title: Blake Mills

text: On December 5th, 2019 Mills teased a clip of a new song via an NPR piece by Grayson Haver Currin titled "Songs In An Emergency" that centers around the urgency of climate change. The new song, from his upcoming and yet-to-be-titled third full-length album, is titled "Summer All Over." It is a piano-based ballad musing on the Malibu fires of 2018 and co-written with Cass McCombs. When describing the spacious sound-landscape that the song embodies and the title, Mills commented that "writing about the season of summer inherently evokes a Beach Boys vibe, maybe because I'm in Los Angeles, but the implication of the warmest season happening all over the world at the same time is an 'endless summer." The third full-length is expected to be released in 2020 on New Deal Music with management support by Record Collection and distribution by Verve Label Group, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.


title: Blake Mills

text: From time to time Mills hosts invite only musical performances at Mollusk Surf Shop, in Venice, California. Previous shows have seen Mills accompanied by musicians such as Jackson Browne, Billy Gibbons, Matt Sweeney, Cass McCombs, Jenny Lewis, Charlie Sexton, Benmont Tench, Dave Rawlings, Val McCallum, Tal Wilkenfeld, Mike Einziger, Danielle Haim, Smokey Hormel, Michael Elizondo, Anthony Wilson, and Xavier Mas.


title: Primrose Hill

text: Primrose Hill is a Grade II listed public park located north of Regent's Park in London, England, first opened to the public in 1842. It was named after the natural hill in the centre of the park, the second highest natural point in the London Borough of Camden. The hill summit has a clear view of central London, as well as Hampstead and Belsize Park to the north and is adorned by an engraved quotation from William Blake. Based on the popularity of the park, the surrounding district and electoral ward were named Primrose Hill. The Primrose Hill district is in the London Borough of Camden, England.


title: Primrose Hill

text: Amenities of the park include an outdoor gym known as the Hill Trim Trail, a children's playground, and toilets, all located on the south side near Primrose Hill bridge which connects to London Zoo and Regent's Park.


title: Primrose Hill

text: Like the Regent's Park, Primrose Hill was once part of a great chase appropriated by Henry VIII. Later, in 1841, it became Crown property and in 1842 an Act of Parliament secured the land as public open space. The name "Primrose Hill" has been in use since the 15th century, giving the lie to later claims that it was named after Archibald Primrose, whose premiership witnessed the rapid expansion of London underground rail network London.


title: Primrose Hill

text: In October 1678, Primrose Hill was the scene of the mysterious murder of Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey. In 1679 three Catholic labourers, Robert Green, Henry Berry and Lawrence Hill were found guilty of the murder (though subsequently exonerated) and hanged at the top of the hill. For a few years after the hanging, Primrose Hill was known as Greenberry Hill. In 1792 the radical Unitarian poet and antiquarian Iolo Morganwg (Edward Williams) founded the Gorsedd, a community of Welsh bards, at a ceremony on 21 June at Primrose Hill.


title: Primrose Hill

text: The canal through the area was completed in 1816, and the railway, running under the hill, was completed in 1838; this was the first rail tunnel in London. By that time, the area was considered to be a "prime development opportunity" according to one source. In 1840, Charles FitzRoy, 3rd Baron Southampton, sold the land that he owned and new villas were built over the subsequent years. Other land was still owned by Eton College but transferred to the government in 1841. The Crown drained and leveled the land after 1851 and began adding park features, to turn it into "park for the people". The park was historically split between the ancient parishes (which later became metropolitan boroughs) of Marylebone (now part of the City of Westminster), St Pancras and Hampstead (in the modern London Borough of Camden), with the hill itself a part of Hampstead.


title: Primrose Hill

text: The area east of the park was developed and became known as Primrose Hill, after the park. The Primrose Hill district is surrounded by St John's Wood to the west, Swiss Cottage to the northwest, Belsize Park to the north, Chalk Farm to the northeast, Camden Town to the east and Regent's Park itself lies adjacent to the south of the hill itself. The nearest stations to Primrose Hill are Chalk Farm tube station to the northeast and Swiss Cottage tube station to the northwest. The defunct Primrose Hill railway station, now housing a business, sits on the railway lines that separate the Primrose Hill area from Camden Town. Primrose Hill Tunnel, the first railway tunnel in London, has had its eastern portals Grade II*- and its western portals Grade II* listed since 1974. Beginning in the late 1960s several of the roads were closed to motor traffic in response to an unacceptable level of collisions and consequent loss of life. The changes were carefully designed to render the area largely free of through motor traffic.


title: Primrose Hill

text: Crowds flocked to Primrose Hill following the loosening of lockdown restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic in London. Large amounts of litter were left around the park and social distancing was not observed. This resulted in the closure of Primrose Hill temporarily over the weekend.


title: Primrose Hill

text: Primrose Hill is commonly referred to as an 'iconic', and 'famous' location, and features significantly in popular British culture. <ref>


title: Earthquake bomb

text: The earthquake bomb, or seismic bomb, was a concept that was invented by the British aeronautical engineer Barnes Wallis early in World War II and subsequently developed and used during the war against strategic targets in Europe. A seismic bomb differs somewhat in concept from traditional bombs, which usually explode at or near the surface, and destroy their target directly by explosive force. In contrast, a seismic bomb is dropped from high altitude to attain very high speed as it falls and upon impact, penetrates and explodes deep underground, causing massive caverns or craters known as "camouflets", as well as intense shockwaves. In this way, the seismic bomb can affect targets that are too massive to be affected by a conventional bomb, as well as damage or destroy difficult targets such as bridges and viaducts.


title: Earthquake bomb

text: Earthquake bombs were used towards the end of World War II on massively reinforced installations, such as submarine pens with concrete walls several meters thick, caverns, tunnels, and bridges.


title: Earthquake bomb

text: During development Barnes Wallis theorised that a highly aerodynamic, very heavy bomb with a delayed detonation would cause damage to a target through shock waves travelling through the ground, hence the nickname earthquake bombs.


title: Earthquake bomb

text: The airmen who dropped the bombs reported that the target structures stood undamaged by the detonation; "But then the crater collapsed, the ground shifted and the target collapsed". Later computer simulations reached the same conclusions; the significant part of the damage was done by generating a cavity in the ground. That cavity collapsing caused the ground to shift, hence the target's foundation to shift or break causing catastrophic structural damage to the target. The shifting ground caused any larger structure to become severely damaged, even if the bomb missed the target but created a crater near it.


title: Earthquake bomb

text: An explosion in air does not transfer much energy into a solid, as their differing acoustic impedances makes an impedance mismatch that reflects most of the energy. Due to the lack of accuracy of bombing in the face of anti-aircraft defences, air forces used area bombardment, dropping large numbers of bombs so that it would be likely that the target would be hit. Although a direct hit from a light bomb would destroy an unprotected target, it was comparatively easy to armour ground targets with many yards of concrete, and thus render critical installations such as bunkers essentially bombproof. If the bomb could be designed to explode in water, soil, or other less compressible materials, the explosive force would be transmitted more efficiently to the target.


title: Earthquake bomb

text: Barnes Wallis' idea was to drop a large, heavy bomb with a hard armoured tip at supersonic speed (as fast as an artillery shell) so that it penetrated the ground like a ten-ton bullet being fired straight down. It was then set to explode underground, ideally to the side of, or underneath, a hardened target. The resulting shock wave from the explosion would then produce force equivalent to that of a 3.6 magnitude earthquake, destroying any nearby structures such as dams, railways, viaducts, etc. Any concrete reinforcement of the target would probably serve to enclose the force better.


title: Earthquake bomb

text: Wallis also argued that, if the bomb penetrated deep enough, the explosion would not breach the surface of the ground and would thus produce a cavern (a "camouflet") which would remove the structure's underground support, thus causing it to collapse. The process was graphically described as a "trapdoor effect" or "hangman's drop".


title: Earthquake bomb

text: Wallis foresaw that disrupting German industry would remove its ability to fight, and also understood that precision bombing was virtually impossible in the late 1930s. The technology for precision aiming was developed during World War II, and Barnes Wallis' ideas were then shown to be successful (see for example the Bielefeld raid 14 March 1945), considering the standards at the time.


title: Earthquake bomb

text: Wallis' first concept was for a ten-ton bomb that would explode some underground. To achieve this, the bomb would have had to be dropped from . The RAF had no aircraft at the time capable of carrying a ten-ton bomb load aloft, let alone lifting it to such a height. Wallis designed a six-engine aeroplane for the task, called the "Victory Bomber", but there was no support for an aircraft with only a single purpose.


title: Earthquake bomb

text: Wallis then took a different line in developing a means to destroy Germany's industrial structure with attacks on its supply of hydroelectric power. After he had developed the bouncing bomb and shown its possibilities, RAF Bomber Command were prepared to listen to his other ideas, even though they often thought them strange. The officer classes of the RAF at that time were often trained not in science or engineering, but in the classics, Roman and Greek history and language. They provided enough support to let him continue his research.


title: Earthquake bomb

text: Later in the war, Barnes Wallis made bombs based on the "earthquake bomb concept", such as the 6-ton Tallboy and then the 10-ton Grand Slam, although these were never dropped from more than about . Even from this relatively low altitude, the earthquake bomb had the ability to disrupt German industry while causing minimum civilian casualties. It was used to disable the V2 launch sites at La Coupole and Blockhaus d'Éperlecques, put out of action the V-3 cannon sites at Fortress of Mimoyecques, sink the battleship "Tirpitz" and damage the U-boats' protective pens at St. Nazaire, as well as to attack many other targets which had been impossible to damage before. One of the most spectacular attacks was shortly after D-Day, when the Tallboy was used to prevent German tank reinforcements from moving by train. Rather than blow up the tracks – which would have been repaired in a day or so – the bombs were targeted on a tunnel near Saumur which carried the line under a mountain. Twenty-five Lancasters dropped the first Tallboys on the mountain, penetrating straight through the rock, and one of them exploded in the tunnel below. As a result, the entire rail line remained unusable until the end of the war. The Bielefeld viaduct was only closed for brief periods by 54 raids dropping 3,500 tons; but in its first use on 14 March 1945 the "Grand Slam" destroyed whole sections of the viaduct.


