title: The Voice of Holland

text: The second stage, 'the Battle rounds', is where two artists are mentored and then developed by their respective coach. The coaches of the team will "dedicate themselves to developing their artists, giving them advice, and sharing the secrets of their success in the music industry". Every member of their team battle against another member from their team. They sing the same song simultaneously, while their coach decides who should continue in the competition. The coaches have to choose from the four individual "battles" to take artists to the live round. Starting from the fourth season, each coach can steal one losing artist from other teams. Another twist was added in the seventh season: the "Steal Room". While steals have returned, each artist that is stolen will sit in a designated seat in the Steal Room as they watch the other performances. If a coach has stolen one artist but later decides to steal another, the first artist will be replaced and eliminated by the newly-stolen artist. The artists seated at the end of the battles will advance to the knockout rounds. In the eleventh season, each coach is now allowed to save an artist from their own team.


title: The Voice of Holland

text: The third stage is the Knockouts. The format has varied from the early seasons where two artists each sang one song with one advancing to more recent years where all artists performed and the coach would select three to send to the Live Shows.


title: The Voice of Holland

text: The final stage, dubbed the 'Live shows', is where the surviving combatants perform in front of the coaches, audience and broadcast live. Each coach will be having four artists in their team to begin with and the artists will go head-to-head in the competition to win the public votes. These will determine which artist advances to the final eight. The remaining three artists' future in the show will be determined by the coaches, choosing who will progress.


title: The Voice of Holland

text: The final eight artists will compete in a live broadcast. However, the coaches will have a 50/50 say with the audience and the public in deciding which artists move on to the 'final four' phase. In the latter, each coach will have one member who will continue. The final (the winner round) will be decided upon by the public vote. Throughout the final the coaches will frequently perform with their artists. The winner will be crowned "The Voice of Holland".


title: The Voice of Holland

text: The coaches were not yet known during the show's establishment announcement, but Gordon, Marco Borsato and John Ewbank were rumored to be participating. None of them eventually ended up in the original line-up. The coaches were announced on 17 June 2010: Roel van Velzen, Nick & Simon, Angela Groothuizen and Jeroen van der Boom. In the first season, Roel van Velzen could not attend all live shows because of planned concerts. Martijn Krabbé hosted the show, with Wendy van Dijk joining him in the live shows and Winston Gerschtanowitz in charge of hosting the "Red Room".


title: The Voice of Holland

text: Marco Borsato replaced Jeroen van der Boom in the second season, as Van der Boom left the show to become the head judge of "The Winner Is", whereas Wendy van Dijk became the full-time host alongside Krabbé. In the third season, Groothuizen was replaced by Trijntje Oosterhuis, who had previously turned down the chance to join the show's first season. On 17 December 2012, it was announced that Nick & Simon would not return as coaches in the fourth season. On 22 March 2013, it was announced that Ilse DeLange would become a coach in the fourth season. In January, Roel van Velzen announced he would not return as a coach for a fourth season and was replaced by Ali B. The coaching panel remained unchanged for season 5 in 2014, but Winston Gerschtanowitz was replaced by "Idols" winner Jamai Loman.


title: The Voice of Holland

text: On 15 January 2015, it was announced that Trijntje Oosterhuis and Ilse DeLange had left the show to focus on other projects, and would be replaced by Anouk and Miss Montreal frontwoman Sanne Hans. Marco Borsato and Ali B returned as coaches for the sixth season. During the season 6's finale on 29 January 2016, Borsato announced he would not be returning for the seventh season, and his position would be filled by Guus Meeuwis. Anouk originally signed to coach two seasons, but decided to skip the following season due to her pregnancy, therefore was replaced by Waylon in season 7. Guus Meeuwis decided at the end of season 7 not to return for the eighth season. On 9 June 2017, it was announced that Anouk would return to replace Guus Meeuwis for season 8, along with returning coaches Ali B, Sanne Hans and Waylon. During the season 8's finale on 2 January 2018, it was announced that for the ninth season Lil' Kleine would replace Sanne Hans, who had decided to leave for other commitments.


title: The Voice of Holland

text: In early 2019, Wendy van Dijk announced that she has moved from RTL 4 to SBS6 and therefore would not be able to return to the show as host. On 22 February 2019, it was reported that the show will continue airing on RTL 4 for the next three years, and Chantal Janzen will replace van Dijk as host for the tenth season. It has also been announced that Geraldine Kemper would replace Jamai Loman as backstage host. On 14 June 2019, it was announced via the show's broadcaster, RTL 4 and their Facebook page that Ali B, Waylon, Anouk and Lil' Kleine will all return for season 10.


title: The Voice of Holland

text: On 6 June 2020, RTL announced that Ali B, Waylon and Anouk would all remain on the panel for season 11; but Lil' Kleine would not return. Two months later, Jan Smit was confirmed as Kleine's replacement. In July 2021, it was confirmed that Glennis Grace would replace Smit, who had confirmed his departure weeks prior. Also, season 12 includes the "Comeback Stage" (originally created by the American version), whose duo coach consists in rapper Typhoon and season 6 winner Maan de Steenwinkel.


title: The Voice of Holland

text: In season one, coaches were Roel van Velzen, Jeroen van der Boom, Angela Groothuizen and Nick & Simon (working together). Host was Martijn Krabbé. The first season ended on 21 January 2011, Ben Saunders was declared the winner, with Pearl Jozefzoon as runner-up. Saunders won by 59% of the votes. An average of 2.7 million people watched the show every Friday since its launch, while the final attracted 3,744,000 viewers. The results show broadcast half an hour later attracted 3,238,000. In total 30 of the show's singles reached the Top 100 download charts in the Netherlands, including 2 #1 chart toppers by winner Ben Saunders.


title: The Voice of Holland

text: Martijn Krabbé, who hosted season one, remained as the host but was now joined by Wendy van Dijk, with whom he was already sharing the hosting duties on "Idols". Jeroen van der Boom did not return and was replaced by popular Dutch pop-artist Marco Borsato, who would eventually win the show with 19-year-old Iris Kroes on 20 January 2011 over Chris Hordijk for Team Nick & Simon, who again became the runners-up of the show. Kroes won over Hordijk with only 51% of the votes, making her the second female contestant worldwide to win the show after Steliyana Khristova, who won the Bulgarian version of the show.


title: The Voice of Holland

text: The third season was hosted by Martijn Krabbé and Wendy van Dijk, while Winston Gerstanovich hosted the 'Red Room.' Roel van Velzen, Nick & Simon and Marco Borsato returned as coaches. Angela Groothuizen did not return as a coach for season 3 and was replaced by Trijntje Oosterhuis. On December 15, Leona Philippo of Team Oosterhuis won with 56% of the votes, beating Johannes Rypma of Team Nick & Simon, Floortje Smit of Team van Velzen and Ivar Oosterloo of Team Borsato. The ratings for the last show where the highest ratings The Voice of Holland ever had. 4,6 million people watched the show.


title: The Voice of Holland

text: The fourth season started in August 2013. Martijn Krabbé and Wendy van Dijk returned as co-hosts, while Winston Gerstanovich returned as host of the 'Red Room'. Marco Borsato and Trijntje Oosterhuis were the only coaches from season 3 to return. Ilse DeLange and Ali B replaced Nick & Simon and Roel van Velzen, respectively. Julia van der Toorn and Gerrie Dantuma of Team Borsato finished as winner and in third place respectively, making season 4 the first season to have two contestants of the same team in the final and the first where a coach did not win in their first season. Mitchell Brunnings of Team DeLange finished in second place and Jill Helena of Team Ali B finished in fourth place.


title: The Voice of Holland

text: The fifth season premiered in August 2014 and ended in December. Martijn Krabbé and Wendy van Dijk will as co-hosts, but Winston Gerschtanowitz was replaced as host of the 'Red Room' by Jamai Loman. Marco Borsato, Trijntje Oosterhuis, Ilse DeLange and Ali B returned as coaches for the fifth season. Girl group O'G3NE and Sjors van der Panne, both from Borsato's team, finished in the final two, with the former winning the title and became the first trio to win in any season of "The Voice".


title: The Voice of Holland

text: The sixth season premiered on 25 September 2015. Martijn Krabbé and Wendy van Dijk returned as co-hosts, and Jamai Loman returned as host of the 'Red Room' once again. Marco Borsato and Ali B returned as coaches and were joined by Anouk and Sanne Hans, who replaced Trijntje Oosterhuis and Ilse DeLange.


title: The Voice of Holland

text: The seventh season premiered on 21 October 2016. All hosts and co-hosts returned from last season. Ali B and Sanne Hans returned as coaches for this season, whereas Marco Borsato and Anouk were replaced by Guus Meeuwis and Waylon.


title: The Voice of Holland

text: The eighth season premiered on 20 October 2017. On 9 June 2017, it was announced that Anouk, who had been a coach in the sixth season of the show, would return to replace Guus Meeuwis, alongside Ali B, Sanne Hans and Waylon.


title: The Voice of Holland

text: The ninth season premiered on 2 November 2018. On 2 January 2018, it was announced that Lil' Kleine would replace Sanne Hans, alongside Ali B, Anouk and Waylon.


title: The Voice of Holland

text: The tenth season premiered on 8 November 2019. On 14 June 2019, it was confirmed on the show's Facebook page that all four coaches from the previous season would return. The winner of the 10th season was Sophia from team Anouk.


title: The Voice of Holland

text: The eleventh season premiered on 20 November 2020. On 7 August 2020 it was announced that Jan Smit would replace Lil’ Kleine for season 11, joining returning coaches Ali B, Waylon and Anouk.


title: The Voice of Holland

text: The twelfth season premiered on 7 January 2022. It was announced that would Glennis Grace would replace Jan Smit for season 12, joining returning coaches Ali B, Waylon, and Anouk. For the first time, the show will feature a fifth coach, with rapper Typhoon and season 6 winner Maan de Steenwinkel, who selected participants taking part in the "Comeback" stage. In addition, this season also marks the introduction of the block button in the show's history, as first introduced in the fourteenth season of the American version. Each coach has one chance to block another coach in the entire blind auditions.


title: The Voice of Holland

text: On 15 January 2022, the season was indefinitely suspended in response to sexual misconduct allegations relating to crew members of the show. The following day, coach Anouk announced that she would not be returning to the show in response to these claims. On 19 January 2022, RTL suspended their collaboration with coach Ali B until the allegations were investigated.


title: The Voice of Holland

text: By 6 May 2022, one more ex-contestant pressed charges at a production member, raising the number of criminal charges under investigation in the show's production to a total of six.


title: The Voice of Holland

text: Various international television networks have licensed or indicated interest in the format. More comprehensive information about the other versions of the show is in the "Main article".


