title: Mumbai Police

text: The Mumbai Police Department is headed by a Police Commissioner, who is an IPS officer. The Mumbai Police comes under the state home department through Maharashtra Police. The city is divided into Twelve police zones and Twenty Five traffic police zones, each headed by a Deputy Commissioner of Police. The Traffic Police is a semi-autonomous body under the Mumbai Police.


title: Mumbai Police

text: The department holds several programs for the welfare of its officials including Retirement Planning Workshop.


title: Mumbai Police

text: Mumbai police is broadly divided into five regions namely Central, North, South, East and West. For administrative purposes, each region is subdivided into 3 to 4 zones. Each zone contains 3 to 4 police stations. Each zone is commanded by a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP). Apart from the 12 zones, there is also an additional Port zone. Police stations under the Port zone keep vigil on the Mumbai Port and container terminals in Mumbai. There are a total of 91 police stations in the jurisdiction of Mumbai Police. Every police station has a Police Inspector who is the in-charge officer of the station.


title: Mumbai Police

text: Those who join the police department through the subordinate services examination of the Maharashtra Public Service Commission enter the force at the lowest ranks of the force. Their starting rank is that of a Police constable. Those who join the police force through the combined competitive examination of the Maharashtra Public Service Commission holds a starting rank of Sub Inspector or Deputy Superintendent of Police of Maharashtra Police Service . Civil Servants who join the police force through the civil service examination conducted by UPSC holds a starting rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police of Indian Police Service cadre. Generally the IPS officers make it to the highest rank of Director General. The Commissioner of Police of Mumbai, an IPS officer is one of the rank of Additional Director General of Police.


title: Mumbai Police

text: Anti-Terrorism Squad Chief Hemant Karkare, Additional Commissioner of Police Ashok Kamte and Encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar were among the policemen who fell to the bullets of the terrorists. Then Joint Commissioner of Mumbai Crime Branch Mr. Rakesh Maria under the leadership of Police Commissioner Hasan Gafoor tackled the abrupt attack by his superb skills. Mr. Ramesh Mahale, then an officer with crime branch investigated the case and brought the lone arrested militant Ajmal Kasab to justice. Police Commissioner Hasan Gafoor was shunted out of his office. Mahale resigned recently over a murder case investigation which he was leading.


title: Mumbai Police

text: In the following year, as a response to these attacks, a specialised counter-terrorism unit, Force One was formed and commissioned on 24 November 2009, two days before the anniversary of the 26/11 terror attacks. A Committee was appointed to look into the failures of cops pertaining to the terror attack. The Ram Pradhan Committee, as it came to be known, furnished a report recommending a series of improvements & reforms. The State Government of Maharashtra however never had this report tabled in the legislature fearing a fallout over strictures passed in the report. A Public Interest Litigation has been filed by social activist Ketan Tirodkar to demand equal justice for all the police who were killed in the terror attack; especially for the members of the Bomb Disposal Squad of Mumbai Police. During the hearing of the petition, the Government informed the High Court that the Federal Government of India has rejected the proposal to award the Bomb Disposal Squad of the city police for their contribution in defusing granades in the terror attack.


title: Mumbai Police

text: Sheena Bora, an executive working for Metro One based in Mumbai, went missing on 24 April 2012. In August 2015, the Mumbai Police had received a tip-off from an unknown man claiming that Sheena Bora had been murdered. After they got in touch with their Counterparts in Pune, they arrested her mother, Indrani Mukerjea, her stepfather Sanjeev Khanna, and her mother's chauffeur, Shyamvar Pinturam Rai, for allegedly abducting and killing her and subsequently burning her corpse. They also arrested Indrani's husband, Peter Mukerjea in connection with the case. Rai has now been allowed to turn approver in the case after he was pardoned by the Bandra Magistrate Court in Mumbai. As of May 2017, Indrani, Peter, and Sanjeev have been lodged in Byculla Women's Prison and Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai, respectively.


title: Mumbai Police

text: Much of the equipment for the Mumbai Police are manufactured indigenously by the Indian Ordnance Factories controlled by the Ordnance Factories Board, Ministry of Defence, Government of India. Weapons such as Glock Pistols are imported from Austria. These pistols were first imported for the Anti-terrorist Squad in Mumbai when the same was formed in 2004.


title: Mumbai Police

text: Rifles SMLE Mk III*, Ishapore 2A1, SUB Machine GUN CARBINE 9 mm 1A1, 7.62 MM 1A1, Assault Rifle 7.62 mm, 38 MM Multi Shot Riot Gun, INSAS 5.56 mm, AK-47(247 in total), FN-FAL


title: Mumbai Police

text: 250 MP5 German automatic sub-machine guns have just been ordered., M4, M107 anti-material rifle and SWAT equipment.


title: Mumbai Police

text: Peaked caps are worn with an orange band and crown that is less stiff such it drops downwards. Khaki short sleeve shirt and long pants are worn by most members. Some women might wear sarees if they prefer. The patch of the police force is visible too.


title: Mumbai Police

text: Because Bollywood, India's Hindi language film industry, is primarily based in Mumbai, the Mumbai police has been frequently portrayed in films. Some of the prominent ones are listed below:


title: Mumbai Police

text: Most of these films are based on the operational groups most commonly known as Encounter Squads. Officers like Pradeep Sharma, Vijay Salaskar, Praful Bhosale, Ravindra Angre etc. have previously headed these squads. Junior officers Hemant Desai, Ashok Khot, Sachin Waze, Daya Nayak, Uttam Bhosale etc. assisted them.


title: Mumbai Police

text: The Ashok Chakra, India's highest civilian honour during peace time, was conferred posthumously upon two Mumbai Police officers – Hemant Karkare and Ashok Kamte who laid their lives in the service of the nation during the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Junior officer Vijay Salaskar was also posthumously awarded the Ashok Chakra.


title: Mumbai Police

text: The Cyber Crime App launched by Mumbai Police in 2019 registered 140,000 incidents within one year whereby 132,000 suspicious phone numbers were tracked.


title: Mumbai Police

text: The 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai have been ascribed to massive intelligence failure by Mumbai Police. Indian poet Dr Tapan Kumar Pradhan in his books and social media posts has exposed several loopholes in criminal investigation by Mumbai Police, especially with regard to Hemangi Sharma Fraud Case


title: Christian Social Union in Bavaria

text: The Christian Social Union in Bavaria (German: , CSU) is a Christian-democratic and conservative political party in Germany. Having a regionalist identity, the CSU operates only in Bavaria while its larger counterpart, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), operates in the other fifteen states of Germany. It differs from the CDU by being somewhat more conservative in social matters, following Catholic social teaching. The CSU is considered the "de facto" successor of the Weimar-era Catholic Bavarian People's Party.


title: Christian Social Union in Bavaria

text: At the federal level, the CSU forms a common faction in the Bundestag with the CDU which is frequently referred to as the Union Faction ("die Unionsfraktion") or simply CDU/CSU. The CSU has 45 seats in the Bundestag since the 2021 federal election, making it currently the second smallest of the seven parties represented. The CSU is a member of the European People's Party and the International Democrat Union.


title: Christian Social Union in Bavaria

text: Party leader Markus Söder serves as Minister-President of Bavaria, a position that CSU representatives have held from 1946 to 1954 and again since 1957.


title: Christian Social Union in Bavaria

text: Franz Josef Strauß (1915–1988) had left behind the strongest legacy as a leader of the party, having led the party from 1961 until his death in 1988. His political career in the federal cabinet was unique in that he had served four ministerial posts in the years between 1953 and 1969. From 1978 until his death in 1988, Strauß served as the Minister-President of Bavaria. Strauß was the first leader of the CSU to be a candidate for the German chancellery in 1980. In the 1980 federal election, Strauß ran against the incumbent Helmut Schmidt of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) but lost thereafter as the SPD and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) managed to secure an absolute majority together, forming a social-liberal coalition.


title: Christian Social Union in Bavaria

text: The CSU has led the Bavarian state government since it came into existence in 1946, save from 1954 to 1957 when the SPD formed a state government in coalition with the Bavaria Party and the state branches of the GB/BHE and FDP.


title: Christian Social Union in Bavaria

text: Initially, the separatist Bavaria Party (BP) successfully competed for the same electorate as the CSU, as both parties saw and presented themselves as successors to the BVP. The CSU was ultimately able to win this power struggle for itself. Among other things, the BP was involved in the "casino affair" under dubious circumstances by the CSU at the end of the 1950s and lost considerable prestige and votes. In the 1966 state election, the BP finally left the state parliament.


title: Christian Social Union in Bavaria

text: Before the 2008 elections in Bavaria, the CSU perennially achieved absolute majorities at the state level by itself. This level of dominance is unique among Germany's 16 states. Edmund Stoiber took over the CSU leadership in 1999. He ran for Chancellor of Germany in 2002, but his preferred CDU/CSU–FDP coalition lost against the SPD candidate Gerhard Schröder's SPD–Green alliance.


title: Christian Social Union in Bavaria

text: In the 2003 Bavarian state election, the CSU won 60.7% of the vote and 124 of 180 seats in the state parliament. This was the first time any party had won a two-thirds majority in a German state parliament. "The Economist" later suggested that this exceptional result was due to a backlash against Schröder's government in Berlin. The CSU's popularity declined in subsequent years. Stoiber stepped down from the posts of Minister-President and CSU chairman in September 2007. A year later, the CSU lost its majority in the 2008 Bavarian state election, with its vote share dropping from 60.7% to 43.4%. The CSU remained in power by forming a coalition with the FDP. In the 2009 general election, the CSU received only 42.5% of the vote in Bavaria in the 2009 election, which by then constituted its weakest showing in the party's history.


title: Christian Social Union in Bavaria

text: The CSU made gains in the 2013 Bavarian state election and the 2013 federal election, which were held a week apart in September 2013. The CSU regained their majority in the Bavarian Landtag and remained in government in Berlin. They had three ministers in the Fourth Merkel cabinet, namely Horst Seehofer (Minister of the Interior, Building and Community), Andreas Scheuer (Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure) and Gerd Müller (Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development).


title: Christian Social Union in Bavaria

text: The 2018 Bavarian state election yielded the worst result for the CSU in the state elections (top candidate Markus Söder) since 1950 with 37.2% of votes, a decline of over ten percentage points compared to the last result in 2013. After that, the CSU had to form a new coalition government with the minor partner Free Voters of Bavaria.


title: Christian Social Union in Bavaria

text: The 2021 German federal election saw the worst election result ever for the Union. The CSU also had a weak showing with 5.2% of votes nationally and 31.7% of the total in Bavaria.


