and Jane leaves Walford in May 2011 as a result. Ian attempts to move on by filling an urn with cigarette ash, pretending that he is a widower and that the ashes are Jane in order to gain attention from women. However, his ruse is soon uncovered.


title: Ian Beale

text: Feeling dejected, Ian goes to a strip club in August 2011 and is stunned to see Mandy Salter (Nicola Stapleton) being thrown out. Ian helps Mandy out and allows her to stay with him. Mandy helps Ian discover his more frivolous side and he realises he has feelings for her. They begin a relationship, realising that they both yearn for someone to love them, and Mandy accepts Ian's impromptu marriage proposal. Following the death of relative Pat Evans (Pam St Clement), Ian's daughter Lucy returns to Walford, angry at Ian for not telling her about Pat's death. She decides to move in with her father and takes a disliking to Mandy. The relationship is marred by Mandy's one-night stand with Ricky Butcher (Sid Owen), Ian's insecurities, interference from Mandy's abusive mother Lorraine Stevens (Victoria Alcock), and Lucy's hatred of Mandy. Despite Lucy's best efforts to split them up, Ian is determined to marry Mandy and brings their wedding day forward. Mandy is horrified, however, when Ian chooses her over Lucy and throws his daughter out. Realising she does not love Ian, Mandy leaves him in May 2012, leading to Ian suffering a nervous breakdown. He wanders along a road barefoot, dressed only in pyjamas, not telling anyone where he has gone.


title: Ian Beale

text: Two months later, Lauren Branning (Jacqueline Jossa), working with homeless people, sees Ian at a tramp shelter. Tanya Cross (Jo Joyner), Max Branning (Jake Wood) and Alfie Moon (Shane Richie) find him and bring him back to the Square but Lucy is unsympathetic, angered by his leaving her and Bobby, and slams the door in his face. Ian refuses to acknowledge anyone. He stays with Tanya and Max until Phil finds out he is back and takes him to his house to ensure he does not tell anybody about Ben murdering Heather. Ian continues to be unresponsive until Phil's partner Shirley Carter (Linda Henry) mentions Heather, and his memory returns. Ben attempts to help Ian by taking him to the café, but Lucy screams and has him physically removed. Ian, extremely miserable, collapses in tears outside, while Phil worries that Ian will remember that Ben murdered Heather. After Sharon returns to Walford, she successfully persuades Lucy to give Ian another chance. Lucy agrees but on the condition that Ian signs all of his businesses over to her so that if Ian abandons her again she can be financially secure. Ian agrees to this. Ben confesses to murdering Heather and is remanded in custody, leaving Ian shocked. He starts working again at the café and getting back into his old life. Phil then gets Ian to visit Ben in prison to try to get him to retract his confession, but Ian says he cannot tell Ben what is right. Eventually, Zainab Khan (Nina Wadia) persuades Ian to attend counselling in an attempt to recover from his mental breakdown and, after talking to Sharon, Lucy finally makes peace with her father.


title: Ian Beale

text: Ian sparks a friendly rivalry with Denise Fox (Diane Parish) as the two engage in a fruit-selling war, though he irritates her. Denise's sister, Kim Fox (Tameka Empson), attempts to set them up on a date but this upsets Denise, who kisses Kim's boyfriend Ray Dixon (Chucky Venn). Kim discovers this and disowns her sister, so Ian allows Denise to stay with him, igniting a friendship between them. It eventually leads to a relationship when he confides in her about his life on the streets. Ian decides to open a restaurant, though Lucy is worried it will fail because of his mental illness. He runs out of money for construction but then finds a box of cash that used to belong to Derek Branning (Jamie Foreman). He also gets Janine to invest in the restaurant, and eventually tricks Lucy into signing over all of the businesses to him. Peter (now played by Ben Hardy) returns to live with the family, and is soon followed by Cindy Williams (Mimi Keene), the daughter of Ian's dead ex-wife of the same name. Ian lets Cindy stay, and Denise also moves in with the family. However Carl White (Daniel Coonan), an associate of Derek, arrives in Walford and soon works out that Ian has spent Derek's money. Carl claims the money was his, and so extorts large sums of cash from Ian as payback. Carl is violent, and burns Ian's hand when he tries to refuse to pay him before promising that the debt will be paid if Ian lies in court, and says that he saw Max tampering with the brakes of Carl's car. Ian reluctantly agrees, but on the day of the court case he is kidnapped by Phil, and Max is found not guilty. It is then revealed that Max was in on the kidnapping, but it was just to lure Carl into a trap. Ian then has to face the consequences of his actions, and Denise is angry when she finds out the truth.


title: Ian Beale

text: Denise thinks that Ian is planning to propose to her as a Christmas present, but he denies it even though he has bought an engagement ring. Peter reveals that he is in a relationship with Lola Pearce (Danielle Harold), the mother of Phil's granddaughter and Ian's niece, Lexi Pearce. Phil threatens Ian and forces him to end the relationship. Ian tells Peter this, and Peter tells Ian that he has found £10,000 that Cindy stole from Phil. They return the money, and Phil blames Ian, believing that he put Cindy up to stealing it. In January 2014, just as Ian is about to propose to Denise, Jane arrives unannounced. Jane later buys into Ian's restaurant and they begin running it together, leading Ian to harbour feelings for Jane.


title: Ian Beale

text: Ian is pessimistic when Lucy decides to set up her own property business and later becomes concerned about her when he discovers she is sleeping with Lee Carter (Danny-Boy Hatchard) and is taking cocaine. He confronts her and admits she is the child he is most proud of, but this is overheard by Peter, resulting in Lucy storming out. Ian tries to contact her when she does not return home that night, but is later informed by DC Emma Summerhayes (Anna Acton) and DS Cameron Bryant (Glen Wallace) that Lucy has been found dead. He identifies her body and then shares his devastating news with Jane, Denise, Cindy, Bobby and finally Peter. Struggling with their grief, Ian and Jane share a passionate encounter, giving Ian hope that they might reunite. When Jane dashes his hopes, Ian takes his anger out on Bobby and Jane decides it would be best if she take Bobby away for a while. Cindy also leaves the Square to return to Devon with her aunt, Gina Williams. Increasingly alone, Ian leans on Phil for support and questions how he can move on from his daughter's death. With Peter's help, he stages an opening for the new and improved restaurant, but during opening night Summerhayes reveals that Lucy's body has been released for burial. Ian leaves early with Peter to see her, but is unable due to his grief. He wants to organise the funeral for as soon as possible but discovers that Max and Lucy were together; Ian angrily attacks Max as he carries Lucy's coffin down the aisle of the church and it is clear that Ian is not coping. Worried, Sharon believes that he is relying on pills to numb the pain of his grief and she and Carol Jackson (Lindsey Coulson) comfort him.


title: Ian Beale

text: Ian receives texts from Rainie Cross (Tanya Franks) that he hides from Denise. It is later discovered that he paid Rainie for sex on the night Lucy died, and, knowing that he has given a false alibi to the police, Rainie demands money to fund her drug addiction. When Ian cannot pay Rainie, she comes to Walford and tells Patrick Trueman (Rudolph Walker) what Ian did. Patrick confronts Ian and decides to tell Denise so Ian arranges a surprise trip to see Denise's daughter Libby Fox (Belinda Owusu) in Oxford, and they leave before Patrick can tell Denise. Patrick suffers a stroke and he is unable to communicate what happened to Denise. Ian meets Rainie at her request but Mick Carter (Danny Dyer) sees them together. When Ian drives away, Rainie approaches Mick who is then arrested and charged for soliciting a prostitute.


title: Ian Beale

text: Ian tries to convince Denise to put Patrick in a care home, fearful of his secret. However, he eventually agrees that Patrick can live with them. Rainie tells Denise the truth, but before Ian can explain to Denise, Cindy makes a sudden return, already several hours into her labour. Ian delivers her baby daughter, and agrees that she can live with him. Denise moves out, refusing to forgive Ian for his actions when she discovers that Patrick knew and that Ian was willing to put Patrick in a care home to keep his secret. Concerned for Ian, Sharon and Phil organise for him to visit Michelle in America. Ian returns on Sharon's wedding day to try to stop her marrying Phil. Jane returns with the news that Bobby is missinghe is found on Walford Commonhe wants to return to Walford and Jane agrees. She falls for Ian again and proposes to him at the Christmas Eve carol concert. They plan their wedding for next February.


title: Ian Beale

text: Ian and Jane get married in the restaurant with their friends and family as witnesses. After Lauren tells Peter that she believes Lucy was murdered by a member of the family, he accuses them of killing Lucy. Jane admits that Bobby accidentally killed Lucy by hitting her over the head with a jewellery box. Though Bobby believed that Lucy was still alive, Jane realized she was dead and covered up her murder by faking a mugging. Ian, Jane and Cindy decide to cover up Lucy's murder however Peter does not agree to do this. Ian, Jane, Bobby and Beth go on holiday for Ian and Jane's honeymoon, and Peter leaves Walford along with Lauren. A few weeks later, Ian and the rest of the Beales return to Walford and reunite Beth with Cindy, but Cindy believes that she is not a capable mother and abandons Beth at the park, but she is picked up by Ian's great nephew Liam Butcher (James Forde). Ian and Jane agree to adopt Beth, but Cindy decides she does not want to be in the same house as her baby, so says that if she is not adopted into a different household, she will tell everyone Bobby killed Lucy. After Beth is taken in by her paternal relatives, Ian tells Cindy to leave and not come back. Jane pays Carol to look after Cindy and Ian finds out from Carol after an argument with her. On the day of Cindy's school prom, Ian reveals this to Cindy. After Cindy gets into a car with two strange men, feeling she has no home, a concerned Ian phones the police. After Cindy returns, Ian tries to convince her she is wanted and Liam convinces her to give her family a chance, so she and Ian make up. Ian and Jane are upset to learn about a new lead in the murder investigation but they still plan silence even after Ben is arrested in the hope that he is released. However, when Max is arrested and charged for the murder, Jane begins to contemplate telling the truth when she feels guilty for not being able to help Carol prove Max's innocence. Ian is adamant that Bobby's role in the murder will not be made public and confronts Sharon when she discovers the truth. Max is found guilty and sentenced to 21 years in prison.


