title: Stephanie Pratt

text: In 2013, Pratt made several appearances on television in the United Kingdom. This included being a guest on the spin-off of "Celebrity Big Brother", as well as making a special appearance from episodes two onwards on season 6 of E4's "Made in Chelsea", a British equivalent of "The Hills". Pratt continued her role on the reality-series for the seventh series broadcast from April 2014. Furthermore, Pratt had a recurring role on spin-off show "", which was broadcast from August 2014. On 18 August 2014, she entered the "Celebrity Big Brother" house for the fourteenth series as a housemate. Pratt lasted 19 days inside the house, before exiting on 5 September 2014. Pratt returned with a feature role for the eighth series of "Made in Chelsea" and met new boyfriend Josh Shepherd on the show. The couple's relationship moved from strength to strength with the pair enjoying Christmas of 2014 in Barbados. The couple then broke up during the filming of "".


title: Stephanie Pratt

text: Her memoir titled "Made in Reality: From the Hills of L.A. to London's Made in Chelsea" was released by Headline on August 13, 2015, and became a "Sunday Times" bestseller. In the book she discusses her relationships, struggles with drug addiction, eating disorder and the pressure of fame. In October 2016, she launched a now-defunct wellness website NutritionBySteph.com and supplements range called "To Be Honest".


title: Stephanie Pratt

text: MTV announced a reboot of "The Hills" entitled "" at the MTV Video Music Awards on August 20, 2018. Pratt was announced as part of the cast of the new series. The series reunited the original cast members, alongside their children, friends, and new faces, and follows their personal and professional lives while living in Los Angeles. It premiered on June 24, 2019.


title: Stephanie Pratt

text: Pratt has been featured in several magazines such as the UK's "FHM" and "OK!", and the US's "Maxim", "H, Us Weekly" and "Runway." She was signed to MiLk Model Management, a London modelling agency, in 2016.


title: Stephanie Pratt

text: Pratt launched a jewelry collaboration with MeMe London in July 2015. She later became a permanent member of MeMe London's team and has hosted several events for the brand. In 2017, Pratt launched and modelled two collections for fashion brand Goddiva. The second collection titled "French Kiss" included 40 pieces, such as floor length gowns and party dresses. Her third collection for the brand was released in fall 2018.


title: Stephanie Pratt

text: She has struggled with bulimia in the past due to the pressure to be thin stemming from appearing alongside very thin co-stars on the show.


title: Stephanie Pratt

text: In April 2010, Pratt posed nude for PETA's "Be Nice to Bunnies" iPhone application, which is intended to help the public find stores and products that are kind to animals.


title: Stephanie Pratt

text: In May 2006, while Pratt was on Oahu, she was arrested for stealing $1300 worth of clothing from Neiman Marcus. She was charged with second degree theft, and while in custody, police also found drugs in her possession. On May 31, 2020, Pratt tweeted to "Shoot the looters" after multiple stores burnt down during the Black Lives Matter George Floyd protests. Her comments were met with criticism given her 2006 shoplifting arrest, and her mugshot went viral.


title: Stephanie Pratt

text: In October 2009, she was arrested for driving under the influence after Holly Montag's birthday. Pratt claimed she drank one glass of wine, but blew a 0.08 after being pulled over for tinted windows. She was released after paying $5000 bail and being sentenced to three year's probation, which she successfully completed.


title: The Inner Light (Star Trek: The Next Generation)

text: "The Inner Light" is the 125th episode overall and the 25th and penultimate episode of the of the American science fiction television series "". The episode was written by freelance writer Morgan Gendel based on his original pitch. It was partly inspired by the Beatles' song "The Inner Light", written by George Harrison and based on verses in the Tao Te Ching. Gendel is credited as writer of the story and co-writer of the teleplay with Peter Allan Fields. It was first broadcast on June 1, 1992.


text: Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet crew of the Federation starship Enterprise-D. In this episode, Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) is struck unconscious by an energy beam from an alien probe. While minutes pass for the rest of the crew, the probe makes Picard experience 40 years of lifetime as Kamin, a humanoid scientist whose planet is threatened by the nova of its sun. Toward the end of Kamin's "lifetime," Picard—who had come to accept his new life, though he never forgot his life on the "Enterprise"—learns that the purpose of the probe and the 40 years of virtual life it gave him was to keep alive the memory of Kamin's race long after the death of their civilization. Brought on board afterwards for analysis, the probe also contains Kamin's flute; Picard, having mastered it during his 40 years as Kamin, finds he retained the musical skills he learned and can still play it. He keeps it as a memento for the remainder of the series.


text: The episode is widely considered by critics and fans as one of the best episodes of the entire "Star Trek" franchise. In 1993, "The Inner Light" won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. The flute melody, featured prominently in the episode, was composed by Jay Chattaway and has since been re-arranged for a full orchestra. The episode has also been cited as a favorite by members of the show's cast and crew.


text: On stardate 45944.1, the "Enterprise"-D finishes a magnetic wave survey of the Parvenium system and finds an unknown probe. The device rapidly scans the ship and directs an energy beam at Captain Picard, who wakes up to find himself on Kataan, a non-Federation planet. His wife, Eline, tells Picard that he is Kamin, an iron weaver recovering from a fever. Picard speaks of his life on the "Enterprise" but Eline and their close friend Batai try to convince Picard that his memories were only dreams and incorporate him into their society as Kamin. Picard begins living his life as Kamin in his village, Ressik, having children with Eline and learning to play the flute. Kamin spends much time outdoors and with his Dobsonian telescope studying nature. As years pass, he begins to notice that the drought is caused by increased radiation from the planet's sun. He sends reports to the planet's leaders, who seem to ignore his concerns.


text: On "Enterprise", the crew continues attempts to revive Picard. They try to block the influence of the probe but Picard nearly dies, so they are forced to let it continue. They trace the rocket's trajectory to a system whose sun went nova 1,000 years before, rendering life extinct in the system. Years pass and Kamin outlives Eline and Batai. Kamin and his daughter Meribor continue their study of the drought. They find that it is not temporary; the extinction of life on the planet is inevitable. Kamin confronts a government official who privately admits to him that they already know this but keep it secret to avoid panic. The official gravely points out to Kamin that they have only recently launched artificial satellites using primitive rockets: their race simply does not possess the technology to evacuate people before their planet is rendered uninhabitable.


text: One day, while playing with his grandson, Kamin is summoned by his adult children to watch the launch of a rocket, which everyone seems to know about except him. As he walks outside into the glaring nova light, Kamin sees Eline and Batai, as young as when he first saw them. They explain that he has already seen the rocket, just before he came there. Knowing that their planet was doomed, the planet's leaders placed memories of their society into a probe and launched it into space, in the hope that it would find someone who could tell others about their species. Picard realizes the context: "Oh, it's me, isn't it?", he says, "I'm the someone... I'm the one it finds", realizing that Kamin was the avatar they chose to represent their race.


text: Picard wakes up on the bridge of the "Enterprise" to discover that while he perceived many decades to have transpired, only 25 minutes have passed. The probe terminates and is brought aboard the "Enterprise". Inside, the crew finds a small box. Riker gives the box to Picard, who opens it to find Kamin's flute. Picard, now adept at the instrument, plays a melody he learned during his life as Kamin.


text: Morgan Gendel named the episode after "The Inner Light", a song written by George Harrison and released by the Beatles as the B-side of their 1968 single "Lady Madonna". The lyrics of Harrison's song were based on the 47th chapter of the "Tao Te Ching", which reads:


text: Without going outside his door, one understands (all that takes place) under the sky; without looking out from his window, one sees the Tao of Heaven. The farther that one goes out (from himself), the less he knows. Therefore the sages got their knowledge without travelling; gave their (right) names to things without seeing them; and accomplished their ends without any purpose of doing so.


text: According to Gendel, the song "captured the theme of the show: that Picard experienced a lifetime of memories all in his head."


text: The brass Ressikan flute resembles, and has a similar sound to, a penny whistle or a tin whistle. It is considered a lasting reminder of Picard's virtual life on the planet throughout the rest of the series. Picard's flute could occasionally be seen in its box sitting on his desk. It plays a role in the episode "" where Picard develops a romantic relationship with a stellar cartographer assigned to the "Enterprise", Nella Daren, an accomplished pianist who encourages his musical side and with whom he performs a duet version of the "Inner Light" theme. Earlier in the sixth season, a scene shows Picard practicing Mozart on the flute in the beginning of "A Fistful of Datas". Its final appearance was in a deleted scene from "Star Trek Nemesis"; Lieutenant Commander Data picks it up and examines it while discussing human life with Picard. The original placement of this scene was to have been immediately following the wedding ceremony shown in the opening scenes. The simple theme that Picard plays on the flute was later developed into a full orchestral suite for the 30th anniversary of "Star Trek".


text: From October 5–7, 2006, the Ressikan flute was one of the items up for bid at the Christie's official studio auction of "Star Trek" memorabilia. The prop flute, which cannot actually be played, was originally estimated to have a sale price of . Auction directors admitted that their estimates for many items did not "factor in that emotional fury generated around this kind of material". The estimate was later raised to $800–$1,200 on Christie's web site. In the days leading up to the auction, Denise Okuda, former "Trek" scenic artist and video supervisor, as well as co-writer of the auction catalog, said: "That's the item people say they really have to have, because it's so iconic to a much-beloved episode." The final bid for the flute at the auction was US$40,000. Including the additional 20% fee Christie's collected on all items from the winning bidder, the total price for the flute was .


text: On June 29, 2021 the Ressikan flute was auctioned during a Prop Store collectables auction, selling for .


text: This episode won the 1993 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. The award was given at the World Science Fiction Convention in San Francisco. "The Inner Light" was the first television program to be so honored since the "" episode "The City on the Edge of Forever" won in 1968. The other Hugo Award-winning "Star Trek" episodes are "The Menagerie" (the only two-part episode of the original series) and "" (the series finale of "The Next Generation").


text: The episode was also nominated in 1993 for an Emmy award for Makeup in a series, but lost to "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine"'s "Captive Pursuit".


text: The episode is the favorite episode of actor Patrick Stewart, who played Captain Jean-Luc Picard. "Star Trek" writer Susan Sackett notes that it is also her favorite episode even though it is not one she wrote. "The Inner Light" was ranked among the top five episodes in a "viewers' choice" marathon that was broadcast just before the premiere of the series finale. IO9 ranked "The Inner Light" as the 8th best episode of all "Star Trek" episodes up to 2011.


