title: Torquay United F.C.

text: Following their FA Cup heroics, in the 1956–57 season Torquay just missed out on promotion to Division Two on goal average. The season had begun well – and by April, the possibility of a first promotion to Division Two was the talk of the town. After home wins against Northampton Town, Southampton, Newport County and Queens Park Rangers, United found themselves sitting at the top of the table, with future World Cup winning manager Alf Ramsey's Ipswich Town just one point behind.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: A trip to Crystal Palace for the team and over 1,500 Torquay fans travelling on the last day of the season beckoned. Torquay only needed to win the game to be certain of going up, but they managed only a 1–1 draw at Selhurst Park and Ipswich, who won their final match away to Southampton, took the title on goal-average.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: United failed to repeat this form the following season and after finishing 22nd in the league and were placed in the new Division Four, created by the de-regionalisation of the two third level divisions.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: With Eric Webber still in charge, United ended their first season in the League's new basement division in twelfth place; but the next season, the club returned to form, and on 27 April 1960, 8,749 fans saw Torquay United beat Gillingham 2–0 at Plainmoor to return to the Third Division with two games of the season remaining. However, after only two seasons in the Third Division they were again relegated on the last day of the campaign, with a 4–2 away defeat at Barnsley, in May 1962.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: Torquay came very close to regaining their Division Three status when they finished sixth in both the 1962–63 and 1963–64 campaigns. In 1963, Webber signed striker Robin Stubbs for a club record fee of £6,000 from Birmingham City; he went on to be the club's top goalscorer at the end of the 1963–64 scoring 24 goals in 34 games in his debut season.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: Torquay's FA Cup run of 1964–65 was the highlight of a disappointing mid-table season as United again failed to return to the Third Division. After travelling to Canterbury City in the first round and beating them 6–0, United disposed of Colchester United in the second round 2–0 at Plainmoor. In the third round, Torquay were drawn at home to English football giants; Tottenham Hotspur.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: In front of Plainmoor's second ever largest attendance – the official attendance was slightly above 20,000 – the team performed well: Billy Atkinson put United 1–0 up from the penalty spot after Robin Stubbs had been felled; Spurs responded turning on the style to give themselves a 3–1 lead with two goals from Alan Gilzean and one from Maurice Norman; and then, in the last few minutes, it was the turn of record signing Robin Stubbs to net two goals and make it 3–3.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: The first attempt at a replay in London was cancelled, with the majority of United's travelling fans having already arrived in the capital. A week later though, in front of 55,000-strong crowd at White Hart Lane, the match went ahead. Jimmy Greaves scored a hat trick as Tottenham showed their class to win 5–1, Stubbs hitting Torquay's lone consolation goal.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: After finishing in 12th at the end of the season, Eric Webber was finally sacked after 15 years as manager by United's new chairman Tony Boyce, who felt the club needed refreshing; both Boyce and Webber's successor were soon to write their own part of United's history.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: Webber's replacement was Frank O'Farrell who arrived fresh from winning the Southern League title with Weymouth. In his first season in charge, O'Farrell oversaw Torquay's second promotion when they finished third in Division Four, while England won the World Cup on home soil.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: During the following couple of seasons O'Farrell used his connections at West Ham United to bring many ex-Hammers to Plainmoor, John Bond and ex-international Ken Brown being two famous Upton Park names to appear in gold and blue. At the end of their 1966–67 campaign United finished in seventh, and at the end of their 1967–68 season, United came very close to promotion to Division Two, once again.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: With Torquay leading the table during Easter 1968, United got their first ever coverage on Match of the Day, beating promotion rivals Bury 3–0 in front of more than 10,000 fans at Plainmoor; however a poor run-in saw United finish fourth, two points behind the promoted duo, Oxford United and Bury, with Shrewsbury Town in third place. This period also coincided with the club's fans being voted the 'Best Behaved Supporters in the League'.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: The O'Farrell era ended in 1968–69, when he left to manage First Division Leicester City and later Manchester United.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: During the following end-of-season clear-out, star striker Robin Stubbs was sold to Bristol Rovers for £12,000. Another two seasons of indifference in Division Three saw the club finish in mid-table positions, then at the end of the 1971–72 campaign, United found themselves in the relegation zone, and back in the basement division.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: This led to a relatively uneventful decade with the club consistently scratching out mid-table finishes. Although in January 1977 Pat Kruse, a centre-half for Torquay, did create a world record by scoring an own goal after just six seconds in a league match against Cambridge United at Plainmoor.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: O'Farrell made a return to Plainmoor in 1976 when Malcolm Musgrove lost his job after a disappointing FA Cup defeat against non-league outfit Hillingdon Borough. He soon moved upstairs into the position of consultant manager, and ex-Plymouth Argyle promotion-winning captain Mike Green was brought in to control first team matters. The end of the 1977–78 season saw the Gulls finish in ninth place, with Willie Brown finishing up as top goalscorer with 12 goals.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: Halfway through the campaign, just before Green's arrival, O'Farrell bought local Devon-born striker Colin Lee from Bristol City, who duly scored on his Torquay debut, and went on to score 10 goals in 23 games. His time at Plainmoor was short, for in October of the following season United accepted a £60,000 offer from Tottenham Hotspur for his services. Lee would famously go on to score four goals on his debut for the London club during their 9–0 demolition of Bristol Rovers and would return to United in various capacities in later years ranging from caretaker manager, to director of football and later, chief executive.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: Green then left the club, to be replaced at the helm, for the third time, by Frank O'Farrell. O'Farrell didn't stay in charge of team matters for long, bringing in ex-Scotland international Bruce Rioch to become player-coach. After a great start to the 1981–82 season, the Gulls soon started to flag, and ended up finishing in fifteenth place.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: During the following summer Rioch was named manager, and the following 1982–83 campaign saw United again off to a flying start. They finished 12th, but reached the fourth round of the FA Cup for the third time, going out of the competition at Plainmoor after a thrilling 2–3 defeat at the hands of Sheffield Wednesday.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: Money was tight at the club and the club's board was putting pressure on Rioch to sell Colin Anderson the club's star player at the time to balance the books, following Rioch claiming "a good few for Anderson could well save the club". Anderson's form nosedived, infuriating Rioch – this culminated in Rioch punching the player in the jaw after Anderson nutmegged him during a five-a-side match in training. Faced with the prospect of Anderson going to the PFA over the matter, the club suggested Rioch resign, which he promptly did. Twenty years later, he said, "What I did was inexcusable. It was a period of my career which I deeply regret, but I learned from the experience".


