title: Stew Peters

text: His radio show is titled the "Stew Peters Show", and airs on weekdays. His show routinely features conspiracy theories about governmental organizations, such as the CDC. His guests have included established proponents of conspiracy theories such as Paul Gosar, Mark Meadows, and L. Lin Wood.


title: Stew Peters

text: Initially, Peters thought he would become a police officer or an entertainer. During high school, Peters took classes towards a law enforcement degree.


title: Stew Peters

text: After high school, Peters moved from Minnesota to Los Angeles, Florida and New York while pursuing a career as a rapper named Fokiss. As a rapper, he performed at several night clubs and bars around Minneapolis and Duluth including 7th St. Entry at the landmark 1st Avenue.


title: Stew Peters

text: In 2000, he auditioned for a film directed by Tyrel Ventura, the son of then-Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura. After obtaining a lead role in the film, Peters lied to Ventura that his brother was a teen heartthrob who starred in a popular 1990s sitcom. Tyrel invited Peters to stay at the governor's residence in St. Paul during filming. Peters went home to Apple Valley, a suburb 16 miles away, and later moved into the residence's guest room of the residence for several weeks, until he was evicted by the state troopers providing security for the governor.


title: Stew Peters

text: Peters was a bounty hunter before becoming a radio host. He started moonlighting as a bounty hunter after he met someone in the business.


title: Stew Peters

text: Peters heads a bounty hunting agency named Twin Cities Apprehension Team (T.C.A.T). The agency works primarily in the Twin Cities but has tracked fugitives across state lines. T.C.A.T. has apprehended fugitives wanted for DWI, drug possession/dealing, domestic abuse and child sex trafficking.


title: Stew Peters

text: In 2015, Minnesota Law was changed to limit what bounty hunters can wear and drive. This was at a time when Peters was constantly being mistaken for government law enforcement.


title: Stew Peters

text: On May 30, 2017, Peters' agency, Twin Cities Apprehension Team (T.C.A.T.) was involved in a fatal shootout. The shooting left two agents and the fugitive dead. T.C.A.T. had tracked Ramon Hutchinson from Hennepin County, Minnesota to Greenville, Texas. Hutchinson was wanted after missing a court date for driving under the influence (DUI) arrest, assaulting a police officer, and cocaine possession. In Greenville, T.C.A.T. used a tracking device on Hutchinson's girlfriend's car to find him at a car dealership during a trade in. Cell phone video shows two T.C.A.T. agents approaching Hutchinson; Gabriel Bernal and Fidel Garcia Jr. When the two agents told Hutchinson the charges against him, Hutchinson pulled out a gun and opened fire. When it was all over, all three men were dead. When asked about the shootout, Peters said: "It's just a horrible loss. Fidel was just a great friend".


title: Stew Peters

text: Peters first began his career in radio in 1998 while working for ClearChannel radio as an intern at 101.3 KDWB.


title: Stew Peters

text: In 2021, he, along with L. Lin Wood, became involved in a feud with Michael Flynn and Marjorie Taylor Greene regarding Flynn's endorsement of Vernon Jones and the future of Kyle Rittenhouse's bail fund.


title: Stew Peters

text: Peters was a speaker at the 2022 America First Political Action Conference, where he called for the murders of Anthony Fauci (lynched by hanging), and Vernon Jones (executed by electric chair).


title: Stew Peters

text: At the end of 2021, Peters was deplatformed from media services provider Spotify. This was due to his opposition to COVID-19 vaccines and government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.


title: Stew Peters

text: In January 2022, Peters became involved in the legal case of Scott Quiner. On the "Stew Peters Show", Quiner's wife claimed that Mercy Hospital was refusing to give Quiner proper treatment because of his refusal to take the COVID-19 vaccine. Mercy Hospital refused to provide a reason for taking Quiner off of a ventilator citing patient privacy. Peters encouraged his listeners to "blow the hospitals phone lines up", and he also shared the hospital's address and named the doctors involved. Peters received criticism after his audience began making anonymous threats. After four days, Quiner was allowed to be transferred to a hospital in Texas which would provide the care that his family wanted. Quiner was described as the "most malnourished patient" a doctor at the Texas hospital had ever seen. He died on January 19, 2022.


title: Stew Peters

text: Peters produced two anti-vaccine films released in 2022: "Watch the Water", which claims that COVID-19 vaccines are derived from snake venom in order to transform people into "a hybrid of Satan", and "Died Suddenly," which promotes misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines and Great Reset conspiracy theories.


title: India Today

text: India Today is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, "India Today" launched a new online opinion-orientated site called the "DailyO".


title: India Today

text: "India Today" was established in 1975 by Vidya Vilas Purie (owner of Thompson Press), with his daughter Madhu Trehan as its editor and his son Aroon Purie as its publisher. At present, "India Today" is also published in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu. The India Today news channel was launched on 22 May 2015.


title: Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham

text: Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham (or Amrita University) is a private deemed university based in Coimbatore, India. It currently has 7 campuses with 16 constituent schools across the Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka with the headquarters at Ettimadai, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. It offers a total of 207 undergraduate, postgraduate, integrated-degree, dual-degree, doctoral programs in engineering and technology, medicine, business, arts and culture, sciences, biotechnology, agricultural sciences, allied health sciences, Ayurveda, dentistry, pharmacy, nursing, nano-sciences, commerce, humanities and social sciences, law, literature, spiritual studies, philosophy, education, sustainable development, mass communication and social work.


title: Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham

text: The university was founded with the opening of Amrita School of Engineering, Coimbatore in 1994 by Mata Amritanandamayi Devi and is managed by her international humanitarian organisation Mata Amritanandamayi Math. In 2003, it became one of the youngest institutes to be accredited as a deemed to be university by the UGC. In 2002, campuses in Amritapuri and Bangalore were started.


title: Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham

text: The university has six campuses, with 15 constituent schools in rural and urban sites in four south Indian states – Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka. The first to be established was the Coimbatore campus in 1994, with the opening of Amrita School of Engineering at Ettimadai, a village about 20 km east of Coimbatore. Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS) in Edapally, Kochi was inaugurated on 17 May 1998 by the then Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Later in 2002, two campuses were opened, one urban campus at Bengaluru, and one rural campus in Amritapuri village, which also hosts the headquarters of the Mata Amritanandamayi Math that runs the university. In 2019, an engineering campus was opened at Chennai. Currently, two new healthcare campuses are being constructed at Faridabad, Haryana and Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh.


title: Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham

text: The schools of Arts and Sciences offer Bachelor of Commerce, Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA), Bachelor of Computer Applications (BCA), Master of Computer Applications (MCA) programs and are located at Amritapuri, Kochi, Mysore.


title: Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham

text: Bachelor of Science in Visual Media (B.Sc.), Integrated M.Sc. in Visual Communication, Master of Science in Visual Communication (M.Sc.) and Master of Arts in Visual Media and Communication (M.A) programs are currently offered at Mysore campus.


title: Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham

text: The school of Business was started in 1996 in Coimbatore campus and currently 4 campuses - Coimbatore, Bangalore, Kochi, Amritapuri (Kollam). The school offers AACSB accredited residential two-year MBA degree program. In addition, it offers a dual degree program leading to an MS in information technology and MBA in collaboration with State University of New York at Buffalo, for working professionals at the Bangalore campus.


title: Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham

text: The school was started in September 2004 and offers B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Biotechnology, B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Microbiology, and M.Sc. in Bioinformatics, as well as Ph.D. degree programs. Its research spans a wide spectrum including Cell Biology, Molecular Biology, Cancer Biology, Cell-line Engineering, Wound Healing, Computational Neuroscience, Neurophysiology, Phytochemistry, Biomedical Engineering, Proteomics, RNAi, Analytical Chemistry, Snake Venoms, Sanitation Biotechnology.


title: Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham

text: The Amrita School of Biotechnology is approved as a Center of Relevance and Excellence (CORE) in Biomedical Technology under the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, TIFAC Mission REACH programs. The School of Biotechnology was selected by the DBT-BIRAC (Government of India) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as one of the top six innovators in India to develop next generation sanitation solutions using bacteriophages and other biocontrol agents.


title: Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham

text: The school offers B.A. and M.A. degree programs in Communication for careers in journalism, new media/animation, and short film making and advertising, based on the UNESCO model curriculum.


title: Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham

text: The university has schools of engineering in four of its six campuses, and offers undergraduate, post-graduate and doctoral programs in fields of Computer science and engineering, Electronics and Communication engineering, Electrical and electronic engineering, Information and communications technology, Artificial intelligence, Mechanical engineering, Civil engineering, Chemical engineering and Aerospace engineering. The Amrita School of Engineering, Coimbatore was opened in 1994 and predates the deemed university by 7 years. Other campuses include Bengaluru, Amritapuri, Chennai and Amaravati. Admission to B.Tech. programs are based on Amrita Engineering Entrance Exam (AEEE), SAT, Pearson UEE and JEE Main. Admission to the MTech. Programs are based on the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering(GATE).


title: Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham

text: The five schools offer B.Tech., MTech. and Ph.D. degree programs and the Kochi campus offers MTech. in Nanomedicine, Molecular Medicine and Nanotechnology and Renewable Energy.


title: Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham

text: Attached to the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre is a 1300-bed super-specialty hospital in Kochi. It is the university's healthcare initial campus. A second medical school and 2,000 bed hospital campus was set up in Delhi on 9 May 2016. The Amrita Schools of Medicine, Dept. of Hospital Administration provide MHA (Masters in Hospital Administration), health sciences, nursing, pharmacy, and dentistry are on this campus. They respectively offer MBBS, Bachelor of Science (Nursing), undergraduate/graduate pharmacy programs, and Bachelor of Dental Surgery degree programs.


title: Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham

text: The School of Medicine offers graduate programs including M.Sc. in disciplines, Diplomate of National Board (DNB), and PhD. In 2008, the first batch of MBBS students graduated with A. P. J. Abdul Kalam presiding over the graduation ceremony.


title: Royal Rumble (1994)

text: The 1994 Royal Rumble was the seventh annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It took place on January 22, 1994, at the Providence Civic Center in Providence, Rhode Island. Six matches were contested at the event, including one dark match. This was the last Royal Rumble event that was held on a Saturday Night until January 29th 2022.


title: Royal Rumble (1994)

text: For the 1993 event, the Royal Rumble match winner received a world championship match at that year's WrestleMania. The 1994 Royal Rumble match also awarded the winner the same prize, which was a match for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania X, thus becoming the tradition for the annual Royal Rumble match.


title: Royal Rumble (1994)

text: The main event was the 1994 Royal Rumble match. Lex Luger and Bret Hart were named co-winners after simultaneously eliminating each other. The undercard saw Yokozuna defeat The Undertaker in a Casket match to retain the WWF World Heavyweight Championship, The Quebecers (Jacques and Pierre) defeated Bret Hart and Owen Hart to retain the WWF Tag Team Championship, and Razor Ramon defeated Irwin R. Schyster to retain the Intercontinental Championship.


