title: Maidenhead

text: A wooden bridge was erected across the river in about 1280 to replace the ferry in South Ellington. The Great West Road to Reading, Gloucester and Bristol was diverted over the new bridge. Previously, it had kept to the north bank and crossed the Thames by ford at Cookham, and the medieval town, later to become Maidenhead grew up on the site of Alaunodunum and South Ellington, between the new bridge and the bottom of Castle Hill. Within a few years a new wharf was constructed next to the bridge to replace the old Saxon wharf which needed replacing. At this time, the South Ellington name was dropped with the town becoming known as Maidenhythe. The earliest record of this name change is in the Bray Court manorial rolls of 1296.


title: Maidenhead

text: The new bridge and wharf led to the growth of medieval Maidenhead as a river port and market town. The present town was developed as a linear settlement in the 13th century along the newly diverted road with hostelries, a guildhall and a chapel dedicated to St Mary Magdalene was built in the middle of the road. The market was held outside the old guildhall which was set back from the High Street to form the market square. Maidenhead also became the first stopping point for coaches travelling from London to Gloucester and Bath and the town became populated with numerous inns. By the mid 18th century, Maidenhead was one of the busiest coaching towns in England with over ninety coaches a day passing through the town. The late 18th-century Bear Hotel on the High Street is the best of the town's old coaching inns surviving to this day.


title: Maidenhead

text: The current Maidenhead Bridge, a local landmark, dates from 1777 and was built at a cost of £19,000. King Charles I met his children for the last time before his execution in 1649 at the Greyhound Inn on the High Street, the site of which is now a branch of the NatWest Bank. A plaque commemorates their meeting. When the Great Western Railway came to the town, it began to expand. Muddy roads were replaced and public services were installed. The High Street began to change again, and substantial Victorian red brick architecture began to appear throughout the town. Maidenhead became its own entity in 1894, being split from the civil parishes of both Bray and Cookham. Maidenhead Citadel Corps of the Salvation Army was first opened in the town in the mid-1880s. Maidenhead Citadel Band was soon founded in 1886 by Bandmaster William Thomas, who later became mayor of the town. By Edwardian times, nearby Boulter's Lock became a favoured resort, especially on Ascot Sunday, and Skindles Hotel developed a reputation for illicit liaisons.


title: Maidenhead

text: The town is part of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, with an urban population of around 150,000. Currently Cllr Andrew Johnson is the Leader of the Conservative held cabinet. It was previously an independent municipal borough. The town of Maidenhead was formerly part of the Windsor and Maidenhead Parliament constituency, a Conservative safe seat. The Boundary Commission abolished this constituency for the 1997 general election since the electorate had become too large, splitting it into the new seats of Windsor and Maidenhead.


title: Maidenhead

text: Maidenhead has been held by the Conservative Party in every election since its foundation in 1997. Theresa May was elected MP in 1997 and has represented Maidenhead ever since. As MP, she took a series of ministerial positions, and was appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on 13 July 2016. May stood down as Prime Minister on 24 July 2019, but continues to serve as MP for Maidenhead. It is today one of the safest Conservative seats in the country, with the Conservatives having a 35 percentage point lead over the second largest party (Labour) in 2017. The mayor of Windsor & Maidenhead is Councillor Sayonara Luxton (Conservative).


title: Maidenhead

text: The Maidenhead urban area includes urban and suburban regions within the bounds of the town, called Maidenhead Court, North Town, Furze Platt, Pinkneys Green, Highway, Tittle Row, Boyn Hill, Fishery and Bray Wick; as well as adjoining built-up areas in surrounding civil parishes: Cox Green and Altwood in Cox Green parish, Woodlands Park in White Waltham parish, and part of Bray Wick in Bray parish. Bray village is linked to Maidenhead by the exclusive Fishery Estate which lies on the west bank of the Thames.


title: Maidenhead

text: To the east, on the opposite side of the river from Maidenhead, is the large village of Taplow in Buckinghamshire which almost adjoins the suburban village of Burnham, Buckinghamshire, which itself nearly adjoins the urban area of the large, industrial town of Slough. To the north are the Cookhams, Cookham Village, Cookham Rise and Cookham Dean. To the west is the area of Pinkneys Green. These lie south of the Berkshire-Buckinghamshire border, which is formed by the River Thames (which then bends southwards to form the Maidenhead-Taplow border). Adjoining Bray and Bray Wick to the south is the suburban village of Holyport. Continuing by road to the South-East leads to the historic, royal twin towns of Windsor and Eton.


title: Maidenhead

text: Maidenhead was originally the planned western terminus for the Crossrail line (to and through London) until Reading station, situated southwest of Maidenhead, was chosen. Maidenhead lies immediately west of the Taplow ridge; a wooded spur of the Chilterns which rises dramatically above one of the most scenic stretches of the Thames. The ridge is crowned by the spectacular Cliveden House which can be seen from various parts of the town. Maidenhead has a site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in the northern outskirts of the town called Cannoncourt Farm Pit, where the largest hand axe of the paleolithic era in Britain was discovered. The town also has a local nature reserve called The Gullet. On 12 July 1901 Maidenhead entered the UK Weather Records with the "Highest 60-min total" rainfall at . As of July 2015, this record remains.


title: Maidenhead

text: Maidenhead clock tower was built for Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee and is located outside the railway station. Maidenhead Bridge was built in 1777. It takes the A4 over the Thames to join Maidenhead to Taplow. All Saints' Church, Boyne Hill was completed in 1857 is one of the finest examples of the early work of the architect G. E. Street. The site is also regarded by many as the premier architectural site in the town. The church, consecrated on 2 December 1857 by Bishop Samuel Wilberforce, became the first ecclesiastical parish in the Borough of Maidenhead. Ten years later, in 1867, his brother William Wilberforce junior founded a Catholic chapel that led to St Joseph's Church. Boulter's Lock is a lock on the river Thames on the east side of Maidenhead. It adjoins Ray Mill Island. In addition the town has a range of various statues which form part of a recognisable image of the town, including the 'Boy and the Boat' location at the top end of the High Street, near the Methodist Church.


title: Maidenhead

text: Maidenhead has a long history of settlement, going back to the Anglo-Saxon and Roman periods. Despite this, there are no visible architectural remains in the present day town to show this. Although there are attractive residential and green areas in and around Maidenhead, the historic heart of the town has been redeveloped, primarily with office space, high technology company headquarters and apartments, making it one of the key business and commuter towns of the Silicon Corridor. This has happened in piecemeal fashion over the last forty years and unfortunately, Maidenhead town centre has lost most many historic buildings and much of its traditional English market town character. The High Street and Bridge Street areas only possess one heavily restored Medieval building and a handful of Georgian buildings in the Chapel Arches area.


title: Maidenhead

text: Research by the New Economics Foundation rated Maidenhead as an example of a clone town and the town centre is regarded as in need of improvement. In December 2007, the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead set up the Partnership for the Regeneration of Maidenhead (PRoM), which in October 2008 launched a comprehensive 20 Year Vision and Action Plan for rejuvenating the town centre. Launch of the plan coincided with confirmation by central government that Maidenhead will be part of the new Crossrail project. PRoM's plans highlight five key developments which will help shape the town for the future.


title: Maidenhead

text: A large new retail and residential development called 'The Landing' is due for construction shortly. Additionally there will be an upgraded railway station and transport interchange, movement of the leisure centre to Braywick Park, relocating the bowls club and improved links between Kidwells Park and the High Street. There are also plans to demolish the 1960s Nicholsons shopping centre and replace it with a new retail and residential quarter built around a network of revived historic streets and a micro brewery. A new town square featuring shops, restaurants and apartments is currently under construction between the central library and town hall.


title: Maidenhead

text: The Chapel Arches retail and residential development is under construction. Part of the scheme involves restoring the old Thames tributaries which run through a historic section of the town centre. The redevelopment will bring an attractive waterfront quarter with new apartments, boutique stores, restaurants, bars, and cafes are to be a feature this new part of the town centre. The adjoining historic section of the High Street around the 18th century Chapel Arches Bridge has been restored as part of the development. Existing Georgian and Victorian buildings have been rejuvenated, and the adjoining new builds have been sensitively constructed in the same historic style to bring back a sense of history and lost heritage to this part of the town centre. Maidenhead was home to the conference that agreed on the Maidenhead Locator System standard in 1980. It is located in grid square . The average house price in Maidenhead in January 2021 was £540,940.


title: Maidenhead

text: Maidenhead offers High Street shopping facilities including Nicholson's Centre, a shopping centre on the site of Nicholson's brewery. The town also offers an eight-screen Odeon multiplex cinema. The local authority also provides a Shopmobility service, where those with physical disabilities can borrow mobility scooters to navigate around the town. Maidenhead Heritage Centre and Museum was established in 1993 and moved to permanent premises in a former pub in Park Street in 2006.


title: Maidenhead

text: In the Boyne Hill area there is Norden Farm Centre for the Arts (an arts centre including a theatre). Waltham Place Estate on Church Hill includes an ornamental garden integrated within a organic and biodynamic farm estate. It is promoted by the Campaign to Protect Rural England. The Reitlinger Open Space on Guards Club Road is named after Henry Reitlinger, a leading collector of fine art. On his death in 1950, the collection was vested in a trust, the Henry Reitlinger Bequest. The trustees were his adopted daughter, Mrs. M. Cocke, and a Maidenhead solicitor, who chose to house the collection at Oldfield House, now a private residence; the building dates back to 1892.


title: Maidenhead

text: The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead has built a new leisure centre in the town to replace the outdated Magnet Leisure Centre which is located east of Kidwells Park. The new facility, Braywick Leisure Centre, opened in September 2020. The town also has various community centres, including 4 Marlow Road, a youth and community centre, located to the side of Kidwells Park near the town centre. Various activities take place here, including scheduled youth drop in times as well as classes in dance provided privately in its large sports and dance studios. There is a publicly open gym at Furze Platt school, in North Maidenhead.


title: Maidenhead

text: The (Brunel-built) Great Western Main Line passes through the town, calling at Maidenhead railway station and offering frequent, direct services to London, Reading, Newbury, Didcot and Oxford. Additionally, there are less frequent direct services to Banbury, Hereford, Worcester and Great Malvern. It passes over Brunel's Maidenhead Railway Bridge (known locally as the Sounding Arch), famous for its flat brick arches. Maidenhead Station is the beginning of the Marlow Branch Line from Maidenhead to Marlow, Buckinghamshire, Furze Platt railway station on this branch also serves the northern area of Maidenhead. Rail services have been provided by Great Western since 2003–04.