title: Christian Social Union in Bavaria

text: The CSU is the sister party of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Together, they are called the Union. The CSU operates only within Bavaria, and the CDU operates in all states other than Bavaria. While virtually independent, at the federal level the parties form a common CDU/CSU faction. No Chancellor has ever come from the CSU, although Strauß and Edmund Stoiber were CDU/CSU candidates for Chancellor in the 1980 federal election and the 2002 federal election, respectively, which were both won by the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Below the federal level, the parties are entirely independent.


title: Christian Social Union in Bavaria

text: Since its formation, the CSU has been more conservative than the CDU. The CSU and the state of Bavaria decided not to sign the "Grundgesetz" of the Federal Republic of Germany as they could not agree with the division of Germany into two states after World War II. Although Bavaria like all German states has a separate police and justice system (distinctive and non-federal), the CSU has actively participated in all political affairs of the German Parliament, the German government, the German Bundesrat, the parliamentary elections of the German President, the European Parliament and meetings with Mikhail Gorbachev in Russia.


title: Christian Social Union in Bavaria

text: The CSU has contributed eleven of the twelve Ministers-President of Bavaria since 1945, with only Wilhelm Hoegner (1945–1946, 1954–1957) of the SPD also holding the office.


title: Shandong Taishan F.C.

text: Shandong Taishan Football Club () is a professional football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Jinan, Shandong and their home stadium is the Jinan Olympic Sports Center Stadium that has a seating capacity of 56,808. Their current majority shareholder is Shandong Electric Power Group Corporation, the biggest supplier of electric energy in Shandong province and itself part of the State Grid Corporation of China. "Luneng" is the name of Luneng Group, now another subsidiary corporation of State Grid Corporation of China; "Lu" is a nickname for Shandong, from the ancient state of Lu, while "neng" means "energy." The last part of the club name derives from Mount Tai.


title: Shandong Taishan F.C.

text: The club's predecessor was called Shandong Provincial team who were founded on April 10, 1956 while the current professional football team was established on December 2, 1993. They were one of the founding members of the first fully professional top-tier league in China. Since then they have gone on to win their first league title in the 1999 league season. They have continued to win domestic silverware with the 2006, 2008, 2010, 2021 league titles, making them one of the most successful Chinese football teams.


title: Shandong Taishan F.C.

text: According to "Forbes", Shandong are the 5th most valuable football team in China, with a team value of $126 million, and an estimated revenue of $24 million in 2015. In 2015, Beijing Guoan, Guangzhou Evergrande and Shandong Luneng Taishan were the only Chinese sports clubs with at least 5 million followers on Weibo.


title: Shandong Taishan F.C.

text: The club was founded on 10 April 1956 by the local Shandong Province government, to participate in the recently established and expanding Chinese football league, where the team originally named themselves Shandong Provincial team. Shandong took part in the 1957 league season, where they started within the second tier and finished bottom within the group stages. The following season saw an improvement from the team, finishing third within their group, however participation within the league became sporadic as the management decided to concentrate the team's efforts on the multi-sport event Chinese National Games. Participating within the 1965 Chinese National Games, the club ultimately finished ninth within the tournament. The following season, any attempt to return to the league was halted for several seasons due to the Chinese Cultural Revolution.


title: Shandong Taishan F.C.

text: When the league started back up again in 1973, Shandong were allowed to be included in the top tier and finished ninth at the end of the campaign. As the seasons progressed, they established themselves as regulars within the league, however the management still wished to compete within the Chinese National Games and entered a team in the 1979 tournament which they won, beating Beijing 3–1 in the final. The success of that tournament acted as a springboard for the team, and Shandong would experience finish as runners-up of the 1981 and 1982 league campaigns. The momentum Shandong showed at the start of the decade quickly faded, and by the end of the decade they had experienced their first ever relegation, finishing in the bottom positions for the 1989 league season. Unfortunately for Shandong, they were once again relegated the following season and sent down to the third tier.


title: Shandong Taishan F.C.

text: The club's time within the third division did not last very long, and they immediately won the division title and promotion at the end of the 1991 league season. The following campaign saw the Chinese Football Association decide to make Chinese football fully professional, and this seemed to spur on the club, as they came third within the division and guaranteed promotion to the first fully professional top-tier league, the 1994 Chinese Jia-A League. On 2 December 1993, Shandong football club became fully professional, gathered sponsorship and changed their name to Shandong Taishan Football Club. On 29 January 1994, Jinan City, the city government sponsored and participated in the club's management, changing its name to Shandong Jinan Taishan Football Club to accommodate this.


title: Shandong Taishan F.C.

text: Shandong would be one of the founding teams to participate within the inaugural fully professional 1994 Chinese Jia-A League season; however, the owners quickly ran into financial problems with the improved player wages and added costs of running a professional club, which saw players often paid late. The lack of funds also saw the club unable to sign any foreign imports, making them one of the few teams in the league without any foreign players within their roster. To add to the club's problems, several veterans who established the club within the league such as Wang Dongning and Leng Bo left the team at the end of the season. On 3 April 1995, the club changed its name to Jinan Taishan Football Club to accommodate their sponsors, however their financial problems still remained the same and they were unable to bring any new players into the squad. Despite this, manager Yin Tiesheng promoted from within, with players such as Li Xiaopeng and Liu Yue given a chance. However, it was the emergence of strikers Su Maozhen and Tang Xiaocheng which impressed the club's supporters the most, especially once Shandong defeated the recently crowned league champions Shanghai Greenland Shenhua in the 1995 Chinese FA Cup held in Nanjing. After the victory, Shandong General Tobacco (Group) Co., Ltd. became interested in the club and, on 2 March 1996, took control of the team, investing 6.5 million yuan into the club. With the continued investment from the Jinan City government as well, the club were on a sure financial footing, and with Su Maozhen becoming the league's top goal scorer and the team reaching another cup final again in 1996, things looked to have improved for the team, despite losing the final to Beijing Guoan 4–1 in Beijing.


title: Shandong Taishan F.C.

text: On 4 December 1997, the club held a consultation with the Shandong Electric Power Group Corporation and, on 5 January 1998, Shandong Electric Power Group Corporation became the majority shareholders of the club and changed the club's name to Shandong Luneng Football Club. While the Jinan City government still had significant shareholdings within the club, the new majority shareholders decided that the team needed a new direction and brought in the club's first ever foreign coach in Kim Jung-Nam at the beginning of the 1998 league season, after Yin Tiesheng wasn't able to improve upon the previous season's results. Kim came into Shandong with a reputation of having led South Korea into the 1986 FIFA World Cup, their first World Cup in over 32 years. He dramatically changed the team's style of play and emphasized attacking football, and new signing Deng Lejun from Beijing Guo'an thrived on this, scoring seven goals. Kim's style, however, didn't bring the team many wins, and he resigned later in the season, while Yin Tiesheng returned to manage the team away from relegation.


title: Shandong Taishan F.C.

text: On 25 December 1998, former Yugoslavian national team coach Slobodan Santrač joined Shandong as their new manager for the start of the 1999 league season. With key foreign signings in Serbian goalkeeper Saša Petrović, striker Luis Romero combining with now established Chinese international Su Maozhen along with the emergence of Li Xiaopeng, Shandong had the backbone of a team that surprised many to go on to the final day of the season and defeat Chongqing Longxin 5–0 to claim their first ever league title. Several days later, the club would achieve their first ever domestic cup double when they beat Dalian Wanda 4–3 on aggregate to clinch the 1999 Chinese FA Cup, which resulted in Santrač personally being awarded the Chinese Coach of the Year award. The 1999 FA Cup victory would unfortunately be tainted by controversy when, on 18 February 2013, it was confirmed by the Chinese police that former Chinese football association Head of refereeing Zhang Jianqiang was paid 400,000 Yuan by the club to select the referees for their fixtures in the tournament. Shandong would later be fined one million Yuan by the Chinese football association for this transgression.


title: Shandong Taishan F.C.

text: For the start of the 2000 league season, striker Casiano Delvalle and midfielder Charles Wittl were brought in to replace the exiting Luis Romero. Unfortunately for Shandong, they got off to the worst possible start to the season by losing their first game of the new campaign to the newly promoted side Yunnan Hongta 1–0. The club continued to struggle with defending their title and by the 16 July clash with Qingdao Etsong Hainiu, the pressure had already seen Santrač refuse to speak to the media despite Shandong actually winning the game 4–2. With the title already gone from Shandong and Santrač appearing to have lost control of the team he was forced to resign on 13 September 2000, while youth team coach Đoko Koković temporarily took over the team for the remainder of the season.


title: Shandong Taishan F.C.

text: In preparation for the 2001 season, speculations grew. Croatian Miroslav Blažević was rumoured to become the new head coach for the club's first team. After the end of the 2000 season, Shao Kenan was forced to step down as general manager and Dong Gang became his replacement on 2 November 2000. Dong's first decision was to hire Russian Boris Ignatiev. With Casiano Delvalle being the previous season's top goal scorer and the introduction of foreign veterans such as Gabriel Mendoza, José Oscar Herrera and Serhiy Nahornyak, expectations were high for Shandong. However, the team started the new season badly, losing 0–1 to newly-promoted side Shaanxi National Power in their opening match. Shandong Luneng then experienced one of the most devastating defeats in their history in the continental 2000–01 Asian Club Championship in March 2001, where they lost 6–2 to Júbilo Iwata and then 6–0 to the Suwon Samsung Bluewings. These were the first of a series of Shandong's humiliating defeats on the international stage, affecting the team's morale. In the summer of 2001, Nii Lamptey and later Márcio Santos were signed in an effort to halt the losing streak. Lamptey was instrumental in helping Shandong regain confidence and they finished their remaining matches strongly with 9 wins and 1 draw, including 7 straight wins towards the end of the 2001 season.


title: Shandong Taishan F.C.

text: Another Russian, Valeri Nepomniachi, who achieved great success at the 1990 FIFA World Cup with Cameroon, was appointed as Shandong's new head coach on 18 December 2001. Under his reign, the team's performance improved initially and finished 4th in the 2002 season, their second-best result since 1994. Nepomniachi was to stay for another year. However, Shandong struggled throughout the season and only finished 12th, barely avoiding relegation. Despite being named in a match-fixing scandal, Dong stayed as the club's general manager for another 2 years until November 2005, when he left his position to Kang Mengjun. Along the way, he made the decision to hire Ljubiša Tumbaković, who was to become Shandong's most successful manager.


title: Shandong Taishan F.C.

