title: History of Kazakhstan

text: This objective became particularly important after 1990, when it was learned that Mikhail Gorbachev had negotiated an agreement with the American Chevron Corporation to develop Kazakhstan's Tengiz oil field; Gorbachev did not consult Nazarbayev until the talks were nearly completed. At Nazarbayev's insistence, Moscow surrendered control of the republic's mineral resources in June 1991 and Gorbachev's authority crumbled rapidly throughout the year. Nazarbayev continued to support him, urging other republic leaders to sign a treaty creating the Union of Sovereign States which Gorbachev had drafted in a last attempt to hold the Soviet Union together.


title: History of Kazakhstan

text: Because of the August 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt against Gorbachev, the union treaty was never implemented. Ambivalent about Gorbachev's removal, Nazarbayev did not condemn the coup attempt until its second day. However, he continued to support Gorbachev and some form of union largely because of his conviction that independence would be economic suicide.


title: History of Kazakhstan

text: At the same time, Nazarbayev began preparing Kazakhstan for greater freedom or outright independence. He appointed professional economists and managers to high positions, and sought advice from foreign development and business experts. The outlawing of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan (CPK) which followed the attempted coup permitted Nazarbayev to take nearly complete control of the republic's economy, more than 90 percent of which had been under the partial (or complete) direction of the Soviet government until late 1991. He solidified his position by winning an uncontested election for president in December 1991.


title: History of Kazakhstan

text: A week after the election, Nazarbayev became the president of an independent state when the leaders of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus signed documents dissolving the Soviet Union. He quickly convened a meeting of the leaders of the five Central Asian states (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan), raising the possibility of a Turkic confederation of former republics as a counterweight to the Slavic states of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus in whatever federation might succeed the Soviet Union. This move persuaded the three Slavic presidents to include Kazakhstan among the signatories of a recast document of dissolution. Kazakhstan's capital lent its name to the Alma-Ata Protocol, the declaration of principles of the Commonwealth of Independent States. On 16 December 1991, five days before the declaration, Kazakhstan became the last of the republics to proclaim its independence.


title: History of Kazakhstan

text: The republic has followed the same general political pattern as the other four Central Asian states. After declaring its independence from a political structure dominated by Moscow and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) until 1991, Kazakhstan retained the governmental structure and most of the leadership which had held power in 1990. Nazarbayev, elected president of the republic in 1991, remained in undisputed power five years later.


title: History of Kazakhstan

text: He took several steps to ensure his position. The constitution of 1993 made the prime minister and the Council of Ministers responsible solely to the president, and a new constitution two years later reinforced that relationship. Opposition parties were limited by legal restrictions on their activities. Within that framework, Nazarbayev gained substantial popularity by limiting the economic shock of separation from the Soviet Union and maintaining ethnic harmony in a diverse country with more than 100 different nationalities.


title: History of Kazakhstan

text: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America acting as guarantors and thereby denuclearized the nation. The leaders of Ukraine and Belarus also signed similar documents in a joint ceremonial event in Patria Hall at the Budapest Convention Center.


title: History of Kazakhstan

text: In 1997 Kazakhstan's capital was moved from Almaty to Astana, and homosexuality was decriminalized the following year.


title: History of Kazakhstan

text: In March 2019, President Nursultan Nazarbayev resigned 29 years after taking office. However, he continued to lead the influential security council and held the formal title Leader of the Nation. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev succeeded Nazarbayev as the President of Kazakhstan. His first official act was to rename the capital from Astana to Nur-Sultan after his predecessor. In June 2019, the new president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, won Kazakhstan's presidential election.


title: History of Kazakhstan

text: In January 2022, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev took over as head of the powerful Security Council, removing Nazarbayev from the post, after violent protests triggered by fuel price. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev later proposed constitutional amendments aimed at limiting his power and stripping Nazarbayev of his formal title Leader of the Nation. Kazakhs later voted in the 2022 Kazakh constitutional referendum approving of the constitutional amendments. In September 2022, the name of the country's capital was changed back to Astana from Nur-sultan.


title: History of Kazakhstan

text: During the mid-1990s, although Russia remained the most important sponsor of Kazakhstan in economic and national security matters Nazarbayev supported the strengthening of the CIS. As sensitive ethnic, national-security and economic issues cooled relations with Russia during the decade, Nazarbayev cultivated relations with China, the other Central Asian nations, and the West; however, Kazakhstan remains principally dependent on Russia. The Baikonur Cosmodrome, built during the 1950s for the Soviet space program, is near Tyuratam and the city of Baikonur was built to accommodate the spaceport.


title: History of Kazakhstan

text: Kazakhstan also maintains good relations with the United States. The country is the US's 78th-largest trading partner, incurring $2.5 billion in two-way trade, and it was the first country to recognize Kazakhstan after independence. In 1994 and 1995, the US worked with Kazakhstan to remove all nuclear warheads after the latter renounced its nuclear program and closed the Semipalatinsk Test Sites; the last nuclear sites and tunnels were closed by 1995. In 2010, US President Barack Obama met with Nazarbayev at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, DC and discussed intensifying their strategic relationship and bilateral cooperation to increase nuclear safety, regional stability, and economic prosperity.


title: Drunk in Love

text: "Drunk in Love" is a song by American singer Beyoncé featuring American rapper Jay-Z. The duo composed the song along with credited production and writing by Detail, Andre Eric Proctor, Rasool Diaz, Brian Soko, Timbaland, J-Roc and Boots for Beyoncé's self-titled fifth studio album (2013). Columbia Records released "Drunk in Love" as one of the two lead singles from the album in 2013. The song is dominated by trap beats in chunks and bass. Its lyrics, which depict female sexuality, are sung by Beyoncé in a sensual and confident way.


title: Drunk in Love

text: Many music critics called the song a follow-up to Beyoncé's and Jay-Z's song "Crazy in Love" (2003). "Drunk in Love" peaked at number two on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 chart, spending eight weeks in the top ten. It also reached the top ten in France, Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. At the 57th Grammy Awards, "Drunk in Love" won Best R&B Song and Best R&B Performance.


title: Drunk in Love

text: The song's music video was directed by Hype Williams and shot in black-and-white in Golden Beach, Florida at a beach front manse. The visual features scenes of the pair singing the song together. "Drunk in Love" was performed by Beyoncé and Jay-Z at the 56th Grammy Awards. It was later added to the set lists of the second European leg of Beyoncé's The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour in 2013 and the pair's joint On the Run Tour in 2014. Numerous remixes and cover versions of the song were made, most notably the official rework by rapper Kanye West. The music video won Best Collaboration and was nominated for Video of the Year at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards.


title: Drunk in Love

text: "Drunk in Love" was written by Beyoncé, Detail and Jay-Z in end of 2012, who appears as the featured artist on the track. Production of the song was handled by Boots and Beyoncé as well as Detail. "Drunk in Love" was recorded at Jungle City Studios and at Oven Studios in New York City. Detail approached Beyoncé with a beat he had created called "Drunk" inspired by different situations from being affected by alcohol. Beyoncé further helped in the production of the song, adding elements that Detail had missed. She and Jay-Z later free-styled their verses for the song and Timbaland contributed keyboards. J-Roc, Dre Moon, Brian Soko and Rasool Ricardo Diaz contributed to the production of the song. Elaborating on the conception of the song, Beyoncé said: "We just kinda had a party. It was so great, because it wasn't about any ego, we weren't trying to make a hit record [...] we were just having fun...and I think you can hear that in the record."