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: During this period, United – as all English clubs were at the time – were struggling with falling attendances and a negative perception of football in the country as a whole, and by the end of the season on 2 May 1984 only 967 spectators watched the 1–0 victory over Chester City at Plainmoor.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: During this time Lew Pope had taken over as chairman from Tony Boyce, and in February 1984 former Chelsea favourite Dave Webb took charge of the club. Webb brought in ex-Bournemouth players Derek Dawkins and goalkeeper Kenny Allen to strengthen the squad, and also attracted the former internationals Eddie Kelly and Tony Currie to the club, United would go on to finish the season in a strong 9th place.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: However, in Webb's first full season at the healm, the 1984–85 season United finished bottom of Division Four and had to apply for re-election to stay in the Football League for the first time since their inaugural season in the Football League. To worsen the problems the club was enduring, a 'suspicious' fire destroyed half of the grandstand on 17 May 1985 just six days after the Bradford City stadium fire, destroying a third of the old grandstand. Nobody was hurt, but as a result, the ground's capacity fell to below 5,000.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: For the 1985–86 season David Webb became managing director and appointed Stuart Morgan as manager. However, for the second successive year United finished bottom of Division Four, and again had to apply for re-election. The last side to finish bottom of the league two seasons in a row, Workington lost their league place, but Torquay's bid was successful.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: The 1986–87 season saw automatic relegation to the Football Conference introduced into Division Four for the first time. With the final game of the season to go, Torquay were third from bottom on 47 points; below them were Burnley on 46 points and Tranmere Rovers, also on 47 points but with an inferior goal difference. Lincoln City had 48 points and seemed in least danger.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: The final game of the season was against Crewe Alexandra, featuring a young David Platt, at Plainmoor. At half-time Crewe were leading 2–0 and things looked bad for Torquay, two minutes into the second-half Torquay's centre-half, Jim McNichol, scored from a free kick but despite an all-out attack, Torquay seem unable to get the equaliser even hitting the crossbar. Tranmere secured safety by winning their final game on the Friday night. Burnley were winning their game, and while Lincoln were being beaten by Swansea, they would still finish above Torquay by a single point as things stood.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: Seven minutes from time a piece of football folklore was created. A police dog by the name of Bryn appeared to think that Jim McNichol was running to attack his handler, and sank his teeth into the centre-half's thigh. It was during the resultant four minutes of injury time that Paul Dobson scored possibly the most important goal in the club's history, and kept them in the Football League, with Lincoln dropping into the Football Conference. This was dubbed by many as "The Great Escape" – something United fans have had to become very familiar with in subsequent years.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: The start of the 1987–88 season marked the dawn of a new era in Torquay United's history. Cyril Knowles became manager marking a turn for the better in the club's fortunes. The season started with a 6–1 victory over Wrexham at Plainmoor, and ended with Torquay just missing out on automatic promotion, but earning a play-off place, losing in the play-off final to Swansea City after losing 1–2 in Wales, and battling to a 3–3 draw at a rain-soaked Plainmoor, the Swans being promoted on a 5–4 aggregate. Also during this season, Torquay United beat Tottenham Hotspur 1–0 at Plainmoor reviving memories of the great cup tie of 1965, Derek Dawkins scoring the important goal in the first leg of a League Cup game. The team also reached the southern semi-final of the Football League Trophy. During the season Knowles also introduced a 16-year-old left winger called Lee Sharpe to the team.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: In May 1988 Lee Sharpe transferred to Manchester United for £180,000 in one of the biggest transfers of Torquay United's history at that time, he would later go on to represent England on the international stage as well.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: Nearly a year later in May 1989, United made their first appearance at Wembley in the final of the Sherpa Van Trophy (the successor to the Freight Rover Trophy). Torquay had disposed of Swansea City and Cardiff City in the group stages before beating Gillingham, Bristol Rovers, Hereford United and finally Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Southern final to reach the final. A crowd of 46,513 saw Dean Edwards put Torquay 1–0 up against Bolton Wanderers but Bolton won 4–1.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: Mike Bateson took over as Torquay chairman in May 1990, taking over from Lew Pope. The beginning of the 1990–91 season saw Torquay off to a wonderful start – they were unbeaten for 14 games and were clear leaders in November but they faded dramatically, Bateson sacked Smith in April and appointed former United captain and then youth coach John Impey as manager. Impey proceeded to breathe new life into the team, guiding them to 7th place and the play-offs for a second time.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: Torquay won promotion again on 31 May 1991, winning a play-off final on the club's second visit to Wembley against higher-placed Blackpool. Goals from Wes Saunders and Dean Edwards earned Torquay a 2–2 draw in normal time. No further goals in extra time resulted in a penalty shoot-out. Successful penalties by Micky Holmes, Wes Saunders, Paul Holmes, Chris Myers and goalkeeper Gareth Howells, combined with Dave Bamber's miss for the opposition, made Torquay winners 5–4 on penalties. The Gulls were promoted to Division Three due to this victory.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: However, despite the high-profile signing of Justin Fashanu, football's first openly gay footballer, the appointment of Ivan Golac as manager and well publicised visits of Julie Goodyear to the dressing room, United were relegated again after just one season. Golac's time at United was brief and Paul Compton was appointed to replace him in 1992. The introduction of the FA Premier League at the end of the season meant they were relegated from Division Three "to" Division Three.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: Paul Compton invited Neil Warnock to help him as consultant in January 1993, but shortly after this he resigned leaving Warnock in charge. The former Scarborough and Notts County manager guided the club through another close shave with relegation and then left.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: His major addition to United's playing staff, player-coach Don O'Riordan, took the senior job. O'Riordan continued to play an important midfield role and he managed, on a tight budget, to guide United to the play-offs again during the 1993–94 season, finishing sixth and once again qualifying for the play-offs. However, the team missed out on a third trip to Wembley after an ill-tempered play-off semi-final against Preston North End, 2–0 up after the First Leg, Torquay United lost 4–1 at Deepdale in the final match played on their artificial pitch.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: At the end of the 1995–96 season Torquay finished bottom of Division Three after a disastrous campaign and were threatened with relegation to the Football Conference. However, they were saved from relegation when Stevenage Borough's ground was deemed unfit for League football. Eddie May, who had replaced O'Riordan early in the campaign, was dismissed at the end of the season and replaced by Kevin Hodges.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: In the 1997–98 season after finishing fifth at the end of the league season, Torquay United were once again in the promotion play-offs. Had the team won a point in their final game of the season at Leyton Orient, they would have gone up automatically, but they lost the game 2–1. An emphatic 7–2 (on aggregate) victory over Scarborough in the semi-final, including 4 goals from star striker Rodney Jack, resulted in Torquay United's third appearance at Wembley. However, United lost 1–0 to Colchester United in the Wembley final (played on a Friday night due an England game the following day meaning that thousands of fans were unable to get to the game). Kevin Hodges left the club to return to his former club Plymouth Argyle after the season ended, and Wes Saunders (who had previously been caretaker manager for much of the 1991–92 season) returned as manager.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: The following season proved to be a massive disappointment, and Torquay only narrowly avoided relegation to the Football Conference. Matters improved in the 1999–00 season, with a finish of 9th, just three points off the play-offs. However, 2000–01 proved to be a dreadful season, and Saunders was sacked with the club adrift at the bottom of the table. He was replaced by Colin Lee, who improved results and gave the club a chance of survival. On 5 May 2001, the final game of the 2000–01 season saw United away to Barnet. Before the start of the game Barnet were bottom of the Third Division, one point behind Torquay. The Gulls needed to avoid defeat to keep their League status, Barnet needed to win. Thousands of fans were locked outside the tiny Underhill ground as United stormed to a 3–0 lead, with goals from Kevin Hill, Jason Rees, and David Graham. Barnet fought back to 3–2, but United held on for the win to condemn Barnet to the Football Conference.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: Lee left at the end of the season and was replaced by Roy McFarland, who only managed to deliver a mediocre 19th-place finish the following season; McFarland subsequently quit at the end of the season, in protest of Mike Bateson's decision to sack assistant manager David Preece without consulting McFarland, who was replaced by Leroy Rosenior. 2002–03 would see a major improvement over the previous two campaigns and a finish of 9th place, with only a late run of bad results keeping Torquay out of the play-offs. The end of the 2003–04 season saw United win automatic promotion for the third time in their history, against all odds in a nail-biting finale at Southend. However their stay in the third tier of the football pyramid was only to last for one season, as a final day defeat against Colchester United condemned the Gulls to a return to the 4th division of the leagues after narrowly being edged out by Milton Keynes Dons for safety in Football League One. The fact that it was the MK Dons that had stayed up at Torquay's expense saw messages of sympathy from fans of other clubs, mainly out of a dislike for the franchising of football.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: In the 2005–06 FA Cup 3rd round Torquay managed to pull off a 0–0 draw with Premiership strugglers Birmingham City. However they lost the replay at St Andrew's 2–0. Despite this achievement (and the windfall generated by the replay) the club fell into the relegation places of League Two. Former Exeter City manager John Cornforth took over as caretaker manager from Leroy Rosenior and soon after was appointed as manager until the end of the season. The side's form worsened however, and Ian Atkins replaced Cornforth in April. Torquay United's form immediately turned around going on a four-match unbeaten run, Atkins managed to rescue the side and lift them a comfortable three points from relegation.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: Torquay made a decent start to the following season and were in the play-off spots for the first few months of the season, but a run of just 1 point from 9 games saw them crash into another relegation battle. In October 2006, Bateson stepped down as chairman to be replaced by Chris Roberts, who soon afterwards sacked Atkins, replacing him with former Czech international Luboš Kubík.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: Despite his credentials as a player, there was some concern raised that Kubik had no real history as a coach, and he did little to endear himself to fans by bringing in Richard Hancox as coach. Torquay's dire form continued, and the club crashed to the bottom of the table on Boxing Day; they would ultimately never leave the foot of the table after that. After the worst run of form in the club's history, Kubik eventually quit on 5 February, having won just one of his matches in charge, and Colin Lee was soon after appointed as the new director of football and Keith Curle was appointed as Head Coach on 7 February 2007. Roberts resigned amid growing pressure from supporters and the board of directors, all of whom were unhappy with his conduct as chairman, on 21 February 2007. Local hotel owner Keith Richardson was announced as the new chairman the following day. However, on 7 March 2007, former chairman Mike Bateson was reappointed as chairman, the move coming about due to Chris Roberts' company, Torquay United Holdings, being unable to meet the next payment to purchase the club from Bateson.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: Curle was unable to significantly improve matters, and Torquay United lost their 80-year Football League status on 14 April 2007, following a 1–1 draw at home to Peterborough United. Illustrating just how disastrously wrong the season had gone, 4 of the club's 7 wins and 18 of their 35 points had been earned while Atkins was in charge, and before Roberts took over the club. The side's post-season soon descended into chaos, as Mike Bateson stepped down as chairman and was replaced by Mervyn Benney, after which Colin Lee was sacked, and Keith Curle was not invited back to coach Torquay United and soon took a coaching job at Crystal Palace instead. Former manager Leroy Rosenior was reappointed, only to be sacked on the same day.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: Finally, a new consortium headed by Alex Rowe and Cris Boyce, fiscally backed by £15M National Lottery winner and United fan Paul Bristow, bought the club from Bateson. Rowe was installed as the new chairman, and former player Paul Buckle appointed the club's new manager, who set about rebuilding the team for its first season in the Conference Premier.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: Torquay United started their first season in the Conference Premier well, beating Aldershot Town 3–0 and remained unbeaten until a 3–1 loss away to Burton Albion in September. This defeat appeared to spur them on and they won 5 straight games, leading the table by the end of October. Their form in the league dipped through November and December but a 4–1 victory over rivals Yeovil Town in the FA Cup, live on the BBC, gave the club a massive boost. They couldn't take advantage of this and dropped numerous points over the Christmas period including a 4–3 defeat to arch rivals Exeter City. Torquay got their revenge, beating Exeter City 1–0 a week later. However, by the end of January, Torquay were second, three points behind Aldershot Town. An unbeaten February followed but Torquay were now 5 points off Aldershot Town. Away from the league, Torquay were progressing well in the FA Trophy and had reached the semi-finals by the end of the month. March started horribly with Torquay losing their first three league games of the month including a 2–1 defeat at home to leaders Aldershot Town, this caused Torquay to fall 14 points off the top and drop to fourth. On Saturday, 15 March 2008, Torquay reached Wembley for the first time in ten years with a 2–1 aggregate win over York City in the semi finals of the FA Trophy.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: After finishing 3rd in the Conference Premier, Torquay had to play their fiercest rivals Exeter City to determine who would reach the play-off final to play either Cambridge United or Burton Albion. Torquay had to play Exeter City away first with the return leg at Plainmoor. Torquay started the first leg poorly and were fortunate when Tim Sills scored just before half-time but Exeter City levelled when Wayne Carlisle equalised. Just when the game looked like a draw Chris Zebroski pounced on a poor clearance by Paul Jones to make the final score 2–1 to United. Torquay knew going into the second leg that if they scored one goal Exeter City would need two goals to force extra time, and when Kevin Hill scored in the second half in his record-equalling appearance, the match seemed all over. However, Exeter City scored four goals in the space of 18 minutes, dumping Torquay out of the play-offs and ensuring they would have to spend another season in non-league football.