text: "Variety" called it the best "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode. "The Hollywood Reporter" ranked "The Inner Light" as the 4th best "Star Trek" episode of all 700+ episodes in 2016. The flute solo, composed by Jay Chattaway was noted as one of the famous pieces of music from "Star Trek".


text: In 2015, "The Hollywood Reporter" noted this episode's presentation of Picard remembering his probe-life and quietly playing the Ressikan flute in his cabin as one of the top ten "most stunning" moments of "Star Trek: The Next Generation".


text: In 2016, "Empire" ranked this the tenth best out of the top 50 episodes of all the 700+ "Star Trek" television episodes.


text: In 2016, "Radio Times" magazine said that Picard playing the flute at the end of the episode was the 6th greatest scene of all "Star Trek" film and television.


text: In 2017, "Screen Rant" rated "The Inner Light" as the 3rd most romantic episode of "Star Trek" for the relationship between the Picard and Eline characters.


text: In 2017, "Fatherly" ranked this episode as one of the top 10 episodes of "Star Trek" for kids to watch.


text: In 2017, "Den of Geek" ranked this episode as one of top 25 "must watch" episodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation".


text: In 2017, "Vulture.com" listed "The Inner Light" as one of the best episodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation".


text: In 2018, "Popular Mechanics" listed "The Inner Light" as one of the top 12 episodes for the Jean-Luc Picard character. The episode was noted as not having a traditional villain, rather it was more of a misunderstanding between two cultures as Picard was forced to live an entire life in the space of a few minutes of normal time.


text: In 2019, "Screen Rant" ranked "The Inner Light" as one of the top ten important episodes to watch in preparation for the series "".


text: In 2019, "The Hollywood Reporter" listed this among the twenty five best episodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation".


text: In 2020, "The Digital Fix" said this was the second best episode of "Star Trek:The Next Generation," calling it a "rich, powerful, piece of storytelling" and praising Patrick Stewart's acting as Picard contending with an experience outside his usual job of Starship captain.


text: In 2021, Robert Vaux writing for CBR, highlighted this episode among a trio of season five episodes (along with "The Perfect Mate" and "Darmok") that Patrick Stewart really shined in. He points out the episode is "widely cited as one of the best "Trek" episodes of any kind."


text: A DVD release came as part of "The Best of Star Trek: The Next Generation – Volume 2" on November 17, 2009, in the United States.


title: Marylebone Cricket Club

text: Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence.


title: Marylebone Cricket Club

text: In 1788, the MCC took responsibility for the laws of cricket, issuing a revised version that year. Changes to these Laws are now determined by the International Cricket Council (ICC), but the copyright is still owned by MCC. When the ICC was established in 1909, it was administered by the secretary of the MCC, and the president of MCC automatically assumed the chairmanship of ICC until 1989.


title: Marylebone Cricket Club

text: For much of the 20th century, commencing with the 1903–04 tour of Australia and ending with the 1976–77 tour of India, MCC organised international tours on behalf of the England cricket team for playing Test matches. On these tours, the England team played under the auspices of MCC in non-international matches. In 1993, its administrative and governance functions were transferred to the ICC and the Test and County Cricket Board (TCCB).


title: Marylebone Cricket Club

text: MCC teams are essentially "ad hoc" because they have never taken part in any formal competition, but have always held first-class status when playing against first-class opposition. By tradition, to mark the beginning of each English season, MCC plays the reigning county champions.


title: Marylebone Cricket Club

text: The present president of the club is Stephen Fry, who assumed the twelve-month office on 1 October 2022, replacing Clare Connor, the first woman to hold the post.


title: Marylebone Cricket Club

text: The origin of MCC was as a gentlemen's club that had flourished through most of the 18th century, including, at least in part, an existence as the original London Cricket Club, which had played at the Artillery Ground through the middle years of the century. Many of its members became involved with the Hambledon Club through the 1770s and then, in the early 1780s, had returned to the London area where the White Conduit Club had begun in Islington. It is not known for certain when the White Conduit was founded but it seems to have been after 1780 and certainly by 1785. According to Sir Pelham Warner, it was formed in 1782 as an offshoot from a West End convivial club called the "Je-ne-sais-quoi", some of whose members frequented the White Conduit House in Islington and played matches on the neighbouring White Conduit Fields, which had been a prominent venue for cricket in the 1720s. Arthur Haygarth said in "Scores and Biographies" that "the Marylebone Club was founded in 1787 from the White Conduit's members" but the date of the formation of the White Conduit "could not be found".


title: Marylebone Cricket Club

text: This gentlemen's club, which was multi-purpose, had a social meeting place at the "Star and Garter" on Pall Mall. It was the same club that was responsible for drafting the Laws of Cricket at various times, most notably in 1744 and 1774, and this lawgiving responsibility was soon to be vested in the MCC as the final repose of these cricketing gentlemen. When the White Conduit began, its leading lights were George Finch, 9th Earl of Winchilsea (1752–1826) and the Hon. Colonel Charles Lennox (1764–1819), later succeeding as the 4th Duke of Richmond. White Conduit was nominally an exclusive club that only "gentlemen" might play for, but the club did engage professionals and one of these was Thomas Lord, a man who was recognised for his business acumen (becoming a successful wine merchant) "as well as his bowling ability".


title: Marylebone Cricket Club

text: The new club might have continued except that White Conduit Fields was an open area allowing members of the public, including the rowdier elements, to watch the matches and to voice their opinions on the play and the players. The White Conduit gentlemen were not amused by such interruptions and decided to look for a more private venue of their own. Winchilsea and Lennox asked Lord to find a new ground and offered him a guarantee against any losses he may suffer in the venture. Lord took a lease from the Portman Estate on some land at Dorset Fields where Dorset Square is now sited; and the ground was prepared and opened in 1787. It was initially called the New Cricket Ground, perhaps because it was off what was then called "the New Road" in Marylebone, when the first known match was played there on 21 May but, by the end of July, it was known as "Lord's". As it was in Marylebone, the White Conduit members who relocated to it soon decided to call themselves the "Mary-le-bone Club". The exact date of MCC's foundation is lost but seems to have been sometime in the late spring or the summer of 1787. On 10 & 11 July 1837, a South v North match was staged at Lord's to commemorate the MCC's Golden Jubilee. Warner described it as "a Grand Match to celebrate the Jubilee of the Club" and reproduced the full scorecard.


title: Marylebone Cricket Club

text: On Wednesday, 25 April 1787, the London "Morning Herald" newspaper carried a notice: "The Members of the Cricket Club are desired to meet at the "Star and Garter", Pall Mall, on Mon., April 30. Dinner on table exactly at half past five o'clock. N.B. The favour of an answer is desired". The agenda is unknown but, only three weeks later on Saturday, 19 May, the "Morning Herald" advertised: "A grand match will be played on Monday, 21 May in the New Cricket Ground, the New Road, Mary-le-bone, between eleven Noblemen of the White Conduit Club and eleven Gentlemen of the County of Middlesex with two men given, for 500 guineas a side. The wickets to be pitched at ten o'clock, and the match to be played out". No post-match report has been found but, as G. B. Buckley said, it was "apparently the first match to be played on Lord's new ground".


title: Marylebone Cricket Club

text: A total of eight matches are known to have been played at Lord's in 1787, one of them a single wicket event. The only one which featured the Mary-le-bone Club took place on Monday, 30 July. It was advertised in "The World" on Friday, 27 July 1787: "On Monday, 30 July will be played (at Lord's) a match between 11 gentlemen of the Mary-le-bone Club and 11 gentlemen of the Islington Club". Buckley stated that "this is the earliest notice of the Marylebone Club". As with the inaugural match at Lord's, no post-match report of the inaugural MCC match has been found.


title: Marylebone Cricket Club

text: There have been three Lord's grounds: the original on the Portman Estate and two on the Eyre Estate. All three sites lie to the west of Regent's Park. Thomas Lord leased the original ground, now referred to as Lord's Old Ground, from the Portman Estate in 1787 and MCC played there until 1810 when Lord, after objecting to a rent increase, decided on termination of the lease to lift his turf and move out. Over 200 matches are known to have been played there, mostly involving MCC and/or Middlesex. The Old Ground was on the site now occupied by Dorset Square which is east of Marylebone Station and west of Baker Street. To commemorate the association, a plaque was unveiled in Dorset Square on 9 May 2006 by Sir Andrew Strauss.


title: Marylebone Cricket Club

text: Lord had been aware some years before 1810 that the Portman Estate intended to let the site on building leases which would command the much higher rent of over £600 per annum. On 15 October 1808, he rented two fields in the North Bank area of the St John's Wood Estate, which belonged to Richard Eyre, a local landowner after whom Eyre's Tunnel on the Regent's Canal was named. Rental on the Eyre site was only £54 per annum for a term of eighty years and free of both land tax and tithe.


title: Marylebone Cricket Club

text: The new ground was ready for use in 1809 and so Lord had two grounds at his disposal for the 1809 and 1810 seasons. The North Bank ground was sub-let to St John's Wood Cricket Club which eventually merged with MCC. Lord officially took over his second ground on 8 May 1811 by re-laying there his turf from the Old Ground. He did this so that "the noblemen and gentlemen of the MCC should be able to play on the same footing as before". According to Warner, however, the relocation was unpopular with many MCC members and, as a result, the club played no matches there in either 1811 or 1812. This may have been so, but cricket generally was in decline at the time because of the Napoleonic Wars. The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians (the ACS) holds that "(from) 1810 to 1814 the game was all but dead", largely because of the war and "the very real threat of civil unrest in England". The second venue is now generally known as Lord's Middle Ground. In the three years that Lord controlled it, only six matches are known to have taken place there and just three of these (all in 1813) involved MCC. The Middle Ground's exact location is uncertain but it is understood to have been in North Bank at the north end of Lisson Grove and that the Regent's Canal has been cut through it. This means that it was partially on the canal route and somewhere in the area now bounded by Lisson Grove (the B507) to south-west, Lodge Road to north-west, Park Road (the A41) to north-east and the Regent's Canal to south-east. It was less than from the site of the modern Lord's ground.


title: Marylebone Cricket Club

text: Lord was forced to abandon the Middle Ground because of the canal construction. The decision on the route was made by Parliament in 1813. Lord, via his protégé Lord Frederick Beauclerk, approached the Eyre family who agreed to lease him another plot nearby in St John's Wood, but at an increased rent of £100 per annum. Lord accepted and again removed and relaid his turf in time for the start of the 1814 season. This third ground was the present Lord's, now home to MCC for over 200 years.


title: Marylebone Cricket Club

text: MCC is the body responsible for, and remains the copyright holder of, the "Laws of Cricket". Its Laws Sub-Committee is responsible for debating and drafting changes to the Laws, with the Main Committee then voting on any changes proposed.