title: Royal Rumble (1994)

text: The Royal Rumble is an annual gimmick pay-per-view (PPV), produced every January by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) since 1988. It is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, which were dubbed the "Big Four", and one of the "Big Five", along with King of the Ring that was established in 1993. It is named after the Royal Rumble match, a modified battle royal in which the participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time. The 1994 event was the seventh event in the Royal Rumble chronology and was scheduled to be held on January 22, 1994, at the Providence Civic Center in Providence, Rhode Island.


title: Royal Rumble (1994)

text: The Royal Rumble match generally features 30 wrestlers. Prior to 1992, there was no prize for winning the match. At the 1992 event, as the WWF World Heavyweight Championship had been vacated, the prize for the 1992 Royal Rumble match was the vacant title. At the 1993 event, it was decided that the winner would be awarded a match for the championship at WrestleMania IX. For 1994, the winner again earned a match for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship, which was at WrestleMania X, thus establishing a tradition of the Rumble winner earning a world championship match at WrestleMania.


title: Royal Rumble (1994)

text: The card consisted of five matches. The matches resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters to build tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results were predetermined by WWF's writers, with storylines produced on their weekly television show, "Raw".


title: Royal Rumble (1994)

text: The first televised match of the pay-per-view was supposed to be Ludvig Borga vs. Tatanka. The two were engaged in a feud that began prior to Survivor Series 1993. Tatanka had been undefeated in the WWF since his debut in 1991. Borga ended this streak on the October 30, 1993 edition of "WWF Superstars" (taped on September 28, 1993), when he hit Tatanka with a steel chair while the referee was distracted. As a results of storyline injuries from this attack and the beating he suffered afterward at the hands of Borga and Yokozuna, Tatanka was forced to miss the main event match at Survivor Series. Although Tatanka defeated Borga by disqualification on the December 20, 1993 edition of "Monday Night Raw", the bitterness between the two remained.


title: Royal Rumble (1994)

text: Borga suffered a legit ankle injury, however, and was replaced by Bam Bam Bigelow. Although the substitution took place shortly before the event, Bigelow and Tatanka also had a heated rivalry. In 1993, Bigelow had cut Tatanka's dyed red hair as an insult to his Lumbee heritage. The two faced each other as part of a six-man match at SummerSlam 1993, but the feud continued even after Tatanka's team emerged victorious.


title: Royal Rumble (1994)

text: At Survivor Series 1993, Owen Hart was eliminated during an elimination match when he crashed into his brother Bret Hart, who was walking along the ring apron, causing Owen to lose his focus and be pinned by Michaels. After the match, Owen interrupted his brothers’ victory celebration to verbally attack Bret. He demanded a match with Bret to settle the dispute. Bret refused, and the brothers reunited over the Christmas holidays. They decided to focus their energy on taking the tag team title from the Quebecers. Their plan was temporarily put on hold when Marty Jannetty and the 1-2-3 Kid won the belts, but the Quebecers won a rematch the following week, guaranteeing that the Harts would get their title shot.


title: Royal Rumble (1994)

text: Razor Ramon and Irwin R. Schyster (I.R.S.) began feuding prior to SummerSlam 1993 because of an angle in which Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase and I.R.S.) teased Ramon about losing to the 1-2-3 Kid, a newcomer to the WWF. The rivalry heated up when I.R.S. stole Ramon's gold chains while Shawn Michaels had Ramon distracted. Ramon and I.R.S. agreed to settle the feud at Royal Rumble 1994 with Ramon's Intercontinental Championship on the line.


title: Royal Rumble (1994)

text: The rivalry between Yokozuna and The Undertaker began at Survivor Series 1993. Yokozuna, who was pushed as an unstoppable monster, was unable to inflict any serious damage on The Undertaker when the two faced each other in an elimination match. Yokozuna slammed The Undertaker's head into the steel steps leading up to the ring, but The Undertaker was unharmed. Later, Yokozuna used his finishing move, the Banzai Drop, on The Undertaker. When he tried to repeat the move, however, The Undertaker became the first wrestler to sit up after the move, surprising Yokozuna and his managers. The Undertaker was granted a title shot in a Casket match. In the following weeks, it was revealed that Yokozuna had a fear of caskets. The Undertaker used this knowledge to gain a psychological advantage going into the match. On one occasion, Paul Bearer brought the casket to the ring to intimidate Yokozuna. When Yokozuna approached the casket to face his fear, the Undertaker popped out to scare Yokozuna.


title: Royal Rumble (1994)

text: Lex Luger wanted to participate in the Royal Rumble match, as the winner was scheduled to get a title shot for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania X. The contract he had signed for his title shot at SummerSlam 1993, however, stated that he would not receive a rematch if he failed to win the title. A compromise was reached, allowing Luger to compete. Yokozuna's manager, Mr. Fuji, was allowed to bring in two wrestlers, Genichiro Tenryu and The Great Kabuki, to hurt Luger's chances of winning.


title: Royal Rumble (1994)

text: In a dark match before the broadcast, the Brooklyn Brawler defeated Jim Powers. The Brawler used a swinging neckbreaker to get the victory. As the pay per view broadcast began, Vince McMahon introduced Ted DiBiase as his commentary partner for the evening.


title: Royal Rumble (1994)

text: The first televised match was between Tatanka and Bam Bam Bigelow. Bigelow tried to attack Tatanka before the bell, but Tatanka moved. The two fought back and forth, and Bigelow gained momentum after Tatanka missed a crossbody from the top turnbuckle. Bigelow used his weight to keep the advantage, sitting on Tatanka and later using a bear hug to wear him down. After the two hit each other with simultaneous crossbodies, Tatanka began a war dance. Bigelow kicked Tatanka in the back of the head to regain the advantage but missed a moonsault attempt from the top rope, allowing Tatanka to perform a crossbody from the corner and get the victory.


title: Royal Rumble (1994)

text: This match was followed by the Tag Team Championship match. The match started slowly, but both teams soon began brawling in the ring. The Harts focused on Pierre, but Jacques was eventually able to tag in to rescue him. After Pierre regained the advantage, Owen tagged in and took control of the match. He applied the Sharpshooter to Jacques, but Pierre broke the hold. Bret tagged in but fell out of the ring and kayfabe hurt his knee when the Quebecers' manager pulled on the ropes. The Quebecers focused on Bret's knee until Bret regained the advantage and attempted to apply the Sharpshooter. He was not able to stand, however, so the referee stopped the match and awarded the victory to the Quebecers. After the match, Owen yelled at Bret for not tagging out of the match. He then turned on Bret by kicking his injured leg and leaving him lying in the ring. This left fans wondering if Bret Hart would even make the Royal Rumble match itself.


title: Royal Rumble (1994)

text: Next came the match between Irwin R. Schyster and Razor Ramon for the Intercontinental Championship, for which Jim Ross and Gorilla Monsoon took over the commentary roles. The match began with a brawl between the two, and Ramon got the early advantage. Schyster eventually threw Ramon over the top rope and attacked him on the floor. I.R.S. kept control of the match for quite a while, applying a reverse chinlock while using the ring ropes for additional leverage. After Ramon escaped the hold, he was able to perform a fallaway slam on Schyster. He then used an Irish Whip to throw Schyster into the corner, but the match turned around with a ref bump when referee Joey Marella was in the way and was kayfabe knocked unconscious. Shawn Michaels ran to the ring with his fake Intercontinental belt and hit Ramon with it, and Schyster helped revive Marella to count the pinfall. I.R.S. appeared to win the title, but referee Earl Hebner came to the ring and explained the situation to Marella. When Michaels' belt was discovered in the ring, the match was restarted. Ramon simply grabbed Schyster, who was standing on the second turnbuckle celebrating, and performed the Razor's Edge for the victory.


title: Royal Rumble (1994)

text: The next match was the Casket match; the first wrestler to get his opponent in the casket and close the lid would win the match and the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. Yokozuna had great difficulty inflicting any serious damage on The Undertaker, but it was soon revealed that Mr. Fuji had arranged for several wrestlers to get involved on Yokozuna's behalf. Crush, The Great Kabuki, Genichiro Tenryu and Bam Bam Bigelow interfered, but The Undertaker was able to fight back until Mr. Fuji stole The Undertaker's urn from Paul Bearer. Yokozuna opened the urn, and smoke poured out. Meanwhile, Adam Bomb, Jeff Jarrett, The Headshrinkers (Samu and Fatu) and Diesel then came to the ring to help Yokozuna. Eventually, Yokozuna and his allies were able to shut The Undertaker in the casket to end the match. They locked the casket and pushed it down the aisle until smoke started coming out of the casket. The Undertaker appeared on the video screen at the end of the aisle, vowing to return. The casket was shown exploding on the screen, although the casket in the arena did not explode. After the explosion was shown, a person resembling The Undertaker was seen rising up to the ceiling of the Civic Center.


title: Royal Rumble (1994)

text: Before the Royal Rumble match began, commentator Vince McMahon revealed that WWF President Jack Tunney had shortened the interval between entrances from the traditional two minutes to 90 seconds due to time constraints. Kamala was supposed to compete in the match, but he was replaced by Virgil. Ludvig Borga could not compete due to his ankle injury and was replaced by Kwang, a newcomer to the WWF. In addition, the 1-2-3 Kid was replaced by Thurman "Sparky" Plugg, who was also making his debut. Bastion Booger was scheduled to be the twenty-fifth participant, but he did not appear for unknown reasons; Vince McMahon stated that he did not appear because he did not "feel good".


title: Royal Rumble (1994)

text: The Royal Rumble match began, with Scott Steiner and Headshrinker Samu as the first and second participant. Early in the match, Diesel tied a WWF record by throwing out seven consecutive wrestlers. He was ultimately eliminated by a group of wrestlers, while his partner Shawn Michaels kept aloof. Although Diesel wrestled as a heel at the time, his performance earned him applause from the crowd.


title: Royal Rumble (1994)

text: Several ongoing feuds came into play during the match. Crush and his former friend, Randy Savage fought each other until Crush eliminated Savage. Bam Bam Bigelow and Doink the Clown also faced each other during the match. Doink had annoyed Bigelow with a series of pranks in late 1993, and the feud was supposed to be settled at Survivor Series 1993, but the team of "Doinks" that Bigelow fought was just The Bushwhackers and Men on a Mission dressed up as clowns. When they met in the Royal Rumble, Bigelow quickly eliminated Doink. The Royal Rumble match also saw an old feud rekindled. Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty, former tag team partners as The Rockers, traded a series of punches when Jannetty entered the match and Michaels ultimately eliminated Jannetty from the match. Due to being beat up by Owen Hart earlier in the night, there was a question as to if Bret Hart would even appear in the match. That question was answered when Bret Hart kayfabe limped to the ring as the 27th entrant in the match. Various different wrestlers went to work on his knee.