title: Drunk in Love

text: In 2014, rapper Future claimed that he had previously recorded a demo version of the song. He worked together with Detail who persuaded him to record vocals for the track as it would convince Beyoncé more easily to record it. Several days later, Detail informed Future that Beyoncé was in the studio recording "Drunk in Love". However, when the rapper was working on his second studio album "Honest", he used the same melody of the demo version on a song called "Good Morning" as Beyoncé still hadn't released her version seven months after he was told that she worked on it. When Beyoncé released her album, the track was scrapped from the track listing of "Honest" and Future was not mentioned in its credits.


title: Drunk in Love

text: "Drunk in Love" was subsequently included on Beyoncé's self-titled fifth studio album "Beyoncé" (2013) which was released on iTunes Store with no promotion having taken place beforehand. Following the album's release, "Billboard" reported that "Drunk in Love" would be sent to urban contemporary radio in the US exclusively. "XO" impacted CHR, hot adult contemporary and rhythmic contemporary radio in the US on December 16, 2013, as the first single from the album. "Drunk in Love" impacted urban contemporary radio stations on December 17, 2013, serving as one of the two lead singles from "Beyoncé". On March 24, 2014, "Drunk in Love" was added to British radio station BBC Radio 1's C-List.


title: Drunk in Love

text: Musically, the song consists of bass, skittering drums, vague synthesizers, scintillating strings, finger snaps and a substantial amount of trap beats. Elements of hip hop music are also present in "Drunk in Love". Written in the key of A major, the track contains a moderately slow tempo of 70 beats per minute, while also following a chord progression of Fm—Bm—E—A. Beyoncé and Jay-Z's vocals range from D to E. Many contemporary critics viewed "Drunk in Love" as a sequel or an extension to Beyoncé's own 2003 collaboration with Jay-Z, "Crazy in Love". Jody Rosen from Vulture found trademark Timbaland synths in the song and further went on to describe its production as "skittering, blaring".


title: Drunk in Love

text: Keeping in with the most prominent theme of "Beyoncé", "Drunk in Love" explores female sexuality. Its lyrics express "unbridled lust" and love-making with a wholly committed lover. As she sings about how much she likes sex with her partner, Beyoncé uses several double entendres, including the line, "grainin' on that wood", where she is supposedly referencing a surfboard. The singer displays much attitude through her vocal inflections that were described as "sassy" by critics. Her vocal performance in the song was described as conversational, half-sung half-rapped, "talk-over-the-beat" styled further conveying spontaneity and truth-telling. Her singing is further ornamented by Arabic-scale vocal arpeggios. Beyoncé's vocal performance in the song has been noted for containing a flow similar to rappers Drake and 2 Chainz. "The Verge"s Trent Wolbe felt that the song featured Animal Collective-esque vocal filtering.


title: Drunk in Love

text: On the bridge, Beyoncé sings about having drunken sex in the kitchen: "We woke up in the kitchen saying / How the hell did this shit happen / Oh baby, drunk in love, we be all night / Last thing I remember is our beautiful bodies grinding off in that club". The second verse of the song is half-rapped by her. Jay-Z later appears to provide his rapped verse as he relates having aggressive sex to Mike Tyson who was convicted of rape in 1992. Tyson also bit off a piece of Evander Holyfield's ear during a boxing match in 1997 which Jay-Z references: "Catch a charge I might / beat the box up like Mike / In '97 I bite." He then compares his relationship with Beyoncé to that of Ike Turner and Tina Turner. He forgoes subtlety as he raps, "Foreplay in a foyer, fucked up my Warhol/ Slid the panties right to the side/ Ain't got the time to take drawers off on sight... your breasteses is my breakfast". Similarly to Beyoncé, Jay-Z sings about the places they have had sex in their house. During his lines, he raps about "reppin' that Third", a reference to the Third Ward area located in Houston.


title: Drunk in Love

text: In 2014, Hungarian Romani folk singer Mónika Juhász Miczura alleged Beyoncé, Jay Z and Timbaland had used samples of her singing "Bajba, Bajba Pelem" without compensating her. Mitsou was seeking unspecified damages and an end to distribution of the song. The lawsuit was dismissed in 2015, in a ruling that said that the song was a "constitutionally protected work of art" and the New York Civil Rights Law did not apply to it.


title: Drunk in Love

text: The song garnered universal acclaim. Mikael Wood of the "Los Angeles Times" wrote that Beyoncé "trades terrifically raunchy come-ons with Jay Z [on 'Drunk in Love']; it's like an NC-17 sequel to their 2003 smash 'Crazy in Love'". Rob Sheffield of "Rolling Stone" chose the "sex song" as the album's best one, commenting that it is a "superb duet". Jon Dolan from the same publication also chose it as the album's best further comparing it with "Crazy in Love" with "100 percent more drunkenness". Andrew Hampp of "Billboard" called the track a "potential smash" as he praised its appeal to R&B radio stations and its "infectious, wailing of 'loooove' on the chorus". He also commended Beyoncé's and Jay-Z's rapped verses. Andrew Barker from "Variety" wrote in his review of "Beyoncé", "a radio-ready pop single [is] buried somewhere within the Jay Z feature 'Drunk In Love,' yet Beyonce and Boots embellish it with enough strange grace notes and recitatives to create a much stranger monster than one might expect". Joey Guerra from the "Houston Chronicle" stated that Beyoncé was in "a fluid swagger" in "Drunk in Love".


title: Drunk in Love

text: Jody Rosen writing for Vulture described the song as an "appealing" record and one of the best collaborations between the duo throughout their careers. He concluded that "Jay's rap is goofy but not embarrassing." Nick Catucci of "Entertainment Weekly" termed Beyoncé's rap as "truculent" and noted that "Drunk in Love" is one of the few songs of the album that displays scale-busting. Kitty Empire of "The Observer" wrote that "Drunk in Love" finds Beyoncé "rapping lasciviously and making eyes at her husband. It's about 100 times better than that description allows for." Julia Leconte from "Now" praised the singer's "perfect" growling vocals. Chris Kelly of FACT magazine dubbed the song as the "requisite duet with Jay Z (whose Ike Turner-referencing verse caps off a year of cringeworthy efforts)". Pitchfork Media's Carrie Battan felt that the lines in which Beyoncé ad-libbed "surfboard" were "some of the most infectious snippets of pop music in 2013", elaborating "the single word serving as both shorthand for woman-on-top and a neat summation of an entire era of trends in rap cadence". Greg Kot of the "Chicago Tribune" described the track as a "frisky reverie". Likewise, Evan Rytlewski of "The A.V. Club" wrote:


title: Drunk in Love

text: The D'Angelo-indebted grind session 'Rocket' and frisky 'Drunk In Love' are similarly sexy, but they're not sexy like a glamour shot or a steamy video. They're sexy like an overeager, pre-shower quickie, or a hushed morning make-out session before the baby wakes up. These are the most unapologetically raunchy songs she's ever sung, and in many ways also the most romantic.


title: Drunk in Love

text: Philip Matusavage of "musicOMH" noted that though "Drunk in Love" does not have a chorus, it absolutely manages to be "thrilling", further writing that it is "packed with ideas and touches" which listeners would understand after repeated listens. Anupa Mistry of "Spin" considered the song to be one of "Beyoncé"s "elbows-up boom-trap anthems... ready to soundtrack both dive-bar antics and bottle-service quasi-sophistication." Philip Cosores of "Paste" highlighted that the track was highly evocative but found its lyrics to be "half-baked at best". Ryan Dennehy of "AbsolutePunk" wrote that "unconditional love has to be reciprocated to explain Jay Z's odious verse on 'Drunk in Love'". "Stereogum"s Tom Breihan criticized Jay-Z's "pretty bad" verse in the song. Philadelphia Media Network writer Dan DeLuca panned "Drunk in Love" as "Beyoncé"s biggest "misstep" due to Jay-Z's contribution.