title: Earthquake bomb

text: After World War II, the United States developed the T12 demolition bomb, which was designed to create an earthquake effect. Given the availability of nuclear weapons with surface detonating laydown delivery, there was little or no development of conventional deep penetrating bombs until the 1991 Gulf War. During the Gulf War, the need for a conventional deep penetrator became clear. In three weeks, a cooperative effort directed by the Armament Systems Division at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida developed the GBU-28 that was used successfully by F-111Fs against a deep underground complex not far from Baghdad just before the end of the war.


title: Earthquake bomb

text: The United States has developed a Massive Ordnance Penetrator, designed to attack very deeply buried targets without the use of nuclear weapons with the inherent huge levels of radioactive pollution and their attendant risk of retaliation in kind.


title: Earthquake bomb

text: Anglo-American bomb tests (Project Ruby) on the comparative effectiveness of large bombs against reinforced concrete structures were carried out in 1946.


title: Hell, Michigan

text: Hell is an unincorporated community in Livingston County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As an unincorporated community, Hell has no defined boundaries or population statistics of its own. Located within Putnam Township, the community is centered along Patterson Lake Road about northwest of Ann Arbor and southwest of Pinckney. The community is served by the Pinckney post office with the 48169 ZIP Code.


title: Hell, Michigan

text: Hell developed around a sawmill, gristmill, distillery and tavern. All four were operated by George Reeves, who moved to the area in the 1830s from the Catskill Mountains in New York. He purchased a sawmill on what is now known as Hell Creek in 1841. In addition to the sawmill, Reeves purchased of land surrounding the mill. Reeves then built a gristmill on Hell Creek which was powered by water that was impounded by a small dam across the creek. Farmers in the area were quite successful in growing wheat and had an abundance of grain. Reeves opened a distillery to process the excess grain into whiskey. Reeves also opened a general store/tavern on his property.


title: Hell, Michigan

text: The tavern and distillery soon became a thriving business for Reeves. He built a ballroom on the second floor of the establishment and a sulky racetrack around his millpond. Reeves also sold his alcohol to nearby roadhouses and stores for as little as ten cents a gallon. His operation came under the scrutiny of the U.S. government in the years after the American Civil War. When tax collectors came to Hell to assess his operation, Reeves and his customers conspired to hide the whiskey by filling barrels and sinking them to the bottom of the millpond. When the government agents left the area, the barrels were hauled to the surface with ropes. As Reeves aged he slowed his business ventures, closing the distillery and witnessing the burning of the gristmill. He died in 1877.


title: Hell, Michigan

text: Reeves' family sold the land to a group of investors from Detroit in 1924. The investors increased the size of the millpond by raising the level of the dam, creating what is now Hiland Lake. The area soon became a summer resort area, attracting visitors for swimming and fishing. Henry Ford considered building some manufacturing facilities in the area but decided against it.


title: Hell, Michigan

text: Hell has been noted on a list of unusual place names. There are a number of theories for the origin of Hell's name. The first is that a pair of German travelers stepped out of a stagecoach one sunny afternoon in the 1830s, and one said to the other, "So schön hell!" (translated as, "So beautifully bright!") Their comments were overheard by some locals and the name stuck. The second theory is tied to the "hell-like" conditions encountered by early explorers including mosquitos, thick forest cover, and extensive wetlands. The third is that George’s habit of paying the local farmers for their grain with home distilled whiskey led many wives to comment “He’s gone to Hell again” when questioned about their husband’s whereabouts during harvest time. A fourth is that soon after Michigan gained statehood, George Reeves was asked what he thought the town he helped settle should be called and replied "I don't care. You can name it Hell for all I care." The name became official on October 13, 1841.


title: Hell, Michigan

text: In the early 1930s, Pinckney, Michigan postmaster W. C. Miller began to receive requests from stamp and postmark collectors for cancellations: Hell had no post office, instead being served by the one for Pinckney, three miles away. On July 15, 1961, a postal substation was established at Hell, operating from May 1 through September 30. It remains at the back of the general store, although the United States Postal Service does not recognize Hell as a town; it instead uses the name of nearby Pinckney as the mailing address.


title: Hell, Michigan

text: In 1963, the Hell Chamber of Commerce sponsored a two-day "fun festival" which began with Satan's arrival by helicopter at "Satan's Hills", a local housing development.


title: Hell, Michigan

text: The town occasionally experiences sub-zero temperatures (including in Jan 2014, Jan 2018, and Jan 2019), leading to comparisons with the phrase when hell freezes over.


title: Carlos Rodón

text: Carlos Antonio Rodón (born December 10, 1992) is an American professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago White Sox and San Francisco Giants. Rodón is a two-time MLB All-Star.


title: Carlos Rodón

text: Rodón played college baseball at North Carolina State, and was drafted by the White Sox in the first round, with the third overall pick, of the 2014 MLB draft. He made his MLB debut with the White Sox in 2015. On April 14, 2021, Rodón pitched the 20th no-hitter in White Sox history, against the Cleveland Indians. He entered free agency after the 2021 season, and signed with the Giants.


title: Carlos Rodón

text: Rodón was born in Miami, Florida. His father immigrated from Cuba in 1967, when he was five years old, and his mother is a Cuban-American. The family moved to Holly Springs, North Carolina, when he was a child.


title: Carlos Rodón

text: Rodón attended Holly Springs High School, and played for the school's baseball team. During his junior year in 2010, he threw a no-hitter, two one-hitters, and four shutouts. He went 10–1 with a 0.80 earned run average (ERA) and 115 strikeouts and was named all-state by the North Carolina Baseball Coaches Association. In 2011, he went 11–0 with a 1.40 ERA and 135 strikeouts, leading Holly Springs to the North Carolina 4A state championship over national powerhouse T. C. Roberson High School.


title: Carlos Rodón

text: The Milwaukee Brewers selected Rodón in the 16th round of the 2011 Major League Baseball draft. However, he decided not to sign as to attend North Carolina State University.


title: Carlos Rodón

text: As a freshman for the NC State Wolfpack, in 2012, Rodón went 9–0 with a 1.57 ERA, while setting the NC State freshman record with 135 strikeouts (2nd for the season in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) to Marcus Stroman's 136), with 43 walks in 117 innings pitched. He was the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Freshman Pitcher of the Year and an All-American. He was the first-ever freshman to be named the Atlantic Coast Conference's pitcher of the year, and he was named freshman of the year after leading the NC State Wolfpack to a super regional. In addition, he was a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award and was named the Louisville Slugger's National Freshman Pitcher of the Year. He led the ACC in ERA (1.57), innings pitched (), complete games (2), and opponent's batting average (.176), finishing second in the conference and third nationally in strikeouts.


title: Carlos Rodón

text: In the 2013 season, Rodón led NC State to their first College World Series since 1968. In his sophomore season, Rodón went 10–3 with a 2.99 ERA in 19 starts. He had 184 strikeouts, leading NCAA Division I; the prior four pitchers to lead the Division with that many strikeouts, three of whom were future major league Cy Young Award winners, were Tim Lincecum, David Price, Stephen Strasburg, and Trevor Bauer. He also gave up 45 walks and led the ACC with 16 hit batsmen, and his 12.54 strikeouts per 9 innings led NCAA Division I. He threw three complete games in innings pitched. Rodón's sophomore performance set the NC State single-season record with 184 strikeouts. He was also named ACC Pitcher of the Week back-to-back after recording career-highs of 14 and 16 strikeouts against Florida Atlantic University and La Salle University. He won the USA Baseball Richard W. "Dick" Case Player of the Year Award in 2013.


title: Carlos Rodón

text: As a junior, Rodón was 6–7 with a 2.01 ERA, and 117 strikeouts in innings, with an ACC-leading 15 hit batsmen. He broke the NC State school record for career strikeouts, which had previously been 386, during an April 11, 2014, game against the Duke Blue Devils. He finished his career with 436 strikeouts.


title: Carlos Rodón

text: After his freshman year, Rodón earned a spot on USA Baseball's Collegiate National Team. Originally, he almost turned down the offer because his coach at North Carolina State University, Elliott Avent, wanted to shut him down for the summer. However, Rodón joined the team because he would have had the opportunity to play in Cuba, where his family is from. After his sophomore year, Team USA listed him as a top prospect, and Rodón spent the summer of 2013 playing for Team USA. In two seasons on Team USA, Rodón was 5–0, allowed only three earned runs over 36 innings (0.75 ERA), and contributed 42 strikeouts.


title: Carlos Rodón

text: The Chicago White Sox selected Rodón in the first round, third overall, in the 2014 Major League Baseball draft. He signed with the White Sox on July 11, for a signing bonus of $6.582 million.


title: Carlos Rodón

text: He made his professional debut on July 22 with the Arizona League White Sox, for whom he pitched three innings. After he pitched 9.2 innings for the Winston-Salem Dash of the Class A-Advanced Carolina League, the White Sox promoted Rodón to the Charlotte Knights of the Class AAA International League, where he debuted on August 19 and for whom he pitched 12 innings. With the three minor league teams in 2014, he was 0-0 with a 3.28 ERA in 24.2 innings in which he struck out 38 batters, averaging 13.9 strikeouts per 9 innings.


title: Carlos Rodón

text: On April 20, 2015, Rodón was called up to the White Sox' major league roster. The initial plan was for Rodón to pitch out of the bullpen, the way Chris Sale began his major league career with the White Sox. Rodón made his Major League debut on April 21. He pitched 2.1 innings, giving up two runs, walking three batters, and striking out Lonnie Chisenhall. He recorded his first start, and his first win, in the second game of a May 9 doubleheader against the Cincinnati Reds at US Cellular Field, giving up two earned runs in six innings on four hits, four walks, and eight strikeouts. In 26 games (23 starts), Rodón finished 9–6 with a 3.75 ERA.


title: Carlos Rodón

text: On July 9, 2016, Rodón was placed on the 15-day disabled list due to a left wrist sprain. In 28 starts, Rodón finished 9–10 with an ERA of 4.04 in 165 innings, and his 9.164 strikeouts per 9 innings were 7th in the AL.


title: Carlos Rodón

text: During the 2017 season, Rodón spent significant time on the disabled list, and was only able to start 12 games. He finished with a 2-5 record in innings. He began the 2018 season on the 60-day disabled list with a shoulder injury. He was activated off the disabled list on June 9. He ended the season with a record of 6–8 in 20 starts.