title: Royal Rumble (1994)

text: The final four were Fatu, Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, and Lex Luger. The four sized up each other and then Bret Hart eliminated Fatu while Lex Luger took care of Shawn Michaels. Luger had Hart in a bear hug after punching his face a bit and then briefly lifted him up, but couldn't hold Hart up for very long. Bret Hart then moved both himself and Luger to the ring ropes. In an attempt to push Luger over the top rope, Bret Hart managed to push himself over as well. Both wrestlers crashed to the floor simultaneously which ended the match. Two referees argued about who had landed first while several inconclusive camera angles were broadcast. Meanwhile, ring announcer Howard Finkel declared one wrestler as the winner followed by the other. Eventually, WWF President Jack Tunney came to the ring and had Finkel declare both men co-winners. The situation regarding the title shot at WrestleMania X, which was to be given to the winner, remained unresolved until the following week on "Monday Night Raw".


title: Royal Rumble (1994)

text: Ludvig Borga did not return to the WWF after his ankle healed, so there was no closure to his feud with Tatanka. The feud between Tatanka and Bam Bam Bigelow was also soon forgotten. In the summer of 1994, both wrestlers joined Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Corporation. The two eventually formed a tag team and unsuccessfully challenged for the WWF Tag Team Championship.


title: Royal Rumble (1994)

text: The feud between Razor Ramon and I.R.S. ended shortly after the Royal Rumble. On the January 31, 1994 edition of "Monday Night Raw", the 1-2-3 Kid stole Ramon's chains back from I.R.S., bringing the feud to an end. Shawn Michaels’ attack on Razor Ramon increased the hostility between the two. The debate over the true holder of the Intercontinental Championship was settled at WrestleMania X in a ladder match with both belts suspended above the ring. This ended the feud between Michaels and Ramon, although Ramon continued to feud with Michaels’ friend Diesel.


title: Royal Rumble (1994)

text: Owen Hart demanded a match against Bret Hart, which Bret repeatedly refused. This situation was complicated because of Bret co-winning the Royal Rumble. Jack Tunney decided that both Bret Hart and Lex Luger would get separate title shots at WrestleMania X. A coin toss would determine who was to compete in the first title match, with the other wrestler facing "suitable competition". Lex Luger won the coin toss that was televised on Monday Night Raw; Tunney then made the decision to have Bret Hart wrestle his brother, Owen, in the opening match at WrestleMania. (Had Luger lost the coin toss, he would have faced Crush.) Owen won the match, but Bret came out of WrestleMania with the WWF World Heavyweight Championship after Yokozuna dropped the title to him. This led to an extended feud between the two that saw Jim Neidhart return to the WWF to side with Owen and Davey Boy Smith to make a comeback to take Bret's side.


title: Royal Rumble (1994)

text: Several of the events during the Royal Rumble match led to feuds and pay-per-view matches later in 1994. Diesel's performance in the Royal Rumble match led to him becoming an up and comer in the WWF pecking order and he became the Intercontinental Champion shortly after WrestleMania X with assistance from Shawn Michaels. The duo later won the WWF Tag Team Championship the night before SummerSlam in August. At SummerSlam, however, Michaels cost Diesel the Intercontinental Championship by inadvertently kicking him when Razor Ramon ducked out of the way. Finally, at Survivor Series in November, the still-simmering tension between the two friends boiled over when Michaels hit Diesel with another kick intended for Razor during their Survivor Series elimination match. Diesel became irate and chased after Michaels, who escaped in a car and declared their friendship and team over.


title: Royal Rumble (1994)

text: Meanwhile, Crush and Randy Savage faced each other in a Falls Count Anywhere match at WrestleMania X to settle their feud, and Doink and his midget sidekick Dink faced Bigelow and his kayfabe girlfriend Luna Vachon in a mixed tag match.


title: Royal Rumble (1994)

text: The Undertaker did not appear in the WWF for several months after his loss to Yokozuna. In reality, he was given time off to allow a back injury to heal. During his absence, the WWF promoted his return by showing video clips of people who claimed to have seen The Undertaker. Ted DiBiase claimed to have brought The Undertaker back to the WWF, but Paul Bearer informed him that DiBiase's Undertaker was an impostor. Paul Bearer claimed to have located the true Undertaker, which led to a match at SummerSlam 1994 between DiBiase's Undertaker (portrayed by Brian Lee) and Paul Bearer's original Undertaker. After defeating the false Undertaker, Bearer's Undertaker got revenge against Yokozuna by winning a Casket match at Survivor Series 1994. To help prevent outside interference, Chuck Norris was brought in as a guest referee.


title: Sky One

text: Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non-terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, it became Sky One and broadcast exclusively in the United Kingdom and Ireland as British Sky Broadcasting's flagship channel, being the most watched television service in history. It existed until 1 September 2021, when it closed down as part of a restructuring with its EPG position taken by Sky Showcase and much of its content library moved to Sky Max.


title: Sky One

text: Sky One included some very popular broadcasts both the original programmes such as "An Idiot Abroad", "", "The Russell Howard Hour", "Battlestar Galactica", and many imported from North America – including: "24" (seasons 3–9, and its spinoff ""), "X-files", "", "", "", "Bones" (seasons 1–6, first half), "Caprica", "Fringe", "Modern Family", "Glee" (seasons 3–6), "House" (seasons 5–8), "Lie to Me", "Lost" (seasons 3–6), "Prison Break" (seasons 3–4), "The Simpsons", "Stargate" ("SG-1", "Atlantis" and "Universe"), "Touch", "About a Boy", "The Middle", "Manifest", "You, Me and the Apocalypse" and "The Blacklist". Other American imports included CBS military/action dramas, science-fiction and Arrowverse superhero shows and "The Blacklist" (seasons 4–8).


title: Sky One

text: Sky One started on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television Limited, and was Europe's first ever cable and satellite channel, originally broadcasting from the Orbital Test Satellite aimed at cable operators all over the continent. At first, the station struggled financially due to disappointing ratings in the countries in which it was officially available, which in turn led to insufficient advertising revenue and increasing difficulty in covering the high transmission costs. Initially, the channel's own programming and continuity was played out from the Molinare studios at Fouberts Place in the West End of London.


title: Sky One

text: On 27 June 1983, the shareholders of Satellite Television agreed a £5 million offer to give News International 65% of the company. Rupert Murdoch extended the broadcast hours and the number of countries the station broadcast to including the United Kingdom on 16 October of that year.


title: Sky One

text: On 16 January 1984, Satellite Television Limited was renamed Sky Channel, incorporating a large number of American imports in its schedules also increased the quantity produced of home grown programmes, including a number of new music shows with Gary Davies, Tony Blackburn, Linda de Mol, Pat Sharp, David "Kid" Jensen, and Anthea Turner presenting programmes such as "Euro Top 40", and "UK Top 50 Chart". New children's programmes like "Fun Factory" and "The DJ Kat Show", many of which came not only from Sky's own studios in London (Sky having already abandoned the Molinare facilities by then), but also included programmes produced in the Netherlands by John de Mol's production company.


title: Sky One

text: On 8 June 1988, Murdoch announced his plans to expand Sky's four channels, thus creating the Sky Television Network. On 5 February 1989, the service (Sky Channel, Sky News, Sky Movies and Eurosport) was launched as prime-time broadcasts to European cable operators ended and were replaced by Eurosport, a joint venture between Sky and the European Broadcasting Union aimed at a pan-European audience (like Sky Channel had been up to that point for a time afterwards, some of Sky's previous pan-European programming continued to be broadcast before Eurosport's start-up, under the branding of "Sky Europe").


title: Sky One

text: A new raft of shows were created for the channel, including the daily talent show "Sky Star Search"; game shows ("Sale of the Century", based on the 1980s American version, and "The Price Is Right"); weekly documentary series "Frank Bough's World"; daily late night talk show "Jameson Tonight"; agony aunt advice show "A Problem Shared"; and "Sky by Day", Sky TV's variation on ITV's more popular "This Morning", hosted by former BBC Radio 1 DJ Tony Blackburn (who by then had moved to commercial radio) and former "Magpie" presenter Jenny Hanley, as the show aired a mix of entertainment, gossip and fashion.


title: Sky One

text: The "New Sky Channel", as it was dubbed in on-air promotion prior to its 5 February 1989 launch, continued to broadcast its signature children's programmes "The DJ Kat Show" and "Fun Factory", and expanded its early afternoon daytime programming with five back-to-back soaps ("The Sullivans", "Another World", "General Hospital", "As the World Turns" and "Loving") while reducing music programming to only one or two hours per day. Classic sitcoms ("The Lucy Show" and "Family Affair") and more recent comedies ("Three's Company" and "Family Ties") as well as put on the schedule along with dramas ("The Streets of San Francisco", "Trapper John, M.D.", "Emergency!", "The Love Boat", "Fantasy Island", "Voyagers!" and "Eight Is Enough") were included. Sky Channel also aired classic movies, made-for-TV movies and miniseries (beginning with "Spearfield's Daughter" on its first night). Dolly Parton's recent variety show "Dolly", popular Australian science and technology show "Beyond 2000", the "Nescafé UK Top 50" chart show, Sunday morning religious programme "Hour of Power", hour-long weekend edition of celebrity news magazine "Entertainment Tonight" and telecasts of World Wrestling Federation rounded out Sky Channel's weekend schedule. Special event programming included late night live telecasts of boxing matches and various music concerts (such as Bon Jovi and Bros in August 1989).


title: Sky One

text: On 31 July 1989, the channel was renamed Sky One and closed in most European countries, broadcasting only to the United Kingdom and Ireland. During September of that year, Sky One began to air more recent programming as an early success being "Moonlighting" (which the BBC had previously screened but not repeated), "ALF" and "Wiseguy", also aired the British television premiere of a new drama series "21 Jump Street". Back-to-back soaps ("Rich Man, Poor Man" and "Falcon Crest") as well as action shows ("Riptide" and "Hunter") were also added to its prime time schedule. A number of Australian drama series mainly include "Against the Wind", "Boney", "A Town Like Alice", "Barrier Reef", "Return to Eden" and children's programmes such as "Skippy the Bush Kangaroo" also aired on Sky One. In 1990 and early 1991 (prior to the launch of Sky Sports), Sky One broadcast numerous live cricket telecasts during which it pre-empted its regularly scheduled programming.


