title: Ocean Ranger

text: At 00:52 local time, on 15 February, a Mayday call was sent out from "Ocean Ranger", noting a severe list to the port side of the rig and requesting immediate assistance. This was the first communication from "Ocean Ranger" identifying a major problem. The standby vessel, the M/V "Seaforth Highlander", was requested to come in close as countermeasures against the 10–15-degree list were proving ineffective. The onshore MOCAN supervisor was notified of the situation, and the Canadian Forces and Mobil-operated helicopters were alerted just after 01:00 local time. The M/V "Boltentor" and the M/V "Nordertor", the standby boats of "Sedco 706" and "Zapata Ugland" respectively, were also dispatched to "Ocean Ranger" to provide assistance. At 01:30 local time, "Ocean Ranger" transmitted its last message: "There will be no further radio communications from "Ocean Ranger". We are going to lifeboat stations." Shortly thereafter, in the middle of the night and in the midst of severe winter weather, the crew abandoned the platform. The platform remained afloat for another ninety minutes, sinking between 03:07 and 03:13 local time.


title: Ocean Ranger

text: All of "Ocean Ranger" sank beneath the Atlantic: by the next morning all that remained was a few buoys. Her entire complement of 84 workers – 46 Mobil employees and 38 contractors from various service companies – were killed. While the rig was provided with an Emergency Procedures Manual which detailed evacuation procedures, it is unclear how effectively the platform evacuation was carried out. There is evidence that at least one lifeboat was successfully launched with up to 36 crew inside, and witnesses on the M/V "Seaforth Highlander" reported seeing at least 20 crew members in the water at the same time, indicating that at least 56 crew successfully evacuated the rig. The United States Coast Guard report speculated that 'these men either chose to enter the water directly or were thrown into the water as a result of unsuccessful lifesaving equipment launching'. Rescue attempts by the standby vessels were hampered by the adverse weather conditions and the conclusion that the standby boats were neither equipped nor configured to rescue casualties from a cold sea. As a result of the severe weather, the first helicopter did not arrive on scene until 02:30 local time, by which time most if not all of "Ocean Ranger"'s crew had succumbed to hypothermia and drowned. Over the next week, 22 bodies were recovered from the North Atlantic. Autopsies indicated that those men had died as a result of drowning while in a hypothermic state.


title: Ocean Ranger

text: In related activity the following day, the Soviet container ship "Mekhanik Tarasov" was struck by the same weather conditions as "Ocean Ranger", approximately to the east. The battered Soviet freighter listed dramatically for hours before sinking with the loss of 32 of 37 crew.


title: Ocean Ranger

text: The remains of the platform were found by sonar search over the following weeks, resting in an inverted position approximately south-east of the wellhead, surrounded by major items of debris such as the derrick. The platform had capsized bow-first, turning over and striking the sea floor with the forward ends of the platform's pontoons. The United States Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation report on the disaster summarised the chain of events as follows:


title: Ocean Ranger

text: A Canadian Royal Commission spent two years looking into the disaster. The joint Federal-Provincial Royal Commission on the Ocean Ranger Marine Disaster found that the crew were not trained, the safety equipment was inadequate, there were no safety protocols for the supply ship, and that the platform itself had a number of flaws. The Royal Commission concluded that "Ocean Ranger" had design and construction flaws, particularly in the ballast control room, and that the crew lacked proper safety training, survival suits and equipment. The Royal Commission also concluded that inspection and regulation by United States and Canadian government agencies was ineffective. In addition to key recommendations for Canada's offshore oil and gas industry, the commission recommended that the federal government invest annually in research and development for search and rescue technologies, such as improving the design of lifesaving equipment—a commitment that has been met in every fiscal year since 1982.


title: Ocean Ranger

text: In August 1983, the wreck of "Ocean Ranger" was refloated and sunk in deeper waters by the Dutch firm Wijsmuller Salvage. Since its sinking the previous year, concerns over the wreck's position had been made by the federal government. As the wreck of "Ocean Ranger" was situated at an approximate 30 metres below the water, the wreck posed a danger to shipping. The operation saw "Ocean Ranger" towed upside down with her two pontoons breaking the surface.


title: Ocean Ranger

text: Operations had commenced earlier in June. However progress was halted when two salvage divers were killed on the wreck by an underwater explosion on 20 June. A stop-work order on refloating the wreck was declared and an investigation into the incident followed. However, exploratory diving was allowed to continue. A second incident on 26 June saw a third diver killed, believed to have been hit by a dropped object as he attempted to return to the surface.


title: Ocean Ranger

text: Lawsuits arising from the sinking were settled out of court with a package cumulatively valued at $20 million.


title: Ocean Ranger

text: A permanent monument to those who died was created on the grounds of the Confederation Building, the seat of the provincial government of Newfoundland.


title: Ocean Ranger

text: A documentary film, "The Ocean Ranger Disaster" (2002), was released only in Canada. In fiction, Canadian author Lisa Moore's novel, "February" (2009), depicts the life of a woman whose husband died aboard the oil rig. Canadian folk singer-songwriter Ron Hynes wrote a song called "Atlantic Blue" (1988) as a tribute to the crew of "Ocean Ranger".


title: Ocean Ranger

text: In January 2012, a non-fiction book, "The Ocean Ranger: Remaking the Promise of Oil" was published in Canada by Fernwood Publishing. The book's author, Susan Dodd, lost her older brother Jim with the sinking of the "Ocean Ranger" and watched, for years, as her parents pursued legal struggles with the oil companies.


title: Up to eleven

text: "Up to eleven", also phrased as "these go to eleven", is an idiom from popular culture, coined in the 1984 film "This Is Spinal Tap," where guitarist Nigel Tufnel demonstrates an amplifier whose volume knobs are marked from zero to eleven, instead of the usual zero to ten. The primary implication of the reference is one in which things that are essentially the same are seen as different, due to mislabeling or the user's misunderstanding of the underlying operating principles. A secondary reference may be anything being exploited to its utmost limits, or apparently exceeding them.


title: Up to eleven

text: In 2002, the phrase entered the "Shorter Oxford English Dictionary" with the definition "up to maximum volume".


title: Up to eleven

text: The phrase was coined in a scene from the 1984 mockumentary/rockumentary "This Is Spinal Tap" by the character Nigel Tufnel, played by Christopher Guest. In this scene, Nigel gives the rockumentary's director, Marty DiBergi, played by Rob Reiner, a tour of his stage equipment. While Nigel is showing Marty his Marshall guitar amplifiers, he points out a selection whose control knobs all have a highest setting of eleven, unlike standard amplifiers whose volume settings are typically numbered from 0 to 10. Believing that this numbering increases the highest volume of the amp, he explains, "It's one louder, isn't it?" When Marty asks why not simply make the 10 setting louder, Nigel hesitates before responding, ""These" go to eleven."


title: Up to eleven

text: The use of "11" as a maximum pre-dates "This Is Spinal Tap" by almost forty years. In 1947, the Baldwin Locomotive Works and the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway introduced the Chesapeake and Ohio class M-1 steam turbine locomotive. The locomotive's throttle included eleven settings, ranging from one (idling) to eleven (full speed). The locomotive's cruising speed was , at which point the throttle was on "seven". During a trial run with a reporter from "Popular Mechanics" aboard, a C&O engineer expressed his dissatisfaction with a local speed limit of , noting that he would "Sure like to be able to pull it back to eleven!"


title: Up to eleven

text: Gibson Les Paul guitars with low-impedance pickups were outfitted with special controls designed by Les Paul himself. Controls included a "Decade Switch" that went up to 11.


title: Up to eleven

text: As a consequence of the film, real bands and musicians started buying equipment whose knobs went up to 11, or even higher, with Eddie Van Halen reputedly being the first to do so. Marshall, the company that provided amplifiers for the film that the custom-marked knobs were applied to, now sells amplifiers such as its JCM900 (first sold in 1990) whose knobs are marked from 0 to 20. The QSC 3500 and 3800 amplifiers made for the professional sound company Sound Image in the 1990s went to 11, as do amps from Soldano and Friedman.


title: Up to eleven

text: Other controls with a maximum of 11 include SSL mixing consoles, Amazon Alexa, the BBC's iPlayer on demand video player, the headphone volume control on the PreSonus AudioBox 1818VSL, the volume control on the Apogee Mini-DAC, the IRIX audio panel (when invoked with the undocumented "-spinaltap" option), and the Tesla Model S's volume control. The tachometer on a Singer Vehicle Design modified Porsche 911 goes up to 11, representing 11,000 RPM. The ″Drive″ knob of the Elektron Syntakt drum computer and synthesizer goes from 0 to 11 with 1 in the middle, using 0—1 for normal clean audio levels followed by 10 additional steps of distorted range.


title: Up to eleven

text: On its primary page for "This Is Spinal Tap", the IMDb displays the user rating for the film out of 11 stars (e.g. 7.9/11) instead of the standard scale of one to ten. However, only 10 rating stars are actually shown on the page, and user ratings can only be submitted up to 10 stars. Other IMDb pages display the rating out of 10.


title: Up to eleven

text: The influence of the phrase "up to eleven" is such that it has been used outside of music; in 2016, for example, astronomer Krzysztof Stanek described the brightest-known object in the universe as being "as if nature took everything we know about magnetars and turned it up to 11."


title: Up to eleven

text: In Android 11, the ubiquitous version information animation also depicts a retro dial, with 10 divisions represented as dots. As the user turns it beyond the 10 divisions, the 11th division is displayed as a number.


title: Nok culture

text: The Nok culture (or Nok civilization) is a population whose material remains are named after the Ham village of Nok in Kaduna State of Nigeria, where their terracotta sculptures were first discovered in 1928. The Nok culture appeared in Nigeria around 1500 BC and vanished under unknown circumstances around 500 AD, having lasted approximately 2,000 years.


title: Nok culture

text: Iron use, in smelting and forging tools, appears in Nok culture by at least 550 BC and possibly a few centuries earlier. Data from historical linguistics suggest that iron smelting was independently discovered in the region by 1000 BC. Scientific field work began in 2005 to systematically investigate Nok archaeological sites and to better understand Nok terracotta sculptures within their Iron Age archaeological context.