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: On 10 May 2008, Torquay lost 1–0 in the FA Trophy final to Ebbsfleet United at Wembley, with former Gulls striker Chris McPhee scoring the winner just before half-time.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: Torquay started their second season in the Conference Premier as badly as the first one had finished, picking up only 5 points from their opening 7 games. However, the following three months were to be the best in years, as Torquay remained unbeaten from 7 September 2008 to 2 December 2008, setting a 17-game unbeaten record. They reached the FA Cup 3rd round with a 2–0 win over Oxford United at the end of November. The start of 2009 was shaky but on 3 January 2009 Torquay beat Blackpool 1–0 at home in the FA Cup 3rd round to reach the 4th round of the competition for the first time in 19 years where they faced Coventry City. They struggled for goals throughout January and, against Coventry City with a sell out crowd of 6,018, they lost a game which they should have won, losing dramatically to an 87th-minute goal by Elliot Ward. At the end of the month they lost to Southport 3–0 in the FA Trophy 3rd round.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: Torquay United were promoted back to the Football League on 17 May 2009 after a 2–0 victory over Cambridge United in the Conference Premier play-off final at Wembley.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: With goals from club captain Chris Hargreaves and leading scorer Tim Sills Torquay triumphed 2–0 over Cambridge in an entertaining match watched by over 35,000 fans. Lee Phillips played for Cambridge that day, and set a record (for a non-league player) of losing at Wembley three times in three years with three clubs.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: In their first season back in League Two, Torquay finished the season in 17th place with 57 points; following victories over Cheltenham Town and Stockport County, the club progressed to the third round of the 2009–10 FA Cup, where they lost 1–0 to Brighton & Hove Albion.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: The next season, Torquay United reached the fourth round, equalling the club record. On 29 January 2011, they had the possibility of progressing to the fifth round of the FA Cup, but lost 0–1 to Conference Premier leaders Crawley Town. There was added misery for Torquay United fans the next day when the draw for the FA Cup fifth round saw Crawley Town being scheduled to play away to Manchester United. Had Torquay been drawn against Manchester United, they would have benefited from the money that such a tie generates.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: That same season, Torquay came 7th, guaranteeing a play-off place on the final day of the season on goal difference, despite losing 1–3 to Rotherham United. They met Shrewsbury Town in the play-off semi-final, progressing to the final thanks to a 2–0 aggregate win, with both goals coming in the home leg. On Saturday, 28 May 2011, they lost 1–0 in the final to Stevenage and remained in League Two for the 2011–12 season. Paul Buckle resigned the day after the defeat, and moved to Bristol Rovers, taking assistant manager Shaun North and several Torquay players with him to the Memorial Stadium.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: United enjoyed an even more successful season in 2011–12 under new manager Martin Ling, achieving a record high of second place in League Two. However towards the end of the season their form dipped and, after finishing in sixth place, they had to settle for a play-off tie against Cheltenham Town. They lost the away leg 2–0 then lost the home leg 2–1 (agg. 4–1), ensuring another season in the fourth tier.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: Despite Ling announcing that the team were looking for another promotion season, they were stuck in mid-table during the first half of the 2012–13 campaign, before Ling was taken ill in mid-January. A disastrous run of losses under assistant manager Shaun Taylor followed, with the club dropping to just above the relegation zone. That led to Alan Knill being appointed as interim manager for the remainder of the season. Results picked up after that, and a run of three games unbeaten at the end of the season ultimately secured their Football League status with a 19th-place finish. Ling was dismissed at the end of the season, the board noting that results had been unacceptable even before his illness, and Knill's role was made permanent.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: The 2013–14 season was, once again, a torrid one and relegation beckoned. On 27 April 2014, after only winning 12 games throughout the season, and with a top goal scorer only able to reach 5 goals, Torquay were once again relegated to the Conference Premier. That was despite beating Mansfield Town 3–1 on the penultimate weekend, after both Bristol Rovers and Northampton Town won their games.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: Torquay started the 2014–15 season poorly, losing their first game 3–1 to Gateshead. However, the Gulls subsequently went on a ten match unbeaten run. After the unbeaten run, Torquay's form was indifferent, leading to a 13th-place position in their first season back in non-league.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: Early in 2015, chairwoman Thea Bristow announced that the club was up for sale. After Bristow resigned in March 2015, she agreed to transfer her estimated 80%, one million pound, stake in the club for £1, subject to sale of to new locally based owners. In June 2015, ownership of the club was taken up by a new consortium made up of 10 local business people. The new board, operating on a substantially smaller budget, took decisive action, firstly putting Chris Hargreaves (manager), Lee Hodges (assistant manager) and Kenny Veysey (goalkeeping coach) on gardening leave, disbanding the youth department, and appointing Paul Cox as manager.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: The appointment of Cox, however, was short-lived, with him leaving Torquay just three months later. He later claimed that the club had been unable to pay him. Shortly after this, on 19 September 2015, United suffered their biggest loss in 20 years, when they lost 7–3 at home to Bromley. On 28 September 2015, it was announced by the club that Kevin Nicholson, former Torquay United player and club legend, would be the new player-manager. Following a dramatic upturn in results, during which the team overturned a 12-point deficit, Torquay confirmed their place in the National League for 2016–17 with a 2–0 victory over Bromley on 16 April.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: The 2016–17 season started amid much uncertainty, with the club struggling financially whilst looking for new ownership and economic security. Uncertainty off the field and financial constraints once again meant that the club languished near the bottom of the National League, and in March they found themselves slipping into the relegation zone. Off the field, a consortium, led by Dave Phillips, was looking to complete a deal with Swindon-based gaming and leisure company, Gaming international. A deal was finally agreed in December 2016, and ratified by the National League in March 2017. Mimicking the previous season, a strong run of form towards the end of the campaign meant that Torquay narrowly avoided relegation on the final day of the season. Nine points in the last three games, culminating in a 2–0 win at home to already relegated North Ferriby United, meant that another season in the National League was guaranteed.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: Torquay began the 2017–18 season poorly and consequently, after two seasons in charge of the club, player-manager Nicholson departed on 17 August 2017. After a month under the interim management of assistant manager Robbie Herrera it was announced that new head coach Gary Owers and assistant head coach Martin Kuhl would take over management of the club. Despite the change in management at United there was little change in fortunes, with the club spending most of the season in the league's bottom four. A slight improvement in form throughout March gave United some hope of a third "great escape" in a row. However, on 21 April 2018, relegation to the National League South was confirmed following a 1–1 away draw at Hartlepool United, meaning United would play in the sixth tier of the English Football League system in 2018–19.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: United kept faith with Owers over the summer and started the new campaign in the National League South under his management. However Torquay's lacklustre start to the campaign, with only 12 points and 5 goals in 9 games meant that Owers stepped down from his role one day shy of a year in charge. A day later on 13 September 2018, Gary Johnson was appointed manager.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: The club saw a revival in fortunes under Johnson, remaining unbeaten for four months and eventually rising to top the table by mid-January. They lost their first game since Johnson's appointment 3–2 to Bath City on 19 January 2019. However a run of 10 wins from 13 matches after the Bath loss, in which United picked up 32 point from 39 available saw them crowned champions of the National League South on 13 April 2019. A 2–0 win over Eastbourne Borough, with promotion rivals Woking losing 2–0 at Chelmsford was enough to see United clinch their first promotion since 2009, and their first league championship title since 1927. In 2019–20, Torquay finished 14th in their first season back in the fifth tier after the season was cancelled in March 2020 due to disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: In 2020–21, the Gulls were top of the National League between October and March before a poor run of form saw Torquay miss out on automatic promotion by finishing 2nd. In the play-off semi-final, Torquay managed to beat Notts County 4–2 after extra time to set up a play-off final against Hartlepool United at Ashton Gate, Bristol. Hartlepool took the lead in the first half before Torquay's goalkeeper Lucas Covolan equalised in the 95th minute. The game finished 1–1 after extra time, however, Torquay lost out 5–4 on penalties. The game picked up a lot of attention on social media platforms by many football fans & pundits due to some dubious refereeing decisions.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: Torquay's initial crest was based heavily on the town's coat of arms, featuring a three-masted ship, to represent the region's longstanding association with shipping, it also displayed a castled gateway and the golden wings were to represent wings of the local seagulls. The crest remained in use until the mid eighties, with one change in the 1970s to incorporate the 'gulls wings' emblem which is familiar today. That meant, however, that the three-masted ship was removed from the design. During an unsuccessful spell on the pitch during the 1980s, during which time the club finished bottom of the Football League system twice, the emblem was switched to a circular design incorporating two palm trees. In 1986, the club chose to go back to the gull emblem, encircled by the club name.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: In the years that followed multiple versions of this crest were produced, so in 2017 the badge was refreshed to 'unify' these multiple versions and produce a cleaner, more modern design.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: Torquay United went through various team colours before settling on the familiar yellow and blue of today. In the club's formative days they played in a light and dark blue kit, before switching to a black and white striped kit reminiscent of a modern-day Newcastle United kit. This identity change led to the club being dubbed 'the magpies'. The magpies played in this colour scheme until the club opted for a fresh identity In 1954. United based their new image around the town's traditional seaside character and they chose a more distinctive yellow, or gold and blue kit. The new colours were chosen to represent the area's golden sands and blue sky and sea.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: For the majority of the years since this change the club has worn these colours in varying styles, currently favouring a predominantly yellow shirt with blue trim.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: United played their very first game, a friendly, against an Upton Cricket Club XI on one of farmer John Wright's fields, which was situated at the top of Penny's Hill, on Teignmouth Road.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: After a season of friendlies the club joined the East Devon League and moved to the Recreation Ground, which was to be their home for the following four years. In 1904 Torquay Athletic Rugby Football Club secured the lease of the Recreation Ground (it remains their home today) and United moved back to the Teignmouth Road site, but again was forced to move when the field was sold to developers to build Parkhurst Road. At the time Torquay Cricket Club were located nearby in Cricketfield Road, and so this site was United's next home.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: The club remained in Cricketfield Road for four years. In 1910 United merged with Ellacombe to become Torquay Town. Ellacombe's Plainmoor ground became the home of the new club, and the shared home of local rivals Babbacombe.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: Torquay Town and Babbacome finally merged and became Torquay United (again) in 1921. The club has remained at Plainmoor ever since.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: On 17 May 1985, a fire swept through the then fifty-year-old main stand 'The Grandstand', just six days after a fire at Valley Parade Stadium in Bradford, in which over fifty people lost their lives. This incident occurred in the early hours of the morning, and nobody was injured. After initially suspecting that this could have been a copycat arson of the Bradford City stadium fire, eventual cause was attributed to an electrical fault.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: Throughout the late eighties and early nineties the infrastructure at the ground was given a major overhaul, with the mini stand at the home end of the ground being redeveloped. In its place is now the family stand – a covered, all seater stand with board rooms, a club shop, restaurant and club bar. After this was completed attention turned to redevelopment of the 'popular side', which was fully covered and updated to modern-day standards. In 2000–01 the away end was also redeveloped with a new covered standing area.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: The old wooden grandstand, initially costing £150 and erected at Plainmoor for United's inaugural season in the Football League stood until 2011. Prior to its time at Plainmoor the stand had previously stood at Buckfastleigh Racecourse. It was demolished to create a new stand built in 2012 named Bristow's Bench in memory of the late Paul Bristow.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: Following his takeover of the club in October 2006, chairman Chris Roberts went on record stating his desire to move the club to a new multipurpose stadium catering for football, rugby and athletics. Speculation placed the site of the new complex at the Torquay Recreation Ground, currently occupied by Torquay Athletic Rugby Club. Since Roberts' resignation this move has become unlikely, with succeeding chairman Alex Rowe distancing himself from the plans saying that the club and the fans wish to remain at Plainmoor and will build upon the current ground to increase capacity. The club are looking to buy the houses behind the away end and building an extension to the away end and also to acquire the nearby school (Westlands) and build a bigger grandstand to increase the capacity to around 9,000.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: Plans for an extended grandstand were submitted to the council for planning permission, in co-operation with Westlands school in 2010.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: This was approved on 9 June 2011 with the increased cost believed to be approximately £2 million with the new structure to be named "Bristow's Bench" in memory of the late Paul Bristow, who essentially underwrote the Gulls' return to the football league. With the demolition of the old Grandstand and the new stand not being ready for the 2011–12 season Plainmoor capacity stood at 4,500 for the 2011–12 season. It was however ready in time for the start of the 2012–13 season where it witnessed its first sell out crowd with the visit of Devon neighbours Plymouth Argyle in early September.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: Rumours of a potential move away from Plainmoor have resurfaced since the takeover of the club by Gaming International. The club's new owners have made it known that they would be keen to relocate the stadium facilities and incorporate football into a new multi-use complex in Torbay, developing the existing Plainmoor site for housing.