text: On 7 January 2004, Ljubiša Tumbaković was brought in as head coach for the rebranded 2004 Chinese Super League and, with the signing of Chinese international striker Li Jinyu along with the emergence of Han Peng, the club were able to win the 2004 FA Cup by beating Sichuan First City in the final. With the continued investment coming from the signing of another Chinese international in Zheng Zhi, Shandong looked to provide a better showing in the club's second outing in the 2005 AFC Champions League, where they reached the quarter-finals before being humbled by eventual winners Al-Ittihad (Jeddah) 8–3 on aggregate. The capitulation against Al-Ittihad, which saw Tumbakovic and players Zheng Zhi as well as Predrag Pazin sent off for abusive and violent conduct, would ultimately affect the team's performance within the league, and see them lose the 2005 league title, eventually coming third.


title: Shandong Taishan F.C.

text: In the 2006 Chinese Super League campaign, Tumbaković looked to overcome the disappointment of the previous season, and with the club not in the Champions League Shandong could concentrate on winning a league and cup double. With talented and motivated young players that included Cui Peng, Zhou Haibin and Wang Yongpo (along with Zheng Zhi personally winning the 2006 most valuable player award and Li Jinyu gaining the top goal scorer award), Shandong breezed to the title with several games remaining and, at the time, the highest points and goal total in Chinese football league history. After gaining his MVP title, Zheng Zhi would interest then-top tier English club Charlton Athletic, who he initially joined on loan before making his move permanent. His departure would see Shandong struggle in the 2007 AFC Champions League, and they couldn't improve upon their previous ACL results; despite gaining 13 points they were knocked out of the competition in the group stage by Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma, who finished above them on goal difference. The continental exit would once again repercuss into the league and see Shandong unable to defend their title. Without the Champions League to contend with, Tumbaković was able to regroup his team again and win the 2008 league campaign on the final day of the season when a 0–0 draw against Guangzhou Pharmaceutical was enough to clinch the title.


title: Shandong Taishan F.C.

text: On 7 February 2009, the team's Chinese international footballer Zhou Haibin signed for top tier Dutch club PSV Eindhoven on a free transfer. His sudden departure gave Shandong a confusing and difficult pre-season preparation, which saw them start the 2009 AFC Champions League with a 3–0 defeat to Gamba Osaka on 10 March 2009. This detrimental start would ultimately see the club unable to reach the knockout stage once again under Tumbaković. The club's league form also suffered, and after the team came fourth in their attempt to defend their title, the Shandong management decided to let Tumbaković go.


title: Shandong Taishan F.C.

text: On 21 November 2009, Sun Guoyu came in as the new general manager of the club, and his first assignment was to hire Branko Ivanković on 16 December 2009 as the club's new head coach. Established Chinese international player Deng Zhuoxiang joined the team before the start of the 2010 league campaign in hopes of revitialising the team's midfield. Once again Shandong's continental campaign saw them knocked out in the group stage of the 2010 AFC Champions League; however, unlike previous seasons, Shandong were able to recover from this disappointment, and with the inclusion of Julio César de León during the season, were able to win the league title. The club's defence of their league title saw promising youngster Zhang Chi seriously injured in the first game of the 2011 league season. The repercussion of his injury saw Shandong have a slow start to the season and on the verge of being eliminated once again in the group stage of the Champions League, which resulted in Ivanković resigning on 5 May 2011, two days after losing 2–1 to Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors. Rajko Magić took on the helm of head coach, however he was sacked after a series of losses and replaced by the head coach of the club's football school Manuel Barbosa on a caretaker basis, where he guided the team to a runners-up spot in the 2011 Chinese FA Cup.


title: Shandong Taishan F.C.

text: On 6 January 2012, Dutch coach Henk ten Cate was appointed as the new manager of the team. It was hoped that with his experience in previously managing Ajax, the birthplace of total football, he would enforce a faster, more free-flowing playing style. However, Henk ten Cate experimented with youth and alienated experienced regulars in Han Peng, Wang Yongpo and Liu Jindong, while the youngsters became overwhelmed with the increase of competitiveness. With the club's playmaker Roda Antar out injured, the management decided to sign experienced players in Du Wei, Simão Mate Junior, José Ortigoza and Leonardo Pisculichi. Henk ten Cate would eventually call back Wang Yongpo and Han Peng into the team, however by then the club were flirting with relegation and had been knocked out of the FA Cup. Henk ten Cate would resign on 6 September 2012, and was replaced by Chinese coach Wu Jingui, with Ten Cate stating he had left for personal reasons, with the monotonous daily life in Taishan and living separated from his family being the main signifiers.


title: Shandong Taishan F.C.

text: Controversies off the field would ultimately summarize Sun Guoyu's reign as general manager when on 6 October 2010 the Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China would confirm the arrests of former Chinese Football Association vice chairman Xie Yalong for accepting bribes as well as his knowledge match-fixing during his tenure. While under arrest he would claim that Shandong paid him 200,000 Yuan to select the referee for the 26 August 2006 league game against Beijing Guoan, played at Shandong's home stadium in a match they won 1–0 on their way to clinching the 2006 league championship. The former Head of Refereeing at the Chinese FA, Zhang Jianqiang, would corroborate this story and also claimed that he was paid 400,000 Yuan as a "thank you" from the club for his previous refereeing selections during his tenure. On 18 February 2013, the Chinese Football Association disciplinary committee found Shandong guilty of violating the regulations of the sport and fined them one million Yuan. On 25 December 2013, Sun Guoyu was replaced by Liu Yu as the new general manager of the team.


title: Shandong Taishan F.C.

text: On 22 December 2013, Shandong Luneng announced that Brazilian former footballer Cuca would become the new coach of the team. In 2013, Shandong was eliminated in the AFC Champions League group stage and finished fourth in the Chinese Super League. On 22 November 2014, Ryan McGowan's last-gasp header helped the team defeat Jiangsu Sainty and win the Chinese FA Cup in dramatic fashion, entering next year's Champions League. In 2015, Cuca's team failed to qualify from the group stage of the Champions League again, but finished third in the domestic league, earning the chance to participate in the 2016 AFC Champions League qualification stage.


title: Shandong Taishan F.C.

text: In December 2015, former Brazilian national team manager Mano Menezes became Shandong's new head coach, assisted by Li Xiaopeng.


title: Shandong Taishan F.C.

text: On 21 April 2016, with a 1–0 victory over Japanese side Sanfrecce Hiroshima, Shandong returned to the knockout stage of the AFC Champions League after an 11-year absence with one match of the group stage still remaining. On 25 May, they defeated Sydney FC to reach the quarter-finals. However, bad results in the domestic league led to Menezes' resignation on 7 June 2016. Felix Magath was appointed the next day.


title: Shandong Taishan F.C.

text: In 2017, Li Xiaopeng became the new manager after Magath was dismissed. Li would lead the club to several years of contention. This included a third-placed finish in the 2018 Chinese Super League and two Chinese FA Cup finals, winning the trophy in 2020 and finishing as runner-up in 2019.


title: Shandong Taishan F.C.

text: With the start of professionalism in the 1994 league season Shandong were allowed to now gain sponsorship and foreign investment. Adidas would provide their kit from 1994 until 2001 until Mizuno took over from 2002 until 2004. Nike started to provide the kits from 2005 and in 2011 they extended their association with the club along with the Chinese Super League when they signed a 10-year deal to provide all the apparel for the whole league.


title: Shandong Taishan F.C.

text: The following players were called up for the 2022 AFC Champions League group stage matches between 15 and 30 April 2022.


title: Prunus avium

text: Prunus avium, commonly called wild cherry, sweet cherry, gean, or bird cherry is a species of cherry, a flowering plant in the rose family, Rosaceae. It is native to Europe, Anatolia, Maghreb, and Western Asia, from the British Isles south to Morocco and Tunisia, north to the Trondheimsfjord region in Norway and east to the Caucasus and northern Iran, with a small isolated population in the western Himalaya. The species is widely cultivated in other regions and has become naturalized in North America and Australia.


title: Prunus avium

text: "Prunus avium" has a diploid set of sixteen chromosomes (2"n" = 16). All parts of the plant except for the ripe fruit are slightly toxic, containing cyanogenic glycosides.


title: Prunus avium

text: "Prunus avium" is a deciduous tree growing to tall, with a trunk up to in diameter. Young trees show strong apical dominance with a straight trunk and symmetrical conical crown, becoming rounded to irregular on old trees.


title: Prunus avium

text: The early history of its classification is somewhat confused. In the first edition of "Species Plantarum" (1753), Linnaeus treated it as only a variety, "Prunus cerasus" var. "avium", citing Gaspard Bauhin's "Pinax theatri botanici" (1596).


title: Prunus avium

text: His description, "Cerasus racemosa hortensis" ("cherry with racemes, of gardens") shows it was described from a cultivated plant. Linnaeus then changed from a variety to a species "Prunus avium" in the second edition of his "Flora Suecica" in 1755.


title: Prunus avium

text: Sweet cherry was known historically as gean or mazzard (also 'massard'). Until recently, both were largely obsolete names in modern English.


title: Prunus avium

text: The name "wild cherry" is also commonly applied to other species of "Prunus" growing in their native habitats, particularly to the North American species "Prunus serotina".


title: Prunus avium

text: "Prunus avium" means "bird cherry" in the Latin language, but in English "bird cherry" refers to "Prunus padus".


title: Prunus avium

text: 'Mazzard' has been used to refer to a selected self-fertile cultivar that comes true from seed, and which is used as a seedling rootstock for fruiting cultivars.


title: Prunus avium

text: The term is used particularly for the varieties of "P. avium" grown in North Devon and cultivated there, particularly in the British orchards at Landkey.


title: Prunus avium

text: The fruit are readily eaten by numerous kinds of birds and mammals, which digest the fruit flesh and disperse the seeds in their droppings. Some rodents, and a few birds (notably the hawfinch), also crack open the stones to eat the kernel inside.


title: Prunus avium

text: The leaves provide food for some animals, including Lepidoptera such as the case-bearer moth "Coleophora anatipennella".


title: Prunus avium

text: The tree exudes a gum from wounds in the bark, by which it seals the wounds to exclude insects and fungal infections.


title: Prunus avium

text: "Prunus avium" is thought to be one of the parent species of "Prunus cerasus" (sour cherry), by way of ancient crosses between it and "Prunus fruticosa" (dwarf cherry) in the areas where the two species overlap. All three species can breed with one another.


title: Prunus avium

text: It is often cultivated as a flowering tree. Because of the size of the tree, it is often used in parkland, and less often as a street or garden tree. The double-flowered form, 'Plena', is commonly found, rather than the wild single-flowered forms. In the UK, "P. avium" 'Plena' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.


title: Prunus avium

text: Two interspecific hybrids, "P". × "schmittii" ("P. avium" × "P. canescens") and "P". × "fontenesiana" ("P. avium" × "P. mahaleb") are also grown as ornamental trees.