title: Maidenhead

text: Local bus services are provided by First Berkshire & The Thames Valley, Arriva Shires & Essex and Thames Valley Buses. The A4 runs through the town and crosses the Thames over Maidenhead Bridge. The town lies adjacent to junction 8/9 on the M4 motorway and is accessed via the A404(M) and A308(M). The A308(M), A404(M) and A404 form the Marlow and Maidenhead bypass which also acts as an important link between the M4, to the south of the town, and M40 at High Wycombe. The River Thames runs to the east of the town centre, and York Stream, which runs through the town centre, connects to the Thames via a system of disused waterways. A renewal scheme is in progress to reopen these waterways. The Jubilee River, part of the flood defence scheme, begins above Boulter's Lock nearby.


title: Maidenhead

text: The Crossrail project which is now expected to be fully opened in mid-2022, after previously being expected to be completed by December 2018. In the initial plan for Crossrail, Maidenhead was expected to become the terminus for the line, which is now known as the Elizabeth Line. However, after consultation Crossrail Limited and Transport for London decided to extend this to Reading, which also serves as a major hub for the Great Western route. The route will double the current timetable from four services an hour (operated by the existing Great Western Railway route) to eight services an hour (combining both Elizabeth Line and GWR services). Two services an hour from Paddington to Reading have been taken over by Crossrail's precursor company, TfL Rail.


title: Maidenhead

text: Just 2 miles to the south-west of the town lies White Waltham Airfield, a base for general aviation and flight training.


title: Maidenhead

text: Maidenhead is in England's Silicon Corridor along the M4 motorway west of London. Many residents commute to work in London, or to the nearby towns of Slough, Bracknell and Reading. Maidenhead's industries include software, plastics, pharmaceuticals, printing and telecommunications. The town also has an office for the Department for Work and Pensions, a local Jobcentre Plus which is located in Park Street. It is open 9am - 5pm Monday to Friday (10am on Wednesday) and offers help in finding employment, including the National Careers Service. In addition, as part of the UK Government roll out of the new social care benefit system, Maidenhead is now a Universal Credit Full Service area.


title: Maidenhead

text: Situated on the River Thames, the town is a rowing centre. Maidenhead Rowing Club organises the Maidenhead Regatta which, along with Marlow Regatta and Henley Regatta, is often seen as a testing ground for olympic rowing athletes. Maidenhead has often seen winners go on to represent the United Kingdom at the Olympic games. The town's football team, Maidenhead United, play at York Road, which is the oldest football ground in the world continuously used by the same team. Maidenhead United were crowned champions of National League South at the end of the 2016/17 season. Due to this, the team were automatically promoted to the National League (fifth tier of English Football) for the 2017/18 season. The Maidenhead Rugby Club was founded in 1921 and is the largest organised sports team in the town. It consists of four men's teams, a women's team and a large youth programme.


title: Maidenhead

text: The local newspaper is "The Maidenhead Advertiser". Maidenhead has been the home of Maidenhead Citadel Band of the Salvation Army since 1886. The head office of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission is based in Maidenhead on Marlow Road. Furthermore, various private companies have their head offices located around the town including, Johnson & Johnson, the American multi-national pharmaceutical. The schools listed below consist of various types of schools including free schools and academies.


title: Maidenhead

text: Although the town only has the one college, most students entering college level education travel to the various establishments in the area, including the Windsor Forest Colleges Group (formerly East Berkshire College) in both Windsor (Berkshire) and Langley, Slough as well as The Henley College in Oxfordshire and Reading College (Berkshire).


title: Maidenhead

text: The closest higher education institution is Buckinghamshire New University in High Wycombe to the north. The University of Reading and University of West London (Berkshire Institute of Health-Reading) are both approximately to the south-west.


title: Midnights

text: Midnights is the tenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, released on October 21, 2022, via Republic Records. Announced at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards, the album marks Swift's first body of new work since her 2020 alternative folk albums, "Folklore" and "Evermore". "Midnights" is a concept album about nocturnal contemplations, written and produced by Swift with longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff.


title: Midnights

text: Inspired by the "sleepless nights" of Swift's life, "Midnights" contains confessional yet cryptic lyrics, exploring anxiety, insecurity, self-criticism, self-awareness, insomnia, and self-confidence. Expanding on the synth-pop sound of Swift's previous pop records, the album experiments with electronica, dream pop, bedroom pop, and chill-out music styles. The songs are characterized by subtle grooves, vintage synthesizers, drum machine, and hip hop/R&B rhythms. Swift unveiled the track list on a TikTok series called "Midnights Mayhem with Me" from September 21 to October 7, 2022, and surprise-released seven bonus tracks three hours after the album's release.


title: Midnights

text: Breaking numerous records globally, "Midnights" was a major commercial success across all formats of music consumption. It achieved the Spotify feat for the most single-day streams of an album and topped the charts in 30 territories, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. In the United States, it opened with over 1.5 million units, became 2022's fastest and best-selling album, logged the largest vinyl sales week of the 21st century, and marked Swift's 11th number-one album on the "Billboard" 200. The album spawned 10 top-ten songs on the "Billboard" Hot 100—the most for any album—in the same week. The lead single "Anti-Hero" scored Swift her ninth number-one song in the US and topped the charts in 14 other territories; fellow tracks "Lavender Haze", "Maroon", "Snow on the Beach" featuring Lana Del Rey, and "Bejeweled" also achieved top-tier positions internationally.


title: Midnights

text: "Midnights" was met with widespread critical acclaim for its restrained production, candid songwriting, and vocal cadences. Media publications dubbed the album's success a testament to Swift's status as the leading pop star of the modern era. To support "Midnights" along with her other albums, Swift will embark on the Eras Tour in 2023, but overwhelming demand for its tickets crashed the Ticketmaster pre-sale.


title: Midnights

text: After a dispute over the sale of the masters of her first six studio albums in 2019, Taylor Swift announced that she plans to re-record the said albums. She released the first two of these re-recordings, "Fearless (Taylor's Version)" and "Red (Taylor's Version)", in 2021. The latter included the ten-minute, original version of her 2012 song "All Too Well". It was accompanied by a corresponding short film, "", written and directed by Swift. Fans speculated she would next release the third re-recording.


title: Midnights

text: Swift garnered five nominations for the short film at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards on August 28, 2022, and won three of them. In her acceptance speech for the Video of the Year award, she announced a "brand-new" studio album scheduled for release on October 21, 2022. Shortly after, Swift's official website was updated with a clock counting down to midnight and the phrase "Meet me at midnight". The canvases of some of Swift's songs on Spotify were changed to a visual featuring the clock. At midnight, Swift posted across her social media accounts that her tenth studio album would be titled "Midnights", accompanied by a premise. She described the album as "the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout [her] life".<ref name="RS/reveal"></ref> Swift's official website crashed due to heavy traffic following the posts about the album.


title: Midnights

text: According to Swift, the subject matter of "Midnights" was inspired by five major topics: self-hatred, revenge fantasies, "wondering what might have been", falling in love, and "falling apart". Swift enlisted Jack Antonoff, her longtime collaborator since 2013, to produce "Midnights", which came together as a result of Swift's and Antonoff's partners, English actor Joe Alwyn and American actress Margaret Qualley, respectively, shooting in Panama for the 2022 romantic thriller film "Stars at Noon;" while their partners filmed, Swift and Antonoff worked together in New York City. The duo wrote 11 of the album's 13 songs together; of the remaining two, Swift wrote the track "Vigilante Shit" alone and "Sweet Nothing" with Alwyn, who is credited with his pseudonym William Bowery. Some bonus tracks were co-produced by Aaron Dessner, who had collaborated with Swift on her 2020 albums "Folklore" and "Evermore." She conceived the bonus tracks on their "journey to find that magic 13 [tracks]".


title: Midnights

text: Swift's love life inspired the lyrics of "Lavender Haze" and "Snow on the Beach", the former of which takes after the phrase "in the lavender haze" from the period drama series "Mad Men". Swift wrote "Lavender Haze" after she and Alwyn had to protect their relationship from unsolicited scrutiny online ("weird rumors" and "tabloid stuff"), and "Snow on the Beach" is about "falling in love with someone at the same time as they’re falling in love with you", co-written by American singer Lana Del Rey. The composition of "Lavender Haze" was first conceived by Antonoff when he heard Sounwave, one of his collaborators, press a button accidentally, playing a "small little loop" produced by Jahaan Sweet. Sounwave edited the loop, adding "a bunch of effects". Sam Dew wrote some melodies to the loop with Zoë Kravitz, who had been working with Antonoff as well. Antonoff then pitched the song to Swift, who wrote its lyrics. "Glitch" was also born from these sessions. Sweet further reached out to Swift via Antonoff with "Karma", which had also been worked on by Keanu Beats. The next day, Antonoff returned with "Karma" finished with Swift's vocals on it. In "Anti-Hero", Swift detailed her insecurities, such as struggling with "not feeling like a person".


title: Midnights

text: The standard edition of "Midnights" consists of thirteen tracks. The deluxe CD adds three bonus songs, of which two are remixes, while "Midnights (3am Edition)", available only on digital and streaming platforms, adds seven other bonus tracks. Six of the album's tracks are labelled explicit. Del Rey provides guest vocals on the fourth track, "Snow on the Beach".


title: Midnights

text: Critics described "Midnights" as an electronica, dream pop, synth-pop, bedroom pop, electropop, and chill-out music album, with R&B influences and ambient elements. Swift departed from the alternative folk sound of "Folklore" and "Evermore" to create an experimental album with an "alt-synth" soundscape. "Maximalist minimalism" is the sonic signature of "Midnights", incorporating subtle melodies, emphasized rhythms, vintage synthesizers (prominently Moog and Roland Juno-60), drum machine, Reese bass, Mellotron, downbeats, and low-key harmonies. Swift's vocals retain a country timbre, but with rhythmic and conversational cadences. The vocals are sometimes electronically manipulated, resulting in androgynous and "hiccuping" vocal effects. Influences of hip hop and rapping are also present in Swift's vocal delivery in the album, containing internal rhymes. In describing its overall sound, "Paste" said "Midnights" "moves fairly effortlessly between the discotheque and a moonlit boulevard". "Beats Per Minute" regarded the album as Swift's foray into alternative R&B.