title: Nok culture

text: Breunig and Rupp hypothesized, "Their origin is unknown, but since the plants they used as crops (especially millet) are indigenous to the Sahel region, a northern homeland is more probable than any other." Breunig explains: "The people of the Nok culture must have come from somewhere else. So far, however, we have not found out what region, though we suspect the Sahel zone in West Africa."


title: Nok culture

text: The function of Nok terracotta sculptures is still unknown. For the most part, the terracotta is preserved in the form of scattered fragments. That is why Nok art is well known today only for the heads, both male and female, whose hairstyles are particularly detailed and refined. The statues are in fragments because the discoveries are usually made from alluvial mud, in terrain made by the erosion of water. The terracotta statues found there are hidden, rolled, polished, and broken. Rarely are works of great size conserved intact making them highly valued on the international art market.


title: Nok culture

text: The terracotta figures are hollow, coil built, nearly life sized human heads and bodies that are depicted with highly stylized features, abundant jewelry, and varied postures.


title: Nok culture

text: Little is known of the original function of the pieces, but theories include ancestor portrayal, grave markers, and charms to prevent crop failure, infertility, and illness. Also, based on the dome-shaped bases found on several figures, they could have been used as finials for the roofs of ancient structures.


title: Nok culture

text: Margaret Young-Sanchez, Associate Curator of Art of the Americas, Africa, and Oceania in The Cleveland Museum of Art, explains that most Nok ceramics were shaped by hand from coarse-grained clay and subtractively sculpted in a manner that suggests an influence from wood carving. After some drying, the sculptures were covered with slip and burnished to produce a smooth, glossy surface. The figures are hollow, with several openings to facilitate thorough drying and firing. The firing process most likely resembled that used today in Nigeria, in which the pieces are covered with grass, twigs, and leaves and burned for several hours.


title: Nok culture

text: As a result of natural erosion and deposition, Nok terracottas were scattered at various depths throughout the Sahel grasslands, causing difficulty in the dating and classification of the mysterious artifacts. Luckily, two archaeological sites, Samun Dukiya and Taruga, were found containing Nok art that had remained unmoved. Radiocarbon and thermo-luminescence tests dated the sculptures to a range of dates between about 2,900 and 2,000 years ago, making them some of the oldest in Western Africa. Many further dates were retrieved in the course of new archaeological excavations, extending the beginnings of the Nok tradition even further back in time.


title: Nok culture

text: Because of the similarities between the two sites, archaeologist Graham Connah believes that "Nok artwork represents a style that was adopted by a range of iron-using farming societies of varying cultures, rather than being the diagnostic feature of a particular human group as has often been claimed."


title: Nok culture

text: Nok people may have developed terracotta sculptures through large-scale economic production. Among Nok terracotta sculptures at Pangwari, there are sculptures portraying a large teeth-bearing therianthropic (human-feline) figure and the torso of a seated figure wearing a belt around their waist and a necklace, which had added features (e.g., bows, knots); there are also sculptures portraying the head of a human figure that has a bird beak and the head of a male figure with a seashell on it, which may have been created by the same sculptor. Additionally, there are sculptures portraying figures wielding slingshots, as well as bows and arrows, which may be indicative of Nok people engaging in the hunting, or trapping, of untamed animals.


title: Nok culture

text: A Nok sculpture portrays two individuals, along with their goods, in a dugout canoe. Both of the anthropomorphic figures in the watercraft are paddling. The Nok terracotta depiction of a dugout canoe may indicate that Nok people utilized dugout canoes to transport cargo, along tributaries (e.g., Gurara River) of the Niger River, and exchanged them in a regional trade network. The Nok terracotta depiction of a figure with a seashell on its head may indicate that the span of these riverine trade routes may have extended to the Atlantic coast. In the maritime history of Africa, there is the earlier Dufuna canoe, which was constructed approximately 8000 years ago in the northern region of Nigeria; as the second earliest form of water vessel known in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Nok terracotta depiction of a dugout canoe was created in the central region of Nigeria during the first millennium BCE.


title: Nok culture

text: Based on evidence from the sites of Nok archaeological culture, such as considerable quantities of charcoal layered among Nok sculptures, goods (e.g., technically crafted ceramics, numerous stone-beaded necklaces) found in burial pits that support the view of them serving as grave sites, difference in soil coloring of burial pits and their immediate geographic area, and burial pits containing materials from organic substances, this supports the conclusion that Nok sculptures were part of a complex funerary culture.


title: Nok culture

text: Latter artistic traditions of West Africa – Bura of Niger (3rd century CE – 10th century CE), Koma of Ghana (7th century CE – 15th century CE), Igbo-Ukwu of Nigeria (9th century CE – 10th century CE), Jenne-Jeno of Mali (11th century CE – 12th century CE), and Ile Ife of Nigeria (11th century CE – 15th century CE) – may have been shaped by the earlier West African clay terracotta tradition of the Nok culture.


title: Nok culture

text: The first Nok terracotta was discovered in 1928 by Colonel Dent Young, a co-owner of a mining partnership, near the village of Nok in Kaduna State, Nigeria. The terracotta was accidentally unearthed at a level of from an alluvial tin mine. Young presented the sculptures to the Museum of the Department of Mines in Jos.


title: Nok culture

text: Fifteen years later, in 1943 near the village of Nok, in the center of Nigeria, a new series of clay figurines were discovered by accident while mining tin. A clerk in charge of the mine had found a head and had taken it back to his home for use as a scarecrow, a role that it filled (successfully) for a year in a yam field. This scarecrow was eventually noticed by Bernard Fagg who at the time was an administrative officer who had studied archaeology at the University of Cambridge. Fagg noticed that the head on the scarecrow looked similar to the sculpture that Young had found. He traveled to Jos where Young showed Fagg other recently uncovered terracotta figures. Eventually it became clear that the tin mining in Nok and Jema'a areas was revealing and destroying archaeological material.


title: Nok culture

text: Preliminary excavations at the beginning of January 1961 began near a remote valley named Taruga near the village of Takushara. The trial excavations took place during a period of eight days. The finds included objects of wrought iron, a quantity of iron slag, fragments of tuyere, pottery, figurine fragments, red ocher, quartz hammer-stones, and small concentrations of charcoal. The most famous finds at the site were the pottery graters which were shallow, flat-bottomed dishes which were deeply scored inside with diced patterns to produce a sharp abrasive surface. These pottery graters were probably used for food preparation. In the preliminary excavation a proton magnetometer survey was used to try and locate furnaces. The survey revealed a total of 61 magnetic anomalies which were mostly located in a flat, central area which probably indicated the limits of actual occupation. Twenty of the anomalies revealed concentrations of slag and nine of them contained in situ structures of furnace walls and bases. The most common type of artefact found was domestic pottery which can be divided into two different types. One type are bowls or shallow basins without lips and the other are globular pots which have averted lips. Because of this preliminary excavation, the Nok Culture would start being regarded as belonging to the Iron Age.


title: Nok culture

text: In 1989, German scientists were working in northeastern Nigeria's Chad Basin as part of a cooperative project between the University of Maiduguri located in Borno State, Nigeria, and archaeologists of Goethe University Frankfurt. This project examined the beginnings of sedentary farming societies in the Chad Basin. Questions arose about whether there were other societies like those in the Chad Basin, and these questions led the team to investigate the Nok Culture. In the early steps of the Frankfurt Nok Project, researchers had difficulty finding sites to excavate. The team began collaborating with Umaru Yusuf Potiskum and they started finding distinct Nok culture sites, although most were looted. A few sites, however, were still intact, and artefacts found at these sites are described below.


title: Nok culture

text: In the central region of Nigeria, Nok archaeological sites are determined to be settlement sites, on the basis of archaeological evidence discovered at the surface level of the sites, and determined to be of the Nok culture, on the basis of the type of archaeological evidence discovered, specifically, Nok terracotta remnants and Nok pottery. Mountaintops are where the majority of Nok settlement sites are found. At the settlement site of Kochio, the edge of a cellar of a settlement wall was chiseled from a granite foundation. Additionally, a megalithic stone fence was constructed around the enclosed settlement site of Kochio. Also, a circular stone foundation of a hut was discovered in Puntun Dutse.


title: Nok culture

text: The shapes of stone tools found at Nok sites change little throughout the entire span of the Nok Culture. What tends to strike researchers is a lack of cutting tools. Apart from stone axes, no tools with a cutting edge have been found. Projectile points made of either iron or stone are also absent from Nok sites.


title: Nok culture

text: Grinding tools are very common at Nok sites. They are rarely preserved in one piece, but can still illustrate the different shapes and sizes of tools used throughout the Nok Culture. Grinding stones were made of quartzite, granitic, or metamorphic rock. At the site of Ungwar Kura, grinding stones seem to have been placed in a certain order, and at the site of Ido huge grinding slabs were arranged in an upright position with pots and stone beads next to them. This context is assumed to have been ritual in some way. Most of the grinders are merely hand-sized. Throughout Nok sites, there is an abundance of grinding slabs but there seems to be a low number of hand stones. It is possible that members of the Nok Culture used these grinders until they reached a certain state of wear, and then repurposed them as pestles.


title: Nok culture

text: Ground stone axes were another tool commonly used by the Nok. They were typically made from fine-grained volcanic rock (siliceous rock is also sometimes seen), and may have been used in food preparation. These ax blades tend to be smallish in size, the largest reaching 20 centimeters. Stone balls are found at almost every Nok site and are approximately palm-sized. They were probably used as hammerstones or for roughening the surface of a grinding stone. Not all of them are ball shaped, however, and many have chipping marks all over or at least in one place. These stone balls likely would have served as mobile grinding stones.


title: Nok culture

text: Stone rings have also been found at Nok Culture sites. They are normally found as fragments but can be identified as rings because of their flat, oval or triangular cross-sections and their shapes. These stone rings are very rare and their purpose is unknown, but their use as currency or a medium of exchange has been suggested. Another rare find is stone beads, which are typically found as if strung on strings. Beads tend to be carefully made out of hard siliceous rock such as quartz, chalcedony, jasper, or carnelian. There are three different bead shapes: cylindrical, which is the most common shape, as well as rod and ring-shaped.