title: Carlos Rodón

text: On March 18, 2019, the team announced that Rodón would be the Opening Day starter. On May 15, Rodón underwent Tommy John surgery; he missed the rest of the season recovering from the procedure. In 2019, Rodón had a 3–2 record in seven starts with 46 strikeouts in innings.


title: Carlos Rodón

text: With the 2020 Chicago White Sox, Rodón appeared in 4 games, compiling an 0–2 record with 8.22 ERA and 6 strikeouts in innings pitched. On December 2, Rodón was non-tendered by the White Sox.


title: Carlos Rodón

text: On January 30, 2021, Rodón re-signed with the White Sox on a one-year, $3 million contract. On April 14, 2021, Rodón no-hit the Cleveland Indians 8-0 at Guaranteed Rate Field. After retiring the first 25 batters, he lost his bid for a perfect game on a hit by pitch to Roberto Pérez. Rodón, who recorded seven strikeouts and threw 75 of 114 pitches for strikes, then retired the next two batters. Rodón was originally scheduled to start the first-ever MLB at Field of Dreams, but he was not able to start due to left shoulder fatigue. Instead, Lance Lynn replaced Rodón to start for that game. In 2021, Rodón got his first All-Star nod. Rodón finished the regular season with a 13–5 record with an ERA of 2.37 in 24 starts while pitching in innings and striking out 185 batters (9th in the AL), for 12.6 strikeouts per 9 innings. His .722 won-loss percentage was 2nd in the league, and his 13 wins were fifth in the AL. Rodón made his first career postseason start in Game 4 of the 2021 American League Division Series against the Houston Astros. After pitching a scoreless first inning, he struggled by giving up two runs in his next innings as the White Sox lost 10–1 and were eliminated. He came in fifth in the voting for the AL Cy Young Award.


title: Carlos Rodón

text: On April 9 at Oracle Park, Rodón struck out 12 Miami Marlins' batters in five innings. His 12 strikeouts tied Juan Marichal's team record in the San Francisco Era for the most strikeouts in a Giants debut. On April 15 at Progressive Field, in a 4–1 win over the Cleveland Guardians, Rodón won his first start as a Giant by striking out nine batters over seven innings while allowing only two hits. His 21 strikeouts broke Marichal's team record in the San Francisco Era for the most by a Giants pitcher in two appearances to start a season. On April 20 at Citi Field, in a 5–2 win over the New York Mets, Rodón struck out eight batters in five innings. His 29 strikeouts broke Cliff Melton's franchise record for the most strikeouts through the first three games of a season. From April 9 to April 26, Rodón struck out 38 total batters, which spanned the whole month of April and is the most by a Giants pitcher in his first four appearances of a season since .


title: Carlos Rodón

text: On September 9, 2022 at Wrigley Field, Rodón struck out 11 Chicago Cubs batters, reaching double-digits in strikeouts for the 10th time that season. This set a new Giants all-time single season franchise record, previously held by Tim Lincecum and Jason Schmidt.


title: Carlos Rodón

text: Rodón came in sixth place in NL Cy Young Award voting. On November 6, 2022, Rodón opted out of the second year of his contract and became a free agent.


title: Carlos Rodón

text: Rodón and his wife, Ashley, were married in January 2018 in Costa Rica. They have a daughter and a son together.


title: I'm Shipping Up to Boston

text: "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" is a song by the Celtic punk band Dropkick Murphys, with lyrics written by the folk singer Woody Guthrie.


title: I'm Shipping Up to Boston

text: The original version of the song was released in 2004 on "Give 'Em the Boot IV" and was re-recorded for their certified gold selling 2005 album, "The Warrior's Code". The song gained worldwide attention for its use in "The Departed", which boosted the band's popularity.


title: I'm Shipping Up to Boston

text: The song's lyrics describe a sailor who lost a prosthetic leg climbing the topsail, and is shipping up to Boston to "find my wooden leg." These were taken from a fragment of paper that Ken Casey found while looking through Woody Guthrie's archives. The Dropkick Murphys put music to the lyrics as they did with the song "Gonna Be A Blackout Tonight" from the 2003 album "Blackout".


title: I'm Shipping Up to Boston

text: The single is the band's most successful to date and was certified double platinum. It reached No. 1 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart and sold over 1,044,000 digital copies without ever entering the Hot 100 chart.


title: I'm Shipping Up to Boston

text: The video features the Dropkick Murphys performing the song on the waterfront in East Boston. The band is also seen "hanging out" with hooligans while being chased by Boston police officers. The "hanging out" parts were later replaced with footage from "The Departed" for a second video tying in to the movie.


title: Ian Holloway

text: Ian Scott Holloway (born 12 March 1963) is an English professional football manager, former player, media personality and television pundit who was most recently the manager of Grimsby Town.


title: Ian Holloway

text: A midfielder, he notably played in the Premier League with Queens Park Rangers where he made just under 150 league appearances in a five-year spell. He spent most of his career at boyhood club Bristol Rovers where he had three spells which included the start and finish of his playing career. He was part of the Wimbledon team that won promotion to the top flight in 1986, a place they would remain for the next fourteen seasons. He also played in the Football League with Brentford and Torquay United.


title: Ian Holloway

text: During his third spell back at Bristol Rovers, he became player-manager before ending his playing career in 1999. He has also managed Queens Park Rangers (where he won promotion from Division Two in 2003–04), Plymouth Argyle, Leicester City, Blackpool, Crystal Palace and Millwall. As he did with Blackpool three years earlier, Holloway managed Crystal Palace to promotion to the Premier League in May 2013, but after the club had won only one of their opening eight games he left, by mutual consent, on 23 October 2013 after less than a year in charge. On 6 January 2014, Holloway signed a two-and-a-half-year deal with Millwall; this was terminated in March 2015. He rejoined Queens Park Rangers as manager on 11 November 2016. In December 2019, he joined Grimsby Town as a manager and club director after committing to purchase shares in the club. He resigned just under a year later.


title: Ian Holloway

text: He is known by the nickname "Ollie", which is also the title of his autobiography. Holloway has a reputation amongst football fans for his West Country accent, off-the-wall interviews and amusing answers to questions from the media, with a wide selection of quotes and soundbites being printed.


title: Ian Holloway

text: A native of Kingswood, near Bristol, Holloway grew up in Cadbury Heath, where his mother, Jean, lived in the same council house until her death in April 2018. Holloway went to Sir Bernard Lovell School in Oldland Common at the same time that Gary Penrice was at Chase School for Boys in Mangotsfield. They still remain close friends today. His father Bill – an amateur footballer – worked as a seaman and a factory worker.


title: Ian Holloway

text: Holloway began his playing career as an apprentice with his hometown team Bristol Rovers, turning professional in March 1981 and making his league debut the same year. He usually played on the right side of midfield, and made his name as one of the more promising players in the Third Division (now League One). After four seasons at Rovers, he was transferred to Wimbledon in July 1985 for £35,000.


title: Ian Holloway

text: Holloway's stay at Wimbledon was a short one. In March 1986, after less than one year at the club, he was sold to Brentford for £25,000, where he also spent just a little over a year. In January 1987 he joined Torquay United on loan, playing five times. In August 1987, after two years in London, Holloway returned to Bristol Rovers for a fee of £10,000.


title: Ian Holloway

text: Back at Rovers, who were now playing "home" games at Twerton Park in Bath, and under the wing of new Rovers manager Gerry Francis, Holloway flourished. In four seasons, he missed only five games. When Francis was appointed manager of First Division side QPR in 1991, one of his first signings was Holloway, for a fee of £230,000 in August 1991. Holloway spent five seasons at QPR, playing more than 150 games for the club, before returning to Bristol Rovers for the third time in August 1996, this time as player-manager.


title: Ian Holloway

text: Holloway took over a club that was struggling both on and off the pitch. In his first season in charge of Rovers, he led the club to 17th place in Division Two (now League One). The next season, however, Bristol Rovers gained fifth place and made the playoffs. Despite taking a first-leg advantage of 3–1 against Northampton Town, Rovers subsequently lost 3–0 in the second leg and went out 4–3 on aggregate in the semi-finals. The 1998–99 season ended with a somewhat disappointing 13th place. Holloway retired as a player following that season, having played more than 400 matches for Bristol Rovers, to concentrate fully on management. In 1999–2000, his last full season at the club, Rovers finished 7th, narrowly missing the playoffs.


title: Ian Holloway

text: In February 2001, midway through the 2000–01 season, Holloway was appointed manager of QPR, where he was given the task of keeping the team in Division One. He failed to do so, as QPR finished second from bottom and were relegated to the third level for the first time in 34 years. Despite the relegation, Holloway stayed on and rebuilt the side. After steadying the ship in 2001–02, and a near miss in 2002–03, Holloway and QPR were promoted back to the second level in 2004, finishing second behind Plymouth Argyle.


title: Ian Holloway

text: Holloway's first full season in The Championship ended with a respectable 11th place, and during the following season 2005–06, the club continued to hover around mid-table.


title: Ian Holloway

text: Holloway was suspended (sent on gardening leave) as manager by Queens Park Rangers on 6 February 2006. The reason given by the QPR board was that the constant rumours linking Holloway to the vacant managerial position at Leicester City were causing too many problems for the club. As it turned out, the Leicester job went to Rob Kelly, and QPR went on to finish 21st, just one place above the relegation positions.


title: Ian Holloway

text: On 28 June 2006, Holloway became the manager of Plymouth Argyle, and promised to take the club to the Premier League. On 12 August, after Plymouth beat Sunderland away 2–3, in celebration of his first away win as manager, Holloway offered to buy every one of the 700 fans who made the round trip a drink: ""Anyone who travelled up there please send me a letter. I would love to buy you a drink.""


title: Ian Holloway

text: Following press speculation, on 21 November 2007, Holloway submitted his resignation to the Plymouth Argyle board, with speculation that he was about to be offered the vacant managerial position at Leicester City. The Plymouth board issued a statement saying he was still employed by Plymouth and tied legally to his contract, and the board's decision on whether or not to accept his resignation would be made on Friday, 23 November. Having agreed a compensation package for his services, he was announced in a press conference by Milan Mandarić as Leicester manager on 22 November, signing a -year contract. His departure, however, was met with negativity from Argyle fans.