title: Prunus avium

text: All parts of the plant except for the ripe fruit are slightly toxic, containing cyanogenic glycosides.


title: Prunus avium

text: Some 18th- and 19th-century botanical authors assumed a western Asian origin for the species based on the writings of Pliny; however, archaeological finds of seeds from prehistoric Europe contradict this view.


title: Prunus avium

text: Wild cherries have been an item of human food for several thousands of years. The stones have been found in deposits at Bronze Age settlements throughout Europe, including in Britain. In one dated example, wild cherry macrofossils were found in a core sample from the detritus beneath a dwelling at an Early and Middle Bronze Age pile-dwelling site on and in the shore of a former lake at Desenzano del Garda or Lonato, near the southern shore of Lake Garda, Italy. The date is estimated at Early Bronze Age IA, carbon dated there to 2077 BCE plus or minus 10 years. The natural forest was largely cleared at that time.


title: Prunus avium

text: As the main ancestor of the cultivated cherry, the sweet cherry is one of the two cherry species which supply most of the world's commercial cultivars of edible cherry (the other is the sour cherry "Prunus cerasus", mainly used for cooking; a few other species have had a very small input).


title: Prunus avium

text: Various cherry cultivars are now grown worldwide wherever the climate is suitable; the number of cultivars is now very large. The species has also escaped from cultivation and become naturalised in some temperate regions, including southwestern Canada, Japan, New Zealand, and the northeast and northwest of the United States.


title: Prunus avium

text: The hard, reddish-brown wood (cherry wood) is valued as a hardwood for woodturning, and making cabinets and musical instruments. Cherry wood is also used for smoking foods, particularly meats, in North America, as it lends a distinct and pleasant flavor to the product.


title: Prunus avium

text: Medicine can be prepared from the stalks (peduncles) of the drupes that is astringent, antitussive, and diuretic.


title: Prunus avium

text: Wild cherry is used extensively in Europe for the afforestation of agricultural land and it is also valued for wildlife and amenity plantings. Many European countries have gene conservation and/or breeding programmes for wild cherry.


title: Prunus avium

text: Pliny distinguishes between "Prunus", the plum fruit, and "Cerasus", the cherry fruit. Already in Pliny quite a number of cultivars are cited, some possibly species or varieties, Aproniana, Lutatia, Caeciliana, and so on. Pliny grades them by flavour, including dulcis ("sweet") and acer ("sharp"). and goes so far as to say that before the Roman consul Lucius Licinius Lucullus defeated Mithridates in 74 BC, "Cerasia … non-fuere in Italia", "There were no cherry trees in Italy". According to him, Lucullus brought them in from Pontus and in the 120 years since that time they had spread across Europe to Britain.


title: Prunus avium

text: Although cultivated/domesticated varieties of "Prunus avium" (sweet cherry) did not exist in Britain or much of Europe, the tree in its wild state is native to most of Europe, including Britain. Evidence of consumption of the wild fruits has been found as far back as the Bronze Age at a Crannog in County Offaly, in Ireland.


title: Prunus avium

text: Seeds of a number of cherry species have however been found in Bronze Age and Roman archaeological sites throughout Europe. The reference to "sweet" and "sour" supports the modern view that "sweet" was "Prunus avium"; there are no other candidates among the cherries found. In 1882 Alphonse de Candolle pointed out that seeds of "Prunus avium" were found in the Terramare culture of north Italy (1500–1100 BC) and over the layers of the Swiss pile dwellings. Of Pliny's statement he says (p. 210):


title: Prunus avium

text: Since this error is perpetuated by its incessant repetition in classical schools, it must once more be said that cherry trees (at least the bird cherry) existed in Italy before Lucullus, and that the famous gourmet did not need to go far to seek the species with the sour or bitter fruit.


title: Prunus avium

text: De Candolle suggests that what Lucullus brought back was a particular cultivar of "Prunus avium" from the Caucasus. The origin of cultivars of "P. avium" is still an open question. Modern cultivated cherries differ from wild ones in having larger fruit, 2–3 cm diameter. The trees are often grown on dwarfing rootstocks to keep them smaller for easier harvesting.


title: Prunus avium

text: Folkard (1892) similarly identifies Lucullus's cherry as a cultivated variety. He states that it was planted in Britain a century after its introduction into Italy, but "disappeared during the Saxon period". He notes that in the fifteenth century "Cherries on the ryse" (i.e. on the twigs) was one of the street cries of London, but conjectures that these were the fruit of "the native wild Cherry, or Gean-tree". The cultivated variety was reintroduced into Britain by the fruiterer of Henry VIII, who brought it from Flanders and planted a cherry orchard at Teynham.


title: K. M. Nanavati v. State of Maharashtra

text: Commander K. M. Nanavati vs. State of Maharashtra was a 1959 Indian court case where Kawas Manekshaw Nanavati, a Naval Commander, was tried for the murder of Prem Ahuja, his wife's lover. Commander Nanavati, accused under section 302, was initially declared not guilty by a jury, but the verdict was dismissed by the Bombay High Court and the case was retried as a bench trial. This was not the last jury trial in India, as is popularly believed. Nanavati was finally pardoned by Vijayalakshmi Pandit, newly appointed Governor of Maharashtra and sister of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.


title: K. M. Nanavati v. State of Maharashtra

text: The incident received unprecedented media coverage and inspired several books and films such as the 1973 film "Achanak", the 2016 film "Rustom", and the 2019 web series "The Verdict".


title: K. M. Nanavati v. State of Maharashtra

text: Kawas Manekshaw "K. M." Nanavati (1925 — 24 July 2003), a Parsi, was a commander in the Indian Navy and had settled down in Bombay with Sylvia (née King), his English-born wife and their two sons and a daughter.


title: K. M. Nanavati v. State of Maharashtra

text: With Nanavati frequently being away from home on assignments and affairs for long periods of time, Sylvia fell in love with Prem Bhagwandas Ahuja, a close Sindhi friend of Nanavati's. In her testimony in court, Prem's sister Mamie Ahuja, stated that Prem had agreed to marry Sylvia, provided she divorced her husband. However, this was contradicted by the letters written by Sylvia (admitted as Sylvia's testimony), where she expressed her desire to divorce Nanavati and marry Prem, but she doubted whether Prem had the same intentions. In a letter, she wrote "Last night when you spoke of your marrying me and the various other girls you might marry, something inside me snapped and I knew I could not bear the thought of your loving someone else".


title: K. M. Nanavati v. State of Maharashtra

text: On 27 April 1959, Nanavati returned home from one of his assignments and finding Sylvia aloof and distant, he questioned her. Sylvia, who now doubted Prem's intention to marry her, confessed about the affair to her husband. Nanavati dropped his family at the Metro Cinema, for the film Tom Thumb he had promised to take them to, but excused himself and headed straight to confront Prem Ahuja. When Sylvia was asked in court why she went to the cinema, leaving her agitated husband behind, she answered, "I was upset myself and I did not think clearly then. I was not indifferent to my husband killing himself… It is difficult to explain these things to children, so I took them to the cinema.


title: K. M. Nanavati v. State of Maharashtra

text: Nanavati went to the naval base, collected his pistol on a false pretext from the stores along with six bullets, completed his official duties and proceeded to Ahuja's office. On not finding him there, he went to Ahuja's flat and found him there. There was a verbal confrontation between the two men; according to Nanavati's account related in court, he had asked Ahuja whether the latter intended to marry Sylvia and accept their children. After Ahuja replied in the negative, three shots were fired and Ahuja dropped dead. Nanavati headed straight to confess to the Provost Marshal of the Western Naval Command and, on his advice, turned himself over to the Deputy Commissioner of Police.


title: K. M. Nanavati v. State of Maharashtra

text: The crux of the case was whether Nanavati shot Ahuja in the "heat of the moment" or whether it was a premeditated murder. In the former scenario, Nanavati would have been charged under the Indian penal code for culpable homicide, with a maximum punishment of 10 years. This is because he could have invoked exceptions 1 and 4 of section 300 of IPC (which defines murder). Exception 1 states:Culpable homicide is not murder if the offender, whilst deprived of the power of self-control by grave and sudden provocation, causes the death of the person who gave the provocation or causes the death of any other person by mistake or accident.Exception 4 states:Culpable homicide is not murder if it is committed without premeditation in a sudden fight in the heat of passion upon a sudden quarrel and without the offender having taken undue advantage or acted in a cruel or unusual manner.Explanation – It is immaterial in such cases which party offers the provocation or commits the first assault.In the latter scenario (i.e. premeditated murder), Nanavati would be charged with murder, with the sentence being death or life imprisonment. Nanavati pleaded not guilty and his defence team argued it a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, while the prosecution argued it was premeditated murder.


title: K. M. Nanavati v. State of Maharashtra

text: The jury in the Greater Bombay Sessions Court had only task: to pronounce a person as 'Guilty' or 'Not Guilty' under the charges. They could not indict any accused nor could punish the accused. The jury in the Greater Bombay sessions court pronounced Nanavati as not guilty under section 302 under which Nanavati was charged, with an 8–1 verdict. Mr. Ratilal Bhaichand Mehta (the sessions judge) considered the acquittal as perverse, and took a historic decision of overturning the jury's decision. He referred the case to the Bombay High Court for a retrial.


title: K. M. Nanavati v. State of Maharashtra

text: The court accepted the arguments, dismissed the jury's verdict and the case was freshly heard in the high court. It was claimed that jury had been influenced by media and was open to being misled. The Government of India abolished jury trials soon after in most cases except for Parsis who still have Jury Trials for their Matrimonial Disputes.


title: K. M. Nanavati v. State of Maharashtra

text: In the Bombay High Court, the defence put forth their version of the incident, for which there were no witnesses other than the two men, and no evidence. Hearing Sylvia's confession, an enraged Nanavati wanted to shoot himself, but was calmed down by Sylvia, who told him that he was not to be blamed and there was no reason that he should shoot himself. Since Sylvia did not tell him whether Prem intended to marry her, Nanavati sought to find it out for himself. When Nanavati met Prem at the latter's bedroom, Prem had just come out of the bath dressed only in a white towel; an angry Nanavati swore at Prem and proceeded to ask him if he intended to marry Sylvia and look after his children. Prem replied, "Will I marry every woman I sleep with?", which further enraged Nanavati. Seeing Nanavati go for the gun, enclosed in a brown packet, Prem too went for it and in the ensuing scuffle, Prem's hand caused the gun to go off and instantly kill him.