title: Nok culture

text: Potsherds (pottery shards) are the most abundant archaeological artifacts at Nok sites. Since 2009, excavated pottery has been undergoing systematic analysis with a central aim to try and establish a chronology. Certain attributes of the pottery such as decoration, shape, and size appear with an increasing frequency and then disappear, being replaced with different pottery attributes. This change can sometimes allow one to divide the progression into different intervals based on the different attributes. In total approximately 90,000 potsherds have been collected, of which 15,000 have been considered diagnostic, meaning that they are decorated, sherds from the rim or the bottom of the vessel, or they have handles or holes in them. The results of the pottery analysis can be delineated into three distinct time periods: Early, Middle, and Late.


title: Nok culture

text: From approximately c. 1500–900 BC the pottery of the Early Nok Period are mostly small and not very well preserved. They seem to be richly decorated with various elaborate patterns directly below the vessels' rims and covering a large part of the ceramic body. The lines made on the pottery seem to be remarkably fine or curving lines. There tend to be many lines that are close together and some even have crisscrossing lines beneath the rim. Pottery frequently had everted and broad, thick rims.


title: Nok culture

text: The Middle Nok Period is approximately from c. 900–300 BC and in this time period there is a dramatic increase of sites, terracotta fragments and iron objects. Instead of the early period's decoration, which tended to cover most of the pot, instead, there is a decorative band which is bordered by deep horizontal lines. This band appears on the pots' upper half or directly under the rim of the bowls. Some bands have sharp ends as well as impressed zigzag lines or an incised wave or arc. Unlike the Early Nok period the Middle Nok ceramics tend to have more variety in the rim with everted rims, open bowls, bowls with inverted rims and incised line ornaments on the rims' lips.


title: Nok culture

text: The Late Nok period is from approximately c. 300–1 BC and has only a few known sites. There is little pottery available for analysis but from the pottery that was found there is a decrease in the strictness of the ornamental band. While bands are still used, they are more complexly decorated with additional patterning. There also tends to be a returning pattern of body decoration. The variety of rim sizes and types seem to be increasing even more than in the Middle Nok period.


title: Nok culture

text: Akin to the peoples of the Chad Basin and Kintampo culture, the people of the Nok culture employed a mixed cropping method of cultivating cowpeas and pearl millet as well as utilized oleaginous fruits. At Pangwari, pearl millet was domesticated and cultivated, cowpeas were cultivated, and various forms of vegetation (e.g., Caesalpinioideae, Canarium schweinfurthii, Combretaceae, Phyllanthaceae, Vitex) were utilized. Hunting-gathering was another subsistence pattern followed by the Nok people.


title: Nok culture

text: Nok peoples may have migrated into the central region of Nigeria and brought into the area the agricultural knowledge of cultivating tamed pearl millet between 1500 BCE and 900 BCE. At almost all Nok sites, there are charred plant remains consisting of firewood and plant material for cooking. Remains of pearl millet, one of Africa's oldest grain crops, are commonly found. Pearl millet is highly productive and resistant to adverse growing conditions, including drought. Cowpeas, valued for their high protein content, are also found at some sites. So far, pearl millet and cowpeas are the only crops known to have been cultivated by the Nok people. It is unclear whether they ate or farmed tubers of any kind. The numerous grinding stones found at Nok sites suggest that the grains were ground into flour and made into a type of porridge.


title: Nok culture

text: Hard pits from wild fruits have been found at many Nok sites. At some sites, fruit and seeds of other wild plants such as grasses and legumes were discovered. Overall there is not a huge selection of plant remains, but this could simply mean they were not preserved. More recent evidence of Carbonized plant remains of the Nok suggest that they foraged for tree fruits.


title: Nok culture

text: The Nok people probably used an agroforestry system, combining cultivated crops with useful trees on the same plot of land. These plots are ecologically sustainable and inter-cropping of trees and several cultivated plant species were common from the savannas to the rain forest, with the origins of the practice going back to the first millennium BC, right at the time of the Nok culture. Most West African trees are not domesticated but are part of the wild vegetation which is left after farmers clear their fields of their crops. Because they are left to grow they multiply naturally without needing to be planted. Trees can produce food, medicine and animal feed.


title: Nok culture

text: Because of the acidic soil, no animal bones from the Nok culture have been preserved, leaving no direct evidence of what species they might have domesticated (or hunted). The only evidence for animals during the Nok culture period is the depictions of animals as figurines or terracotta sculptures.


title: Nok culture

text: As of 3500 years ago, Nok agriculturalists gathered and utilized bee products (e.g., gathered honey in pottery). The honey may have been utilized by Nok agriculturalists to add to West African cuisines. As evidenced by remnants of beeswax and fats from animals on ceramics, the pottery may have been utilized to store meat, along with honey utilized for preservation purposes.


title: Nok culture

text: Since the 1970s, Nok terracotta figures have been heavily looted. Even larger-scale looting commenced in the Nok cultural area in 1994, and by 1995 two main local traders emerged. Each of the main traders could employ approximately 1,000 diggers to unearth terracottas every day. Although the majority of the terracottas were fragmented, some were intact and sellable. Because of this, hundreds of Nok Culture sites have been illegally dug in search of these terracotta sculptures. Valuable information about the Nok Culture is lost when these objects are taken from out of the ground and removed from their archaeological contexts.


title: Nok culture

text: In 1979, Nigeria's National Commission of Museums and Monuments Decree established the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), which is used to manage Nigeria's cultural heritage. NCMM Decree number 77 made it illegal for anyone other than authorized personnel to buy or sell antiquities within Nigeria or export an antiquity without a permit from the NCMM. Towards the end of the 1990s the federal government of Nigeria implemented the NCMM, which initiated a series of actions to work out strategies for combating the problems of looting and to map out a plan of action. The general consensus was that laws governing antiquities and penalties for offenders needed to be strictly enforced and that all archaeological sites should be monitored. The NCMM also recommended more aggressive public enlightenment campaigns as well as a series of sensitization programs across the nation. These programs are considered a success in terms of increased awareness by law enforcement agents, as well as the Nigerian customs authorities and Interpol. However, not all of the recommendations were implemented, because the Nigerian government did not have the resources to face the large scale of some of the challenges. For example, the government did not have the resources to place monitors at all archaeological sites, and terracotta figures still slip through Nigeria's borders.


title: Nok culture

text: Today, the terracotta sculptures are very highly sought after on the international art market, and so artifacts continue to be dug up without documentation of the contexts in which they were buried. A lack of extensive archaeological study has also severely limited our understanding of the Nok cultures. A joint research project with Goethe University and the National Commission for Museums and Monuments conducted since 2005 showed that more than 90% of Nok Culture sites known in the research area have been illegally looted. Art historical studies carried out shows that over 1,000 Nok terracotta sculptures have been illegally excavated and smuggled into Europe, the USA, Japan, and elsewhere. In February 2013, Daily Trust reported that the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation repossessed five Nok statuettes looted by a French thief in August 2010. The pieces had been seized by French customs agents and were repatriated following a Nigerian Government Directive. What further complicates the problem are the many workshops which fake Nok sculptures and then put them on the market as authentic.


title: Nok culture

text: As each share cultural and artistic similarity with the Nok culture found in Nok, Sokoto, and Katsina, the Niger-Congo-speaking Yoruba, Jukun, or Dakakari peoples may be descendants of the Nok peoples.


title: Nok culture

text: Based on stylistic similarities with the Nok terracottas, the bronze figurines of the Yoruba Ife Empire and the Bini kingdom of Benin may also be continuations of the traditions of the earlier Nok culture.


title: Abby Huntsman

text: Abigail Haight Huntsman (born May 1, 1986) is an American journalist and television personality. The daughter of former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. and Mary Kaye Huntsman, Huntsman rose to prominence as a host on MSNBC and NBC News. She then became a general assignment reporter for Fox News Channel and later a co-host of "Fox & Friends Weekend". Huntsman co-hosted the ABC talk show "The View" from September 2018 to January 2020.


title: Abby Huntsman

text: Abigail Haight Huntsman was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She grew up in Utah but spent many years living in Asia, including Taiwan and Singapore. Huntsman graduated from East High School and attended the University of Utah for her freshman year of college while her father was running for governor. She then transferred to the University of Pennsylvania where she graduated in 2008 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and communications.


title: Abby Huntsman

text: At age 16, Huntsman worked a behind-the-scenes position at "Good Morning America". By her own admission, she disliked it so much that she contemplated giving up on television "forever". While attending the University of Pennsylvania, Huntsman interned for Diane Sawyer. Huntsman, having observed Sawyer's representation of herself and manner of presenting news, became so impressed with her that she would later say, "I always think of her as someone that I hope I can try to be like."


title: Abby Huntsman

text: She later became a host and producer for "HuffPost Live", the "Huffington Post"s streaming network. She had also been a frequent guest on CNN.


title: Abby Huntsman

text: Huntsman worked on her father's 2012 presidential campaign as a media advisor and surrogate, during which she and her sisters were profiled by "The New Yorker", "GQ", and BuzzFeed. Huntsman simultaneously appeared as a political commentator for ABC News in Washington, D.C. and "Good Morning America" in New York City. In October 2012, Huntsman was profiled in ABC News's "Five Questions", a part of "This Week with George Stephanopoulos". In August 2012, she was interviewed by Brian Williams on "Rock Center" about Mitt Romney's run for president and her own relationship with the Mormon faith. Previously, she held a position at the international public relations firm Burson-Marsteller.


title: Abby Huntsman

text: In 2013, she was listed as number 26 on the "Forbes" 30 under 30 list of up and coming members of the media.


title: Abby Huntsman

text: In July 2013, Huntsman joined MSNBC's "The Cycle", filling a vacancy created by the departure of S.E. Cupp. Huntsman was the second replacement host to join the show, after Ari Melber. She sought to bring conservative views to the program, also denying that her relation to the Huntsman family had anything to do with her acquiring the position since she, in her own words, "went through the same audition process as everybody else", against a field she recalled featuring hundreds of candidates. MSNBC canceled "The Cycle" in July 2015, and as a result, Huntsman left the network.