title: Marylebone Cricket Club

text: MCC has 18,000 full members and 5,000 associate members. Members have voting rights and can use the Pavilion and other stands at Lord's Cricket Ground to attend all matches played there.


title: Marylebone Cricket Club

text: In order to join the waiting list of candidates for membership one must obtain the vote (of which each full member has one a year) of three members, and the additional sponsorship of a person on the List of MCC Sponsors (which consists of members of all MCC Sub-Committees; MCC Committee; MCC Out-Match Representatives; and the Current, Past and Designate President). As the demand for membership always outstrips supply each year, there continues to be a substantial waiting list for Full Ordinary Membership, currently around 27 years. There are, however, ways to lessen the time it takes to become a full member: one may qualify as a Playing Member, or Out-Match Member (although this carries none of the privileges of membership, apart from being able to play for the club).


title: Marylebone Cricket Club

text: In addition, membership rules allow a certain number of people each year to be elected ahead of their turn; beneficiaries have included Sir Mick Jagger and in 2018 the Prime Minister, Theresa, "now" Lady May. MCC also grants limited honorary membership to people who have had distinguished cricket careers. The club recognises achievement in women's cricket with, for example, Charlotte Edwards an inductee in the 2010s.


title: Marylebone Cricket Club

text: The club's members refused to allow female membership up until 1998, with club ballots on the change unable to achieve the two-thirds majority amongst the membership required for implementation. The move to change was spearheaded by Rachael Heyhoe Flint who applied as "R Flint" to slip into the male-only application system. When Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie, a longstanding supporter of women's membership, took on the presidency of MCC in 1996 he led a 2-year campaign to convince the membership to vote in favour of change. In September 1998 a 70% majority of members eventually voted to allow female membership, so ending 212 years of male exclusivity, and 10 honorary life members were immediately admitted, including Baroness Heyhoe Flint. Until this time, The Queen, the club's patron, was the only woman (other than domestic staff) permitted to enter the Pavilion during play. In February 1999, five women were invited to join as playing members.


title: Marylebone Cricket Club

text: There was further controversy in 2005 when the club was criticised (including by a few of its own members) for siding with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) over the latter's decision to award television rights for Test cricket to British Sky Broadcasting, thus removing Test cricket from terrestrial television. The then Secretary and Chief Executive of MCC, Roger Knight, represented the club on the board of the ECB and was party to this controversial and much criticised decision, prior to which Test cricket had been shown free to viewers on British television for more than half a century.


title: Marylebone Cricket Club

text: Another controversy was MCC's decision to allow members and other spectators to continue to bring limited amounts of alcoholic drinks into the ground at all matches. This decision challenged the ICC, which was attempting to implement a ban on this practice at all international matches around the world. MCC has opted to write to the ICC on an annual basis to seek permission for members and spectators to import alcohol into Lord's.


title: Marylebone Cricket Club

text: The Secretary & Chief Executive of the club has a place on the administrative board of the England and Wales Cricket Board and it is reported that Keith Bradshaw (Secretary & Chief Executive 2006–11) may have influenced the removal from office of England Coach Duncan Fletcher in April 2007.


title: Marylebone Cricket Club

text: In 2012, MCC made headlines over a controversial redevelopment plan, "Vision for Lord's", that would have increased capacity but included construction of residential flats on some of the MCC site. Internal strife over the process of making a decision on the proposal led to the resignation of former Prime Minister Sir John Major from the Main Committee.


title: Marylebone Cricket Club

text: In 2022, Guy Lavender, Secretary & Chief Executive of MCC, announced that the annual one-day Oxford v Cambridge and Eton v Harrow matches, both of which have been played at Lord's since the early 19th century, would no longer be held at the ground, so as to make room in the fixture list for the finals of competitions for all universities and schools in pursuit of greater diversity. However, following opposition from a majority of its membership, the club decided that the matches would continue to be held at Lord's until at least 2023 to allow time for further consultation.


title: Marylebone Cricket Club

text: MCC men's and women's teams play domestic matches throughout the spring and summer against teams from universities, schools, the Armed Forces and invitational teams such as the Duchess of Rutland's XI. The men's team tour internationally four times per year, and the women's team tour every other year.


title: Marylebone Cricket Club

text: MCC has long had a deep involvement in coaching cricket. The club's head coach leads an extensive operation involving the running of an indoor-cricket school and a team of coaches in England and around the world. The club has traditionally produced a coaching manual, the "MCC Cricket Coaching Book", a bible for cricket skills, and runs training programmes for young cricketers, including many at its Lord's Indoor Centre. MCC continues to tour around England, playing matches against various state and private schools. This tradition has been followed since the 19th century. The club has other sporting interests with both a real tennis and a squash court on site at Lord's, and golf, chess, bridge and backgammon societies.


title: Marylebone Cricket Club

text: From the beginning of the 20th century, MCC organised the England cricket team and, outside Test matches, the touring England team officially played as "MCC" up to and including the 1976/77 tour of India. The England touring team wore the distinctive red and yellow stripes of the Marylebone Cricket Club as their colours for the last time on the tour to New Zealand in 1996/97.


title: Marylebone Cricket Club

text: The true provenance of MCC's colours is (and probably will remain) unsubstantiated, but its players often turned out sporting sky blue ("qv." Eton or Cambridge) until well into the 19th century. The club eventually settled on the now well-recognised colours of scarlet and gold, or in other parlance "egg and bacon". One purported theory is that MCC adopted these colours from J&W Nicholson & Co's gin after the company's chairman, MCC benefactor William Nicholson (1825–1909), secured the club's position at Lord's with a loan. A more likely theory, which chimes with the club's origins, is that MCC borrowed its colours from the livery colours (racing) of a founding patron, the Duke of Richmond, Lennox and Gordon, of Goodwood-fame.


title: Marylebone Cricket Club

text: Often viewed as too traditional ("ie." "establishment"), the club continues its modernising mission before the public and media, partly because it remains a citadel for tradition in a fast-changing landscape and partly because it has made a concerted move towards image-improvement. "It would be overstating things to claim that the MCC has come full circle," admitted Andrew Miller at the beginning of October 2008, "but at a time of massive upheaval in the world game, the... NW8's colours cease to represent everything that is wrong with cricket, and instead have become a touchstone for those whose greatest fear is the erosion of the game's traditional values."


title: Marylebone Cricket Club

text: Before 2013 the MCC was a private members' club (meaning that it had the status of an unincorporated association); this status had several limitations. Since an unincorporated association is not a legal entity, it could not own property (such as Lord's Cricket Ground itself) in its own name. It could not sue anybody, or indeed be sued (any legal action had to be taken against the Secretary & Chief Executive personally). In the event that a claim was successful, the committee and even the members themselves would have had to fund any financial shortfall. The club therefore called a Special General Meeting in June 2012 to consider petitioning The Queen in Council to incorporate the club by Royal Charter. The Royal Charter removed many of the barriers and simplified the administration of the club.


title: Marylebone Cricket Club

text: Resulting from the petition, in December 2012 the club was granted a Royal Charter, two previous attempts having been unsuccessful. As a result, the club became an incorporated association and is now able to hold assets, including the Lord's Cricket Ground, in its own name instead of via a custodian trustee. It also meant that the individual members, as the club's owners, no longer have a potential liability should the club ever get into serious financial trouble.


title: Marylebone Cricket Club

text: From 2005 the MCC funded six university cricket academies known as the MCC Universities (MCCUs), which had previously been funded (from 2000) by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). (Prior to 2010 they were known as the University Centres of Cricketing Excellence, or UCCEs.) These were based at Cambridge, Cardiff, Durham, Leeds/Bradford, Loughborough and Oxford, and incorporated a total of thirteen universities. From 2012 all six MCCUs held first-class status. Each MCCU played a trio of matches against professional county sides at the beginning of each season, with first-class status conferred on the first two of these matches. In 2018, the MCC and ECB announced that the ECB would be resuming responsibility for funding the university centres from 2020 and would run a tender process for new cities to join the scheme. The change was also said to be likely to result in more T20 cricket in the programme. Despite the ECB having resumed funding, the university teams continue to use the MCC University names.


title: Marylebone Cricket Club

text: Presidents serve a twelve-month term and cannot normally serve two terms in succession. Notable exceptions occurred during World War I and World War II. In 1914, Lord Hawke was appointed president and was asked to remain in the post till the end of the Great War. As a result, Hawke was MCC President for five years from 1914 to 1918 inclusive and was succeeded in 1919 by the former Hampshire slow left-arm bowler Henry Forster, who shortly afterwards was raised to the peerage as Lord Forster. Throughout the war, Lord's was used for military purposes, including training and recreation. Problems frequently arose but, in "Wisden's" view, Hawke was "the greatest help in giving wise counsel towards their solution".


title: Marylebone Cricket Club

text: Hawke's tenure was exceeded by that of Stanley Christopherson who was appointed in 1939 and remained "in situ" for seven years until 1945 before being succeeded by General Sir Ronald Adam.


title: Marylebone Cricket Club

text: In his "Barclays World of Cricket" essay about the MCC Presidency, E. W. Swanton stated that "there is no pretence of democracy about it" commenting on how few were untitled up to the Second World War. As he observed, membership of the aristocracy was a more important factor than any cricketing prowess. This observation did indeed reflect societal change, although the Duke of Edinburgh, the Earl of Home, Lord Cowdrey and Sir Tim Rice all became President of MCC in the latter half of the 20th century. In the 21st century there have been MCC Presidents who as players were wholly professional: Tom Graveney, Derek Underwood, Mike Gatting and Matthew Fleming. The 2018–19 President, Anthony Wreford, nominated Kumar Sangakkara as his successor in May 2019; Sangakkara became MCC's first non-British President.


title: Marylebone Cricket Club

text: Each President is required to nominate their successor at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) which takes place during his/her term of office. The club chairman and the treasurer serve a three-year term. Both are appointed by the committee (but subject to approval of the voting members). Both can serve terms in succession. The secretary and chief executive (a joint role) is the senior employee of the club and is appointed solely by the MCC committee.


title: Marylebone Cricket Club

text: The committee consists of the above officers plus the chairmen of any other committees that may exist at the time of any meeting plus twelve elected members. Elected committee members are appointed for a three-year term. An elected committee member cannot be re-elected upon retirement unless there is a gap of at least one year between terms of office.