title: K. M. Nanavati v. State of Maharashtra

text: The prosecution's version of the story and their counter-points against the defence's version, was based on replies by witnesses and backed by evidence. The towel that Ahuja was wearing was intact on his body and had neither loosened nor fallen off. In the case of a scuffle, it is highly improbable that the towel would have stayed intact. After Sylvia's confession, a calm and collected Nanavati dropped his family to the theatre, drove to his naval base and according to the Navy log, had acquired a gun and rounds, under a false pretext. This indicated that the provocation was neither grave nor sudden and that Nanavati had the murder planned. Ahuja's servant Anjani testified that four shots were fired in quick succession and the entire incident took under a minute to occur, thus ruling out a scuffle. Nanavati walked out of Ahuja's residence, without explaining to his sister Mamie (who was present in another room of the flat) that it was an accident. He then unloaded the gun, went first to the Provost Marshal and then to the police to confess his crime, thus ruling out that he was dazed. The deputy commissioner of police testified that Nanavati confessed that he had shot dead Ahuja and even corrected the misspelling of his name in the police record.


title: K. M. Nanavati v. State of Maharashtra

text: The High Court agreed with the prosecution's argument that the murder was premeditated and sentenced Nanavati to life imprisonment for culpable homicide amounting to murder. On 24 November 1961, the Supreme Court of India upheld the conviction.


title: K. M. Nanavati v. State of Maharashtra

text: The incident both shocked and riveted the entire country. Such a 'crime of passion' was considered unusual. People also found the unfolding relationships intriguing; Nanavati had known Ahuja for nearly 15 years and Sylvia stood by her husband after Ahuja's murder.


title: K. M. Nanavati v. State of Maharashtra

text: The weekly tabloid "Blitz", owned by R. K. Karanjia, a Parsi himself, publicised the story, published exclusive cover stories and openly supported Nanavati. They portrayed him as a wronged husband and upright officer, betrayed by a close friend. Blitz painted Nanavati's image, as that of a man representing the ideal middle class values as against Ahuja's playboy image, that symbolised the corruption and sleaze of the bourgeois. A copy of Blitz during the trial sold for 2 rupees per copy, up from the normal rate of 0.25 rupees. Peddlers on the street sold "Ahuja Towels" and toy "Nanavati Revolvers."


title: K. M. Nanavati v. State of Maharashtra

text: Influential Parsis held regular rallies in Bombay, with Karl Jamshed Khandalavala represented Nanavati.


title: K. M. Nanavati v. State of Maharashtra

text: Nanavati had moved in the same social circles as the Nehru-Gandhi family for many years. He had previously worked as Defence Attaché to V. K. Krishna Menon, while the latter was high commissioner to the United Kingdom, and had grown close to the Nehrus during that time. During the time of Nanavati's trial and sentencing, Jawaharlal Nehru was Prime Minister of India and his sister, Vijayalakshmi Pandit, was governor of Bombay state.


title: K. M. Nanavati v. State of Maharashtra

text: All of these advantages may in other circumstances have availed Nanavati nothing, for a pardon might have been seen by the press and public at other times as a blatant misuse of power to help the crony of an influential political family. However, public opinion, in the largely conservative country, was decidedly in favour of Nanavati, seen as an upright naval officer with middle class values and a strong sense of honour. Public opinion held the sentence of life in prison was too harsh and supported a proposal, mooted by the Blitz, to grant a pardon to the naval officer. The Blitz magazine played a significant part in raising public opinion in favour of Nanavati and keeping the issue alive for over three years until the pardon was granted.


title: K. M. Nanavati v. State of Maharashtra

text: Nanavati spent 3 years in prison; it was feared that a pardon for him could elicit an angry reaction from the Sindhi community to which the Ahuja family belonged. At around this time, the government received an application for a pardon from Bhai Pratap, a Sindhi trader who had been a participant in the Indian independence movement, and had been convicted for misusing an import license. Given his freedom fighter background, and the relative insignificance of his offense, the government was inclined to pardon Bhai Pratap. Finally, an application seeking pardon for Nanavati was obtained even from Mamie Ahuja, sister of the deceased. She gave her assent for his pardon in writing. Vijayalakshmi Pandit, then Governor of Maharashtra, pardoned Bhai Pratap and Nanavati on the same day.


title: K. M. Nanavati v. State of Maharashtra

text: After his release, Nanavati, his wife Sylvia and their three children emigrated to Canada and settled in Burlington, Ontario. Kawas Nanavati died in Canada on 24 July 2003 of unknown reasons. Sylvia moved from their long-time Burlington home to an assisted living flat in 2019.


title: Rhiannon

text: Rhiannon is a major figure in the Mabinogi, the medieval Welsh story collection. She appears mainly in the First Branch of the Mabinogi, and again in the Third Branch. She is a strong-minded Otherworld woman, who chooses Pwyll, prince of Dyfed (west Wales), as her consort, in preference to another man to whom she has already been betrothed. She is intelligent, politically strategic, beautiful, and famed for her wealth and generosity. With Pwyll she has a son, the hero Pryderi, who later inherits the lordship of Dyfed. She endures tragedy when her newborn child is abducted, and she is accused of infanticide. As a widow she marries Manawydan of the British royal family, and has further adventures involving enchantments.


title: Rhiannon

text: Like some other figures of British/Welsh literary tradition, Rhiannon may be a reflection of an earlier Celtic deity. Her name appears to derive from the reconstructed Brittonic form *"Rīgantonā", a derivative of *"rīgan-" "queen". In the First Branch of the Mabinogi, Rhiannon is strongly associated with horses, and so is her son Pryderi. She is often considered to be related to the Gaulish horse goddess Epona. She and her son are often depicted as mare and foal. Like Epona, she sometimes sits on her horse in a calm, stoic way. This connection with Epona is generally accepted among scholars of the Mabinogi and Celtic studies, but Ronald Hutton, a historian of paganism, is skeptical.


title: Rhiannon

text: Rhiannon first appears at Gorsedd Arberth, an ancestral mound near one of the chief courts of Dyfed. Pwyll, the prince of Dyfed, has accepted the challenge of the mound's magical tradition to show a marvel or deal out blows. Rhiannon appears to him and his court as the promised marvel. She is a beautiful woman arrayed in gold silk brocade, riding a shining white horse. Pwyll sends his best horsemen after her two days running, but she always remains ahead of them, though her horse never does more than amble. On the third day he finally follows her himself and does no better, until he finally appeals to her to stop for him.


title: Rhiannon

text: Rhiannon characteristically rebukes him for not considering this course before, then explains she has sought him out to marry him, in preference to her current betrothed, Gwawl ap Clud. Pwyll gladly agrees, but at their wedding feast at her father's court, an unknown man requests Pwyll grant a request; which he does without asking what it is. The man is Gwawl, and he requests Rhiannon.


title: Rhiannon

text: Rhiannon rebukes Pwyll a second time for his rash promise, but provides the means and the plan to salvage the situation. She holds a second wedding feast for Gwawl, where she deploys Pwyll's men outside in the orchard. She instructs Pwyll to enter the hall dressed as a beggar and humbly request Gwawl fill a certain 'small bag' with food. But she has enchanted the 'small bag' so it cannot ever be filled by normal means. Gwawl is persuaded to step in it to control its magic, which means Pwyll can trap him in it. Pwyll's men rush in and surround the hall, then beat and kick Gwawl as the Badger-in-the-Bag game. To save his life Gwawl is forced to relinquish Rhiannon completely, and also his revenge. Rhiannon marries Pwyll, then journeys to Dyfed as its queen.


title: Rhiannon

text: After a happy two years, Pwyll comes under pressure from his nobles, to provide an heir. He refuses to set Rhiannon aside as barren, and in the third year their son is born. However, on the night of his birth, the newborn disappears while in the care of Rhiannon's six sleepy maids. Terrified of being put to death, the women kill a puppy and smear its blood on Rhiannon's sleeping face. In the morning they accuse her of infanticide and cannibalism. Rhiannon takes counsel with her own advisers, and offers to undergo a penance. Pwyll is again urged to set her aside, but refuses, and sets her penance instead. She must sit every day by the gate of the castle at the horse block, to tell her story to travelers. She must also offer to carry them on her back as a beast of burden, though few accept this. However, as the end of the story shows, Pwyll maintains her state as his queen, as she still sits at his side in the hall at feasting time.


title: Rhiannon

text: The newborn child is discovered by Teyrnon, the lord of Gwent-Is-Coed (South-Eastern Wales). He is a horse lord whose fine mare foals every May Eve, but the foals go missing each year. He takes the mare into his house and sits vigil with her. After her foal is born he sees a monstrous claw trying to take the newborn foal through the window, so he slashes at the monster with his sword. Rushing outside he finds the monster gone, and a human baby left by the door. He and his wife claim the boy as their own naming him Gwri Wallt Euryn (Gwri of the Golden Hair), for "all the hair on his head was as yellow as gold". The child grows at a superhuman pace with a great affinity for horses. Teyrnon who once served Pwyll as a courtier, recognises the boy's resemblance to his father. As an honourable man, he returns the boy to the Dyfed royal house.


title: Rhiannon

text: Reunited with Rhiannon the child is formally named in the traditional way via his mother's first direct words to him a wordplay on "delivered" and "worry", "care", or "loss". In due course Pwyll dies, and Pryderi rules Dyfed, marrying Cigfa of Gloucester, and amalgamating the seven cantrefs of Morgannwg to his kingdom.


title: Rhiannon

text: Pryderi returns from the disastrous Irish wars as one of the only Seven Survivors. Manawydan is another Survivor, and his good comrade and friend. They perform their duty of burying the dead king of Britain's head in London (Bran the Blessed) to protect Britain from invasion. But in their long time away, the kingship of Britain has been usurped by Manawydan's nephew Caswallon.


title: Rhiannon

text: Manawydan declines to make more war to reclaim his rights. Pryderi recompenses him generously by giving him the use of the land of Dyfed, though he retains the sovereignty. Pryderi also arranges a marriage between the widowed Rhiannon and Manawydan, who take to each other with affection and respect. Pryderi is careful to pay homage for Dyfed to the usurper Caswallon to avert his hostility.


title: Rhiannon

text: Manawydan now becomes the lead character in the Third Branch, and it is commonly named after him. With Rhiannon, Pryderi and Cigfa, he sits on the Gorsedd Arberth as Pwyll had once done. But this time disaster ensues. Thunder and magical mist descend on the land leaving it empty of all domesticated animals and all humans apart from the four protagonists.