title: Ian Beale

text: Ian puts Bobby in a private school, hoping that it will help with his anger problems. However, to pay for it, Ian decides to sell his restaurant to a supermarket chain, causing the locals to protest. Ian eventually decides not to sell, meaning Bobby must leave the school, even though he is happy there and doing well. Bobby overhears Jane talking about Bobby leaving the school and when she stops him going back to the school, he hits her over the head with his hockey stick three times, leaving her in a critical condition. He tells Ian in the pub that he has killed Jane, just like he killed Lucy, within earshot of everyone in the pub. After Bobby is questioned about the assault, he confesses to the police that he killed Lucy. They are reluctant to reopen the case but Ian is horrified when Bobby says he still has the murder weapon.


title: Ian Beale

text: Bobby is charged with unlawful killing and denied bail. He is sent to a youth detention centre until his next hearing the following week. Ian then goes to see Jane in hospital, where she tells him she knows about Steven returning and the Beale family is better off without her, ending her and Ian's relationship. Bobby is sentenced to three years custody. A week later, after visiting Bobby in prison and telling him not to appeal his sentence, Ian receives a threatening note from Max, saying that he will never forget what Ian did. Ian worries when Max returns, but Max tells him and Jane that he has forgiven them. Ian is thrilled when Michelle returns. He starts to worry about his health when he has a medical checkup and he is told that his BMI is high. Michelle crashes her car into Ian's fish and chip shop, for which he has no buildings insurance. Max's employer eventually purchases the chip shop, despite it arousing Ian's suspicions.


title: Ian Beale

text: Ian and Jane are devastated to hear that Steven has a brain tumour, but he has been lying about this in a desperate attempt to stay with Lauren. Jane discovers Steven's lie and that Max has not really forgiven them and is secretly planning revenge. In a bid to get rid of Jane, Max forces Steven to kill her. As a result, Steven sets fire to the restaurant, trapping Jane inside. Steven tries to save Jane, but is violently shoved into a table by Max, who leaves Jane to die. However, while Jane is rescued, Steven dies from a liver bleed. Ian, Kathy and Lauren are shocked when they learn that Steven did not really have a brain tumour. After Jane comes out of her coma, Max forces her to leave Walford with Ian, but James Willmott-Brown (William Boyde), who is working with Max, orders Max to ensure that Ian remains in Walford, so Max blackmails Jane into leaving Walford alone. Ian allows Lauren and Louie to move back in with him and tells Lauren's sister, Abi Branning's (Lorna Fitzgerald), about making Beales into a franchise to pass onto Louie, so Abi tells him that she is pregnant with Steven's baby, but Ian does not take the news well. Later, Lauren warns Ian to watch his back as Max may be out for revenge, and a broken Max visits Ian and says he will kill him and Phil for making him suffer in prison. Ian tries to escape but Max attempts to strangle Ian with fairy lights as Lauren and Louie come home. On Christmas Day, Tanya returns to Walford and reveals to Stacey and Abi that Jane told her that Max killed Steven, news which Abi relays to Lauren, Kathy and Ian. Ian attacks Max in the street but Max overpowers and punches him.


title: Ian Beale

text: In February 2020, Ian discovers that Sharon's teenage son, Dennis Rickman Jnr (Bleu Landau), has been bullying Bobby for his faith, which results in Bobby being hospitalised, following an Islamophobic attack. Enraged, Ian confronts Dennis during The Queen Vic boat party and angrily locks him in a cabin following a bitter row. However, when Phil and Keanu's fight leads the boat to crash, Ian instantly goes to rescue Dennis; despite Ian's best efforts, Dennis dies and Ian is left feeling guilty. Dotty Cotton (Milly Zero) knows Ian imprisoned Denny and blackmails Ian, although she changes her mind at the funeral, she tries to persuade Ian to be brave enough to confess.


title: Ian Beale

text: Ian develops feelings for Sharon and he uses Max's money to buy The Queen Vic for her. However, his feelings are not reciprocated. He steals money from a charity set up by Bobby in order to try and frame Max for fraud. Ian is attacked in The Vic by Phil who was asked to do so after Sharon learns about Ian's role in Dennis’ death. Sharon and Kathy rush him to hospital where they learn he has a bleed on his brain. Fearing he is going to die, Ian proposes to Sharon who accepts his proposal. Kathy asks Sharon to get the marriage annulled, but she disagrees and vows to be there for Ian. After Phil fails to kill Ian because of Phil saying that Ian will always be family, Sharon mixes lithium into Ian's Christmas pudding to poison him. Later, Phil changes his mind and agrees to help Sharon murder Ian and they plan to make it look as if Ian has committed suicide, with Phil buying cocaine for Sharon to mix into his dinner after planning a romantic evening. However, Ian finds out the truth and confronts Sharon about her plan to kill him, just before he is about to eat her poisoned pasta. Sharon reveals she knows about his part in Dennis' death and calls him weak and cowardly. She adds that Ian is a hated man and that he deserves to die. A devastated Ian agrees and starts to eat the poisoned food. Willing to let him die at first, Sharon has a change of heart and makes Ian throw up the food, thereby saving his life. She ends her marriage to him and goes to Phil, telling him if he wants Ian dead so desperately, he will have to kill Ian himself. By the time Phil reaches The Vic, Ian has left the Square. Off-screen, Ian later sends Sharon an annulment and makes her the sole owner of the pub, although Sharon returns the Vic to Mick and Linda Carter (Kellie Bright) a few days later.


title: Ian Beale

text: Nearly two years later, Ian returns to Walford, and is seen hiding in the bushes outside a church, watching Dot Branning’s (June Brown) coffin be carried inside on the day of her funeral. He is tearful and utters to himself: ‘Goodbye Dot. I’ll miss you’. He then answers a call from his new partner and returns home. He is not seen by any of the other funeral goers.


title: Ian Beale

text: Ian Beale is one of the original 23 characters written by the creators of "EastEnders", Tony Holland and Julia Smith. Ian is a member of the first family of "EastEnders", the Beales and Fowlers, and Holland took the inspiration for some of the series' earliest characters from his own London family and background. Ian's original character outline as written by Smith and Holland appeared in an abridged form in their book, "EastEnders: The Inside Story".


title: Ian Beale

text: Because the actress playing Ian's mother Kathy (Gillian Taylforth) was fair-haired, they also wanted him to be fair, and because of Taylforth's age he also had to look very young. Ian was meant to be 14 years old when the programme first aired, but because of licensing regulations, the actor cast was required to be a 16-year-old who could "play down". Adam Woodyatt, born in East London, had worked as an actor in his youth, but had given it up and relocated with his family to Wales. He was recruited from his old agency and it was decided that he was perfect for the part and he was subsequently cast as Ian Beale. In 1990 Ian's age was increased and he celebrated his 21st birthday two years after his 18th. The producers felt Ian needed to be a bit older and more mature for storylines planned for him later that year.


title: Ian Beale

text: Ian has gone on to be the longest running character in the soap's history. Woodyatt confirmed his desire to remain with the show in 2010, during the show's 25th anniversary: "Why would I want to leave when I'm not going to get the chance to portray even half the range of emotions I get to here in a one-off drama or a six-part series? And you're not going to get the same viewing figures either. You have your moments when things go wrong and you perhaps don't want to work with a certain person. In any office there are going to be people who don't get along but you get on with it and on the whole I enjoy it. Over the last couple of years we've had a really tight crew and it's the best atmosphere I can remember. There have been peaks and troughs, like with any show, but right now things are good."


title: Ian Beale

text: Ian has been described as a character viewers love to hate. His initial storylines portrayed him as a sensitive young boy with professional aspirations that went against his father's wishes. Not content to follow in his father's footsteps and take over the family fruit and veg stall, Ian wanted to become a chef and this caused a certain amount of hostility between him and his father, who viewed the occupation as effeminate. Ian's keenness to succeed in his business ventures continued as the character grew, so much so that he started using underhand methods in order to get what he wanted and became one of the soap's most renowned "slimeballs". The character is regularly referred to as a "weasel" in the British press.


title: Ian Beale

text: Author Dorothy Hobson has described Ian as a typical Thatcher's child, a term used to reference children who grew up under the Conservative government of the 1980s and who adopted an ideology, such as personal financial gain, self-sufficiency and disregard of the welfare of those who are less well-off. As a result, Hobson suggests that Ian is "young, ambitious, rich and unhappy", which she claims is a perfect reflection of the spirit of the age.


title: Ian Beale

text: In her book, "Who's Who?", Kate Lock described Ian as "wimpy, perhaps not what you'd call a man's man [...] trying to turn Walford into the capital of Capitalism [...] Somewhere along the line, Ian evolved into an obsessive, obnoxious money-monster [...] Ian always pretended to be magnanimous, doing things for the community [...] but it's inspired by self-interest."


title: Ian Beale

text: Hobson suggests that Ian's saving grace is that he is a "passionately caring father" and Woodyatt has suggested that Ian is a chameleon, a description he claims former Executive Producer Louise Berridge used to describe the character. Woodyatt commented in 2010, "Whatever [Louise Berridge] wanted Ian to do, she'd find a way of justifying it. It's true. He can be nice to his family but he can be devious with them as well. He can stitch people up but can be very generous. You can get away with doing anything with Ian. It's probably why I'm still here."