title: The Voice of Holland

text: In 2013, the show was one of the highest rated shows on Dutch television, with weekly ratings varying between 1.6 and 3.0 million viewers. Its first-season finale, which aired on 21 January 2011, was viewed by 3.75 million. The second season's first episode was viewed by almost 3.3 million.


title: The Voice of Holland

text: On 15 January 2022, broadcaster RTL announced that the then-ongoing twelfth season of "The Voice of Holland" would be put on hold indefinitely after the second episode. They had received concerning questions from program creator and journalist Tim Hofman about certain crew members regarding allegations of abuse of power and sexual misconduct.


title: The Voice of Holland

text: Soon after RTL’s announcement, band leader of "The Voice of Holland", (brother-in-law of creator and media tycoon John de Mol) issued a statement admitting to years of sexual misbehaviour. According to Dutch newspaper "Algemeen Dagblad", he had promised contestants that he would make sure they’d advance to the next round in exchange for sexual activities. Producer Talpa Media, now ITV Studios, had known about his sexual misbehaviour years ago and reprimanded him, but allowed him to remain as bandleader of the show.


title: The Voice of Holland

text: Later that afternoon, Dutch police confirmed that a victim had filed an official report against Ali Bouali, professionally known as Ali B. The rapper had been a coach on "The Voice" for nine seasons. Ali B, however, denied all allegations on his Instagram account.


title: The Voice of Holland

text: Anouk, one of the many coaches and hosts to comment on the matter, stated that she had wanted to wait until she had seen the "BOOS" episode, but after reading Rietbergen's statement, as well as holding several telephone calls with other affected individuals, she had decided not to return as coach on the show.


title: The Voice of Holland

text: On 19 January 2022, right after the news that a second victim had filed an official report against Ali B, broadcaster RTL announced that they would suspend their collaboration with him during the investigations. The Dutch police also announced that another victim came forward and filed an official report against Jeroen Rietbergen.


title: The Voice of Holland

text: Tim Hofman and BNN-VARA, his broadcaster, announced that more crew members would be mentioned in his YouTube program "BOOS: This is The Voice". The news had sparked a heated debate in the country about the abuse of power by people in the entertainment industry, especially as there had already been accusations against singer Marco Borsato, including an official report of sexual misconduct with a minor. Borsato was a coach on "The Voice" (2011–2016) and "The Voice Kids" (2012–2020).


title: The Voice of Holland

text: On 20 January 2022, Tim Hofman's weekly YouTube program "BOOS" aired an episode focusing on the controversy, titled . The first part of the documentary revealed more allegations of sexual misconduct on "The Voice", including allegations of rape. The alleged sex offenders are bandleader Jeroen Rietbergen, former coach Marco Borsato, coach Ali B and a yet to remain anonymous director of "The Voice of Holland" and "The Voice Kids". The episode ended with Tim Hofman interviewing John de Mol (creator and producer of "The Voice") who had just finished watching the first and original part of the "BOOS" documentary.


title: The Voice of Holland

text: After the episode went online, reactions poured in. De Mol was broadly accused of victim-blaming, also by his company’s female employees. A page wide advertisement, published in the Dutch newspaper "Algemeen Dagblad," stated the following: “Dear John, It’s not the women. Greetings, the women in your company.”


title: The Voice of Holland

text: "The New York Times" cited the controversy as an example of how the Dutch approach to sexual permissiveness can sideline discussions of consent and misconduct.


title: The Voice of Holland

text: Following the publication of the "BOOS: This is The Voice" documentary, several Dutch radio stations announced that they would no longer play music by Ali B and Borsato for the time being, and Madame Tussauds Amsterdam removed Borsato's wax figure from the collection. The Flemish TV channel VTM cancelled a planned episode of "Sergio over the border" with Borsato. Publishing house Maven Publishing stopped selling the book "The Ali B Method" recently launched by Ali B, and "Mocro Flavour", an Ali B-affiliated product line of meat substitutes, was cancelled.


title: The Voice of Holland

text: "The Voice of Holland"'s social media pages were largely taken offline. After the official reports of sexual misconduct against Rietbergen, Borsato and Ali B, two official reports were also filed against the anonymous director of "The Voice".


title: The Voice of Holland

text: In the days following publication, several aid agencies for victims of sexual violence reported a significant increase in the number of requests for help. In addition, the demand for confidential counselors within companies increased, and it prompted self-reflection in various organizations on how the social protection schemes for employees was assured within their company. Making confidential counselors within companies mandatory was something that the Dutch government had been looking into for some time.


title: The Voice of Holland

text: On 21 January 2022, human rights organization Amnesty International stated that the sexual misconduct scandal on "The Voice of Holland" showed that the process of legalizing sexual consent laws must be sped up. Many of the cases described in the documentary concern involuntary sex and imbalanced power relations, which are not always punishable by current law. Dutch Minister of Justice Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius stated that the implementation of a new Sexual Crimes Act would be accelerated.


title: The Voice of Holland

text: On 29 January 2022, a protest was held in Amsterdam for the accelerated implementation of the sexual consent law.


title: Rover Group

text: The Rover Group plc was the British vehicle manufacturing conglomerate known as "BL plc" until 1986 (formerly British Leyland), which had been a state-owned company since 1975. It initially included the Austin Rover Group car business (comprising the Austin, Rover, Mini and MG marques), Land Rover Group, Freight Rover vans and Leyland Trucks. The Rover Group also owned the dormant trademarks from the many companies that had merged into British Leyland and its predecessors such as Triumph, Morris, Wolseley, Riley and Alvis.


title: Rover Group

text: The Rover Group was owned by British Aerospace (BAe) from 1988 to 1994. In 1994, BAe sold the remaining car business of Rover Group plc to the German company BMW. The group was then broken up in 2000, when Ford acquired the Land Rover division, with the Rover and MG marques continuing with the much smaller MG Rover Group until 2005. Ownership of the original Rover Group marques is currently split between BMW (Germany), SAIC (China), and Tata Motors (India), the latter owning the Rover marque itself with its subsidiary Jaguar Land Rover owning much of the assets of the historic Rover company.


title: Rover Group

text: The Rover Group plc was formed by renaming BL plc in 1986, soon after the appointment by Margaret Thatcher of Canadian Graham Day to the position of Chairman and Managing Director of BL.


title: Rover Group

text: After divesting of its commercial vehicle and bus manufacturing divisions (Leyland Trucks, Leyland Bus and Freight Rover), and the spares and logistics firm Unipart, the company then consisted of the car manufacturing arm Austin Rover Group and the Land Rover Group. This group was privatised in 1988 by the sale of the company to British Aerospace (BAe) for £150 million, who retained Day as joint CEO and Chairman, and made Kevin Morley MD of Rover cars. The group changed its name again in 1989 to Rover Group Holdings Limited, whilst the car manufacturing subsidiary "Austin Rover Group Limited" shortened its name to "Rover Group Limited". By this time, all but the Rover, Land Rover and MG brands were still active – Austin had already been dropped in 1987, because it was felt by Graham Day's new management that many of the other marque names within the former BL had been tarnished by their association with the poor quality cars of the 1970s. The strategy going forward, therefore, was to concentrate on the upmarket Rover brand instead.


title: Rover Group

text: On 31 January 1994 BAe sold its 80% stake in the company on to German vehicle manufacturer BMW for £800 million (a takeover which caused uproar in the House of Commons), the name changing again in 1995 to BMW (UK) Holdings Limited. The Japanese manufacturer Honda, who owned the remaining 20% stake, terminated the long-standing alliance with BL/Rover which had been in existence since 1980 and also sold its shares to BMW a month later, although the licensing agreements surrounding the manufacture of the collaboratively developed Rover 200, 400, 600 and 800 models remained in place.


title: Rover Group

text: Millions of pounds of investment by BMW failed to turn the company into profit. It has been estimated that the entire Rover bankruptcy cost BMW fifteen billion Marks. In March 2000, BMW announced it planned to sell the Rover Group. Following bids from Alchemy Partners and Phoenix Consortium, the MG division, including a collection of dormant marques and the intellectual property rights and technical designs of MG and Rover-branded vehicles including the Longbridge assembly plant and headquarters were sold to the Phoenix Consortium, led by John Towers, a Rover Group executive. BMW retained the Pressed Steel assembly plants in Cowley and Swindon to build the forthcoming new Mini family of vehicles, which had been developed at Longbridge by Rover Group, and were due for launch within a year. Land Rover and the Solihull assembly plant were sold to the Ford Motor Company, becoming part of Ford's Premier Automotive Group, ultimately reuniting it with Jaguar which had been divested from British Leyland in 1984 and purchased by Ford in 1989.


title: Rover Group

text: All remaining Rover volume production at Cowley (essentially now just the Rover 75 as the Rover 600/800 ranges had already been discontinued by this point), was moved to Longbridge, as BMW demolished the Cowley and Swindon plants before starting construction of Plant Oxford, the new home of MINI production. Much smaller than its predecessors, the MG Rover Group struggled as it continued the heritage of building cars at the Longbridge plant. Adhering to UK regulations, BMW guaranteed that Phoenix Venture Holdings (initially named MG Rover Holdings) would have enough money to keep MG Rover Group in business for at least 3 years following the sale. The agreed "dowry" from BMW included a £427million interest-free loan and stocks of cars. MG Rover's short-term plan was to expand the MG range with sporting versions of existing Rovers, introduce new versions of the Rover 25, 45 and 75 models, reengineer and redesign the MG F, and eventually replace the entire model range with new cars developed through a joint venture with another carmaker.


title: Rover Group

text: The MG Rover range initially consisted of five cars: the classic Mini, Rover 25, Rover 45, Rover 75 and MG F along with car-derived van derivatives of the 25. The Mini was only built under temporary license during the first five months of MG Rover's existence. In 2001, the MG ZR, MG ZS and MG ZT (based on the Rover 25, Rover 45 and Rover 75 respectively) are launched as sporting alternatives to the standard Rover models. The range further expanded in 2003 with the launch of the smallest model, the Indian-built CityRover, built as part of a venture with TATA, the Rover Streetwise, a restyled version of the Rover 25 with SUV-like styling, and a flagship model, the MG XPower SV, based on the Qvale Mangusta.


title: Rover Group

text: Although the new company owned the production site and technical designs of Rover-branded vehicles, including the Rover 75 that was developed under BMW ownership, the Rover marque was a property licensed from BMW. The rights to the Riley and Triumph marques, along with former Rover Group trademarks Metro and Maxi, were also strategically retained by BMW, as it is believed these names are associated with the heritage of sports saloon car manufacturers, or with the heritage of Mini. MG Rover's best year for car sales was their first full year of business, in 2001 – when they sold over 170,000 cars.