title: Sky One

text: Following the merger with British Satellite Broadcasting's Galaxy on 2 November 1990, Sky One also picked up new sitcoms ("Parker Lewis Can't Lose", "Growing Pains", "Murphy Brown", "In Living Color", "Wings" and "Designing Women"), dramas ("China Beach" and "Hill Street Blues"), reruns of classic sitcoms ("Bewitched" and "The Addams Family"), a new animated series "Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles" was added to children's programmes, and daily dating game show "Love at First Sight" was presented by Helen Brumby and Bruno Brookes. Following the daily repeats of "" and "Lost in Space", Sky One picked up a number of science-fiction shows which became a crucial part of its evening line-up such as the UK premiere of "Alien Nation", also added reruns of "V" (1983 miniseries, "The Final Battle" and the television series) and "Battlestar Galactica" in 1991. After the 1992 airing of "The Flash", Sky One also picked up "" which had previously aired on BBC2 began a long twice per day run of the franchise in a late afternoon and a late evening timeslot on Mondays to Fridays.


title: Sky One

text: A staple of Sky One prime time schedule in its early years were glossy American miniseries such as "Roots", "Shōgun", "Masada", "The Thorn Birds", "North and South" and "Lonesome Dove", which aired mostly in two-hour installments each week Sundays to Tuesdays. As the format was beginning to fade in the United States, the miniseries were reduced to two nights in late 1992 and then rescheduled to Tuesdays and Wednesdays in early 1994 under its new title called "Midweek Drama", before being dropped altogether shortly after that and reappearing only as special event programming. In 1993, Sky One finally replaced its long-running Sunday night drama "21 Jump Street" with exclusive premiere of "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" and later "". The Sunday night timeslot was ultimately given to new episodes of the hit teen soap "Beverly Hills, 90210" which was later paired off with its spin-off "Melrose Place". After many years in the clear on 1 September of that year, Sky One was encrypted as part of the new Sky Multichannels subscription package, and could no longer be viewed outside Britain and Ireland without exporting a box, or receiving it over cable (although it had already been encrypted for a while since its original launch and first went in the clear in around 1987).


title: Sky One

text: On 1 October 1998, Sky One's digital feed launched with Sky Digital. Sky One was one of the four last remaining channels on the analogue platform when it was switched off at midnight, 27 September 2001. In 2000, a dedicated feed of Sky One for Ireland was launched for most of this Irish feed's existence, the only difference between it and the United Kingdom feed has been differing commercials and programme promotions. In June 2003, the channel started broadcasting in widescreen. However, all television commercials were broadcast in 4:3 until 21 November 2005, because they were played off the same servers for all Sky channels, many of which were not broadcast in widescreen.


title: Sky One

text: On 25 August 2012, Stuart Murphy, director of Sky entertainment channels, announced that a one-hour timeshift of Sky One and Sky Atlantic will due to start in the autumn, with the former launching on 12 November of that year. For New Year's Day 2014 (1 January), Sky One was temporarily renamed Sky Onesie aiming "to encourage viewers to snuggle up in front of the television wearing onesies, in a bid to recover from the previous night's celebrations". In 2017, Sky One began broadcasting some sports coverage. This included a partial simulcast of "Soccer Saturday", highlights of, and occasional live coverage of, Formula One motor racing and the occasional live football match. The summer of 2019 saw Sky One show highlights of the 2019 Cricket World Cup and live coverage of England's matches in the 2019 Netball World Cup.


title: Sky One

text: The success of the channel led to the launch of a sister service Sky 2 on 1 September 1996, broadcasts more first-run programmes between 7.00pm and 6.00am only. The spin-off channel was not a success until it was closed on 31 August 1997, which was replaced by the UK's version of National Geographic from the following day, and Sky One reverts back to its original name.


title: Sky One

text: On 9 December 2002, the channel was relaunched as Sky One Mix. On 21 September 2004, the channel was renamed Sky Mix. On 31 October 2005, Sky Mix was renamed Sky Two with the launch of a second sister channel Sky Three.


title: Sky One

text: Sky Two was renamed Sky Replay on 27 August 2020, and Sky Three was renamed Pick on 28 February 2011.


title: Sky One

text: To coincide with the launch of Sky HD, Sky One HD began broadcasting on 22 May 2006. The channel is a simulcast of Sky One and screens high-definition versions of some of the channel's programming, which include "Lost", "Bones", "24", "WWE SmackDown", "Fringe", "Prison Break", "House", and most recently new episodes of "The Simpsons". Programmes that are not available in HD are "upscaled" (although Sky One showed its widescreen version of the television show "Malcolm in the Middle", unlike most American broadcasts, since the film was originally filmed on Panavision widescreen film but cropped to full-screen by most broadcasters. This airing of the show preserves the film's appearance without stretching or upscaling, although some scenes were compromised for widescreen and had to be upscaled).


title: Sky One

text: Sky stated that they intended to increase the amount of HD content they show, and hoped that by the end of 2008, two-thirds of all prime time shows, and 90% of their own original commissions, would be in HD. A new logo was introduced along with the rebrand on 31 August 2008.


title: Sky One

text: On 1 October 2010, Sky1 HD launched on Virgin Media channel 122, with Sky2 moving to channel 123 and Sky3 moving to channel 180 on 22 September 2010, to make way for the new service.


title: Sky One

text: On 1 March 2007 at midnight, Sky's basic channels – which included Sky One, Sky Two, Sky Three, Sky News, Sky Sports News, Sky Travel and Sky Travel Extra – were removed from the Virgin Media cable television services after a dispute from BSkyB. This was due to the expiry of their previous carriage agreement and the companies' inability to reach a new deal. Virgin issued legal proceedings against Sky over the dispute in April 2007.


title: Sky One

text: At the beginning of March 2008, the two companies were reported to have resumed discussions over the dispute. Virgin chief executive Neil Berkett was reported as saying they had "continued interest in securing Sky basics back on our platform". The resumed talks had followed shortly after both Virgin and BSkyB had launched appeals against a recent Competition Appeal Tribunal ruling on BSkyB's 17.9% stake in ITV plc.


title: Sky One

text: On 4 November 2008, a carriage deal between BSkyB and Virgin Media was reached and BSkyB's channels were available on Virgin's cable service from 13 November of that year. The Sky basic channels were spread across each tier of Virgin's cable television service: Sky Three and Sky News were made available in the lowest M tier; Sky Sports News joined the M+ tier; Sky One and Sky Two were made available in the L tier; and Sky Arts 1, Sky Arts 2, Sky Real Lives and Sky Real Lives 2 joined the XL tier.


title: Sky One

text: It was announced on 27 July 2021 that Sky One would be retired and that a new channel, Sky Showcase would replace its EPG slot on Sky. Another channel, Sky Max would launch on the same day. Most of Sky's original content and the drama output would move here, while the most of the comedy output would move to Sky Comedy. "Prodigal Son" was the channel's last programme.


title: Sky One

text: At the time of closure, it was available via digital satellite on Sky, digital cable on Virgin Media, IPTV on TalkTalk TV and online via Sky Go and Now. In the Republic of Ireland, the channel was available via Sky Ireland, Virgin Media Ireland and Eir Vision.


title: Sky One

text: Absolute Radio DJ Claire Sturgess has been a "voice" of Sky One since 1998, and was the sole announcer from 2001 until 2005. As one of Sky One's four announcers, her voice-overs are pre-recorded once a week and played out by an automated system.


title: Sky One

text: Live continuity announcements air each evening. In 2009, they were voiced by announcers Dave Kelly, Faye Bamford and Philippa Collins. In 2010, three new continuity announcers were hired, Katie Morton, Katie Hudson and Paul Daniels, replacing all the previous announcers. In 2011, two new part-time announcers were hired. During the day, pre-recorded announcements air, promoting shows from all the different Sky channels.


title: Sky One

text: Sky commissioned many homegrown programmes since it first started broadcasting back in 1984, but it was not until 1989 when content went beyond music and children's shows.


title: Sky One

text: The channel commissioned a number of home grown programmes (for example, dramas such as "The Wanderer", "Springhill", "Dream Team" and "Space Island One") while expanding its small number of Australian television series, notably include:


title: Sky One

text: Sky One focused in science-fiction and other series in the 2000s which did not have a lot of successes, including:


title: Sky One

text: Sky One commissioned a two-part "Terry Pratchett's Hogfather" series for Christmas 2006, this proved to be successful and so in 2008, Sky brought out an adaptation of "The Colour of Magic" and its second half "The Light Fantastic". In 2010, Sky One also released "Terry Pratchett's Going Postal", the 33rd book in The Discworld series.


title: Sky One

text: Sky One had also re-commissioned a number of earlier game shows including "Blockbusters", which brought the series back once again between 30 October 2000 and 23 March 2001 was produced by Grundy (now owns the format) and presented by Liza Tarbuck, but did not capture the same degree of popularity as the Bob Holness incarnation. The most recent game show was from Mark Burnett, "Are You Smarter than a 10 Year Old?", based on a United States format. On 30 January 2008, Sky One announced plans to bring back the British 1990s combat-based game show "Gladiators", which was subsequently cancelled in 2009. They also showed the sketch show "Harry Enfield's Brand Spanking New Show".


title: Sky One

text: In 2010, Sky One focused on commissioning several quite long-running or well known comedy infused shows, starting with "A League of Their Own", "An Idiot Abroad" and "Little Crackers". In 2011, Sky One premiered supermarket sitcom "Trollied", which had broadcast six series and over 50 episodes, becoming Sky One's longest running comedy series. Not all shows were well received, at least by its home country audience, including "Parents" which was broadcast in 2012 and was not popular, leading Sky not to commission it for a second series. "Moone Boy", a series written by and starring Chris O'Dowd, first screened in 2012, became an instant hit internationally. It lasted three series, and ended in 2015.


title: Sky One

text: In 2017, Sky One stopped showing factual content and moved to showing more comedy and drama programmes as well as selected sports coverage.


title: Sky One

text: In 1994, Sky One started their own music show called "The Coca Cola Hit Mix" (also known as "The Hit Mix") hosted by Terry Christian, featuring music news and guests at the time. The show featured regular competitions, phone-ins with guests and other features. This later evolved into a late night broadcast called "Hit Mix Long Play" which would broadcast simultaneously on both Sky One and Sky Two playing music videos from various genres; the show also featured themed topics such as "Step by Step" which would feature music videos with stairs in the song or video when the scheduled programming had finished. This became a popular part of the brand and would often have exclusive first play on new releases that week.


title: Sky One

text: A later expansion of the music brand would be Sky One's "Morning Glory" show which would feature music videos in the early morning before the scheduled programming would start, which also featured various themes as well as caller requests.


title: Sky One

text: Sky One occasionally screened feature films which were shown with advertisement breaks, as well as several premium movie channels including Sky Cinema and its sister services.