title: Ian Beale

text: Obsession with success has been an underlying theme with the character for almost the entire duration of the show, but the acceleration of Ian's nasty side can be traced back to his disastrous first marriage to one of "EastEnder"s' most renowned women, Cindy Beale in 1989. The storyline centred on Ian's discovery that the child he thought was his (Steven), was actually fathered by his best friend, Simon Wicks. The climax of this revelation was known to script-writers as the "Devon cottage climax" and aired in September 1990. The episode saw an enraged Ian trace Cindy and Simon to her parents' house in Devon, just after being released from hospital following a suicide attempt. The script, written by Debbie Cook, led to a confrontation that "EastEnder"s' writer Colin Brake has suggested contained elements of tragedy and farce. Brake suggests that a particularly memorable scene included Ian furiously throwing bricks through the window of the house, followed by one of his crutches. The episode ended ominously with Ian finding Cindy's father's shotgun and stealing it. Directed by Matthew Evans, Brake suggests that these episodes not only brought the story to a shocking climax but also laid roots for the next three months' worth of storylines, building up to Cindy and Simon's departure, and Ian's spectacular fall from grace.


title: Ian Beale

text: Author Dorothy Hobson has described Ian and Cindy's relationship as "one of the most tempestuous in any soap opera". The characters were reunited on-screen in 1992 but the relationship ended in adultery once again when Cindy began an affair with Simon's brother and Ian's half-brother, David Wicks, which culminated in Cindy hiring an assassin to shoot Ian in 1996 after he discovered the affair. Michelle Collins who played Cindy commented in 1996, "[Cindy] was not thinking properly when she contacted the hitman, and she is being quite erratic. Despite what she has done she never expected Ian to be so cruel to her. Now she cannot really see any other way out of the mess she is in. She has lost touch with reality – but in the end she can't see any other way of escaping Ian." More than 18 million viewers tuned in to see Ian gunned-down, which was more than sixty-four per cent of available viewers. The plot facilitated Collins' desire to leave the programme following the birth of her child, and Cindy, implicated in the shooting, fled the country with Ian's two sons.


title: Ian Beale

text: In August 2020, it was announced that Woodyatt would be taking an "extended break" from "EastEnders". A show insider told Digital Spy that his departure would be "part of a big storyline" and that it is "unclear how long [his break] will be". Ian departed in scenes broadcast on 22 January 2021. In May 2021, Woodyatt made an appearance on "The One Show", where he was asked how long his break would last. Woodyatt explained that he is starring in a theatre production until October 2021 and would then be attending his daughter's wedding in America; he did not know a specific date for his character's return, but stated it will be 2022 "at the earliest". In October 2021, he stated that his return will air in mid-2022. However, in November 2021, Woodyatt revealed that he had no plans to return to the show and did not know when or if he would be going back. He made an exception for the on-screen funeral of Dot Cotton in December 2022, following the death of actress June Brown earlier that year.


title: Ian Beale

text: Ian was voted one of the top five television characters "we most love to hate" in a Channel 4 poll in 2001. In 2009, Ian Beale came ninth in a poll by British men's magazine "Loaded" for "Top Soap Bloke". Woodyatt has received a number of award nominations for his portrayal of Ian, including a "Best Actor" nomination at The British Soap Awards 2010 and a nomination for "Best Performance in a Serial Drama" in The National Television Awards 2012. In 2013, Woodyatt received a "Lifetime Achievement Award" at The British Soap Awards. Following thirty years of service to "EastEnders", Woodyatt was awarded with his first "Best Actor" accolade at The British Soap Awards 2015. At this ceremony, he also won "Best On-screen Partnership" alongside Laurie Brett.


title: Ian Beale

text: Author Dorothy Hobson has stated that Ian Beale is a "major creation" capturing the personification of political attitudes taken up during the Conservative government of the 1980s. She suggests that Ian Beale is a "major representation of a young man" of that era, and that his sensitive portrayal by Adam Woodyatt is "perhaps unrecognised". Roz Paterson of the "Daily Record" branded Ian "eminently unlovable" and stated that Melanie proposing to him represented a growing trend in women proposing. Holy Soap said that Ian's most memorable moment was "His attempted murder in the Square". In 2009, Virgin Media called Ian "the most boring and selfish man in Walford" and felt that he deserved to lose his wife, Jane.


title: Islamic view of death

text: Death in Islam is the termination of worldly life and the beginning of afterlife. Death is seen as the separation of the soul from the body, and its transfer from this world to the afterlife.


title: Islamic view of death

text: Islamic tradition discusses elaborately what happens before, during, and after the death, although what exactly happens is not clear and different schools of thought draw different conclusions. However, a continuity between all these ideas derived from the basic sources from the Quran and Hadith. One canonical idea is, that an angel of death (Arabic: ) appears to the dying to take out their souls. The sinners' souls are extracted in the most painful way while the righteous are treated easily.


title: Islamic view of death

text: Another common idea adds that, after the burial, two angels – Munkar and Nakir – come to question the dead in order to test their faith. The righteous believers answer correctly and live in peace and comfort while the sinners and disbelievers fail and punishments ensue. The time period or stage between death and the end of the world is called the life of . Suicide, euthanasia, and unjust murder as means of death are all prohibited in Islam, and are considered major sins.


title: Islamic view of death

text: Believing in an afterlife is one of the six articles of faith in Islam. The deceased are held to be in an intermediary state, until the Day of Resurrection.


title: Islamic view of death

text: Death is seen not as the termination of life, rather the continuation of life in another form. In Islamic belief, God has made this worldly life as a test and a preparation ground for the afterlife; and with death, this worldly life comes to an end. Thus, every person has only one chance to prepare themselves for the life to come where God will resurrect and judge every individual and will entitle them to rewards or punishment, based on their good or bad deeds. Death is also seen as the gateway to the beginning of the afterlife. In Islamic belief, death is predetermined by God, and the exact time of a person's death is known only to God. Death is accepted as wholly natural, and merely marks a transition between the material realm and the unseen world.


title: Islamic view of death

text: Muslims expect that their last word in this world would be their profession of faith (which reads "I testify that there is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah"). This is why those near a dying person encourage them to pronounce these words; sometimes, it is whispered into the ear of the dying.


title: Islamic view of death

text: Common belief holds that true believers and the righteous welcome death when it arrives. Many modern writers especially assure that death is merely a transitional stage and do not adhere to the traditional depiction of death as painful or fearsome.


title: Islamic view of death

text: Islam holds different positions regarding the abode after the deceased. In the common Semitic view, man is a union of body and soul, and spirit not as a separate entity distinct from the body. The Quran itself refers to both (the Holy Spirit, later used to designate a human's immortal self) and (meaning "self", used to refer to both a person's soul and the souls of humanity collectively). However, Muslims, especially those influenced by Neo-Platonism, Muʿtazila, classical Islamic theology, Shi'a and Sufis, regarded as a matter unrelated to a human's immortal spirit. Therefore, they distinguish between and , the latter surviving death. Some scholars, like Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi, have even argued that the spirit undergoes changes affected by its previous life, and might turn into a demon () after death if the person died in the state of a major sin.


title: Islamic view of death

text: According to a hadith from Sahih Muslim, Muhammad said: "When the (soul) is taken out, the eyesight follows it."


title: Islamic view of death

text: The Quran itself gives only brief references about the period between death and the resurrection. However, it mentions that certain individuals, such as martyrs, are alive and not dead (2:154), and also indicate, that some are already in hell (71:25). The term indicates that the deceased and the living are entirely separated and can not interact with each other. Otherwise the refers to the whole period between the Day of Resurrection and death and is used synonymously for "grave". Others regard as a world dividing and simultaneously connecting the realm of the dead and the living. Therefore, some Muslim traditions argue about possibilities to contact the dead by sleeping on graveyards. Visiting graves of holy persons or prophets is also a common practise among Muslims, known as .


title: Islamic view of death

text: Muslim authors, like Ghazali, Ibn Qayyim and Suyuti wrote in greater detail about the life of ghosts. Ibn Qayyim and Suyuti assert that when a soul desires to turn back to earth long enough, it is gradually released from restrictions of and is able to move freely. Each spirit experiences afterlife in accordance with their deeds and condictions in the earthly life. Evil souls will find the afterlife as painful and punishment, imprisoned until God allows them to interact with other others. Good souls are not restricted. They are free to come visit other souls and even come down to lower regions. The higher planes are considered to be broader than the lower ones, the lowest being the most narrow. The spiritual space is not thought as spatial, but reflects the capacity of the spirit. The more pure the spirit gets, the more it is able to interact with other souls and thus reaches a broader degree of freedom.


title: Islamic view of death

text: After the burial each person is interrogated by two angels, called Munkar and Nakir, appointed by God to question the dead in order to test their faith. The righteous believers answer correctly and live in peace and comfort while the sinners and disbelievers fail and punishments ensue.


title: Islamic view of death

text: According to "The Precious Pearl", the veil () separating the living and the realm of symbols () is lifted at the latest after the biological death, but also moments before for a spiritual person, when the dying person is able to see the angels and devils. Before the souls leaves the body completely, devils () sent by Iblis (Satan) persuade the deceased to abandon Islam and become an unbeliever, for example by disguising as a beloved one from heaven and telling them that Islam is not the true religion. At last, the devils are driven away by Jibrail (Gabriel) and the angels of mercy.