title: Abby Huntsman

text: In October 2015, Huntsman joined Fox News Channel as a general assignment reporter. She covered the news of the day across the network's daytime and primetime programming. She was named the new co-host of "Fox & Friends Weekend" in December 2016. She made her final appearance as a co-host of the program on August 12, 2018.


title: Abby Huntsman

text: Huntsman then joined the long-running ABC talk show "The View" as a co-host alongside Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin, and Meghan McCain, debuting on the 22nd-season premiere on September 4, 2018. She received a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show Host alongside her co-hosts in 2019. Huntsman announced in January 2020 that she was departing "The View" after two seasons to become a senior advisor to her father's 2020 Utah gubernatorial election campaign; she made her final appearance as a co-host on the January 17 episode. Her father lost Utah's 2020 Republican gubernatorial primary.


title: Abby Huntsman

text: Huntsman married her college boyfriend, Jeffrey Bruce Livingston, in 2010. The couple has three children: two daughters and a son. The family lives in Greenwich, Connecticut.


title: Abby Huntsman

text: Huntsman is a Republican. She is no longer an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Huntsman, along with Margaret Hoover and her former "View" co-host Meghan McCain, released an ad in early 2013 in support of gay marriage. "I think it's a generational issue, and I think over time you're going to see more and more Republicans support the freedom to marry. I'm happy and proud of that movement."


title: Samantha Spiro

text: Samantha Spiro (born 20 June 1968) is an English actress and singer. She is best known for portraying Barbara Windsor in the stage play "Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle and Dick" and the television films "Cor, Blimey!" and "Babs", DI Vivien Friend in "", Melessa Tarly in the HBO series "Game of Thrones" and Maureen Groff in "Sex Education". She has won two Laurence Olivier Awards.


title: Samantha Spiro

text: Born in Whitechapel, London, England, Spiro grew up in Radlett, Hertfordshire. She is Jewish. Spiro decided to be an actress at the age of ten after seeing a production of "Androcles and the Lion" at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park. She joined the National Youth Theatre and later trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art.


title: Samantha Spiro

text: Spiro attended Bancroft's School from 1982 to 1985 and subsequently returned in 2016 for an Arts & Drama masterclass Spiro spoke about how her time at Bancroft's had fuelled her enthusiasm for a career in the Arts.


title: Samantha Spiro

text: Spiro married actor Mark Leadbetter, whom she met at drama school, in February 2002. They have two daughters and live in Queen's Park, London.


title: Samantha Spiro

text: Spiro's first acting job after graduating from drama school was with the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park, in productions of "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "The Boys From Syracuse" and "Macbeth". Her many theatre credits include "As You Like It", "Teechers", "The Tragic Roundabout", "Jumpers", "On the Piste", "Roots", "How the Other Half Loves" and "Glyn and It", opposite Penelope Keith.


title: Samantha Spiro

text: Spiro played Barbara Windsor in "Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle and Dick" at the National Theatre, a production she credits as her first big break, which "open[ed] a lot of doors". She has also appeared in the Minerva Theatre production of "Funny Girl" and the first West End revival of Alan Ayckbourn's "Bedroom Farce".


title: Samantha Spiro

text: Spiro played Rachel in Mike Leigh's production of "Two Thousand Years" at the National Theatre. This was the first Jewish role of her career. She said:


title: Samantha Spiro

text: For English/Jewish artists in this business, we’re English first and the Jewish thing comes down the line. Whereas in the United States, Jewishness is a much celebrated thing. Jewishness is a part of their very being.


title: Samantha Spiro

text: Here, I think, we repress it and, far from celebrating it, almost shy away from it. After "Two Thousand Years", I suddenly felt that there is a place for people like me. Until that point I hadn’t had a career playing Jewish people. I had got that stuff out of the way by the time I came to play Fanny Brice [in "Funny Girl"] who is very much a Jewish character.


title: Samantha Spiro

text: In 2009, Spiro played Maria in the Donmar Warehouse production of "Twelfth Night" at the Wyndham's Theatre, alongside Derek Jacobi, and Beatrice in "Much Ado About Nothing" at the Open Air Theatre. Most recently, she appeared in the acclaimed Open Air Theatre production of "Hello, Dolly!", playing Dolly Levi.


title: Samantha Spiro

text: In 2013, Spiro played Lady Macbeth in "Macbeth" at Shakespeare's Globe, alongside Billy Boyd and Joseph Millson.


title: Samantha Spiro

text: Discussing whether she prefers acting in the theatre to television or film, Spiro said: "I think theatre prefers me. These days you have to do both, but it never feels as if the TV casting people are beating down my door to offer me work. I just feel that in this business you are lucky if you’re doing something you enjoy."


title: Samantha Spiro

text: Spiro reprised the role of Barbara Windsor in the television adaptation of "Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle and Dick", "Cor, Blimey!", starring opposite Geoffrey Hutchings.


title: Samantha Spiro

text: Her other television credits include "The Bill", "Cold Feet", "Plebs", "Coupling", "After You've Gone" and "", in which she played the lead role of DI Vivien Friend. She described the role of Friend as "quite an unusual departure for me...I've done quite a bit of comedy and I've played characters who are light-hearted and characters who are tarts with hearts. In M.I.T. there is no tart or heart!" In order to research the part, Spiro spent time with a female Detective Inspector with the real-life Murder Investigation Team. From 9 August 2010, Spiro starred in the BBC comedy "Grandma's House". She plays the part of Simon Amstell's aunt Liz. In 2012 she also appeared in the SkyArts comedy series "Psychobitches", where she played various female icons including Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe and Mary Whitehouse.


title: Samantha Spiro

text: In September 2013, Spiro joined the cast of the BBC Three sitcom "Bad Education" as Professor Celia Green, the new deputy headmaster and adversary to Jack Whitehall's character.


title: Samantha Spiro

text: In 2013 Spiro starred in an episode of the Sky Atlantic series "Little Crackers", an autobiographical comedy written by Rebecca Front in which Spiro played Front's mother.


title: Samantha Spiro

text: In 2016 she joined the HBO series "Game of Thrones" in Season 6 as Melessa Tarly, the mother of Samwell Tarly. That year she also joined "Tracey Ullman's Show" in the recurring role of Birgit, the fictitious fridge-magnet-loving personal assistant and confidante to Tracey Ullman's impression of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. She reprised her role in Ullman's "Tracey Breaks the News". In 2017 Spiro reprised her role of Barbara Windsor in the BBC1 drama Babs, a biopic based on the life of Windsor. She also appeared in the "Doctor Who" episode "The Doctor Falls", as Hazran.


title: Samantha Spiro

text: Spiro has appeared in the films "Beyond Bedlam" (1994), as WPC Foster, and "Tomorrow La Scala!" (2002), as Janey. She also played Martha Tabram in "From Hell" (2001), opposite Johnny Depp.


title: Samantha Spiro

text: Her radio drama credits include "The Casebook of Inspector Steine", "Gospel According to Mary", "Little Cinderellas", "Beside the Seaside",


title: Samantha Spiro

text: "Show Boat" in which she played Magnolia Hawks, Sarah Kahn in "Chicken Soup with Barley" and the Guy Meredith play "Spring Forward, Fall Back" for BBC Radio 7.


title: Samantha Spiro

text: In 2018 Spiro played the role of Mrs Erlynne in Kathy Burke's production of Oscar Wilde's "Lady Windermere's Fan" at London's Vaudeville Theatre. This production was recorded and shown in cinemas under the "More2Screen" initiative.


title: Samantha Spiro

text: From 2019, Spiro has portrayed the recurring character Maureen Groff in Laurie Nunn's British comedy-drama series "Sex Education".


title: Samantha Spiro

text: In 2001, Spiro was awarded the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in the 2000 season Donmar Warehouse production of "Merrily We Roll Along". She won a Whatsonstage.com award for Best Actress in a Musical for the same production. In 2010, Spiro was once again awarded the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in "Hello, Dolly!" at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park.


title: Samantha Spiro

text: Spiro won a 2004 Joseph Jefferson Award for Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical, for the production of "A Little Night Music" at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater in Chicago, Illinois.


title: Samantha Spiro

text: In the 2011 British Comedy Awards she won the Best Female Comedy Breakthrough Artist award for her performance in "Grandma's House".


title: Project Wingman

text: Project Wingman is a combat flight action video game developed by Sector D2 and published by Humble Games. It was released on 1 December 2020 on Microsoft Windows and later released on 28 October 2021 on Xbox One. The game features two game modes: campaign and conquest. Campaign mode follows the story of the war set on alternate Earth between the United Cascadian Republic and Pacific Federation through a silent protagonist with the callsign Monarch, a mercenary pilot. Conquest mode has the player conquer Cascadia in a rogue-lite game mode by conquering territories, buying new planes, and recruiting allies.


title: Project Wingman

text: "Project Wingman" is a combat flight action game similar to the "Ace Combat" series in which the player flies a combat plane into battle and destroy enemy targets. The player can choose from a wide selection of planes inspired by real-life combat planes and equip the plane with special weapons. The player can choose to play in first-person or third-person. First-person perspective has the option to play with or without the cockpit view. Virtual reality (VR) and hands on throttle-and-stick (HOTAS) are supported.


title: Project Wingman

text: The game offers the player two game modes: campaign and conquest. Campaign follows a story in which the mercenary pilot Monarch fights for the Cascadians in their war of independence against the Federation in a future Earth devastated by natural disaster. Conquest provides the player roguelite and strategy gameplay in which the player faces enemy waves, manages resources, and conquer the map.


title: Project Wingman

text: In campaign mode, the player completes twenty-one missions where the objectives can range from destroying enemy planes, annihilating ground forces and bases, and protecting allies. When the player completes a mission, they receive money which can be spent on buying new planes.


title: Project Wingman

text: In conquest mode, the player starts out with basic combat planes and must complete 43 missions in a single life. Mission types vary from hunting transport planes to destroying anti-air defenses. All missions end with a fight against an enemy ace squadron. Upon mission completion, the player receives credits and prestige. Credits can be used to hire mercenaries, and prestige can be used to buy new planes. The alert level determines number and type of enemies, and it is raised based on the playtime. If the player dies, the player loses everything except prestige and planes bought before.