title: Sky One

text: The channel became known for its first-run American imports such as: "Seinfeld", "Rescue 911", "Unsolved Mysteries", "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "South Park", as well as some older programmes included "Hill Street Blues", "M*A*S*H", "Quantum Leap" and Lucille Ball's various comedy series. It relies heavily on screenings for this network as they coming from Rupert Murdoch's Fox Broadcasting Company with other shows like "The X-Files", "In Living Color", "Cops", "Millennium", "King of the Hill", "Futurama", "Family Guy" and "Malcolm in the Middle". Another early and long-running fixture was "Married... with Children" ran all through the 1990s, but in the early 2000s as the show suddenly disappeared from its regular schedule and has not been screened on any Sky channel since.


title: Sky One

text: Sky One was also the original home to the UK's first-run showings of "ER" and "Friends" for series 4–6 of both shows (Channel 4 had shown series 1–3 first), giving Sky One some of the highest ratings for any satellite channel. In 2000, 2.8 million viewers watched an episode of "Friends", the highest-rated show on this network. However, when Channel 4 launched their own digital sister service E4 they outbid Sky One for exclusive first-run rights to both shows. However, Sky One still held the repeat rights for the early series of both shows for several years. Since 2011, "Friends" has been shown on Comedy Central.


title: Sky One

text: From 1989, Sky Channel (later became Sky One) was the home of World Wrestling Federation in the UK. Big premier events like WrestleMania, UK Rampage, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, Royal Rumble and This Tuesday in Texas would air on Sky One until the end of 1991, these were shown on taped delay a number of days after the events were recorded.


title: Sky One

text: Sky moved the big premier events to Sky Movies in 1991 before they transferred to Sky Sports on 1 September 1992 when the channel became a subscription service. From 1995, subscribers to the Sky Sports channel would see not only a taped delay showing of these pay-per-view events, but Sky also offered a live showing starting a midnight UK time on the evening the event took place. Sky One continued to air WWF/WWE shows on Friday night and Saturday/Sunday morning that were produced for syndicated television in the United States from the early 1990s until the late 2010s. Sky Sports aired "Monday Night Raw" and later "SmackDown" alongside all pay-per-view events and required an additional subscription to be able to view the Sports package, this led to the WWF/WWE content on Sky One being available to more viewers in the UK than the shows that aired only on Sky Sports.


title: Sky One

text: While WWF/WWE pay-per-view events aired on Sky Sports, other shows include "Superstars", "Wrestling Challenge", "All American Wrestling", "Action Zone", "Mania", "LiveWire", "Shotgun" and "Metal" which aired on Saturday or Sunday exclusively on Sky One with repeats throughout the week on the channel. These were often shows edited for younger viewers to fit the timeslot (especially during the riskier content of the Attitude era) and had dubbed commentary especially for the UK audience.


title: Sky One

text: Sky One continued to broadcast an edited one hour version of "Raw" on Sunday mornings before all WWE programmes moved to rival network BT Sport.


title: Sky One

text: On 2 September 1990, Sky One launched its hit American animated series "The Simpsons" which became a signature show and aired continuously on the channel for 31 years until it was ceased in 2021 (as well as the Sunday morning religious programme "Hour of Power" was another to remain the schedule during most of its run), it had a long association within the series from its early years and remained the exclusive British broadcaster until it showed terrestrially on the BBC between 23 November 1996 and 7 May 2004, having lost the rights to Channel 4 on 18 February 2002.


title: Sky One

text: On 17 March 2009, Sky One broadcast the 20th season episode "In the Name of the Grandfather" for the first time – five days before its original US airing – to be shown in the United Kingdom as gathered over one million viewers. Sky One had also aired episodes within three days after its US first-run, including "Judge Me Tender" on 27 May 2010. In November 2012, "The Simpsons" was not broadcast on the timeshift service because BSkyB is prohibited from doing so under the current terms of their licensing agreement with 20th Century Fox Television Distribution included an on-screen message appears redirecting viewers to Sky One. As of 2017, "The Simpsons" is available to watch on the timeshifted channel.


title: Sky One

text: Following the death of voice actress Marcia Wallace, Sky One broadcasts three of best episodes from 6.30pm including "Bart the Lover", "The Ned-Liest Catch" and "Ned 'n' Edna's Blend Agenda" on 28 October 2013.


title: Sky One

text: Sky One obtained the first-run rights for "Star Trek" on 1 July 1990, which previously had been with the BBC. During its entire run of "", Sky One had chosen three episodes – "Plato's Stepchildren", "The Empath" and "" – as well as were eventually shown on satellite television, but not screened by the BBC between 19 August 1992 and 19 January 1994 for similar reasons following audience complaints after broadcast.


title: Sky One

text: "" was initially shown five nights a week at 5.00pm (repeated again at 10.30pm) between 5 October 1992 and 16 August 1993, starting with "Encounter at Farpoint" and running all the way up to "". The channel also acquired rerun rights to the episodes from the first three seasons previously aired on BBC2 – with the addition of "", which saw its first British broadcast on 29 November 1992 with the Irish reunification line edited out. A feature-length version of "" was shown on an exclusive movie channel rather than as part of this entire run. The whole series was shown again with "" held over to act as the premiere to the on 31 July 1994, which was run every Sunday evenings at 7.00pm once it had completed production and was available to be shown before the aired on 29 January 1995.


title: Sky One

text: The episodes of these later series were shown as they were in the United States with repeats between new ones, however soon held back broadcast the entire series at once, as well as various science-fiction shows that would fill the gaps including "Stargate SG-1" and "Andromeda". It was moved to Sky Two for a short time, until the channel was ceased on 31 August 1997 due to poor ratings. Monday nights at 8.00pm was the traditional time for the series, however at the start of the was moved to Tuesdays within the place also taken by "The Simpsons", which lasted until the final episode was broadcast on 2 August 2005.


title: Sky One

text: The following is a list of the ten most watched shows on Sky One, based on Live +7 data supplied by BARB up to 30 November 2020, within the number of viewers does not include repeats:


title: Alessandro Costacurta

text: Alessandro Costacurta (born 24 April 1966) is an Italian football pundit, manager and a former professional defender, who usually played as a centre back.


title: Alessandro Costacurta

text: Throughout his club career, Costacurta spent over twenty years with AC Milan between 1986 and 2007, as well as a brief season-long spell on loan at Monza. He is best known for his role alongside Franco Baresi, Paolo Maldini, and Mauro Tassotti, forming one of the greatest defences in Serie A and European football during the late 1980s and 1990s, under the success of managers Arrigo Sacchi and Fabio Capello. He mainly operated as a central defender, and was a leading exponent of the position, receiving International acclaim, winning 7 Serie A titles and 5 Champions League/European Cup trophies throughout his career, along with many other trophies. Costacurta retired from professional football at the age of 41, on 19 May 2007. In his final match for Milan, he scored a goal from a penalty in a 3–2 defeat against Udinese, becoming the oldest goalscorer in Serie A.


title: Alessandro Costacurta

text: Along with his Milan teammates, Costacurta was also an important member of the Italian national side during the 1990s. He made 59 appearances for Italy, scoring 2 goals, and he participated in two World Cups (in 1994 and 1998), as well as a European Championship in 1996. With Italy, he managed to reach the 1994 World Cup Final, which was lost against Brazil on penalties.


title: Alessandro Costacurta

text: Alessandro Costacurta was affectionally known to his fans as "Billy", due to his thin physique in his youth, and his notable skill at basketball (as the local basketball team of Milan, Olimpia Milano, was referred to as "Billy" during the late 1970s, the team's main shirt sponsor). Originally an AC Milan youth side product, during his professional career Costacurta would go on to play for the senior club for over 20 seasons, after a brief spell on loan at Monza in Serie C1 during the 1986–87 season. Costacurta was already a young member of the senior squad during the 1985–86 season, but failed to make a single appearance. Before being sent to Monza on loan, Costacurta would make his Milan debut in the Coppa Italia during the 1986–87 season, but would not make his Serie A debut with Milan until the following year, under Arrigo Sacchi. Costacurta made his first Serie A appearance on 25 October 1987 against Hellas Verona on the sixth matchday of the season. Milan would go on to win the match 1–0, as well as the Serie A title, but Costacurta received limited playing opportunities that season, due to the presence of the more experienced Filippo Galli in his position. Overall, Costacurta managed 7 appearances in Serie A, and one appearance in the Coppa Italia that season.


title: Alessandro Costacurta

text: The 1988–89 season would see Costacurta gain more playing opportunities and appear more frequently for the club, as he would feature in Milan's 3–1 win over Sampdoria in the 1988 Supercoppa Italiana. He would make 26 appearances in Serie A that season, and would also win his first European Cup title after Milan defeated Steaua București 4–0 at the Camp Nou, Barcelona. Costacurta played the first 74 minutes of the final before being substituted by Filippo Galli.


title: Alessandro Costacurta

text: During the 1989–90 Season, Costacurta won his second consecutive European Cup with Milan, defeating Benfica 1–0 in the final in Vienna, and starting the play which led to Frank Rijkaard's match-winning goal. He also featured in Milan's Intercontinental Cup win in Tokyo over Atlético Nacional, and in the European Supercup victory over Johan Cruyff's Barcelona. Costacurta also scored his first goal in Serie A during that season, in a 3–1 away defeat to Milanese rivals Internazionale in the "Derby della Madonnina". Milan would also reach the Coppa Italia final that season. In Sacchi's final season at the club, Costacurta would become a starting centreback alongside Franco Baresi, as well as full-backs Mauro Tassotti and Paolo Maldini, in Sacchi's four-man defensive line, which is regarded as one of the greatest defences of all-time. Costacurta would make 25 appearances in Serie A that season, and he would also win his second consecutive Intercontinental Cup and European Super Cup trophies.


title: Alessandro Costacurta

text: Under Capello's Milan, Costacurta continued to be a permanent member of the starting line-up, and he won four Serie A titles (including three consecutive titles in 1991–92, 1992–93 and 1993–94, as well as another title in 1995–96), a Champions League title in 1994, an UEFA Super Cup in 1994, as well as three consecutive Italian Supercups in 1992, 1993 and 1994. Milan also managed to reach three consecutive Champions League finals between 1992–93 and 1994–95. However, Costacurta missed the 1994 Champions League final win over Barcelona on 18 May because of a suspension, having been sent-off in the semi-final match against Monaco. Costacurta also helped Milan to win the 1991–92 Serie A title undefeated, as Milan went on an Italian record of 58 matches unbeaten. He also played a key role in Milan's defensive line in the 1993–94 title, by only conceding 15 goals all season, as Milan finished the season with the best defence in Italy.