title: Marylebone Cricket Club

text: MCC first engaged a Club Secretary in 1822. The title was changed in 2000, during Roger Knight's tenure, to Secretary and Chief Executive. Holders of office have been:


title: Kodiyil Oruvan

text: Kodiyil Oruvan () is a 2021 Indian Tamil-language political thriller film directed by Ananda Krishnan and produced by Infiniti Film Ventures and Chendur Film International. It stars Vijay Antony and Aathmika. Vijay Antony also edited the film while the music is composed by Nivas K. Prasanna. The film was released on 17 September 2021. This film received mixed reviews upon its release, praising Vijay Antony's performance, the music and action sequences, but was criticized on the screenplay and predictable storyline.


title: Kodiyil Oruvan

text: The soundtrack and score is composed by Nivas K. Prasanna. The soundtrack album featured five songs and the audio rights were acquired by Saregama.


title: Kodiyil Oruvan

text: The film was released in theatres on 17 September 2021. The film was dubbed and released in Kannada, Telugu and Hindi versions under the title "Vijaya Raghavan" while the Malayalam dubbed version retained the same title as the original. The streaming rights were acquired by Amazon Prime Video.


title: Kodiyil Oruvan

text: "Sify" rated the film with 3/5 stars, stating that "Kodiyil Oruvan is a mass action entertainer from Vijay Antony on the lines of Pichaikkaran with strong mother sentiment." Suganth of "The Times of India" gave a rating of 3 out on 5 and wrote, " An uneven masala movie saved by strong amma sentiment." Haricharan Pudipeddi of "Hindustan Times" wrote, "Director Ananda Krishnan's first big-budget film is a predictable but entertaining political thriller." Srivatsan S of "The Hindu" stated that, "The Vijay Antony-starrer is loud, mostly boring and has a soft-spoken, kind-hearted hero at the centre, who seemed to have been written not on a white paper, but on tile." Navein Darshan of "The New Indian Express" wrote, "Kodiyil Oruvan is an unabashed commercial entertainer, and no surprise, the hero wins. Making this format click with the audience is quite tricky." "Behindwoods" rated the film with 2.5/5 stars, stating that "There are few lacklustre performances that pull down the film's effectiveness. The writing could have been more solid, but despite all this, the film tries to entertain you well throughout. A decent watch for the weekend. Vijay Antony's Kodiyil Oruvan is a watchable commercial drama that is high on emotions and sentiments."


title: BMW Z8

text: The BMW Z8 is a roadster produced by German automotive manufacturer BMW from 1998 to 2006. The Z8 was developed under the codename "E52" between 1993 and 1999, through the efforts of a design team led by Chris Bangle from 1993 to 1995. The exterior was designed by Henrik Fisker and the interior by Scott Lempert.


title: BMW Z8

text: The Z8 originally was designed as a styling exercise intended to evoke and celebrate the 1956–1959 BMW 507. Prototypes were spotted testing between 1996 and 1999. A concept was later developed to preview the Z8, called the Z07 and was showcased in October 1997 at the Tokyo Motor Show.


title: BMW Z8

text: The Z07 Concept had been based on the concurrently running E52 development programme. As a result, practical and regulatory considerations necessitated very few changes for the production model. Comparatively, the windshield of the series production Z8 was more upward, and the car had a larger front airdam. The Z8 hardtop differed from the Z07 in being a double-bubble form with a tapering fairing versus a single dome with a truncated convex rear. The Z07's exotic driver's side helmet fairing was never intended for production, in order to allow easy operation of the power soft top.


title: BMW Z8

text: The side turn signal repeaters were integrated into the side vents in a fashion that rendered them invisible until activated. The vintage simplicity of the interior was preserved by hiding the modern equipment under retracting panels. Complex compound curves were made through the use of an expensive MIG-welded aluminium space frame.


title: BMW Z8

text: The Z8 cost US$128,000, had an all-aluminium chassis and body, and used a V8 engine which has a power output of at 6,600 rpm and of torque at 3,800 rpm. This engine, known internally as the S62, was built by BMW Motorsport and was shared with the E39 M5 sports saloon. The engine is located behind the front axle in order to provide the car with a 50/50 weight distribution. The factory claimed a acceleration time of 4.7 seconds; "Motor Trend" magazine achieved in 4.2 seconds. "Road & Track" measured the car's lateral grip at 0.92. "Car and Driver" magazine also tested the car and found that it outperformed the contemporary benchmark Ferrari 360 Modena in three important performance categories: acceleration, handling, and braking. As with most BMW automobiles the top speed of the Z8 was electronically limited to with the delimited top speed amounting to an estimated .


title: BMW Z8

text: The Z8 used neon exterior lighting, the tail lights and turn indicators are powered by neon tubes that offer quicker activation than standard lightbulbs and are expected to last for the life of the vehicle. Due to the quirk in the US FMVSS regulations, the turn signal indicators in the tail lights are entirely in red colour.


title: BMW Z8

text: Every car was shipped with a colour-matching metal hardtop with a rear defroster. Unlike many contemporary hardtops, which are provided for practical rather than stylistic considerations, the hardtop of the Z8 was designed from the outset to complement the lines of the car's styling.


title: BMW Z8

text: In order to keep the interior uncluttered, a number of functions were integrated into multifunction controls. For example, the power windows and mirrors were controlled by a single instrument. Also, the centre-mounted instrument cluster was canted slightly toward the driver. The displacement of gauges to the middle of the dashboard was intended to offer an unimpeded view of the hood and the road ahead.


title: BMW Z8

text: In order to promote the Z8 to collectors and reinforce media speculation about the car's "instant classic" potential, BMW promised that a 50-year stockpile of spare parts would be maintained in order to support the Z8 fleet. Due to the limited volume of production, all elements of the car were constructed or finished by hand, thereby compounding the importance of ongoing manufacturer support for the type. The price and production process allowed BMW to offer customised options to interested buyers. A significant number of cars with bespoke paint and interior treatments were produced over the course of the four-year production run by BMW Individual, a division of BMW AG.


title: BMW Z8

text: With production of the Z8 completed by November 2002, the Z8 was replaced by the Alpina Roadster V8 in 2003. The Alpina was a departure from the hard-edged sporting focus of the original car, and elements of grand touring intent were evident throughout this final iteration. Instead of the original 6-speed manual and 4.9 L (S62) engine featured in original Z8, the Alpina came only with an automatic transmission, utilising a 5-speed BMW Steptronic transmission mated to a 4.8 L Alpina-tuned BMW M62 V8 engine from the Alpina E39 B10 V8 S. In order to complete the car's transition from a sports car to a refined grand tourer, a softer suspension setting was used. The standard Z8's run-flat tyres on wheels were discarded in favor of conventional tyres with softer sidewalls mounted on Alpina wheels. A new softer grade of Nappa leather replaced the Z8's less supple specification, and special Alpina gauges were fitted on the dash board cluster. An Alpina steering wheel with three solid spokes replaced the original, which could not be retrofitted with shift paddles for the automatic transmission. Gear selection was displayed in an Alpina-specific display mounted in front of the steering wheel.


title: BMW Z8

text: Performance and power output of the Alpina roadster V8 differed from that of the standard car in that the peak power was reduced to , while peak torque was raised to ; this torque was available at significantly lower rpm than the original in order to enable more relaxed cruising. Curiously, the electronically limited top speed was officially raised to .


title: BMW Z8

text: Production of the Roadster V8 amounted to 555 units, 450 of which were exported to the U.S. market and only eight to the UK. In the United States, this special edition of the Z8 was sold directly through BMW dealerships, marking a first for Alpina, whose cars had never been sold through retail channels in the U.S.


title: BMW Z8

text: Unveiled at the 2003 Geneva Motor Show, the Birusa is a futuristically styled concept car conceived and developed by Bertone. Based on the Z8, it shares the 4.9 L V8 engine from the donor car generating mated to a 6-speed manual transmission and has carbon fibre gull-wing doors. It also has a variety of innovative technological features including a sunroof that filters UV light, multilingual voice control and a night vision system.


title: BMW Z8

text: The Z8's spaceframe was produced in the Dingolfing Plant and the car was hand-finished in Munich. A total of 5,703 Z8s were built: 3,160 for the world market and 2,543 for the North American market.


title: BMW Z8

text: The Z8 was showcased as James Bond's car in the film "The World Is Not Enough" released in November 1999, from scenes shot in early April 1999. In the film, it is driven by Bond for his mission in Azerbaijan until it is sliced in half by a helicopter equipped with cutting saws. The vehicle is equipped with surface to air missiles that is mostly activated through the car's steering wheel used as a targeting display, and can also be remote controlled through the use of the vehicle's keychain. This was the final BMW car to appear in the James Bond franchise as its 3-year film deal with BMW expired. It later reappeared in the James Bond video games "007 Racing" and "Agent Under Fire", the latter of which featured the car on the cover. The Z8 can also be driven in the video game "". Additionally, the car is driven by Jackie Chan's and Jennifer Love Hewitt's characters in "The Tuxedo" released in September 2002.


title: The Great Southern Trendkill

text: The Great Southern Trendkill is the eighth studio album by American heavy metal band Pantera, released on May 7, 1996, through East West Records. It reached number 4 on the "Billboard" 200 chart, and stayed on the chart for 16 weeks. During the album's production, Phil Anselmo recorded the vocals alone at Trent Reznor's Nothing Studios in New Orleans while Dimebag Darrell, Rex Brown, and Vinnie Paul recorded the music at Chasin Jason Studios in Dalworthington Gardens. This would be the Pantera's last studio album to be produced by Terry Date, who had worked with the band since "Cowboys from Hell" (1990).


title: The Great Southern Trendkill

text: "Floods", the album's longest song, contains a guitar solo considered by many to be Dimebag Darrell's finest. "Guitar World" magazine voted it as the 32nd greatest guitar solo of all-time, Darrell's highest-ranking of three solos to make the list (the other two being his solos from "Cemetery Gates", ranked 35th, and "Walk", ranked 57th).


title: The Great Southern Trendkill

text: The album is available as downloadable content for the video game "Rock Band", with the exception of "Suicide Note Pt. I".


title: The Great Southern Trendkill

text: Considered Pantera's most aggressive album, "The Great Southern Trendkill" is known for featuring much screaming, most notably on "Suicide Note Pt. II" and "The Great Southern Trendkill" while also featuring some of the fastest tempos and most down-tuned guitars ("The Underground in America" and "(Reprise) Sandblasted Skin" were played in A=425Hz standard D tuning, with the 6th string tuned to a low G.) that the band ever recorded. It also has a more experimental nature, such as the acoustic guitars and ballads.