title: Midnights

text: "Midnights" is a concept album, about "after-hour agonies" and thoughts. Midnight is a recurring lyrical motif in Swift's music, having been used in different contexts and viewpoints in her preceding albums. "The A.V. Club" said "Midnights" expands the artistic motif "into a full-blown album". The album marks Swift's return to a mostly autobiographical lyricism, after exploring fictitious storylines and characters in "Folklore" and "Evermore". "The New Yorker" said "Midnights" is a collage of various emotions during "the spontaneous, restless headspace of nighttime thought". The main themes are self-assurance, self-criticism, insecurity, anxiety, public image, and insomnia, with a characteristic confessional but "cryptic" tone. Several critics regard "Midnights" as Swift's most candid, confident, and frankest writing yet, and a consolidatory work of her career, containing "bits and pieces from all of Swift's eras". "The New York Times" said "Midnights" is "caught between yesterday and tomorrow".


title: Midnights

text: The opening track, "Lavender Haze", is a disco-inflected, rhythmic pop song driven by a murky groove, falsetto chorus, modular synths, and backing vocals from Kravitz. It is an R&B-leaning, "emo-erotic" track about the tabloid scrutiny and online rumors that Swift and Alwyn face, and references the Madonna–whore complex. "Maroon" is a dynamic dream pop song with a buzzing drone. It is about a "missed-chance romance", recalling several specific memories. The title is a call-back to Swift's fourth studio album, "Red" (2012), with the maroon color serving as the more "experienced version" of red. "Anti-Hero" is a pop rock song about self-loathing. "Snow on the Beach" is a hazy dream pop ballad, featuring backing vocals by Del Rey. It references "All for You" (2001) by Janet Jackson. "You're on Your Own, Kid" is an alternative rock song that begins with muted instrumentals and swells into a crescendo. It discusses Swift's early stardom and her struggles during rise to fame, such as her eating disorder. "Midnight Rain" sees Swift remember an old relationship that was forestalled by her professional ambition and ambivalence about settling down. It features a pitched-down hook, programmed drums and percussion.


title: Midnights

text: The seventh track, "Question...?", asks rhetorical questions about "blurry" memories. Its short intro interpolates Swift's own 2016 single "Out of the Woods". "Vigilante Shit" is built around bubbling beats, swirling synths, industrial elements, and snare drums. It is a "noirish" vengeance declaration, taking aim at an enemy and encourages other women to do the same. "Bejeweled" is a disco tune driven by synth arpeggios, with lyrics recognizing Swift's self-worth. "Labyrinth" is a steady synth-pop song with skittering electronic elements, church organ, and subtle guitars, about the anxiety over falling in love again. "Karma" is a playful, electroclash and chillwave "diss track" with elements of new wave, alternative pop and techno, and comical lyrics. It describes the culmination of Swift’s "good karma". Employing a double entendre, "Sweet Nothing" is a relaxed, love song driven by saxophone and electric piano, emulating 1970s ballads. It is an ode to Swift's calm romantic relationship inside her house, as opposed to her hectic stardom outside. The standard album closes with "Mastermind", which satirizes Swift's alternate perspective on fate and happenstance. She confesses that her "calculating approach to pop stardom seeped into her love life as well", as opposed to the lyrics about destiny in the "Folklore" track, "Invisible String". It is also a nod to Swift's own "cryptic and Machiavellian" habit of leaving Easter eggs.


title: Midnights

text: The first bonus track, "The Great War", evokes battle imagery to show the easiness two people in a relationship can find themselves in a conflict, while also paying tribute to a partner who puts a stop to one's own destructive tendencies. In the ballad "Bigger Than the Whole Sky", Swift sings about the grief after the loss of a loved one; it was compared to "Ronan", which was written about the death of a young boy to cancer days before his fourth birthday. "Paris" is an upbeat, synth-heavy pop track, reminiscent of her style in "1989". "High Infidelity" employs audio distortions as a metaphor for a bad connection in a relationship between musicians. "Glitch" is an electronica song, about "malfunctioning" from lust. It features octave shifts in the chorus. In "Would've, Could've, Should've", Swift expresses regret over entering into a relationship with a "grown" man when she was 19, his treatment of her, and the persisting emotional trauma. "Dear Reader" is an electro-pop tune about Swift's distress over her fans viewing her as the "guiding light". Deluxe track "Hits Different" is an emotional breakup song about Swift imagining her past partner with someone else, as well as reflecting the time during their relationship.


title: Midnights

text: Upon the album's announcement, press outlets speculated that Swift's Moschino outfit for the VMAs afterparty—a navy blue micro mini romper embellished with silver stars—teased the album's aesthetic. Analyzing the album's promotional pictures, "The Ringer" described the aesthetic as "glam, but a chill, interior kind of glamor as opposed to big popstar glamor", with midnight blue dominating the color palette and retro photographs featuring upholstery. Clock faces and "60s/'70s family-room decor" are also a part of the "Midnights" era. "Vogue" noted 1970s styles in Swift's fashion, marking a departure from the rural, cottagecore attire she had adopted for "Folklore" and "Evermore". Fashion critic Jess Cartner-Morley found it reminiscent of the album cover of "Country Life" (1974) by English art rock band Roxy Music and the photographs by French artist Guy Bourdin for "Vogue France".


title: Midnights

text: The standard cover artwork of "Midnights" is minimalist. It takes inspiration from old-fashioned LP jackets whose songs were listed on the front cover. The photograph of Swift featured in the artwork depicts her in blue eye shadow, black eye liner, and her signature red lips, observing a glimmering lighter held near her face. It depicts trāṭaka according to "Beats Per Minute". The typeface used is Neue Haas Grotesk. The album title and track listing are in a blue gradient. The vinyl edition of the cover, posted by Swift across her social media, splits the track list into an A-side and B-side, indicating a two-sided LP. Three limited-edition color variants of the physical album, featuring different cover artworks were also issued. "The Cut" said the covers depict Swift in "various states of glamorous late-night stress." The "Dallas Observer" noted similarities to the indie sleaze aesthetic. Additionally, the reverse side of the standard and three alternate editions each portray a quarter sector of a dial; when assembled together and combined with a clock mechanism sold separately, they form a functioning clock.


title: Midnights

text: "Midnights" was released on October 21, 2022. The album was available to pre-save and pre-order on her website. Swift engaged in a traditional roll-out for "Midnights", following limited promotion of her surprise-released albums during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two music videos—for "Anti-Hero" and "Bejeweled"—were released on October 21 and 25, respectively. On the "Midnights Manifest", Swift also teased a "very chaotic surprise" occurring hours after the album's release, which was revealed to be an extended album, entitled "Midnights (3am Edition)", containing seven bonus tracks that Swift said were written for the album but ultimately excluded from the standard thirteen; it was released at 03:00 EDT. The "Midnights" CDs and vinyl LPs were available in five editions each, as well as a cassette.


title: Midnights

text: To "defy" her usual routine of incorporating Easter eggs to hint at information, Swift released a video series on TikTok called "Midnights Mayhem with Me", consisting of thirteen episodes between September 21 and October 7, 2022. She unveiled the track-list in a randomized order in the series, one song per episode, in front of a curtain backdrop, accompanied by an elevator music tune. A lottery cage containing 13 ping pong balls numbered from one to thirteen, each representing a track of the album, was rolled, and when a ball drops out, Swift disclosed the title of the corresponding track on the album, through a telephone. The first episode revealed the thirteenth track "Mastermind", and the final episode revealed "Snow on the Beach" and its Del Rey feature.


title: Midnights

text: Some lyrics from "Midnights" were displayed on Spotify's billboards across the world in the days leading up to the album's launch, starting with Times Square on October 17. Swift also posted an itinerary, entitled "Midnights Manifest", detailing the promotional events scheduled for the album. She limited her press appearances and did not perform, only appearing on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" on October 24, and "The Graham Norton Show" on October 28. An iHeartRadio program called "Midnights with Taylor," featuring commentary from Swift, ran on its pop stations from October 21 to 26, during which the album received airplay. She also answered some fan-submitted questions for Sirius XM Hits 1.


title: Midnights

text: The teaser trailer for the album's music videos exclusively premiered during Amazon Prime Video's "Thursday Night Football" broadcast on October 20, 2022, with a pre-taped introduction by Swift, which was first announced by American sportscaster Charissa Thompson on October 14 as "something very, very special". It revealed a trailer compiling clips of several visual works based on "Midnights". The cast includes Swift, Jack Antonoff, Laura Dern, the Haim sisters (Este, Danielle, and Alana), Mike Birbiglia, Laith Ashley, Dita Von Teese, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, John Early, and Pat McGrath, with cinematography by Rina Yang, who previously worked with Swift on "All Too Well: The Short Film".


title: Midnights

text: Swift wrote and directed the music videos. The "Anti-Hero" video premiered on October 21, 2022, eight hours after the release of "Midnights". She described it as a depiction of her "nightmare scenarios and intrusive thoughts." The "Bejeweled" video premiered on October 25, at midnight, and depicts an alternate take on the Cinderella plot.


title: Midnights

text: "Pitchfork," "Time," and the Recording Academy named "Midnights" as one of the most anticipated records of fall 2022; "USA Today" called it the most anticipated release of Swift's career. The incorporation of Swift's lucky number 13 in the number of tracks, a tradition she had implemented in her career several times, was also highlighted. "Time" found the track list's length a "concise lineup" for Swift, whose last album, "Red (Taylor's Version)", consisted of 30 tracks. "The New York Times" called Swift a "restless creative force" for releasing her fifth album in three years and expected "Midnights" to become one of 2022's best-selling albums, despite its October release. "Los Angeles Times" compared Swift's "prolific run of albums" to those of "the all-time greats". "Quartz" projected "Midnights" to achieve record-setting vinyl sales.


title: Midnights

text: The lack of a pre-released single led to speculation over the album's sound on the internet. "Variety" opined "Midnights" could either "continue in that more subdued, acoustic, Americana vein" of "Folklore" and "Evermore", or return to the "pure pop" of "Lover" (2019) and its immediate predecessors. "The Washington Post" commended the "excellent marketing strategy". "Fortune" dubbed Swift an "unparalleled marketing genius", and praised the album's promotional roll-out, such as "Midnights Mayhem with Me," for Swift's "ever-changing burlesque act of selectively revealing details while maintaining an aura of mystery and excitement." ABC News described the album's release as a "dramatic" event. "Slate" described "Midnights" as "the result of a winning formula"—hybridizing the "surprise-drop approach", which is more streaming-friendly but unfavorable for physical sales, with the traditional rollout by preannouncing the album, but withholding all of the tracks including the lead single until the release day. "I-D" said Swift mixed "both old-school pop moves and with hyper-modern manoeuvres", and added that "while other popstars front-load their album campaigns with pre-release singles to appease streaming platforms, Taylor chose not to release any music ahead of "Midnights," cementing its release as a proper newsworthy event."