title: Islamic view of death

text: The fate of the dying after leaving the body depends on whether they are believers or unbelievers. Depending on the state of the soul, the deceased will undergo different journeys. When a righteous believer dies, bright-faced angels from heaven descends with divine perfume and shroud. Then the angels of death comes, and tells the soul to come out to the pleasure and mercy of God. The soul is then extracted as easily as water comes out from the pitcher. The soul is then wrapped in the perfumed shroud and is taken up to the seventh heaven where God declares: "write down his name in and take him back to earth. I created him from earth, and I will raise him second time from this very earth." The soul is then pushed back into the body and is interrogated by two angels called Munkar and Nakir. If he succeeds in answering the questions, and is blessed with heavenly rewards. The sinners or disbelievers meet the Angels of hell () to take position in front of him. Thereupon they tell the soul to come out to the wrath of God. Being terrified, the soul desperately tries to hide itself in the body. Thereupon, the angels of death start beating the soul and extracts it from the body in a most painful way. The painful process of taking out a sinner's soul has been compared with "the dragging of an iron skewer through moist wool, tearing the veins and sinews." The soul of the sinner is then wrapped in a dirty cloth which emits bad smell. Carrying the soul, the angels head towards the heaven. On the way, other angels inquire about this wicked soul. They are told that this is the soul of that and that sinner person. The angels then arrive at the upper heaven, but its doors are not opened for the evil soul. Consequently, the soul is then thrown into hell or underworld, where it is punished until the Day of Judgment.


title: Islamic view of death

text: The souls of the sinners and disbelievers are kept and punished in a place called which is said to be located at the lowest level of the earth (traditionally hell, before the Day of Resurrection or underworld). The books containing the full records of their deeds are also kept here. On the other hand, the souls of the righteous believers are kept in a place called (heaven, the highest place). Their books of deeds are also kept here. According to some account, is located in the highest heaven.


title: Islamic view of death

text: The Quran discusses the issue of death in several places, wherein it emphasises that death is inevitable, and that no matter how much people try to escape death, it will reach everyone (). For those who deny resurrection and afterlife, and thus challenge God, the Quran challenges them by asking why these people then do not put back the soul which has reached the throat (of the dying person) and is about to escape the body? (56:83–84). It also says that when death approaches the sinners and disbelievers, and they sense the upcoming chastisement, they pray to God to go back to life to do some good deeds; but this will never be granted (23:99–100). Probably the most-frequently quoted verse of the Quran about death is: "Every soul shall taste death, and only on the Day of Judgment will you be paid your full recompense." At another place, the Quran urges mankind: "And die not except in a state of Islam" (3:102) because "Truly, the religion in the sight of Allah is Islam" (3:19). Other verses related with this issue are: "He (Allah) who created death and life, so that He may test you as to which of you is better in deeds. And He is the All-Mighty, the Most-Forgiving" (67:2); "Certainly, they see it (resurrection) as distant, but We see it as near" (70:6–7).


title: Islamic view of death

text: Islam, as with other Abrahamic religions, views suicide as one of the greatest sins and utterly detrimental to one's spiritual journey. The Islamic view is that life and death are given by God. The absolute prohibition is stated in the Quran, Surah 4:29 which states: "do not kill yourselves. Surely, Allah is Most Merciful to you." Life is sacred, and a gift from God; and it is only God, and not the human beings, who has the right to take it back. This willful taking of one's own life is considered a major sin in Islam. Committing suicide to save oneself from suffering is discouraged. Islam teaches that in the face of hardship, one should not directly pray for death. Instead, one should say: "Oh Allah! Let me live as long as life is good for me, and let me die if death is good for me." Euthanasia is considered one form of suicide and has the same ruling as that of suicide. Unjust killing of any human being is one of the most heinous and the cardinal sins in Islam.


title: Islamic view of death

text: Cremation is forbidden in Islam. The Quran prohibits the burning or the mutilation of dead bodies, whereas Surah 5:32 affirms: "if anyone saves a life, it would be as if he saves the life of all humanity."


title: Islamic view of death

text: In the same way, the artificial nutrition and hydration, as well as the organ transplant are controversial matters of interpretation because Islam has no ordained clergy and a unequivocal set of doctrinal living authorities.


title: Islamic view of death

text: Ākhirah (Arabic: الآخرة) is an Islamic term referring to the afterlife. It is repeatedly referenced in chapters of the Quran concerning the Last Judgment, an important part of Islamic eschatology. Traditionally, it is considered to be one of the six main beliefs of Muslims. According to the Islamic beliefs, God will play the role of the judge, weighing the deeds of each individual. He will decide whether that person's ʾākhirah (afterlife) lies in Jahannam (Hell) or Jannah (Heaven) on the basis of the weight of either good or bad deeds in comparison with one another.


title: Molecular orbital theory

text: In chemistry, molecular orbital theory (MO theory or MOT) is a method for describing the electronic structure of molecules using quantum mechanics. It was proposed early in the 20th century.


title: Molecular orbital theory

text: In molecular orbital theory, electrons in a molecule are not assigned to individual chemical bonds between atoms, but are treated as moving under the influence of the atomic nuclei in the whole molecule. Quantum mechanics describes the spatial and energetic properties of electrons as molecular orbitals that surround two or more atoms in a molecule and contain valence electrons between atoms.


title: Molecular orbital theory

text: Molecular orbital theory revolutionized the study of chemical bonding by approximating the states of bonded electrons—the molecular orbitals—as linear combinations of atomic orbitals (LCAO). These approximations are made by applying the density functional theory (DFT) or Hartree–Fock (HF) models to the Schrödinger equation.


title: Molecular orbital theory

text: In the LCAO method, each molecule has a set of molecular orbitals. It is assumed that the molecular orbital wave function "ψ" can be written as a simple weighted sum of the "n" constituent atomic orbitals "χ", according to the following equation:


title: Molecular orbital theory

text: One may determine "c" coefficients numerically by substituting this equation into the Schrödinger equation and applying the variational principle. The variational principle is a mathematical technique used in quantum mechanics to build up the coefficients of each atomic orbital basis. A larger coefficient means that the orbital basis is composed more of that particular contributing atomic orbital—hence, the molecular orbital is best characterized by that type. This method of quantifying orbital contribution as a linear combination of atomic orbitals is used in computational chemistry. An additional unitary transformation can be applied on the system to accelerate the convergence in some computational schemes. Molecular orbital theory was seen as a competitor to valence bond theory in the 1930s, before it was realized that the two methods are closely related and that when extended they become equivalent.


title: Molecular orbital theory

text: There are three main requirements for atomic orbital combinations to be suitable as approximate molecular orbitals.


title: Molecular orbital theory

text: Molecular orbital theory was developed in the years after valence bond theory had been established (1927), primarily through the efforts of Friedrich Hund, Robert Mulliken, John C. Slater, and John Lennard-Jones. MO theory was originally called the Hund-Mulliken theory. According to physicist and physical chemist Erich Hückel, the first quantitative use of molecular orbital theory was the 1929 paper of Lennard-Jones. This paper predicted a triplet ground state for the dioxygen molecule which explained its paramagnetism (see ) before valence bond theory, which came up with its own explanation in 1931. The word "orbital" was introduced by Mulliken in 1932. By 1933, the molecular orbital theory had been accepted as a valid and useful theory.


title: Molecular orbital theory

text: Erich Hückel applied molecular orbital theory to unsaturated hydrocarbon molecules starting in 1931 with his Hückel molecular orbital (HMO) method for the determination of MO energies for pi electrons, which he applied to conjugated and aromatic hydrocarbons. This method provided an explanation of the stability of molecules with six pi-electrons such as benzene.


title: Molecular orbital theory

text: The first accurate calculation of a molecular orbital wavefunction was that made by Charles Coulson in 1938 on the hydrogen molecule. By 1950, molecular orbitals were completely defined as eigenfunctions (wave functions) of the self-consistent field Hamiltonian and it was at this point that molecular orbital theory became fully rigorous and consistent. This rigorous approach is known as the Hartree–Fock method for molecules although it had its origins in calculations on atoms. In calculations on molecules, the molecular orbitals are expanded in terms of an atomic orbital basis set, leading to the Roothaan equations. This led to the development of many ab initio quantum chemistry methods. In parallel, molecular orbital theory was applied in a more approximate manner using some empirically derived parameters in methods now known as semi-empirical quantum chemistry methods.


title: Molecular orbital theory

text: The success of Molecular Orbital Theory also spawned ligand field theory, which was developed during the 1930s and 1940s as an alternative to crystal field theory.


title: Molecular orbital theory

text: Molecular orbital (MO) theory uses a linear combination of atomic orbitals (LCAO) to represent molecular orbitals resulting from bonds between atoms. These are often divided into three types, bonding, antibonding, and non-bonding. A bonding orbital concentrates electron density in the region "between" a given pair of atoms, so that its electron density will tend to attract each of the two nuclei toward the other and hold the two atoms together. An anti-bonding orbital concentrates electron density "behind" each nucleus (i.e. on the side of each atom which is farthest from the other atom), and so tends to pull each of the two nuclei away from the other and actually weaken the bond between the two nuclei. Electrons in non-bonding orbitals tend to be associated with atomic orbitals that do not interact positively or negatively with one another, and electrons in these orbitals neither contribute to nor detract from bond strength.


title: Molecular orbital theory

text: Molecular orbitals are further divided according to the types of atomic orbitals they are formed from. Chemical substances will form bonding interactions if their orbitals become lower in energy when they interact with each other. Different bonding orbitals are distinguished that differ by electron configuration (electron cloud shape) and by energy levels.


title: Molecular orbital theory

text: Common bonding orbitals are sigma (σ) orbitals which are symmetric about the bond axis, and or pi (Π) orbitals with a nodal plane along the bond axis. Less common are delta (δ) orbitals and phi (φ) orbitals with two and three nodal planes respectively along the bond axis. Antibonding orbitals are signified by the addition of an asterisk. For example, an antibonding pi orbital may be shown as π*.