title: Project Wingman

text: The player starts out with trainer variants of the F-4 Phantom II and MiG-21 inspired jets. All planes start with flares and standard missiles and can equip with certain special weapons while more advanced planes offer an AOA (Angle of Attack) module, granting supermaneuverability, in place of flares. Before every mission, the player picks a plane, special weapons, and paint scheme. Smaller planes can equip between one or two special weapons while larger planes can equip between two and three special weapons. Completing missions allow the player to earn in-game currency which can be used to purchase other aircraft.Access to some of the planes require the player to finish specific campaign missions with some of the best planes available only when campaign is finished, The difficulty or scores achieved during missions doesn't matter for unlocking aircraft, aside of being source of money.


title: Project Wingman

text: The game takes place in an indeterminate future of an alternate-history Earth afflicted by a worldwide volcanic cataclysm centuries ago that uncovered a valuable geothermal energy resource called "cordium" but also created multiple exclusion zones across the planet. In the year 432 AC (After Calamity), the Pacific Federation, a multinational political union based around Australia, east and southern Asia and the western parts of North America, has control over the cordium deposits across the Ring of Fire. In recent years, however, tensions between member states are rising due to Federation imperialist policies, which have been fueled by the rich cordium deposits of the United Cascadian Republic (a member state located along the Pacific Northwest region of North America). Additionally, the Federation plans to further cement its control over Cascadia to exploit their resources. As a result, Cascadia declares independence from the Federation and starts an armed rebellion. Several private military companies such as the Sicario Mercenary Corps are hired by Cascadia in their war against the Federation.


title: Project Wingman

text: The player controls the game's silent protagonist with callsign "Monarch", who is a member of the "Hitman" Team of pilots part of the Sicario private military company, hired as mercenaries by the government of Cascadia, which also include two other pilots with callsigns "Diplomat" and "Comic"; and Monarch's weapon systems officer "President". Other members of Sicario include Sicario's primary AWACS operator with callsign "Galaxy" and the company's leader with callsign "Kaiser", who is also a pilot and leader of the "Assassin" Team.


title: Project Wingman

text: After finishing their contract with the Creole Republic, the Sicario Mercenary Corps is hired by the Cascadian Republic in the midst of their war of independence against the Pacific Federation. The Federation forces gain the upper hand in the early stages of the war, to the point of capturing the Cascadian capital city of Presidia.


title: Project Wingman

text: However, Hitman is able to slowly turn the tide of the war in Cascadia's favor, as the Federation begins losing support due to Federal war crimes and their inability to control Cascadia. Hitman Team becomes a rallying point for Cascadian forces because of their immense successes in repelling Federation forces, which earns them the attention of the Federation's elite 'Crimson Team', a fighter squadron of elite peacekeeper pilots. The air war culminates in a massive aerial furball between Federation and Cascadian forces over the Bering Strait; during the battle, Crimson Team is deployed to stop Hitman, but is forced to retreat after Hitman inflicts too many losses, leaving Crimson Team's leader, "Crimson 1", enraged and vowing revenge against Monarch.


title: Project Wingman

text: During a subsequent mission to liberate Prospero, Cascadia's main economic hub, the Federation bombards the city with cordium-enriched cruise missiles when Cascadian victory seems imminent. The warheads activate Prospero's rich cordium deposits, causing a massive underground volcanic chain reaction. This destabilizes the Ring of Fire and ravages most of the Pacific Rim in the resulting tectonic event. Having lost communications with allied forces in the chaos, Hitman withdraws but are intercepted by bounty hunters, who reveal that Hitman's true identities have been leaked to the public. Hitman shoots down the bounty hunters and re-establishes communications with Sicario, planning to leave Cascadia behind, but their Cascadian liaison officer offers them an undisclosed "deal" in exchange for their continued support. Sicario accepts the deal and continues to fight.


title: Project Wingman

text: Sicario assists the Cascadians with eliminating Federal resistance and re-stabilizing the country, and Hitman defeats Crimson Team in a dogfight above a devastated Prospero. During the last major battle of the war to liberate Presidia, both sides of the conflict agree to a ceasefire as Cascadia emerges victorious. However, Crimson 1 suddenly arrives in a hijacked prototype super-fighter, the 'Project Wingman'. Overcome with madness from the war and the loss of his squadron, he detonates several cordium-enriched warheads, devastating the city and incapacitating Hitman Team except for Monarch, whom he challenges to a duel. Crimson 1 is ultimately shot down by Monarch, ending the war as the surviving Federation and Cascadian forces spectate. Hitman, having ejected from their planes, are rescued by Sicario's SAR unit, and the remaining Federation forces fear their summary execution on suspicion of breaking the ceasefire.


title: Project Wingman

text: After the war, Cascadia honors their "deal" with Sicario. The whereabouts of Hitman Team, including Monarch, are unknown; the Federation declares them wanted criminals for their part in the war, though it is implied that they have assumed new identities as part of the deal. Having suffered irreplaceably high casualties and the immense loss of reputation from using cordium WMDs, the Federation faces multiple insurgent movements from other member states, backed by the now-independent Cascadia (which became a haven for mercenaries) among other foreign powers.


title: Project Wingman

text: Abi Rahmani started "Project Wingman" as a portfolio piece in November 2015. In 2017, "Project Wingman" became a full-time project after receiving an Epic Games Unreal Dev Grant. Fans donated to the game's Kickstarter campaign, raising AU$114,544 and exceeding its goal of AU$35,000. Story mode was confirmed by the development team, but cutscenes were not included due to being outside of the Kickstarter budget. "Project Wingman"′s release date was originally stated for summer 2020 before it was pushed back to early 2021, but the release date was moved to 1 December 2020, due to development proceeding faster than expected.


title: Project Wingman

text: The game was announced to come on Xbox Game Pass on 10 August 2021 and Xbox consoles later that year. The game was later ported to Xbox One and the Xbox Windows app, and released on 28 October 2021. On March 28th, 2022, the game also released on the online PC game store GOG.com.


title: Project Wingman

text: "Project Wingman" received "generally favorable reviews" from critics, according to review aggregator Metacritic.