title: The Great Southern Trendkill

text: Unlike Pantera's first three major label albums, the vocals are often double-tracked and layered to create a more "demonic" effect. An example of this can be heard in the chorus of "13 Steps to Nowhere", when Phil Anselmo's singing voice is backed up by high-pitched screaming, done by Seth Putnam of the band Anal Cunt. Screams done by Anselmo on the song "The Great Southern Trendkill" were compared to Putnam.


title: The Great Southern Trendkill

text: The lyrical themes on "The Great Southern Trendkill" include drugs, a flood that ends mankind, finding deeper meaning, anger, and the media. The album features elements of thrash metal and death metal, but is mostly considered a groove metal album overall.


title: The Great Southern Trendkill

text: On August 12, 2016, Pantera announced the release of a 20th anniversary edition of "The Great Southern Trendkill" for October 21. The reissue features two discs, including a remastered version of the original album as well as 12 unreleased tracks (these include instrumentals, as well as alternative mixes and live recordings from the Dynamo Festival in 1998). In addition, a separate LP named "The Great Southern Outtakes" was released. It consists of songs also released on disc 2 of "Trendkill's" reissue except for the intro and early mix of "Suicide Note Part l".


title: Bubble Gang

text: Bubble Gang is a Philippine television sketch comedy show broadcast by GMA Network. Directed by Frasco Mortiz, it stars Michael V. It premiered on October 20, 1995 on the network's Friday night line up replacing "Vilma". The show is the longest running comedy show in the Philippines.


title: Bubble Gang

text: The show emphasizes pop culture parody. Skits and sketches are performed in a manner similar to variety shows. It also spoofs other television shows, adverts, and famous people.


title: Bubble Gang

text: "Bubble Gang" premiered on GMA Network on October 20, 1995. It was inspired by the gag show "Tropang Trumpo". The original cast consisted of Ogie Alcasid, Antonio Aquitania, Sunshine Cruz, Jackie de Guzman, Assunta De Rossi, Eric Fructuoso, Susan Lozada, Aiko Melendez, Wendell Ramos and Michael V. Production personnel of the show, Diego Llorico and Marissa "Mykah" Flores later joined the show as cast members.


title: Bubble Gang

text: In March 2020, principal photography was halted due to the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The show resumed its programming on August 21, 2020.


title: Bubble Gang

text: The series was released on DVD by GMA Music in 2009. The DVD contained "the best of the best" episodes of "Bubble Gang" throughout the years.


title: Bubble Gang

text: In September 2002, the show was sued by L.A. Lopez after the show made a character named as Ala Ey Lopez in 2001. According to Lopez, the spoof affected him emotionally. He asked 5 million pesos for damages and a public apology from the show. The case was later dismissed.


title: Bubble Gang

text: In 2013, Michael V., Rufa Mae Quinto, and GMA Network's executives, were summoned by the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board chairman, Eugenio Villareal for a mandatory conference after a sexually sensitive comedy sketch called "The Adventures of Susie Lualhati" which aired on November 29, 2013. Villareal was alarmed after what he had found of a derogatory and discriminatory portrayal of a woman in the show. Michael V., Quinto, and executives of the network met with MTRCB on December 9, 2013 to discuss the issue. It led to an agreement that the show will implement proposed measures that will ensure audiences about gender-sensitivity contents by December 16, 2013.


title: Thiago Almada

text: Thiago Ezequiel Almada (born 26 April 2001) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder and winger for Major League Soccer club Atlanta United and the Argentina national team.


title: Thiago Almada

text: Thiago 'Guayo' Ezequiel Almada was born on 26 April 2001, in Ciudadela, Buenos Aires in Argentina. He grew up in the neighbourhood of Fuerte Apache, which is known for high crime rates and prevalent drug use. Almada spent many of his early years selling fruit and vegetables door-to-door to earn extra money. Much time was spent with his grandparents while his parents worked.


title: Thiago Almada

text: At the age of four, Almada was playing football for a local club, Santa Clara, where Carlos Tevez also began his career. He was picked up by Vélez Sarsfield at age five where he made his way through the youth academy. In August 2018, just four months shy of his 17th birthday, Almada made his professional debut with the club. In October 2018, he was included in The Guardian's "Next Generation 2018".


title: Thiago Almada

text: Almada began his first-team career as a wing forward under manager Gabriel Heinze. He played alongside Matías Vargas, Nicolás Domínguez, Lucas Robertone, and Fernando Gago. In his first two years with Heinze at the helm, Almada appeared in 46 matches and tallied nine goals. In 2020, new club manager Mauricio Pellegrino, moved Almada to midfielder, due to the departure of several players. In the two seasons since the move to midfield, Almada earned 15 goals in 42 matches.


title: Thiago Almada

text: On 4 December 2021, Vélez Sarsfield announced that it had reached an agreement with Major League Soccer club Atlanta United for the pre-transfer of Almada in February 2022. The transfer, reportedly worth a league-record $16 million, was officially announced by Atlanta on 9 February 2022.


title: Thiago Almada

text: On 10 February 2022, Atlanta United had officially announced the transfer of Almada with a series of photos on the club's Instagram page, showing him with the club's president Darren Eales at the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in downtown Atlanta. Shortly afterwards, Almada was unveiled in the club's kit for the very first time in front of thousands of fans in a virtual welcome ceremony (due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic).


title: Thiago Almada

text: On 11 February 2022, Almada came under scrutiny from supporters in Atlanta after it was revealed that in his final match for Sarsfield, he had scored a goal, and celebrated with a racially insensitive gesture with his eyes, this had raised many concerns for the club and his future, but he had apologized shortly after being asked about the situation.


title: Thiago Almada

text: On 14 February 2022, Almada made his official debut for Atlanta wearing the number 8, in a pre-season match versus Mexican outfit C.D. Guadalajara during Atlanta's pre-season tour of Mexico. Atlanta would end up losing the match 3–0.


title: Thiago Almada

text: On 15 March 2022, Almada made his MLS debut against expansion team Charlotte FC as a substitute, in Atlanta's win against them, 2-1. Almada had 18 touches in 34 minutes, he said that "I wanted to be here,” “I wanted to get to know everybody. It worked out well in the end. I’m here. I’m ready to fight for everything that we have to fight for.” Shortly after the Charlotte FC game, on 19 March 2022, Almada scored his first ever MLS goal in a 3-3 draw vs CF Montreal. The goal would end up winning the MLS' Goal of The Week contest for Matchday 4.


title: Thiago Almada

text: His debut in the Argentina national football team came on 23 September 2022, in Miami during a friendly match against Honduras.


title: Thiago Almada

text: Almada was officially called up to the 2022 Argentinian World Cup squad to replace injured Joaquín Correa only five days before Argentina’s first game of the tournament. He was a member of the squad that ultimately won the tournament.


title: Thiago Almada

text: In February 2021, Almada was identified as a person of interest by local authorities after a party in San Isidro, Buenos Aires on 4 December 2020. A 28-year-old woman said she was sexually abused by several people in a house rented by Martín Lucero. His club suspended both him and Miguel Brizuela after the investigation became public. A week after Almada was suspended, he was reinstated with the club stating, "substantial modifications were generated by virtue of the incorporation of new evidence, expertise and testimonies."


title: Thomas Gainsborough

text: Thomas Gainsborough (14 May 1727 (baptised) – 2 August 1788) was an English portrait and landscape painter, draughtsman, and printmaker. Along with his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds, he is considered one of the most important British artists of the second half of the 18th century. He painted quickly, and the works of his maturity are characterised by a light palette and easy strokes. Despite being a prolific portrait painter, Gainsborough gained greater satisfaction from his landscapes. He is credited (with Richard Wilson) as the originator of the 18th-century British landscape school. Gainsborough was a founding member of the Royal Academy.


title: Thomas Gainsborough

text: He was born in Sudbury, Suffolk, the youngest son of John Gainsborough, a weaver and maker of woollen goods, and his wife Mary, the sister of the Reverend Humphry Burroughs. One of Gainsborough's brothers, Humphrey, had a faculty for mechanics and was said to have invented the method of condensing steam in a separate vessel, which was of great service to James Watt; another brother, John, was known as "Scheming Jack" because of his passion for designing curiosities.


title: Thomas Gainsborough

text: The artist spent his childhood at what is now Gainsborough's House, on Gainsborough Street, Sudbury. He later resided there, following the death of his father in 1748 and before his move to Ipswich. The building still survives and is now a house-museum dedicated to his life and art.


title: Thomas Gainsborough

text: When he was still a boy he impressed his father with his drawing and painting skills, and by the time he was ten years old he had almost certainly painted heads and small landscapes, including a miniature self-portrait. Gainsborough was allowed to leave home in 1740 to study art in London, where he trained under engraver Hubert Gravelot but became associated with William Hogarth and his school. He assisted Francis Hayman in the decoration of the supper boxes at Vauxhall Gardens, and contributed one image to the decoration of what is now the Thomas Coram Foundation for Children.


title: Thomas Gainsborough

text: In 1746, Gainsborough married Margaret Burr, an illegitimate daughter of the Duke of Beaufort, who had settled a £200 annuity on her. The artist's work, then mostly consisting of landscape paintings, was not selling well. He returned to Sudbury in 1748–1749 and concentrated on painting portraits.


title: Thomas Gainsborough

text: While still in Suffolk, Gainsborough painted a portrait of "The Rev. John Chafy Playing a Violoncello in a Landscape" (c.1750–1752; Tate Gallery, London).


title: Thomas Gainsborough

text: In 1752, he and his family, now including two daughters, Mary ("Molly", 1750–1826) and Margaret ("Peggy", 1751–1820), moved to Ipswich. Commissions for portraits increased, but his clients included mainly local merchants and squires. He had to borrow against his wife's annuity. Toward the end of his time in Ipswich, he painted a self-portrait, now in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London.


title: Thomas Gainsborough

text: In 1759, Gainsborough and his family moved to Bath, living at number 17 The Circus. There, he studied portraits by van Dyck and was eventually able to attract a fashionable clientele. In 1761, he began to send work to the Society of Arts exhibition in London (now the Royal Society of Arts, of which he was one of the earliest members); and from 1769 he submitted works to the Royal Academy's annual exhibitions. The exhibitions helped him enhance his reputation, and he was invited to become a founding member of the Royal Academy in 1769. His relationship with the academy was not an easy one and he stopped exhibiting his paintings in 1773.