title: Rover Group

text: Following the collapse of a proposed venture with Malaysian carmaker Proton, in June 2004 Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation signed a joint venture partnership to develop new models and technologies with MG Rover, with the projection to produce up to a million cars a year, with the production shared between the Longbridge site and locations in China. MG Rover sold Longbridge to St. Modwen Properties for £57.5M in a lease-back deal.


title: Rover Group

text: SAIC were to have a 70% stake in this company in return for a £1 billion investment, with MG Rover owning the remaining 30%. However, the National Development and Reform Commission held the opinion that if BMW could not make a success of Rover, then it would be hard for SAIC to do so. Despite this, MG Rover sold the technical rights to manufacture Rover's 25 and 75 models, and the Powertrain Ltd business, to SAIC for £67M, despite the joint venture not being finalized, to help keep the business afloat in the face of falling sales.


title: Rover Group

text: After MG Rover Group's financial crisis and talks of acquisition or investment by Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) failed in early 2005, the MG Rover Group suspended production and went into receivership on 7 April 2005. Following liquidation, Nanjing Automobile Corporation bought the rights to the MG marque, and the leftover assets of MG Rover. A 33-year deal was signed in February 2006 between Nanjing Auto and St. Modwen Properties covering the lease of 105 acres (a quarter of the total area of the Longbridge plant) but including the two main car assembly plants, the paint shop and administrative offices at a rent of around £1.8 million a year. In December 2007, Nanjing and SAIC announced their merger, which reunited some of the marques that had formed Rover Group, and ownership of the Longbridge plant became a SAIC controlled facility.


title: Rover Group

text: Despite BMW agreeing to sell the Rover marque to SAIC, Ford bought the rights to the Rover name from BMW for approximately £6 million. As a result of its purchase of Land Rover from BMW in 2000, Ford had acquired an option of first refusal to buy the Rover brand if MG Rover Group failed. Ford thus reunited the original Rover Company marques, primarily for brand-protection reasons. When Ford's Jaguar and Land Rover businesses were sold to TATA Motors in 2008, the rights to the historically prestigious Daimler, Lanchester, and Rover marques were transferred to TATA Motors.


title: Rover Group

text: Although the Rover 800 went on sale shortly after BL plc changed its name to Rover Group in July 1986, it had been developed in conjunction with Honda (whose corresponding model was the Legend). It was initially available as a saloon with a fastback version launching in 1988. It sold well among buyers in the executive market, with a facelift in November 1991 and the introduction of a coupe version a few months later. However, it stagnated after a replacement targeted for the 1992 model year was cancelled. Many of its duties as a flagship were performed by the 600. The 800 series was updated again in 1996 which gave the car a chrome and silver grille and a lot more standard kit. By its demise in 1999, it was looking considerably dated and was replaced with the 75.


title: Rover Group

text: The Rover Group's first significant new car launch was the Rover 200, which was introduced in October 1989. Unlike its predecessor, it was a three or five-door hatchback, the former to launch later, instead of a four-door saloon which would become the Rover 400. It used a new range of 16-valve K Series petrol engines as well as a Peugeot 1.9 diesel and 1.8 turbodiesel both fitted to the Phase 1 Peugeot 405. Sales were stronger than its successors and its launch coincided with a winding-down in production of the similarly sized Maestro, which finally ceased production at the end of 1994 having spent the final years of its life as a budget alternative to the more upmarket Rover 200. Coupe and cabriolet versions of the 200 were later launched in 1992 and these were sold alongside the all-new 1995 model and continued until that model was upgraded to become the Rover 25 in 1999. The 1989 Rover 200 was a strong seller throughout its life and its successor continued this trend, though its final year of production (1999) saw a significant dip in sales. These strong sales were not as high as the ever-popular Ford Escort and Vauxhall Astra. The Rover 200 had been around since 1988 as the Longbridge-built Honda Concerto, which offered a higher level of equipment but only achieved a fraction of its sales.


title: Rover Group

text: In April 1990, Rover launched the Rover 400 range. The 400 was essentially a four-door version of the 200 hatchback, but was slightly longer and offered more storage space. It also replaced the saloon version of the previous 200. It was sold as an alternative to the likes of the Ford Sierra and Vauxhall Cavalier, but was never able to match the success of these cars. An estate version of the 400 was launched in 1994 called the Tourer and continued alongside the all-new Honda Civic-based model that was launched the following year. The 1995 Rover 400 was a more substantial and popular alternative to other large family cars than its successor was, offering impressive equipment levels, but a relative shortage of interior space because it was nearer in size to cars in the next category down. The Rover 400 was facelifted in 1999 to become the Rover 45, and at the same time the estate version of the original 400 was dropped.


title: Rover Group

text: May 1990 saw Rover give the decade-old Metro a major reworking, which most notably included internal and external restyling, as well as new 1.1 and 1.4 K-Series petrol engines. The new Metro offered some of the best standards of specification in any supermini at the time, and it sold well until being replaced by the Rover 100 (essentially another update of the original 1980 design) in December 1994. The Rover 100 remained in production for three years, selling reasonably well, until it was discontinued after a dismal crash test performance that saw demand fall dramatically. Its demise marked the passing of the last design from the British Leyland era of the company with production ceasing at the end of 1997.


title: Rover Group

text: Rover entered the compact executive market in April 1993 with its 600 range. Sold only as a four-door saloon, the 600 was based on the Honda Accord but used Rover engines as well as Honda engines (Honda used Rover's diesel engine in their European Accord) and had a classier interior. It was very popular in the compact executive market, but could not match the ever-popular BMW 3 Series. This was down in part to the pricing and model restrictions BMW (Rover group's owner) had placed on the 600 series and its very close ties with the more downmarket Honda Accord. Production ended in early 1999 to make way for the new 75 model.


title: Rover Group

text: Unlike the Metro, which had received a major reengineering and was rebadged a Rover, the two last bastions from the British Leyland era had become increasingly uncompetitive in the marketplace and were kept in production merely to cater for the budget end of the market and for sale to fleets, as the newer Rover badged models were pushed further upmarket compared to rivals from Ford and General Motors (Vauxhall/Opel). The MG and high specification variants were both dropped from the Maestro/Montego ranges in 1991 so as not to overlap with the more expensive Rovers. Both had already lost their Austin badging in 1987 and were now known simply by their model names. Although the Montego had received a package of revisions for the 1989 model year, the Maestro remained essentially unchanged until 1992 when it received the Montego's revised dashboard. The Maestro/Montego production line was effectively closed in 1993 (leading to the eventual sale and demolition of the old Morris Motors' works at Cowley in which it was located), and the last cars were essentially hand built on a purpose built line. By 1994 the Montego saloon was only available to special order, and the Maestro was produced in basic 'Clubman' trim with either 1.3 petrol or 2.0 diesel power.


title: Rover Group

text: Both models were discontinued in December 1994, being replaced by the new Honda Civic based Rover 400 series.


title: Rover Group

text: In September 1995, production of the Maestro was moved to Varna, Bulgaria, where it was sold in complete knock down (CKD) kit form by Rodacar AD. By April 1996, around 2,000 vehicles had been produced before the company ceased its operations due to high import costs of the components and low demand for the cars.


title: Rover Group

text: In May 1997, Parkway Services based in Ledbury purchased 621 of the kits that were not shipped to Bulgaria. These kits were built up and converted to right-hand drive. The conversions involved a brand new dash, right-hand drive wipers, and a steering column. These cars had a list price of £4995, which meant they were the cheapest new cars on sale in Britain between 1998 and 2001. Ledbury-built Maestros all had non-Rover VIN numbers.


title: Rover Group

text: A number of former Bulgarian cars were also sold in the UK by Apple 2000 Ltd, located in Culford, Bury St Edmunds. These vehicles, which were sold between 1998 and 2001, were similar to the Ledbury Maestro, but can be differentiated by their left-hand drive windscreen wipers and door mirrors. Because these were fully-built cars that were imported back to the UK, Apple 2000 Maestros have Rover VINs.


title: Rover Group

text: The Land Rover arm of the Rover Group expanded dramatically after the late 1980s. The Ninety/One Ten models received minor equipment and driveline upgrades and sales began to improve after a severe and near-terminal decline in the early part of the decade. The Range Rover enjoyed increased sales following its repositioning as a luxury vehicle, with higher equipment levels and options such as an automatic transmission and a diesel engine option being offered for the first time. The successful Discovery 'family' 4x4 was launched in 1989 and became Europe's top-selling 4x4 within 18 months. The Discovery brought with it an advanced diesel engine, which was soon fitted to the other models in the range. This period saw Land Rover rationalise its operations, closing down satellite factories and increasing parts-sharing between models (axles, transmissions and engines were all shared, and the Discovery used the same chassis and many body panels as the Range Rover). The Ninety/One Ten range was fitted with the new diesel engine and renamed the Defender in 1990. An all-new Range Rover was launched in 1994, together with an improved Discovery which maintained high sales. A fourth model, the 'mini-SUV' Freelander was introduced in late 1997 and replaced the Discovery as Europe's best-selling 4x4 vehicle.


title: Rover Group

text: The MG badge-engineering project (first implemented by Austin Rover in 1982 with the Metro) ended in 1991 despite some reasonable success for its Austin Maestro and Austin Montego ranges (the MG Metro had been discontinued after the facelift in 1990). The MG badge was revived in 1992 on the MG RV8 – an updated MG MGB which made use of a 3.9 V8 Range Rover power unit, but lacked modern refinements that were expected in similarly priced sports car of its era. The car didn't sell as strongly as earlier MG sports car, and production had ended by 1995.


title: Rover Group

text: The "real" rebirth of MG sports cars occurred in 1995, when the MG F was launched. Powered by a 1.8 16-valve mid-mounted engine, it was an instant hit with buyers thanks to its distinctive styling and excellent ride and handling. It was a huge success in the roadster renaissance of the late 1990s, despite some buyers being let down by lacklusture build quality and reliability.


title: Rover Group

text: The MG name was revived on passenger cars in 2001 when the ZR, ZS and ZT models launched, based on the Rover 25, 45 and 75 models respectively.


title: Rover Group

text: Rover Group sponsored the Scottish football team Dundee United from 1994 to 1996. The first match of the sponsorship was Dundee United's Scottish Cup triumph in 1994, the club's first ever success in the competition.


title: Gwanghaegun of Joseon

text: Gwanghae-gun or Prince Gwanghae (4 June 1575 – 7 August 1641), personal name Yi Hon (Hangul: 이혼, Hanja: 李琿), was the 15th ruler of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea. As he was deposed in a coup d'état, he did not receive a temple name.