title: Rhiannon

text: After a period of living by hunting the four travel to borderland regions (now in England) and make a living at skilled crafts. In three different cities they build successful businesses making saddles, shields, then shoes. But vicious competition puts their lives at risk. Rather than fight as Pryderi wishes, Manawydan opts to quietly move on. Returning to Dyfed, Manawydan and Pryderi go hunting and follow a magical white boar, to a newly built tower. Against Manawydan's advice, Pryderi enters it to fetch his hounds. He is trapped by a beautiful golden bowl. Manawydan returns to Rhiannon who rebukes him sharply for failing to even try to rescue his good friend. But her attempt to rescue her son suffers the same fate as he did. In a "blanket of mist", Rhiannon, Pryderi and the tower vanish.


title: Rhiannon

text: Manawydan eventually redeems himself by achieving restitution for Rhiannon, Pryderi, and the land of Dyfed. This involves a quasi-comical set of magical negotiations about a pregnant mouse. The magician Llwyd ap Cilcoed is forced to release both land and family from his enchantments, and never attack Dyfed again. His motive is revealed as vengeance for his friend Gwawl, Rhiannon's rejected suitor. All ends happily with the family reunited, and Dyfed restored.


title: Rhiannon

text: When Rhiannon first appears she is a mysterious figure arriving as part of the Otherworld tradition of Gorsedd Arberth. Her paradoxical style of riding slowly, yet unreachably, is strange and magical, though the paradox also occurs in mediaeval love poetry as an erotic metaphor. Rhiannon produces her "small bag" which is also a magical paradox for it cannot be filled by any ordinary means. When undergoing her penance, Rhiannon demonstrates the powers of a giantess, or the strength of a horse, by carrying travellers on her back.


title: Rhiannon

text: Rhiannon is connected to three mystical birds. The Birds of Rhiannon (Adar Rhiannon) appear in the Second Branch, in the Triads of Britain, and in Culhwch ac Olwen. In the latter, the giant Ysbaddaden demands them as part of the bride price of his daughter. They are described as "they that wake the dead and lull the living to sleep." This possibly suggests Rhiannon is based on an earlier goddess of Celtic polytheism.


title: Rhiannon

text: W. J. Gruffydd's book "Rhiannon" (1953) was an attempt to reconstruct the original story. It is mainly focused on the relationship between the males in the story, and rearranges the story elements too liberally for other scholars' preference, though his research is otherwise detailed and helpful. Patrick Ford suggests that the Third Branch "preserves the detritus of a myth wherein the Sea God mated with the Horse Goddess." He suggests "the mythic significance may well have been understood in a general way by an eleventh century audience." Similar euhemerisms of pre-Christian deities can be found in other medieval Celtic literature, when Christian scribes and redactors reworked older deities as more acceptable giants, heroes or saints. In the "Táin Bó Cúailnge", Macha and The Morrígan similarly appear as larger-than-life figures, yet never described as goddesses.


title: Rhiannon

text: Proinsias Mac Cana's position is that "[Rhiannon] reincarnates the goddess of sovereignty who, in taking to her a spouse, thereby ordained him legitimate king of the territory which she personified." Miranda Green draws in the international folklore motif of the calumniated wife, saying, "Rhiannon conforms to two archetypes of myth ... a gracious, bountiful queen-goddess; and ... the 'wronged wife', falsely accused of killing her son."


title: Rhiannon

text: Rhiannon appears in many retellings and performances of the Mabinogi (Mabinogion) today. There is also a vigorous culture of modern fantasy novels. These include "The Song of Rhiannon" (1972) by Evangeline Walton, which retells the Third Branch of the Mabinogion.


title: Rhiannon

text: Leigh Brackett used the name Rhiannon in her Planetary romance novel "The Sword of Rhiannon" (1949); in this book Rhiannon is the name of a powerful male Martian.


title: Rhiannon

text: An example of a modern Rhiannon inspiration is the Fleetwood Mac song "Rhiannon" (1975). Stevie Nicks was inspired to create the song after reading "Triad: A Novel of the Supernatural", a novel by Mary Bartlet Leader. There is mention of the Welsh legend in the novel, but the Rhiannon in the novel bears little resemblance to her original Welsh namesake. Nevertheless, despite having little accurate knowledge of the original Rhiannon, Nicks' song does not conflict with the canon, and quickly became a musical legend.


title: Rhiannon

text: In artworks, Rhiannon has inspired some entrancing images. A notable example is Alan Lee 1987, and 2001, who illustrated two major translations of the Mabinogi, and his pictures have attracted their own following.


title: Rhiannon

text: In the "Robin of Sherwood" story "The King's Fool" (1984), Rhiannon's Wheel is the name of a stone circle where Herne the Hunter appears to the characters.


title: Rhiannon

text: Rhiannon is included in various Celtic neopaganism traditions since the 1970s, with varying degrees of accuracy in respect to the original literary sources.


title: Rhiannon

text: In the fantasy world of Poul Anderson's "Three Hearts and Three Lions", there is a "University of Rhiannon", where Magic is taught.


title: Death's Door (video game)

text: Death's Door is a 2021 action-adventure game developed by Acid Nerve and published by Devolver Digital. It was released for Microsoft Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S on July 20, 2021, and for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on November 23, 2021. It received positive reviews upon release, with several publications praising its mechanics, simplicity, and difficulty level, likening it to "The Legend of Zelda" and "Dark Souls" games. It is also a sequel to "Titan Souls".


title: Death's Door (video game)

text: "Death's Door" is a 3D, isometric action-adventure game. The player takes on the role of a small crow who works as a "reaper" collecting souls for the Reaping Commission Headquarters, an office-like bureaucratic afterlife. For the first mission of the game, the character is sent to collect the soul of a monster who does not want to leave life willingly. After defeating it, a large, old crow intervenes and steals the soul before telling him of a potential conspiracy regarding the disappearance of other crows. The old crow explains that the player must make their way through three dungeons in order to collect three "Giant Souls" needed to open Death's Door. Throughout the game, more information is revealed about the Reaping Commission's background and leader, the Lord of Doors. Using an array of weapons, projectiles, magic, and dodging, the player travels through several areas, all of which link back to Headquarters via a door, defeating three bosses to collect Giant Souls. Upon unlocking the door, the player learns that the bureaucracy was created when Death entered into an arrangement with the first Lord of Doors to process souls on Death's behalf in exchange for extending the life of the Lord of Doors until they appoint a successor. Instead of appointing a successor and accepting the end of their life, the current Lord instead imprisoned Death behind the door in order to gain immortality. The final boss fight is with the Lord of Doors, after which the bureaucracy is dismantled. After the credits, the player can switch to night mode and solve puzzles in each of the levels to collect Tablets of Knowledge which unlock the true ending, revealing the crows were acting on the will of the entity known as Truth.


title: Death's Door (video game)

text: The player starts with a sword, and bow and arrow. Sword strikes string together into combos and ammo for the bow is replenished by using the sword. Four other weapons and three magic projectiles become available as the game progresses, but the basic attack mechanics remain. At the start, the player has four health points, with all damage causing one to be depleted. Health is recovered by collecting and planting seeds in pots which appear throughout the world. The seeds grow into plants which restore full health and eventually regrow. Doors to and from the afterlife area exist as checkpoints throughout the game. When the player dies, they respawn at the nearest door without otherwise losing progress. As with other Zelda-like games, new items and abilities allow access to new areas in previously explored levels, and solving puzzles with available tools is required to complete dungeons. The game uses souls as a currency, collected by killing enemies and finding secret pick-ups, which can be used to upgrade basic abilities.


title: Death's Door (video game)

text: "Death's Door" was developed by Acid Nerve, a Manchester, United Kingdom-based two-person studio comprising Mark Foster and David Fenn. Foster is credited as programmer, designer, writer, and animator; Fenn was producer, designer, composer, and sound designer. They also worked with two concept artists and a modeler. The developers wanted to use ideas and themes from their previous game, "Titan Souls", and create a more advanced, polished game. They drew inspiration from "The Legend of Zelda", "Dark Souls", and the work of Japanese animation studio Studio Ghibli.


title: Death's Door (video game)

text: The game was about half-way complete at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, which required they move to remote work and leave their new office but, it otherwise did not have a significant negative impact on development. It was published by Devolver Digital. It was released for Microsoft Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S in July 2021, selling more than 100,000 copies in its first week. The game released for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 in November 2021.


title: Death's Door (video game)

text: "Death's Door" received "generally favorable" reviews according to the review aggregator Metacritic. Multiple reviewers likened its aesthetics to the "Dark Souls" games, but with a markedly lighter tone and gentler learning curve.


title: Death's Door (video game)

text: "GameSpot"s Alessandro Barbosa wrote that it "doesn't take itself too seriously, but it always finds interesting ways to make a point about the unending cycle of life and death, the pursuit of a means to unbalance that cycle, and ultimately the consequences of those actions." It has been called a difficult game, but not punishing or sadistic. Its mechanics drew comparisons to the top-down "Legend of Zelda" games. Reviewers praised the game's relative simplicity, relying on tight mechanics common to the genre and a short overall playtime.


title: Death's Door (video game)

text: "PC Gamer"s Luke Winkie criticized aspects of the level design, which necessitate more backtracking than should be required, but with an overall positive review: "It's as if a grand entry to an overarching canon—filled with quirks, humor, and wondrous attention to detail—was miraculously miniaturized to fit into a fortnight's worth of lunch breaks." In a positive review, Brendan Graeber wrote in "IGN" that it "expertly blends classic dungeon puzzle solving with fast-paced combat encounters to create a memorable adventure across a moody world brimming with secret paths and hidden rewards." "Kotaku" praised the developers' attention to detail and execution on the fundamentals of game design. "Destructoid" similarly said that while not the most original game, it does everything it sets out to do very well. Fenn also received praise for his compositions and sound design.


title: Death's Door (video game)

text: The game won the award for "Best Game Feel" at the INDIE Live Expo Winter 2021 Awards, whereas its other nomination was for "Best New Characters". It also won the award for "Best Indie Game" at the 2021 Golden Joystick Awards, and was nominated for "Best Indie" at The Game Awards 2021, and for "IGN"s "Best Action Game of 2021" award, which went to "Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy". It was also nominated for the Off-Broadway Award for Best Indie Game at the New York Videogame Critics Circle's 11th Annual New York Game Awards, which went to "Sable"; for the "Adventure Game of the Year" and "Outstanding Achievement for an Independent Game" awards at the 25th annual D.I.C.E. Awards, which went to "Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy" and "Unpacking", respectively; for "Outstanding Game, Original Adventure" at the 21st annual NAVGTR Awards, which went to "The Medium"; for "Indie Game of the Year" at the SXSW Gaming Awards, which went to ""; and for "British Game" and "Original Property" at the 18th British Academy Games Awards, which went to "Forza Horizon 5" and "It Takes Two", respectively. The game won the award for "Narrative Innovation of the Year" at the 2022 MCV/Develop Awards, and was nominated for the "Action and Adventure Game" and "Visual Design" awards at The Independent Game Developers' Association Games Industry Awards 2022, both of which went to "Horizon Forbidden West" and "OlliOlli World".