title: Thomas Gainsborough

text: Despite Gainsborough's increasing popularity and success in painting portraits for fashionable society, he expressed frustration during his Bath period at the demands of such work and that it prevented him from pursuing his preferred artistic interests. In a letter to a friend in the 1760s Gainsborough wrote: "I'm sick of Portraits and wish very much to take my Viol da Gamba and walk off to some sweet Village where I can paint Landskips [landscapes] and enjoy the fag End of Life in quietness and ease". Of the men he had to deal with as patrons and admirers, and their pretensions, he wrote:... damn Gentlemen, there is not such a set of Enemies to a real artist in the world as they are, if not kept at a proper distance. They think ... that they reward your merit by their Company & notice; but I ... know that they have but one part worth looking at, and that is their Purse; their Hearts are seldom near enough the right place to get a sight of it.Gainsborough was so keen a viol da gamba player that he had at this stage five of the instruments, three made by Henry Jaye and two by Barak Norman.


title: Thomas Gainsborough

text: In 1774, Gainsborough and his family moved to London to live in Schomberg House, Pall Mall. A commemorative blue plaque was put on the house in 1951. In 1777, he again began to exhibit his paintings at the Royal Academy, including portraits of contemporary celebrities, such as the Duke and Duchess of Cumberland. Exhibitions of his work continued for the next six years. About this time, Gainsborough began experimenting with printmaking using the then-novel techniques of aquatint and soft-ground etching.


title: Thomas Gainsborough

text: During the 1770s and 1780s Gainsborough developed a type of portrait in which he integrated the sitter into the landscape. An example of this is his portrait of Frances Browne, Mrs John Douglas (1746–1811) which can be seen at Waddesdon Manor. The sitter has withdrawn to a secluded and overgrown corner of a garden to read a letter, her pose recalling the traditional representation of Melancholy. Gainsborough emphasised the relationship between Mrs Douglas and her environment by painting the clouds behind her and the drapery billowing across her lap with similar silvery violet tones and fluid brushstrokes. This portrait was included in his first private exhibition at Schomberg House in 1784.


title: Thomas Gainsborough

text: In 1776, Gainsborough painted a portrait of Johann Christian Bach, the youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach's former teacher Padre Martini of Bologna, Italy, was assembling a collection of portraits of musicians, and Bach asked Gainsborough to paint his portrait as part of this collection. The portrait now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in London.


title: Thomas Gainsborough

text: In 1780, he painted the portraits of King George III and Queen Charlotte and afterwards received other royal commissions. In February 1780, his daughter Molly was married to his musician friend Johann Christian Fischer, to Gainsborough's dismay, as he realized that Fischer was forming an attachment to Molly while carrying on flirtation with Peggy. The marriage between Molly and Fischer only lasted 8 months due to their discord and Fischer's deceit.


title: Thomas Gainsborough

text: In 1784, Principal Painter in Ordinary Allan Ramsay died and the King was obliged to give the job to Gainsborough's rival and Academy president, Joshua Reynolds. Gainsborough remained the Royal Family's favorite painter, however.


title: Thomas Gainsborough

text: In his later years, Gainsborough often painted landscapes. With Richard Wilson, he was one of the originators of the eighteenth-century British landscape school; though simultaneously, in conjunction with Reynolds, he was the dominant British portraitist of the second half of the 18th century.


title: Thomas Gainsborough

text: William Jackson in his contemporary essays said of him "to his intimate friends he was sincere and honest and that his heart was always alive to every feeling of honour and generosity". Gainsborough did not particularly enjoy reading but letters written to his friends were penned in such an exceptional conversational manner that the style could not be equalled. As a letter writer Henry Bate-Dudley said of him "a selection of his letters would offer the world as much originality and beauty as is ever traced in his paintings".


title: Thomas Gainsborough

text: In the 1780s, Gainsborough used a device he called a "Showbox" to compose landscapes and display them backlit on glass. The original box is on display in the Victoria & Albert Museum with a reproduction transparency.


title: Thomas Gainsborough

text: He died of cancer on 2 August 1788 at the age of 61. According to his daughter Peggy, his last words were "van Dyck". He is interred in the churchyard St. Anne's Church, Kew, Surrey, (located on Kew Green). It was his express wish to be buried near his friend Joshua Kirby. Later his wife and nephew Gainsborough Dupont were interred with him. Coincidentally Johan Zoffany and Franz Bauer are also buried in the graveyard. As of 2011, an appeal is underway to pay the costs of restoration of his tomb. A street in Kew, Gainsborough Road, is named after him.


title: Thomas Gainsborough

text: The art historian Michael Rosenthal described Gainsborough as "one of the most technically proficient and, at the same time, most experimental artists of his time". He was noted for the speed with which he applied paint, and he worked more from observations of nature (and of human nature) than from application of formal academic rules. The poetic sensibility of his paintings caused Constable to say, "On looking at them, we find tears in our eyes and know not what brings them."


title: Thomas Gainsborough

text: Gainsborough's enthusiasm for landscapes is shown in the way he merged figures of the portraits with the scenes behind them. His landscapes were often painted at night by candlelight, using a tabletop arrangement of stones, pieces of mirrors, broccoli, and the like as a model. His later work was characterised by a light palette and easy, economical strokes.


title: Thomas Gainsborough

text: His more famous works, "The Blue Boy"; "Mr and Mrs Andrews"; "Portrait of Mrs. Graham"; "Mary and Margaret: The Painter's Daughters"; "William Hallett and His Wife Elizabeth, nee Stephen", known as "The Morning Walk"; and "Cottage Girl with Dog and Pitcher", display the unique individuality of his subjects. Joshua Reynolds considered "Girl with Pigs" "the best picture he (Gainsborough) ever painted or perhaps ever will".


title: Thomas Gainsborough

text: Gainsborough's works became popular with collectors from the 1850s on, after Lionel de Rothschild began buying his portraits. The rapid rise in the value of pictures by Gainsborough and also by Reynolds in the mid 19th century was partly because the Rothschild family, including Ferdinand de Rothschild began collecting them.


title: Thomas Gainsborough

text: In 2011, Gainsborough's portrait of "Miss Read" (Mrs Frances Villebois) was sold by Michael Pearson, 4th Viscount Cowdray, for a record price of £6.54M, at Christie's in London. She was a matrilineal descendant of Cecily Neville, Duchess of York.


title: David Cook (singer)

text: David Roland Cook (born December 20, 1982) is an American rock singer-songwriter. Cook rose to fame after winning the seventh season of "American Idol" in 2008.


title: David Cook (singer)

text: Prior to "Idol", Cook formed a high school band that released three studio albums and four live albums before releasing his first solo independent album, "Analog Heart". After winning "American Idol", he released his debut single "The Time of My Life", which entered the "Billboard" Hot 100 charts at number three and at number two on the "Billboard" Canadian Hot 100, selling over 1.4 million copies and being certified platinum by the RIAA. His major-label self-titled debut album was released on November 18, 2008, and has also since been certified platinum by the RIAA. The album produced two top twenty singles; "Light On" and "Come Back to Me". His second major album "This Loud Morning" was released on June 28, 2011. The album produced two singles; "The Last Goodbye" and "Fade into Me". "This Quiet Night", Cook's first EP, was also released on June 28, 2011 (initially, exclusively via his official music store and later through retail outlets) and featured acoustic performances of select "This Loud Morning" album tracks.


title: David Cook (singer)

text: After departing from RCA and releasing three stand-alone singles, Cook became an independent artist and released his first single "Criminals" for his fourth studio album "Digital Vein", which was released on September 18, 2015, with the latter two ("Laying Me Low" and "Wait For Me") being featured on the album. The album produced two singles: "Criminals" and "Broken Windows".


title: David Cook (singer)

text: Cook released his second EP, "Chromance", featuring a more pop-driven sound. Its lead single, "Gimme Heartbreak," was released to promote the EP. The EP entered the US Indie charts at number five. His third EP, "The Looking Glass", was released on April 16, 2021.


title: David Cook (singer)

text: Cook was born in Houston, Texas, and raised in Blue Springs, Missouri. His parents are Beth Foraker and Stanley Cook. He is the middle of three brothers – the late Adam Cook being older and Andrew younger. He is of German, Irish, and English descent.


title: David Cook (singer)

text: Cook's interest in music began at a young age. He began singing in second grade, when his elementary school music teacher, Mrs. Gentry, gave him a part in a school Christmas performance. He proceeded to perform in virtually every Christmas and PTA program. He received his first guitar, a Fender Stratocaster, at the age of 13. He also participated in choir and drama programs in middle school and high school. At Blue Springs South High School, he performed in musicals, including "The Music Man", "West Side Story", and "Singin' in the Rain". In addition to this, he was an active member in the Blue Springs South High School National Forensics League (or NFL), where he qualified for the national tournament twice for Duo Interpretation, an event that relies on performance and interpretation of a literary work. He graduated from Blue Springs South High School in 2001.


title: David Cook (singer)

text: He was also an avid baseball player (pitcher) during high school and once gave up a home run to Albert Pujols in an American Legion Baseball game. After an injury, he focused more on music. He earned a theater scholarship to the University of Central Missouri, but he abandoned theater after two semesters, graduating from the school in 2006 with a degree in graphic design. While in college, he was a member of Phi Sigma Kappa. After his college graduation, he relocated to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to pursue a career in music, telling his mother, "I just want to give myself until I'm 26 years old to get a job."


title: David Cook (singer)

text: David Cook formed a band with his friend Bobby Kerr while at high school. The band was initially named Red Eye, later changed to Axium. He wrote his first song, "Red Hot", when he was fifteen. He was encouraged by Evan Sula-Goff of 8stops7 to make an album when he went to Cook's school to judge a contest, Mr. Jaguar, where David Cook and his band performed Guns N' Roses' "Paradise City". The band had some success when one of their songs, "Hold", was selected to be played in movie theaters across the country, and they were named one of the top 15 independent bands in the country by "Got Milk?" contest as well as the best Kansas City band in 2004. The band produced three studio albums – "Matter of Time", "Blindsided", and "The Story Thus Far", as well as a number of live albums including "Alive in Tulsa".


title: David Cook (singer)

text: Axium, however, broke up in 2006 and David Cook moved to Tulsa where he joined Midwest Kings, a band he once opened for. He was the bassist for their EP "Incoherent With Desire to Move On". Members of that band Andy Skib and Neal Tiemann later became part of David Cook's post-"Idol" band The Anthemic. He recorded and self-released a solo album "Analog Heart" in 2006. He had also recorded his second solo album (unreleased) prior to appearing on "Idol", and was working as a bartender to support himself.