title: Drunk in Love

text: Although being praised by media outlets, "Drunk in Love" sparked controversy for its lyrics referencing domestic violence. On the song, Jay-Z rapped the lyrics "I'm Ike, Turner, turn up / Baby no I don't play / Now eat the cake, Anna Mae / I said eat the cake, Anna Mae" which alludes to Tina Turner's abusive relationship with her former husband, Ike Turner. The lyric specifically refers to a scene from Tina Turner's biopic "What's Love Got to Do with It" (1993) in which Ike forced Tina to eat cake by pushing a piece of cake in her face. That particular scene was fabricated, but the film is loosely based on Tina Turner's real-life experience with a volatile husband. "Rolling Stone"s Rob Sheffield described the reference as "tasteless" in his review of the song and "The Guardian" writer Tshepo Mokoena called the song's lyrics "disturbing" and "distasteful". British radio station Bang Radio aired an edited version of the song excluding the lyrics.


title: Drunk in Love

text: In the annual Pazz and Jop mass critics poll of the year's best in music in 2013, "Drunk in Love" was ranked at number 162. The following year, "Drunk in Love" was ranked at number 21 on the same critics' poll. In 2014, the writers of "Pitchfork" placed the song at number 44 on their list of the 200 best songs of the decade so far, with editor Carrie Battan writing, "Someday, it will be heard as a brilliant ruse, a masterpiece of pop theater, or as simply a masterpiece, period." "Rolling Stone" ranked "Drunk in Love" at number one on its year-end list of the best songs in 2014. The magazine's writers described it as a "future-pop fantasy" and "the sexiest thing on the radio", further praising the singers for making "marriage sound ridiculously hot". By the end of 2019, the same magazine would list "Drunk in Love" as the 22nd best song of the 2010s, while "NME" would place it at number 59 on their decade-end countdown.


title: Drunk in Love

text: The song was nominated for Top R&B Song at the 2014 "Billboard" Music Awards. At the 2014 BET Awards, it won Best Collaboration and was nominated for Viewer's Choice, losing to "I Luv This Shit" by August Alsina and Trinidad James. At the 2014 Soul Train Music Awards, "Drunk in Love" was nominated in the category for Song of the Year. The track won two Grammy awards, in the categories for Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards in 2015.


title: Drunk in Love

text: In the US, "Drunk in Love" debuted at number 48 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart dated December 28, 2013. It was also the greatest gainer, with a 3.4 million audience impressions across 46 reporters. For the week ending January 4, 2014, the song soared to number nine on the airplay chart and went on to debut at number two on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, the singer's highest debut on that chart with 61,000 downloads and 23.3 million audience impressions. Being attributed the greatest airplay gainer for the third consecutive week, the single moved to number six on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart. "Drunk in Love" topped the chart for the week ending February 1, 2014, becoming Beyoncé's sixth number-one song on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart. It spent eight consecutive weeks atop the chart. "Drunk in Love" also became Beyoncé's seventh number-one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and eighth number-one on the Rhythmic Songs chart.


title: Drunk in Love

text: On the "Billboard" Hot 100, "Drunk in Love" debuted at number 12 for the week ending January 4, 2014 and equalled the performance of Beyoncé's 2006 single, "Ring the Alarm", for her highest debut position on the chart until 2016's "Formation". Following the couple's performance of the single at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, it climbed to a new peak of number two (behind the Katy Perry single "Dark Horse"), becoming Beyoncé's first top 10 single since "Telephone" (2010) and her highest-charting song since "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" (2008). "Drunk in Love" became her fifteenth top-ten Hot 100 single as a solo artist. The song spent eight consecutive weeks in the top ten and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in April. In August 2022, "Drunk In Love" was certified six-times platinum by the RIAA denoting sales and streams of six million copies in the US, digital sales and streams included, making it Beyoncé's best selling single of the 2010s decade. On the Canadian Hot 100, the single peaked at number 22 and was certified platinum by Music Canada for sales of 80,000 copies in that country.


title: Drunk in Love

text: The song debuted at number 57 on the UK Singles Chart and number six on the UK R&B Singles Chart for the issue dated December 28, 2013. It eventually peaked at numbers nine and three respectively in February 2014; it marked Beyoncé's seventeenth top 10 single on the UK Singles Chart as a solo artist. "Drunk in Love" was certified double platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on January 14, 2022, for sales and streams of 1,200,000 units in the UK, making it Beyoncé's fifth best selling song in the region and her biggest seller of the decade. On the Irish Singles Chart, the song reached number 10 on February 6, 2014. It debuted at number 35 on the French Singles Chart on December 28, 2013, and peaked at number 9 on March 1, 2014. The single marks Beyoncé's longest charting song in that country, spending a total of 58 weeks since its debut.


title: Drunk in Love

text: On the New Zealand Singles Chart, "Drunk in Love" debuted at number 40 on January 13, 2014, and peaked at number seven on February 10, 2014, becoming Beyoncé's sixteenth top-ten single in New Zealand. It was certified Gold by Recorded Music NZ (RMNZ) in 2014 for selling 7,500 digital copies. On the ARIA Singles Chart in Australia, the song peaked at number 22, receiving a triple platinum certification by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) in 2021 for sales of 210,000 copies. For the week ending December 21, 2013, "Drunk in Love" debuted at its peak position of number 25 on the South Korea Gaon International Chart with digital sales of 5,608 copies. The single managed to top the airplay singles chart in South Africa on the Entertainment Monitoring Africa Airplay Chart on February 18, 2014.


title: Drunk in Love

text: The video was filmed on August 15, 2013, in Golden Beach, Florida at a beach front manse that Beyoncé rented out for the shoot. It was directed by Hype Williams and shot in black-and-white; the clip depicts Beyoncé and Jay-Z "madly in love". The black-and-white shoot was meant to reference the work of fashion photographer Herb Ritts. Talking about the video in an iTunes Radio session, Beyoncé said, "The shoot was extremely effortless and spontaneous and we completely captured the energy of the song." She also went on to say that it was the most organic shoot she had ever done and further added: "I wanted to carry this idea of being in the moment and embracing mistakes and effortlessness into the video. I wish every video was like 'Drunk [in Love]'." The clip was first released on the iTunes Store on the visual album itself on December 13, 2013, which contained a previously filmed music video for every song and was later uploaded to Beyoncé's Vevo channel three days later, on December 16, 2013.


title: Drunk in Love

text: The visual is almost six and a half minutes long. As the video begins, waves are seen crashing on a night time beach. Nearly a minute later, Beyoncé appears; she is strolling on a beach at night and she seemingly carries a massive trophy while an eerie music is playing in the background. Sporting a sheer negligee that reveals her bra and panties beneath, she twists her body in the sand. The singer also dances seductively against a backdrop of smoke and mouths the song's lyrics, staring at the camera. Beyoncé is later joined by husband Jay-Z, who is wearing a T-shirt and a backwards baseball cap. He raps with his eyes down holding a glass with alcohol in his hand while Beyoncé mouths the words behind him, smiling. The last seconds of the video show Beyoncé dancing and it concludes with close-up shots of the singer's face.