title: Torquay United F.C.

text: However plans have proved controversial with United fans, and further certainty has been called for. This has led to a decision to postpone talks between Torbay Council and GI over the purchase of the freehold.


title: Larry Wilmore

text: Elister Larry Wilmore (born October 30, 1961) is an American comedian, writer, producer, and actor. He served as the "Senior Black Correspondent" on "The Daily Show" from 2006 to 2014, and hosted "The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore" in 2015 and 2016. He is also the creator of the sitcom "The Bernie Mac Show". He served as an executive producer for the ABC television series "Black-ish", and is the co-creator, with Issa Rae, of the HBO television series "Insecure". Since May 2017, he has hosted a podcast, "Black on the Air", where he discusses current events and interviews guests. He is the host of the talk show "Wilmore".


title: Larry Wilmore

text: Wilmore was born October 30, 1961, in Los Angeles County, California, to parents Betty and Larry, and grew up in suburban Pomona. His family is from Evanston, Illinois. He was raised Catholic. He is the third of six children. His younger brother Marc was also a television writer, actor, and producer.


title: Larry Wilmore

text: As a child, Wilmore found interest in topics such as science, magic, science-fiction and fantasy, all of which have shaped the evolution of his performance. In an interview with NPR, he described himself as a nerd, saying that "it used to be that the black comic figure had to have this bravado and always showed strength...now there's a comic figure where it's OK to just be a nerd and be black."


title: Larry Wilmore

text: Wilmore graduated from Damien High School in La Verne, California in 1979. He studied theatre at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, but dropped out to pursue acting and stand-up comedy.


title: Larry Wilmore

text: Beginning in the 1980s, Wilmore appeared in several small film and television roles, including a recurring role as a police officer on "The Facts of Life". In the early to mid-1990s, he was on the writing staff of the talk show "Into the Night With Rick Dees", the sketch comedy show "In Living Color" (his younger brother Marc was also a writer with "In Living Color"; unlike Larry, he became a cast member), and the sitcom "Sister, Sister", where he portrayed a bus driver in one episode. He went on to be a writer and producer on a series of black sitcoms, including "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" and "The Jamie Foxx Show".


title: Larry Wilmore

text: In 1999, Wilmore co-created the animated comedy "The PJs" with Eddie Murphy and was executive producer until its conclusion in 2001. He subsequently created and produced "The Bernie Mac Show", and won an Emmy for writing the pilot episode. He created and produced "Whoopi", with Whoopi Goldberg. From 2005 to 2007 he was a consulting producer for "The Office", and appeared in the "Diversity Day" episode as Mr. Brown, a diversity consultant.


title: Larry Wilmore

text: In 2006, Wilmore began appearing regularly on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show", where he was billed as the "Senior Black Correspondent" or a derivative form of the title, such as the "Senior Executive Commander-in-Chief Who Happens To Be Black Correspondent" following the election of Barack Obama. His work on the show frequently centered on humorous observations of the Black experience in American society. In January 2009, Hyperion published Wilmore's "I'd Rather We Got Casinos: And Other Black Thoughts", a political humor book described by Booklist as "a faux collection of articles, essays, radio transcripts, and letters exploring the more ludicrous angles on race." Wilmore originated the titular phrase "I'd Rather We Got Casinos" in a January 2007 "Daily Show" appearance.


title: Larry Wilmore

text: Wilmore has continued occasional acting appearances, including a role as a minister in "I Love You, Man" (2009) and a supporting role in "Dinner for Schmucks" (2010).


title: Larry Wilmore

text: In 2011, He began a recurring role on the ABC comedy "Happy Endings", where he played Mr. Forristal, Brad (Damon Wayans, Jr.)'s uptight boss. Since 2012, he has starred in the Showtime special "Race, Religion and Sex", shot in Salt Lake City.


title: Larry Wilmore

text: On April 30, 2016, Wilmore was the headliner at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner. He came under fire for using the word "nigga" to refer to President Obama, saying "Barry, you did it my nigga." He defended his actions by telling Al Sharpton, "I wanted to make a statement more than a joke...I really wanted to explain the historical implications of the Obama presidency from my point of view."


title: Larry Wilmore

text: In May 2017, Wilmore started hosting the podcast "Larry Wilmore: Black on the Air" as part of The Ringer podcast network, headed by Bill Simmons. "Time" ranked it in the top five of its list of 10 Best podcast of 2017.


title: Larry Wilmore

text: On January 19, 2015, Wilmore began hosting "The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore", a late-night panel talk show that aired on Comedy Central. It was a spin-off of "The Daily Show", and replaced "The Colbert Report" on the network's 11:30pm timeslot. It was produced by Jon Stewart's production company Busboy Productions. On August 15, 2016, Comedy Central announced that Wilmore's show had been cancelled, and the show ended August 18, 2016 with a total of 259 episodes.


title: Larry Wilmore

text: Wilmore has cited Johnny Carson, Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy and Jon Stewart as comedy influences. He said that when he needs inspiration, he "observe[s] people. I ride the subway, sit in a coffee shop. There’s nothing funnier than real human behavior."


title: Larry Wilmore

text: Wilmore was married to actress Leilani Jones for 20 years; they have two children, John and Lauren. They divorced in 2015. He resided in San Marino, California with his family until moving to New York City to work on "The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore".


title: Marion Lorne

text: Marion Lorne MacDougal or MacDougall (sources differ) (August 12, 1883 – May 9, 1968), known professionally as Marion Lorne, was an American actress of stage, film, and television. After a career in theatre in New York and London, Lorne made her first film in 1951, and for the remainder of her life played small roles in films and television. Her recurring role as Aunt Clara in the comedy series "Bewitched", between 1964 and her death in 1968, brought her widespread recognition, and she was posthumously awarded an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.


title: Marion Lorne

text: Lorne was born in West Pittston, Pennsylvania, a small mining town halfway between Wilkes-Barre and Scranton. She was the daughter of William Lorne MacDougall, MD, and his wife, Jane Louise (née Oliver), known as "Jennie". She was born in 1883 (although by the 1920s, she had shaved five years off of her age). While her year of birth is listed as 1885 in some sources, including the date inscribed on her urn (which appears to be erroneous), it was usually listed as 1888 when she was alive. The 1900 United States Census (enumerated in June 1900) gives her age as 16, and along with the Social Security Death Index (SSDI), lists her year of birth as 1883. Her parents were Scottish and English immigrants. She had a younger brother, Lorne Taylor MacDougall (October 20, 1893 – September 5, 1943). She studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City.


title: Marion Lorne

text: Lorne debuted on Broadway in 1905; she also acted in London theaters, enjoying a flourishing stage career on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. In London, she had her own theater, the Whitehall, where she had top billing in plays written by Walter C. Hackett, her husband. None of her productions at the Whitehall had runs shorter than 125 nights.


title: Marion Lorne

text: After appearing in a few Vitaphone shorts, including "Success" (1931) starring Jack Haley, she made her feature-film debut in her late 60s in "Strangers on a Train" (1951), directed by Alfred Hitchcock.


title: Marion Lorne

text: In the early days of TV, from 1952 until 1955 Lorne had a regular role as perpetually confused junior high school English teacher Mrs. Gurney on "Mister Peepers".


title: Marion Lorne

text: From 1957 to 1958, she co-starred with Joan Caulfield in the NBC sitcom "Sally" in the role of an elderly widow, who happens to be the co-owner of a department store. It was cancelled after one 26-episode season. Although afraid of live television, declaring, "I'm a coward when it comes to a live [television] show", she was persuaded to appear a few times to promote the film "The Girl Rush" with Rosalind Russell in the mid-1950s. Between 1958 and 1964, she made regular appearances on "The Garry Moore Show" (1958–1962).