title: David Cook (singer)

text: Cook originally did not plan to try out for the show. He went to the auditions in Omaha, Nebraska, initially to support his younger brother (who did not make it to Hollywood) and then, prompted by mother and brother when a show producer noticed him, David auditioned himself. He performed Bon Jovi's "Livin' On a Prayer" for his audition. For his first Hollywood audition, Cook performed "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" by Bryan Adams, accompanying himself on acoustic guitar. On the second song in Hollywood, he sang "I'll Be" by Edwin McCain. Cook took advantage of the decision to allow contestants to play musical instruments. Besides his Hollywood audition, he also accompanied himself on electric guitar for his performances of "All Right Now", "Hello", "Day Tripper", "I'm Alive", "Baba O'Riley", "Dare You to Move", and "Dream Big", and on acoustic guitar for "Little Sparrow", "", and "The World I Know". His white, left-handed Gibson Les Paul electric guitar has the letters "AC" on it; as Cook told "TV Guide", "I have two brothers, Adam and Andrew. So, because of superstition, I put their initials on everything growing up." Starting from the Top 12-week, he also wore (and continued to wear throughout competition) an orange wristband to support a then-7-year-old fan, Lindsey Rose, with leukemia. Lindsey Rose is now many years recovered and perfectly healthy.


title: David Cook (singer)

text: Another of Cook's performances, The Beatles' "Day Tripper", was credited to Whitesnake. Seattle-based band Doxology has claimed that Cook's performance of The Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby" was based on a version the band recorded over a year ago. On April 1, before performing his self-arranged rendition of Dolly Parton's "Little Sparrow" on "American Idol", Cook told Ryan Seacrest in the interview session that his performance of "Eleanor Rigby" was based on Neil Zaza's and Doxology's versions. He also reiterated the credits of Whitesnake and Chris Cornell. Despite the controversy, critics praised Cook for choosing versions of songs that fit his vocal style. Cook's arrangements of "Happy Together", "Hello", "Little Sparrow", "Always Be My Baby", "All I Really Need Is You", "Baba O'Riley", "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing", "Dream Big" and "The World I Know" were original arrangements.


title: David Cook (singer)

text: Cook won the seventh season of "American Idol" on May 21, 2008, receiving 56 percent of the votes, with 12 million votes over David Archuleta, the runner-up. Cook then sang "The Time of My Life", the winning song of the 2008 "American Idol" Songwriter's Competition. In the final tally, Archuleta received 44 percent of the votes. During the final show, identical commercials promoting "Guitar Hero" featured Cook and fellow finalist Archuleta mimicked the Tom Cruise scene from "Risky Business" where he dances in his underwear playing an air guitar.


title: David Cook (singer)

text: A week following Cook's "American Idol" victory, in the "Billboard" chart week ending May 25, 2008, Cook broke several "Billboard" chart records. Most notable was his record shattering feat of having 11 songs debut on the Hot 100 that week, beating the previous record set by Miley Cyrus ("Hannah Montana") in 2006 when she had six songs debut on the chart. Cook's first single, "The Time of My Life" led the pack, debuting at number three on the Hot 100. Cook's eleven charting songs also gave him the most songs by one artist on the Hot 100 of any week in the Nielsen SoundScan era (which began in 1991), and the most of any era since The Beatles placed 14 songs on the chart the week of April 11, 1964. In addition, that same week Cook also broke the record for the most debuts on "Billboard"'s Hot Digital Songs chart, where he placed 14 debut entries, the record for which was previously six, set by Bon Jovi in 2007. Cook's 17 entries had a combined total of 944,000 digital downloads in the first week of selling.


title: David Cook (singer)

text: Cook's photo was also featured on the cover of The World Almanac and Book of Facts 2009, along with President Barack Obama and Senator John McCain.


title: David Cook (singer)

text: Cook worked with Espionage, Ed Roland (Collective Soul), Zac Maloy (The Nixons), Jason Wade (Lifehouse), Neal Tiemann (the Midwest Kings), Kevin Griffin (Better Than Ezra), Chantal Kreviazuk, and Raine Maida (Our Lady Peace) on his self-titled, major label debut album. The album was produced by Rob Cavallo. On Ryan Seacrest's morning show "On Air" of KIIS-FM on September 5, 2008, the singer revealed that the CD release date would be November 18, 2008.


title: David Cook (singer)

text: The first single released from the album, "Light On" premiered as an AOL Exclusive on September 23, 2008 and debuted at No. 17 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 for the week of October 18, 2008. The single was certified platinum January 20, 2010. This is followed by a dual release of Come Back to Me and Bar-ba-sol, with "Come Back to Me" being released to HAC radio stations and Bar-ba-sol to rock radio. The music video for "Come Back to Me" was released on April 4, 2009.


title: David Cook (singer)

text: His debut album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association for America (RIAA) for sales exceeding one-million units in January 2009. He was presented with his plaque while recording a performance that was aired during the April 1, 2009, episode of American Idol.


title: David Cook (singer)

text: Cook had earlier announced via his myspace blog that two former bandmates from Midwest Kings (MWK) would join his band, with Neal Tiemann as the lead guitar player, and Andy Skib on rhythm guitar and keyboard. Other members who joined later were Joey Clement (replaced later by Monty Anderson) on bass guitar, and Kyle Peek on drums and backing vocals. "The Declaration Tour" began on February 13, 2009, in Tallahassee, Florida, and was originally set to end in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on April 25, 2009. The tour however was extended twice – the first time through May 31, 2009, and then again starting from June 18, 2009, in Del Mar, California, and finally ending December 1, 2009, in Charlotte, North Carolina, after a total of 153 shows. On August 23, 2009, in an interview and at his concert in Yakima, Washington, Cook announced that the band would be known as The Anthemic.


title: David Cook (singer)

text: Cook began to concentrate working on this his second album after his first major tour, "The Declaration Tour," concluded in December 2009. While on the tour, he put down some riffs and lyrical ideas, and started song-writing as a band towards the end of the tour. In an interview with Idolatry's Michael Slezak on February 8, 2010, Cook revealed that he was hard at work on his second album. He had been collaborating with Raine Maida and Chantal Kreviazuk, Matt Squire, Gregg Wattenberg, John Rzeznik, Sam Hollander and Dave Katz, Claude Kelly, Brian Howes, David Hodges, Tommy Henriksen, Steven Van Zandt, Kevin Griffin, Zac Maloy, Ryan Tedder, Jim Irvin, Jamie Jamie Houston, Ryan Star & Julian Emery and Max Martin. Besides that, he also collaborated with members of his band, The Anthemic – Neal Tiemann and Andy Skib. In an April interview with HitQuarters – recorded in March – the producer-songwriter Steve Mac said that Cook had recently visited his Rokstone Studios in London where together with Mac he had also been writing with Savan Kotecha and Andrew Frampton. He had hoped initially that a single would be ready for release in April 2010 and the album that summer. However, a producer for the album was not announced until May, and recording started in June that year with producer Matt Serletic at the helm. On March 31, 2011, Cook tweeted that the title of his new single would be The Last Goodbye and debuted on April 19, 2011. "This Loud Morning" was released on June 28, 2011. He has also stated that at the beginning his goal was to make an album that "really, really pushed the concept of dynamic".


title: David Cook (singer)

text: Cook toured in support of "This Loud Morning" with a 2011 Fall Tour, co-headlining with Gavin DeGraw and with Carolina Liar in support, for 22 shows across 15 states beginning October 9, 2011, in State College, Pennsylvania, and ending November 10, 2011, in Athens, Georgia.Cook's second single, "Fade into Me", was released to coincide with the tour. Cook tweeted that there would be "more dates/info to come" In this tour, Devin Bronson replaced Neal Tiemann as the lead guitarist.


title: David Cook (singer)

text: On May 10, 2012, Cook performed a new song, "The Last Song I'll Write for You" on the eleventh season of "American Idol". Before the performance, Cook confirmed to Shirley Halperin of the "Hollywood Reporter" that he was without a recording contract, having departed from RCA, and was self-releasing "The Last Song I'll Write for You". On April 30, 2013, Cook released a new single, "Laying Me Low", through XIX Recordings, the record label of "American Idol" creator Simon Fuller, although Cook shortly departed from Fuller's label.


title: David Cook (singer)

text: Cook co-penned country music singer David Nail's 2014 single, "Kiss You Tonight" from his album "I'm a Fire". On March 24, 2015, Cook signed a publishing deal with Warner/Chappell Music.


title: David Cook (singer)

text: Cook's move to Nashville saw his newfound role as producer of his fourth album, often citing his move as the source of creativity. He worked with previous songwriters like Zac Maloy, Kevin Griffin, David Hodges, and Andy Skib (who also contributed as engineer). Cook also collaborated with Jerry Flowers, Earth to Andy members Andy Waldeck and Chris Reardon (with Reardon also serving as co-producer on one track – "Laying Me Low"), local Nashville writers Blair Daly and Chad Carlson, former bandmate Devin Bronson, and Steven Miller. "Criminals" was the first official single from the album released on July 31, 2015. "Digital Vein" was released on September 18, 2015, through Cook's own independent label, Analog Heart Music.


title: David Cook (singer)

text: Cook promoted the album on the Digital Vein Tour throughout late 2015 and early 2016. The first half of the tour, with opening act Andrew Ripp, consisted of 33 shows in 24 states, beginning on September 30, 2015, in Phoenix, Arizona, and ending on November 21, 2015, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In this tour, Daniel Damico replaced Andy Skib and Devin Bronson as the lead guitarist and keyboardist, drummer Adam Reidelbach replaced Nick Adams, and Andy Wildrick replaced Monty Anderson as the bass guitarist.


title: David Cook (singer)

text: His second single "Broken Windows" was released on February 22, 2016, and coincided with the second half of the tour. Featuring opening act Tony Lucca, the run consisted of 18 shows in 14 states, beginning on February 23, 2016, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and ending on March 19, 2016, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.


title: David Cook (singer)

text: On March 27, 2017, Cook teased a thirty-second clip on social media with the quote "#gimmeheartbreak", indicating his new single, "Gimme Heartbreak" would be released on June 23, 2017.


title: David Cook (singer)

text: An EP, "Chromance", was released on February 16, 2018. Cook made his Broadway debut playing Charlie Price, in "Kinky Boots" on April 3, 2018, and would play a limited run through May 5. Cook returned to "Kinky Boots" for a second limited run starting July 17 to September 9, 2018. From October 25 to November 20, 2018, Cook embarked on "Acoustic Tour."


title: David Cook (singer)

text: On June 26, 2020, he released his single, "Reds Turn Blue," from "The Looking Glass." In an interview with "People," Cook explains that the title is a reference to the manic highs and lows of anxiety and states that the song is "kind of a letter from my anxiety to me," after publicly announcing that he had been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder two years after winning "American Idol." On December 4, 2020, he released the second single, "Strange World", from the EP. Cook released his third single, "Fire", from the EP on March 19, 2021. Cook released his third EP, "The Looking Glass", on April 16, 2021.