title: Drunk in Love

text: On a review of the clip, Kory Glow of "Rolling Stone" wrote, "The video, as metaphorical as it is, perfectly captures the feeling of the track." A writer for DJ Booth described the video as an "equally steamy cinematic accompaniment" to the song. Carrie Battan of "Pitchfork" commented that the video "brings the #surfboard line into clear focus". "Vanity Fair" writer Michelle Collins described the scene where the singer sings the line "surfboard" as hilarious. An editor writing for "Rap-Up" commended the "intoxicating visuals". "USA Today"s Elysa Gardner felt that the clip was "sultry" showing the pair "romp and caress on a beach, recalling a night of connubial bliss that lasted into morning" as the song's lyrics. Gerrick D. Kennedy from the "Los Angeles Times" interpreted the scenes showing the trophy as representing the singer as a "trophy wife". Joe Lynch of Fuse compared Beyoncé's dancing in the sand with Madonna's visual for "Cherish" (1989). Brent DiCrescenzo of the magazine "Time Out" also felt that the video for "Cherish" strongly influenced the video for "Drunk in Love".


title: Drunk in Love

text: Jon Dolan from "Rolling Stone" described the video as the second most NSFW from the whole album. An editor from the website Consequence of Sound described Beyoncé's dancing as an R-rated version of Bo Derek's role in the film "10" (1978). In her review, "Toronto Star"s Malene Arpe called the video "porny". HitFix reviewer Whitney Phaneuf felt that Beyoncé was looking in the camera with pure lust concluding that when Jay-Z appears later, "it's clear that her gaze has been fixed on him". Claire Lobenfeld from "Complex" felt that the pair "get wet and wild" in the video further elaborating, "For an album that is rooted in love, marriage, and sex, unleashing a video featuring her and her husband frolicking euphorically on the beach is the best first taste." "Slate"s Forrest Wickman called the clip one of the simplest on the album and noted, "It's not the album's peak, musically or visually, but unconstrained by heavy choreography... it legitimately looks like they're having fun." Maura Johnston of "Spin" placed the video at number 5 on the magazine's list of the best music videos in 2013 saying that it was a "worthy addition" to the collaborations between Beyoncé and Jay-Z.


title: Drunk in Love

text: The video was nominated in the categories for Best Female Video and Best R&B Video at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards Japan. It was also nominated for Video of the Year at the 2014 BET Awards. At the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards the video was nominated in the categories for Video of the Year and Best Collaboration, eventually winning the latter. At the 2014 Soul Train Music Awards the clip was nominated in the category for Video of the Year.


title: Drunk in Love

text: On January 26, 2014, the couple opened the 56th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, performing the song live together for the first time. The performance opened with Beyoncé sporting wet-look hair in a leotard and a leather basque, sitting on a chair with her back to the audience. She continued seductively dancing cabaret-style, singing and gyrating on the dark stage surrounded by smoke. Jay-Z appeared to rap his verses dressed in a suit and bow tie. The sexually-charged performance ended with a kiss and the two walked off with their arms around each other. Beyoncé's chair dance received comparisons with scenes from the movie "Flashdance", the song's music video and the video for "Partition"; VH1's Emily Exton felt that it was one of the best chair dances of all time. The duet was described as "scorching" and "chill inducing" with many critics considering the performance to be a show highlight; Lily Harrison of E! added that the pair "set the bar impossibly high". A "Rolling Stone" editor felt it was "near flawless". Nadeska Alexis writing for MTV News noted that when the singer started singing the first verses of the song, "you could almost taste the aroma of sex appeal in the air". A negative review came from Beverly Beckham of "The Boston Globe" who felt that the pair failed to showcase love in the lyrics and performance.


title: Drunk in Love

text: The performance sparked criticisms from some parents on social media who believed the performance was "provocative" and "inappropriate" due to its risqué nature; Melissa Henson, a representative of the Parents Television Council said in a statement that the performance was "suggestive" before adding, "We have seen pretty consistently enough inappropriate material [on awards shows lately], that a lot of parents have written these off." Contrastingly, writing for "ThinkProgress", Alyssa Rosenberg said of the controversy: "This may not be the vision of marriage conservatives intended to try to promote [but] if marriage is a product that conservatives desperately want to sell, the smartest thing they could do right now is to hire Beyoncé and Jay-Z as a product spokescouple... they made marriage look fun, and sexy, and a source of mutual professional fulfillment." On public reaction to the sexual performance, Lavanya Ramanathan of "The Washington Post" wrote: "The Internet exploded, and it's not surprising. This is a couple who sat separately at awards ceremonies when they were dating several years ago." On February 1, 2014, the couple performed the song again during Jay Z's performance at the DirecTv pre-Super Bowl party. Christopher R. Weingarten of "Rolling Stone" referred to the pair's chemistry as the highlight of the event and said the performance was "smiles and hugs and laughs, with one of the most famous rappers in the world gladly playing hypeman" in contrast to the Grammy performance. Nekesa Mumbi Moody writing for the Associated Press felt that it was the set's highlight. At the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards on August 25, 2014, Beyoncé performed "Drunk in Love" live during a medley consisting of songs from her self-titled album. The performance featured the singer dressed in a bejeweled bodysuit and a singalong from the audience. She started the performance on a set of steps, with numerous dancers in headstands around her and went to the stage afterwards. Nadeska Alexis from MTV News commented that when the song opened, "the crowd really started to lose their composure". Writers of "The Hollywood Reporter" described the song's performance as "booty-popping".


title: Drunk in Love

text: The song was added to the set list and performed live during the second European leg of The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour in February and March 2014. For the performance, Beyoncé danced on a chair in a catsuit as kaleidoscope of lights illuminated her. Digital Spy's Robert Copsey felt that the track became a stadium sing-along like the other hits performed by the singer. Kitty Empire of "The Observer" wrote that the singer's ad libs made listeners feel like she "got tipsy and had the hots for her husband". Jay-Z joined her on stage to perform the song together at all six London shows of the leg, as well as at the final tour stop in Lisbon. A professionally recorded live performance of the song with Jay-Z from the tour aired on August 4, 2014, on "Beyonce: X10", an HBO series documenting renditions of the song performed during The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour. Erin Strecker from "Billboard" felt that the choreography from the performance was "instantly iconic". Anna Silman of Variety praised the singer's different sparkling costumes and noted that overally, the rendition was "as sultry and showstopping as you'd imagine". "Drunk in Love" was part of the set list of Beyoncé and Jay-Z's co-headlining On the Run Tour (2014). For the performance of the song, Beyoncé performed a chair dance and was accompanied by Jay-Z for his part which contained a short snippet of Kanye West's "On Sight". While reviewing the opening concert of the tour, Rebecca Thomas writing for MTV News described the performance of the song as "intoxicating".


title: Drunk in Love

text: The popularity of the song has led to several remixes. In December 2013, American singer Rico Love and American rapper Plies released a remix of "Drunk in Love" in which they sang about their sex experiences. On January 16, 2014, English musician James Blake debuted a remix of the song on BBC Radio 1 using his alter ego Harmonimix considerably altering Beyoncé's voice. Future utilized Auto-Tune on his version of the song, which he released in late January 2014. At BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge, American rapper Angel Haze performed "Drunk in Love", substituting Jay Z's verses with new lines that discuss empowerment and braggadocio. She later released a studio version in April leaving some vocals by Beyoncé from the original; this version was noted for containing more aggression than her live rendition.


title: Drunk in Love

text: On January 27, 2014, DJ MeLo-X performed a remix with visuals at Sean Kelly Gallery in New York City. A video of the remix, titled "Drunk in Lust", was uploaded to YouTube as part of MeLo-X's five-song EP of unauthorized Beyoncé remixes called "Yoncé-X". Beyoncé's label asked repeatedly for the remixes to be taken offline, but MeLo-X kept uploading them to new host sites. Eventually, Beyoncé herself watched "Drunk in Lust", and invited MeLo-X to collaborate with Jay-Z on their On the Run Tour. This led to further collaborations on her "Lemonade" album and subsequent tour.