title: Midnights

text: "Anti-Hero" is the lead single of "Midnights". Republic Records released the song to the US hot adult contemporary radio on October 24, 2022, followed by contemporary hit radio on October 25. "Bejeweled" and "Question...?" were released for limited-time digital download exclusively through Swift's website on October 25, as promotional singles. "Lavender Haze" was released to the contemporary hit radio as the second single on November 29.


title: Midnights

text: On October 18, 2022, Swift's United Kingdom website indirectly confirmed a forthcoming concert tour. Pre-ordering "Midnights" on the UK store resulted in "special presale code access for forthcoming and yet to be announced Taylor Swift UK show dates." On "The Tonight Show", Swift stated she "should [go on tour]. When it's time, [I will] do it". She said "it's going to happen" at "The Graham Norton Show". On November 1, Swift revealed on "Good Morning America" and announced via social media her sixth concert tour, the Eras Tour. She described the tour as "a journey through the musical eras of [her] career". US dates have been revealed, while international dates are pending.


title: Midnights

text: "Midnights" received widespread acclaim from music critics, most of whom praised its subdued production and vocals; some named it Swift's best album yet. On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized score out of 100 to ratings from publications, the album received a weighted mean score of 85 based on 28 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 8.0 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus.


title: Midnights

text: "Rolling Stone"s Brittany Spanos and Rob Sheffield, and Alex Bilmes of "Esquire" dubbed "Midnights" an instant classic; Spanos praised Swift's "brilliant and fresh" songwriting style, Sheffield highlighted the moody production, and Blimes called it "the pop album of the year". Reviews published by "Billboard" Jason Lipshutz, "Variety" Chris Willman, "Clash"'s Matthew Neale, "Under the Radar" Andy Von Pip, and "The Guardian" Alexis Petridis all appreciated "Midnights" for favoring an elegant and understated production over the market-oriented chart hits of Swift's contemporaries. Alex Hopper in "American Songwriter" said the album harkens back to the synth-pop of "1989", but "grungier", combined with the lyrical highs of "Folklore" and "Evermore". "PopMatters" Rick Quinn stated that Swift "demonstrates her mastery of pop structure and style". In "Paste," Ellen Johnson considered "Midnights", while containing some of Swift's "sleekest pop tunes yet" tracks, more nuanced than mainstream pop. Elise Ryan of the Associated Press called the album a product of Swift's maturity and artistic evolution, while "Gigwise" critic Lucy Harbron praised the reinvention and experimentation.


title: Midnights

text: Reviews also noticed a more nuanced aspect to Swift's songwriting approach in "Midnights". According to "NME" Hannah Mylrea, the "candid" lyrics depart from the narrative-driven songwriting Swift had been known for and offer a glimpse into her expanding artistry. Mikael Wood of the "Los Angeles Times" admired Swift's strong vocals and wrote that while much of "Midnights" relies on her well-known first-person songwriting, it is "so strong [...] that eventually you stop caring what's drawn directly from Swift’s real life and what's not". Helen Brown of "The Independent" wrote although the music might take time for listeners to absorb, "Midnights" is enriched by Swift's "assured lyrical control" and "feline vocal stealth". "The Observer" Kitty Empire described "Midnights" as "an album of fascinating small-hours contemplation".


title: Midnights

text: Some critics were more reserved in their praise, taking issue with the production as somewhat redundant. Jon Caramanica of "The New York Times" and Paul Attard of "Slant Magazine" felt that Swift played it safe, and Ann Powers of NPR felt that the experiments result in a "half-finished quality" sometimes."" For "Pitchfork"'s Quinn Moreland and "The Line of Best Fit"'s Paul Bridgewater, "Midnights" is Swift's most cohesive work thematically, but an underwhelming record sonically. "Entertainment Weekly" Marc Hirsh felt the tracks are not Swift's "stickiest", but still manage to effectively depict moods and emotions as desired. "The Daily Telegraph"'s Neil McCormick appreciated "Midnights" as an intimate album, but said it suggests Swift's uncertainty "to press deeper into intimate songcraft or restart a commercial juggernaut". Carl Wilson of "Slate" liked the album's concept, sound and vocals, but identified some weak lyrics.


title: Midnights

text: "Midnights" broke a string of sales, streaming, digital, vinyl and official chart records globally. "Billboard" described the album as a blockbuster. It achieved the all-time Spotify record for the most streamed album in a single day with 186 million streams in its opening day, surpassing the previous record of 155 million streams by Drake's "Certified Lover Boy" (2021). Swift also became the most-streamed artist in a single day on Spotify, with 228 million streams across her discography, the first artist to cross the 200-million mark. The album also broke the Apple Music record for the most-streamed pop album in a single day, the Amazon Music records for the most-streamed album in a single day and week, the Amazon Alexa record for the most single-day requests ever, the Apple Music Spatial Audio record for the most single-day streams, and the Spotify record for the fastest album to amass 700 million streams (within a week). According to Republic Records, "Midnights" moved three million album-equivalent units worldwide in its first week. All of the album's tracks entered the "Billboard" Global 200; nine and eight of those charted within the top 10 of the Global 200 and Global Excl. US charts, respectively, setting records for the most simultaneous top-10 entries on both and Swift as the first artist to occupy the entire top five of the Global 200. She became 2022's second most streamed artist on Spotify, behind Bad Bunny.


title: Midnights

text: In the US, "Midnights" sold over 800,000 pure copies in its first day, becoming the best-selling album of 2022; it logged the biggest sales week for an album since Swift's own "Reputation" (2017). It surpassed 1.2 million units in its first three days, becoming Swift's fifth album to open with one million sales and making her the first act to do so. It reached 1.4 million units by the fifth day, with 1.05 million pure sales, marking the largest opening week of the last seven years and Swift's best, surpassing "1989".


title: Midnights

text: "Midnights" has topped the "Billboard" 200 for five weeks. It opened with 1,578,000 units, of which 1.14 million were pure sales, including 575,000 vinyl LPs and 395,000 CDs. It became the year's best-selling vinyl LP, and the best-selling CD since "Reputation". "Midnights" garnered 549.26 million streams in its first week—the third-largest of all time. Overtaking "Oops!... I Did It Again" (2000) by Britney Spears, it marked the second-largest first week for an album by a female artist in the US, after Adele's "25" (2015). Swift tied Barbra Streisand for the most number-one albums among women (11), and most consecutive number-one debuts, surpassing Eminem and Kanye West. "Midnights" earned over 200,000 units in each of its first four weeks—the first album to do so since "25".


title: Midnights

text: All of the album's 20 tracks debuted in the top 45 of the US "Billboard" Hot 100, giving Swift a total of 188 Hot 100 entries; the 13 standard tracks arrived in the top 15, led by "Anti-Hero", Swift's ninth US number-one song, and occupied all the spots except the 11th and 12th. Swift became the first act to control the entire top 10 of the Hot 100 concurrently; the woman with the most top-10 entries (40), surpassing Madonna (38); the first act to debut atop the "Billboard" 200 and Hot 100 simultaneously four times; and the first act to occupy the entire top 10 of the Hot 100, Streaming Songs, and Digital Songs charts together. "Midnights" is the first album in history with ten top-10 songs, surpassing "Certified Lover Boy" (9). "Billboard" noted that its streams were strong enough to place 10 tracks inside the top 10 without airplay or digital sales. Swift ranked as the top female artist of 2022 on the "Billboard" Year-End charts.


title: Midnights

text: In Brazil, "Midnights" marked the biggest first-week Spotify streams ever for an album in the country. On the Canadian Albums Chart, "Midnights" opened with the biggest first-week of the year and scored Swift's 11th number-one album. All of the album's 20 tracks debuted within the first 35 spots of the Canadian Hot 100, with the top 10 spots entirely occupied by the album, led by "Anti-Hero".


title: Midnights

text: In China, the album sold over 200,000 digital albums in its first day on QQ Music, and opened with the year's best units for an international artist in both China and Taiwan. Three, four and eleven "Midnights" tracks debuted on the Indonesia Songs, Hong Kong Songs, and Malaysia Songs charts, led by "Anti-Hero" at numbers one, six and one, respectively. All of the album's standard tracks charted on the Vietnam Hot 100, and within the top-15 of Singapore Top 30 Chart. In the Philippines, it garnered the biggest first-week Spotify streams ever for an album in the country, and monopolized the entire top-13 spots of the Philippines Songs chart, with "Anti-Hero" at number one. On India's IMI International Top 20 Singles chart, "Midnights" debuted seven tracks, led by "Anti-Hero" at number four.


title: Midnights

text: The album became a record tenth consecutive number-one album for Swift in Australia, with the biggest opening week since "Reputation". It set the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) records for the biggest streaming and vinyl sales weeks for an album. All of its standard tracks entered the ARIA Singles Chart, occupying the entire top 14 region, except the seventh spot. With the debut of "Anti-Hero" atop the singles chart, Swift earned a record third Australian "Chart Double" of her career, extending the feat for five consecutive weeks. "Midnights" was Swift's 11th consecutive number-one album on the New Zealand Albums Chart. Four of its tracks debuted within the top-five of the New Zealand Top 40 Singles chart.


title: Midnights

text: "Midnights" opened with Swift's best first-week units in France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and the UK. In the latter, "Midnights" sold over 140,000 units in its first three days, surpassing the opening-week tally of Harry Styles' "Harry's House" (113,000 units) to become the fastest-selling album of 2022. Ultimately, the album debuted atop the UK Albums Chart, beating "The Car" by Arctic Monkeys to the top spot with 204,000 units—Swift's highest first-week tally. She broke Madonna's record for the shortest time for a female act to accumulate nine UK number-one albums, and became the first woman since Miley Cyrus in 2013 to simultaneously debut atop both the albums and singles chart, following the number-one debut of "Anti-Hero" as well. "Midnights" topped the albums chart for two consecutive weeks.


title: Midnights

text: The album marked Swift's eighth number-one album on the Irish Albums Chart and the biggest opening week since Ed Sheeran's "÷" (2017). In Germany, Swift scored her first number-one album on the Top 100 Albums chart with the largest streaming week for an album by an international artist in the country in 2022, at 20 million. It also marked the year's biggest overall opening week for an international artist in Germany. In Spain, "Midnights" marked the biggest debut-week Spotify streams for an English-language artist. Seven and eight tracks from "Midnights" debuted on Norway's Topp 40 Singles and "Billboard" Luxembourg Songs charts, respectively. The album marked Swift's fourth number-one debut on Portugal's Top 50 Albums chart. It debuted at number one in Sweden, where it remained for five non-consecutive weeks.