title: Gwanghaegun of Joseon

text: Gwanghaegun was the second son of King Seonjo, born to Lady Kim Gong-bin, a concubine. When Japan invaded Korea to attack the Ming Empire, he was installed as Crown Prince. When the king fled north to the border of Ming, he set up a branch court and fought defensive battles. During and after the Seven Year War (1592–1598), he acted as the de facto ruler of the Joseon Dynasty, commanding battles and taking care of the reconstruction of the nation after the devastating wars, in the place of old and weak King Seonjo.


title: Gwanghaegun of Joseon

text: Although it brought prestige to him, his position was still unstable. He had an elder but incompetent brother Prince Imhae (Imhaegun, 임해군, 臨海君) and a younger but legitimate brother Grand Prince Yeongchang (Yeongchang Daegun, 영창대군, 永昌大君), who was supported by the Lesser Northerners faction. Fortunately for Gwanghae, King Seonjo's abrupt death made it impossible for his favorite son Yeongchang to succeed to the throne.


title: Gwanghaegun of Joseon

text: Before King Seonjo died, he named Prince Gwanghae as his official successor to the throne and ordered his advisers to make a royal document. However, Lyu Young-gyong of the Lesser Northerners faction hid the document and plotted to install Grand Prince Yeongchang as king, only to be found out by the head of the Great Northerners faction (대북; 大北), Jeong In-hong. Lyu was executed immediately and Grand Prince Yeongchang was arrested and died the next year.


title: Gwanghaegun of Joseon

text: After the incident, Gwanghae tried to bring officials from various political and regional background to his court, but his plan was interrupted by Greater Northerners including Yi I-cheom and Jeong In-hong. Then, Greater Northerners began to take members of other political factions out of the government, especially Lesser Northerners. In 1613, the Greater Northerners moved against Grand Prince Yeongchang; his grandfather Kim Je-nam was found guilty of treason and executed, while Yeong-chang was sent into exile, where he too was executed. At the same time, Greater Northerners suppressed the Lesser Northerners; in 1618, Yeongchang's mother, Queen Inmok, was stripped of her title and imprisoned. Gwanghae had no power to stop this even though he was the official head of the government.


title: Gwanghaegun of Joseon

text: Despite his poor reputation after his death, he was a talented and pragmatic politician. He endeavored to restore the country and sponsored the restoration of documents. As a part of reconstruction, he revised land ordinance and redistributed land to the people; he also ordered the rebuilding of Changdeok Palace along with several other palaces. Additionally, he was responsible for the reintroduction of the "hopae" identification system after a long period of disuse.


title: Gwanghaegun of Joseon

text: In foreign affairs he sought a balance between the Ming Empire and the Manchus. Since he realized Joseon was unable to compete with Manchu military power, he tried to maintain friendly relationship with the Manchus while the kingdom was still under the suzerainty of Ming, which angered the Ming and dogmatic Confucian Koreans. The critically worsened Manchu-Ming relationship forced him to send ten thousand soldiers to aid Ming in 1619. However, the Battle of Sarhū ended in Manchu's overwhelming victory. The Korean General Gang Hong-rip lost two-thirds of his troops and surrendered to Nurhaci. Gwanghaegun negotiated independently for peace with the Manchus and managed to avoid another war. He also restored diplomatic relationship with Japan in 1609 when he reopened trade with Japan through Treaty of Giyu, and sent his ambassadors to Japan in 1617.


title: Gwanghaegun of Joseon

text: In the domestic sphere, Gwanghaegun implemented the Daedong law, which let his subjects pay their taxes more easily. However, this law was activated only in Gyeonggi Province, which was the largest granary zone at that time, and it took a century for the law to be extended across the whole kingdom. He encouraged publishing in order to accelerate reconstruction and to restore the kingdom's former prosperity. Many books were written during his reign, including the medical book Dongui Bogam, and several historical records were rewritten in this period. In 1616, tobacco was first introduced to Korea and it soon became popular amongst the Korean aristocracy.


title: Gwanghaegun of Joseon

text: On April 11, 1623, Gwanghaegun was deposed in a coup by the Westerners faction. The coup directed by Kim Yu took place at night, Gwanghaegun fled but was captured later. He was confined first on Ganghwa Island and then on Jeju Island, where he died in 1641. He does not have a royal mausoleum like the other Joseon rulers. His and Lady Ryu's remains were buried at a comparatively humble site in Namyangju in Gyeonggi Province. The Westerners faction installed Neungyanggun as the sixteenth king Injo who promulgated pro-Ming and anti-Manchu policies, which resulted in two subsequent Manchu invasions.


title: Gwanghaegun of Joseon

text: Gwanghaegun is one of only two deposed kings who were not restored and given a temple name (the other one being Yeonsangun).


title: Gwanghaegun of Joseon

text: He remains a polarizing figure among historians. Historian Oh Hang-nyeong strongly criticized the king, writing that he “practically used up the country’s entire budget solely for the construction of palaces, his policies were flawed and moreover, he was absent in many of the cabinet meetings. Gwanghaegun failed to communicate with his servants and with his people.” However, historian Lee Duk-il praised the king, did that he “indeed made some political errors, but during his reign, the famous oriental medical book "Donguibogam’' was published and he created the tax system "Daedong law" that was enforced for the benefit of the people.” Despite the controversy over the king's handling of domestic policies, most historians have a positive assessment of Gwanghae's acts regarding foreign affairs.


title: The Tenant

text: The Tenant (French: Le locataire) is a 1976 psychological horror film set in France but filmed in English and directed by Roman Polanski, starring Polanski, Isabelle Adjani, Melvyn Douglas, and Shelley Winters. It is based upon the 1964 novel "Le locataire chimérique" by Roland Topor and is the last film in Polanski's "Apartment Trilogy", following "Repulsion" and "Rosemary's Baby". It was entered into the 1976 Cannes Film Festival. The film had a total of 534,637 admissions in France.


title: The Tenant

text: Trelkovsky, a quiet and unassuming man, rents an apartment in Paris whose previous tenant, Egyptologist Simone Choule, attempted to commit suicide by throwing herself out of the window and through a pane of glass below at 39 Rue de Calais. Before moving in officially, he meets the concierge, who shows the apartment to him, and also shows him where Simone fell. He visits Simone in the hospital but finds her entirely in bandages and unable to talk. Whilst still at Simone's bedside, Trelkovsky meets Simone's friend, Stella, who has also come to visit. Stella is overwhelmed with emotion and begins talking to Simone, who looks towards her visitors and screams monstrously. The matron insists they leave, having already informed Trelkovsky that he may not speak to Choule. Trelkovsky tries to comfort Stella but dares not say that he never knew Simone, instead pretending to be another friend. They leave together and go out for a drink and a movie (1973's "Enter The Dragon"), where Stella fondles him.


title: The Tenant

text: Outside the theatre they part ways. Later, Trelkovsky calls up the hospital to enquire about Simone, and is told she has died.


title: The Tenant

text: As Trelkovsky occupies the apartment he is chastised repeatedly by his neighbors and landlord, Monsieur Zy, for hosting a party with his friends, apparently having a woman over, making too much noise in general, and not joining in on a petition against another neighbor. Trelkovsky attempts to adapt to his situation, but is increasingly disturbed by the apartment and the other tenants. He frequently sees his neighbors standing motionless in the toilet room (which he can see from his own window), and discovers a hole in the wall with a human tooth stashed inside. He discusses this with his friends, who do not find things strange and belittle him for not standing up to his neighbours. He visits the apartment of one of his work friends, who plays a marching band record at a spitefully loud volume. A neighbour politely asks him to turn down the music, as his wife is ill and trying to sleep. Trelkovsky turns the record down, but his friend tells the neighbour that he will play his music as he wants, and that he does not care about his sick wife.


title: The Tenant

text: He receives a visit from one Georges Badar, who secretly loved Simone and has believed her to be alive and well. Trelkovsky updates and comforts the man and spends the night out with him. He receives a postcard that Badar had posted before realising Simone had died. Frequenting the nearby café which Simone also patronised, he is recognized as the new tenant of her apartment. The owner pressures him into having Simone's regular order, which is then always given to him without being ordered, against his preferences. They are always out of his preferred choice of cigarette, Gauloises, so he develops a habit of ordering Marlboros, which Simone used to order. Nobody has any idea why Simone was suicidal.


title: The Tenant

text: Trelkovsky becomes severely agitated and enraged when his apartment is robbed, while his neighbors and the concierge continue to berate him for making too much noise, and his landlord warns him not to inform the police of the burglary. Suffering from fever and bad dreams, he wakes up one morning to find his face made up. He buys a wig and women's shoes and goes on to dress up (using Simone's dress which he had found in a cupboard) and sit still in his apartment in the dead of night. He suspects that Zy and neighbors are trying to subtly change him into the last tenant, Simone, so that he too will kill himself. He becomes hostile and paranoid in his day-to-day environment (snapping at his friends, slapping a child in a park) and his mental state progressively deteriorates. He has visions of his neighbors playing football with a human head, finds the toilet covered in hieroglyphs, and looking across the courtyard, sees himself standing at his apartment window, looking into the bathroom with binoculars. Trelkovsky runs off to Stella for comfort and sleeps over, but in the morning after she has left for work, he concludes that she too is in on his neighbors' plot, and proceeds to vandalise and burgle her apartment before departing.


title: The Tenant

text: At night he is hit by an elderly couple driving a car. He is not injured too seriously, but receives a sedative injection from the doctor due to his odd behavior – he perceives the elderly couple as his landlord Zy and wife, and accuses them of trying to murder him. The couple returns him to his apartment. A deranged Trelkovsky dresses up again as a woman and throws himself out of the apartment window in the manner of Simone Choule, before what he believes to be a clapping, cheering audience composed of his neighbors. The suicide attempt wakes up his neighbors, who call the police and attempt to restrain him. He crawls away from them back to his apartment, and jumps out the window a second time moments after the police arrive.


title: The Tenant

text: In the final scene, Trelkovsky is bandaged up in the same fashion as Simone Choule, in the same hospital bed. From his perspective, we see his and Stella's own visit to Simone. Trelkovsky then lets out a monstrous scream as Simone did in the earlier scene.