title: Drunk in Love

text: On February 13, 2014, Detail released a seven-minute version of the song on which he worked for three weeks. It was titled "Drunken Love" and it included unreleased audio elements from the recording of the original song from which several variables of it existed. Pitchfork Media's Carrie Battan described his version as "chopped-up, stretched out, cathedral-ready". On February 14, 2014, American rapper Kanye West, frequent collaborator of Jay-Z, released the official remix of "Drunk in Love", featuring an explicit verse by himself and a slightly modified instrumental produced by Mike Dean. In his lines, West rapped about his wife Kim Kardashian and referenced the video for his own song, "Bound 2" (2013). A day after the release of the remix, Beyoncé uploaded a 30-second clip in which she played a cowgirl corralling horses as West's vocals played in the background. Miriam Coleman of "Rolling Stone" felt that West's rework was an "even raunchier spin on the already-adult-themed song". The remix version was later included on the track listing of the platinum edition of "Beyoncé", released on November 24, 2014. Diplo produced an EDM-influenced remix of the song, which he released on February 15, 2014. Canadian singer The Weeknd and American rapper T.I. both released their respective remixes on the same date; the former's version featured lyrics about drug use and corruption. On February 18, 2014, American rapper Cassidy released a song titled "Surfboard", with the tag "Drunk in Love G-Mix", which heavily samples "Drunk in Love". On December 18, 2014, Tiësto released a remix of the song after playing it in DJ sets a few months earlier.


title: Drunk in Love

text: English singer Katy B performed a medley of "Drunk in Love" and Tinashe's "Vulnerable" during Rinse FM sessions at London's Metropolis Studios in late February 2014. Sevyn Streeter covered the song live during a concert in March. Ed Sheeran also performed an acoustic cover version on the "Elvis Duran and the Morning Show" broadcast on April 11 and on 4Music on May 9, 2014. He had sung the beginning of the song for several seconds the month before during "On Air with Ryan Seacrest" and decided to fully cover it following fan demands. Alternative rock band Grouplove performed a rock-infused cover of the song at the 2014 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. The writers of "Billboard" magazine described it as "earnest and uneven". Rita Ora covered "Drunk in Love" on May 25, 2014, during Radio 1's Big Weekend in Glasgow and on the French television show "Le Before du Grand Journal" the following day. In July 2014, Sia performed a cover of the song along with Ed Sheeran and Grouplove on the second episode of VH1's SoundClash. During her performance at the G-A-Y club in London in April 2014, British singer Lily Allen appeared wearing a black bikini and a blond wig emulating Beyoncé's look from the song's video, lip-syncing the lyrics for a drag performance. She appeared on the stage with a trophy in her hand, getting spilled with water from a bucket and danced in a similar way to the singer. Several media outlets and fans on social media alike called it a "mocking" of Beyoncé which Allen further denied on Twitter. For the album 'BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge 2014', singer Angel Haze recorded an acoustic cover of the song, including Jay Z's rap verses. The cover was highly praised by music critics. American rapper Liv included the "surfboard" line in her diss track "Sorry Mrs. Carter". Ariana Bacle of "Entertainment Weekly" described the reference as "a (disapproving) nod" to the original song, while "The Daily Beast"s Amy Zimmerman praised Liv for criticizing the effectiveness of Beyoncé's analogy. The mathcore band Oceans Ate Alaska covered "Drunk in Love" in 2014 for the compilation Punk Goes Pop Vol. 6.


title: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra

text: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra (born 7 July 1963) is an Indian film director, occasional actor and screenwriter. He is best known for writing and directing "Rang De Basanti" (2006) and "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag" (2013). He is the writer and director of the films "Aks" (2001) and "Delhi-6" (2009).


title: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra

text: He was born on 7 July 1963 in Delhi. His father worked for the "Claridges" hotel in New Delhi. He was a part of the selection camp as a swimmer in the 1982 Asian Games held at New Delhi but was not selected in the final round. He studied at Air Force Bal Bharati School in Delhi.


title: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra

text: In 1992, Mehra married film editor, P. S. Bharathi. The couple have a daughter, Bhairavi, and a son named Vedant.


title: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra

text: Mehra criticised the vote-bank politics behind the introduction of the Mandal Commission by VP Singh, and said it inspired him to pen the script of "Rang De Basanti".


title: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra

text: Mehra has criticised India's education system as being too marks-driven, without any emphasis on actual achievement. Ridiculing the system, he said: "We'd started work on "96.7", till I realised it had become redundant, and I should work on a subject called 100%. It was about the education system. Perhaps I'll make it once I understand the whole system... perhaps my views are very lopsided right now. But the seeds have been sown,". He further added: "Imagine if Shakespeare goes to DU (Delhi University) and he's told, 'We can't take you based on stories you've written as your marksheet isn't that cool.' Or if a Leonardo, or Rabindranath Tagore goes there, and writes something called "Gitanjali" and they tell him, 'Mr Tagore, it's nice to write things such as 'Where the head is held high', but where is your marksheet?"


title: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra

text: Mehra started off by selling vacuum cleaners for Eureka Forbes. In 1986, he established Flicks Motion Picture Company Private Limited, starting his career as an advertisement film maker. He directed scores of television commercials for Indian and international clients, including Coke, Pepsi, Toyota, American Express and BPL. He has also directed music videos such as "Aby Baby" starring Amitabh Bachchan.


title: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra

text: Mehra then gradually transited from being an ad-film maker to a feature film maker. In June 2001, his company released its first full-length feature film titled "Aks", starring Amitabh Bachchan. Directed by Mehra, "Aks" was critically acclaimed for Bachchan's performance, but did not do well at the box office.


title: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra

text: Mehra's second film, which he produced and directed, was "Rang De Basanti." Released in 2006, it starred Aamir Khan and Soha Ali Khan. Mehra received much acclaim for the film, winning award for Best Director at the 2006 Filmfare Award and National Film Award as well as a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. The film was also officially chosen as India's entry to the Oscars.


title: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra

text: Mehra's third release, again produced and directed by him, was "Delhi-6" (2009), starring Abhishek Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor, Om Puri, Waheeda Rehman, and Atul Kulkarni. The film got lukewarm critical response and its performance at the box office was also very lukewarm.


title: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra

text: Mehra then produced (but did not direct) the film "Teen They Bhai" (2011). Directed by debutant Mrighdeep Lamba, it was a story about three brothers who keep fighting amongst themselves. The film neither won any critical acclaim nor did well at the box-office, and was an all-round disaster.


title: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra

text: Mehra's next directorial venture was the biopic "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag" (2013) starring Farhan Akhtar as Milkha Singh, the legendary Indian sprinter. The film, which was produced by a consortium of several producers, was a major commercial and critical success, the second of Mehra's career.


title: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra

text: Mehra's latest film is "Mirzya" (2016), a contemporary retelling of the tragic love story of Mirza & Sahiba. Set in Rajasthan, the film marked the debut of two newcomers, namely Harshvardhan Kapoor (son of actor Anil Kapoor) as Mirzya, and Saiyami Kher, granddaughter of veteran actress Usha Kiran, as Sahiba. Gulzar emerged from a long hiatus to write the screenplay of the film, and Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy were entrusted with the music direction. Released on 7 October 2016, "Mirzya" proved to be an unmitigated disaster at the box office. Made on a budget of Rs.35 crore (350 million), its total collections over a two-week period amounted to less than Rs.10 crore (100 million). The film, which had been in the planning since at least 2009, and was made over a three-year period, ran for only one week in most theatres, losing nearly all its screens at the end of that period.