title: Alessandro Costacurta

text: Following Capello's departure after the 1995–96 title win, as well as the aging and retirement of certain key players, Milan faced dark times in their history. Milan were defeated in the 1996 Italian Supercup Final by 1995–96 Coppa Italia winners Fiorentina, and the 1996–97 and 1997–98 seasons were negative, as Milan failed to qualify for Europe on both occasions. These fruitless seasons saw Milan undergo several managerial changes, including Tabárez, and the unsuccessful returns of Sacchi and Capello. However, Costacurta, through his leadership in defence, would help Milan reach the 1998 Coppa Italia Final, losing out to Lazio. With the arrival of Alberto Zaccheroni during the 1998–99 season, Costacurta continued to be a key member of the starting line-up, and featured in Zaccheroni's new three-man defence alongside Maldini and Luigi Sala. Costacurta was also named Milan's vice-captain that season, behind Maldini, following the retirement of Baresi and Tassotti. At the end of the season, Milan managed to capture their 16th "Scudetto" win, and Costacurta's sixth in total, finishing ahead of Lazio by a single point. However, the next two seasons would see Milan undergo yet another trophy drought. Milan would lose the 1999 Supercoppa Italiana to Parma, and would finish in third place in 1999–2000, and in a disappointing sixth place, outside of the Champions League spots, in 2000–01. Milan also suffered early eliminations in the first and second round of Champions League during those two seasons, and Zaccheroni would be sacked midway through the 2000–01 season, and replaced with Cesare Maldini as a temporary caretaker.


title: Alessandro Costacurta

text: For the 2001–02 season, Fatih Terim was appointed as Milan's coach, but after the first eight matches, and negative results, Costacurta's former Milan teammate Carlo Ancelotti was appointed manager. Ancelotti guided Milan to a fourth-place finish in Serie A, which allowed them to clinch the final UEFA Champions League qualifying spot, and ultimately qualify for the next season's Champions League. Ancelotti also helped Milan to their best ever UEFA Cup finish that season, reaching the semi-finals. Ancelotti's arrival and several new signings would bring about a new era of European and Italian dominance for Milan, and Costacurta would form part of another excellent defence, which included players such as Maldini, Alessandro Nesta, Jaap Stam and Cafu.


title: Alessandro Costacurta

text: At the end of the season, in 2002, Costacurta's contract was expiring – he therefore decided to leave the club at age 36 following their American exhibition tour in the summer to pursue a Master's in Economics in the United States. However, Milan lacked defenders in their squad due to injuries, and Adriano Galliani recalled Costacurta to renew his contract the night before the second leg of their crucial UEFA Champions League playoff match against Czech side Slovan Liberec. Milan qualified with difficulty, winning 1–0 in Milan, but being defeated 2–1 in the away match, progressing only on away goals. Milan finished third in Serie A that season, and Costacurta won his first ever Coppa Italia with the club, overcoming Roma in the final. Under Ancelotti, Costacurta would be employed at both centre-back and right-back during this season. Despite difficulties encountered in qualifying, Milan reached the Champions League final that season, in the first ever all-Italian final against Serie A rivals Juventus. On 28 May 2003, Milan captured the Champions League after defeating Juventus 3–2 on penalties following a 0–0 draw after extra time. Costacurta started the match at right back, and was substituted in the 65th minute, coming off for Roque Júnior. This was Costacurta's fourth career Champions League title.


title: Alessandro Costacurta

text: In the following season, Milan were defeated in the 2003 Supercoppa Italiana by Juventus on penalties. Milan defeated Porto 1–0 in the 2003 UEFA Super Cup final, but lost on penalties to Boca Juniors in the 2003 Intercontinental Cup final. Costacurta missed the decisive penalty in the shootout. However, Milan won the 2003–04 Serie A title with a record 82 points, with Costacurta, then aged 37, winning his seventh league title with Milan (only Virginio Rosetta, Giuseppe Furino, Giovanni Ferrari and Gianluigi Buffon have more Serie A titles, with eight titles each). In 2004, Costacurta was elected 50th in the UEFA Golden Jubilee online poll, which celebrated the best European footballers from the past 50 years.


title: Alessandro Costacurta

text: Costacurta began the 2004–05 Serie A season winning his fifth Supercoppa Italiana after Milan defeated Lazio. Milan would finish the season in second place in a closely fought title race against Juventus. Milan would also suffer a huge disappointment in the UEFA Champions League. Milan reached the 2005 Champions League final in Istanbul as heavy favourites over Liverpool. At half-time, Milan were leading 3–0, but Liverpool made a second half comeback, scoring three goals to tie the match and send it into extra time. Liverpool ended up winning the title in the resulting penalty shootout in what became known as "The Miracle of Istanbul".


title: Alessandro Costacurta

text: Milan reached the semi-finals of the 2005–06 UEFA Champions League, only to be eliminated disappointingly by eventual champions Barcelona. Milan also finished second in Serie A behind Juventus that season, for the second consecutive season. However, both teams were found to be guilty of being involved in the 2006 Italian match-fixing scandal, and received point deductions. Juventus were relegated to Serie B, and Milan ended up finishing in third place, while the "Scudetto" was assigned to Internazionale. Costacurta was set to retire from Milan at the end of the 2005–06 season, but later signed a one-year extension at age 40. On 21 November 2006, he became the oldest footballer ever to play in the Champions League, in Milan's 1–0 loss to AEK Athens, at 40 years and 213 days, topping the previous record held by Belgian goalkeeper Dany Verlinden at 40 years and 116 days. Costacurta's record was later broken by Marco Ballotta, who on 11 December 2007, played a match at age 43 years and 253 days for Lazio against Real Madrid.


title: Alessandro Costacurta

text: Costacurta began his final professional season with the club at age 40. During the season, he won his fifth UEFA Champions League title with Milan. On 7 May 2007, at age 41, he announced his retirement, effective at the end of the 2006–07 season. He remained with the club as a second assistant to manager Carlo Ancelotti for a short time afterwards. He made his final home start in Milan's 3–2 loss to Udinese on 19 May 2007, converting a penalty that marked his first Serie A goal since the 1991–92 season (15 years after his left-footed volley against Roma on 3 November 1991), and left the pitch near the end of the match to a standing ovation. With this goal, he became the oldest goalscorer in Serie A, at the age of 41 years and 25 days, surpassing the previous record held by Silvio Piola, who in Novara–Milan, on 7 February 1954, scored a goal at 40 years, six months and nine days. Costacurta also became the oldest outfield player to play in a Serie A match. The only players to have played in a match at a more senior age were goalkeepers Marco Ballotta (44 years and 38 days), Alberto Fontana (41 years and 297 days), Francesco Antonioli (41 years and 243 days) and Dino Zoff (41 years and 76 days). After the match, Costacurta's Milan teammates entered the pitch wearing a replica of his jersey as a tribute.


title: Alessandro Costacurta

text: With Milan, Costacurta won the "Scudetto" seven times and the European Cup/UEFA Champions League five times, in 1989, 1990, 1994, 2003 and 2007, although he did not feature in the squad for the 1994 and 2007 finals. Costacurta also won a Coppa Italia, five Supercoppa Italiana, four UEFA Supercups and two Intercontinental Cups with Milan. He also managed to reach three more UEFA Champions League finals, wherein Milan lost to Marseille in 1992–93, Ajax in 1994–95 and Liverpool in the 2004–05, with a total of eight finals reached and five won. He also reached two more consecutive Intercontinental Cup finals, where Milan were defeated 3–2 by São Paulo in 1993 and 2–0 by Vélez Sársfield (where Costacurta was sent off in the 85th minute) in 1994, as well as losing out on the 1993 UEFA Super Cup to Parma under Fabio Capello, and the 2003 Intercontinental Cup to Boca Juniors under Carlo Ancelotti. Costacurta made 662 appearances for Milan throughout his career (458 in Serie A, 78 in the Coppa Italia, 108 in European Competitions, 5 appearances in the Intercontinental Cup final, 6 in the Italian Super Cup final, and 7 in the UEFA Super Cup final). He only scored three goals in Serie A, with his first coming in a 3–1 defeat in the Milan–Inter derby on 13 March 1990. The second came in a 4–1 over Roma at the San Siro, on 3 November, where he scored the fourth goal of the match, and his final goal was scored in a 3–2 defeat to Udinese on the final match of his career. Costacurta is the third highest appearances holder for Milan in official matches, with 662 caps; only Franco Baresi (719) and Paolo Maldini (902) have managed more appearances.


title: Alessandro Costacurta

text: Between 1986 and 1990, Costacurta made eight appearances with the Italian under-21 side, participating in two European Championships in 1988, where Italy reached the quarter-finals, and in 1990, where Italy reached the semi-finals.


title: Alessandro Costacurta

text: A mainstay in the Italy national team throughout the 1990s, Costacurta played for his country in three major tournaments: the 1994 and 1998 World Cups, as well as Euro 1996. He received his first senior call-up under Azeglio Vicini on 22 December 1990, but he made his debut for the senior team on 13 November 1991, at age 25, in a 1–1 draw against Norway in Genoa. He later became a regular first-team member under his former Milan coach Arrigo Sacchi, who replaced Vicini in 1991 after Italy failed to qualify for Euro 1992 in Sweden. Costacurta scored his first goal for Italy on 4 June 1992 from a penalty in a 2–0 against the Republic of Ireland during Italy's U.S. Cup run, where they finished in second place to the host nation in the friendly tournament.


title: Alessandro Costacurta

text: Costacurta was a starting member in Italy's defensive line at the 1994 World Cup. He helped Italy reach the final, putting in strong defensive performances alongside Milan teammate Paolo Maldini, in particular following fellow Milan centre-back Franco Baresi's injury, and fellow Milan right-back Mauro Tassotti's suspension. He notably helped a ten-man Italy to keep a clean sheet in their second group match against Norway. However, after missing out on the 1994 Champions League final through suspension, he also missed the 1994 World Cup final loss on penalties to Brazil, again due to suspension, after receiving a yellow card in the semi-final match against Bulgaria. Costacurta started in Euro 1996 for Italy, as they were eliminated in the first round, in a group with the two eventual finalists, the Czech Republic and Germany.


title: Alessandro Costacurta

text: Costacurta was once again a key member of Italy's defence in the 1998 World Cup under manager Cesare Maldini, starting in all five of Italy's matches and helping the team to keep three clean sheets. Italy were eliminated in the quarter-final to hosts and eventual champions France on penalties once again after a 0–0 draw following extra time, even though Costacurta converted Italy’s third penalty. Despite Dino Zoff's intention to use him in the Italy squad for the Euro 2000 qualifying campaign, Costacurta retired from international duty in 1998, with 59 caps and two goals, after Italy's elimination from the World Cup.