title: Molecular orbital theory

text: MOT provides a global, delocalized perspective on chemical bonding. In MO theory, "any" electron in a molecule may be found "anywhere" in the molecule, since quantum conditions allow electrons to travel under the influence of an arbitrarily large number of nuclei, as long as they are in eigenstates permitted by certain quantum rules. Thus, when excited with the requisite amount of energy through high-frequency light or other means, electrons can transition to higher-energy molecular orbitals. For instance, in the simple case of a hydrogen diatomic molecule, promotion of a single electron from a bonding orbital to an antibonding orbital can occur under UV radiation. This promotion weakens the bond between the two hydrogen atoms and can lead to photodissociation—the breaking of a chemical bond due to the absorption of light.


title: Molecular orbital theory

text: Molecular orbital theory is used to interpret ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-VIS). Changes to the electronic structure of molecules can be seen by the absorbance of light at specific wavelengths. Assignments can be made to these signals indicated by the transition of electrons moving from one orbital at a lower energy to a higher energy orbital. The molecular orbital diagram for the final state describes the electronic nature of the molecule in an excited state.


title: Molecular orbital theory

text: Although in MO theory "some" molecular orbitals may hold electrons that are more localized between specific pairs of molecular atoms, "other" orbitals may hold electrons that are spread more uniformly over the molecule. Thus, overall, bonding is far more delocalized in MO theory, which makes it more applicable to resonant molecules that have equivalent non-integer bond orders than valence bond (VB) theory. This makes MO theory more useful for the description of extended systems.


title: Molecular orbital theory

text: Robert S. Mulliken, who actively participated in the advent of molecular orbital theory, considers each molecule to be a self-sufficient unit. He asserts in his article: ...Attempts to regard a molecule as consisting of specific atomic or ionic units held together by discrete numbers of bonding electrons or electron-pairs are considered as more or less meaningless, except as an approximation in special cases, or as a method of calculation […]. A molecule is here regarded as a set of nuclei, around each of which is grouped an electron configuration closely similar to that of a free atom in an external field, except that the outer parts of the electron configurations surrounding each nucleus usually belong, in part, jointly to two or more nuclei...An example is the MO description of benzene, , which is an aromatic hexagonal ring of six carbon atoms and three double bonds. In this molecule, 24 of the 30 total valence bonding electrons—24 coming from carbon atoms and 6 coming from hydrogen atoms—are located in 12 σ (sigma) bonding orbitals, which are located mostly between pairs of atoms (C-C or C-H), similarly to the electrons in the valence bond description. However, in benzene the remaining six bonding electrons are located in three π (pi) molecular bonding orbitals that are delocalized around the ring. Two of these electrons are in an MO that has equal orbital contributions from all six atoms. The other four electrons are in orbitals with vertical nodes at right angles to each other. As in the VB theory, all of these six delocalized π electrons reside in a larger space that exists above and below the ring plane. All carbon-carbon bonds in benzene are chemically equivalent. In MO theory this is a direct consequence of the fact that the three molecular π orbitals combine and evenly spread the extra six electrons over six carbon atoms.


title: Molecular orbital theory

text: In molecules such as methane, , the eight valence electrons are found in four MOs that are spread out over all five atoms. It is possible to transform the MOs into four localized sp orbitals. Linus Pauling, in 1931, hybridized the carbon 2s and 2p orbitals so that they pointed directly at the hydrogen 1s basis functions and featured maximal overlap. However, the delocalized MO description is more appropriate for predicting ionization energies and the positions of spectral absorption bands. When methane is ionized, a single electron is taken from the valence MOs, which can come from the s bonding or the triply degenerate p bonding levels, yielding two ionization energies. In comparison, the explanation in valence bond theory is more complicated. When one electron is removed from an sp orbital, resonance is invoked between four valence bond structures, each of which has a single one-electron bond and three two-electron bonds. Triply degenerate T and A ionized states (CH) are produced from different linear combinations of these four structures. The difference in energy between the ionized and ground state gives the two ionization energies.


title: Molecular orbital theory

text: As in benzene, in substances such as beta carotene, chlorophyll, or heme, some electrons in the π orbitals are spread out in molecular orbitals over long distances in a molecule, resulting in light absorption in lower energies (the visible spectrum), which accounts for the characteristic colours of these substances. This and other spectroscopic data for molecules are well explained in MO theory, with an emphasis on electronic states associated with multicenter orbitals, including mixing of orbitals premised on principles of orbital symmetry matching. The same MO principles also naturally explain some electrical phenomena, such as high electrical conductivity in the planar direction of the hexagonal atomic sheets that exist in graphite. This results from continuous band overlap of half-filled p orbitals and explains electrical conduction. MO theory recognizes that some electrons in the graphite atomic sheets are completely delocalized over arbitrary distances, and reside in very large molecular orbitals that cover an entire graphite sheet, and some electrons are thus as free to move and therefore conduct electricity in the sheet plane, as if they resided in a metal.


title: Blu Cantrell

text: Cantrell rose to fame in 2001, with the release of her debut single, "Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)", which peaked at number two on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 and topped the US Mainstream Top 40 chart. The song also charted in several other countries, and it was included on her debut album, "So Blu". The song earned Cantrell a Grammy Award nomination. In 2003, Cantrell released her second album, "Bittersweet", which was nominated for a Grammy Award and resulted in the single "Breathe" (featuring Sean Paul). Written and produced by Ivan Matias, "Breathe" was a major global success in 2003, especially in the United Kingdom, where it topped the UK Singles Chart for four consecutive weeks. "Breathe" also reached the top ten of several other charts across the world, including the European Hot 100.


title: Blu Cantrell

text: Tiffany Cobb was born in Providence, Rhode Island. Her mother, former beauty queen Susi Franco, was an actress and jazz vocalist. She is of African-American, Narragansett and Cape Verdean descent on her father's side, and German, French, English, Scottish, and Irish (semi pan-British Isles) descent on her mother's. Cantrell's parents separated when she was a young child, she and her five siblings—Adam, Tino, Nick, Kelli, and Summer—were raised by her mother.


title: Blu Cantrell

text: In the late 1990s, Cantrell established as a professional backing vocalist for artists such as Sean "Puffy" Combs. In 1999, she became member of the girl group 8th Avenue, a protégé of singer Teddy Riley. The band recorded several songs and appeared on Blackstreet's 1999 album "Finally", but their material was shelved after Riley left Blackstreet to reform his previous group Guy, and Blackstreet were dropped by Interscope Records. 8th Avenue also disbanded around that time. Before long, Cantrell was introduced by both a dancer friend and R&B singer Usher to music producer Tricky Stewart, the head of Red Zone Entertainment. Stewart originally wanted Cantrell to become a member of his girl group 321, but after a fruitful recording session, he offered to help develop Cantrell's solo career instead. Cantrell subsequently moved in with Stewart and his girlfriend in their house in Atlanta, and was promptly placed with Arista Records head Antonio "L.A." Reid, who offered the singer a contract with the company after hearing one song she wrote and sang in front of him and his staff. After a bidding war with several different labels, Reid's bid was the highest, prompting Cantrell to sign with them.


title: Blu Cantrell

text: After her signing with Arista, Cantrell went straight into recording sessions with Dallas Austin and Stewart, as well as Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. In July 2001, her debut album, "So Blu," was released. The record earned generally favorable reviews from critics and became a commercial success, particularly in North America, where it peaked at number eight on the US "Billboard" 200. It was eventually certified gold by both the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and Music Canada. The album's lead single "Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)" became a top ten hit in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Netherlands and peaked at number two on the US "Billboard" Hot 100. The song earned Cantrell Grammy Award nominations for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and for Best R&B Song, as well as an American Music Award nomination for Favorite New Soul/R&B Artist, both in 2002. Also in 2002, Cantrell was featured in a small cameo role in Charles Stone III's musical comedy-drama film "Drumline," where she could be seen singing the American national anthem. Her song "It's Killing Me (In My Mind)" was included on the soundtrack of the 2002 action comedy film "Bad Company."


title: Blu Cantrell

text: In 2003, Cantrell released her second album, "Bittersweet" which featured production from Kevin "She'kspere" Briggs, Mike City, Soulshock & Karlin, and Shep Crawford. As with her debut, the album garnered a positive reception from critics, even earning her a Best R&B Album nomination at the 46th Grammy Awards, but was less successful in the United States, peaking at number 37 on the "Billboard" 200. The album was a success internationally, where sales were boosted by its hit single "Breathe", a collaboration with Sean Paul. Her highest-charting single yet, it topped the charts in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, and reached the top ten of the majority of charts it appeared on, ranking among the biggest-selling releases of the year. "Breathe" was followed by the top thirty single "Make Me Wanna Scream".


title: Blu Cantrell

text: In 2005, following the formation of the joint venture of BMG and Sony Music Entertainment, Arista merged with J Records and began operating under the newly formed RCA Music Group. At about the same time, Cantrell's recording deal was up for renewal and though she was in a position to re-sign with the label, the singer chose to leave the company following the resignation of her mentor L.A. Reid. The following years, she toured intensively as a free agent. In 2007, Cantrell starred alongside LisaRaye and Kenya Moore in the musical stage play "Gossip, Lies and Secrets" which ran from September until November 2007. The following year, she appeared in NBC's "Celebrity Circus". Cantrell became the first celebrity to be eliminated from the show in the season's second week.


title: Blu Cantrell

text: In 2013, Cantrell confirmed that she was working independently on her third studio album. In December 2016, she told "Fuse" that she was still working on a new album.


title: Blu Cantrell

text: Despite the lack of US success after her one big hit, Cantrell continues to perform in Australia and Europe.