title: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra

text: Mere Pyare Prime Minister is the other film which has been directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra himself and it is written by Manoj Mairta. It is about an 8-year-old boy wanting to build a toilet for his mother.


title: Alistair Smythe

text: Alistair Alphonso Smythe () is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is usually depicted as an enemy of the superhero Spider-Man, and the son of Spencer Smythe. After his father dedicated his life to eliminating Spider-Man and died as a result, Alistair inherited his Spider-Slayer legacy and developed a hatred for the web-slinger. He turned to a life of crime to exact revenge on Spider-Man, and created a new generation of Spider-Slayers to kill him, but this only resulted in Alistair getting paralyzed from the waist down. Later, he encased his body in a bioorganic carapace that allowed him to walk again, in addition to giving him superpowers, and adopted the alias of the Ultimate Spider-Slayer.


title: Alistair Smythe

text: The character has been adapted from the comics into several forms of media, including animated series and video games. Actor B.J. Novak played Alistair Smythe in the 2014 film "The Amazing Spider-Man 2". IGN ranked him as Spider-Man's 9th greatest enemy.


title: Alistair Smythe

text: Alistair Smythe first appeared in "The Amazing Spider-Man" "Annual" #19 (November 1985), and was created by Louise Simonson and Mary Wilshire. He died in "The Superior Spider-Man" #13 (September 2013).


title: Alistair Smythe

text: The Spider-Slayers were a series of robots that sought to destroy Spider-Man. The initial generation of Spider-Slayers were created by his father Spencer Smythe. After Spencer failed to kill Spider-Man—and ended up dying as a result of prolonged exposure to the radioactive samples involved—Alistair inherited his father's legacy and gained a new-found hatred toward Spider-Man. His initial attempt, however, failed when, in a rather humorous misunderstanding, he mistook Mary Jane Watson for Spider-Man; playing along with it to give Peter Parker time to come up with a plan while Mary Jane used a super-powered suit designed by aliens until he was defeated by the real wall-crawler. He initially worked for the Kingpin but left in disagreement over how to deal with Spider-Man and went solo.


title: Alistair Smythe

text: After being confined in an asylum, Alistair released himself and took several other inmates with him in order to construct a new series of Spider-Slayers that tracked Spider-Man across the city. With a plan of revenge, he forced the inmates to assist him in the machines' construction. After sending a series of slayers after Spider-Man (and all of their inevitable destruction with assistance from others including Scorpion and the Black Cat), Alistair lured Spider-Man to his residence for one final battle. In order to defeat Spider-Man on his own, Alistair enhanced himself by encasing his entire body in a bioorganic carapace that not only served as a full body armour, but increased his strength and gave him the ability to walk again by interconnecting with his spine. The physical structure of the carapace gave Alistair bird-like talons for feet; a long, curved blade-like weapon jutting from each shoulder; a pair of smaller, jagged blade weapons on each forearm; and a specially made web-shooter that fires from the forearm area. Eventually, Spider-Man defeated Alistair and made sure he'd been taken to custody as well as the other asylum inmates who survived the ordeal.


title: Alistair Smythe

text: During Scarlet Spider's brief stint as sole web-slinger in town, Smythe (still carapaced as the Ultimate Spider-Slayer) started a war utilizing a new set of slayers he intended to sell on the black market. These Cyber-Slayers, which could be controlled remotely by turning one's thoughts into the slayers' actions, were initially targeted at Lady Octopus and her crew. The Scarlet Spider ended up in the middle of things and temporarily allied with the Cyber-Slayers, a fact that did not go over well with Smythe.


title: Alistair Smythe

text: Smythe, no longer in his carapace but with his ability to walk restored by his earlier use of it, found his way outside prison and sought revenge on both Spider-Man and J. Jonah Jameson for the death of his father. He coerced Jameson to alter the stories in the "Daily Bugle" or else he'd kill his wife and son John Jameson. Once Spider-Man caught on to Smythe's trail, he followed it back to the Bugle where Smythe assaulted him with recreated versions of every spider-slayer ever sent after Spider-Man in the past plus a pair of new creations—a miniature model designed to latch onto Spider-Man's face and penetrate his mind through use of radiation and a larger six-armed model arguably stronger than any other created. While attached to Spider-Man's head, the miniature spider-slayer psionically connected to Spidey's mind, copied thoughts of his loved ones, and broadcast that information to all the other mini-slayers. Smythe gave Spider-Man the choice of either stopping them or preventing the six-armed slayer from destroying Jameson. Spider-Man eventually shut down all the spider-slayers at the same time, but it was Jameson who beat Smythe to the verge of death with a baseball bat for threatening his family. Smythe made another return in which he used a poisonous spider he made and attacked John Jameson and caused him to end up in the hospital.


title: Alistair Smythe

text: During the "" storyline, Alistair Smythe returns with a new metallic body armor and is hunting down all of J. Jonah Jameson's friends and family. He decides to seek out Mac Gargan for help, who is currently locked away in jail. Posing as a scientist, Smythe infiltrates the Raft and makes off with Gargan. He then performs a cybernetic operation on him, turning him into a cyborg Scorpion, and convinces him to join his crusade against Jameson. At this point, Smythe has amassed a small army of cyborg minions, all of whom want revenge on Jameson. Smythe, Scorpion, and a new villain named Fly-Girl lead their army to attack the site of John Jameson's latest space mission, sabotaging the launch and holding John for ransom. Smythe's new plan was to kill all those close to Jameson, but not to kill Jameson himself so Jameson could feel the same suffering that he did losing his father. Smythe's actions get Jameson's wife Dr. Marla Jameson killed, as well as seemingly permanently negating Spider-Man's spider-sense when a device Spider-Man designed to overload a link between Smythe's current Slayers also damaged his spider-sense. J. Jonah Jameson plans to have the death penalty given to Alistair Smythe for what happened to Marla.


title: Alistair Smythe

text: During the "Spider-Island" storyline, J. Jonah Jameson brings Alistair Smythe from Ryker's Island to demand his help in resolving the spider-flu plague transforming ordinary citizens into Homo Arachnis. Alistair Smythe laughed at the irony of how Jameson has gained spider powers. At the moment, Jameson transforms and seriously wounds Smythe by biting a chunk out of his neck.


title: Alistair Smythe

text: Despite his injuries, Alistair Smythe is seen alive and well as a prisoner in the Raft. Alistair Smythe is a witness of the escape of Doctor Octopus (who has secretly swapped his mind with Spider-Man) and is denied to join up with him.


title: Alistair Smythe

text: Mayor J. Jonah Jameson later calls in the Superior Spider-Man (Otto Octavius's in Spider-Man's body as a hero) to help oversee the execution of Alistair Smythe and ensure that he does not escape. Smythe tries to taunt the Superior Spider-Man by mentioning Marla Jameson's death, but he brushes him off. Mayor Jameson and Superior Spider-Man, alongside Jameson's assistant Glory Grant, and "Daily Bugle" reporter Norah Jones watch the procedure of Smythe's execution while he claims to be a "better person". The Superior Spider-Man tries to reply that no one would buy that, only to stop himself once he remembers that he just pulled that trick. Just as Smythe's execution begins, a swarm of mini Spider-Slayers attack the place allowing Smythe to move freely. However, they are counteracted by Otto's Spider-Bots. Smythe attempts to escape, but he finds out that Otto has prepared himself for every method of escape he may try, prompting Smythe to shift his plan to kill Spider-Man for which he was also prepared. The mini Spider-Slayers enter the infirmary where they surround Boomerang, Vulture, and Scorpion. The mini Spider-Slayers heal and enhance them where they get one request from Smythe to kill Superior Spider-Man.