title: David Cook (singer)

text: On April 29, 2022, Cook released his stand-alone single, "TABOS" (an acronym for "This'll all be over soon" from the song's chorus).


title: David Cook (singer)

text: Cook appeared at the 2008 "Glamour" magazine Women of the Year Awards as a guest of Mary Steenburgen to surprise honoree Hillary Clinton, a fan of "American Idol". He sang one of Clinton's favorite songs, "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", which he also sang during the Top 3-week on "Idol".


title: David Cook (singer)

text: Cook appeared in several promotions for the November 1, 2008, episode of "Saturday Night Live", hosted by Ben Affleck. Cook performed two songs on the program, the first "Light On" and the second "Declaration".


title: David Cook (singer)

text: In 2009, Cook performed songs from his debut album for the troops during a USO tour, where he was able to visit seven bases (including Camp Liberty, Camp Phoenix, and Camp Taji in Iraq). Cook has since had the honor of performing for military personnel and their families at more than 40 military installations around the world with the USO, Armed Forces Entertainment, Navy Entertainment, and Air Force Entertainment.


title: David Cook (singer)

text: On August 11, 2009, Cook performed "Starseed" with Canadian alternative rock band, Our Lady Peace at the House of Blues in Dallas, Texas.


title: David Cook (singer)

text: On February 18, 2010, Cook performed with the original line-up of his band, Midwest Kings (which included Neal Tiemann and Andy Skib), in Tulsa, Oklahoma, performing songs from the band's discography.


title: David Cook (singer)

text: Since his "American Idol" win, Cook attended many of the show's promotional events. On February 12, 2009, Cook appeared on the morning news program, "Good Morning America" and talked about Walt Disney World Resort's new attraction, "The American Idol Experience", where he performed "Light On" and covered "Go Your Own Way" with fellow winner Carrie Underwood. He and all the other six winners received a mic-shaped statue from the creator of the franchise, Simon Fuller to honor them for winning the competition. On August 7, 2009, Cook performed the Fleetwood Mac hit "Little Lies" with "American Idol" season 8 winner Kris Allen and runner-up Adam Lambert on ABC's Good Morning America's Summer Concert Series in Central Park. Cook performed "Lie" in a Christmas TV variety special hosted by Carrie Underwood.


title: David Cook (singer)

text: Cook also made numerous returns to "American Idol". On April 1, 2009, Cook performed "Come Back To Me" and was presented with his Platinum Album for David Cook (album). On May 20, 2009, Cook performed "Permanent" during the finale of eighth season in honor of his late brother Adam, where proceeds from the live single went to Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure (ABC2). During the March 17, 2010, episode of "American Idol", Cook sang the Rolling Stones song "Jumpin' Jack Flash". On April 21, 2010, Cook made an appearance on Idol Gives Back. On March 7, 2011, Cook released the send-off song for the tenth season, the Simple Minds song "Don't You (Forget About Me)", played upon elimination and returned on May 24, 2011 to perform the song live. He later performed "The Last Goodbye" on the stage on April 21, 2011. He returned in the eleventh season to perform "The Last Song I'll Write for You" and once more in the twelfth season to sing "Laying Me Low". Cook mentored the top 8 finalists during "Songs from the 1980s" week in the thirteenth season. He mentored once more with two semi-finalists during the fifteenth season, dueting with C.J. Johnson on "The World I Know" and Olivia Rox on his own song "Light On". On April 7, 2016, he returned again, performing a David Bowie medley in tribute with fellow winners Kris Allen, Lee DeWyze, Phillip Phillips, and Nick Fradiani. During Hollywood Week of season 20, Cook returned to mentor contestants in the rock genre and later returned to duet with Kris Allen as part of that seasons "The Great Idol Reunion" special, which aired on May 2, 2022.


title: David Cook (singer)

text: In May 2008, Cook asked Season 2 "American Idol" alum and TV Guide Network correspondent Kimberly Caldwell for a dinner date while on the red carpet before the show's seventh-season finale. During a radio interview with XL 106.7 on October 13, 2008, Cook revealed that he and Caldwell were "still seeing each other." In a November 2008 interview with "People" magazine, Cook said his relationship with Caldwell was a "nice break from the chaos" of post-"Idol" fame. They ended their relationship in December 2008.


title: David Cook (singer)

text: "People" reported on March 31, 2009, that David was canceling dates on his current tour due to "family matters". Cook's elder brother, Adam, had been diagnosed with brain cancer since 1998 and died on May 2, 2009. On May 3, 2009, at the "Race for Hope" in Washington, D.C., Cook announced the death of his brother during the awards speech, and stated that he "couldn't imagine being anywhere else right now." He finished the 5k with a time of 28 minutes. His team raised $136,376.16 for the cause. Donations were accepted through September 30, 2009. On the finale of the 8th season of "American Idol", Cook sang his song "Permanent" in honor of his brother. Audio of the performance was made available on iTunes, and the proceeds from the sale of it were put toward brain cancer research.


title: David Cook (singer)

text: Cook married longtime girlfriend, Racheal Stump, in a private ceremony in Nashville on June 20, 2015.


title: David Cook (singer)

text: His musical influences include Our Lady Peace, Alice in Chains, Big Wreck, Pearl Jam, Bon Jovi, Chris Cornell, The Goo Goo Dolls, Switchfoot, Collective Soul, and Michael Jackson. Immediately after winning American Idol, Cook was asked backstage by "Entertainment Weekly" who his top five favorite bands were. Our Lady Peace and Big Wreck were on this short list, as well as the Foo Fighters, Jimmy Eat World and 8stops7.


title: Janine Butcher

text: Janine Butcher (also Evans and Malloy) is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera "EastEnders", introduced in 1989. The character was played by Rebecca Michael from 1989 to 1993, Alexia Demetriou from 1993 to 1996, and Charlie Brooks from 1999 onwards. Brooks initially departed on 7 May 2004. She returned for a three episode guest stint in April 2008 before returning permanently on 18 December of that year. Brooks later took a break from September 2012 until April 2013, then departed again on 20 March 2014. In April 2021, it was announced that Brooks will reprise the role once again and would return later in the year. She returned on 6 September 2021. It was announced on 24 September 2022 that Brooks had once again decided to leave the show, and her final scenes will air on 26 December 2022.


title: Janine Butcher

text: The character has been described as a "super-bitch" and a "classic villainess". She has proven popular with critics and fans of the show. Her storylines typically involve her in an antagonistic role. She has been married four times; Barry Evans (Shaun Williamson) whom she killed on New Year’s Day 2004, David (Harry Towb), Ryan Malloy (Neil McDermott) and Michael Moon (Steve John Shepherd). Her feuds include a long-standing conflict with former stepmothers Pat Butcher (Pam St Clement) and Peggy Mitchell (Barbara Windsor), Sonia Jackson (Natalie Cassidy), Lynne Slater (Elaine Lordan), Laura Beale (Hannah Waterman), Kat Slater (Jessie Wallace), Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner) and Linda Carter (Kellie Bright). Her initial departure saw Janine being wrongfully charged for the death of Laura Beale. Upon her return, Janine is caught forging a wedding to a wealthy, old-age pensioner, that ends with her new husband abruptly dying of a fatal heart attack upon discovering her false identity. She later accidentally kills local resident Danielle Jones (Lauren Crace) by running her down in her car; conspires with Peggy's husband Archie (Larry Lamb) to defraud the Mitchell family from their ownership of The Queen Victoria public house; becomes a prime suspect in Archie's murder investigation (see Who Killed Archie?) before attempting to kill her third husband Ryan by poisoning him. She later gives birth to a daughter Scarlett with fourth husband Michael before eventually stabbing and killing him - leading to her third departure from the show.


title: Janine Butcher

text: Following her 2021 return, Janine’s storylines have involved her impersonating a doctor, being in a custody battle for Scarlett with Kat, accidentally starting a fire which almost kills Scarlett and Kat’s son, Tommy Moon (Sonny Kendall), reigniting her feuds with both Kat and Stacey, framing Jay Brown (Jamie Borthwick) for car theft, manipulating a separation between Mick Carter (Danny Dyer) and his wife Linda (Kellie Bright) in order to have him to herself; regaining custody of Scarlett, starting a feud with Linda in which she frames her for a car accident, blackmailing Jada Lennox (Kelsey Calladine-Smith) into helping her bring Linda down; and discovering she is pregnant with Mick's child.


title: Janine Butcher

text: A troublesome child, Janine throws tantrums, runs away, is a bed-wetter, a sleep-walker, a thief, a compulsive liar and a self-harmer, and hates Pat. Unable to discipline her, Pat forces Frank to take Janine to family therapy, which somehow helps. Janine refuses to go to school and Ricky finds out she is being bullied. When Frank has a breakdown and disappears in 1994, Janine stays with Pat but finds her father's absence upsetting.


title: Janine Butcher

text: Janine makes friends with Clare Bates (Gemma Bissix) and Sonia Jackson (Natalie Cassidy) and they cause trouble for Felix Kawalski (Harry Landis), when they spread rumours that he is a pervert who murdered his wife, and keeps her body in his cellar. She is overjoyed when Frank returns, and they move to Manchester in 1996. However, Frank returns to Walford in 1998, leaving Janine with her sister Clare.


title: Janine Butcher

text: Janine returns to live with Frank and his new wife, Peggy Mitchell (Barbara Windsor). She sets about coming between them, constantly trying to antagonise Frank with rebellious behaviour. She sleeps with Jamie Mitchell (Jack Ryder) and humiliates him by spreading rumours about his inadequate prowess. Frank abandons Janine after the breakdown of his marriage to Peggy. Homeless, Janine is taken in by Terry Raymond (Gavin Richards); they start a business together as estate agents. Terry sees Janine as a surrogate daughter, but Janine's constant manipulation tests his patience. Janine uses him for money, deliberately dresses like his late daughter Tiffany Mitchell (Martine McCutcheon), ruins his relationships with women and tries to seduce him. Janine also has a relationship with Billy Mitchell (Perry Fenwick) until he runs out of money. This behaviour infuriates Terry but Janine starts using cocaine and pesters Terry for money to feed her habit. When he refuses, she resorts to sex with her drug dealer, Lee Vickers (Dermot Keaney), in exchange for cocaine; Vickers beats Terry up when he tries to warn him off. When he sees Janine's lack of remorse, Terry throws her out and leaves Walford, ignoring her pleas for him to stay.