title: Blu Cantrell

text: Cantrell was taken into custody by police for a psychological evaluation on September 3, 2014. She was seen running around the streets of Santa Monica at around 2 am, screaming that someone had "poisoned her with gas". Cantrell, according to witnesses, went "berserk" and referred to herself as a "one-hit wonder", questioning authorities whether they recognized her; when her "erratic" behavior failed to cease, someone called the police. She was taken to a nearby hospital and was evaluated by medics.


title: Olenna Tyrell

text: Olenna Tyrell (née Redwyne) is a fictional character in the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series of high fantasy novels by American author George R. R. Martin, and its television adaptation, "Game of Thrones".


title: Olenna Tyrell

text: Olenna is first mentioned in "A Game of Thrones" (1996) and appears in "A Storm of Swords" (2000) and "A Feast for Crows" (2005). She is the matriarch of the powerful House Tyrell, the largest and second wealthiest of the eight Great Houses of Westeros. Olenna is characterized by her cunning, ambition and sharp wit (the latter of which being the foundation for her title, the Queen of Thorns, with the Tyrell sigil of a rose). Although her family is allied with the Lannisters in King's Landing, she often finds her machinations at odds with theirs, especially those of Tywin Lannister. She, along with Petyr Baelish, is responsible for the death of King Joffrey Baratheon during his wedding to her granddaughter and protégé, Margaery.


title: Olenna Tyrell

text: In the HBO television adaptation, Olenna was portrayed by veteran English actress Diana Rigg, who received significant critical praise for her portrayal. Rigg received Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her performances in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2018.


title: Olenna Tyrell

text: Olenna Tyrell, also known as the Queen of Thorns, is the mother of Mace Tyrell, the lord of Highgarden and the lord paramount of the Reach. She is described as a wizened and cunning old woman with a wicked wit and a sharp tongue, and is known for openly stating her opinion.


title: Olenna Tyrell

text: Olenna is not a point of view character in the novels, so her actions are witnessed and interpreted through the eyes of other people, such as Sansa Stark and Cersei Lannister. Olenna is mostly a background character in the novels.


title: Olenna Tyrell

text: In "A Storm of Swords", she plots to have Sansa taken to Highgarden to marry her grandson Willas. This plan is foiled by the Lannisters, who force Sansa to marry Tyrion Lannister. According to Littlefinger later in "A Storm of Swords", in order to shield Margaery from King Joffrey's cruelty, Olenna had actually been the one who murdered Joffrey at his wedding. Margaery would later go on to marry the younger brother, Tommen Baratheon.


title: Olenna Tyrell

text: Lady Olenna, better known as "The Queen of Thorns", is the sharp-witted grandmother of Loras and Margaery. In the adaptation, Olenna is the matriarch of, and the true power behind, House Tyrell. She is also aware of and is generally unconcerned with her grandson Loras's homosexuality. Olenna implies that both closet matriarchy and tolerance of "sword-swallowers" are considered relatively normal in the Reach. She is notably one of the few characters that Tywin Lannister treats as an equal.


title: Olenna Tyrell

text: Olenna was played by the British actress Diana Rigg in the television adaption of the series of books. Commenting on the casting of Diana Rigg, David Benioff said “you don’t audition Dames, they audition you”. Rigg highly praised the show after being cast as Olenna, saying that she "couldn’t ask for better lines – I’m so lucky. I could be sitting at home crumbling but I'm not." Speaking on the character, Rigg said that Olenna "says all the things that other people dare not say".


title: Olenna Tyrell

text: I wasn't aware I was getting involved in something so huge. I really had no idea. She is also pretty evil; I'm good at evil.


title: Olenna Tyrell

text: Also the costume is terrific. I don’t have to spend hours in make-up and I’m in a wimple, it’s great. I adore it, I absolutely adore it.


title: Olenna Tyrell

text: Executive producer D. B. Weiss said of Rigg's final scene as Olenna, "What I love about the way she plays the scene is that even though you leave the scene knowing she’s soon going to be dead shortly after you cut to black you still feel like she won. She’s probably the only character to win her own death scene."


title: Olenna Tyrell

text: After learning the abuses Sansa Stark suffered at the hands of Joffrey, Olenna realised that Margaery could avoid the same fate by using Joffrey's love of violence. Varys warns Olenna that Petyr Baelish has designs on Sansa, who, given the death or disappearance of all her brothers, is now the key to the North. Olenna thus secretly plots to have Sansa marry Loras. Her plan is foiled by Loras, who accidentally reveals it to his new lover, one of Baelish's spies. Baelish informs Tywin Lannister, who has Sansa marry his son Tyrion Lannister instead. To secure the Reach, Tywin orders his daughter Cersei to marry Loras. Lady Olenna is at first against this because Cersei is too old (and therefore unlikely to have more children) and because of the scandal of her incestuous affair with her twin brother Jaime. After Tywin threatens to make Loras join the celibate Kingsguard, which would make Joffrey and Margaery's children the heirs of Reach, Olenna admits defeat and praises Tywin for getting the best of her.


title: Olenna Tyrell

text: Olenna conspires with Petyr Baelish to murder Joffrey, so as to protect Margaery from Joffrey's beastly nature – it is Olenna who actually does the deed, using a poison Petyr arranged to have smuggled into the wedding on Sansa's person. Quietly admitting her actions, Olenna advises Margaery to become acquainted with her new match, Tommen Baratheon, Joffrey's younger brother and heir, before Cersei turns him against her. Olenna returns to Highgarden shortly afterwards.


title: Olenna Tyrell

text: When Loras is arrested by the recently reinstated Faith Militant for his homosexuality, Margaery writes to her grandmother who returns to the capital to protect her grandchildren from Cersei's schemes. Mistakenly believing Loras's arrest was simply meant to humiliate House Tyrell, she helplessly assists Olyvar's testimony which incriminates her grandson, as well as to Margaery's incarceration for perjury in front of the gods to protect her brother. She later confronts the High Sparrow without result and has a secret meeting with Littlefinger who, blackmailed by Olenna for his part in Joffrey's death and to atone for his role in her grandchildren's imprisonment in providing Olyvar to Cersei, gives valuable information about Lancel and Cersei's adulterous relationship. This results in the latter's arrest by the Faith Militant.


title: Olenna Tyrell

text: Olenna takes steps to free Margaery from the High Sparrow and retake power from the Faith Militant but is thwarted when Tommen forges an alliance with the Faith and becomes the High Sparrow's new puppet. Margaery feigns loyalty and manages to instruct Olenna to leave the city when the High Sparrow threatens her life. Cersei's plotting ultimately causes the destruction of the Great Sept of Baelor, killing Margaery, Loras, Mace and the High Sparrow. A grieving Olenna is invited to Dorne to meet with Ellaria Sand, who has seized control of the region and rebelled against the Lannisters. In Dorne, Ellaria presents Varys, who persuades Olenna to support Daenerys Targaryen, having been a secret Targaryen loyalist all along. Olenna sends the Tyrell fleet to Meereen to assist in taking Daenerys' forces to Westeros.


title: Olenna Tyrell

text: During a meeting with Daenerys' allies at Dragonstone, Olenna shows her doubts about Tyrion Lannister's plan to attack King's Landing using the Tyrell and Dornish forces but eventually agrees. After the meeting, Daenerys asks Olenna to stay to talk with her. Daenerys acknowledges that Olenna has joined forces with her to exact revenge for her family and not out of any loyalty to her. Olenna advises Daenerys not to listen to "wise men" such as Tyrion, as that is how she has stayed alive all these years. She then tells her the lords of Westeros are all sheep and Daenerys is a dragon, so she should "be" a dragon. In "The Queen's Justice", Jaime Lannister seizes control of Highgarden on Cersei's orders. He confronts Olenna, granting her a painless death by poison, putting it in her cup of wine as she watches. She drinks the cup all at once and then admits her responsibility for Joffrey's death, wanting Cersei to know who had done it.


title: Olenna Tyrell

text: Diana Rigg received positive reviews for her role as Olenna Tyrell in the TV series. Screen Rant called Rigg's performance full of energy and fun, saying that the character is "refreshing" and has "sassy put-downs and blunt talk, she is likely the closest thing to comic relief we have in the show."


title: Olenna Tyrell

text: For her performance in the series, she received Primetime Emmy Awards nominations for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2018, and Critics' Choice Television Award nominations for Best Guest Performer in a Drama Series in 2013 and 2014.


title: Herpetology

text: Herpetology (from Greek ἑρπετόν "herpetón", meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians (gymnophiona)) and reptiles (including snakes, lizards, amphisbaenids, turtles, terrapins, tortoises, crocodilians, and the tuataras). Birds, which are cladistically included within Reptilia, are traditionally excluded here; the scientific study of birds is the subject of ornithology.


title: Herpetology

text: Thus, the definition of herpetology can be more precisely stated as the study of ectothermic (cold-blooded) tetrapods. Under this definition "herps" (or sometimes "herptiles" or "herpetofauna") exclude fish, but it is not uncommon for herpetological and ichthyological scientific societies to collaborate. Examples include publishing joint journals and holding conferences in order to foster the exchange of ideas between the fields, as the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists does. Many herpetological societies have been formed to promote interest in reptiles and amphibians, both captive and wild.


title: Herpetology

text: Herpetology offers benefits to humanity in the study of the role of amphibians and reptiles in global ecology. Amphibians are often very sensitive to environmental changes, offering a visible warning to humans that significant changes are taking place. Some toxins and venoms produced by reptiles and amphibians are useful in human medicine. Currently, some snake venom has been used to create anti-coagulants that work to treat strokes and heart attacks.


title: Herpetology

text: The word "herpetology" is from Greek: ἑρπετόν, "herpetón", "creeping animal" and , "-logia", "knowledge". People with an avid interest in herpetology and who keep different reptiles or amphibians often refer to themselves as "herpers".