title: Alistair Smythe

text: Superior Spider-Man is seen fighting Smythe and is mocking him for being weak in comparison to his father Spencer Smythe. When Superior Spider-Man says that he has called the Avengers for backup, Smythe states that he has his own backup as Boomerang, Scorpion, and Vulture show up. Superior Spider-Man admits that the Mini-Slayers were clever but inadvertently reveals that his countermeasures are being powered by the Raft's Power Generators distracting him at the revelation. Smythe takes the upper hand until he is narrowly shot down by Mayor Jameson disguised as a Raft guard. Superior Spider-Man hunts Smythe through his comm system only to discover that he did the same trick and informed his allies (all heading for a full front assault against Superior Spider-Man) who tries to convince them that Smythe is using them and will take back their enhancements once he has out. All of them agree that even though that might happen, they will make the best of the situation against him. Smythe manages to reach the Raft's generators, destroying them to shut down the power in the entire island, allowing the Lizard to escape. Once Smythe tries to escape, Superior Spider-Man reminds him about the emergency generators. Smythe warns Superior Spider-Man that just like he does with his Spider-Bots, he can see through his Mini-Slayers catching up on Mayor Jameson and the trapped civilians sending their locations to the group. Scorpion rejects it at first, but is easily convinced once Smythe tells him that one of his targets is Mayor Jameson himself. After Boomerang is defeated, Smythe warns Superior Spider-Man that he is still caught in a predicament since Scorpion is heading to his personal vengeance against Jameson and Vulture is ready to kill the group of civilians so he must make a choice only to be surprised when Superior Spider-Man replies that he will not follow any of them. Instead, Superior Spider-Man determined to complete his mission of slaying him.


title: Alistair Smythe

text: Superior Spider-Man succeeds in killing Smythe, but only his physical body, as his robotic components keep his mind intact. Smythe then tries to transfer his mind into Superior Spider-Man's body, but since Otto his corpse, with his mind intact, attacks the survivors, disarming the guards. Superior Spider-Man tackles Smythe and they fall onto the shore below, Smythe attempts to transfer his mind into Superior Spider-Man, however, Superior Spider-Man had already done this and equipped the mask with armored plating. Before Alistair dies, Superior Spider-Man taunts him by revealing being Otto and that Otto already beat the true Spider-Man to the mind transfer. His body is presumably carried away.


title: Alistair Smythe

text: During the "" storyline, Doctor Octopus' conscious in an Octobot infiltrates New U Technologies and finds that the Jackal has obtained the body of Alistair. Jackal managed to make a clone of Alistair alongside his father.


title: Alistair Smythe

text: Alistair Smythe is a gifted scientist specializing in robotics, cybernetics, and genetics. His most notable inventions are the Spider-Slayers, robots built for an express purpose of capturing or killing Spider-Man. Though the creation/idea for these formerly came from his father, he have made advances/improvements on the originals. The current generations are extremely sophisticated, formidable, and often operates in groups. He is also tactically skilled in his deployment of them.


title: Alistair Smythe

text: Later, he invented a bioorganic carapace that serves as full body armor. It gave him increased strength and the ability to walk again by interfacing with his spinal cord. It has bird-like talons for feet, a long, curved bladed weapon jutting from each shoulder, and smaller, jagged blades on each forearm. The carapace also has built-in web shooters that fires an adhesive substance from both wrists. While wearing this armor, Alistair was granted enhanced durability, speed, agility, and reflexes, as well as clinging to solid surfaces.


title: Alistair Smythe

text: In the "House of M" reality, a furious J. Jonah Jameson hired Alistair Smythe, an associate of Norman Osborn, to build a Spider-Slayer to get revenge against the Parkers.


title: Telephone exchange names

text: A telephone exchange name or central office name was a distinguishing and memorable name assigned to a central office. It identified the switching system to which a telephone was connected, and facilitated the connection of telephone calls between switching systems in different localities.


title: Telephone exchange names

text: The large cities were served by multiple or many switching systems, either distributed in the community constituting multiple exchange areas, or sometimes hosted in the same building to serve a densely populated area. The leading letters of a central office name were used as the leading components of the telephone number representation, so that each telephone number in the town or city was unique. These letters were mapped to digits, which was indicated visibly on a dial telephone.


title: Telephone exchange names

text: Several systematic telephone numbering plans existed in various communities, typically evolving over time as the subscriber base outgrew older numbering schemes. A widely used numbering plan was a system of using one or two letters from the central office name with four or five digits. Such systems were designated as "2L-4N" or "2L-5N", or simply "2–4" and "2–5", respectively, but some large cities initially selected plans with three letters ("3L-4N"). In 1917, W. G. Blauvelt of AT&T proposed a mapping system that displayed three letters each with the digits 2 through 9 on the dial.


title: Telephone exchange names

text: Telephone directories or other telephone number displays, such as in advertising, typically listed the telephone number showing the significant letters of the central office name in bold capital letters, followed by the digits that identified the subscriber line. On the number card of the telephone instrument, the name was typically shown in full, but only the significant letters to be dialed were capitalized, while the rest of the name was shown in lower case.


title: Telephone exchange names

text: Telephone exchange names were used in many countries, but were phased out in favor of numeric systems by the 1960s. In the United States, the demand for telephone service outpaced the scalability of the alphanumeric system and after introduction of area codes for direct-distance dialing, all-number calling became necessary. Similar developments followed around the world, such as the British all-figure dialling.


title: Telephone exchange names

text: In the early, small telephone networks, it was customary to initiate a connection to another subscriber by requesting the name of desired party from the operator. While this method persisted into the 1920s in very small communities, growth of the business soon made this impractical, and subscriber stations were assigned telephone numbers. Single exchanges ("central offices") were typically named after the municipality or location, so that calls to another town could be easily identified. Cities soon needed additional branch offices some distance from "Central", to accommodate the subscriber base and expanding area, as a single office typically served a maximum of ten thousand telephone numbers. Often, additional central offices might be named by the directions of the compass, "North", "South", "East", and "West". But many cities chose other naming schemes, using locally significant names of districts, parks, or other well-known features, such as "Market". A caller would request a connection to "Market 1234", for example. The selection of central office names was conducted in a careful manner to avoid misunderstanding of the verbal requests.


title: Telephone exchange names

text: For automatic telephone service, impulse senders ("dials") were installed on customer telephones, so that subscribers did not need operators to initiate a call, but simply dial the directory number themselves. This required a digit or letter identification of central offices, so that the central office for the recipient could be "dialed" before the line number. Telephone dials were typically supplemented with letters next to the numerals on the dial, as seen in the right-hand photo, so that a name could be dialed by its first letter, or by multiple letters.


title: Telephone exchange names

text: In the United States, the most-populous cities, such as New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, and Chicago initially implemented dial service with telephone numbers consisting of three letters and four digits ("3L-4N") according to a system developed by W. G. Blauvelt of AT&T in 1917. This system mapped letter of the alphabet to digits on the telephone dial. In 1930, New York City converted to a 2L-5N telephone numbering plan. Most other major Canadian and US cities, such as Toronto and Atlanta, were converted from manual exchanges using four digits to a 2L-4N numbering plan. For example, in Montréal, "ATwater 1234" was dialed as six pulls on the dial ("AT1234") to send the digit sequence "281234". Eventually, starting in the late 1940s, all local numbering plans were changed to the 2L-5N system to prepare for nationwide Operator Toll Dialing. For example, under this system, a well-known number in New York City was listed as PEnnsylvania 6-5000.


title: Telephone exchange names

text: In small towns with a single central office, local calls typically required dialing only four digits at most. A toll call required the assistance of an operator, who asked for the name of the town and the station number. Some independent telephone companies, not part of the Bell System, also did not implement central office names.