title: Ian Holloway

text: After an open top bus tour in Blackpool, after his Blackpool side won promotion to the Premier League some three years later, Holloway said:


title: Ian Holloway

text: Holloway made history when he became the first Leicester manager in over 50 years to win his first league game in charge, beating Bristol City 2–0.


title: Ian Holloway

text: On 7 February 2008, in a buildup to a match against Plymouth at the Walkers Stadium, Argyle chairman Paul Stapleton spoke negatively of Holloway for allowing several high-profile players to leave the club before joining Leicester. A total of five players left Plymouth in the January transfer window, which he claimed was all Holloway's fault. Holloway, stunned by the claims, had his lawyers look at the statements, while Mandarić accused Stapleton of "sour grapes" over Holloway's move to Leicester, saying Plymouth Argyle should be thankful for what he had achieved during his time there. Plymouth won the match 1–0 as Holloway's former charges came back to haunt him. Winning just nine out of 32 games, Leicester were relegated from the Championship on 4 May 2008 entering for the first time ever in their, then one hundred and twenty four-year, history the third tier of English football. Leicester City being up to that time one of only a handful (nine) of English teams that had never been out of the first two tiers of English football.


title: Ian Holloway

text: On 23 May 2008, following the club's relegation, Holloway and Leicester City parted company by mutual consent. Reflecting on his time at Leicester, he said ""Leicester City is a marvellous club and I am as devastated as anybody that this great club suffered relegation. I gave 100% to the cause but unfortunately we ran out of time. The fans here are a different class and deserve a lot, lot better. I'd like to wish everyone connected with Leicester City well for the future – the club will always remain close to my heart.""


title: Ian Holloway

text: On 21 May 2009, it was reported that Holloway, after 364 days out of football, was set to be announced as the new manager of Blackpool following the departure of their caretaker manager Tony Parkes. The appointment was confirmed later the same day with Holloway signing a one-year contract with the club. His first league game in charge of "the Seasiders" was a 1–1 draw with his former club Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road on 8 August 2009, the opening day of the 2009–10 season. Nine months later, he guided the club to the Premier League after winning the play-offs following a sixth-placed finish in The Championship, becoming only the second Blackpool manager (after Les Shannon in 1970) to win promotion in his first full season. Holloway described the achievement as the best moment of his life, aside from seeing his children born. Holloway followed this up in late July by leading Blackpool to victory in the South West Challenge Cup annual pre-season tournament. It was the first time a Premier League club had taken part.


title: Ian Holloway

text: Before the start of Blackpool's first top-flight season in 40 years, media reports suggested that Holloway was set to resign as manager following an alleged dispute with club chairman Karl Oyston. However, at a press conference held at Bloomfield Road on 11 August to announce the arrival of four new players, Holloway swiftly denied the rumours, describing his relationship with Oyston as "absolutely fantastic". And adding:


title: Ian Holloway

text: On 27 January 2011, the Premier League fined Blackpool £25,000 for fielding what they believed to be a weakened team against Aston Villa on 10 November 2010. Holloway, who initially threatened to resign if punishment was dealt, made ten changes to the team for the fixture. Holloway was made aware of the fine over the phone while playing golf with his wife at Shawhill Golf Club in Chorley. He offered his resignation to Karl Oyston, but it was rejected.


title: Ian Holloway

text: On 22 May 2011, Blackpool lost their Premier League status after losing 4–2 to champions Manchester United at Old Trafford, coupled with results elsewhere, and returned to The Championship after one season.


title: Ian Holloway

text: Holloway marked his century of games in charge of Blackpool with a victory, the 37th of his reign, over Ipswich Town at Bloomfield Road on 10 September 2011.


title: Ian Holloway

text: In May 2012, Holloway guided Blackpool into The Championship play-offs for the second time in as many seasons in the division. They lost 2–1 to West Ham in the play-off final.


title: Ian Holloway

text: On 3 November 2012, Holloway agreed to join Crystal Palace as manager, although caretaker manager Curtis Fleming remained in charge of the team for the match on that day. He took charge of his first game on 6 November, which Crystal Palace won 5–0 against Ipswich Town. On 27 May 2013, Holloway guided Crystal Palace to promotion to the 2013–14 Premier League after beating Watford 1-0 through a penalty converted by Kevin Philips in extra time.


title: Ian Holloway

text: In the 2013–14 Premier League season, Crystal Palace started with just three points from the first eight games as Holloway came under pressure to keep his job.


title: Ian Holloway

text: On 23 October 2013, after a 4–1 loss against Fulham, Holloway left the club by mutual consent after less than a year in charge.


title: Ian Holloway

text: On 7 January 2014, he signed two-and-a-half-year contract with Millwall. He then guided the club to Championship safety for the 2013–14 season as Millwall finished 19th, four points above the relegation places. In the 2014–15 season, as Millwall dropped in the relegation places in The Championship, Holloway admitted that he had become an unpopular manager among Millwall fans. On 10 March 2015, following a 4–1 defeat at home to Norwich City, Holloway was sacked for the first time in his managerial career, with the team second from bottom in the Championship and having lost five of their last six games.


title: Ian Holloway

text: On 11 November 2016, Holloway was appointed as manager of Queens Park Rangers for a second spell replacing Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. He left the club on 10 May 2018.


title: Ian Holloway

text: On 29 December 2019, Holloway joined Grimsby Town as manager, at the same time he became committed to becoming a shareholder in the club confirming he would be purchasing £100,000 of shares, this would allow him to attend board meetings in addition to his duties as club manager, with Holloway being appointed as a director in the process. The Mariners enjoyed an initial resurgence under Holloway and they won their first two games under him with a 1–0 win at home to Salford City followed by a 1–0 win away at Mansfield Town the following week. Holloway made a host of signings that included his former Blackpool players Billy Clarke and Elliot Grandin. On 7 March 2020 the side played out their final game of the season with a 2–0 win away at local rivals Scunthorpe United before the season was cut short and ended early due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Ian Holloway

text: Holloway made wholesale changes to the Grimsby side over the summer which included seven loan signings, despite only having the ability to name five in a match day squad. On 22 November 2020, following a 5–0 defeat against Tranmere Rovers, Holloway announced he had released one of his recent signings Bilel Mohsni despite recently stating "he is my leader, he is my Virgil van Dijk". Mohsni despite not playing in the 5–0 defeat was confirmed released as he did not meet Holloway's standards, this prompted Mohsni to set up a Twitter account and post a video to announce that he had not left the club, was still contracted, feeling fit and would be at training the next day. The following day, Holloway said that he thought the termination had been agreed and that it was not his concern whether the player remained at the club until January. Mohsni signed for Barnet on 1 December 2020.


title: Ian Holloway

text: On 17 December 2020, Holloway hit out at new potential investors of the football club as in the same week majority shareholder John Fenty had entertained Manchester-based convicted fraudster Alex May, and that Fenty had invited May to a game with him looking to invest £1 million into the club. However, with the news of May's attendance uncovered by the Grimsby Telegraph the offer was met with strong resistance by fans and was duly turned down by the club. Unrelated to the May offer, but during the same week the club had also confirmed it had met with a consortium fronted by London-based businessman Tom Shutes about a potential takeover, with Holloway re-affirming his position as the club's manager saying that he was finding it increasingly hard to do his job. He also backed away from his director duties to concentrate on his position as manager and would be using social media more often to communicate with supporters, also claiming he would not be going anywhere unless told so.


title: Ian Holloway

text: It was also announced that Holloway had not yet invested any money into the club and has potential investment in the club would have only gone ahead upon the sale of his house in Bristol. Following Grimsby's 1–0 victory over Scunthorpe United on 19 December 2020 he stated that he would not be going ahead with plans to invest £100,000 of his money in the club due to the on-going issues in the boardroom and continuing talks of a takeover.


title: Ian Holloway

text: On the morning of 23 December 2020, just hours after Grimsby's 1–2 home defeat to Bradford City, Holloway resigned as Grimsby Town manager releasing a statement using his Twitter account. He had been in charge just under a year, leaving them 20th in League Two with only five wins from nineteen games. His reason for departing was his displeasure at John Fenty's decision to sell his shares in the club, claiming he did not want to carry on at the club without the people he came here to work with. Holloway also stated that a key factor in his departure was that the potential consortium interested in buying the club had reached out to him and contacted him several times and he found this to be inappropriate; although a statement later released by the potential investment group denied that any of them had ever had any contact with Holloway and stated " "Several weeks ago, we did make it clear through a mutual friend that we were very supportive of Ian and that if we were to take over as custodians of the club we wanted to build a legacy with him in place (which we also communicated to Philip Day in our discussions over the last week)."" The group also expressed surprise and disappointment at his resignation. Later that day Fenty officially rejected a potential takeover over bid from the consortium, although terms were finally agreed on 29 December 2020 to sell the club to Jason Stockwood and Andrew Pettit, members of the Shutes consortium.


title: Ian Holloway

text: Grimsby would replace Holloway temporarily with his assistant Ben Davies who following the club's next game, commented ""I had a good chat with him, and everything was okay. We went into the game against Bradford on Tuesday night, and he came in the next morning and said he'd resigned. Obviously it's hard to take when you get close to someone over the last year or so, but that's the way it goes." "


title: Ian Holloway

text: Since his resignation, Holloway has drawn criticism in both the nature of his departure and the state and quality of the team that he had put together during the summer, with the squad he left behind bloated in numbers and lacking in quality. Holloway went on to state that he was unsure whether he would return to football management again, saying his appetite for football has diminished. On 29 January, Holloway stated that he had left the club in a better position than when he arrived, this is despite the club being in embroiled in a relegation battle with a squad that seemed destined for relegation.


title: Ian Holloway

text: On 12 January 2021, Grimsby Town became the first football club in England to be fined for breaking COVID-19 protocol after it was revealed that Holloway had played darts with some of his players at the club's training ground.