title: Alessandro Costacurta

text: Costacurta is regarded by many pundits, managers and players as one of the greatest defenders in history; he formed some of the most formidable defensive units of all time during his extensive career at Milan, alongside Paolo Maldini, Franco Baresi, and Mauro Tassotti in particular, but also other top defenders such as Filippo Galli, Christian Panucci, Alessandro Nesta, Cafu and Jaap Stam. Costacurta was a tactically versatile defender who excelled anywhere along the backline, which allowed him to have a long and highly successful career, both at club level and with the national side, winning many trophies. Although he was primarily played as a man–marking centre-back (or "stopper," in Italian) alongside Baresi throughout his career, he also occasionally played as a sweeper, as a full-back on either flank, and even as a defensive midfielder.


title: Alessandro Costacurta

text: Costacurta was a complete, hard-working and experienced defender who was also gifted with good distribution and crossing ability, as well as a solid technique and first touch, which he developed further as his career progressed, despite not initially being the most naturally skilful player on the ball; this enabled him to be comfortable in possession, carry the ball forward into midfield, and start attacking plays from the back-line. He was a tenacious yet disciplined defender with fast reactions who was known in particular for his exceptional tactical intelligence as well as his timing and strong, precise tackling ability. He was also quick-thinking, mobile, effective in the air, and had an outstanding ability to read the game and anticipate plays, despite his lack of notable pace, physical strength or athletic attributes, due to his slender build. He was an extremely precise and attentive footballer who excelled both at man marking as well as in a zonal marking system, due to his excellent positional and organisational sense, communication, awareness and his ability to play the offside trap effectively. Despite being a defender, he was an accurate penalty taker who often took penalties for his team in shoot-outs. He also stood out for his class, leadership and professionalism on the pitch, as well as his longevity throughout his career. In July 2014, compatriot and 2006 Ballon d'Or winner Fabio Cannavaro described Costacurta as the best defender with whom he had ever played. In 2015, "The Telegraph" included him at number two in their list of "The top 20 most under-rated footballers of all time."


title: Alessandro Costacurta

text: After his retirement, in 2007–08 Costacurta was a member of Carlo Ancelotti's coaching staff at Milan as a technical assistant, while earning his own coaching badges. At the end of the season, he successfully earned his badges and various Italian media reported that he was pursuing a managerial role of his own. However, he refused a position at Pisa offered by new club owner Luca Pomponi immediately after the completion of his takeover of the club, citing his need to remain at Milan in order to stay at home and take care of his son while his wife was on tour with the theater.


title: Alessandro Costacurta

text: On 27 October 2008, Costacurta was unveiled as new coach of Serie B promotion candidates Mantova, then 13th in the table, following the dismissal of previous boss Giuseppe Brucato. However, his time at Mantova proved to be unsuccessful, as he failed to improve Mantova's results and ultimately leading him to tend his resignation from the coaching post following a 1–0 loss to Vicenza that left his club only four points above the relegation zone.


title: Alessandro Costacurta

text: In 2010 he was hired by Sky Italia as a football pundit, becoming one of the main sports personalities from the TV channel and being featured in many of the channel's shows.


title: Alessandro Costacurta

text: Costacurta is known for his vocal criticism of homophobia and discrimination against women. In a 2012 interview with Italian newspaper "Il Corriere della Sera", he stated that footballers should be allowed to be open about their sexuality.


title: Airborne aircraft carrier

text: An airborne aircraft carrier is a type of mother ship aircraft which can carry, launch, retrieve and support other smaller parasite aircraft.


title: Airborne aircraft carrier

text: The only dedicated examples to have been built were airships, although existing heavier-than-air aircraft have been modified for use in similar roles, and airborne aircraft carriers of various types appear in fiction, such as "Cloudbase" in Gerry Anderson's "Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons", the Helicarrier from Marvel Comics, the "Valiant" from series 3 of "Doctor Who," and an unnamed one in "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow".


title: Airborne aircraft carrier

text: In July 1917, experiments were made with aircraft slung under HM Airship No. 23, in hopes that they could defend the airship. First an unmanned, then a manned, Sopwith Camel fighters were launched successfully. The experiment was successfully completed with two other manned Camels.


title: Airborne aircraft carrier

text: The British Imperial Airship Scheme of 1924 initially envisaged an airship that could carry five fighter aircraft in military use, but this requirement was abandoned and the project saw only the civilian R100 and R101 airships to completion.


title: Airborne aircraft carrier

text: The two rigid airships of the , and , were built for scouting duties for the U.S. Navy and operational between 1931 and 1935.


title: Airborne aircraft carrier

text: Following experiments with launching and recovering small aeroplanes using , the U.S. Navy designed "Akron" and "Macon" with internal hangars able to house a number of Curtiss F9C Sparrowhawk biplane fighters. The fighters were launched and recovered using a "trapeze" mechanism.


title: Airborne aircraft carrier

text: With lengths of , "Akron" and "Macon" were among the largest flying objects in the world and still hold the world record for helium-filled airships. They were just shorter than the German hydrogen-filled airship "Hindenburg".


title: Airborne aircraft carrier

text: "Akron" first flew on 8 August 1931 and "Macon" followed on 21 April 1933. The Sparrowhawk fighters became operational in September 1932. "Akron" was destroyed on 4 April 1933 and "Macon" on 12 February 1935.


title: Airborne aircraft carrier

text: During her accident-prone 18-month term of service, the "Akron" served as an airborne aircraft carrier for launching and recovering F9C Sparrowhawk fighter planes. "Akron" was destroyed in a thunderstorm off the coast of New Jersey on the morning of 4 April 1933, killing 73 of her 76 crewmen and passengers. This accident was the largest loss of life for any airship crash.


title: Airborne aircraft carrier

text: "Macon" was designed to carry biplane parasite aircraft, five single-seat Curtiss F9C Sparrowhawks for scouting or two-seat Fleet N2Y-1 for training. In service for less than two years, in 1935 "Macon" was damaged in a storm and lost off California's Big Sur coast, though most of the crew were saved. The wreckage is listed as "USS "Macon" Airship Remains" on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.


title: Airborne aircraft carrier

text: Developed in the Soviet Union during the 1930s, it consisted of a Tupolev TB-1 or a Tupolev TB-3 heavy bomber mothership and two to five fighters. Depending on the variant, the fighters either launched with the mothership or docked in flight, and they could refuel from the bomber. The definitive Zveno-SPB using a TB-3 and two Polikarpov I-16s, each armed with two 250 kg (550 lb) bombs, was used operationally with good results against targets in Romania during the opening stages of the German-Soviet War. The same squadron later carried out an attack against a bridge on the River Dnieper that had been captured by German forces.


title: Airborne aircraft carrier

text: The Lockheed CL-1201 was a study in the late 1960s for a giant atomic-powered transport airplane. Having a wing span of , one variant studied was an airborne aircraft carrier with a complement of up to 22 fighter aircraft carried under its wings.


title: Airborne aircraft carrier

text: The B-36 Peacemaker strategic bomber was at one point in the 1950s intended to function as an airborne aircraft carrier for up to four McDonnell F-85 Goblin parasite fighters. Operational F-85-carrying B-36s were to have been capable of refueling and rearming their fighters in flight, while deploying and recovering them on a trapeze-like structure similar to that of the "Akron" and the "Macon". No B-36 was ever equipped to carry the F-85, however, and the two prototypes only flew from a single modified B-29.


title: Airborne aircraft carrier

text: Boeing 747-AAC (Airborne Aircraft Carrier) was a proposed Boeing aircraft designed to be an airborne aircraft carrier. It was a variant of the Boeing 747 and a concept which never made it to reality.


title: Airborne aircraft carrier

text: In the early 1970s, Boeing conducted a study under a contract from the USAF for an airborne aircraft carrier for up to 10 Boeing Model 985-121 "microfighters", with the ability to launch, retrieve, re-arm, and refuel the microfighters. Boeing believed that the scheme would be able to deliver a flexible and fast carrier platform with global reach, particularly where other bases were not available.


title: Airborne aircraft carrier

text: Modified versions of the 747-200 and Lockheed C-5A were considered as the base aircraft. The concept, which included a complementary 747 AWACS version with two reconnaissance "microfighters", was considered technically feasible in 1973.


title: Airborne aircraft carrier

text: As the Boeing 747-AAC's size was massive, with power and high-range, they believed that they could use it for military means, with the existence of aircraft-carriers of massive size, they deemed it to be possible. Modified versions of the 747-200 and Lockheed C-5A were considered as the base aircraft. This caused the concept of a mothership holding microfighters to exist.


title: Airborne aircraft carrier

text: The aircraft was designed to carry 10 Boeing Model 985-121 "microfighters" with the ability to launch, retrieve, re-arm and to refuel.


title: Airborne aircraft carrier

text: In the blueprints there is a hangar at the top of fuselage where the cabin would be for an airliner, the hangar holds the microfighters. The back end of the aircraft carrier, at the bottom space near the fin has a section for "'armaments and spare parts,'" in the bottom front there is launch-bay for releasing fighter aircraft and a recovery-bay near the "'armaments and spare parts"' section. in the bottom center of the aircraft's fuselage would be a section for fueling it's reconnaissance Boeing Model 985-121s


title: Airborne aircraft carrier

text: There would be a sliding deck and pressures hatches which would pressurize and depressurize during the microfighters' launch and retrieval.


title: Airborne aircraft carrier

text: The airborne aircraft carrier would have 4 jet engines and a long fuselage, accompanied by sharp wings.


title: Airborne aircraft carrier

text: Since 2015, the United States Department of Defense has been investigating the prospect of deploying Dynetics X-61 Gremlins unmanned aerial vehicles from modified Lockheed C-130 Hercules cargo aircraft. The plane will be able to deploy, support and recover drones. After completing their mission, the X-61A will use a proprietary air-recovery method involving a drogue-like receptacle and docking technique. After docking is completed the X-61A will be “reeled in” to the cargo compartment of the C-130. Testing is currently being conducted at Dugway Proving Grounds with International Air Response providing the contracted C-130A.


title: Iraqi Turkmen

text: The Iraqi Turkmens (also spelled as Turkoman and Turcoman; ), also referred to as Iraqi Turks, Turkish-Iraqis, the Turkish minority in Iraq, and the Iraqi-Turkish minority (; ) are Iraq's third largest ethnic group.


title: Iraqi Turkmen

text: Whilst Turkic migration to Iraq began in the 7th century, followed by 1055's Seljuk conquest, today most Turkmen are descendants of Ottoman soldiers, traders and civil servants who were brought into Iraq from Anatolia during Ottoman rule. Iraqi Turkmen share close ties with Turkish people and do not identify with the Turkmen of Turkmenistan and Central Asia.