title: Bisha K. Ali

text: Bisha K. Ali (born 1988/1989) is a British-Pakistani stand-up comedian and screenwriter. She is the head writer for the streaming television series "Ms. Marvel" for Disney+.


title: Bisha K. Ali

text: Bisha Ali was born to Pakistani parents. She worked as a data scientist and then a domestic violence support worker, before moving to a career in stand-up comedy. In 2012, she participated in the Royal Court Theatre's Young Writers programme. Her script "Book Club", for a Sky diversity initiative, was optioned by Tiger Aspect Productions. She later wrote additional material for the series "Sex Education".


title: Bisha K. Ali

text: Her first major scriptwriting role was for the 2019 miniseries "Four Weddings and a Funeral", working with Mindy Kaling. In 2019, she was announced as head writer for the upcoming streaming television series "Ms. Marvel" for Disney+. She also was a writer on the fellow Marvel Studios series "Loki".


title: Bisha K. Ali

text: Ali has written for "The Huffington Post", and co-presented The Guilty Feminist podcast with Deborah Frances-White and GrownUpLand for BBC Radio 4.


title: Harry Secombe

text: Sir Harold Donald Secombe (8 September 1921 – 11 April 2001) was a Welsh comedian, actor, singer and television presenter. Secombe was a member of the British radio comedy programme "The Goon Show" (1951–1960), playing many characters, most notably Neddie Seagoon. An accomplished tenor, he also appeared in musicals and films – notably as Bumble in "Oliver!" (1968) – and, in his later years, was a presenter of television shows incorporating hymns and other devotional songs.


title: Harry Secombe

text: Secombe was born in St Thomas, Swansea, the third of four children of Nellie Jane Gladys (née Davies), a shop manageress, and Frederick Ernest Secombe, a commercial traveller and office worker for a Swansea wholesale grocery business. From the age of 11 he attended Dynevor School, a state grammar school in central Swansea.


title: Harry Secombe

text: His family were regular churchgoers, belonging to the congregation of St Thomas Church. A member of the choir, from the age of 12 Secombe would perform a sketch entitled "The Welsh Courtship" at church socials, acting as "feed" to his sister Carol. His elder brother, Fred Secombe, became the author of several books about his experiences as an Anglican priest and rector.


title: Harry Secombe

text: After leaving school in 1937, Secombe became a pay clerk at Baldwin's store. With war looming, he decided in 1938 that he would join the Territorial Army. Very short sighted, he got a friend to tell him the sight test, and then learnt it by heart. He served as a Lance Bombardier in No.132 Field Regiment of the Royal Artillery. He referred to the unit in which he served during the Second World War in the North African Campaign, Sicily, and Italy, as "The Five-Mile Snipers". While in North Africa Secombe met Spike Milligan for the first time. In Sicily he joined a concert party and developed his own comedy routines to entertain the troops.


title: Harry Secombe

text: When Secombe visited the Falkland Islands to entertain the troops after the 1982 Falklands War, his old regiment promoted him to the rank of sergeant – 37 years after he had been demobbed.


title: Harry Secombe

text: He made his first radio broadcast in May 1944 on a variety show aimed at the military services. Following the end of fighting in the war but prior to demobilisation, Secombe joined a pool of entertainers in Naples and formed a comedy duo with Spike Milligan.


title: Harry Secombe

text: Secombe joined the cast of the Windmill Theatre in 1946, using a routine he had developed in Italy about how people shaved. An early review said that Secombe was “an original humorist of the infectious type and is very funny in a series showing how different men shave and in an impression of a vocalist.” Secombe always claimed that his ability to sing could always be counted on to save him when he bombed.


title: Harry Secombe

text: After a regional touring career, his first break came in radio in 1951 when he was chosen as resident comedian for the Welsh series "Welsh Rarebit," followed by appearances on "Variety Bandbox" and a regular role in "Educating Archie".


title: Harry Secombe

text: Secombe met Michael Bentine at the Windmill Theatre, and he was introduced to Peter Sellers by his agent Jimmy Grafton. Both Milligan and Sellers credited him with keeping the act on the bill when club owners had wanted to sack them. Together with Spike Milligan, the four wrote a comedy radio script, and "Those Crazy People" was commissioned and first broadcast on 28 May 1951. Produced by Dennis Main Wilson, this soon became "The Goon Show" and the show remained on the air until 1960. Secombe mainly played Neddie Seagoon, around whom the show's absurd plots developed. In 1955, whilst appearing on "The Goon Show", Secombe was approached by the BBC to step in at short notice to take the lead in the radio comedy "Hancock's Half Hour". The star of the show, Tony Hancock, had decided to take an unannounced break abroad, on the day before the live airing of the second season. Secombe appeared in the lead for the first three episodes and had a guest role in the fourth after Hancock's return. All four episodes are lost, but following the discovery of the original scripts, the episodes were rerecorded in 2017, with his son, Andrew Secombe performing the role held by his late father.


title: Harry Secombe

text: With the success of "The Goon Show", Secombe developed a dual career as both a comedy actor and a singer. At the beginning of his career as an entertainer, his act would end with a joke version of the duet "Sweethearts," in which he sang both the baritone and falsetto parts. Trained under Italian maestro Manlio di Veroli, he emerged as a "bel canto" tenor (characteristically, he insisted that in his case this meant "can belto") and had a long list of best-selling record albums to his credit.


title: Harry Secombe

text: In 1958 he appeared in the film "Jet Storm," which starred Dame Sybil Thorndike and Richard Attenborough and in the same year Secombe starred in the title role in "Davy", one of Ealing Studios' last films.


title: Harry Secombe

text: The power of his voice allowed Secombe to appear in many stage musicals. This included 1963's "Pickwick," based on Charles Dickens's "The Pickwick Papers", which gave him the no. 18 hit single "If I Ruled the World" – his later signature tune. In 1965 the show was produced on tour in the United States, where, on Broadway, he garnered a nomination for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Secombe scored his biggest hit single in 1967 with his version of "This Is My Song", which peaked at no. 2 on the charts in March 1967 while a recording by Petula Clark, which had hit no. 1 in February, was still in the top ten. He also appeared in the musical "The Four Musketeers" (1967) at Drury Lane, as Mr. Bumble in Carol Reed's film of "Oliver!" (1968), and in the Envy segment of "The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins" (1971).


title: Harry Secombe

text: He went on to star in his own television show, "The Harry Secombe Show", which debuted on Christmas Day 1968 on BBC 1 and ran for thirty-one episodes until 1973. A sketch comedy show featuring Julian Orchard as Secombe's regular sidekick, the series also featured guest appearances by fellow Goon Spike Milligan as well as leading performers such as Ronnie Barker and Arthur Lowe. Secombe later starred in similar vehicles such as "Sing a Song of Secombe" and ITV's "Secombe with Music" during the 1970s.


title: Harry Secombe

text: Later in life, Secombe (whose brother Fred Secombe was a priest in the Church in Wales, part of the Anglican Communion) attracted new audiences as a presenter of religious programmes, such as the BBC's "Songs of Praise" and ITV's "Stars on Sunday" and "Highway". He was also a special programming consultant to Harlech Television and hosted a Thames Television programme in 1979 entitled "Cross on the Donkey's Back". In the latter half of the 1980s, Secombe personally sponsored a football team for boys aged 9–11 in the local West Sutton Little League, 'Secombes Knights'.


title: Harry Secombe

text: In 1990, he was one of a few to be honoured by a second appearance on "This Is Your Life", when he was surprised by Michael Aspel at a book signing in a London branch of WH Smith. Secombe had been a subject of the show previously in March 1958 when Eamonn Andrews surprised him at the BBC Television Theatre.


title: Harry Secombe

text: He was knighted in 1981, and jokingly referred to himself as Sir Cumference (in recognition of his rotund figure). The motto he chose for his coat of arms was "GO ON", a reference to goon.


title: Harry Secombe

text: Secombe suffered from peritonitis in 1980. Within two years, taking advice from doctors, he had lost five stone in weight. He had a stroke in 1997, from which he made a slow recovery. He was then diagnosed with prostate cancer in September 1998. After suffering a second stroke in 1999, he was forced to abandon his television career, but made a documentary about his condition in the hope of giving encouragement to other sufferers. Secombe had diabetes in the latter part of his life.


title: Harry Secombe

text: Secombe died on 11 April 2001 at the age of 79, from prostate cancer, in hospital in Guildford, Surrey. His ashes are interred at the parish church of Shamley Green, and a later memorial service to celebrate his life was held at Westminster Abbey on 26 October 2001. As well as family members and friends, the service was also attended by Charles, Prince of Wales and representatives of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Anne, Princess Royal, Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon and Prince Edward, Duke of Kent. On his tombstone is the inscription: "To know him was to love him."


title: Harry Secombe

text: Upon hearing of his old friend's death, Spike Milligan quipped, "I'm glad he died before me, because I didn't want him to sing at my funeral." But Secombe had the last laugh: upon Milligan's own death the following year, a recording of Secombe singing was played at Milligan's memorial service.


title: Harry Secombe

text: The Secombe Theatre at Sutton, Greater London, was named after him. He is also fondly remembered at the London Welsh Centre, where he opened the bar on St Patrick's Day (17 March) 1971.


title: Harry Secombe

text: Secombe met Myra Joan Atherton at the Mumbles Dance Hall in 1946. The couple were married from 1948 until his death, and had four children:


title: Quorthon

text: Thomas Börje Forsberg (17 February 1966 – 3 June 2004), better known by the stage name Quorthon, was a Swedish musician. He was one of the founders, as well as the sole songwriter, of the band Bathory, which pioneered the black metal genre and is credited with creating the Viking metal style. A multi-instrumentalist, Quorthon wrote the music and lyrics on all of Bathory's albums and performed vocals and guitars.


title: Quorthon

text: Quorthon formed Bathory in 1983 when he was 17 years old, after briefly playing in the Oi! band Stridskuk, which also featured drummer Johan "Jolle" Elvén and bass player Rickard "Ribban" Bergman, who later played on early Bathory demos and in the case of Bergman, albums. He recorded his early albums together with the help of his father Börje Forsberg who was also the head of the Swedish record label Tyfon Grammofon that would go on to release most of Bathory's albums through the subsidiary Black Mark Production. The first album was recorded in the garage of schlager writer Peter Himmelstrand, dubbed Studio Heavenshore.