title: Ian Holloway

text: On 27 April 2021, Grimsby were relegated back to non-League for a second time, former Mariners player and BBC Humberside co-commentator Gary Croft blamed Holloway: ""He's done miles more than me in the game, Ian Holloway, but I feel like it was just a bit of a play thing, a toy for him to play with. I just can't believe that people have stood around and watched it happen, watched it unfurl without getting into him, questioning him, and finding out what's going on. He was like that all-powerful person that no-one dare question. Crazy interviews that once were entertaining YouTube viewing, and are now completely not funny. He's come here and turned this season into a disaster. I don't think this is a particularly strong league, I don't think Town needed to do an awful lot, and for a club of our size in this league, we shouldn't be down where we are.""


title: Ian Holloway

text: In a podcast interview in late 2022, Holloway blamed his Grimsby departure on the COVID-19 pandemic and the fact that his scouting network was not suited to operate at League Two level. He also stated he would be interested in a return to management but only at EFL Championship level.


title: Ian Holloway

text: Holloway met fellow Bristolian Kim when they were both aged 15, and after marrying, he nursed her through lymphatic cancer. The couple have four children: William, twins Eve and Chloe, and Harriet. The twins were born profoundly deaf, as both Ian and Kim had a recessive form of a certain gene meaning that there was a higher chance that they would have deaf children. The doctors told them that there was only a remote possibility of any other children being deaf, but Harriet was also born deaf. Talking about his children, Holloway said: "it's been a fight all the way along to get proper provision for the girls, especially a good education. There's been rows, tribunals, appeals and endless phone calls. We have been labelled as bolshie parents. My view is that every child in the world has the right to be educated properly and whether your eyes or ears don't work is irrelevant. But the system at the moment makes it difficult."


title: Ian Holloway

text: For the last three years of his QPR career, Holloway commuted daily from Bristol to London, a 250-mile round trip, so the children could attend a deaf school in Bristol. As a result, he developed severe sciatica. They then moved to St Albans when the children were of secondary school age, for the same reason. Holloway has learned sign language, and his quirky media-friendly quotes have made him a high-profile campaigner on deaf issues and concerns.


title: Ian Holloway

text: During the gap between leaving Leicester and his appointment as Blackpool manager, Holloway became involved with the self-sufficiency movement, acquiring a brood of chickens and learning sufficient carpentry to build what he described as "Orpington Manor". When he moved north after taking over at Blackpool, the family brought with them their 33 chickens, three horses, two dogs and two ducks. After they settled into their home near Pendle Hill, Blackpool's groundsman, Stan Raby, gave them seven turkeys.


title: Ian Holloway

text: On the 20th October 2020, during the post-match interview Ollie revealed that that day had been "one of the worst days of my life". He revealed that he'd learnt of the suicide of one of his best friends earlier in the day.


title: Ian Holloway

text: Members of 'The Fishy', A Grimsby Town fan forum, started a fundraiser to raise money in support of Holloway, in a show of loyal support for him. The fundraiser had donations from all across the globe, as well as many donations from supporters of clubs that he had previously managed. The final total raised was £6,686.85, of which Holloway donated it to two charities suggested by the family of his friend.


title: Ian Holloway

text: Holloway is well known for his comments in post-match interviews, which are often quoted in the national media. His creative use of metaphors has made him one of the most popular interviewees and one of the cult personalities in English football. In June 2005 a book of his quotes, ""Let's Have Coffee: The Tao of Ian Holloway"", was published; and in June 2006 he came 15th in a "Time Out" poll of funniest Londoners.


title: Ian Holloway

text: His autobiography, "Ollie: The Autobiography of Ian Holloway", co-written with David Clayton, was first published in 2007, with an update in 2009. In August 2008 the "Little Book of Ollie'isms" was published, also co-written with David Clayton. Holloway also wrote the foreword for "The Official Bristol Rovers Quiz Book", published in November 2008.


title: Ian Holloway

text: Holloway is an Honorary Patron of the anti-racist organisation Show Racism the Red Card. He attended an educational event at Bloomfield Road in 2009 along with then Blackpool club captain Jason Euell, who had just recently been the victim of racist abuse. The pair attended the event and sat on a panel to share their opinions and experiences of racism with the audience of young people.


title: Ian Holloway

text: For the 2010–11 season, Holloway agreed to write a weekly column for "The Independent on Sunday". For the 2012–13 campaign, he wrote for the "Sunday Mirror". Holloway cited, in an interview to BBC programme "Football Focus", that part of his decision to move to Crystal Palace was to be closer to family following the expectation of his first grandchild.


title: Ian Holloway

text: During breaks in his managerial career, Holloway has often appeared as a television pundit on EFL on Quest with Colin Murray. In 2019 he also began his own podcast named "The Ian Holloway Podcast". The podcast was put on hold whilst he spent time as the manager of Grimsby Town but following his departure he announced he was resuming his show and asked for questions to feature on his next broadcast by posting on his Twitter account. The post went viral when supporters of Grimsby Town began sarcastically asking him darts related questions in reference to his game of darts at the training field that caused the club to be fined by the EFL for breaking COVID-19 protocol, other fans also voiced their displeasure at the nature of his departure from the club and the lack of quality in the team he left behind.


title: Sophos

text: Sophos Group plc is a British based security software and hardware company. Sophos develops products for communication endpoint, encryption, network security, email security, mobile security and unified threat management. Sophos is primarily focused on providing security software to 1- to 5,000-seat organizations. While not a primary focus, Sophos also protects home users, through free and paid antivirus solutions (Sophos Home/Home Premium) intended to demonstrate product functionality. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by Thoma Bravo in February 2020.


title: Sophos

text: Sophos was founded by Jan Hruska and Peter Lammer and began producing its first antivirus and encryption products in 1985. During the late 1980s and into the 1990s, Sophos primarily developed and sold a range of security technologies in the UK, including encryption tools available for most users (private or business). In the late 1990s, Sophos concentrated its efforts on the development and sale of antivirus technology, and embarked on a program of international expansion.


title: Sophos

text: In 2003, Sophos acquired ActiveState, a North American software company that developed anti-spam software. At that time viruses were being spread primarily through email spam and this allowed Sophos to produce a combined anti-spam and antivirus solution. In 2006, Peter Gyenes and Steve Munford were named chairman and CEO of Sophos, respectively. Jan Hruska and Peter Lammer remained as members of the board of directors. In 2010, the majority interest of Sophos was sold to Apax. In 2010, Nick Bray, formerly Group CFO at Micro Focus International, was named CFO of Sophos.


title: Sophos

text: In 2011, Utimaco Safeware AG (acquired by Sophos in 2008–9) were accused of supplying data monitoring and tracking software to partners that have sold to governments such as Syria: Sophos issued a statement of apology and confirmed that they had suspended their relationship with the partners in question and launched an investigation. In 2012, Kris Hagerman, formerly CEO at Corel Corporation, was named CEO of Sophos and joined the company's board. Former CEO Steve Munford became non-executive chairman of the board. In February 2014, Sophos announced that it had acquired Cyberoam Technologies, a provider of network security products. In June 2015, Sophos announced plans to raise $US100 million on the London Stock Exchange. Sophos was floated on the FTSE in September 2015.


title: Sophos

text: On 14 October 2019 Sophos announced that Thoma Bravo, a US-based private equity firm, made an offer to acquire Sophos for US$7.40 per share, representing an enterprise value of approximately $3.9 billion. The board of directors of Sophos stated their intention to unanimously recommend the offer to the company's shareholders. On 2 March 2020 Sophos announced the completion of the acquisition.


title: Sophos

text: From September 2003 to February 2006, Sophos served as the parent company of ActiveState, a developer of programming tools for dynamic programming languages: in February 2006, ActiveState became an independent company when it was sold to Vancouver-based venture capitalist firm Pender Financial. In 2007, Sophos acquired ENDFORCE, a company based in Ohio, United States, which developed and sold security policy compliance and Network Access Control (NAC) software. In May 2011, Sophos announced the acquisition of Astaro, a privately held provider of network security solutions, headquartered in Wilmington, Massachusetts, USA and Karlsruhe, Germany. At the time Astaro was the 4th largest UTM vendor and while the deal made sense at the time Forbes questioned its viability. Sophos subsequently renamed the Astaro UTM to Sophos UTM. In November 2016, Sophos acquired Barricade, a pioneering start-up with a powerful behavior-based analytics engine built on machine learning techniques, to strengthen synchronized security capabilities and next-generation network and endpoint protection. In February 2017, Sophos acquired Invincea, a software company that provides malware threat detection, prevention, and pre-breach forensic intelligence.


title: Cornerstone

text: The cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure.


title: Cornerstone

text: Over time a cornerstone became a ceremonial masonry stone, or replica, set in a prominent location on the outside of a building, with an inscription on the stone indicating the construction dates of the building and the names of architect, builder, and other significant individuals. The rite of laying a cornerstone is an important cultural component of eastern architecture and metaphorically in sacred architecture generally.


title: Cornerstone

text: Some cornerstones include time capsules from, or engravings commemorating, the time a particular building was built.


title: Cornerstone

text: The ceremony typically involved the placing of offerings of grain, wine and oil on or under the stone. These were symbolic of the produce and the people of the land and the means of their subsistence. This in turn derived from the practice in still more ancient times of making an animal or human sacrifice that was laid in the foundations.


title: Cornerstone

text: Frazer (2006: pp. 106–107) in "The Golden Bough" from 1890 charts the various propitiary sacrifices and effigy substitution such as the shadow, states that:


title: Cornerstone

text: Nowhere, perhaps, does the equivalence of the shadow to the life or soul come out more clearly than in some customs practised to this day in South-eastern Europe. In modern Greece, when the foundation of a new building is being laid, it is the custom to kill a cock, a ram, or a lamb, and to let its blood flow on the foundation-stone, under which the animal is afterwards buried. The object of the sacrifice is to give strength and stability to the building. But sometimes, instead of killing an animal, the builder entices a man to the foundation-stone, secretly measures his body, or a part of it, or his shadow, and buries the measure under the foundation-stone; or he lays the foundation-stone upon the man's shadow. It is believed that the man will die within the year. The Roumanians of Transylvania think that he whose shadow is thus immured will die within forty days; so persons passing by a building which is in course of erection may hear a warning cry, Beware lest they take thy shadow! Not long ago there were still shadow-traders whose business it was to provide architects with the shadows necessary for securing their walls. In these cases the measure of the shadow is looked on as equivalent to the shadow itself, and to bury it is to bury the life or soul of the man, who, deprived of it, must die. Thus the custom is a substitute for the old practice of immuring a living person in the walls, or crushing him under the foundation-stone of a new building, in order to give strength and durability to the structure, or more definitely in order that the angry ghost may haunt the place and guard it against the intrusion of enemies.