title: Project Wingman

text: "Polygon"'s Charlie Hall praised the game for its action that can be commonly found in modern first-person shooters. TheGamer's Sean Murray noted the game's improvement on the "Ace Combat" formula by allowing players to equip multiple weapons and adding a rogue-like conquest mode, but he criticized the game's lack of mission variety due to being "go here, shoot things". Critics have praised the game for its audio and visual feedback.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: The 2006–07 season was Manchester United's 15th season in the Premier League, and their 32nd consecutive season in the top division of English football. United enjoyed a much more successful season than the previous three seasons, winning the Premier League by a six-point margin over Chelsea. They also reached the final of the FA Cup and the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League, losing to Chelsea and Milan respectively. However, for all their success in the major competitions, the club was unable to defend the League Cup title they had won in 2005–06, losing to Southend United in the Fourth Round.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: Manchester United were not only dominant on a team level in 2006–07, but also on an individual level, with eight United players earning spots in the PFA Team of the Year, as well as Cristiano Ronaldo picking up no less than eight individual awards for his performances over the season and Sir Alex Ferguson winning the Premier League's Manager of the Season award.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: The 2006–07 season also marked the 50th anniversary of the Busby Babes' first foray into European competition. The event was marked by a charity football match, organised in collaboration with UEFA, who were commemorating 50 years since the signing of the Treaty of Rome, against a team of the best players from Europe's top clubs.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: United began their pre-season in July 2006 with the Vodacom Challenge in South Africa, their first time in the country for 13 years. The tournament involved matches against South Africa's top two teams, Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs, followed by a further match against the winner of a play-off between the two host sides. The Red Devils started well, beating Orlando Pirates 4–0 in their first game, but almost came unstuck against Kaizer Chiefs, requiring an 83rd-minute goal from Dong Fangzhuo to secure the 1–0 win. Kaizer Chiefs then beat Orlando Pirates in the play-off, and managed to hold a relatively sub-par United side to a 0–0 draw before beating them 4–3 on penalties.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: The team then took their pre-season back to Britain, beating Celtic 3–0 at Parkhead. This was followed by a 2–1 defeat to Preston North End, but the team bounced back to defeat Macclesfield Town 2–1 two days later.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: The start of August saw United take part in the Amsterdam Tournament, involving Ajax, Inter Milan and Porto. The Reds played two games in Amsterdam, beating both Porto and Ajax, but the tournament will be remembered mostly for the sendings-off of both Paul Scholes – for a clumsy, mistimed challenge in the match against Porto – and Wayne Rooney – who inadvertently caught Porto defender Pepe in the face with his hand as he jumped uncontested for a high ball. In accordance with FIFA disciplinary procedure, the red cards resulted in the pair missing the first three games of the season.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: Back to Britain again, and a fixture against Oxford United was next up, which United won comfortably 4–1. Finally, United returned home to Old Trafford on 12 August for their only home friendly of the 2006–07 pre-season. The visitors were Sevilla, who helped mark the official opening of Old Trafford's new North-West and North-East quadrants with a 3–0 win to United in front of a half-capacity crowd.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: United played one more friendly during the 2006–07 season, the UEFA Celebration Match on 13 March. The match marked the 50th anniversary of the Busby Babes' first foray into European competition and 50 years since the signing of the Treaty of Rome, the treaty that laid the foundations for what became known as the European Union. The Red Devils took on a European XI, coached by the 2006 World Cup-winning manager Marcelo Lippi. The original squad selected by Lippi was hit by last minute injuries and withdrawals by some big names like Ronaldinho and David Beckham, forcing replacements to be drawn from Premier League teams like Bolton Wanderers and Portsmouth at short notice. Henrik Larsson was named captain for the Europe XI, the day after his loan spell at Old Trafford came to an end. United started the game very brightly, finding themselves 4–1 up at half-time, thanks to goals from Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Wes Brown. However, no further goals came for the home side as the visitors scored two consolation goals, leaving United as 4–3 winners.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: After an impressive pre-season, losing only two out of the ten games played, United began the Premier League season in earnest. Coming up against a Fulham side that had caused them so many problems in the past, United ran riot, scoring four goals inside the first twenty minutes at Old Trafford and eventually triumphing 5–1. Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo scored three goals between them against Fulham, but the partnership was broken up for the next game against Charlton by Rooney's suspension, picked up in the friendly against Porto.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: Nevertheless, United ran out 3–0 winners over the team that would end the season in 19th place, with goals coming from Darren Fletcher, Louis Saha and Ole Gunnar Solskjær, who scored his first Premiership goal since April 2003. August was rounded off with a 2–1 win away to Watford, the winner scored by Ryan Giggs, who was celebrating his 600th start for United.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: The team carried this rich vein of form into September, narrowly beating Tottenham 1–0 to make it four wins out of four. United's best start to a Premiership campaign came to an end, however, with the visit of Arsenal to Old Trafford. The Red Devils survived an early scare when new goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak saved a penalty he had given away when he brought down Emmanuel Adebayor, but Adebayor made amends for Gilberto's missed spot-kick by scoring the winning goal four minutes from time, and knocking United from the Premiership top spot for the first time in the season.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: This minor slump in form continued against Reading the following weekend, United requiring a 73rd-minute equaliser from Cristiano Ronaldo to salvage a 1–1 draw. However, the Reds were not to be deterred and went on to win all four of their matches in October, starting with a 2–0 victory at home to Newcastle, both goals coming from Ole Solskjær. Wins against Wigan and arch-rivals Liverpool followed, and the month culminated with a 4–0 drubbing of Bolton Wanderers, Wayne Rooney scoring a hat-trick.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: The winning streak went on for another three matches, against Portsmouth, Blackburn and Sheffield United, taking the total to seven wins in a row before the visit of reigning champions Chelsea to the Theatre of Dreams. United got off to a flying start with two goalscoring chances coming early on, before Saha scored the opening goal in the 29th minute. The French striker picked up a defence-splitting pass from Wayne Rooney, before taking the ball onto his left foot and passing it around Ricardo Carvalho and beyond Carlo Cudicini's reach into the bottom-left corner of the net. The only other goal of the game fell to Ricardo Carvalho, securing a point for Chelsea and maintaining the Blues' three-point deficit behind United at the top of the table.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: Following the Chelsea draw, United won another three games on the bounce, including a 3–1 victory in the Manchester derby, extending the Reds' unbeaten run to 12 games and their lead at the top of the table to 8 points. However, a 75th-minute Nigel Reo-Coker goal for West Ham United brought about only United's second defeat of the season, and allowed Chelsea to close the gap at the top to two points. Nevertheless, the Red Devils recovered, bouncing back from that defeat and beating Aston Villa 3–0 away from home. The match had many highlights, not least of which were Cristiano Ronaldo's dazzling form and a 25-yard volleyed goal from Paul Scholes, which was voted as the BBC's goal of the month for December 2006.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: Ronaldo's contribution did not stop with his two goals against Villa, as he scored two more braces in his next two league games against Wigan and Reading. In fact, the Portuguese youngster won five out of the six Man of the Match awards for December, and he was named the Player of the Month for December.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: The club's form was not immediately transferred into the new year as the Reds failed to beat Newcastle on New Year's Day, and then lost to Arsenal three weeks later. Fortunately, these two results were punctuated by emphatic wins over Aston Villa (3–1) and Watford (4–0). January 2007 also saw the arrival of Celtic and Sweden legend Henrik Larsson at Old Trafford. The striker was brought in to bolster United's thin strike force, of which the only fit members at the time were Wayne Rooney, Louis Saha and Ole Gunnar Solskjær, whose increasing age and long-term knee injury caused him to be restricted to substitute appearances at the most.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: February began with a trip to White Hart Lane to take on Tottenham. The match began slowly, with United having to wait until just before half-time for their first goal, a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty. Nemanja Vidić scored the second just after the break, before Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs rounded off United's second four-goal haul in the space of a week. Unfortunately, the match ended badly for Edwin van der Sar, as he broke his nose bravely going into a challenge with Robbie Keane. United had already used all three of their substitutions, and were forced to put John O'Shea in goal. The Irish defender committed himself well to the task, and managed to keep a clean sheet, including one desperate save in a one-on-one with Robbie Keane.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: After a 2–0 victory over Charlton, an away match at Fulham followed at the end of the month. Brian McBride put the Cottagers 1–0 up after 17 minutes, but Ryan Giggs managed to keep the Reds in the game with an equaliser just before the half-hour mark. Going into the last five minutes, the match looked like it was going to finish as a draw, and with Chelsea not playing that weekend, United couldn't afford to allow them any ground. Then, with two minutes to go, Cristiano Ronaldo received the ball near the halfway line and burst past the challenges of Moritz Volz and Clint Dempsey, before cutting into the area and smashing the ball along the ground into the bottom right hand corner of the net. The result put United nine points clear of Chelsea with ten games left in the season.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: United then travelled to Anfield to face Liverpool in their next game. Despite losing Wayne Rooney through injury and having Paul Scholes sent off for a late clash with Xabi Alonso, John O'Shea gave United a winner in injury time after Pepe Reina had fumbled Cristiano Ronaldo's free kick. Edwin van der Sar had previously saved brilliantly from Peter Crouch. Sir Alex Ferguson celebrated the winner in his own unique fashion on the touchline, and it was easy to see why after his side had somehow fashioned a crucial three points.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: Following the win at Anfield, United hosted Bolton Wanderers in their next game. United lost injured Gary Neville early on, but Park Ji-sung slid home from close-range after 14 minutes. The brilliant Cristiano Ronaldo ran through before setting up Rooney to chip in the second and then Park bundled home a third before the break. Rooney struck home again through a crashing volley. Gary Speed pulled a goal back with an 87th-minute penalty, but it was nothing more than a consolation goal for Bolton.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: United ended March with another 4–1 home win, this time against Blackburn Rovers. Nemanja Vidić was forced off with a broken collarbone, and the visitors found themselves a goal up a minute later, when Matt Derbyshire slotted home. Paul Scholes equalised when he fired in after 61 minutes, and a side-footed goal from Michael Carrick gave United the lead. Park pounced to add a third and an Ole Gunnar Solskjær drive completed United's comeback.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: United opened April with a 2–1 loss to Portsmouth at Fratton Park. Matt Taylor gave Pompey the lead after Edwin van der Sar could only parry Benjani's shot. United pushed forward but David James denied Cristiano Ronaldo and Ryan Giggs before Rio Ferdinand put Taylor's pass into his own net to put Pompey 2-0 up. John O'Shea replied with a goal from close range, but James denied United a last-gasp equaliser after saving from Alan Smith.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: United opened a six-point advantage over rivals Chelsea with a comfortable home win against Sheffield United. Michael Carrick gave United the lead after four minutes, lifting Cristiano Ronaldo's pass over the advancing Paddy Kenny. Wayne Rooney doubled United's lead with an emphatic finish after 50 minutes. Michael Tonge came closest for the Blades, hitting the bar with a curling 20-yard drive two minutes from time.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: United dropped two points in the title race with Chelsea with 1–1 draw at home with Middlesbrough. United took an early lead when Kieran Richardson slotted home after Wayne Rooney had collected Paul Scholes' pass and rounded Boro keeper Mark Schwarzer. However, in stoppage time in the first half, Boro got a deserved equaliser, as Mark Viduka's diving header beat Edwin van der Sar. United struggled to break Boro down after the break and were indebted to Van der Sar's save to thwart Viduka.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: United finished April with a 4–2 win over Everton at Goodison Park, moving five points clear in the title race. Everton took the lead on 12 minutes when Alan Stubbs' free-kick was deflected in off Michael Carrick. On 50 minutes, Manuel Fernandes smashed into the top corner to double their lead but John O'Shea halved it when he swept in after Iain Turner's error. An own goal from United old boy Phil Neville levelled the scores before Wayne Rooney put United ahead and Chris Eagles sealed the win. The result meant United moved two points further away from Chelsea, who were held by Bolton 2-2, with three games to play.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: Manchester United moved to within touching distance of the Premiership title after Cristiano Ronaldo's penalty gave them victory at Manchester City in United's first match in May. Ronaldo scored in the 34th minute after he was fouled by Michael Ball, who had earlier stamped viciously on him. City wasted their best chance when goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar saved Darius Vassell's penalty 11 minutes from time after Wes Brown fouled Ball. The following day, Chelsea's failure to beat Arsenal handed the title to United for the first time since 2003. It was also United's 9th Premiership title, and their 16th overall.