title: The Tenant

text: Although typically labelled as the third part of Polanski's so-called "Apartment Trilogy", this came about more by luck than by design. The film adaptation was originally to have been made by British director Jack Clayton, who was attached to the project around seven years before Polanski made it. According to Clayton's biographer Neil Sinyard, Clayton originally tried to make the film ca. 1969 for Universal Studios, from a script by Edward Albee, but this version never made it into production after the relationship between Albee and the studio soured. Paramount bought the rights on Clayton's advice in 1971. Clayton returned to the project in the mid-1970s, and a rough draft script by Christopher Hampton was written while Clayton was preparing "The Great Gatsby". By the time Clayton had delivered "Gatsby" to Paramount in March 1974, he had learned from Robert Evans that Polanski was interested in the project and wanted to play the lead role. While Clayton was occupied preparing foreign language versions of "Gatsby" for the European market, Paramount studio head Barry Diller began negotiations with Polanski. Although Clayton later insisted that he was never specifically asked if he was still interested, and never said "no" to it, Diller wrongly assumed that Clayton had lost interest and transferred the project to Polanski, without asking Clayton. When he found out, Clayton called Diller in September 1974, expressing his dismay that Diller had given another director a film which (Clayton insisted) had been specifically purchased by the studio for him, and for doing so without consultation.


title: The Tenant

text: While the main character is clearly paranoid to some extent, the film does not entirely reveal whether everything takes place in his head or if the strange events happening around him exist at least partially, contrary to the previous entries in Polanski's "apartment trilogy."


title: The Tenant

text: In his review of the film for "The Regrettable Moment of Sincerity", Adam Lippe writes: "Many would attest that "The Pianist" is Polanski's most personal work, given the obvious Holocaust subject matter, but look beneath the surface, and when the window curtains are drawn aside, Polanski's "The Tenant" shines brightest as the work closest to his being."


title: The Tenant

text: Like the other two films in Polanski's Apartment Trilogy, "The Tenant" blurs the line between psychological thriller and horror. It garnered critical comparisons to both its contemporaries "Don't Look Now" (1973) by Nicolas Roeg and Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" (1980). Given its production design, photography, and the bizarre scenario of a group of neighbors that appear to be preying on a new tenant's life and conspiring against him for that purpose, it has also been compared to the black comedy film "Delicatessen" (1991). The narrative seems to suggest a house as the malevolent source to the sinister deeds of its inhabitants, and is set in a post-apocalyptic future where all animals have died and the people of a remote decaying house resort to eating each of the house's successive new janitors.


title: The Tenant

text: Many critics have noted "The Tenant"s strong Kafkaesque theme, typified by an atmosphere that is absurdly over-burdened with anxiety, confusion, guilt, bleak humour, alienation, sexual frustration and paranoia. However, the film cannot be viewed as purely driven by a Kafkaesque motif because of the numerous references to Trelkovsky's delirium and heavy drinking. This allows for more than one interpretation.


title: The Tenant

text: Most of the action occurs within a claustrophobic environment where dark, ominous things occur without reason or explanation to a seemingly shy protagonist, whose perceived failings as a tenant are ruthlessly pursued by what Trelkovsky himself views as an increasingly cabalistic conspiracy. Minor infringements are treated as serious breaches of his tenancy agreement, and this apparent persecution escalates after he refuses to join his neighbours in a prejudiced campaign to oust a mother with a disabled child.


title: The Tenant

text: "The scheming plots over matters of extraordinary pettiness and inexplicable conspiracies that go on among the neighbours to gang up on others make "The Tenant" probably the first Kafkaesque horror film."


title: The Tenant

text: "Much effect is derived from the absurdity of the scenario where all Trelkovsky wants to do is not bother anyone, yet everything Trelkovsky does is seen as an imposition."


title: The Tenant

text: Critics have speculated that the film's Kafkaesque atmosphere must be in part a reflection of Polanski's own Jewish experiences within a predominantly anti-Semitic environment. Trelkovsky is viewed with suspicion by almost every other character simply because he has a foreign name. For example, when he tries to report a robbery to the French police he is treated sceptically and told that as a foreigner he should not make trouble. Both the director and the protagonist are outsiders who strive ineffectually for acceptance in what they see as a corrupt and mysterious world.


title: The Tenant

text: Vincent Canby wrote in "The New York Times": "Trelkovsky exists. He inhabits his own body, but it's as if he had no lease on it, as if at any moment he could be dispossessed for having listened to the radio in his head after 10 P.M. People are always knocking on his walls."


title: The Tenant

text: "The Tenant" has been referred to as a precursor to Kubrick's "The Shining" (1980), as another film where the lines between reality, madness, and the supernatural become increasingly blurry (the question usually asked with "The Shining" is "Ghosts or cabin fever?") as the protagonist finds himself doomed to cyclically repeat another person's nightmarish fall. Just like in "The Shining", the audience is slowly brought to accept the supernatural by what at first seems a slow descent into madness, or vice versa: "The audience's predilection to accept a proto-supernatural explanation "[...]" becomes so pronounced that at Trelkovsky's break with sanity the viewer is encouraged to take a straightforward hallucination for a supernatural act."


title: The Tenant

text: In his book "Polanski and Perception", Davide Caputo has called the fact that in the end, Trelkovsky defenestrates himself not once, but twice "a cruel reminder of the film's 'infinite loop'" of Trelkovsky becoming Mlle Choule meeting Trelkovsky shortly before dying in the hospital, a loop not unlike "The Shining"'s explanation that Jack Torrance "has always been the Overlook's caretaker". Timothy Brayton of "Antagony & Ecstasy" likens this eternally looping cycle of "The Tenant" to the film's recurring Egyptian motifs:


title: The Tenant

text: Steve Biodrowski of "Cinefantastique" writes: "THE TENANT is short on typical horror movie action: there are no monsters, and there is little in the way of traditional suspense. That's because the film is not operating on the kind of fear that most horror films exploit: fear of death. Instead, THE TENANT's focus is on an equally disturbing fear: loss of identity." In his review of the film for "The Regrettable Moment of Sincerity", Adam Lippe writes of Trelkovsky's surroundings sinisterly shaping him into an echo of the past: "Coming from a Nazi-occupied childhood, Polanski no doubt uses his character's identity crisis to illustrate society's ability to shape and mold the uniqueness of its members, whether they like it or not." Similarly, Dan Jardine of "Apollo Guide" writes: "Polanski seems to be studying how people, in our isolating world, increasingly mould themselves to their environment, sometimes to the point where their individual identity is absorbed into the world around them. The longer he is in the building, the more Trelkovsky begins to lose sight of where his internal sense of his 'self' ends, and his social identity begins."


title: The Tenant

text: Because of how little we get to know of Trelkovsky's life prior to his applying for the apartment and moving in, only to become an echo of former tenant Mademoiselle Choule because of his frail, almost inexistent personality's weak resistance to either her ghost or his bullying neighbors as if he has always been Mademoiselle Choule and always will be, the film has also been referred to as an early precursor to "Fight Club" (1999), a film where the final twist reveals it to be about a case of split personality.


title: The Tenant

text: A recurring theme with Polanski's films, but especially pronounced in "The Tenant", is that of the protagonist as a silent, isolated observer in hiding. As Brogan Morris writes in "Flickering Myth": "One of Roman Polanski's recurring motifs has always been the horror of the apartment space. It was as recently as his last film, "Carnage", and in a crucial sequence of his masterful "The Pianist": it's from an apartment window which Szpilman can do nothing but watch atrocities unfold outside. The fascination is there most obviously, though, in Polanski's 'Apartment Trilogy' "[...]". And "The Tenant", a blackly comedic meta-horror, is perhaps Polanski's ultimate use of the apartment as a claustrophobic, paranoid zone of terror."


title: The Tenant

text: Related to the aforementioned Kafkaesque guilt and the theme of identity loss, another theme that appears throughout the film is that of sexual deviance and Trelkovsky's increasing trespassing of traditional gender roles, as he more and more turns into an echo of former tenant Mademoiselle Choule. German reviewer Andreas Staben writes: "And again, "[Polanski]" tells of sexual repression, and in Polanski's astounding, unpretentious performance, Trelkovsky's escape into the identity of Simone Choule appears as a consequential closure of all three films "[of the Apartment Trilogy]". Other than was maybe the case still with "Repulsion", there can be no talk whatsoever of a psycho-pathological case study anymore: Here, the individual is entirely wiped out and all that remains is the horror of facing a pure void."


title: The Tenant

text: "The Tenant" was poorly received on its release, with Roger Ebert declaring it "not merely bad -- it's an embarrassment." Gene Siskel likewise called it a "psychological thriller without the thrills" and criticized the characters for lacking motivation. Since then the film has become a cult favorite. The film holds an 83% certified "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes with 35 reviews and an average score of 7.8/10.


title: Paul Washer

text: Paul David Washer (born September 11, 1961) is an American Protestant Christian evangelist with a Calvinist theology affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.


title: Paul Washer

text: Washer reports converting to Christianity while studying at the University of Texas at Austin to become an oil and gas lawyer. He moved to Peru and served there as a missionary for 10 years. In 1988, while in Peru, Washer founded the HeartCry Missionary Society to support indigenous missionaries witnessing to people of their own cultures. As of 2017, the organization supported 238 missionary families in 41 countries.


title: Paul Washer

text: Washer later returned to the United States, and has resided in Radford, Virginia, since 2010, where he continues as the missions director of HeartCry.


title: Paul Washer

text: Washer is sometimes identified as part of the New Calvinism movement, although he has expressed concerns with this movement.


title: Paul Washer

text: In 2002, Washer preached a "shocking youth message" in which he suggested that most of his "Christian" audience could end up in hell. As of 2021, the YouTube video of the talk has received more than 3 million views. Washer appeared in the 2018 documentary "American Gospel: Christ Alone", in which he said "In other religions, you get to heaven by being good, by earning it..."


title: Zakopane

text: Zakopane (Podhale Goral: "Zokopane") is a town in the extreme south of Poland, in the southern part of the Podhale region at the foot of the Tatra Mountains. From 1975 to 1998, it was part of Nowy Sącz Voivodeship; since 1999, it has been part of Lesser Poland Voivodeship. its population was 27,266. Zakopane is a centre of Goral culture and is often referred to as "the winter capital of Poland". It is a popular destination for mountaineering, skiing, and tourism.


title: Zakopane

text: Zakopane lies near Poland's border with Slovakia, in a valley between the Tatra Mountains and Gubałówka Hill. It can be reached by train or bus from the provincial capital, Kraków, about two hours away. Zakopane lies 800–1,000 metres above sea level and centres on the intersection of its Krupówki and Kościuszko Streets.


title: Zakopane

text: The earliest documents mentioning Zakopane date to the 17th century, describing a glade called "Zakopisko". In 1676, it was a village of 43 inhabitants. In 1818, Zakopane was a small town that was still being developed. There were only 340 homes that held 445 families. The population of Zakopane at that time was 1,805: 934 women and 871 men. The first church was built in 1847, by Józef Stolarczyk.