title: Herpetology

text: "Herp" is a vernacular term for non-avian reptiles and amphibians. It is derived from the old term "herpetile", with roots back to Linnaeus's classification of animals, in which he grouped reptiles and amphibians together in the same class. There are over 6700 species of amphibians and over 9000 species of reptiles. In spite of its modern taxonomic irrelevance, the term has persisted, particularly in the names of herpetology, the scientific study of non-avian reptiles and amphibians, and herpetoculture, the captive care and breeding of reptiles and amphibians.


title: Herpetology

text: The field of herpetology can be divided into areas dealing with particular taxonomic groups such as frogs (batrachology), snakes (ophiology or ophidiology), lizards (saurology) or turtles (cheloniology, chelonology or testudinology).


title: Herpetology

text: More generally, herpetologists work on functional problems in ecology, evolution, physiology, behavior etc. of amphibians and reptiles. That is, they chose to use amphibians or reptiles as model organisms for specific questions in these fields, such as the role of frogs in the ecology of a wetland. All of these areas are related through their evolutionary history, e.g. the evolution of viviparity (including behavior and reproduction).


title: Herpetology

text: Career options in the field of herpetology include, but are not limited to lab research, field studies and survey, zoological staff, museum staff and college teaching.


title: Herpetology

text: In modern academic science, it is rare for individuals to consider themselves a herpetologist first and foremost. Most individuals focus on a particular field such as ecology, evolution, taxonomy, physiology, or molecular biology, and within that field ask questions pertaining to or best answered by examining reptiles and amphibians. For example, an evolutionary biologist who is also a herpetologist may choose to work on an issue such as the evolution of warning coloration in coral snakes.


title: Herpetology

text: Modern herpetological writers include Mark O'Shea and Philip Purser. Modern herpetological showmen include Jeff Corwin, Steve Irwin, popularly known as the "Crocodile Hunter", and the star Austin Stevens, popularly known as "Austin Snakeman" in the TV series "Austin Stevens: Snakemaster".


title: Herpetology

text: Most colleges or universities do not offer a major in herpetology at the undergraduate or even the graduate level. Instead, persons interested in herpetology select a major in the biological sciences. The knowledge learned about all aspects of the biology of animals is then applied to an individual study of herpetology.


title: Herpetology

text: Herpetology research is published in honour demic journals including "Ichthyology & Herpetology," founded in 1913 (under the name "Copeia" in honour of Edward Drinker Cope); "Herpetologica," founded in 1936; "Reptiles and amphibians", founded in 1990; and "Contemporary Herpetology," founded in 1997.


title: Protective Stadium

text: Protective Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium owned and operated by the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center Authority in downtown Birmingham, Alabama, U.S. Its naming rights are provided by the Protective Life company, which will pay $1 million per year for 15 years.


title: Protective Stadium

text: The stadium replaced Legion Field as the home of the UAB Blazers football program. The Blazers played their first game in the stadium on October 2, 2021, and lost to Liberty 36–12.


title: Protective Stadium

text: In December 2021, the stadium hosted the Super 7, the football championship games of the Alabama High School Athletic Association, as part of a three-year rotation with Bryant–Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa and Jordan–Hare Stadium in Auburn that will run through at least 2032. The 2021 Birmingham Bowl was played at the stadium; it was the first event at the new venue to sell out.


title: Protective Stadium

text: The United States Football League has played most of its 2022 games in Birmingham at Protective Stadium with the rest played at Legion Field. The USLC soccer team Birmingham Legion FC will play at Protective Stadium starting in the 2022 season. The stadium hosted the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2022 World Games.


title: Culper Ring

text: The Culper Ring was a network of spies active during the American Revolutionary War, organized by Major Benjamin Tallmadge and General George Washington in 1778 during the British occupation of New York City. The name "Culper" was suggested by George Washington and taken from Culpeper County, Virginia. The leaders of the spy ring were Abraham Woodhull and Robert Townsend, using the aliases of "Samuel Culper Sr." and "Samuel Culper Jr.", respectively; Tallmadge was referred to as "John Bolton."


title: Culper Ring

text: While Tallmadge was the spies' direct contact, Washington often directed their operations. The ring was tasked to provide Washington information on British Army operations in New York City, the British headquarters. Its members operated mostly in New York City, Long Island, and Connecticut between late October 1778 and the British evacuation of New York in 1783.


title: Culper Ring

text: The information supplied by the spy ring included details of a surprise attack on the newly arrived French forces under Lieutenant General Rochambeau at Newport, Rhode Island, before they had recovered from their arduous sea voyage, as well as a British plan to counterfeit American currency on the actual paper used for Continental dollars, which prompted the Continental Congress to retire the bills.


title: Culper Ring

text: The ring also informed Washington that Tryon's raid of July 1779 was intended to divide his forces and allow Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton to attack them piecemeal. In 1780, the Culper Ring discovered a high-ranking American officer, subsequently identified as Benedict Arnold, was plotting with British Major John André to turn over the vitally important American fort at West Point, New York on the Hudson River and surrender its garrison to the British forces.


title: Culper Ring

text: Prior to British General William Howe's move from Staten Island, George Washington had received information of varying utility from individual spies working independently and without significant direction, such as Lawrence Mascoll. After evacuating the Continental Army from Brooklyn Heights, Washington asked William Heath and George Clinton to set up "a channel of information" on Long Island, but he did not yet try to establish permanent agents behind enemy lines.


title: Culper Ring

text: Instead, he sought volunteers for espionage missions. Among them was Captain Nathan Hale, who went to New York City under a false identity but was quickly captured by the British and executed on September 22, 1776. This made Washington realize that a more discreet and well-organized espionage system would be necessary in order to infiltrate British operations. He decided that civilians would attract less attention than soldiers, and he asked William Duer to recommend a suitable agent. Duer recommended Nathaniel Sackett; his army contact was Hale's former classmate, then Captain Benjamin Tallmadge.


title: Culper Ring

text: Sackett had some success, for example the discovery that the British were building flat-bottomed boats for a campaign against Philadelphia; however, Washington felt he did not produce enough correct intelligence fast enough, and Sackett was soon paid off. Early in 1777, American Colonel Elias Dayton set up a spy network on Staten Island, which worked with an established network known as the Mersereau Ring.


title: Culper Ring

text: The British victory at the Battle of Brandywine on September 11, 1777, led to the capture of Philadelphia on September 26, which became a new focus of intelligence gathering. Washington assigned this task to Major John Clark. Recently returned to service after being wounded before Brandywine, Clark set up a successful network, but poor health forced him to take up a desk job.


title: Culper Ring

text: In August, 1778, Washington accepted an offer from Lieutenant Caleb Brewster, based at Norwalk, Connecticut, to provide intelligence. His first report included details on the condition of British warships prior to the Battle of Rhode Island, and the dispatching of several regiments to Newport, Rhode Island.


title: Culper Ring

text: Washington asked General Charles Scott to handle Brewster and find additional agents, assisted by Tallmadge. Scott delegated most of the work to Tallmadge, and Washington asked him to recruit reliable intelligence agents in New York City. As a contact for Brewster, Tallmadge recommended a mutual childhood friend, Abraham Woodhull of Setauket on Long Island. A few months earlier, Woodhull had been arrested for illegal trading of which he had been guilty and was being held in a Connecticut prison. Tallmadge arranged his release through Governor Jonathan Trumbull and obtained approval by Washington and Scott to recruit him as an intelligence agent. Washington suggested the alias "Samuel Culper" after Culpeper County, Virginia, where he had worked as a surveyor in his youth.


title: Culper Ring

text: Tallmadge and Scott had different approaches. Scott preferred single-mission agents, who returned to base after each completion, Tallmadge favored embedding agents and establishing a secure line of communication. Since Scott lost three out of five agents sent into New York City in early September, Washington decided that Tallmadge's method should be used. He opened discussions on setting up an embedded network with Woodhull and Brewster. Scott resigned on October 29, and Tallmadge replaced him as intelligence chief.


title: Culper Ring

text: Woodhull traveled to New York City every few weeks to gather intelligence. His married sister, Mary Underhill, lived there and gave him a valid reason to visit. He was questioned at a British checkpoint on October 31, 1778, which increased his anxiety about the dangerous mission, but he returned to Setauket with valuable information about the British supply fleet. He provided a precise report on November 23 with the identity of British units and the numbers of troops and dispositions in New York City, which proved his worth as a spy. Woodhull soon recruited his brother-in-law, Amos Underhill, to gather intelligence; the latter ran a boarding house in the city with his wife, Mary, but Underhill's reports were often too vague to be of much value.


title: Culper Ring

text: At first, Woodhull had to return to Setauket to pass messages to Caleb Brewster, which Brewster would take to Tallmadge or to receive messages from Tallmadge via Brewster. Tallmadge set up couriers in December who would take messages the between New York and Setauket, initially Jonas Hawkins then mainly Austin Roe beginning in the early summer. The courier's task was to get the letters to Brewster, who would pick up messages at one of six secluded coves near Setauket and take them across Long Island Sound with his rotating whaleboat crews to Tallmadge at Fairfield, Connecticut. Tallmadge would then take them to Washington's headquarters. The time-consuming task was replaced in January 1779 by the assignment of express riders to take the messages from Tallmadge to Washington.


title: Culper Ring

text: Local tradition claims that Anna Strong, a resident of Setauket and a friend and neighbor of Abraham Woodhull, helped pass along messages from the spy ring by posting prearranged signals to indicate when one of the spies was ready to submit intelligence. If she hung a black petticoat on her clothesline, it meant that Brewster had arrived in town in his whaleboat. Also, she would hang a quantity of white handkerchiefs to indicate which of the six hiding places he was in. Woodhull used her signals to meet Brewster or to drop messages at one of the meeting places. The historian Richard Welch writes that the tradition of the clothesline signal is unverifiable, but it is known that the British suspected a Setauket woman who fit Anna's profile of Patriot activities.