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: United played out a 0–0 draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on 9 May. United boss Sir Alex Ferguson and Chelsea counterpart José Mourinho both fielded weakened sides, resting their senior players for the FA Cup Final (which Chelsea eventually won 1–0). Chelsea looked more likely winners in what was mostly a low-key encounter. United goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak was erratic, but made several saves and Kieran Lee also cleared off the line from Ben Sahar in the closing minutes.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: United finished their FA Premier League campaign with a 1–0 loss to West Ham United, who retained their Premier League status with a close range goal at half time from Carlos Tevez. Manchester United wasted a string of chances as West Ham fought fiercely for their top-flight status at the expense of Sheffield United, who lost to Wigan. West Ham stood firm to pull-off an amazing relegation escape and spoil Sir Alex Ferguson's title party.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: Manchester United opened their FA Cup campaign against Aston Villa. Henrik Larsson opened the scoring ten minutes into the second half with a fine volley, his first goal in a Manchester United shirt. Ryan Giggs almost doubled United's lead when his free-kick hit the crossbar, before Villa substitute Milan Baroš equalised, when he slid a low shot in the corner. However, Ole Gunnar Solskjær gave United a last-minute winner, when an error from Gábor Király allowed Solskjær to score with a tame shot.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: United booked a place in the fifth round of the FA Cup with a 2–1 victory over Portsmouth. United were denied a goal when a header from Nemanja Vidić crossed the line before being cleared by Pedro Mendes. Portsmouth were under the cosh for most of the game but hung on until Wayne Rooney came off the bench on the hour mark. Rooney tapped in a cross from Ryan Giggs to break the 0–0 deadlock, before doubling United's lead with an audacious chip over the head of David James. Nwankwo Kanu grabbed a consolation in the 87th minute when a shot from Mendes deflected off the Nigerian and Tomasz Kuszczak.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: In the fifth round, United met Reading, who were managed by former Red Steve Coppell. The match was played on 17 February. Michael Carrick unleashed a shot from outside the edge of the box that rocketed past Adam Federici into the net to give United a first-half lead. Cristiano Ronaldo had three shots on goal in the opening minutes of the second half, but all of them went wide. Brynjar Gunnarsson scored against the run of play in the 67th minute to equalise for Reading, when he powered a header past Tomasz Kuszczak. Coppell's side managed to hold United to a draw and salvage a replay.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: The replay against Reading was played on 27 February. Three goals in the first six minutes gave United a 3–2 victory. Gabriel Heinze opened the scoring after two minutes, when his 25-yard shot squeezed under Adam Federici's body. Louis Saha rifled in an angled volley to make it 2–0, before Ole Gunnar Solskjær slotted home a third. Reading pulled one back through Dave Kitson's header before Leroy Lita's late strike ensured a thrilling finish.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: United met Middlesbrough in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. The game was played on 10 March. Wayne Rooney put United ahead after 23 minutes with a low drive, but Lee Cattermole volleyed Boro level on the half-time point. George Boateng headed in Middlesbrough's second a minute after half-time, but then handled Rio Ferdinand's header in the 66th minute. Cristiano Ronaldo converted the subsequent penalty to hand United a replay.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: The replay against Middlesbrough was played on 19 March. The game was at a 0–0 stalemate until the 76th minute, when Cristiano Ronaldo once again converted from the penalty spot. The penalty was awarded when the winger was chopped down by behind from Jonathan Woodgate. The impressive Mark Schwarzer had twice thwarted Wayne Rooney when the striker had been put clean through with Boro on the back foot throughout. Boro substitute James Morrison was sent-off in injury time for a reckless lunge on Ronaldo. United won the game 1–0 to send them through to the last four.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: United booked a ticket in the FA Cup Final with a 4–1 win over Watford. Wayne Rooney opened the scoring when he fired home an excellent 20-yard drive after just six minutes, but Watford equalised through Hameur Bouazza's overhead kick in the 26th minute. United restored their lead two minutes later when Cristiano Ronaldo bundled in Rooney's cross, and Rooney wrapped up the win with a close finish after 66 minutes. Substitute Kieran Richardson chipped in a fourth to secure United's place in the final.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: United lost the FA Cup Final, the first FA Cup Final to be played at the new Wembley Stadium, 1–0 to Chelsea. The game was goal-less after 90 minutes, and looked set to be going towards penalties until Didier Drogba poked home a late winner in the 116th minute. Receiving Mikel John Obi's pass, Drogba clipped the ball to Frank Lampard before spinning into the box. The England midfielder delivered the perfect volleyed return to Drogba who nipped ahead of Edwin van der Sar before poking home. Chelsea tried to halt a United comeback, which was virtually impossible, for which Chelsea received three yellow cards. United could not find a goal to pull back, thus meaning that Chelsea were the first FA Cup winners at the new Wembley.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: As one of the eight FA Premier League teams involved in European competition in the 2006–07 season, Manchester United entered the League Cup in the third round. United were also the defending champions of the League Cup. The draw took place on 23 September, and United were given an away tie with Football League One side Crewe Alexandra. The match was played on 25 October, and United won 2–1 after extra time. United went ahead through Ole Gunnar Solskjær's 26th-minute strike, but the hosts grabbed an equaliser, when Luke Varney beat Tomasz Kuszczak in the 73rd minute to send the game to extra time. Substitute Kieran Lee struck a winner two minutes before the end, when he slid home Alan Smith's through ball.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: The draw for the Fourth Round took place on 25 October, and United were given an away tie with Football League Championship side Southend United. The match was played on 7 November. However, Southend pulled off an upset win by winning 1–0 and dumping the holders out of the League Cup. The struggling Championship side booked their place in the Fifth Round thanks to a 30-yard free-kick from Freddy Eastwood in the 27th minute. United tried to respond, but Cristiano Ronaldo was denied by two saves from Darryl Flahavan. David Jones' drive then crashed against the post before John O'Shea saw Flahavan tip over his cross-shot. Southend clung on for a shock win.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: The draw for the group stage of the Champions League took place on 24 August 2006. As one of the eight top ranked teams in Europe, Manchester United would avoid being drawn against defending champions Barcelona. They would also avoid facing Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Milan, the other English teams (Arsenal, Liverpool, and Chelsea (who were in Pot 2, but would still avoid facing United due to the 'country protection rule')), and others. However, they could still be drawn against FC Bayern Munich, PSV, Celtic and others. Eventually, United were drawn against Celtic, Benfica and Copenhagen.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: United opened their 2006–07 UEFA Champions League campaign with an entertaining 3–2 victory over Celtic on 13 September. Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink gave Celtic the lead with a low shot after 21 minutes. However, United equalised with a Louis Saha penalty, awarded when Celtic keeper Artur Boruc fouled Ryan Giggs, and United took the lead when Saha swept home both his and United's second goal. A free-kick from Shunsuke Nakamura pulled Celtic level, but an awful mistake from Thomas Gravesen just seconds into the second half allowed Ole Gunnar Solskjær to score a third goal for United.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: United then travelled to face Benfica at the Estádio da Luz on 26 September. Despite being outplayed during the first half, while Nuno Gomes just off target, United – who were wearing their white change kit – took the lead through Louis Saha, who struck with a rising angled drive on the hour mark, giving United their first away win in the UEFA Champions League for almost three years. United took control after the goal, and forced Benfica keeper Quim into several fine saves in the dying stages.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: For the first of their two matches with Copenhagen, United hosted the Danish champions at Old Trafford on 17 October. United won 3–0. Paul Scholes fire United ahead from 25 yards six minutes before the break, and John O'Shea doubled United's lead seconds after the break, when he bundled home Cristiano Ronaldo's corner. Poor goalkeeping from Jesper Christiansen allowed a tame shot from substitute Kieran Richardson to slide in eight minutes from time.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: The return leg against FC Copenhagen was played on 1 November. A weakened United side lost 1–0. Former Aston Villa striker Marcus Allbäck poked home the winner after 73 minutes to leave United with more work needed to reach the knockout phase. And Sir Alex Ferguson's side had only themselves to blame for a lacklustre approach and a host of missed chances. John O'Shea and Wayne Rooney both wasted easy opportunities to score.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: A second successive 1–0 loss, this time to Celtic, pushed United down to second place in Group F and qualified the Scottish champions for the UEFA Champions League knockout phase. Shunsuke Nakamura scored the only goal with nine minutes to go, when he curled a sweet 30-yard strike into the top corner of the net. United striker Louis Saha was guilty of a terrible miss when he appeared to assume he was offside. Things got worse for Saha when Celtic keeper Artur Boruc saved the Frenchman's last-minute penalty.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: United qualified for the UEFA Champions League knockout phase as winners of Group F with a 3–1 victory over Benfica. Benfica took the lead midway through the first half when Nélson drilled in a 25-yard stunner. Nemanja Vidić drew United level with a fine header in stoppage time at the end of the first half, and Ryan Giggs put United ahead with another header, before Louis Saha finished off the scoring from 12 yards.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: The draw for the first knockout round of the Champions League was made on 15 December 2006 in Nyon, Switzerland. Manchester United, as group winners, could have faced teams such as Barcelona and Internazionale, but were eventually paired with Lille, whom they met in the group stage of last season's UEFA Champions League.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: The first leg was played on 20 February 2007. United won 1–0, thanks to a controversial Ryan Giggs goal in the 83rd minute. Giggs curled in a quick free kick in the 83rd minute while the Lille players were still assembling their defensive wall. Lille players, furious that an earlier header by Peter Odemwingie had been ruled out, walked off the pitch as the last 16 first leg clash boiled over. They eventually returned, and United clung on for a crucial victory.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: United propelled into the last eight of the UEFA Champions League thanks to a Henrik Larsson goal in the return game against Lille, played on 7 March. The Swedish forward was playing his final game at Old Trafford in a Manchester United shirt. In the first half, United had two good chances, but Wayne Rooney's shot was blocked and John O'Shea hit the bar. Lille grew in confidence but failed to capitalise as Jean Makoun wasted a header from six yards and Peter Odemwingie's header rattled the post. Larsson sealed victory in the 72nd minute when he headed home Cristiano Ronaldo's cross from the left.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: The draw for the final stages, including the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final, was held on Friday, 9 March 2007 in Athens, Greece. United were paired with Roma. The first leg took place on 4 April, and the second leg took place on 10 April. United and Roma were put on the same side of the draw with Milan and Bayern Munich, meaning that United will play either of the teams if they beat Roma.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: In the first leg of the quarter-final with Roma, Paul Scholes was sent off in the 33rd minute, after fouls on Christian Wilhelmsson and Francesco Totti. Rodrigo Taddei gave Roma the lead with a deflected shot in the 44th minute. Wayne Rooney equalised coolly with his first UEFA Champions League goal since 2004, but Mirko Vučinić slid in Roma's second after 66 minutes for a slender lead.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: However, the 2–1 loss to Roma was made redundant with a 7–1 thrashing of Roma in the second leg of the quarter-final. Michael Carrick curled in United's opener and Alan Smith fired home before Wayne Rooney added their third of the night, finishing off a superb move. Cristiano Ronaldo smashed home the fourth goal into the bottom corner and slid home a Ryan Giggs cross before Carrick fired home the sixth. Roma grabbed a consolation goal through Daniele De Rossi before Patrice Evra's low shot finished the scoring.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: Meanwhile, a 2–2 draw at the San Siro and a 2–0 win at the Allianz Arena confirmed Milan's status as United's semi-final opponents. Manchester United's semi-final first leg, played on 24 April, was at home to Milan, and the game ended 3–2 to United. Cristiano Ronaldo gave United the lead with a fifth-minute header, but Kaká drew Milan level with an angled drive after 21 minutes, and gave Milan the lead from close range before the break. Wayne Rooney then turned in Paul Schole's cool pass on the hour to equalise, and won the game for United in the last minute, when he lashed a glorious 20-yard finish past Dida.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: The return leg against Milan was played on 2 May at the San Siro. Despite winning the first leg, United lost 3–0. Milan were ahead on away goals in the 11th minute, when Clarence Seedorf headed down for Kaká to drill into the corner. Seedorf capitalised on confusion in the United defence to fire in a second after half an hour. And substitute Alberto Gilardino broke away to wrap up an easy win as United were eliminated from the Champions League.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: United's first departure of the 2006–07 season was French forward David Bellion, who departed for Nice for an undisclosed fee on 1 July. A fortnight later, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake signed for Plymouth Argyle for £200,000. A fortnight after the departure of Ebanks-Blake, striker Ruud van Nistelrooy left for Real Madrid. On 10 August, defender Paul McShane and goalkeeper Luke Steele both departed for West Bromwich Albion. At the end of August, Liam Miller signed for Sunderland.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: United's only permanent arrival in the whole of the 2006–07 season was Michael Carrick, who signed from Tottenham Hotspur on 31 July for £13 million, although Polish goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak joined from West Bromwich Albion on an initial season-long loan, while Swedish striker Henrik Larsson came in on a 10-week loan from Helsingborg in January 2007.