title: Zakopane

text: Zakopane became a center for the region's mining and metallurgy industries; by the 19th century, it was the largest center for metallurgy in the region of Galicia. It expanded during the 19th century as the climate attracted more inhabitants. By 1889, it had developed from a small village into a climatic health resort. Rail services to Zakopane began on October 1, 1899. In the late 1800s, Zakopane constructed a road that went to the town of Nowy Targ and had railways that came from Chabówka. Because of easier transportation, the population of Zakopane had increased to about 3,000 people by the end of the 1800s. In the 19th century, Krupówki Street was just a narrow beaten path that was meant for people to get from the central part of town to the village of Kuźnice.


title: Zakopane

text: Because of Zakopane's popular ski mountains, the town gained popularity which made the number of tourists increase to about 60,000 people by 1930.


title: Zakopane

text: During the joint German-Soviet invasion of Poland, which started World War II in September 1939, the town was invaded by Germany, and the "Einsatzgruppe I" entered the town on September 4, 1939, to commit various crimes against Poles. In March 1940, representatives of the Soviet NKVD and the Nazi Gestapo met for one week in Zakopane's Villa Tadeusz, to coordinate the pacification of resistance in Poland. Throughout World War II, Zakopane served as an underground staging point between Poland and Hungary.


title: Zakopane

text: From 1942 to 1943, 1,000 prisoners from the German Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp were set to work in a stone quarry. In 1944, during the Warsaw Uprising, the Germans deported thousands of Varsovians from the Dulag 121 camp in Pruszków, where they were initially imprisoned, to Zakopane. Those Poles were mainly old people, ill people and women with children. In mid-October 1944, there were 3,800 registered Poles, who were expelled from Warsaw, and probably another 3,800 unregistered expellees. In January 1945, the Germans retreated from Zakopane and the German occupation ended.


title: Zakopane

text: Zakopane has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification: "Dfb"), with the main factor behind its relative coldness compared to the rest of Poland is its altitude. In general, the temperature tends to fall with altitude, therefore Zakopane is almost colder than northern Kraków, which is more than lower than Zakopane. With higher altitudes, the climate gets even colder, therefore, on the top of Kasprowy Wierch ( above sea level), the climate is tundra-like (Köppen: "ET"). The tree line is located at about above sea level in the Tatra Mountains.


title: Zakopane

text: Winters are typically frosty but are relatively sunny for Poland - in fact, Zakopane receives among the most sun in winter in the country. Snow is normally abundant, particularly in the higher altitudes, which makes Zakopane among the most popular ski resorts in Poland. Summers are cool to warm but rarely get hot.


title: Zakopane

text: The defining feature of the local climate is the location on the northern slope of the Tatra mountains. Zakopane receives significantly more precipitation than cities on the lowlands to the north of the Carpathians, and just like in the mountains in general, there might be sudden weather changes from sunny to rainy, and vice versa. Occasionally, a very warm foehn wind locally known as halny may dramatically increase the temperatures, sometimes beyond in winter.


title: Zakopane

text: The Zakopane Style of Architecture is an architectural mode inspired by the regional art of Poland's highland region known as Podhale. Drawing on the motifs and traditions in the buildings of the Carpathian Mountains, the style was pioneered by Stanislaw Witkiewicz and is now considered a core tradition of the Goral people.


title: Zakopane

text: There is a network of well-marked hiking trails in the Tatras and according to the national park regulations the hikers must stick to them. Most of these trails are overcrowded, especially in the summer season.


title: Zakopane

text: In summer, lightning and snow are both potential hazards for climbers, and the weather can change quickly. Thunderstorms are common in the afternoons. In winter the snow can be up to several meters deep.


title: Zakopane

text: In the winter, thousands arrive in Zakopane to ski, especially around Christmas and in February. The most popular skiing areas are Kasprowy Wierch and Gubałówka. There are a number of cross country skiing trails in the forests surrounding the town.


title: Zakopane

text: Zakopane hosted the Nordic World Ski Championships in 1929, 1939, and 1962; the winter Universiades in 1956, 1993, and 2001; the biathlon World Championship; several ski jumping world cups; and several Nordic combined, Nordic and Alpine European Cups. It hosted the Alpine World Ski Championships in 1939, the first outside the Alps and the last official world championships prior to World War II.


title: Zakopane

text: Zakopane made unsuccessful bids to host the 2006 Winter Olympics and the 2011 and 2013 Alpine World Ski Championships.


title: Zakopane

text: Zakopane is visited by over 2,500,000 tourists a year. In the winter, Zakopane's tourists are interested in winter sports activities such as skiing, snowboarding, ski jumping, snowmobiling, sleigh rides, snowshoe walks, and Ice skating. During the summer, Tourists come to do activities like hiking, climbing, bike and horse ride the Tatras mountain, there are many trails in the Tatras. Tourists ride quads and dirt bikes that you can rent. Swimming and boat rides on the Dunajec river are popular. Many come to experience Goral culture, which is rich in its unique styles of food, speech, architecture, music, and costume. Zakopane is especially popular during the winter holidays, which are celebrated in traditional style, with dances, decorated horse-pulled sleighs called kuligs and roast lamb.


title: Zakopane

text: Popular tourist activity is taking a stroll through the town's most popular street: Krupówki. It is lined with stores, restaurants, carnival rides, and performers.


title: Zakopane

text: During the winter and summer seasons, Krupówki Street is crowded with tourists visiting the shops and restaurants. In the summer, a local market along Krupówki Street offers traditional Goral apparel, leather jackets, fur coats, shoes, and purses. Venders also sell foods like the famous "oscypek" smoked sheep cheese, fruit, vegetables, and meats. There are also many stands with Zakopane souvenirs.


title: Zakopane

text: Zakopane is popular for its nightlife. At night there are always people walking around town checking out the different bars and dance clubs. Most of these bars and dance clubs are located on Krupowki street. These are the bars that are located in Zakopane: Paparazzi, Cafe Piano, Anemone, Anemone, Cafe Antrakt, Literatka, Winoteka Pod Berlami, and Karczma u Ratownikow. These are dance clubs located in Zakopane: Vavaboom, Finlandia Arctic, Genesis, Rockus, Morskie Oko, and Cocomo Go-Go Club.


title: Zakopane

text: A scene in Andrzej Wajda's film "Man of Marble" ("Człowiek z marmuru") was filmed in Zakopane, introducing the town to a worldwide audience.


title: Frantic (film)

text: Frantic is a 1988 American-French neo-noir mystery thriller film directed by Roman Polanski and starring Harrison Ford and Emmanuelle Seigner. The film score is by Ennio Morricone.


title: Frantic (film)

text: Dr. Richard Walker (Harrison Ford) is a surgeon visiting Paris with his wife Sondra (Betty Buckley) for a medical conference. At their hotel, she is unable to unlock her suitcase, and Walker determines that she picked up the wrong one at the airport. While Walker is taking a shower, Sondra receives a phone call that Walker can't hear and she mysteriously disappears from their hotel room.


title: Frantic (film)

text: Still jet-lagged, Walker searches for his wife in the hotel with the help of a polite but mostly indifferent staff and then wanders outside to look for her himself. A wino overhears him in a café and says he saw Sondra being forced into a car in a nearby alley. Walker is skeptical, until he finds his wife's ID bracelet on the cobblestones. He contacts the Paris police and the U.S. Embassy, but their responses are bureaucratic, and there is little hope anyone will bother looking for her. As Walker carries on the search himself he stumbles onto a murder site where he encounters the streetwise young Michelle, who mistook Sondra's suitcase for her own at the airport. He realises that Michelle is a career drug smuggler, but does not care or know for which shady dealers she is hired. Michelle reluctantly helps Walker in his attempt to learn what was packed in her switched suitcase, and how to trade the contents for the return of his kidnapped wife.


title: Frantic (film)

text: Following their visit to Michelle's apartment, Walker's hotel room and shabby cabarets, it turns out that the smuggled contents are not drugs, but a krytron, an electronic switch used as a detonator for nuclear weapons, stolen and smuggled inside a souvenir replica of the Statue of Liberty, on orders of some Arab country's agents. The American embassy, working with Israeli agents, wants to get hold of the precious device, and they have no problem letting Sondra die for it. In order to save his wife, Walker joins forces with Michelle, who is only interested in getting her paycheck.


title: Frantic (film)

text: The film ends with a confrontation on the Île aux Cygnes, in the middle of the Seine, next to the Paris Statue of Liberty replica there, where Sondra is to be released in exchange for the krytron. However, a gunfight ensues between the Arab agents who were to get the precious device, and the Israeli Mossad secret agents who traced them to get hold of it. The Arabs are killed in the crossfire but Michelle is hit too, dying soon after having slipped the krytron into Walker's pocket, with Sondra at their side. Furious, Walker shows the krytron device to the Israeli agents, just to throw it into the Seine. He carries Michelle's body away, ready to leave Paris with his wife.


title: Frantic (film)

text: Filming took place on location in Paris with exteriors filmed outside Le Grand Hotel in rue Scribe in the 9th arrondissement. The hotel's lobby also appeared in the film.


title: Frantic (film)

text: "Frantic" was released in the UK on 16 February 1988, with a release of 26 February in the US and a 30 March release in France. Also was released on DVD Juny 01, 2004 in Region 1.


title: Frantic (film)

text: The film was a disappointment at the box office with a domestic gross of $17,637,950, failing to recoup its production budget. However, the film was more successful in other countries such as France where it received 1,293,721 admissions.


title: Frantic (film)

text: Although a commercial failure in the US, "Frantic" was a critical success. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 76% of critics gave positive reviews based on a sample of 42 reviews with an average rating of 6.4/10. Metacritic calculated an average score of 66 out of 100 based on 16 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B-" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Frantic (film)

text: The film received "two thumbs up" from Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert on their television programme "Siskel & Ebert and The Movies". Pat Collins of WWOR-TV called it "Polanski's best film ever". Desson Howe, of "The Washington Post", called the movie "vintage Polanski", with its relentless paranoia, irony, diffident strangers and nutty cameos. British film magazine "Empire" rated the movie three out five, calling it Polanski's most satisfying film since "Chinatown", and one of the best traditional thrillers to come down the pike in quite some time. Roger Ebert, in his review, gave the movie three stars, saying: "to watch the opening sequences of "Frantic" is to be reminded of Polanski's talent. Here is one of the few modern masters of the thriller and the film noir. "Frantic" is a reminder of how absorbing a good thriller can be."