title: Culper Ring

text: Brewster occasionally would add his own report to the Culper messages. In a January 1779 report received by Washington in early February, Brewster sent some information about naval matters and boat building at New York City and warned that Loyalists were outfitting privateers for operations on Long Island Sound. That was delivered with a message from Woodhull that precisely described the British regiments and commanders at the northern tip of Manhattan, totaling about 8,500 men. Woodhull also reported on British boatbuilding, confirming Brewster's report. Tallmadge and Washington thought that the boats might be planned for transport for an attack against Connecticut from Major General William Tryon, who had conducted a raid during the winter.


title: Culper Ring

text: Woodhull became increasingly anxious about being discovered and did little in May and June 1779. John Wolsey was a Long Island privateer who was captured by the British. To secure parole, he told British officers on June 5 that Woodhull was up to something dubious. Colonel John Graves Simcoe, the commander of the Queen's Rangers, came to Setauket to look for Woodhull, but he was away, in New York City. Simcoe's men attacked and beat Woodhull's father, Judge Richard Woodhull. Abraham Woodhull escaped arrest because Loyalist militia officer Colonel Benjamin Floyd vouched for him. Floyd was married to a member of the Woodhull family. Woodhull reported that he could not continue to operate in New York City after the visit from Simcoe in June because of suspicion, but Woodhull had a new agent lined up and would go to New York to finalize arrangements with him.


title: Culper Ring

text: In late June, Washington sent a letter to Tallmadge in which he identified George Higday as a possible operative to relieve Woodhull in New York City. The British had intercepted a June 13 letter from Washington that referred to "C_____" and Tallmadge. On July 2, British cavalry under the command of Colonel Banastre Tarleton attacked Tallmadge's camp and captured his horse and some papers, including the letter mentioning Higday. They were trying to capture Tallmadge himself because they knew that he was head of Washington's intelligence operation. The second letter confirmed that the agent C______ was operating in New York City and that Tallmadge was the chief intelligence officer for Washington. Higday escaped execution but was of no use as a spy to Washington or to Clinton, who tried to recruit him as a double agent.


title: Culper Ring

text: In June 1779, Woodhull engaged Robert Townsend to gather intelligence in New York City by using the alias "Samuel Culper Jr." Townsend was involved in business there, and his presence would arouse less suspicion than Woodhull's visits. He had access to British officers through several channels, including his own tailoring business. He also wrote a society column in a Loyalist newspaper and owned an interest in a coffeehouse with the newspaper's owner, James Rivington, who also was a secret member of the Culper Ring.


title: Culper Ring

text: Once Townsend began his intelligence activities in New York City, Woodhull operated almost exclusively from Setauket and revised the communications network. Townsend would pass intelligence to a courier (initially Hawkins, later Hawkins and Roe, and exclusively Roe after September 1779), who would take it to Setauket and pass it to Woodhull, usually by dead drop in a box hidden in a field that Roe rented from Woodhull. Woodhull would evaluate and comment on it and pass it to Brewster, who would occasionally add an intelligence note of his own, take it across Long Island Sound, and pass it to Tallmadge. Tallmadge would usually add a cover letter with comments and sent and received messages by a relay of dragoons acting as couriers.


title: Culper Ring

text: Hawkins was bold at first but later became increasingly anxious about British patrols. His role was reduced between April and July, when Tallmadge assigned a code number in his code directory to Roe but not to Hawkins. Woodhull wrote in a coded message on August 15 that Hawkins had had to destroy a letter from Culper Jr. or be captured. He also wrote that Hawkins insisted his next meeting with Townsend be in an out-of-the-way location.


title: Culper Ring

text: Townsend did not like taking the additional risk and was beginning to doubt Hawkins' reliability and to regret the destroyed messages. Hawkins finally stopped his courier services for the spy ring in September 1779, as Townsend refused to deal with him any longer. Woodhull acted as courier on September 11 so that he could explain to Townsend the loss of the earlier letters, and Roe became the sole permanent courier for the ring.


title: Culper Ring

text: Secrecy was so strict that Washington did not know the identity of all of the operatives. Townsend was recruited by Woodhull, who was especially insistent that his identity not be revealed, although Austin Roe and Jonas Hawkins needed to know him.


title: Culper Ring

text: Among the techniques that the Culper Ring used to relay information were coded messages published in newspapers and invisible ink, called a sympathetic stain, to write between the lines of what appeared to be typical letters. In the first months of the ring's operations, they were forced to rely on crude tactics to conceal their information before a complex web of codes and invisible ink were accessible, and so they relied on a small number of codes for memory. Woodhull used the codes 10 (New York), 30 and 40 (Post Riders), and 20 (Setauket) in his first letter of correspondence.


title: Culper Ring

text: Tallmadge realized the significance of creating a code book to increase their vocabulary. By July 1779, he had completed pocket dictionaries with lists of verbs, nouns, people, and places with their corresponding code numbers. The dictionaries were given to Washington, Woodhull, Townsend, and Tallmadge himself to ensure that they did not get into enemy hands. With the use of the codes, the letters were very complex and required much effort to write and comprehend. The code book helped Washington make sure that the Culper Ring spies had more support and operated in greater secrecy than previous Continental spies, perhaps with Nathan Hale in mind. Tallmadge, Woodhull, and Townsend were given code names and code numbers, along with Washington, Brewster, Roe, and Rivington. Washington's code number was 711.


title: Culper Ring

text: The members of the ring gathered information from a variety of sources, including persons other than unwitting British officers. Some of those informants or associates included Joseph Lawrence, a Long Island resident; Captain Nathan Woodhull, Abraham Woodhull's uncle, who served as a Loyalist militia officer but provided information to Abraham; Nathaniel Ruggles, a schoolmaster and physician born in 1713; Joshua Davis, a Brewster deputy and occasional substitute; George Smith, a whaleboat man who filled in for Brewster near the end of the war; and William T. Robinson, a merchant.


title: Culper Ring

text: Alexander Rose writes that "John Cork" was a code name for an unidentified informant. Harry Thayer Mahoney writes that John Corke of Groton, New York posed as a Tory and could travel back and forth to New York City because he was "exceedingly intimate at British headquarters." Corke wrote intelligence reports to Tallmadge in invisible ink or reported verbally to him. Mahoney states that Washington and Tallmadge considered Corke a valuable recruit for the Culper Ring.


title: Culper Ring

text: A letter by Loyalist soldier Nehemiah Marks was uncovered in 2015 which identifies brothers Nathaniel and Phillip Roe as supporters of the spy ring, with Nathaniel providing intelligence and Phillip material aid. The letter also provides evidence that the Culper Ring operated in Drowned Meadow beyond Setauket and Oyster Bay, as previously believed. The letter is housed in the William L. Clements library at the University of Michigan, where it was discovered by a former resident of Port Jefferson researching the Culper Ring.


title: Culper Ring

text: Hercules Mulligan was recruited to spy for the Continental Army in New York City by Alexander Hamilton. Born in 1740, he was a friend of Townsend's father and an active member of the Sons of Liberty. He had taken in the orphaned Hamilton when Hamilton arrived in New York in 1773 to attend King's College, and he had later helped Hamilton obtain a commission in the army. He was married to Elizabeth Sanders, daughter of a Royal Navy admiral, and he also had a fashionable clothing business near Robert Townsend's establishment. These things gave him access to officers who would openly talk to him about military matters.


title: Culper Ring

text: Mulligan began his activities in late 1776 or early 1777, well before the formation of the Culper Ring. Historian Stephen Knott says that Mulligan cooperated with the Culper Ring but mostly operated as a lone agent. Alexander Rose states that Mulligan gave Townsend information which Townsend added to his reports. Mulligan's slave Cato was his "faithful accomplice" in his intelligence activities. In January 1779, Cato delivered a message from Mulligan to George Washington's aide Alexander Hamilton that the British planned to kidnap or kill American leaders, including Washington and New Jersey Governor William Livingston. Mulligan had received the information from his brother Hugh, who worked as a contractor for the British Army through the firm Kortright and Company.


title: Culper Ring

text: The British arrested Mulligan on suspicion of espionage after Benedict Arnold defected in New York. Townsend ceased his activities for a time for fear that he would also be discovered. Woodhull passed on the information concerning Townsend's dejection and concern over the arrest of "one that hath been ever serviceable to this correspondence." Arnold did not have any hard evidence against Mulligan, so he was released, but he may have spent as many as five months in prison, until February 1781. Undeterred, he continued to pick up intelligence after his release.


title: Culper Ring

text: Mulligan discovered that the British planned to ambush Washington while he was on his way to a meeting with Rochambeau on March 5, 1781. Mulligan and Cato remained under suspicion and could not communicate directly with Washington's headquarters, so Mulligan gave the information to Townsend, who sent it to Washington via the Culper Ring. The message arrived in time for Washington to avoid the trap and travel to the meeting by another route.


title: Culper Ring

text: Women were not considered threats to military commanders allowing them to spy uninterrupted. Women who were cooks and maids were recruited to spy on soldiers. A prominent woman who played a major role in the Culper Spy ring was Agent 355. Agent 355 was best known for providing the intelligence that led to the capture of the treasonous Benedict Arnold. While some sources make note of Agent 355 as an intelligence gatherer, others believe the code number simply referred to Anna Strong, or was a misunderstanding of a cryptic reference in one of Abraham Woodhull's letters. Other women were informants for the Culper Ring, such as Robert Townsend's sister Sarah (Sally) Townsend and Abraham Woodhull's sister Mary Underhill, who provided important information about Major John Andre and his alias of John Anderson, according to some sources.