title: Cornerstone

text: Ancient Japanese legends talk about Hitobashira (人柱, "human pillar"), in which maidens were buried alive at the base or near some constructions as a prayer to ensure the buildings against disasters or enemy attacks.


title: Cornerstone

text: Historically, Freemasons sometimes performed the public cornerstone laying ceremony for notable buildings. This ceremony was described by The Cork Examiner of 13 January 1865 as follows:


title: Cornerstone

text: ...The Deputy Provincial Grand Master of Munster, applying the golden square and level to the stone said ; " My Lord Bishop, the stone has been proved and found to be 'fair work and square work' and fit to be laid as the foundation stone of this Holy Temple".' After this, Bishop Gregg spread cement over the stone with a trowel specially made for the occasion by John Hawkesworth, a silversmith and a jeweller. He then gave the stone three knocks with a mallet and declared the stone to be 'duly and truly laid'. The Deputy Provincial Grand Master of Munster poured offerings of corn, oil and wine over the stone after Bishop Gregg had declared it to be 'duly and truly laid'. The Provincial Grand Chaplain of the Masonic Order in Munster then read out the following prayer: 'May the Great Architect of the universe enable us as successfully to carry out and finish this work. May He protect the workmen from danger and accident, and long preserve the structure from decay; and may He grant us all our needed supply, the corn of nourishment, the wine of refreshment, and the oil of joy, Amen. So mote it be.' The choir and congregation then sang the Hundredth Psalm.


title: Cornerstone

text: The initiate (Entered Apprentice) in Freemasonry is placed in the north-east corner of the Lodge as a figurative foundation stone. This is intended to signify the unity of the North associated with darkness and the East associated with light.


title: Cornerstone

text: Normally, a VIP of the organization, or a local celebrity or community leader, will be invited to conduct the ceremony of figuratively beginning the foundations of the building, with the person's name and official position and the date usually being recorded on the stone. This person is usually asked to place their hand on the stone or otherwise signify its laying.


title: Cornerstone

text: Often still, and certainly until the 1970s, most ceremonies involved the use of a specially manufactured and engraved trowel that had a formal use in laying mortar under the stone. Similarly, a special hammer was often used to ceremonially tap the stone into place.


title: Cornerstone

text: The foundation stone often has a cavity into which is placed a time capsule containing newspapers of the day or week of the ceremony plus other artifacts that are typical of the period of the construction: coins of the year may also be immured in the cavity or time capsule.


title: Cornerstone

text: A cornerstone (Greek: Άκρογωνιεîς, Latin: Primarii Lapidis) will sometimes be referred to as a "foundation-stone", and is symbolic of Christ, whom the Apostle Paul referred to as the "head of the corner" and is the "Chief Cornerstone of the Church" (). A chief or head cornerstone is placed above two walls to maintain them together and avoid the building to fall apart. Many of the more ancient churches will place relics of the saints, especially martyrs, in the foundation stone.


title: Cornerstone

text: According to the pre-Vatican II rite of the Roman Catholic Church: Before the construction of a new church begins, the foundations of the building are clearly marked out and a wooden cross is set up to indicate where the altar will stand. Once preparations have been made, the bishop—or a priest delegated by him for that purpose—will bless holy water and with it sprinkle first the cross that was erected and then the foundation stone itself. Upon the stone he is directed to engrave crosses on each side with a knife, and then pronounce the following prayer: "Bless, O Lord, this creature of stone ("creaturam istam lapidis") and grant by the invocation of Thy holy name that all who with a pure mind shall lend aid to the building of this church may obtain soundness of body and the healing of their souls. Through Christ Our Lord, Amen."


title: Cornerstone

text: After this, the Litany of the Saints is said, followed by an antiphon and Psalm 126 ( in the Hebrew numbering), which appropriately begins with the verse, "Unless the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it". Then the stone is lowered into its place with another prayer and again sprinkled with holy water. More antiphons and psalms follow, while the bishop sprinkles the foundations, dividing them into three sections and ending each with a special prayer. Finally, "Veni Creator Spiritus" is sung, and two short prayers. Then the bishop, if he deems it opportune, sits down and exhorts the people to contribute to the construction, appointments and maintenance of the new church, after which he dismisses them with his blessing and the proclamation of an indulgence.


title: Cornerstone

text: In the Eastern Orthodox Church the blessing of the bishop must be obtained before construction on a new church may commence, and any clergyman who ventures to do so without a blessing can be deposed. The "Rite of the Foundation of a Church" (i.e., the laying of the cornerstone) will differ slightly depending on whether the church is to be constructed of wood or of stone. Even when a church is built of wood, the cornerstone must in fact be made of stone.


title: Cornerstone

text: The cornerstone is a solid stone cube upon which a cross has been carved. Below the cross, the following words are inscribed:


title: Cornerstone

text: In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, this church is founded, in honour and memory of ("here the name of the patron saint of the new church is inserted"); in the rule of ("here the name of the ruler is inserted"); in the episcopacy of ("here the name of the bishop is inserted"); in the Year of the World _____ (Anno Mundi), and from the Birth in the flesh of God the Word _____ (Anno Domini).


title: Cornerstone

text: In the top of the stone a cross-shaped space is hollowed out into which relics may be placed. Relics are not required, but they are normally placed in the cornerstone. If no relics are inserted in the stone, the inscription may be omitted, but not the cross.


title: Cornerstone

text: After the foundations for the new church have been dug and all preparations finished, the bishop (or his deputy) with the other clergy vest and form a crucession to the building site. The service begins with a moleben and the blessing of holy water. Then a cross is erected in the place where the Holy Table (altar) will stand, and the cornerstone is consecrated and set in place.


title: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (video game)

text: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is a 2003 hack and slash action game developed by EA Redwood Shores for the PlayStation 2 and Windows. It was ported to the GameCube and Xbox by Hypnos Entertainment, to the Game Boy Advance by Griptonite Games, to mobile by JAMDAT, and to OS X by Beenox. The game was published by Electronic Arts. It is the sequel to the 2002 game "".


text: The game is an adaptation of Peter Jackson's 2002 film "" and his 2003 film "", which was released shortly after the game. As it is not an adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's 1954 novel, "The Return of the King", the third volume in "Lord of the Rings", anything from the novel not specifically mentioned or depicted in the films could not be represented in the game. This is because, at the time, Vivendi Universal Games, in partnership with Tolkien Enterprises, held the rights to the video game adaptations of Tolkien's literary works, whilst Electronic Arts held the rights to the video game adaptations of the New Line Cinema films.


text: The game is similar to its predecessor in basic gameplay, but differs by adding multiple storylines, more playable characters and increased interaction with environments. A two-player co-op mode is also available for some missions. As with "The Two Towers", "The Return of the King" was developed in close collaboration with the filmmakers, using many of the actual reference photos, drawings, models, props and other assets from the film. The game was met with positive critical reception for its graphics, audio, and gameplay, although its camera positioning and short length were criticized.


text: Described by the developers as a modern version of "Gauntlet", "The Return of the King" is a hack and slash action game played from a third-person perspective. The game is very similar to its in basic gameplay. Each character has a quick attack which does minimal damage and can be easily blocked, and a fierce attack, which does more damage, but is slower and leaves the player vulnerable to attack. Only fierce attacks can break enemy shields. Each character also has a ranged attack, a "killing move" (which can be used to instantly kill downed enemies), a parry (which can deflect enemy attacks), a knock back (which pushes nearby enemies away), a jump back (in which the player character jumps back away from the enemy), a devastating attack (a charged fierce attack) and a special ability. Playable characters in the console and PC versions are Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Frodo and Sam, with Faramir, Pippin and Merry available as unlockable characters. Playable characters in the GBA version are Legolas, Gimli, Frodo, Gandalf, and Éowyn.


text: Each playable character has their own set of combos and attributes. After the end of each level the player can upgrade their characters' abilities and combos using experience points. The number of points available to the player depends on the efficiency of their kills. During each level, the player will be continually graded on the skill with which they dispatch enemies; "Fair", "Good", "Excellent" and "Perfect." The more skill with which the player kills, the more experience they acquire. The player's skill is measured by an on-screen meter which increases as the player dispatches enemies. To avoid the meter dropping back down, the player must avoid being hit, and kill enemies using a variety of different methods. When a player reaches a Perfect level, all of their attacks increase in strength, and the experience from each kill is doubled. However, Perfect status only lasts for a brief period of time. A new aspect of "Return of the King" is that at the end of each level, rather than purchasing upgrades for the individual character, the player can also purchase "Fellowship" upgrades which apply to every playable character. However, characters will only be able to avail of a particular skill when they have reached the corresponding experience level.


text: A major change from "The Two Towers" is the interactive nature of the game environments. The player can operate machinery, for example bridges and catapults, to complete objectives, and use environmental objects as weapons, such as spears and cauldrons, to kill enemies. The levels are also twice the size of the largest level from "The Two Towers" and many are less linear. Unlike "The Two Towers", "The Return of the King" features a co-op mode, allowing two players to play through the game together. The North American PlayStation 2 version also has an online multiplayer mode, with USB headset support, although this was removed from the European version of the game.


text: The Game Boy Advance version is played from an isometric three-quarter top-down view. A major gameplay difference in this version is the addition of "runes" which players can etch into their weapons, granting them special abilities. The game also features co-op multiplayer through the Game Boy link function, and unlockable content when connected to the GameCube version via the GameCube – Game Boy Advance link cable.


text: Todd Arnold, senior producer of "The Return of the King", stated that the game was not intended to re-tell the story of the film,


text: but to allow the player to come as close as possible to experiencing the critical parts of the film for themselves. Levels were designed with this goal in mind, with just enough plot to give context to the player's actions. Liberties were thus taken with the plot, and critics noted there was little footage which could spoil the film for those who had not seen it. GameSpot's Greg Kasavin said "if you didn't know anything about the story of "The Return of the King", then the story of the game may be hard to follow, though you'll still get the gist of it." However, he also advised, "in case you don't want any aspect of the movie spoiled for you, it'd be wise to hold off on playing "The Return of the King" until after you've seen the movie."