title: Marvin's Room (film)

text: Marvin's Room is a 1996 American drama film directed by Jerry Zaks. The script was written by John Guare and based on the play of the same name by Scott McPherson, who died in 1992. McPherson had completed a screenplay for a film version before he died; however Guare was hired to update it when the film eventually started production years later.


title: Marvin's Room (film)

text: It stars Meryl Streep, Leonardo DiCaprio, Diane Keaton, Robert De Niro, Hume Cronyn, Gwen Verdon, Hal Scardino and Dan Hedaya. Original music for the film was composed by Rachel Portman. Carly Simon wrote and performed the theme song "Two Little Sisters", with Meryl Streep adding background vocals.


title: Marvin's Room (film)

text: Marvin, a man who had a stroke 20 years ago, is left incapacitated and bed-ridden. He has been cared for by his daughter Bessie in their Florida home, and ignored by his other daughter, Lee, who moved to Ohio with her husband 20 years ago and has never contacted her family.


title: Marvin's Room (film)

text: Now, however, Bessie's doctor has informed her that she has leukemia (the same disease her and Lee's mother died from in their youth) and needs a bone marrow transplant and she turns to her sister for help. Lee, in turn, turns to her 10-year-old son Charlie and 17-year-old teenage son Hank, the latter of whom has been committed to a mental institution for setting fire to his mother's house. However, the rebellious Hank says he won't submit himself to be tested for a match.


title: Marvin's Room (film)

text: Nevertheless, they all travel down to stay with Bessie. When Lee finds that she may have to take over her father's care, she at first begins shopping around for nursing homes, fearing that she'll have to uproot her life. Eventually, however, the estranged family grows close and Hank agrees to get tested.


title: Marvin's Room (film)

text: As Bessie progressively seems to get worse, and testing shows the boys are not a match as bone marrow donors, Lee comes to terms that it is now her turn to take care of her family. The film closes on Lee familiarizing herself with her father's medication, as she walks into his room with his lunch, overlooking Bessie flashing sunlight off the mirror that makes Marvin smile.


title: Marvin's Room (film)

text: The film holds an 84% approval rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes based on 50 reviews and an average rating of 6.7/10. The website's critical consensus reads, ""Marvin's Room" rises above the pack of dysfunctional family dramas thanks to an impeccable cast that includes Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton, and Leonardo DiCaprio." Metacritic gave the film a score of 68 out of 100 based on 20 critical reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Mia McKenna-Bruce

text: Mia Sasha McKenna-Bruce (born 3 July 1997) is an English actress. She gained prominence through her role as Tee Taylor in "Tracy Beaker Returns" (2010–2012) and "The Dumping Ground" (2013–2018). She has since appeared in the iPlayer series "Get Even" (2020) and the Netflix film "Persuasion" (2022).


title: Mia McKenna-Bruce

text: McKenna-Bruce was born on 3 July 1997 in London and was raised in Chislehurst, Bromley. McKenna-Bruce took dance classes at Liz Burville Performing Arts Centre in Bexley and was a student at Belcanto London Academy. McKenna-Bruce also attended the Sapphire Dance Academy in Bexleyheath, as well as the Maidstone Grammar School for Girls. McKenna-Bruce has two sisters, Anya and Ellis.


title: Mia McKenna-Bruce

text: McKenna-Bruce's first role was a ballet girl in the West End production of Billy Elliot. Her first TV role was the minor role of Ester in the TV short, "Small Dark Places". She then starred in "Holby City" as Abi Taylor for one episode. McKenna-Bruce then appeared in "EastEnders" as Penny Branning. She had a two episode guest in January 2008 and then another three episode guest stint in April 2008. McKenna-Bruce next starred in "The Bill" in 2009 as Keira Curtis for one episode. She then moved on to "Doctors" for three episodes.


title: Mia McKenna-Bruce

text: Later in 2009, McKenna-Bruce starred in her first film role, "The Fourth Kind", playing Ashley Tyler. Her next role was as main character Tee Taylor in Tracy Beaker Returns from 2010 to 2012. In 2011, McKenna-Bruce appeared in the TV series Spy for 1 episode and in 5 episodes of The Tracy Beaker Survival Guide. McKenna-Bruce reprised the role of Tee Taylor from 2013 until 2016 (and again as a guest in 2017 and 2018) in the spin-off series "The Dumping Ground". McKenna-Bruce played Tee Taylor in a "The Dumping Ground" spin-off, "", a webisode series. She guest starred in another episode of "Holby City" as Asia Lucas, as well as guest starring in BBC Three's "Josh". McKenna-Bruce was cast as the lead in a feature film, "The Rebels". In 2020, she began portraying the role of Bree Deringer on the iPlayer teen thriller series "Get Even". In 2021, she appeared in an episode of "Vera", later being cast in the Netflix film "Persuasion". In August of that same year, the actress was cast as Mia Karp in the PeacockTV fantasy series Vampire Academy, based on the best-selling book series by Richelle Mead.


title: Assur

text: Aššur (; Sumerian: AN.ŠAR, Assyrian cuneiform: "Aš-šur", "City of God Aššur"; "Āšūr"; Old Persian "Aθur", : "Āšūr"; , ', ), also known as Ashur and Qal'at Sherqat, was the capital of the Old Assyrian city-state (2025–1364 BC), the Middle Assyrian Empire (1363–912 BC), and for a time, of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911–609 BC). The remains of the city lie on the western bank of the Tigris River, north of the confluence with its tributary, the Little Zab, in what is now Iraq, more precisely in the al-Shirqat District of the Saladin Governorate.


title: Assur

text: Occupation of the city itself continued for approximately 4,000 years, from the Early Dynastic Period to the mid-14th century AD, when the forces of Timur massacred its predominately Christian population. The site is a World Heritage Site, having been added to that organisation's list of sites in danger in 2003 following the conflict that erupted following the US-led 2003 invasion of Iraq and as a result of a proposed dam which would flood some of the site. Assur lies south of the site of Nimrud and 100 km (60 mi) south of Nineveh.


title: Assur

text: Exploration of the site of Assur began in 1898 by German archaeologists. Excavations began in 1900 by Friedrich Delitzsch, and were continued in 1903–1913 by a team from the Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft led initially by Robert Koldewey and later by Walter Andrae. More than 16,000 clay tablets with cuneiform texts were discovered. The German archeologists brought objects they found to Berlin enhancing the collection of the Pergamon Museum.


title: Assur

text: More recently, Ashur was excavated by B. Hrouda for the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and the Bavarian Ministry of Culture in 1990. During the same period, in 1988 and 1989, the site was being worked by R. Dittmann on behalf of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.


title: Assur

text: "" is the name of the city, of the land ruled by the city, and of its tutelary deity from which the natives took their name, as did the entire nation of Assyria which encompassed what is today northern Iraq, north east Syria and south east Turkey. Today the Assyrians are still found throughout the Middle East, particularly in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Turkey, and the Diaspora in the western world. Assur is also the origin of the names Syria and terms for Syriac Christians, these being originally Indo-European derivations of Assyria, and for many centuries applying only to Assyria and the Assyrians (see Etymology of Syria) before also being applied to the Levant and its inhabitants by the Seleucid Empire in the 3rd century BC.


title: Assur

text: According to The Oxford Companion to the Bible, Assur was "built on a sandstone cliff on the west of the Tigris about 35 kilometers north of its confluence with the lower Zab River". Archaeology reveals the site of the city was occupied by the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. This was still the Sumerian period, before Assyria emerged. The oldest remains of the city were discovered in the foundations of the Ishtar temple, as well as at the Old Palace. In the subsequent period, the city was ruled by kings from the Akkadian Empire. During the Third Dynasty of Ur, the city was ruled by Assyrian governors subject to the Sumerians.


title: Assur

text: By the time the Neo-Sumerian Ur-III dynasty collapsed at the hands of the Elamites around the end of the 21st century BC according to the Middle Chronology and mid-20th century according to the Short Chronology following increasing raids by Gutians and Amorites. The native Akkadian-speaking Assyrian kings were now free while Sumer fell under the yoke of the Amorites. The historically unverified king Ushpia is credited with dedicating the first temple of the god Ashur in his home city, although this comes from a later inscription from Shalmaneser I in the 13th century. In around 2000 BC, Puzur-Ashur I founded a new dynasty, with his successors such as Ilushuma, Erishum I and Sargon I leaving inscriptions regarding the building of temples to Ashur, Adad and Ishtar in the city. Prosperity and independence produced the first significant fortifications in this period. As the region enjoyed relative peace and stability, trade between Mesopotamia and Anatolia increased, and the city of Ashur greatly benefited from its strategic location. Merchants would dispatch their merchandise via caravan into Anatolia and trade primarily at Assyrian colonies in Anatolia, the primary one being at Karum Kanesh (Kültepe).


title: Assur

text: With Shamshi-Adad I's (1813–1781 BC) capital at Assur, he magnified the city's power and influence beyond the Tigris river valley, establishing what some regard as the first Assyrian Empire. In this era, the Great Royal Palace was built, and the temple of Assur was expanded and enlarged with a ziggurat. However, this empire met its end when Hammurabi, the Amorite king of Babylon conquered and incorporated the city into his short lived empire following the death of Ishme-Dagan I around 1756 BC, while the next three Assyrian kings were viewed as vassals. Not long after, the native king Adasi expelled the Babylonians and Amorites from Assur and Assyria as a whole around 1720 BC, although little is known of his successors. Evidence of further building activity is known from a few centuries later, during the reign of a native king Puzur-Ashur III, when the city was refortified and the southern districts incorporated into the main city defenses. Temples to the moon god Sin (Nanna) and the sun god Shamash were built and dedicated through the 15th century BC. The city was subsequently subjugated by the king of Mitanni, Shaushtatar in the late 15th century, taking the gold and silver doors of the temple to his capital, Washukanni, as spoils.


title: Assur

text: Ashur-uballit I emulated his ancestor Adasi and overthrew the Mitanni empire in 1365 BC. The Assyrians reaped the benefits of this triumph by taking control of the eastern portion of the Mitanni Empire, and later also annexing Hittite, Babylonian, Amorite and Hurrian territory. The following centuries witnessed the restoration of the old temples and palaces of Assur, and the city once more became the throne of a magnanimous empire from 1365 BC to 1076 BC. Tukulti-Ninurta I (1244–1208 BC) also constructed a new temple to the goddess Ishtar. The Anu-Adad temple was established later during the reign of Tiglath-Pileser I (1115–1075 BC). The walled area of the city in the Middle Assyrian period made up some .