title: 2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season

text: During the winter transfer window, David Jones and Tim Howard left United after both had served four years at the club.


title: Leopold's maneuvers

text: In obstetrics, Leopold maneuvers are a common and systematic way to determine the position of a fetus inside the woman's uterus. They are named after the gynecologist Christian Gerhard Leopold. They are also used to estimate term fetal weight.


title: Leopold's maneuvers

text: The maneuvers consist of four distinct actions, each helping to determine the position of the fetus. The maneuvers are important because they help determine the position and lie of the fetus, which in conjunction with correct assessment of the shape of the maternal pelvis can indicate whether the delivery is going to be complicated, or whether a caesarean section is necessary.


title: Leopold's maneuvers

text: The examiner's skill and practice in performing the maneuvers are the primary factor in whether the fetal lie is correctly ascertained. Alternately, position can be determined by ultrasound performed by a sonographer or physician.


title: Leopold's maneuvers

text: Leopold maneuvers are difficult to perform on obese women and women who have polyhydramnios. The palpation can sometimes be uncomfortable for the woman if care is not taken to ensure she is relaxed and adequately positioned. To aid in this, the health care provider should first ensure that the woman has recently emptied her bladder. If she has not, she may need to have a straight urinary catheter inserted to empty it if she is unable to micturate herself. The woman should lie on her back with her shoulders raised slightly on a pillow and her knees drawn up a little. Her abdomen should be uncovered, and most women appreciate it if the individual performing the maneuver warms their hands prior to palpation.


title: Leopold's maneuvers

text: While facing the woman, palpate the woman's upper abdomen with both hands. An obstetrician can often determine the size, consistency, shape, and mobility of the form that is felt. The fetal head is hard, round, and moves independently of the trunk while the buttocks feel softer, are symmetric, and the shoulders and limbs have small bony processes; unlike the head, they move with the trunk.


title: Leopold's maneuvers

text: After the upper abdomen has been palpated and the form that is found is identified, the individual performing the maneuver attempts to determine the location of the fetal back. Still facing the woman, the health care provider palpates the abdomen with gentle but also deep pressure using the palm of the hands. First the right hand remains steady on one side of the abdomen while the left hand explores the right side of the woman's uterus. This is then repeated using the opposite side and hands. The fetal back will feel firm and smooth while fetal extremities (arms, legs, etc.) should feel like small irregularities and protrusions. The fetal back, once determined, should connect with the form found in the upper abdomen and also a mass in the maternal inlet, lower abdomen.


title: Leopold's maneuvers

text: In the third maneuver the health care provider attempts to determine what fetal part is lying above the inlet, or lower abdomen. The individual performing the maneuver first grasps the lower portion of the abdomen just above the pubic symphysis with the thumb and fingers of the right hand. This maneuver should yield the opposite information and validate the findings of the first maneuver. If the woman enters labor, this is the part which will most likely come first in a vaginal birth. If it is the head and is not actively engaged in the birthing process, it may be gently pushed back and forth.


title: Leopold's maneuvers

text: The last maneuver requires that the health care provider face the woman's feet, as he or she will attempt to locate the fetus' brow. The fingers of both hands are moved gently down the sides of the uterus toward the pubis. The side where there is resistance to the descent of the fingers toward the pubis is greatest is where the brow is located. If the head of the fetus is well-flexed, it should be on the opposite side from the fetal back. If the fetal head is extended though, the occiput is instead felt and is located on the same side as the back.


title: Leopold's maneuvers

text: Leopold's maneuvers are intended to be performed by health care professionals, as they have received the training and instruction in how to perform them. If performed at home as an informational exercise, the examiner should take care to not roughly or excessively disturb the fetus. It is important to note that all findings are not truly diagnostic, and as such ultrasound may be required to conclusively determine the fetal position.


title: Admiral of the fleet

text: An admiral of the fleet or fleet admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to Field marshal and Marshal of the air force. An admiral of the fleet is typically senior to an admiral.


title: Admiral of the fleet

text: It is also a generic term for a senior admiral in command of a large group of ships, comprising a fleet or, in some cases, a group of fleets. If actually a rank, its name can vary depending on the country. In addition to "fleet admiral" and "admiral of the fleet", such rank names include "admiral of the navy" and "grand admiral".


title: Admiral of the fleet

text: The title admiral of the fleet can trace its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title was typically granted to a nobleman who was appointed by a monarch to raise and command a navy for a specific campaign.


title: Admiral of the fleet

text: The following articles contain specific information on the rank as it pertains to individual countries:


title: Admiral of the fleet

text: Ambiguity exists when translating the French "amiral" into English (into admiral of the fleet or admiral). A French title of "amiral de la flotte", outranking a full admiral was created in 1939 for Darlan, who was the only person in French history to hold that title. "Amiral de la flotte" became a rank in 1942, when Darlan was commander in chief of the military forces of the Vichy Regime. The rank of "Amiral de la flotte" was still mentioned in French laws in 1957.


title: Admiral of the fleet

text: While the rank of admiral of the fleet/fleet admiral is used in most of NATO countries, it is ranked differently depending on the country.


title: Khuda Gawah

text: Khuda Gawah (, also translated and released as God Is My Witness) is a 1992 Indian epic drama film written and directed by Mukul S. Anand. It stars Amitabh Bachchan, Nagarjuna, Sridevi, Shilpa Shirodkar, Danny Denzongpa, Kiran Kumar in pivotal roles. The music was composed by Laxmikant–Pyarelal. The film marked Sridevi and Bachchan's third collaboration. In the film, Badshah Khan travels from Afghanistan to India to find the killer of Benazir's father so that he can impress her. He succeeds but soon finds himself framed for a murder and trapped in an Indian prison.


title: Khuda Gawah

text: "Khuda Gawah" was released theatrically on May 8, 1992, to critical and commercial success. It was praised for its direction, screenplay, performances, soundtrack, and production values, and grossed 17.05 crore worldwide, becoming the third highest grossing Indian film of 1992. It entered "Limca Book of Records" as the first Indian film to use surround sound technique. The film was dubbed in Telugu and was later adapted into a Pakistani television series of the same name. It is one of the most watched Indian films in Afghanistan's history.


title: Khuda Gawah

text: At the 38th Filmfare Awards, "Khuda Gawah" received a leading 9 nominations, including Best Film, Best Actor (Bachchan), Best Actress (Sridevi) and Best Supporting Actress (Shirodkar) and won 4 awards including Best Director (Anand) and Best Supporting Actor (Denzongpa) and Best Action.


title: Khuda Gawah

text: During a Buzkashi competition with a neighboring tribe in Afghanistan, Badshah Khan falls in love with Benazir and wants to marry her. Benazir agrees to marry him, on the condition that he must bring her the head of Habibullah, who killed her father. Badshah Khan goes to India to search for Habibullah. He finds Habibullah in a prison and breaks him out to take him back. He has the jailor Ranveer Singh on his trail. He chops off Habibullah's head. When confronted by Ranveer, he tells him that he would be back in a month to receive punishment for taking Habibullah. Badshah goes back to Afghanistan and marries Benazir; after the time limit, he comes back to India and surrenders himself to Ranveer Singh, who he addresses as "Rajput Khan" and is jailed for five years. While Badshah Khan is away, his childhood friend Khuda Baksh assumes the role of a guardian for Benazir.


title: Khuda Gawah

text: To revenge Habibullah's death, his brother Pasha kidnaps Heena, the daughter of jailor Ranveer, ransoming her in return for Badshah. Badshah finds out about this and escapes from jail; he confronts Pasha, only to have Inspector Aziz Mirza kill Ranveer Singh. With Ranveer Singh's daughter as a pawn in Pasha's hands, Badshah admits to killing Ranveer Singh and is sentenced to 15 years. When Aziz's wife Salma, who thinks of Badshah as her brother, visits Badshah and ends up killing her husband to protect Badshah, Badshah takes the blame for that murder as well, since he believes that her son Raja needs her.


title: Khuda Gawah

text: At that time, Benazir sends Khuda Baksh to check on Badshah. Due to his very extended stay in prison, Badshah makes Khuda Baksh promise to take care of his daughter Mehndi and tell his wife Benazir that he is now dead so that she can move on rather than wait for him. Benazir goes mad when she hears the news that her husband is dead.


title: Khuda Gawah

text: On coming out of prison, Badshah meets with his now-grown daughter, Mehndi, who has found out that her father is still alive and has come to India to look for her father; the daughter of Ranveer Singh, Heena, who is also in the police force and knows all about Badshah's past and respects him as her uncle; and the son of Inspector Aziz Mirza, Inspector Raja Mirza, who has found out that it was Badshah who had killed his father and is out for vengeance. In a twist of fate, Raja is in love with Mehndi, even though he wants to kill her father.


title: Khuda Gawah

text: Pasha, now a major crime lord, gets involved. Benazir and Khuda Baksh are kidnapped by him. The truth is eventually revealed to Raja about his father, and he joins hands with Badshah and Heena to kill their mutual enemy. Badshah and Benazir grab one arm each of Pasha as they ride on separate horses like at the beginning of the film and throw him into a huge rock, killing him. They ride off into the sunset, finally together.