title: Marion Lorne

text: Her last role, as Aunt Clara in "Bewitched", brought Lorne her widest fame as a lovable witch who is losing her powers due to old age (and whose spells usually end in disaster). Aunt Clara usually visited by coming down the chimney; her hobby was collecting doorknobs, and she often brought her collection with her on visits. Lorne had an extensive collection of doorknobs in real life, some of which she used as props in the series.


title: Marion Lorne

text: Lorne appeared in 27 episodes of "Bewitched" and was not replaced after she died of a heart attack in her Manhattan apartment on May 9, 1968, aged 84, prior to the start of production of the show's fifth season. She is interred at Ferncliff Cemetery in Greenburgh, New York.


title: Marion Lorne

text: The producers of "Bewitched" decided that Lorne's character as Aunt Clara could not be replaced by another actress. (Aunt Clara was never mentioned in any subsequent "Bewitched" episode.) Comedic actress Alice Ghostley was recruited to fill the gap as "Esmeralda", a different type of older witch with wobbly magic whose spells often went astray. Coincidentally, Lorne and Ghostley had appeared side-by-side as partygoers in the iconic comedy-drama film "The Graduate", made the year before Lorne's death. She received a posthumous Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her work on "Bewitched". The award was accepted by "Bewitched" star Elizabeth Montgomery.


title: Marion Lorne

text: In 1911, Lorne married playwright Walter C. Hackett. They were married until his death in 1944. The couple had no children.


title: Thiol

text: In organic chemistry, a thiol (; ), or thiol derivative, is any organosulfur compound of the form , where R represents an alkyl or other organic substituent. The functional group itself is referred to as either a thiol group or a sulfhydryl group, or a sulfanyl group. Thiols are the sulfur analogue of alcohols (that is, sulfur takes the place of oxygen in the hydroxyl () group of an alcohol), and the word is a blend of ""thio-"" with "alcohol".


title: Thiol

text: Many thiols have strong odors resembling that of garlic or rotten eggs. Thiols are used as odorants to assist in the detection of natural gas (which in pure form is odorless), and the "smell of natural gas" is due to the smell of the thiol used as the odorant. Thiols are sometimes referred to as mercaptans () or mercapto compounds, a term introduced in 1832 by William Christopher Zeise and is derived from the Latin ('capturing mercury') because the thiolate group () bonds very strongly with mercury compounds.


title: Thiol

text: Thiols of the structure R−SH are referred to as Alkanethiols or Alkyl thiols, in which an alkyl group (R) is attached to a sulfhydryl group (SH). Thiols and alcohols have similar connectivity. Because sulfur atoms are larger than oxygen atoms, the C−S bond lengths – typically around 180 picometres in length – are about 40 picometers longer than a typical C−O bond. The C−S−H angles approach 90° whereas the angle for the C−O−H group is more obtuse. In the solid or liquids, the hydrogen-bonding between individual thiol groups is weak, the main cohesive force being Van der Waals interactions between the highly polarizable divalent sulfur centers.


title: Thiol

text: The S−H bond is much weaker than the O−H bond as reflected in their respective bond dissociation energy (BDE). For CHS−H, the BDE is , while for CHO−H, the BDE is .


title: Thiol

text: Due to the small difference in the electronegativity of sulfur and hydrogen, an S−H bond is moderately polar. In contrast, O−H bonds in hydroxyl groups are more polar. Thiols have a lower dipole moment relative to their corresponding alcohols.


title: Thiol

text: Many thiols have strong odors resembling that of garlic. The odors of thiols, particularly those of low molecular weight, are often strong and repulsive. The spray of skunks consists mainly of low-molecular-weight thiols and derivatives. These compounds are detectable by the human nose at concentrations of only 10 parts per billion. Human sweat contains ("R")/("S")-3-methyl-3-mercapto-1-ol (MSH), detectable at 2 parts per billion and having a fruity, onion-like odor. (Methylthio)methanethiol (MeSCHSH; MTMT) is a strong-smelling volatile thiol, also detectable at parts per billion levels, found in male mouse urine. Lawrence C. Katz and co-workers showed that MTMT functioned as a semiochemical, activating certain mouse olfactory sensory neurons, attracting female mice. Copper has been shown to be required by a specific mouse olfactory receptor, MOR244-3, which is highly responsive to MTMT as well as to various other thiols and related compounds. A human olfactory receptor, OR2T11, has been identified which, in the presence of copper, is highly responsive to the gas odorants (see below) ethanethiol and "t"-butyl mercaptan as well as other low molecular weight thiols, including allyl mercaptan found in human garlic breath, and the strong-smelling cyclic sulfide thietane.


title: Thiol

text: Thiols are also responsible for a class of wine faults caused by an unintended reaction between sulfur and yeast and the "skunky" odor of beer that has been exposed to ultraviolet light.


title: Thiol

text: Not all thiols have unpleasant odors. For example, furan-2-ylmethanethiol contributes to the aroma of roasted coffee, whereas grapefruit mercaptan, a monoterpenoid thiol, is responsible for the characteristic scent of grapefruit. The effect of the latter compound is present only at low concentrations. The pure mercaptan has an unpleasant odor.


title: Thiol

text: In the United States, natural gas distributors were required to add thiols, originally ethanethiol, to natural gas (which is naturally odorless) after the deadly New London School explosion in New London, Texas, in 1937. Many gas distributors were odorizing gas prior to this event. Most gas odorants utilized currently contain mixtures of mercaptans and sulfides, with "t"-butyl mercaptan as the main odor constituent in natural gas and ethanethiol in liquefied petroleum gas (LPG, propane). In situations where thiols are used in commercial industry, such as liquid petroleum gas tankers and bulk handling systems, an oxidizing catalyst is used to destroy the odor. A copper-based oxidation catalyst neutralizes the volatile thiols and transforms them into inert products.


title: Thiol

text: Thiols show little association by hydrogen bonding, both with water molecules and among themselves. Hence, they have lower boiling points and are less soluble in water and other polar solvents than alcohols of similar molecular weight. For this reason also, thiols and their corresponding sulfide functional group isomers have similar solubility characteristics and boiling points, whereas the same is not true of alcohols and their corresponding isomeric ethers.


title: Thiol

text: The S−H bond in thiols is weak compared to the O−H bond in alcohols. For CHX−H, the bond enthalpies are for X = S and for X = O. Hydrogen-atom abstraction from a thiol gives a thiyl radical with the formula RS, where R = alkyl or aryl.


title: Thiol

text: Volatile thiols are easily and almost unerringly detected by their distinctive odor. Sulfur-specific analyzers for gas chromatographs are useful. Spectroscopic indicators are the DO-exchangeable SH signal in the H NMR spectrum (S is NMR-active but signals for divalent sulfur are very broad and of little utility). The "ν" band appears near 2400 cm in the IR spectrum. In the nitroprusside reaction, free thiol groups react with sodium nitroprusside and ammonium hydroxide to give a red colour.


title: Thiol

text: In industry, methanethiol is prepared by the reaction of hydrogen sulfide with methanol. This method is employed for the industrial synthesis of methanethiol:


title: Thiol

text: Such reactions are conducted in the presence of acidic catalysts. The other principal route to thiols involves the addition of hydrogen sulfide to alkenes. Such reactions are usually conducted in the presence of an acid catalyst or UV light. Halide displacement, using the suitable organic halide and sodium hydrogen sulfide has also been utilized.


title: Thiol

text: In general, on the typical laboratory scale, the direct reaction of a haloalkane with sodium hydrosulfide is "in"efficient owing to the competing formation of sulfides. Instead, alkyl halides are converted to thiols via an "S"-alkylation of thiourea. This multistep, one-pot process proceeds via the intermediacy of the isothiouronium salt, which is hydrolyzed in a separate step:


title: Thiol

text: The thiourea route works well with primary halides, especially activated ones. Secondary and tertiary thiols are less easily prepared. Secondary thiols can be prepared from the ketone via the corresponding dithioketals. A related two-step process involves alkylation of thiosulfate to give the thiosulfonate ("Bunte salt"), followed by hydrolysis. The method is illustrated by one synthesis of thioglycolic acid:


title: Thiol

text: Organolithium compounds and Grignard reagents react with sulfur to give the thiolates, which are readily hydrolyzed:


title: Thiol

text: Phenols can be converted to the thiophenols via rearrangement of their "O"-aryl dialkylthiocarbamates.


title: Thiol

text: Thiols are prepared by reductive dealkylation of sulfides, especially benzyl derivatives and thioacetals.


title: Thiol

text: Thiophenols are produced by "S"-arylation or the replacement of diazonium leaving group with sulfhydryl anion (SH):


title: Thiol

text: Akin to the chemistry of alcohols, thiols form sulfides, thioacetals, and thioesters, which are analogous to ethers, acetals, and esters respectively. Thiols and alcohols are also very different in their reactivity, thiols being more easily oxidized than alcohols. Thiolates are more potent nucleophiles than the corresponding alkoxides.


title: Thiol

text: Thiols are easily deprotonated. Relative to the alcohols, thiols are more acidic. The conjugate base of a thiol is called a thiolate. Butanethiol has a p"K" of 10.5 vs 15 for butanol. Thiophenol has a p"K" of 6, versus 10 for phenol. A highly acidic thiol is pentafluorothiophenol (CFSH) with a p"K" of 2.68. Thus, thiolates can be obtained from thiols by treatment with alkali metal hydroxides.


title: Thiol

text: Thiols, especially in the presence of base, are readily oxidized by reagents such as bromine and iodine to give an organic disulfide (R−S−S−R).


title: Thiol

text: Oxidation by more powerful reagents such as sodium hypochlorite or hydrogen peroxide can also yield sulfonic acids (RSOH).


title: Thiol

text: With metal ions, thiolates behave as ligands to form transition metal thiolate complexes. The term "mercaptan" is derived from the Latin "mercurium captans" (capturing mercury) because the thiolate group bonds so strongly with mercury compounds. According to hard/soft acid/base (HSAB) theory, sulfur is a relatively soft (polarizable) atom. This explains the tendency of thiols to bind to soft elements and ions such as mercury, lead, or cadmium. The stability of metal thiolates parallels that of the corresponding sulfide minerals.