title: Assur

text: In the Neo-Assyrian Empire (912–605 BC), the royal residence was transferred to other Assyrian cities. Ashur-nasir-pal II (884–859 BC) moved the capital from Assur to Kalhu (Calah/Nimrud) following a series of successful campaigns and produced some of the greatest artworks in the form of colossal lamassu statues and low-relief depictions of the royal court as well as battles. With the reign of Sargon II (722–705 BC), a new capital began to rise. Dur-Sharrukin (Fortress of Sargon) on a scale set to surpass that of Ashurnasirpal's. However, he died in battle and his son and successor Sennacherib (705–682 BC) abandoned the city, choosing to magnify Nineveh as his royal capital. However, the city of Ashur remained the religious center of the empire and continued to be revered as the holy crown of the empire, due to its temple of the national god Ashur. In the reign of Sennacherib (705–682 BC), the House of the New Year, "Akitu", was built, and the festivities celebrated in the city. Many of the kings were also buried beneath the Old Palace while some queens were buried in the other capitals such as the wife of Sargon, Ataliya. The city was sacked and largely destroyed during the decisive battle of Assur, a major confrontation between the Assyrian and Median armies.


title: Assur

text: After the Medes were overthrown by the Persians as the dominant force in ancient Iran, Assyria was ruled by the Persian Achaemenid Empire (as Athura) from 549 BC to 330 BC (see Achaemenid Assyria). The Assyrians of Mada (Media) and Athura (Assyria) had been responsible for gold and glazing works of the palace and for providing Lebanese cedar timber, respectively. The city and region of Ashur had once more gained a degree of militaristic and economic strength. Along with the Assyrians in Mada, a revolt took place in 520 BC but ultimately failed. Assyria seems to have recovered dramatically, and flourished during this period. It became a major agricultural and administrative centre of the Achaemenid Empire, and its soldiers were a mainstay of the Persian Army.


title: Assur

text: The city revived during the Parthian Empire period, particularly between 150 BC and 270 AD, being resettled and becoming an administrative centre of Parthian-ruled Assuristan. Assyriologists Simo Parpola and Patricia Crone suggest Assur may have had outright independence in this period. New administrative buildings were erected to the north of the old city, and a palace to the south. The old temple dedicated to the national god of the Assyrians Assur (Ashur) was rebuilt, as were temples to other Assyrian gods.


title: Assur

text: Assyrian Eastern Aramaic inscriptions from the remains of Ashur have yielded insight into the Parthian-era city with Assyria having its own Aramaic Syriac script, which was the same in terms of grammar and syntax as that found at Edessa and elsewhere in the state of Osroene.


title: Assur

text: German semiticist Klaus Beyer (1929-2014) published over 600 inscriptions from Mesopotamian towns and cities including Ashur, Dura-Europos, Hatra, Gaddala, Tikrit and Tur Abdin. Given that Christianity had begun to spread amongst the Assyrians throughout the Parthian era, the original Assyrian culture and religion persisted for some time, as proven by the inscriptions that include invocations to the gods Ashur, Nergal, Nanna, Ishtar and Shamash, as well as mentions of citizens having compound names that refer to Assyrian gods, such as ʾAssur-ḥēl (Ashur [is] my strength), ʾAssur-emar (Ashur decreed/commanded), ʾAssur-ntan (Ashur gave [a son]), and ʾAssur-šma' (Ashur has heard; cf. Esarhaddon).


title: Assur

text: The Roman historian Festus wrote in about 370 that in AD 116 Trajan formed from his conquests east of the Euphrates the new Roman provinces of Mesopotamia and Assyria. The existence of the latter Roman province is questioned by C.S. Lightfoot and F. Miller. In any case, just two years after the province's supposed creation, Trajan's successor Hadrian restored Trajan's eastern conquests to the Parthians, preferring to live with him in peace and friendship.


title: Assur

text: There were later Roman incursions into Mesopotamia under Lucius Verus and under Septimius Severus, who set up the Roman provinces of Mesopotamia and Osroene.


title: Assur

text: Assur was captured and sacked by Ardashir I of the Sasanian Empire 240 AD, whereafter the city was destroyed and its population was dispersed.


title: Assur

text: The site was put on UNESCO's List of World Heritage in danger in 2003, at which time the site was threatened by a looming large-scale dam project that would have submerged the ancient archaeological site. The dam project was put on hold shortly after the 2003 invasion of Iraq.


title: Assur

text: The territory around the ancient site was occupied by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in 2015. Since ISIL had destroyed a number of ancient historical sites, including the cities of Hatra, Khorsabad, and Nimrud, fears rose that Assur would be destroyed too. According to some sources, the citadel of Assur was destroyed or badly damaged in May 2015 by members of IS using improvised explosive devices. An AP report from December 2016 after the Iraqi forces had retaken the area, said that the militants tried to destroy the city's grand entrance arches, but they remained standing and a local historian described the damage as "minor".


title: Assur

text: As of February 2017, the group no longer controls the site; however, it is not secure enough for archaeological experts to evaluate.


title: Tom Horn

text: Thomas Horn Jr., (November 21, 1860 – November 20, 1903) was an American scout, cowboy, soldier, range detective, and Pinkerton agent in the 19th-century and early 20th-century American Old West. Believed to have committed 17 killings as a hired gunman throughout the West, Horn was convicted in 1902 of the murder of 14-year-old Willie Nickell near Iron Mountain, Wyoming. Willie was the son of sheep rancher Kels Nickell, who had been involved in a range feud with neighbor and cattle rancher Jim Miller. On the day before his 43rd birthday, Horn was executed by hanging in Cheyenne, Wyoming.


title: Tom Horn

text: While in jail, he wrote his autobiography, "Life of Tom Horn: Government Scout and Interpreter", which was published posthumously in 1904. Numerous editions have been published in the late 20th century. Horn has since become a larger-than-life figure of western folklore, and debate continues as to whether he was actually guilty of Nickell's murder.


title: Tom Horn

text: Thomas Horn Jr., known as "Tom", was born in 1860 to Thomas S. Horn Sr. and Mary Ann Maricha (née Miller) on their family farm in rural northeastern Scotland County, Missouri. The family owned 600 acres bisected by the South Wyaconda River between the towns of Granger and Etna. Tom was the fifth of 12 children. During his childhood, the young Tom suffered physical abuse from his father, and his only companion as a child was a dog named Shedrick. The dog was tragically killed when the young Tom got into a fight with two boys, who beat Tom and killed the dog with a shotgun.


title: Tom Horn

text: At 16, Horn headed to the American Southwest, where he was hired by the U.S. Cavalry as a civilian scout, packer, and interpreter under Al Sieber during the Apache Wars. Horn did a great job in his work for the army and soon rose through the ranks. In one instance, as the army was crossing Cibecue Creek, they were ambushed by Apache warriors positioned on high ground. The officer in charge of their squad, Captain Edmund Hentig, was instantly killed, and the men became pinned down under overwhelming fire. Desperate, Sieber ordered Horn and another scout, Mickey Free, to break away and return fire from a hill. Together with the soldiers, the men managed to repel the attack. Horn and Sieber also participated in the Battle of Big Dry Wash and gained recognition when he and Lt. George H. Morgan slipped through the banks opposite the Apache line and provided covering fire for the cavalry killing a number of Apache warriors.


title: Tom Horn

text: Horn was a respected scout by then, known for going out alone in reconnaissance missions and helping track down Geronimo's major stronghold. By November 1885, Tom Horn earned the position of chief of scouts under Captain Emmet Crawford in Fort Bowie. During one operation, Horn's camp was mistakenly attacked by a Mexican militia, and he was wounded in the arm during the shootout, which also resulted in Crawford's death. Finally, on September 4, 1886, Horn was present at Geronimo's final surrender and acted as an interpreter under Charles B. Gatewood.


title: Tom Horn

text: Horn allegedly killed his first man in a duel, a second lieutenant in the Mexican Army, as a result of a dispute over a prostitute.


title: Tom Horn

text: After the war, Horn used what he earned to build his own ranch in his return to Aravaipa Canyon in Arizona. His ranch consisted of 100 cattle and 26 horses, and he also laid claim in the Deer Creek Mining District near the canyon. Unfortunately, it was short-lived, as cattle thieves stormed his ranch one night and stole all his stock, resulting in a tremendous loss and bankruptcy for Horn. This incident marked the start of Horn's hatred and disdain for thieves, which led to his entering the profession of range detective.


title: Tom Horn

text: Horn wandered and took jobs as a prospector, ranch hand, and rodeo contestant, but he is most notorious for being hired by numerous cattle companies as a cowboy and hired gun to watch over their cattle and kill any suspected rustlers. Horn developed his own means to fight thieves: "I would simply take the calf and such things as that stopped the stealing. I had more faith in getting the calf than in courts". If he thought a man were guilty of stealing cattle and had been fairly warned, Horn said that he would shoot the thief and would not feel "one shred of remorse".


title: Tom Horn

text: Horn often gave a warning first to those he suspected of rustling and was said to have been a "tremendous presence" whenever he was in the vicinity. Fergie Mitchell, a rancher on the North Laramie River, described Horn's reputation: "I saw him ride by. He didn't stop, but went straight on up the creek in plain sight of everyone. All he wanted was to be seen, as his reputation was so great that his presence in a community had the desired effect. Within a week, three settlers in the neighborhood sold their holdings and moved out. That was the end of cattle rustling on the North Laramie".


title: Tom Horn

text: Later, Horn took part in the Pleasant Valley War between cattlemen and sheepmen in Arizona. Historians have not established for which side he worked, and both sides suffered several killings for which no known suspects were ever identified. Horn worked on a ranch owned by Robert Bowen, where he became one of the prime suspects in the disappearance of Mart Blevins in 1887. He claimed that throughout the war he was the "mediator" of the conflict, serving as a deputy sheriff under three famous Arizona lawmen: Buckey O'Neill, Perry Owens, and Glenn Reynolds. Horn also participated with Reynolds in the lynching of three suspected rustlers in August 1888. As a deputy sheriff, Horn drew the attention of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency owing to his tracking abilities. Hired by the agency in late 1889 or early 1890, he handled investigations in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, Wyoming, and other western states, working out of the Denver office. He became known for his calm-under-pressure demeanor and his ability to track down anyone assigned to him.


title: Tom Horn

text: In one case, Horn and another agent, C.W. Shores, captured two men who had robbed the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad on August 31, 1890, between Cotopaxi and Texas Creek in Fremont County, Colorado. Horn and Shores tracked and arrested Thomas Eskridge—also known as "Peg-Leg" Watson—and Burt "Red" Curtis without firing a shot. They tracked them all the way to the home of a man named Wolfe, said to be in either Washita or Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, along the Washita River. In his report on that arrest, Horn stated in part, "Watson was considered by everyone in Colorado as a very desperate character. I had no trouble with him".