title: Midnights

text: Swift won all of her three nominations at the 48th People's Choice Awards, including the Female Artist of 2022.


title: Midnights

text: Swift's unanticipated announcement of the album at the Video Music Awards was a "headline-grabbing" moment, according to "Billboard". Bruce Gillmer, the show's producer, stated that "Midnights" gave a "massive lift" to the viewership ratings. The album's cover artwork became an internet trend, mimicked and parodied by social media users, including official accounts of brands, organizations and celebrities. Apple Fitness+ released three exercise programs designed around Swift's music, featuring tracks from "Midnights", curated for yoga, treadmill and HITT workouts. Spotify's servers crashed for several minutes when the album was released.


title: Midnights

text: The commercial success of "Midnights" across all formats was unprecedented in the streaming era. Various publications described Swift as the paramount pop star of the 21st century, wielding a commercial and cultural dominance surpassing those of her contemporaries and on par with the music industry's "golden era" in the late 20th century. "Financial Times" pondered whether Swift is "the last pop superstar", underscoring the 1.5 million first-week units—a figure unseen since the "1990s boy bands" era, which was regarded as the peak for the US music business. Music publisher Matt Pincus called Swift "basically an intellectual property franchise now. Like a DC movie". "Fortune" compared her to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. "I-D" dubbed Swift the "last remaining real popstar", capable of "shifting more albums and filling more stadiums than her contemporaries [...] unseen since the industry's golden era". Noting a 2021 article from "The New York Times" that asked "if Adele couldn't sell more than a million albums in a single week, could any artist?" after her album "30" missed the mark, "Rolling Stone" responded that Swift "has once again moved the goalposts regarding what the music industry can see as possible from a major pop star". "Slate" underscored how Swift's career has lasted longer than that of the Beatles, and broke the band's once-deemed "unbeatable" records. Business journalist Greg Jericho, in "The Guardian", lauded her ability to remain culturally relevant and successful 18 years into her music career, highlighting how the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, David Bowie and Bruce Springsteen were past their prime at that stage.


title: Matteo Darmian

text: Matteo Darmian (born 2 December 1989) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a full-back for club Inter Milan.


title: Matteo Darmian

text: He began his career at A.C. Milan, making his senior debut in 2006 at the age of 16 and Serie A debut in 2007 at the age of 17. In 2009, he joined Padova on loan, whom he helped avoid relegation from Serie B in his only season there. He then signed for Palermo in 2010, and one year later joined Torino, where he played for four seasons. He moved to Manchester United in July 2015, and in four years there, won the FA Cup and UEFA Europa League, before joining Parma in 2019. He signed a season-long loan deal with Inter in October 2020, who made the transfer permanent in February 2021. That season ended with Darmian winning the Serie A title, a first league championship of his career. The following season, he assisted the winning goal in the 2021 Italian Super Cup.


title: Matteo Darmian

text: Darmian made his senior debut for the Italy national team in May 2014, and represented his nation at the 2014 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2016.


title: Matteo Darmian

text: Darmian grew up playing football in the main square in Rescaldina and was trained by his father, Giovanni, who was one of the coaches of team, U.S. CARCOR, where players such as Marco Simone and Luigi Pogliana also played. He often played as a central or defensive midfielder in his youth. His first real break came when he was spotted by Beniamino Abate, a former goalkeeper tasked with scouting Lombardy for young talent by A.C. Milan.


title: Matteo Darmian

text: In 2000, Darmian joined Milan's youth system. He made his first-team debut for the "Rossoneri" on 28 November 2006, aged only 16, in the Coppa Italia against Brescia, replacing Kakha Kaladze at half-time.


title: Matteo Darmian

text: He made his Serie A debut at the age of 17, in Milan's 3–2 defeat against Udinese on 19 May 2007, when he entered in the 67th minute to replace Giuseppe Favalli. During the 2007–08 season he became the leader and captain of the youth team, collecting another appearance for the first-team in the Coppa Italia. The following season, the 19-year-old defender collected an additional three league appearances. He ended his experience at Milan with four appearances in the top flight.


title: Matteo Darmian

text: On 17 July 2009, Darmian moved to Serie B club Padova on loan until the end of the 2009–10 season. He made his official debut for the club on 28 November 2009, in a home loss against Vicenza. He went on to make 20 appearances and score one goal, as Padova finished the season in 19th place and subsequently won the relegation play-off against Triestina.


title: Matteo Darmian

text: On 11 July 2010, it was announced that Matteo Darmian would join Palermo's pre-season training camp in Austria, after Milan and the Sicilian Serie A club agreed in principle about a transfer move involving him. The move, unveiled as a co-ownership bid, was officially announced by Palermo the next day. The fee was €800,000. Darmian made his debut for the "Rosanero" on 16 September 2010, in a Europa League game against Sparta Prague, which also earned him his debut in European competition. His Palermo league debut was during the fourth game of the season, coming on for Javier Pastore in a 3–1 win against Juventus. On 6 February 2011, he played his first game as a starter in the league in a 4–2 victory for Palermo away at Lecce, but was substituted in the 33rd minute due to injury. He finished the season with 16 appearances among Serie A, Europa League and Coppa Italia.


title: Matteo Darmian

text: After Milan and Palermo renewed the co-ownership on 23 June 2011, he was officially loaned to Serie B side Torino on 12 July 2011. He made his debut for the "Granata" on 13 August 2011, in the second round of Coppa Italia against Lumezzane; and scored his first goal on 30 October 2011, against Empoli, allowing his team to win 2–1. On 13 November 2011, he was injured against Bari and sidelined for five games. At the end of the season, he was promoted to Serie A, having played 33 games in the league and one in the Coppa Italia.


title: Matteo Darmian

text: On 20 June 2012, Palermo redeemed his 50% share from Milan for €500,000 and on 5 July 2012, his return to Torino was formulised under a co-ownership agreement for €825,000. With Torino he played 30 games in Serie A and two in the Coppa Italia. On 20 June 2013, Torino redeemed the remainder of his contract from Palermo for €1.5 million.


title: Matteo Darmian

text: In the 2013–14 season, he played 37 games in Serie A for Torino, who finished 7th and qualified for the Europa League after Parma failed to obtain a UEFA license. He featured in the Serie A Team of the Year, along with teammate, Ciro Immobile. On 18 May 2014, he made his 100th appearance for Torino during the 2–2 draw away to Fiorentina.


title: Matteo Darmian

text: In his first appearance of the 2014–15 season, on 7 August 2014, he scored his first goal in European competition, in a 4–0 victory against Sweden's IF Brommapojkarna, in the second leg of the 2014–15 Europa League third qualifying round. On 29 October 2014, he scored his first goal in Serie A to secure a 1–0 win over Parma, before returning to the score-sheet on 11 December 2014 in the Europa League group stage, won 5–1 away at Copenhagen. On 26 February 2015, he scored the match-winner against Athletic Bilbao, qualifying Torino for the round of 16 after a historic 3–2 victory in Spain. He concluded the season with 47 appearances and five goals between Serie A, Europe and the Coppa Italia.


title: Matteo Darmian

text: On 11 July 2015, Darmian signed for English club Manchester United for an undisclosed fee, believed to be £12.7 million. He signed a four-year contract with an option to extend it for a further year. He made his debut for the club against Club América during preseason on 17 July, playing the first 45 minutes, with United winning 1–0. He made his Premier League debut on 8 August 2015 as the season opened with a 1–0 victory against Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford, with manager Louis van Gaal selecting his performance as the best of the match. On 10 September, Darmian earned his first official accolade at the club, after he was voted Manchester United's August 2015 player of the month. "It's important to know this is from the fans," Matteo told United's official website. "I want to thank them. I am happy. I also want to thank my team-mates and everyone at the club for making me feel welcome."


title: Matteo Darmian

text: In April 2016, Darmian scored his only Premier League goal for Manchester United, a powerful volley from the edge of the penalty area, in the 55th minute of a 2–0 victory against Crystal Palace. He was presented with the club's man of the match award for his performance in this fixture and hailed his strike as the best goal of his career to date. His cross, in the fourth minute of play, had also previously forced an own goal from Damien Delaney. Darmian featured in the 2016 FA Cup Final against Crystal Palace on 21 May, coming on in the 66th minute for Marcos Rojo, helping United achieve a 2–1 victory.


title: Matteo Darmian

text: Darmian's first appearance of the 2016–17 season came on 15 September 2016, in a 1–0 defeat against Dutch-side Feyenoord in the UEFA Europa League group stage. He didn't feature again until 20 October, when he played the full 90 minutes against Turkish-side Fenerbahçe in a 4–1 win. Darmian appeared in all of United's Premier League games in November, playing at left-back against Swansea City, Arsenal and West Ham United. He continued to contribute to United's unbeaten streak by featuring against Everton, Tottenham Hotspur, Crystal Palace and West Bromwich Albion in December. On 10 January 2017, he played in the 2–0 victory against Hull City in the EFL Cup semi-final first-leg, assisting the second goal with a cross to Marouane Fellaini. He also played in the second leg on 27 January, helping United advance 3–2 on aggregate.


title: Matteo Darmian

text: Darmian's appearances in the league became limited after a 1–1 draw against rivals Liverpool on 15 January, with him not featuring again until 19 March when he came on as a stoppage time substitute in a 3–1 win against Middlesbrough. On 9 April, he started for United, his first in the league since January, in a 3–0 victory over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. In May 2017, Darmian played in both of the UEFA Europa League semi-final games against Spanish-side Celta Vigo, helping United go through to the final 2–1 on aggregate. On 24 May, Darmian started at left-back in the UEFA Europa League Final against Dutch-side Ajax, playing the full 90 minutes as United won 2–0.


title: Matteo Darmian

text: Darmian made his first appearance of the 2017–18 season on 8 August 2017 against Real Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup, which United lost 1–2. His first Premier League appearance of the season was on 9 September, in a 2–2 draw against Stoke City. He didn't feature again in the league until 14 October in a 0–0 draw against Liverpool at Anfield. While not featuring in the league, Darmian did play in the UEFA Champions League in a 2–0 win over Benfica on 31 October and in a 1–0 defeat against Basel on 22 November. On 20 December, he played in United's 2–1 defeat to Bristol City in the EFL Cup fifth round. Darmian made his first league start since October on 18 April 2018, playing against AFC Bournemouth in a 2–0 victory. Three days later, he came off the bench in the 80th minute to see out United's 2–1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley Stadium. Darmian started in United's last league game of the season on 13 May, overseeing a 1–0 win over Watford at Old Trafford. He was left on the bench for Manchester United's 1–0 defeat to Chelsea in the FA Cup Final on 19 May. After falling out of favour with José Mourinho, Darmian only managed eight league appearances the whole season, five of which were starts.