text: The game begins during the Battle of the Hornburg at Helm's Deep, with the Uruk-hai having just penetrated the outer walls. With the defenders falling back to the inner court, Gandalf (voiced by Ian McKellen) appears on a hill-top flanked by thousands of Rohirrim. The player takes control of Gandalf as he enters the battle and helps defeat the Uruk-hai and orc army. After this level, the game splits into three separate mission arcs, each with its own individual set of characters. The "Path of the Wizard" follows Gandalf, the "Path of the King" follows Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and Gimli (John Rhys-Davies), and the "Path of the Hobbits" follows Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin), although initially only Sam is playable.


text: The Path of the Wizard continues immediately after the events of the first level. The remains of the Uruk-hai and orc army flee into Fangorn Forest. However, within the forest, the Ents, led by Treebeard, have awoken and joined the fight against Sauron. Gandalf helps the ents as they destroy the rest of the army, and then assists them in bringing down a dam holding back the River Isen. This floods Isengard, trapping Saruman (Christopher Lee), who had joined forces with Sauron, in his tower, Orthanc. Gandalf and Pippin (Billy Boyd) then head to Minas Tirith, capital of Gondor, leaving Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and the Rohirrim to follow them. Gandalf has gone ahead of the others because Sauron mistakenly believes that Pippin has the Ring, and Gandalf plans to use this confusion to distract Sauron as Frodo and Sam are led by Gollum (Andy Serkis) towards Mount Doom to destroy the Ring. In Minas Tirith, Gandalf helps repulse the enemies from the walls for a time, but eventually, they break through the city's defenses. Gandalf and the soldiers of Minas Tirith then retreat to a courtyard, where they must defend the fleeing civilians from the enemy. Once the people are safely inside, Gandalf can do little but await the arrival of Aragorn.


text: The Path of the King picks up with Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and the Rohirrim on the way to Minas Tirith. Before arriving, however, the three companions must walk the Paths of the Dead in an effort to convince the Army of the Dead to join their cause in the War of the Ring. To do so, they must defeat the King of the Dead (Jarion Monroe) in combat. After this, the Paths of the Dead start to collapse, and they must escape before the falling rubble crushes them. With the Army of the Dead pledged to aid them, they travel to Minas Tirith and enter the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. Joining the Rohirrim and the soldiers of Minas Tirith, they face orcs, Easterlings, Haradrim and oliphaunts. They must also defend Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Éowyn (Lorri Holt), allowing Éowyn the opportunity to defeat the Witch-king of Angmar. As it seems they are about to be overwhelmed, the Army of Dead arrive, destroying the forces of Mordor and saving Minas Tirith.


text: The Path of the Wizard and Path of the King share the same final level, set at the Black Gate of Mordor. In a further effort to distract Sauron from the approach of Frodo and Sam, Gandalf advises that Aragorn and the remaining army marches to the Gates of Mordor as a direct challenge to Sauron, who will send out a vast army to meet them, thus keeping his attention away from Mount Doom. Upon arriving at the Gate, the party are confronted by the Mouth of Sauron (Roger L. Jackson), who tells them that Frodo is dead. They kill him and must then face a massive army of orcs, before fighting the remaining Nazgûl. Not believing Frodo to be dead, they plan to fight as long as they can, so as to give Frodo enough time to destroy the Ring.


text: In The Path of the Hobbits, Frodo, Sam and Gollum must first escape from Osgiliath, fighting past orcs to get to the sewers and ensuring that Frodo is not kidnapped by the Nazgûl. However, upon escaping, Gollum decides to betray them and take the Ring back for himself. He tricks Frodo into going on without Sam, but Sam follows them into Shelob's lair. In the lair, Gollum abandons Frodo, and Sam must fight past giant spiders and orcs, eventually facing Shelob herself, who has attacked Frodo. Sam defeats Shelob, but upon reaching Frodo, he mistakenly believes him to be dead. About to go to Mount Doom on his own, he hides as a group of orcs arrive and hears them say that Frodo is alive but unconscious. They take him with them as Sam follows them to the Tower of Cirith Ungol. As Sam is about to enter the Tower, the orcs begin fighting among themselves, and Sam uses the distraction to rescue Frodo. Together, they head to Mount Doom. However, before Frodo can throw the Ring into the lava below, he is attacked by Gollum, who takes the Ring. In the final level, the player controls Frodo as he fights Gollum on the edge of the precipice. Frodo successfully defeats Gollum, knocking him into the lava and destroying the Ring forever.


text: Following the success of the of "" film, an adaptation of "" was announced on 25 April 2003. While "The Two Towers" was released on the three major consoles (PlayStation 2, GameCube and Xbox) and the Game Boy Advance, "The Return of the King" was also set for release on PC. Executive producer Neil Young revealed playable characters would include Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Frodo, Sam and two to four unlockable characters. He also stated the characters' fighting styles would be much more differentiated from one another than they had been in "Two Towers", and he explained the game would offer three separate story branches rather than one, but the player would be unable to complete the game or get to the final level by playing through only one branch. Young stated "there are certain gates that prevent the player from progressing that might break the fiction, but that motivates them to essentially bring a party of characters through the game to its conclusion." The development team originally had been working on a new game engine from scratch for "The Return of the King". With progress stalling about a year into development, the team turned to the engine used for EA Sports' "Tiger Woods PGA Tour" series, which


text: was similarly built to craft expansive areas with large structures located throughout the world, and used it as a foundation for the engine built for "The Return of the King".


text: EA debuted the game at the 2003 E3 event in May, announcing that compared to "Two Towers", "Return of the King" had more playable characters, larger and less linear levels, multiple narrative paths, bigger and more intelligent bosses, interactive environments, and a co-op mode. Footage from the films and parts of Howard Shore's score would feature, and members of the film's cast would lend their voices and likenesses to the game. On 15 May, a playable demo was made available for the PS2, featuring the first Minas Tirith level along with a non-playable demo of the co-op gameplay in a customized level specifically designed for E3. EA also revealed they were working on having Gollum as a playable character, although this ultimately did not happen, except in the GBA version.


text: The developers called "The Return of the King" "bigger and better" than "The Two Towers". ""In The Two Towers" the player would occasionally run into 10 or 15 enemies," said lead game designer Chris Tremmel, "in "The Return of the King" there are areas where the player faces up to 40 orcs [...] Fans familiar with "The Two Towers" will find that the combat experience in "The Return of the King" feels familiar but much deeper." Before creating levels, the developers would initially look at the script and determine what parts from the film to highlight in that particular level, and how to structure that event as a mission. They would then write in-depth level designs out on paper, going into details such as combat setup, special props and enemy types, all the while using the film as their main reference point. They would then create an animatic of the level, working out problems and fine-tuning design concepts. The levels would then be created in the game environment. The game is also graphically improved over "The Two Towers". According to Neil Young, "we've developed some new lighting techniques to allow the characters to look richer. We are pushing 2x the number of polys & 2x the texture density [...] we also stream our geometry and textures from the disc so the game has a much higher density of imagery." Enemy AI was improved, and developers also spent a lot of time working on the sound of the game, which was THX certified.


text: Producer Glen Schofield stated the biggest challenge the developers were facing was "just trying to match the breathtaking look and feel of the movies". Similarly, Neil Young said "We wanted to make something that's authentic and true to the movie. The people on our team really care about making a game that aspires to more than just a sequel, they want to make this equivalent to the movie experience itself." EA Redwood Shores worked closely with New Line Cinema to make the games as authentic as possible, using the actual reference photos, drawings, models, props, lighting studies and motion capture data. EA's partner relations director, Nina Dobner said:


text: Dobner said that during the development of the game, she traveled to New Zealand once a month with builds of the game for the filmmakers to play, and on which to give their feedback, and that in total, EA had acquired a quarter of a million different assets from the production. Schofield further pointed out "we even hired the same stunt doubles from the movie to help us render the most realistic movements in the game." Dobner also said "we want the game to not just look like the films but to be exactly like the films." She commented that no details in the game were made up; "when we were reproducing Minas Tirith [...] we felt the team would benefit from being able to see and feel a piece of the actual movie set. Unfortunately, the set had already been dismantled. So, while in New Zealand, I searched the various warehouses to find remnants of the dismantled set. After much work, I returned to San Francisco proudly bearing four bricks from the Minas Tirith set."


text: "The Return of the King" received "generally favorably reviews" across all systems; the Game Boy Advance version holds an aggregate score of 77 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 13 reviews; the GameCube version 84 out of 100, based on 23 reviews; the PC version 78 out of 100, based on 18 reviews; the PlayStation 2 version 85 out of 100, based on 31 reviews; and the Xbox version 84 out of 100, based on 31 reviews.


text: As an adaptation, the game was praised by GameZone's Michael Knutson as "the best movie to game conversion that has come out in a long time" and by GameSpy's Raymond Padilla as setting "a new standard for video game adaptations of movies."


text: The graphics and THX-certified audio were lauded by critics. The game's animations, scenery, player models, cutscenes, music and voice acting were particularly well received. "Sound effects used in the game will also blow you away," Knutson said, "Everything from the explosions, swords clashing, hundreds of incoming enemies storming your way, all sounds like it came directly from the movie!" GameSpot's Greg Kasavin noted that "Frame rate issues do affect each version of the game, to varying degrees, and none of the character models for the main characters look all that remarkable," but conceded that "all other aspects of "The Return of the King"s graphics are outstanding [...] The game's audio is even more effective than the graphics at conveying the intensity of the action." Ian McKellen's narration of the game as Gandalf was also praised by "GameSpot" and "Game Informer".


text: The game's combat was praised by most critics. "Electronic Gaming Monthly"s Crispin Boyer described the game as "a thrill ride. And not just 'cause "Return of the King" unleashes larger hordes of foes than last year's equally slick "Two Towers" prequel. Many of "Return of the King"s levels actually force you to multitask while you hack and slash." "PC Gamer UK"s Tony Ellis wrote "combat in "RotK" is superbly satisfying. Your blows connect with a solid, visceral thud you can almost feel." He also noted the variation between levels. Eurogamer's Kristan Reed praised the "subtleties of the combat." In contrast, "Game Informer"s Matthew Kato found the gameplay to be "repetitious", writing "sometimes I got the feeling that I was working harder only to have less fun than in "Two Towers"." The co-op mode was also praised.