title: Thiol

text: Free radicals derived from mercaptans, called thiyl radicals, are commonly invoked to explain reactions in organic chemistry and biochemistry. They have the formula RS where R is an organic substituent such as alkyl or aryl. They arise from or can be generated by a number of routes, but the principal method is H-atom abstraction from thiols. Another method involves homolysis of organic disulfides. In biology thiyl radicals are responsible for the formation of the deoxyribonucleic acids, building blocks for DNA. This conversion is catalysed by ribonucleotide reductase (see figure). Thiyl intermediates also are produced by the oxidation of glutathione, an antioxidant in biology. Thiyl radicals (sulfur-centred) can transform to carbon-centred radicals via hydrogen atom exchange equilibria. The formation of carbon-centred radicals could lead to protein damage via the formation of C−C bonds or backbone fragmentation.


title: Thiol

text: As the functional group of the amino acid cysteine, the thiol group plays a very important role in biology. When the thiol groups of two cysteine residues (as in monomers or constituent units) are brought near each other in the course of protein folding, an oxidation reaction can generate a cystine unit with a disulfide bond (−S−S−). Disulfide bonds can contribute to a protein's tertiary structure if the cysteines are part of the same peptide chain, or contribute to the quaternary structure of multi-unit proteins by forming fairly strong covalent bonds between different peptide chains. A physical manifestation of cysteine-cystine equilibrium is provided by hair straightening technologies.


title: Thiol

text: Sulfhydryl groups in the active site of an enzyme can form noncovalent bonds with the enzyme's substrate as well, contributing to covalent catalytic activity in catalytic triads. Active site cysteine residues are the functional unit in cysteine protease catalytic triads. Cysteine residues may also react with heavy metal ions (Zn, Cd, Pb, Hg, Ag) because of the high affinity between the soft sulfide and the soft metal (see hard and soft acids and bases). This can deform and inactivate the protein, and is one mechanism of heavy metal poisoning.


title: Thiol

text: Many cofactors (non-protein-based helper molecules) feature thiols. The biosynthesis and degradation of fatty acids and related long-chain hydrocarbons is conducted on a scaffold that anchors the growing chain through a thioester derived from the thiol Coenzyme A. The biosynthesis of methane, the principal hydrocarbon on Earth, arises from the reaction mediated by coenzyme M, 2-mercaptoethyl sulfonic acid. Thiolates, the conjugate bases derived from thiols, form strong complexes with many metal ions, especially those classified as soft. The stability of metal thiolates parallels that of the corresponding sulfide minerals.


title: Thiol

text: The defensive spray of skunks consists mainly of low-molecular-weight thiols and derivatives with a foul odor, which protects the skunk from predators. Owls are able to prey on skunks, as they lack a sense of smell.


title: Monk parakeet

text: The monk parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus), also known as the Quaker parrot, is a species of true parrot in the family Psittacidae. It is a small, bright-green parrot with a greyish breast and greenish-yellow abdomen. Its average lifespan is 20–30 years. It originates from the temperate to subtropical areas of Argentina and the surrounding countries in South America. Self-sustaining feral populations occur in many places, mainly in North America and Europe.


title: Monk parakeet

text: The monk parakeet was described by French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, in 1780 in his "Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux". The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the "Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle", which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name, but in 1783, Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name "Psittacus monachus" in his catalogue of the "Planches Enluminées". As Buffon did not specify the origin of his specimen, in 1937 the American ornithologist James Peters assigned the type location as Montevideo, Uruguay. The monk parakeet is now placed in the genus "Myiopsitta" that was introduced by French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1854. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek "mus, muos" meaning "mouse" and the New Latin "psitta" meaning "parrot", alluding to the mouse-grey face and underparts. The specific epithet "monachus" is Late Latin for a "monk".


title: Monk parakeet

text: The monk parakeet is one of two species in the genus "Myiopsitta", the other being the cliff parakeet ("Myiopsitta luchsi"). The two parakeets were previously considered to be a single species. Due to morphological and behavioral differences, and geographical dissimilarities, the cliff parakeet has been elevated to species status. The cliff parakeet's altitudinal range apparently does not overlap, so is thus entirely, but just barely, allopatric. The American Ornithological Society has deferred recognizing the cliff parakeet as distinct "because of insufficient published data".


title: Monk parakeet

text: The subspecies' ranges meet in the general area of Paraguay, and there they are insufficiently delimited. The distinctness and delimitation of "M. m. calita" and "M. m. cotorra" especially require further study.


title: Monk parakeet

text: Like the other neotropical parrots, the monk parakeet is usually placed in the tribe Arini, which might warrant elevation to subfamily rank as the Arinae. "M. monachus" belongs to the long-tailed clade of these – macaws and conures, essentially, which would retain the name Arini/Arinae if this polyphyletic group were split.


title: Monk parakeet

text: The nominate subspecies of this parakeet is long on average, with a wingspan, and weighs . Females tend to be 10–20% smaller, but can only be reliably sexed by DNA or feather testing. It has bright-green upperparts. The forehead and breast are pale gray with darker scalloping and the rest of the underparts are very light-green to yellow. The remiges are dark blue, and the tail is long and tapering. The bill is orange. The call is a loud and throaty "chape(-yee)" or "quak quaki quak-wi quarr", and screeches "skveet".


title: Monk parakeet

text: Domestic breeds in colors other than the natural plumage have been produced. These include birds with white, blue, and yellow in place of green. As such coloration provides less camouflage, feral birds are usually of wild-type coloration.


title: Monk parakeet

text: The monk parakeet is the only parrot that builds a stick nest, in a tree or on a man-made structure, rather than using a hole in a tree. This gregarious species often breeds colonially, building a single large nest with separate entrances for each pair. In the wild, the colonies can become quite large, with pairs occupying separate "apartments" in nests that can reach the size of a small automobile. These nests can attract many other tenants, including birds of prey such as the spot-winged falconet ("Spiziapteryx circumcincta"), ducks such as the yellow-billed teal ("Anas flavirostris"), and even mammals. Their five to 12 white eggs hatch in about 24 days.


title: Monk parakeet

text: Unusually for a parrot, monk parakeet pairs occasionally have helper individuals, often grown offspring, which assist with feeding the young (see kin selection).


title: Monk parakeet

text: The lifespans of monk parakeets have been given as 20-30 years; the former might refer to typical lifespans in captivity and/or in the wild, while the latter is in the range of maximum lifespans recorded for parakeets.


title: Monk parakeet

text: The monk parakeet is globally very common. In Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay, monk parakeets are regarded as major agricultural pests (as noted by Charles Darwin, among others). Their population explosion in South American rural areas seems to be associated with the expansion of eucalyptus forestry for paper pulp production, which offers the bird the opportunity to build protected nests in artificial forests where ecological competition from other species is limited.


title: Monk parakeet

text: Self-sustaining feral populations have been recorded in several U.S. states and various regions of Europe (namely Spain, Portugal, Azores, Madeira, Balearic Islands, Gibraltar, France, Corsica, Malta, Cyprus, Sardinia, Italy, Greece, Channel Islands, Great Britain, Ireland, and Belgium), as well as in British Columbia, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Israel, Bermuda, Bahamas, the United States, Cayman Islands, Puerto Rico, Easter Island, South Korea, Singapore, and Japan. As it is an open-woodlands species, it adapts readily to urban areas.


title: Monk parakeet

text: In areas where they have been introduced, some fear they will harm crops and native species, while others dispute evidence of harm caused by feral colonies, and oppose exterminating these birds, but local bans and eradication programs exist in some areas of the U.S. Outside the U.S., introduced populations do not appear to raise similar controversy, presumably because of smaller numbers of birds, or because their settlement in urban areas does not pose a threat to agricultural production. The U.K. appears to have changed its view on its feral populations and the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is planning to remove monk parakeets from the wild, as it believes that they threaten local wildlife and crops.


title: Monk parakeet

text: Feral populations are often descended from very small founder populations. Being as social and intelligent as they are, monk parakeets develop some cultural traditions, namely vocal dialects that differ between groups. In populations descended from a large number of birds, a range of "dialects" exists. If the founder population is small, however, a process similar to genetic drift may occur if prominent founders vocalize in an unusual "dialect", with this particular way of vocalizing becoming established in the resulting feral colony. For example, no fewer than three different "dialects" occur among the feral monk parrots of the Milford, Connecticut, metropolitan area.


title: Monk parakeet

text: The species has in recent years expanded its range in Brazil, where a self-sustaining population occurs in the downtown area of Rio de Janeiro. Since this population occurs far from the bird's original range in Brazil – it was only found in the far south and southwest – it is most probably a consequence of escapees from the pet trade. In Rio de Janeiro, the bird can be easily seen at the Aterro do Flamengo gardens – where it nests on palm trees and feeds on their fruit; the Rio birds seem to favor nesting amid the leaves of coconut palm trees, and in the vicinity of the neighboring domestic flight terminal, the Santos Dumont Airport and in the gardens of Quinta da Boa Vista, where communal nests roughly 1 m in diameter have been seen. In Santa Catarina State, probable escapees have been reported on occasion for quite some time, and a feral population seems to have established itself in Florianópolis early in the first decade of the 21st century when birds were observed feeding right next to the highway in the Rio Vermelho-Vargem Grande area.


title: Monk parakeet

text: The monk parakeet was first recorded in Mexico City in 1999. Records exist from seven other locations, including the cities of Puebla, Morelia, Celaya, Oaxaca, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Hermosillo, and Mexicali, and the mouth of the Loreto River in Baja California Sur.


title: Monk parakeet

text: Nesting populations are known in Mexico City and Oaxaca. A small but growing population has also been established in the southern part of the city of Puebla, Puebla, in the surroundings of the city's aviary, which they are known to visit frequently, and where they can often be seen clinging to the outer side of its mesh walls. No studies have been made to assess the impact they might have on the relict populations of green parakeets that live in the same area and other well-wooded zones of the city.


title: Monk parakeet

text: Following the ban on the trade of native parrot species, local traditional bird sellers have now switched to the monk parakeet as their staple parrot, and that might have increased the number of escapees. Sometimes, the head and breast feathers of monk parakeets are dyed yellow to deceive uninformed buyers, mimicking the endangered yellow-headed amazon. The presence of this species in seven geographically distant and independent locations in Mexico indicates that the source of these individuals is most likely the pet trade.