title: Iraqi Turkmen

text: Prior to the mid-20th century the Turkmens in Iraq were known simply as "Turks". It was not until after the military coup of July 14, 1958, that the ruling military junta officially introduced the name "Turkman/Turkmen". According to the Iraqi Turkmen scholar Professor Suphi Saatçi:


title: Iraqi Turkmen

text: The state-imposed terms on the Turks of Iraq were not resisted, for the word "Turkmen" had historically been designated to the Oghuz Turks who had accepted Islam and migrated westwards from Central Asia to the Middle East, and had continued to be used in the region. Thus, the Iraqi Turkmen (as well as the Syrian Turkmens and Anatolian Turkmens) do not identify themselves with the Turkmen people of Turkmenistan. Rather, the term "Turkmen" in the Middle East is often used to designate Turkic-speakers, particularly in the Arab areas, or where Sunni Turks live in Shiite dominated areas.


title: Iraqi Turkmen

text: Despite the modern usage of the term "Turkmen", Professor David Kushner has pointed out that the term "Turks" continues to be used in referring to the "Outside Turks" of the former Ottoman Empire, including the Turks in Iraq, which is in contrast to the terms used for other Turkic peoples who did not share this Ottoman history:


title: Iraqi Turkmen

text: Professor Orit Bashkin has observed that within Iraqi Turkmen literature, poets have managed to "remain loyal to Iraq as a state" whilst they have also "concurrently upheld their Turkish distinctiveness":


title: Iraqi Turkmen

text: The Iraqi Turkmens are the descendants of various waves of Turkic migration to Mesopotamia beginning from the 7th century until the end of Ottoman rule (1919). The first wave of migration dates back to the 7th century, followed by migrations during the Seljuk Empire (1037–1194), the fleeing Oghuz during the Mongol destruction of the Khwarazmian dynasty (see Kara Koyunlu and Ag Qoyunlu), and the largest migration, during the Ottoman Empire (1535–1919). With the conquest of Iraq by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1534, followed by Sultan Murad IV's capture of Baghdad in 1638, a large influx of Turks—predominantly from Anatolia—settled down in Iraq. Thus, most of today's Iraqi Turkmen are the descendants of the Ottoman soldiers, traders and civil servants who were brought into Iraq during the rule of the Ottoman Empire.


title: Iraqi Turkmen

text: The presence of Turkic peoples in what is today Iraq first began in the 7th century when approximately 2,000–5,000 Oghuz Turks were recruited in the Muslim armies of Ubayd-Allah ibn Ziyad. They arrived in 674 with the Umayyud conquest of Basra. More Turkic troops settled during the 8th century, from Bukhara to Basra and also Baghdad. During the subsequent Abbasid era, thousands more of Turkmen warriors were brought into Iraq; however, the number of Turkmen who had settled in Iraq were not significant, as a result, the first wave of Turkmen became assimilated into the local Arab population.


title: Iraqi Turkmen

text: The second wave of Turkmens to descend on Iraq were the Turks of the Great Seljuq Empire. Large scale migration of the Turkmen in Iraq occurred in 1055 with the invasion of Sultan Tuğrul Bey, the second ruler of the Seljuk dynasty, who intended to repair the holy road to Mecca. For the next 150 years, the Seljuk Turks placed large Turkmen communities along the most valuable routes of northern Iraq, especially Tal Afar, Erbil, Kirkuk, and Mandali, which is now identified by the modern community as Turkmeneli. Many of these settlers assumed positions of military and administrative responsibilities in the Seljuk Empire.


title: Iraqi Turkmen

text: The third, and largest, wave of Turkmen migration to Iraq arose during the four centuries of Ottoman rule (1535–1919). By the first half of the sixteenth century the Ottomans had begun their expansion into Iraq, waging wars against their arch rival, the Persian Safavids. In 1534, under the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, Mosul was sufficiently secure within the Ottoman Empire and became the chief province (eyalet) responsible for all other administrative districts in the region. The Ottomans encouraged migration from Anatolia and the settlement of immigrant Turkmen along northern Iraq, religious scholars were also brought in to preach Hanafi (Sunni) Islam. With loyal Turkmen inhabiting the area, the Ottomans were able to maintain a safe route through to the southern provinces of Mesopotamia. Following the conquest, Kirkuk came firmly under Turkish control and was referred to as "Gökyurt", it is this period in history whereby modern Iraqi Turkmen claim association with Anatolia and the Turkish state.


title: Iraqi Turkmen

text: With the conquest of Iraq by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1534, followed by Sultan Murad IV's capture of Baghdad in 1638, a large influx of Turks settled down in the region. After defeating the Safavids on December 31, 1534, Suleiman entered Baghdad and set about reconstructing the physical infrastructure in the province and ordered the construction of a dam in Karbala and major water projects in and around the city's countryside. Once the new governor was appointed, the town was to be composed of 1,000 foot soldiers and another 1,000 cavalry. However, war broke out after 89 years of peace and the city was besieged and finally conquered by Abbas the Great in 1624. The Persians ruled the city until 1638 when a massive Ottoman force, led by Sultan Murad IV, recaptured the city. In 1639, the Treaty of Zuhab was signed that gave the Ottomans control over Iraq and ended the military conflict between the two empires. Thus, more Turks arrived with the army of Sultan Murad IV in 1638 following the capture of Baghdad whilst others came even later with other notable Ottoman figures.


title: Iraqi Turkmen

text: Following the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, the Iraqi Turkmens wanted Turkey to annex the Mosul Vilayet and for them to become part of an expanded state; this is because, under the Ottoman monarchy, the Iraqi Turkmens enjoyed a relatively trouble-free existence as the administrative and business classes. However, due to the demise of the Ottoman monarchy, the Iraqi Turkmen participated in elections for the Constituent Assembly; the purpose of these elections was to formalise the 1922 treaty with the British government and obtain support for the drafting of a constitution and the passing of the 1923 Electoral law. The Iraqi Turkmens made their participation in the electoral process conditional that the preservation of the Turkish character in Kirkuk's administration and the recognition of Turkish as the liwa's official language. Although they were recognized as a constitutive entity of Iraq, alongside the Arabs and Kurds, in the constitution of 1925, the Iraqi Turkmen were later denied this status.


title: Iraqi Turkmen

text: Since the demise of the Ottoman Empire, the Iraqi Turkmen have found themselves increasingly discriminated against from the policies of successive regimes, such as the Kirkuk Massacre of 1923, 1947, 1959 and in 1979 when the Ba'th Party discriminated against the community. Although they were recognized as a constitutive entity of Iraq (alongside the Arabs and Kurds) in the constitution of 1925, the Iraqi Turkmen were later denied this status.


title: Iraqi Turkmen

text: The Iraqi Turkmens are mostly Muslims and have close cultural and linguistic ties with the Anatolian region of Turkey.


title: Iraqi Turkmen

text: The Iraqi Turkmen dialects fall under the Western Oghuz branch of Turkic languages and are often referred to as "Iraqi Turkmen Turkish" "Iraqi Turkish", and "Iraqi Turkic". The dialects possess their own unique characteristics, but have also been influenced by the historical standards of Ottoman Turkish (which was the official language of administration and lingua franca in Iraq between 1534 and 1920) and neighboring Azerbaijani Turkic. In particular, standard (i.e. Istanbul) Turkish as a prestige language has exerted a profound influence on their dialects; thus, the syntax in Iraqi Turkmen differs sharply from neighboring Irano-Turkic varieties. Collectively, the Iraqi Turkmen dialects also show similarities with Cypriot Turkish and Balkan Turkish regarding modality. The written language of the Iraqi Turkmen is based on Istanbul Turkish using the modern Turkish alphabet.


title: Iraqi Turkmen

text: The Turkish language was recognized as a minority language in Kirkuk and Kifri in 1930, until the revolutionary government introduced the names "Turkman" and "Turkmanja" in 1959 with the aim of politically distancing the Turks of Iraq from Turkey. Then, in 1972, the Iraqi government banned the Turkish language and schools and media using Turkish were prohibited. Further bans on the Turkish language were made in the 1980s when the Baath regime prohibited the Iraqi Turkmens from speaking Turkish in public. It was not until 2005 that the Turkmen dialects were recognized under the Iraqi constitution; since then, the Iraqi Turkmens have opened numerous Turkish schools and media exposure from Turkey has led to the standardisation of their dialects towards Standard Turkish and the preferable language for adolescents associating with the Turkish culture.


title: Iraqi Turkmen

text: Indeed, Iraqi Turkmens themselves (according to the 1957 census), as well as a range of linguistic sources, tend to view their language as a Turkish dialect (of Turkey), which they call "Irak Türkmen Türkçesi", "Irak Türkçesi", or "Irak Türkmencesi". Studies have long noted the similarities between Iraqi Turkmen and certain Southeastern Anatolian dialects around the region of Urfa and Diyarbakır, or have described it as an "Anatolian" or an "Eastern Anatolian dialect". There are also linguists who have said that Iraqi Turkmen is closer to Azerbaijani, placing the Kirkuk dialect as "more or less" an "Azerbaijani Turkish" dialect. Yet, the Kirkuk dialect also shows comparable features with Urfa, and there are other regions in the Kirkuk Governorate, such as Altun Kupri, Taza Khurmatu, and Bashir, which are said to show unity with the Eastern Anatolian dialect of Urfa. Indeed, the dialects spoken in Turkmen-dominated regions in other parts of the country – including Amirli, Kifri, Tal Afar and Tuz Khurmatu – are all said to be similar to the Turkish dialect of Urfa. Hence, there are linguists who acknowledge similarities with Azerbaijani spoken in Iran but say that Iraqi Turkmen has "greater proximity to Turkish of Turkey". According to Christiane Bulut, Iraqi Turkman is neither Azeri nor Anatolian Turkish but "a transitional dialect group, displaying linguistic features similar to both".


title: Iraqi Turkmen

text: Besides their traditional dialects, the Iraqi Turkmen diaspora also communicate in standard (Istanbul) Turkish, whilst the younger generations in Iraq (below the age of 18 in 2019) speak Istanbul Turkish with ease. In addition, diglossia in Iraq Turkmen dialects and Istanbul Turkish has become a widespread phenomenon. Most Iraqi Turkmen can also speak Arabic and/or Kurdish.


title: Iraqi Turkmen

text: Due to the existence of different Turkish migration waves to Iraq for over 1,200 years, the Iraqi Turkmen varieties are by no means homogeneous; dialects can vary according to regional features. Several prestige languages in the region have been particularly influential: Ottoman Turkish from 1534 onwards and then Persian after the Capture of Baghdad (1624). Once the Ottoman empire retook Iraq in 1640 the Turkish varieties of Iraq continued to be influenced by Ottoman Turkish, as well as other languages in the region, such as Arabic and Kurdish. Ottoman Turkish had a strong influence in Iraq until 1920, for it was not only the official language of administration but also the lingua franca. Indeed, Turkish has remained a prestige language among Iraqi Turkmen, exerting a profound historical influence on their dialect. As a result, Iraqi Turkmen syntax differs sharply from Irano-Turkic.