title: Matteo Darmian

text: Despite speculation that Darmian would depart Manchester United in the summer for more playing time, he ended up staying for the 2018–19 season. He started United's first game of the season on 11 August at right-back in a 2–1 victory over Leicester City. Darmian's chances were limited until 24 November, when he started against Crystal Palace in a 0–0 draw. On 5 December, he started at left-back in a 2–2 draw against Arsenal. He played at right-back in United's 3–1 defeat to Liverpool on 16 December. On 5 January 2019, Darmian played at centre-back in Manchester United's 2–0 FA Cup third round win over Reading. Caretaker manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær praised Darmian's performance by saying, "He was one of the few who settled us down and tried to pass it and I don’t think he put a foot wrong.”


title: Matteo Darmian

text: On 5 October 2020, Darmian joined Inter Milan on a season-long loan; Inter had an obligation to make the transfer permanent for £1.8 million at the end of the loan period.


title: Matteo Darmian

text: After playing for Italy at under-17 and under-18 levels, he made his debut for the under-19 squad, led by Francesco Rocca, in June 2007. At the 2008 UEFA European U-19 Championship he played in the starting line-up, always in the role of a right-back. In 2009, he took part in the Mediterranean Games, playing seven games for the under-20 side. On 25 March 2009, he made his debut for the Italy under-21 side in a 2–2 friendly match draw against Austria, which was played in Vienna. From 10 to 12 March 2014, he was called up to the senior national team by coach Cesare Prandelli as part of an internship to evaluate young players ahead of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and was also part of the next meeting between 14 and 15 April 2014.


title: Matteo Darmian

text: Given his excellent season with Torino, on 13 May 2014, he was included in the list of 30 provisional players for the 2014 World Cup. He made his debut for the "Azzurri" on 31 May 2014, at the age of 24, playing as a right-back in a goalless friendly match with Ireland which was held in London. The following day, he was included in the list of 23 players selected for the 2014 World Cup. On 14 June 2014, he made his debut at the World Cup, starting Italy's opening game against England, which Italy won 2–1. He also played the next two games against Costa Rica and Uruguay, both of which were 1–0 defeats for Italy who failed to qualify for the next round.


title: Matteo Darmian

text: In early 2015, he was awarded with the "Pallone Azzurro" as the best player of the national team for 2014. On 10 October of that year, he scored his first international goal, which was the final one of a 3–1 away win over Azerbaijan which sealed Italy's qualification to UEFA Euro 2016. On 31 May 2016, he was named in Antonio Conte's 23-man Italy squad for Euro 2016. In the round of 16 of the tournament, at Stade de France in Paris on 27 June 2016, he came off the bench and set-up Graziano Pellè's 91st minute volley to give the "Azzurri" a 2–0 win over defending champions Spain. On 2 July 2016, he missed Italy's final penalty in a 6–5 shoot-out defeat to reigning World Cup champions Germany in the quarter-finals of the competition.


title: Matteo Darmian

text: Although he started his career as a centre-back, and has occasionally continued to be used in this role, and even played as a central or defensive midfielder for the Milan youth team, in recent years Darmian has predominantly played as a defensive-minded full-back or wing-back, or even as a winger on occasion; due to his ability with either foot, he is capable of playing on either flank, although he prefers to be deployed on the right side of the pitch. An intelligent, dynamic, hard-working, and versatile player, he is known for his good quality of offensive and defensive play, as well as his tactical awareness, pace, and stamina, attributes which allow him to cover the wing effectively and provide width to his team when attacking. His professionalism, as well as his promising and consistent performances in his youth, led him to be compared to several esteemed Italian former full-backs, such as Antonio Cabrini and Paolo Maldini. During the 2012–13 season, Darmian made the most tackles per game (5.3) across Europe's top five leagues.


title: Types of chocolate

text: Chocolate is a food product made from roasted and ground cocoa pods mixed with fat (e.g. cocoa butter) and powdered sugar to produce a solid confectionery. There are several types of chocolate, classified primarily according to the proportion of cocoa and fat content used in a particular formulation.


title: Types of chocolate

text: Raw chocolate is chocolate that has not been processed, heated, or mixed with other ingredients. It is sold in chocolate-growing countries and to a lesser extent in other countries. It is often promoted as being healthy. Raw chocolate includes many essential antioxidants, minerals, and vitamins. This includes protein, iron, and fiber.


title: Types of chocolate

text: Dark chocolate, also known as "plain chocolate", is produced using a higher percentage of cocoa with all fat content coming from cocoa butter instead of milk, but there are also "dark milk" chocolates and many degrees of hybrids. Dark chocolate can be eaten as is, or used in cooking, for which thicker baking bars, usually with high cocoa percentages ranging from 70% to 100%, are sold. Many brands display the cocoa percentage on their packaging.


title: Types of chocolate

text: Milk chocolate is solid chocolate made with milk added in the form of powdered milk, liquid milk, or condensed milk. The first known variation was developed by Jordan & Timaeus in 1839 with donkey milk. In 1875 a Swiss confectioner, Daniel Peter, developed a solid milk-chocolate using condensed milk, which had been invented by Henri Nestlé, Peter's neighbour in Vevey.


title: Types of chocolate

text: Cadbury is the leading brand of milk chocolate in the United Kingdom. The Hershey Company is the largest producer in the US. The actual Hershey process is a trade secret, but experts speculate that the milk is partially lipolyzed, producing butyric acid, and then the milk is pasteurized, stabilizing it for use. This process gives the product a particular taste, to which the US public has developed an affinity, to the extent that some rival manufacturers now add butyric acid to their milk chocolates.


title: Types of chocolate

text: White chocolate is made of sugar, milk, and cocoa butter, without the cocoa solids. It is pale ivory coloured, and lacks many of the compounds found in milk and dark chocolates.


title: Types of chocolate

text: Baking chocolate, or cooking chocolate, is chocolate intended to be used for baking and in sweet foods. Dark chocolate, milk chocolate, and white chocolate, are produced and marketed as baking chocolate. However, lower quality baking chocolate may not be as flavorful compared to higher-quality chocolate, and may have a different mouthfeel.


title: Types of chocolate

text: Modeling chocolate is a chocolate paste made by melting chocolate and combining it with corn syrup, glucose syrup, or golden syrup. It is primarily used by cakemakers and pâtisseries to add decoration to cakes and pastries.


title: Types of chocolate

text: Organic chocolate is chocolate which has been certified organic, generally meaning that there are no chemical fertilizers or pesticides used in growing the cocoa beans producing the chocolate. As of 2016, it was a growing sector in the global chocolate industry. Organic chocolate is a socially desirable product for some consumers. Many producers of organic chocolate source their ingredients from certified fair trade cocoa farms and cooperatives.


title: Types of chocolate

text: Compound chocolate is the name for a confection combining cocoa with other vegetable fats, usually tropical fats or hydrogenated fats, as a replacement for cocoa butter. It is often used for candy bar coatings. In many countries it can not legally be called "chocolate".


title: Types of chocolate

text: Couverture chocolate is a class of high-quality chocolate containing a higher percentage of cocoa butter than other chocolate which is precisely tempered. Couverture chocolate is used by professionals for dipping, coating, molding and garnishing ('couverture' means 'covering' in French). Popular brands of couverture chocolate used by pastry chefs include: Valrhona, Lindt & Sprüngli, Scharffen Berger, Callebaut, and Guittard.


title: Types of chocolate

text: Ruby chocolate is a type of chocolate created by Barry Callebaut, a Belgian–Swiss cocoa company. The variety was in development from 2004, and was released to the public in 2017. The chocolate type is made from the Ruby cocoa bean, resulting in a distinct red colour and a different flavor, described as "sweet yet sour".


title: Types of chocolate

text: The legislation for cocoa and chocolate products in Canada is found in Division 4 of the Food and Drug Regulations (FDR), under the Food and Drugs Act (FDA). The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is responsible for the administration and enforcement of the FDR and FDA (as it relates to food).


title: Types of chocolate

text: The use of cocoa butter substitutes in Canada is not permitted. Chocolate sold in Canada cannot contain vegetable fats or oils.


title: Types of chocolate

text: The only sweetening agents permitted in chocolate in Canada are listed in Division 18 of the Food and Drug Regulations. Artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, sucralose, acesulfame potassium, and sugar alcohols (sorbitol, maltitol, etc.) are not permitted.


title: Types of chocolate

text: Products manufactured or imported into Canada that contain non-permitted ingredients (vegetable fats or oils, artificial sweeteners) cannot legally be called "chocolate" when sold in Canada. A non-standardized name such as "candy" must be used.


title: Types of chocolate

text: There has been disagreement in the EU about the definition of chocolate; this dispute covers several issues, including the types of fat and the quantity of cocoa used. In 1999, however, the EU resolved the fat issue by allowing up to 5% of chocolate's content to be one of six alternatives to cocoa butter: illipe oil, palm oil, sal, shea butter, "kokum gurgi", or mango kernel oil.


title: Types of chocolate

text: Products labelled as "family milk chocolate" elsewhere in the European Union are permitted to be labelled as simply "milk chocolate" in Malta, the UK and the Republic of Ireland.


title: Types of chocolate

text: Products using milk chocolate or quasi milk chocolate as described above are handled in the same way as chocolate / quasi chocolate.


title: Types of chocolate

text: "Semisweet" and "bittersweet" are terms traditionally used in the United States to indicate the amount of added sugar in dark chocolate. Typically, bittersweet chocolate has less sugar than semisweet chocolate, but the two are interchangeable when baking. Both must contain a minimum of 35% cocoa solids.


title: Types of chocolate

text: In the American chocolate industry chocolate liquor is the ground or melted state of the nib of the cacao bean, containing roughly equal parts cocoa butter and solids.


title: Types of chocolate

text: In March 2007, the Chocolate Manufacturers Association, whose members include Hershey's, Nestlé, and Archer Daniels Midland, began lobbying the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to change the legal definition of chocolate to allow the substitution of "safe and suitable vegetable fats and oils" (including partially hydrogenated vegetable oils) for cocoa butter in addition to using "any sweetening agent" (including artificial sweeteners) and milk substitutes. Currently, the FDA does not allow a product to be referred to as "chocolate" if the product contains any of these ingredients. To work around this restriction, products with cocoa substitutes are often branded or labeled as "chocolatey" or "made with chocolate".