title: Monk parakeet

text: Thousands of monk parakeets were imported to the United States between the 1960s and the 1980s as pets. Many escaped or were intentionally released, and populations were allowed to proliferate. By the early 1970s, "M. monachus" was established in seven states, and by 1995, it had spread to eight more. In Florida alone, estimates range from 150,000 to 500,000. Austin and Houston, Texas, also have thriving monk parakeet populations.


title: Monk parakeet

text: As one of the few temperate-zone parrots, the monk parakeet is more able than most to survive cold climates (partly because they build communal nests about heat-producing electrical equipment atop utility poles), and colonies exist as far north as New York City, Chicago, Wisconsin, Cincinnati, Louisville, coastal Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and southwestern Washington. Edgewater, New Jersey has had a colony since 1980. This hardiness makes this species second only to the rose-ringed parakeet among parrots as a successful introduced species.


title: Monk parakeet

text: In 2012, a pair of monk parakeets attempted nesting in Watervliet, New York, about north of New York City, near Albany, New York. Prior to egg-laying, one bird was captured and the nest eventually was removed due to concerns that the nest built adjacent to an electrical transformer created a fire hazard.


title: Monk parakeet

text: They have also found a home in Brooklyn, New York, after an accidental release decades ago of what appear to have been black-market birds within Green-Wood Cemetery. The grounds crew initially tried to destroy the unsightly nests at the entrance gate, but no longer do so because the presence of the parrots has reduced the number of pigeons nesting within it. The management's decision was based on a comparative chemical analysis of pigeon feces (which destroy brownstone structures) and monk parakeet feces (which have no ill effect). The monk parakeets are in effect preserving this historic structure.


title: Monk parakeet

text: Brooklyn College has a monk parakeet as an "unofficial" mascot in reference to the colony of the species that lives in its campus grounds. It is featured on the masthead of the student magazine. They have also made their homes in the lamp posts in Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx. Most of these monk parakeet populations have been traced to shipments of captured birds from Argentina.


title: Monk parakeet

text: The population in Chicago is estimated to be at 1,000 birds, with healthy colonies located in several of the city's parks. Parrot origin theories include a University of Chicago experiment gone awry, an overturned truck on its way to a pet store, escaped birds from a holding pen at O'Hare Airport or released / escaped pets. According to University of Chicago ornithologist Dr. Stephen Pruett-Jones, "They got here through the pet trade and the pet trade really peaked in the mid- to late 1960s."


title: Monk parakeet

text: The first documented parrot nest in Chicago dates to 1973. The species continues to thrive despite several unusually harsh winters that occurred during the 1980s and in 2014. Various attempts to remove them were made over the years, most of which were resisted by a group of Hyde Park residents, including Mayor Harold Washington. The birds are generally welcomed in the city, especially by bird watchers, and were the subject of a 2012 ornithological study.


title: Monk parakeet

text: Monk parakeets can be seen in Madrid, Barcelona, Cadiz, Athens, Seville, Torremolinos, Málaga, Nerja, Valencia, Tarragona, Roquetas de Mar (Andalusia), Zaragoza, the Canary Islands, and Majorca in the Balearic Islands. They were first seen around 1975. In Madrid, they especially frequent the Ciudad Universitaria (Complutense University campus) and Casa de Campo park. They are a common sight in Barcelona parks, often as numerous as pigeons. They form substantial colonies in Parc de la Ciutadella, Parc de la Barceloneta, and in smaller city parks such as Jardins Josep Trueta in Poble Nou, with a colony as far north as Empuriabrava. They are more frequent in watered urban parks with grass areas and palm trees, near to a river or the sea. The monk parakeet, as an invasive species, has become a problem to local fauna such as pigeons and sparrows, but not yet so harmful to magpies. Parakeets have also caused trouble to agriculture near the cities.


title: Monk parakeet

text: Madrid has the greatest population of monk parakeets in Europe, with 10,800 parakeets as of June 2015. As of 2015, the estimated population of monk parakeets in Barcelona was 6,248.


title: Monk parakeet

text: The United Kingdom population in 2011 is believed to be around 150, in the Home Counties region. The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs announced plans in 2011 to control them, countering the threat to infrastructure, crops, and native British wildlife by trapping and rehoming, removing nests, and shooting when necessary.


title: Monk parakeet

text: Groups of monk parakeets can be found in the Belgian capital city Brussels and its surrounding areas. They have been living in the wild at least since the 1970s.


title: Monk parakeet

text: Monk parakeets are highly intelligent, social birds. Those kept as pets routinely develop vocabularies of scores of words and phrases. Due to this early speaking ability, it is overtaking the cockatiel as the favorite bird to teach to talk. Another contributing factor to growing popularity is that this bird has a shorter lifespan and lower price than African grey parrots.


title: Monk parakeet

text: Because of monk parakeets' listing as an agricultural pest, the U.S. states of California, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Wyoming, as well as Western Australia outlaw sale and ownership. In Connecticut, one can own monk parakeets, but cannot sell or breed them. In New York and Virginia, one can own monk parakeets with banding and registration. In Ohio, owning one is legal if the bird's flight feathers are clipped or it is incapable of free flight.


title: Glass Houses (album)

text: Glass Houses is the seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter Billy Joel, released on March 12, 1980. It features Joel's first song to peak at on "Billboard"'s Pop Singles chart, "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me". The album itself topped the Pop Albums chart for six weeks and was ranked on "Billboard"'s 1980 year-end album chart. The album is the 41st best selling album of the 1980s, with sales of 7.1 million copies in the U.S. alone. In 1981, Joel won a Grammy Award for "Best Male Rock Vocal Performance" for his work on "Glass Houses". According to music critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine, the album featured "a harder-edged sound" compared to Joel's other work, in response to the punk and new wave movements. This was also the final studio album to feature the original incarnation (Joel, Richie Cannata, Doug Stegmeyer, Russell Javors and Liberty DeVitto) of the Billy Joel Band, augmented by new lead guitarist David Brown. Multi-instrumentalist Cannata left the band just before the sessions began for Joel's next studio album, 1982's "The Nylon Curtain".


title: Glass Houses (album)

text: This album was the third collaboration between Joel and producer Phil Ramone, following "The Stranger" and "52nd Street" and the final such collaboration in association with Home Run.


title: Glass Houses (album)

text: Opening with the sound of glass shattering, "Glass Houses" has more of a hard rock feel than Joel's previous albums. The cover shows Joel poised to throw a rock through the two-story window of his real-life waterfront glass house in Cove Neck. On some versions, the back cover shows Joel looking through the hole that the rock made in the glass. This alludes to the adage that "people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones".


title: Glass Houses (album)

text: "Rolling Stone" critic Paul Nelson stated: "Billy Joel writes smooth and cunning melodies, and what many of his defenders say is true: his material's catchy. But then, so's the flu." In "" (1990), Robert Christgau said: "From the straight-up hubba-hubba of 'You May Be Right' to the Rick Wakeman ostinatos of 'Sometimes a Fantasy' to the McCartneyesque melodicism of 'Don't Ask Me Why' to the what-it-is of 'It's Still Rock and Roll to Me,' it's all rock and roll to him, but to me it's closer to what pop meant before ironists and aesthetes, including yours truly, appropriated the term. Closer than any skinny-tie bands, that's for sure: gregarious, shameless, and above all profitable. Of course, if it doesn't make up in reach what it lacks in edge, ironists and aesthetes needn't notice it's there. And beyond 'Sleeping With the Television On,' I couldn't tell you thing one about side two, which I just played three times."


title: Glass Houses (album)

text: In 2004, the pop-culture journalist and rock critic Chuck Klosterman praised the album in an essay on Joel titled "Every Dog Must Have His Every Day, Every Drunk Must Have His Drink" from his book "Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs" (the title of the essay refers to a line from the "Glass Houses" song "Don't Ask Me Why"). In particular, Klosterman praised some of the more obscure tracks from the album including "All for Leyna", "I Don't Want to Be Alone", "Sleeping with the Television On" and "Close to the Borderline."


title: Glass Houses (album)

text: In a retrospective review, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic wrote: "It may not be punk – then again, it may be his concept of punk – but "Glass Houses" is the closest Joel ever got to a pure rock album."


title: Renaissance Man (film)

text: Renaissance Man is a 1994 American comedy film directed by Penny Marshall, and stars Danny DeVito, Gregory Hines, James Remar and Cliff Robertson. A down on his luck advertising executive takes the only job he can get, teaching literature to army recruits. In Australia, the film is known under the title of Army Intelligence. The film received generally negative reviews. It grossed $24 million at the box office against a budget of $40 million.


title: Renaissance Man (film)

text: Bill Rago is a divorced advertising executive down on his luck. When he loses his job in Detroit, the unemployment agency finds him a temporary job: teaching basic literacy classes at a nearby U.S. Army training base, Fort McClane.


title: Renaissance Man (film)

text: Initially unenthusiastic, Rago finds that he has only six weeks to teach a group of undereducated soldiers the basics of comprehension and use of English language. Most of the soldiers are only semi-literate and equally unenthusiastic.


title: Renaissance Man (film)

text: Unable to connect with his pupils and desperate to spark their interest, Rago quotes from his favorite play, "Hamlet" by William Shakespeare. They are unfamiliar with it (or even the concept of a "play") and a small initial spark of interest is generated. He casts each student as a character in a classroom reading, then takes everyone on a field trip across the Blue Water Bridge to Stratford, Ontario Canada, to a live performance by Shakespearean actors. He introduces them to Shakespeare's "Henry V" as well.


title: Renaissance Man (film)

text: In the meantime he takes steps to mend bridges with his daughter by buying her an airline ticket to Mexico – as well as buying her a Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope – so that she can start on the path to becoming a professional astronomer.


title: Renaissance Man (film)

text: Despite the disapproval of their hard-as-nails Drill Sergeant Cass, and the loss of one of the trainees, Pvt. Hobbs, who is revealed as a drug dealer hiding under an assumed identity, Rago sets an end-of-term oral examination. Even the friendly Capt. Murdoch, who is in charge of the project doesn't expect the soldiers to pass Rago's class, adding that if they fail they will be discharged from the Army.