text: "The Return of the King" was criticized for its poor camera placement. "What's the use of a new graphics engine and character models when the view is from so far away?" asked Kato. Reed complained about "camera switches which reverse the controls, or worse, completely obscure your viewpoint. On just about every mission the camera switching confuses the hell out of you." The game's save function was also criticized. Ellis commented that "You can only save after completing a level [...] which is not so good when you're forced to slog through the same sequences over and over again." Critics also complained about the unskippable cut scenes, occasionally unclear objectives and relatively short length.


text: The GBA version also received good reviews. GameZone's Steve Hopper found it very similar to the GBA version of "Two Towers", but wrote "all in all this is solid action game that I can wholeheartedly recommend for gamers who loved "The Two Towers" and want more of the same brand of hack and slash action." IGN's Craig Harris wrote "the enhancements to the gameplay definitely enhance an already solid action game, and it's also a very recommended two player experience as well. "The Return of the King" is a nice compliment to a great film, and a decent follow-up to an already enjoyable action title on the handheld." GameSpot's Frank Provo called it "more satisfying and ultimately more playable" than "Two Towers", and praised the differentiation between the characters, the graphics and the experience system. GameSpy's Matt Chandronait was less impressed, criticizing the game's "technical flaws," especially its collision detection. He called it a "repetitive beat-'em-up that require[s] dozens of hours of devotion to unlock every last item, level, and character."


text: In the United States, the Windows version of "The Return of the King" sold 240,000 copies and earned $5.5 million by August 2006, after its release in November 2003. It was the country's 86th best-selling computer game during this period. In the United Kingdom, the PlayStation 2 version received a "Platinum" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 300,000 copies.


text: The wireless version of "Return of the King", developed by JAMDAT, won IGN's "Wireless Game of the Year" award for 2003. At the 2003 Spike Video Game Awards, "Return of the King" was nominated for two awards; "Best Animation" and "Best Game Based on a Movie". It lost in both categories, to "Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball" and "Enter the Matrix", respectively. The console version won in two categories at the DICE 2004 awards: "Outstanding Achievement in Character Performance: Male" (for Elijah Wood's voice role as Frodo) and "Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design". In 2014, IGN included the game in their list of the "5 Best "Lord of the Rings" Video Games."


text: Despite the game's receiving general critical acclaim and selling well, Peter Jackson, director of the "Lord of the Rings" film trilogy, stated that the video game tie-in for his next film, "King Kong", would not be developed by EA, but by Ubisoft. Jackson's manager claimed that despite EA saying the filmmakers were heavily involved in the making of the game, the developers were not interested in Jackson's input on the game. Additionally, Jackson had played "Beyond Good & Evil", and wanted to work with producer Michel Ancel, who was at Ubisoft.


title: Mick Tucker

text: Michael Thomas Tucker (17 July 1947 – 14 February 2002) was an English musician, best known as the drummer and backing vocalist of the glam rock and hard rock band Sweet.


title: Mick Tucker

text: Mick Tucker was born on July 17, 1947, in Kingsbury, North West London, the son of Hubert and Ellen Tucker. He was married twice: to Pauline until her death in 1979, and to Janet until his death. He died from leukaemia on February 14, 2002, in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire.


title: Mick Tucker

text: On 28 July 1973, Tucker married his first wife, Pauline, at the Church of the Sacred Heart in Ruislip, Middlesex. They then moved into a house in Beverley Road, Ruislip.


title: Mick Tucker

text: By the age of 18 (1965), Tucker had embarked on a career in pop music, playing around pubs and clubs in a band called Wainwright's Gentlemen and was later joined by vocalist Brian Connolly playing a mixture of R&B, Motown, and early psychedelic sounds. The band split in 1968. There are a number of recordings in existence including a cover of The Coasters/The Hollies hit "Ain't That Just Like Me", which was officially released in February 2011 on a compilation CD "Rare Mod, Volume 3" on the Acid Jazz label (AJXCD 238). The track features Tucker on drums and, according to band bassist Jan Frewer, is thought to have been recorded in 1965.


title: Mick Tucker

text: He was a founding member of the band Sweetshop in January 1968 along with Steve Priest, Brian Connolly, and Frank Torpey (born 30 April 1947, Kilburn, North West London), who was later replaced by Mick Stewart, who was himself succeeded by Andy Scott. "Sweetshop" was shortened to "The Sweet" in 1968.


title: Mick Tucker

text: As a boy, his first interest was drawing. By fourteen he had changed his interest to the drums, influenced by Sandy Nelson, Buddy Rich, and Gene Krupa. Tucker's father offered him a drum kit but only if he would take drumming seriously. Hubert Tucker encouraged his son, even getting him his first gig, sitting in for Brian Bennett of legendary British beat group the Shadows at a local workingman's club. "He did well," says Tucker's wife, Janet, "If he had known who he was replacing, he would have been so scared!"


title: Mick Tucker

text: A self-taught drummer, Tucker excelled, and by eighteen he was playing in the band Wainwright's Gentlemen. When Tucker was sacked in January 1968 for being "too flamboyant", singer Brian Connolly said "I am leaving as well." The two looked for new band-mates, and the band Sweetshop was soon formed.


title: Mick Tucker

text: According to Steve Priest's 1994 autobiography, "Are You Ready, Steve?", Tucker offered his feedback while recording "The Six Teens", and songwriter/producer Mike Chapman said, "We don't f**king need you anyway, Mick!" Tucker ended the argument by saying, "If you don't need us, why don't you just put that tape player on 'record' and erase the whole track?" He was serious when it came to making music, and he stood up for his band's integrity when necessary.


title: Mick Tucker

text: Tucker was a consummate drummer with a range of complex rhythms who could have helped any band considerably. Steve Priest said of Tucker, "He was the most underrated drummer that ever came out of England... He was the powerhouse of the band. He was technically marvelous. His timing was impeccable, but he had a lot of soul as well and he really felt what he was playing."


title: Mick Tucker

text: From late 1972 onward, Tucker used the same drum kit, a Ludwig Chrome over wood eight piece set. The twirl of his sticks were as much a trademark as the drum kit itself. Tucker used a five piece Ludwig while on tour in Belgium. After the tour ended, he added the set to the existing Ludwig four piece set he already had. He then re-wrapped them all in chrome. The Ludwig set contained:


title: Mick Tucker

text: The drum sticks he used from the early 80′s were the Promark American Hickory 419. Tucker had his sticks printed with the Sweet logo and his autograph.


title: Mick Tucker

text: Tucker was able to improvise tirelessly and played a seemingly never-ending flow of creative solos. He began and ended his drum solos with his rendition of Elmer Bernstein's theme from the 1955 film "The Man With the Golden Arm".


title: Mick Tucker

text: Tucker also used two projection screens that were above his drum riser. One screen played a video of him playing the drums, and simultaneously the other video showed him playing timpani. He would trade off solos with these videos, then come out front and play the timpani along with a fast Christmas-style recording. Just before the band would come back, he would play the Bernstein melody on tubular bells and timpani. Tucker tried to make sure his solos appealed to all of the audience. Tucker understood that a great performance consisted of great playing technique and presentation in equal doses.


title: Mick Tucker

text: Tucker said of his band Sweet, "At gigs, Andy would mince onstage swinging a handbag and call himself Andre. Steven became Stephanie and I changed my name to Michelle. Brian was the only one who never really went along with the make-up thing."


title: Mick Tucker

text: Adding to bassist Steve Priest's high appreciation, guitarist Andy Scott said "Mick Tucker was the best drummer around in the '70s. I played in the same band as him and was proud to do so. I feel extreme sadness therefore that he has now left us and my heart goes out to Janet and Aiston with their sad loss."


title: Mick Tucker

text: Cheap Trick drummer Bun E. Carlos remembered that Sweet opened for Cheap Trick in 1979. "On most nights we went side stage and watched them. They were rockin' live, and Mick was fun to watch. His style reminded me of an early Keith Moon. Mick was one of the few double bass drummers that didn't let the second bass drum get in the way of a swinging tune like 'Ballroom Blitz.' He had a great feel on double bass drum, played them effortlessly... And those guys knew how to have fun," Carlos said. "We'd call them back on stage during our encores and jam on 'Let It Rock'. Mick would play my kit with the 26" bass drum and just rock out with us. I'd hop up on the riser with him, playing guitar and watching him play. We had some great times together."


title: Mick Tucker

text: Other drummers who were influenced by Tucker fans are Jack Irons (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, Wallflowers), Snowy Shaw (King Diamond, Dream Evil, Mercyful Fate), and Jason Hartless (Ted Nugent).


title: Mick Tucker

text: Irons stated of Tucker, "Mick was a great drummer... He had that fluid, '60s/'70s rock 'n' roll freedom. His drumming was super-tight and musical, technical, and rocking."


title: Mick Tucker

text: Shaw said of Tucker, "Mick's tastefulness, precision, and strong signature put him at the very top of the list of drumming heroes I had when I was trying to master the profession," he says. "Technically, he was right up there with Ian Paice and John Bonham. Like a kid in a candy store, I devoured his selection of trademark tricks and licks, which he delivered so musically, and with conviction and grace like no one else. It may have been Peter Criss who first got me into drums, but it was Mick Tucker whose drumming most influenced me and who taught me how to play music."


title: Mick Tucker

text: Tucker died on 14 February 2002 in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, from leukaemia, aged 54. His funeral took place on 25 February 2002. His wife Janet, his daughter Aiston and his niece Angela were at his bedside when he died. He is buried in an unmarked grave in Chorleywood House cemetery. A wooden bench with a brass plaque funded by fans as a dedication to Tucker is also positioned in the grave's vicinity.


title: Mick Tucker

text: Five years previously, Tucker had a bone marrow transplant from his brother to combat his leukaemia. He had recurring infections before succumbing to the illness at the hospital in Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire, Southeast England.


title: Mick Tucker

text: "He went into remission after the operation, but he’s never been that strong since", band bassist Steve Priest said. "This has taken everyone by surprise...He was the best drummer England ever produced and it is a sad loss to the music world. It was a little bit sudden, to be honest. He was on the verge of leukaemia five years ago but had a bone marrow transplant from his brother, which stopped him getting it, but he was never the same."