title: Thurman Thomas

text: Thurman Lee Thomas (born May 16, 1966) is an American former football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for thirteen seasons, primarily with the Buffalo Bills. He was selected by the Bills in the second round of the 1988 NFL Draft, where he spent all but one season of his professional career. Thomas spent his final NFL year as a member of the Miami Dolphins in 2000.


title: Thurman Thomas

text: During his twelve seasons with the Bills, Thomas established himself as a central contributor of the Bills "K-Gun" offense that utilized no-huddle shotgun formations. He qualified for the Pro Bowl five times, twice received first-team All-Pro honors, and was NFL MVP in 1991. Thomas' efforts helped his team make a record four consecutive Super Bowl appearances from 1991 to 1994; while the Bills did not prevail in any of the games, they were the first (and so far only) team to have reached the Super Bowl in four consecutive seasons. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2007 and into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2008.


title: Thurman Thomas

text: Thomas was born in Houston, Texas. He grew up playing football on the Missouri City Junior High School (now Missouri City Middle School) and Willowridge High School teams. During the 1982-83 season, Thomas led the Willowridge football team to a Texas Class 4A State Title. He formerly resided in the Willow Park II subdivision, located southeast of the Fort Bend Tollway and Beltway 8.


title: Thurman Thomas

text: Thomas attended college at Oklahoma State University where he was an upperclassman teammate of running back Barry Sanders. At Oklahoma State, Thomas had 897 rushes for 4,595 yards, 43 touchdowns, 5,146 total yards, and 21 100-yard rushing games. He was also a Heisman Trophy candidate in his senior year, finishing seventh in voting. He was a first team selection on the College Football All-America Team in 1985 and 1987.


title: Thurman Thomas

text: Thomas led the Big Eight in rushing and scoring in 1985 and 1987 and was voted the conference's Offensive Player of the Year both seasons. Thurman Thomas starred as a sophomore in 1985 when he posted 1,553 yards rushing, fourth best in the country. Between his sophomore and junior seasons he suffered a tear to his ACL in his left knee, missing some games during the 1986 season. He bounced back his senior season, rushing for 1,613 yards and finishing third nationally in rushing. From 1984-87, Thomas carried the ball a remarkable 897 times for the Cowboys, the most rushing attempts in a career in Oklahoma State history.


title: Thurman Thomas

text: In the 1987 Sun Bowl, Thomas ran for 157 yards and four touchdowns in the 35-33 comeback victory over West Virginia, keeping sophomore Barry Sanders on the sidelines for the majority of the game. Thomas left OSU as the school's all-time leading rusher and his number 34 (chosen in honor of Earl Campbell and Walter Payton) is one of only three jerseys retired at Oklahoma State.


title: Thurman Thomas

text: A knee injury damaged Thomas's certain first round pick status and caused him to slip into second round (40th overall) of the 1988 NFL Draft by the Buffalo Bills, their first choice in the draft. Seven other running backs were drafted ahead of him. Thomas is well known as part of the offense that included Jim Kelly and Andre Reed, which led the Bills to four straight Super Bowl appearances.


title: Thurman Thomas

text: Thomas was the AFC rushing leader in three seasons (1990, 1991, and 1993). In the first three seasons of his career, Thomas had a total of twelve games with at least 100 yards rushing. The Bills won every one of those games. In 1989 and 1990, his combined total yards from scrimmage was 3,742. This was more than 200 yards better than any other player in the NFL. He was voted to the All-Pro team in 1990 and 1991, was selected to five straight Pro Bowls from 1989–1993, and was named NFL's Most Valuable Player in 1991, after becoming the eleventh player in NFL history to finish a season with over 2,000 all-purpose yards. Currently, he is fifteenth on the NFL all-time list for most rushing yards in a career.


title: Thurman Thomas

text: Thomas currently holds the all-time Buffalo Bills rushing record with 11,938 yards and the team record for yards from scrimmage with 16,279 over twelve seasons. He is also fourth overall in team scoring. Overall, Thomas finished his thirteen seasons (the last one was spent in Miami) with 12,074 rushing yards, 472 receptions for 4,458 yards, and 88 touchdowns (65 rushing and 23 receiving) with 16,532 total yards from scrimmage.


title: Thurman Thomas

text: Thomas is the only player in NFL history to lead the league in total yards from scrimmage for four consecutive seasons. He is one of only six running backs to have over 400 receptions and 10,000 yards rushing. Walter Payton, Marshall Faulk, Marcus Allen, Tiki Barber, and LaDainian Tomlinson are the other five. Thomas is also one of five running backs to have rushed for over 1,000 yards in eight consecutive seasons along with Curtis Martin, Barry Sanders, Emmitt Smith and Tomlinson.


title: Thurman Thomas

text: Thomas also set NFL playoff records with the most career points (126), touchdowns (21), and consecutive playoff games with a touchdown (nine). Overall, he rushed for 1,442 yards and caught 76 passes for 672 yards in his 21 postseason games. In a 1989 playoff loss to the Cleveland Browns, Thomas recorded thirteen receptions for 150 yards and two touchdowns, which was a postseason record for receptions by a running back and tied tight end Kellen Winslow's record for most receptions in a playoff game. At the time of his retirement, his 76 postseason receptions ranked him fourth all time, and to this day he remains the only running back among the NFL's top ten leaders in that category.


title: Thurman Thomas

text: Thomas had an outstanding performance in Super Bowl XXV, rushing for 135 yards and a touchdown, while also catching five passes for 55 yards. He would have likely won the Super Bowl MVP award, but the Bills lost the game 20-19 when kicker Scott Norwood missed a 47-yard field goal attempt with eight seconds remaining.


title: Thurman Thomas

text: Some fans and sports writers, such as Sports Illustrated writer Paul Zimmerman, have argued that Thomas had the best performance of the game, so therefore he should have won the MVP award even though his team lost. He had far more yards and catches than New York Giants running back Ottis Anderson, who won the MVP.


title: Thurman Thomas

text: His performances in the Bills other postseason games that year were also superb. He rushed for a total of 255 yards, caught eight passes for 99 yards, and scored three touchdowns in their two playoff games prior to the Super Bowl.


title: Thurman Thomas

text: Thomas is noted for a mishap in Super Bowl XXVI. Thomas had a pre-game ritual where he placed his helmet at the 34-yard line. His helmet was moved in order for the stage to be set up for Harry Connick, Jr. to perform the national anthem. This caused Thomas to miss Buffalo's first two offensive plays. He went on to gain just thirteen rushing yards and a touchdown on ten carries. He also caught four passes for 27 yards. On August 8, 2009, during teammate Bruce Smith's Hall of Fame induction speech, while he was acknowledging his relationship with Thomas, Bruce proclaimed "I hid your helmet!" Following the ceremony on NFL Total Access, Bruce indicated this was merely a joke.


title: Thurman Thomas

text: Thomas scored the first points of the game for his team on a two-yard touchdown run, but was limited to just nineteen rushing yards on eleven carries and four receptions for ten yards in Buffalo's 52-17 loss to the Dallas Cowboys. Thomas was still recovering from a hip injury he suffered in the first game of the postseason. As a result, running back Kenneth Davis got the majority of carries in the game. Thomas also committed a costly fumble that was converted into a Dallas touchdown.


title: Thurman Thomas

text: Thomas had another disappointing Super Bowl performance in this game, which the Bills lost to the Cowboys 30-13. He scored the only touchdown of the game for his team, but was limited to just 37 rushing yards on sixteen carries. He was a reliable target as a receiver out of the backfield, catching seven passes for 52 yards but he lost two fumbles that led to ten Dallas points.


title: Thurman Thomas

text: Thomas signed with the Miami Dolphins during the 2000 off-season, after the Bills had released him to clear space under the salary cap. He suffered a knee injury on November 12, 2000 against the San Diego Chargers which ended his NFL career. In his only season with the Dolphins, Thomas ran for 136 yards on 28 carries and no rushing touchdowns while having sixteen receptions for 117 yards and one receiving touchdown in nine games.


title: Thurman Thomas

text: After deciding to retire, Thomas signed a ceremonial one-day contract on February 27, 2001 with the Bills.


title: Thurman Thomas

text: Thurman Thomas was first eligible for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2006. In that year, he made it to the list of ten finalists, but was not one of the six players elected to the Hall that year. He was selected on February 3, 2007, to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Thomas joined his former quarterback Jim Kelly and wide receiver James Lofton in the Hall of Fame.


title: Thurman Thomas

text: Thomas, Steve Tasker, Andre Reed, Bruce Smith, Don Beebe, and Jim Kelly were the subject of the "30 for 30" film, "Four Falls of Buffalo".


title: Thurman Thomas

text: His jersey number, 34, was retired by the Bills on national TV on Monday October 29, 2018 in honor of his achievements.


title: Thurman Thomas

text: Thomas is married to Patti Mariacher, who is from Buffalo and was on the Oklahoma State University golf team. They have four children, Olivia, Angel, Annika, and Thurman III.


title: Thurman Thomas

text: He is involved with several business enterprises including sports, energy, telecommunications and construction. He was appointed as vice chair of the New York State Tourism Advisory Council in 2014.


title: Thurman Thomas

text: Thomas has been involved in community issues since early in his career, establishing the Thurman Thomas Foundation in 1992. He has talked about mental health and the effects of concussions suffered during his football career.


title: The Fearless Vampire Killers

text: The Fearless Vampire Killers, or Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are in My Neck (shortened to The Fearless Vampire Killers; originally released in the United Kingdom as Dance of the Vampires) is a 1967 British comedy horror film directed by Roman Polanski, written by Gérard Brach and Polanski, produced by Gene Gutowski and starring Polanski with his future wife Sharon Tate, along with Jack MacGowran and Alfie Bass, and featuring Ferdy Mayne.


title: The Fearless Vampire Killers

text: In the film, a doddering vampire hunter and his bumbling assistant travel to a small mountain village where they find the tell-tale traces of vampirism. The assistant becomes enchanted by the local tavern keeper's daughter, before she is promptly abducted. Determined to save the buxom maiden, they confront the undead Count in his castle. The film has been adapted into a musical, "Dance of the Vampires" (first adapted in German under the translated title ""Tanz der Vampire"").


title: The Fearless Vampire Killers

text: The film is set "deep in the heart of Transylvania" and the story appears to take place sometime during the mid-19th century. Professor Abronsius, formerly of the University of Königsberg, and his apprentice Alfred are on the hunt for vampires. Abronsius is old and withering and barely able to survive the cold ride through the wintry forests, while Alfred is bumbling and introverted. The two hunters come to a small village seemingly at the end of a long search for signs of vampires. The two stay at a local inn full of angst-ridden townspeople who perform strange rituals to fend off an unseen evil.