title: Renaissance Man (film)

text: Hobbs writes a letter to Rago and Murdoch, whose letters to the prison warden may result in him getting an early parole. Hobbs says he read "Othello" in the prison library (the librarian said he was the first inmate in 16 years to request Shakespeare) and was thinking about taking college classes once he's released.


title: Renaissance Man (film)

text: While on duty, on a dare from Cass in front of other men, Pvt. Benitez recites the St. Crispin's Day Speech by King Henry V while in full combat gear in the middle of a rainstorm during a night exercise; the speech moves even the hardened Sgt. Cass. The students then all pass Rago's class with flying colors.


title: Renaissance Man (film)

text: Rago meets and dates Marie, a soldier in the records department who helps him do some investigation before the base's graduation ceremony. It results in Pvt. Davis being presented with the Silver Star medal his father was to have been awarded posthumously, after he was killed in Vietnam.


title: Renaissance Man (film)

text: As the proud soldiers march at their graduation parade, Rago is saluted by his "graduates". He signs on to continue teaching soldiers-in-training.


title: Renaissance Man (film)

text: The script was written by Jim Burnstein. Marshall requested rewrites to make the script funnier, not merely by adding more jokes but by "deepening the characters and finding all the humor and heart in them."


title: Renaissance Man (film)

text: Burnstein was on call during filming to answer questions about the script, particularly when it came to lines relating to Hamlet. He visited the set, spending time at each location. Marshall allowed him to watch some of the dailies but as it was his first film he did not offer his opinions, and he also knew that editors would be "the last writer" and make their own changes to the film. Burnstein and his family appeared as extras at the baseball game.


title: Renaissance Man (film)

text: Filming began on July 2, 1993, and ended on November 26, 1993. The scenes at the fictional "Fort McClane" were actually filmed at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. The production trailers were set up alongside the barracks on "Tank Hill". During the filming, soldiers were filmed doing P.T. (physical training) and B.R.M. (basic rifle marksmanship), and the graduation scene of the film was shot during an actual basic training graduation. In one of these scenes Geoff Ramsey can be seen doing jumping jacks. The scene of Danny DeVito on a pay phone was shot at a phone bank that countless soldiers have used to call home during basic training. The scenes of DeVito going over the bridge from Detroit to Canada are actually him driving over the Blue Water Bridge in Sarnia, Point Edward, Ontario and Port Huron, Michigan.


title: Renaissance Man (film)

text: "Renaissance Man" received mainly negative reviews. Roger Ebert gave the film one and a half stars out of a possible four. Ebert said that "the touch that was used so well in director Penny Marshall's previous films "Big" and "A League of Their Own" are totally missing in "Renaissance Man" and it feels like a cross between "Dead Poets Society" and "Private Benjamin" but does not have the warmth or spirit of those films." He also wondered what Devito's character teaching Shakespeare's plays had to do with the training of the military recruits. Ebert gave it a thumbs-down on his television show, but partner Gene Siskel enjoyed it as pleasant fare and gave it a thumbs-up. Kim Newman of "Empire" magazine called it "a feel good movie which is too mechanically put together to make you feel anything." Janet Maslin of "The New York Times" praised the likable cast but called it "Inherently condescending, and finally awash in warm-bath sentimentality, this setup never goes out of style."


title: Renaissance Man (film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes it holds a 12% rating based on 25 reviews. The site's consensus states: ""Renaissance Man" tries to simultaneously be a literary comedy, an inspirational drama, and a star vehicle that caters to Danny DeVito's strengths, but proves to be a master of none." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 44 out of 100 based on 20 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "A−" on scale of A to F.


title: Renaissance Man (film)

text: The film flopped at the U.S box office, grossing only US$24 million in the United States and Canada in 12 weeks. It was hindered by competing with summer blockbusters such as "Speed", "True Lies", "The Flintstones", and "The Lion King".


title: Renaissance Man (film)

text: The film was reissued on September 16, 1994 on 17 screens in the Seattle area under the title "By the Book" but did not fare any better.


title: Dame Tu Cosita

text: "Dame Tu Cosita" (, lit. ""Give me your little thing"" or ""give me your thingy"") is a song by Panamanian artist El Chombo, featuring Jamaican dancehall musician Cutty Ranks. It was originally recorded in 1997, but extended and released as a single in 2018. A remix with Pitbull and Karol G was released on August 29, 2018.


title: Dame Tu Cosita

text: The song was first released on El Chombo's album "Cuentos de la Cripta II" (1997) as a short version under the title "Introduccion B (El Cosita Mix)". A remix of the song titled "Cosita Mix (New Mix)" was released in 2001 on the album "Cuentos de la Cripta Remixes", in which the 2018 version is based on.


title: Dame Tu Cosita

text: Following the song's viral Internet popularity, French record label Juston Records signed El Chombo and commissioned an extended version of the track. The label also acquired the rights to ArtNoux's video and requested a new video for the extended track.


title: Dame Tu Cosita

text: Ultra Music acquired the worldwide distribution rights to the new, extended song and music video. In April 2018, the music video was uploaded to Ultra's YouTube channel, and its popularity skyrocketed. The track was released as a single soon after, which debuted at No. 81 on the "Billboard" Hot 100, eventually reaching a peak of No. 36.


title: Dame Tu Cosita

text: A remix featuring Pitbull and Karol G was released on August 24, 2018, and was produced by El Chombo and Afro Bros. The remix charted at No. 1 on the "Billboard" Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart, which serves as an extension to the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart. It also reached No. 31 on the "Billboard" Argentina Hot 100.


title: Dame Tu Cosita

text: The video shows an extended animation of the alien video to the full remix of "Dame Tu Cosita", animated by ArtNoux and directed by Sihem OUILLANI. The video was the seventh most-viewed music video on YouTube worldwide in 2018. As of August 2022, the YouTube video has received over 4 billion views, making it the site's 13th most-viewed video. The music video of the remix with Pitbull and Karol G was also directed by Sihem OUILLANI and was shot in Florida.


title: Box turtle

text: Box turtle is the common name for several species of turtle. It may refer to those of the genus "Cuora" or "Pyxidea", which are the Asian box turtles, or more commonly to species of the genus "Terrapene", the North American box turtles. They are largely characterized by having a shell shaped like a dome, which is hinged at the bottom, allowing the animal to close its shell tightly to escape predators. Furthermore, the two genera are very different in habitat, behavior and appearance, and are not even classified in the same family. Even though box turtles became very popular pets, their needs in captivity are complex and the capture of turtles can have serious detrimental effects on the wild population.


title: Box turtle

text: The box turtle commonly lives over twenty years, with verified cases of lifespans exceeding 40 to 50 years. There have been unverified cases of box turtles living for a hundred years and more.


title: Box turtle

text: Box turtles are omnivorous. Their eagle eyes and keen sense of smell help them find foods such as snails, insects, berries, fungi, slugs, worms, flowers, fish, frogs, salamanders, various rodents, snakes, birds, and eggs. During their first five to six years of life they are primarily carnivorous. Adults tend to be mostly herbivores, but do not feed on leafy greens. Box turtles are known to feed on animals found dead on roadways victims of being struck by a car or other rolling vehicle. Hatchling and young turtles need more protein and prefer a carnivorous diet, to which, as they grow, they incorporate more and more plants.


title: Box turtle

text: A recent study conducted by Davidson College revealed, among other things, that a box turtle can make sounds with its jaws that exceed 75 dB. This sound can be used to scare away predators and even also as some kind of mating call.


title: Box turtle

text: While it appears that most matings of "Terrapene carolina" occur in one-on-one encounters, there are occasions when two males will compete for access to the same female. These encounters, which almost never amount to mortal combat, consist of head-butting, shoving, and perhaps attempts to overturn the other. It is presumed that eventually one of the males exhausts himself and withdraws from the field while the other gains access to the female.


title: Box turtle

text: Asian box turtles are in serious danger of extinction in their habitat because they are part of the food base of many Asian countries such as China, where they are captured for local food markets despite captive breeding farms. North American box turtles, on the other hand, are endangered by habitat destruction. The forests converted to farmland greatly reduced the number of turtles in many states. The remaining land is often fragmented with highways and urban projects, destroying the animals' habitat. In an attempt to cross man-made additions, turtles are often killed by cars, animals, and other hazards.


title: Box turtle

text: Another serious treatment of these animals in North America is the capture and sale of hatchling box turtles from the wild. A 3-year study conducted in Texas indicated that more than 7000 box turtles were taken from the wild for commercial trade. A similar study in Louisiana found that over a 41-month period, about 30,000 box turtles were taken from the wild for resale. Once captured, the turtles are often kept in poor conditions, in which more than half die. Those that live long enough to be sold usually suffer from conditions such as malnutrition, dehydration, and infection.


title: Box turtle

text: Indiana and many other states created strict laws against the collection of hatchling turtles from the wild. In many states it is illegal to keep them without a special permit. Collecting wild-hatched box turtles can cause irreversible damage to populations, because these turtles have a low reproductive rate, as they take a long time to find a mate.


title: Box turtle

text: Most turtle and sea-turtle societies do not recommend the use of turtles as pets for young children despite their popularity as such. Box turtles are easily stressed if touched excessively and require more care than is generally thought. Box turtles can be easily injured by dogs and cats so special care must be taken to protect them from household pets and neighborhood animals. Box turtles require an enclosed outdoor location, consistent sun exposure and a varied diet. Without this, a turtle's growth can be stunted and its immune system weakened.


title: Box turtle

text: Finding box turtles in the wild and taking them as pets, even for a short period, can have detrimental effects. Box turtles want to stay within the area where they were hatched. If one is moved more than half a mile from its territory, it may not find its way back, but may spend years searching for it. This exposes the animal to danger and also disrupts the breeding cycle of which it would otherwise have been a part.


title: Box turtle

text: While box turtles are very popular as pets, it is important that they are preserved in the right matter. Keeping them in a more northern area where they can survive the best in ecological and physiological factor to not damage their way of living.