title: Quorthon

text: During the mid-to-late 1980s, live performances by Bathory were rare. Albums from this period contributed to the then-burgeoning black metal subgenre, and rare photographs of the band helped in part to define its image. Beginning in the 1990s, Quorthon took full control of Bathory, choosing to forgo performing live in order to spend time recording music with hired musicians, as well changing style from the black metal of the 1980s to a slower, heavier style which eventually became the founding of the Viking metal genre, due to its lyrics being focused on Norse mythology. From this point onward, he also played bass guitar on almost all of his albums, and mostly used a drum machine or a session drummer.


title: Quorthon

text: Quorthon also personally paid for the production of Bathory's only music video, for the song "One Rode to Asa Bay", taken from their fifth studio album, "Hammerheart". The video was shown on MTV's "Headbangers Ball", though Quorthon had not yet seen it at the time he was interviewed for the program.


title: Quorthon

text: In 1993 Quorthon set Bathory aside and recorded and released two albums under the name "Quorthon". The first, called "Album", was released in 1994. The final two solo releases emerged in 1997, "Purity of Essence" and the EP "When Our Day Is Through". The albums released under the Quorthon moniker were more rock-oriented than Bathory's black/Viking metal style. While working on these albums he found new inspiration to continue composing music for Bathory. Bathory's next albums were in a retro-thrash metal style, before he veered towards his Viking metal style once again, especially on the "Nordland" saga.


title: Quorthon

text: On 3 June 2004, Quorthon was found dead in his apartment in Stockholm. The cause of his death was a congenital heart defect. He was 38 years old.


title: Lectio Divina

text: In Western Christianity, Lectio Divina (Latin for "Divine Reading") is a traditional monastic practice of scriptural reading, meditation and prayer intended to promote communion with God and to increase the knowledge of God's word. In the view of one commentator, it does not treat Scripture as texts to be studied, but as the living word.


title: Lectio Divina

text: Traditionally, "Lectio Divina" has four separate steps: read; meditate; pray; contemplate. First a passage of Scripture is read, then its meaning is reflected upon. This is followed by prayer and contemplation on the Word of God.


title: Lectio Divina

text: The focus of "Lectio Divina" is not a theological analysis of biblical passages but viewing them with Christ as the key to their meaning. For example, given Jesus' statement in : "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you", an analytical approach would focus on the reason for the statement during the Last Supper, the biblical context, etc. In "Lectio Divina", however, the practitioner "enters" and shares the peace of Christ rather than "dissecting" it. In some Christian teachings, this form of meditative prayer is understood as leading to an increased knowledge of Christ.


title: Lectio Divina

text: The roots of scriptural reflection and interpretation go back to Origen in the 3rd century, after whom Ambrose taught them to Augustine of Hippo. The monastic practice of "Lectio Divina" was first established in the 6th century by Benedict of Nursia and was then formalized as a four-step process by the Carthusian monk Guigo II during the 12th century. In the 20th century, the constitution "Dei verbum" of the Second Vatican Council recommended "Lectio Divina" to the general public and its importance was affirmed by Pope Benedict XVI at the start of the 21st century.


title: Lectio Divina

text: Before the beginning of the Western monastic communities, a key contribution to the foundation of "Lectio Divina" came from Origen in the 3rd century, with his view of "Scripture as a sacrament". In a letter to Gregory of Neocaesarea Origen wrote: "[W]hen you devote yourself to the divine reading ... seek the meaning of divine words which is hidden from most people". Origen believed that The Word (i.e. "Logos") was incarnate in Scripture and could therefore touch and teach readers and hearers. Origen taught that the reading of Scripture could help move beyond elementary thoughts and discover the higher wisdom hidden in the "Word of God".


title: Lectio Divina

text: In Origen's approach the major interpretive element of Scripture is Christ. In his view all Scriptural texts are secondary to Christ and are only revelations in as much as they refer to Christ as The Word of God. In this view, using Christ as the "interpretive key" unlocks the message in Scriptural texts.


title: Lectio Divina

text: The "primordial role" of Origen in interpreting Scripture was acknowledged by Pope Benedict XVI. Origen's methods were then learned by Ambrose of Milan, who towards the end of the 4th century taught them to Saint Augustine, thereby introducing them into the monastic traditions of the Western Church thereafter.


title: Lectio Divina

text: In the 4th century, as the Desert Fathers began to seek God in the deserts of Palestine and Egypt, they produced early models of Christian monastic life that persisted in the Eastern Church. These early communities gave rise to the tradition of a Christian life of "constant prayer" in a monastic setting. Although the desert monks gathered to hear Scripture recited in public, and would then recite those words privately in their cells, this was not the same practice as what later became "Lectio Divina" since it involved no meditative step.


title: Lectio Divina

text: After Origen, Church Fathers such as St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, and St. Hilary of Poitiers used the terms "Lectio Divina" and "Lectio Sacra" to refer to the reading of Scripture.


title: Lectio Divina

text: According to Jean Leclercq, OSB, the founders of the medieval tradition of "Lectio Divina" were Saint Benedict and Pope Gregory I. However, the methods that they employed had precedents in the biblical period both in Hebrew and Greek. A text that combines these traditions is where Apostle Paul refers to the presence of God's word in the believer's "mouth or heart". It was the recitation of the biblical text that provided the rationale for "Lectio Divina".


title: Lectio Divina

text: With the motto "Ora et labora" ("Pray and work"), daily life in a Benedictine monastery consisted of three elements: liturgical prayer, manual labor and "Lectio Divina", a quiet prayerful reading of the Bible. This slow and thoughtful reading of Scripture, and the ensuing pondering of its meaning, was their meditation. This spiritual practice is called "divine reading" or "spiritual reading"i.e. "lectio divina".


title: Lectio Divina

text: Benedict wrote "Idleness is the enemy of the soul. Therefore, the brethren should have specified periods of manual labor as well as for prayerful reading ["lectio divina"]." The Rule of Saint Benedict (chapter #48) stipulated specific times and manners for "Lectio Divina". The entire community in a monastery was to take part in the readings during Sunday, except those who had other tasks to perform.


title: Lectio Divina

text: Early in the 12th century, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux was instrumental in re-emphasizing the importance of "Lectio Divina" within the Cistercian order. Bernard considered "Lectio Divina" and contemplation guided by the Holy Spirit the keys to nourishing Christian spirituality.


title: Lectio Divina

text: The progression from Bible reading, to meditation, to prayer, to loving regard for God, was first formally described by Guigo II, a Carthusian monk and prior of Grande Chartreuse who died late in the 12th century. The Carthusian order follows its own Rule, called the Statutes, rather than the Rule of St Benedict.


title: Lectio Divina

text: Guigo II's book "The Ladder of Monks" is subtitled "a letter on the contemplative life" and is considered the first description of methodical prayer in the western mystical tradition. In Guigo's four stages one first reads, which leads to think about (i.e. meditate on) the significance of the text; that process in turn leads the person to respond in prayer as the third stage. The fourth stage is when the prayer, in turn, points to the gift of quiet stillness in the presence of God, called contemplation.


title: Lectio Divina

text: Guigo named the four steps of this "ladder" of prayer with the Latin terms "lectio", "meditatio", "oratio", and "contemplatio". In the 13th century the Carmelite Rule of St. Albert prescribed to Carmelites the daily prayerful pondering on the Word of God, namely to ruminate day and night the Divine Law. "Lectio Divina" alongside the daily celebration of liturgy is to this day the pillar of prayer in Carmel.


title: Lectio Divina

text: In the 14th century, Gerard of Zutphen built on "Guigo's Ladder" to write his major work "On Spiritual Ascents". Zutphen warned against considered meditation without reading of Scripture, and taught that the reading prepares the mind, so meditation will not fall into error. Similarly, he taught that meditation prepares the mind for contemplation.


title: Lectio Divina

text: By the beginning of the 16th century, the methods of "methodical prayer" had reached Spain and St. John of the Cross taught the four stages of Guigo II to his monks. During the century, Protestant Reformers such as John Calvin continued to advocate the "Lectio Divina". A Reformed version of the "Lectio Divina" was also popular among the Puritans: Richard Baxter, a Puritan theologian, championed the practice.


title: Lectio Divina

text: By the middle of 19th century, the historical critical approach to biblical analysis which had started over a century earlier, and focused on determining the historicity of gospel episodes, had taken away some of the emphasis on spreading "Lectio Divina" outside monastic communities. However, the early part of the 20th century witnessed a revival in the practice, and books and articles on "Lectio Divina" aimed at the general public began to appear by the middle of the century.


title: Lectio Divina

text: In 1965, one of the principal documents of the Second Vatican Council, the dogmatic constitution "Dei verbum" ("Word of God") emphasized the use of "Lectio Divina". On the 40th anniversary of "Dei verbum" in 2005, Pope Benedict XVI reaffirmed its importance and stated:


title: Lectio Divina

text: In his November 6, 2005 Angelus address, Benedict XVI emphasized the role of the Holy Spirit in "Lectio Divina": In his annual Lenten addresses to the priests of the Diocese of Rome, Pope Benedict – mainly after the 2008 Synod of Bishops on the Bible – emphasized "Lectio Divina" importance, as in 2012, when he used Ephesians 4:1–16 on a speech about certain problems facing the Church. Beforehand, he and Pope John Paul II had used a question-and-answer format. "One condition for "Lectio Divina" is that the mind and heart be illumined by the Holy Spirit, that is, by the same Spirit who inspired the Scriptures, and that they be approached with an attitude of 'reverential hearing'."


title: Lectio Divina

text: Since the latter part of the 20th century, the popularity of "Lectio Divina" has increased outside monastic circles and many lay Catholics, as well as some Protestants, practice it, at times keeping a "Lectio journal" in which they record their thoughts and contemplations after each session. The importance of "Lectio Divina" is stressed in the Anglican Communion as well.


title: Lectio Divina

text: Historically, "Lectio Divina" has been a "community practice" performed by monks in monasteries. Although it can be taken up individually, its community element should not be forgotten.


title: Lectio Divina

text: "Lectio Divina" has been likened to "feasting on the Word": first, the taking of a bite ("lectio"); then chewing on it ("meditatio"); savoring its essence ("oratio") and, finally, "digesting" it and making it a part of the body ("contemplatio"). In Christian teachings, this form of meditative prayer leads to an increased knowledge of Christ.


title: Lectio Divina

text: Unlike meditative practices in Eastern Christianity – for instance, hesychasm, where the Jesus Prayer is repeated many times – "Lectio Divina" uses different Scripture passages at different times. Although a passage may be repeated a few times, "Lectio Divina" is not essentially repetitive in nature.