title: The Fearless Vampire Killers

text: While staying at the inn, Alfred develops a fondness for Sarah, the overprotected daughter of the tavern keeper Yoine Shagal. Alfred witnesses Sarah being kidnapped by the local vampire lord Count von Krolock. Crazed with grief and armed only with a bunch of garlic, Shagal attempts to rescue her but does not get very far before he is captured, drained of his blood and vampirised. After Shagal rises and attacks Magda, the tavern's beautiful maidservant and the object of his lust when he was still human, Abronsius and Alfred follow his trail in the snow, which leads them to Krolock's ominous castle in the snow-blanketed hills nearby. They break into the castle but are trapped by the Count's hunchbacked servant, Koukol. They are taken to see the Count, who affects an air of aristocratic dignity while questioning Abronsius about why he has come to the castle. They also encounter the Count's son, the foppish (and homosexual) Herbert. Meanwhile, Shagal, no longer caring about his daughter's fate, sets up his plan to turn Magda into his vampire bride.


title: The Fearless Vampire Killers

text: Despite misgivings, Abronsius and Alfred accept the Count's invitation to stay in his ramshackle Gothic castle, where Alfred spends the night fitfully. The next morning, Abronsius plans to find the castle crypt and destroy the Count by staking him in the heart, seemingly forgetting about the fate of Sarah. The crypt is guarded by the hunchback, so after some wandering they attempt to climb in through a roof window. However, Abronsius gets stuck in the aperture, and it falls to Alfred to complete the task of killing the Count in his slumber. At the last moment his nerve fails him and he cannot accomplish the deed. Alfred then has to go back outside to free Abronsius, but on the way he comes upon Sarah having a bath in her room. She seems oblivious to her danger when he pleads for her to come away with him, and informs him that a ball is to take place this very night. After briefly taking his eyes off her, Alfred turns to find Sarah has vanished into thin air.


title: The Fearless Vampire Killers

text: After freeing Abronsius, who is half-frozen, they re-enter the castle. Alfred again seeks Sarah but meets Herbert instead, who first attempts to seduce him, and then, after Alfred realizes that Herbert's reflection does not show up in the mirror, reveals his vampire nature and attempts to bite him. Abronsius and Alfred flee from Herbert through a dark stairway to safety, only to be trapped behind a locked door in a turret. As night is falling, they become horrified witnesses as the graves below open up to reveal a huge number of vampires of various past centuries at the castle, who hibernate and meet once a year only to feast upon any captives the Count has provided for them. The Count appears, mocking them and tells them their fate is sealed. He leaves them to attend the ball, where Sarah will be presented as the next vampire victim.


title: The Fearless Vampire Killers

text: The hunters escape by firing a cannon at the door—substituting steam pressure for gunpowder—and come to the ball in disguise, where, although exposed by their reflections in a huge mirror, they are able to grab Sarah and escape. Fleeing in a horse-drawn sleigh, Abronsius and Alfred are unaware that it is too late for Sarah; she awakens in mid-flight as a vampire and bites Alfred, thus allowing vampires to be released into the world.


title: The Fearless Vampire Killers

text: Roman Polanski talks about production difficulties in his autobiography: "Our first month's outdoor filming became a series of ingenious improvisations, mainly because the last-minute switch from one location (Austria) to another (Urtijëi, an Italian ski resort in the Dolomites) had left us so little time to revise our shooting schedules. The fact that we were filming in Italy entailed the employment of a certain number of Italian technicians and that, in turn bred some international friction. Gene Gutowski (the film's European producer) rightly suspected that the Italians were robbing us blind."


title: The Fearless Vampire Killers

text: Cinematographer Douglas Slocombe said: "I think he (Roman) put more of himself into "Dance of the Vampires" than into any other film. It brought to light the fairy-tale interest that he has. One was conscious all along when making the picture of a Central European background to the story. Very few of the crew could see anything in it—they thought it old-fashioned nonsense. But I could see this background...I have a French background myself and could sense the Central European atmosphere that surrounds it. The figure of Alfred is very much like Roman himself—a slight figure, young and a little defenseless—a touch of Kafka. It is very much a personal statement of his own humor as he used to chuckle all the way through the scenes." This film was the source material for the European stage musical "Tanz der Vampire". It is peppered with numerous references to King Richard III of England, who even appears in the ball scene.


title: The Fearless Vampire Killers

text: When the film was first released in the United States, MGM wanted to market it as a "farce". MGM Head Editor Margaret Booth and Head of Theatrical Post Production Merle Chamberlain cut 12 minutes' worth of material, and along with adding the animated prologue among other changes, the character of Professor Abronsius was re dubbed to give him a goofy, cartoony voice that would suit the "kooky" tone of the film. This version was slightly retitled as "The Fearless Vampire Killers, or Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are in My Neck". This was the version most commonly seen in the U.S. until it vanished from circulation in the mid-1970s. In the early 1980s, MGM unearthed a print of Roman Polanski's original cut and sent it to various repertory & revival houses for screenings. Polanski's cut has garnered new interest and reevaluated opinions from critics and fans of Polanski's works, who have previously bashed the film in its mutilated U.S. cut. Since then, the original version of the film is the one more commonly available today and has been released on VHS, LaserDisc, DVD and Blu-ray, and occasionally airs on TCM.


title: The Fearless Vampire Killers

text: "The Fearless Vampire Killers" was Polanski's first feature to be photographed in color using a widescreen 2.35:1 aspect ratio. The film is also notable in that it features Polanski's love of winter sports, particularly skiing.


title: The Fearless Vampire Killers

text: The score was provided by Krzysztof Komeda, who also scored three other films for Polanski, including "Rosemary's Baby".


title: The Fearless Vampire Killers

text: The sequence begins on a sunny day where a bird is minding his own business when the sun behind him sinks and the crescent moon rises in its place, starting night. The bird becomes alarmed and speeds away. Zooming out, the camera reveals the setting of a graveyard where Professor Abronsius and Alfred bump into each other. The two shake hands and a green vampire pops out from a grave behind them. After the successful scare, the vampire laughs as the camera zooms in on him. This process is repeated twice. A bag falls from the sky; Abronsius reaches in and takes out a box containing garlic, which he and Alfred eat. They sneak up to the vampire (who has no idea where they are), tap his shoulder and breathe garlic breath on him, causing him to shrink and run off. The bag drops to them again and Alfred brings out a gold crucifix and gives it to Abronsius. They sneak up on the now plugged-nose vampire, show him the crucifix, and again he shrinks and run off. He hides behind the tree and tries to scare them again, but the sun replaces the moon, signaling the vampire to run, and Abronsius and Alfred chase him to a coffin. The bag appears one last time and Abronsius takes out a mallet and a wooden stake. With Alfred's help he kills the vampire, then places the lid on the coffin. In the pitch-black backdrop Professor Abronsius and Alfred congratulate each other until the MGM logo appears, startling them. The lion in the logo roars as its fangs grow longer. Frightened, Abronsius and Alfred run away, and blood drips out of the lion's mouth.


title: The Fearless Vampire Killers

text: The comedy mask disappears and the MGM lion turns into a cartoon vampire with blood dripping from its mouth in the logo, from its older airings of this film in some European countries, the MGM lion fades instead with a different-looking vampire design appears with blood drips that comes out of a vampire, unlike its original version, the alternative version never saw its home video releases.


title: The Fearless Vampire Killers

text: "The Fearless Vampire Killers" holds an approval rating of 69% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 32 reviews, with an average rating of 6.2/10. The site's critics' consensus reads: "This uneven but amiable 1967 vampire picture is part horror spoof, part central European epic, and 100 percent Roman Polanski, whose signature sensibility colors every frame."


title: The Fearless Vampire Killers

text: "The Fearless Vampire Killers" was released to DVD by Warner Home Video on September 13, 2005 as a Region 1 widescreen DVD, and later in other territories. This version is Polanski's original cut bearing "The Fearless Vampire Killers" title card. A region-free Brazilian DVD was issued by Cinemagia that, while using a dated 4:3 letterbox master of the original cut, has the U.S. prologue as an bonus feature. Outside of 16 mm or 35 mm prints, no known official releases of the re-edited U.S. cut exist.


title: The Fearless Vampire Killers

text: The film, using the same version as the 2005 DVD, was released by Warner Home Video in France on December 20, 2013. This Blu-ray is locked to Region B and does not play on most North American Blu-ray players. In September 2019, Warner Archive announced a U.S. Blu-ray for "The Fearless Vampire Killers". Released two months later, it utilizes a new 2019 HD re-master of Polanski's original cut, along with the extras from the DVD release and the addition of the U.S. animated prologue.


title: Relayer

text: Relayer is the seventh studio album by the English progressive rock band Yes, released in November 1974 by Atlantic Records. After keyboardist Rick Wakeman left the group in May 1974 over disagreements with the band's direction following their double concept album "Tales from Topographic Oceans" (1973), Yes entered rehearsals as a four-piece in Buckinghamshire. They auditioned several musicians, including Greek keyboardist and composer Vangelis, before settling with Swiss musician Patrick Moraz of Refugee who incorporated elements of funk and jazz fusion to the album. "Relayer" is formed of three tracks, with "The Gates of Delirium" on side one and "Sound Chaser" and "To Be Over" on side two.


title: Relayer

text: "Relayer" received a mixed to positive reception from contemporary and retrospective critics. It reached No. 4 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 5 on the US "Billboard" 200. A single of the closing section of "The Gates of Delirium", titled "Soon", was released in January 1975. After touring in support of the album between November 1974 and July 1975, Yes went on a year-long hiatus. "Relayer" continued to sell, and is certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for selling over 500,000 copies in the US. It was remastered in 2003 and in 2014, both with previously unreleased tracks; the latter includes new stereo and 5.1 surround sound mixes and additional tracks.


title: Relayer

text: In April 1974, the Yes line-up of singer Jon Anderson, bassist Chris Squire, guitarist Steve Howe, keyboardist Rick Wakeman, and drummer Alan White wrapped their 1973–1974 tour in support of their previous album, "Tales from Topographic Oceans" (1973). The album had been a success for the band, reaching number one in the UK for two weeks, and became the first to be certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry based solely on pre-orders. Despite the group's success, during recording, Wakeman informed the band of his decision to leave at its conclusion following his disagreements and frustration with the direction the band had taken with the album, with its esoteric concept and its double length which he believed caused the material to suffer as a result. Wakeman confirmed his departure in May 1974, and the news was made public on 8 June.