title: Telephone exchange names

text: In 1915, newly developed panel switching systems were tested in the Mulberry and Waverly exchanges in Newark, New Jersey. When the technology first appeared in the Mulberry exchange, subscriber telephones had no dials, and placing a call required no change for subscribers—they asked an operator to ring their called party as usual. The operator keyed the number into the panel equipment, instead of making cord connections manually. The panel switch was later, from the early 1920s through the 1930s, installed in large metropolitan areas in the Bell System. By the 1950s twenty cities were served by this type of office.


title: Telephone exchange names

text: Several representations of telephone numbers using central office names capitalized and emboldened the leading letters that were dialed, for example:


title: Telephone exchange names

text: In print, such as on business cards or in advertisements, the central office name was often shown only by two letters:


title: Telephone exchange names

text: If the central office was known by a name, but no letters were dialed, it was common to capitalize only the first letter of the central office without emboldening the first letter, e.g., "Main 600W" or "Fairmont 33". Such numbers were assigned typically in manual offices, and the name would be spoken by a subscriber when requesting a destination. Often these were geographically significant names, such as the town's name.


title: Telephone exchange names

text: In large cities with coexisting manual and dial areas, the numbering was generally standardized to one format. For example, when the last manual exchange in San Francisco was converted to dial in 1953, the numbers had for several years been in the format of JUniper 6-5833. JUniper 4 was an automatic switching system, but JUniper 6 was manual. To call JUniper 6 from JUniper 4, the subscriber dialed the number and it was displayed to the B-board operator at JUniper 6, and that operator would complete the connection manually. In the other direction, to call JUniper 4 from JUniper 6, the subscriber would lift the receiver and speak to the JUniper 4 operator who would in turn dial the JUniper 6 number.


title: Telephone exchange names

text: In the 1940s, the Bell System developed the "nationwide telephone number plan" for Operator Toll Dialing, a system of initially eighty-six numbering plan areas (NPAs) that were assigned the first set of area codes. These were used at first only by switchboard operators to route trunk calls between numbering plan areas, but were the foundation for the North American Numbering Plan, The 2L-5N system for the local directory number became the North American standard Direct long-distance dialing by customers, using the three-digit area code and a seven-digit telephone number, commenced in the 1950s.


title: Telephone exchange names

text: During the 1950s, cities still using five or six-digit numbers converted to the new method of seven-digit dialing. Typically, several six-digit (2L-4N) exchanges were co-located in one building already, with new ones added as old ones had filled up. After the conversion, they may have been combined into a new 2L-5N exchange area. For example, the CHerry, FIllmore, ATwater, and KLondike exchanges might be converted to OXford 1, 3, 6, and 7. Usually customers would keep the same station numbers.


title: Telephone exchange names

text: In 1955, AT&T distributed a list of recommended exchange names that were the result of studies to minimize misunderstandings when spoken. The recommendation was intended for newly established exchanges, and did not mandate any renaming of existing historical names. The number sequences 55"x", 57"x", 95"x", and 97"x" had no exchange names specified, as the mappings for the digits 5, 7, and 9 had no vowels, thus making it difficult to find names with those consonant combinations. As a result, those numbers were very seldom assigned to exchanges; however, KLondike was used for 55x in San Francisco and Columbus, Ohio, and WRigley 5 (975) in Chicago (Wrigley Field). On the telephone dial, letters were mapped to digits using the assignments shown in the table (right).


title: Telephone exchange names

text: The following shows AT&T's recommended list of central office names in 1955, sorted by the three-digit office code, where "x" can be any digit.


title: Telephone exchange names

text: Fictitious phone numbers starting with "55" used the fictitious exchange name KL"ondike" (55). The letters Q and Z were never used in the naming system, but Z was often mapped on the telephone dial to the digit 0 (zero).


title: Telephone exchange names

text: As demand for telephone service grew in the post–World War II period, it was foreseeable that the demand would exceed the addressing capacity of the existing system of using memorable telephone central office names as prefixes in telephone numbers. Several letter combinations had no pronounceable or memorable names and could not be used. Several North American numbering plan areas (NPAs) were divided so that more office codes became available to smaller regions. However, as the growth accelerated, the Bell System decided to implement all-number calling (ANC) and to deprecate the use of central office names to provide more central office codes to each NPA. This extended the usable numbering plan and only two area code splits became necessary between 1962 and 1981. All-number calling was phased in starting in 1958 and most areas had adopted it fully by the mid-1960s. In some areas it did not become universal until the 1980s. The Bell System published and distributed area code handbooks yearly which compiled the towns available for calling using an area code.


title: Telephone exchange names

text: Experiencing significant resistance to all-number calling in many areas, the Bell System employed a strategy of gradual changes to ease the transition for customers, and employed media productions to explain the need and process of change to the public. Originally, directory listings were printed with the central office name spelled out in full. The first stage in the conversion only the dialed letters were printed, as illustrated in this example:


title: Telephone exchange names

text: At this stage, telephone companies had the means to assign letter combinations for central office prefixes that were previously unavailable, thus any set of five- or fewer-digit numbers could be expanded to seven digits, without naming conflicts. Finally, all central office codes were converted to a numerical format, as in the last column of this table:


title: Telephone exchange names

text: The Bell System proceeded to convert named exchanges to all-number calling, starting in smaller communities. No significant opposition arose until conversion began in major cities. In some cities such as San Francisco, opposition was organized; the opposition group in San Francisco was called the Anti Digit Dialing League, of which S. I. Hayakawa was a notable member. The opposition caused AT&T to slow the conversion process, and names continued to be used in cities such as New York, which went to ANC only in 1978. Philadelphia had named exchanges in the Bell of Pennsylvania telephone book as late as 1983, long after AT&T had hoped to complete the conversion.


title: Telephone exchange names

text: Bell Canada, Alberta Government Telephones, and BC Tel completed most conversions of existing numbers during the first half of the 1960s. In Toronto, historically 2L+4N before numbers were lengthened to accommodate the 1957 introduction of direct distance dialling, the March 1966 directory had no exchange names. Typically in larger communities, conversions would be timed with issues of the telephone directory.


title: Telephone exchange names

text: For example, in London, Ontario, three conversions took place starting in February 1962 and completing in September 1963. GEneral 2, 3, and 9 were converted first; later GLadstone 1 and 5, and finally GEneral 4 and 8.


title: Telephone exchange names

text: An example from Montreal, Quebec, extended from 2L+4N to 2L+5N on August 4, 1957: WIlbank became WEllington 2, WEllington became WEllington 3 (a rare example of keeping the exchange name), FItzroy became WEllington, GLenview became WEllington 7, VEndome became DUpont 7, HEmlock became POntiac 7, TRenmore became POntiac 8, HArbour became VIctor 5, and MArquette became VIctor 9.


title: Telephone exchange names

text: The use of letters in exchange names resulted in the placement of letters on the telephone dial, even outside the areas using the letter and number combinations. Some Canadian areas at first used original letter schemes, notably Calgary, Alberta, until later standardization within North America. Québec exchange names differed from those on standard Bell System lists due to the need for names in the French language; Hull, Quebec's 77x (PR as in PRovince) needed to be recognizable in both languages in 1957.


title: Telephone exchange names

text: In smaller communities with four- or five-digit numbers and a single city exchange, central office names appeared for the first time in the late 1950s, and then solely to match the North American direct distance dial standard of a three-digit area code and seven-digit local number. The names, usually chosen from standard Bell System lists, had no local significance and were short-lived; phase-out began soon after 1960.


title: Telephone exchange names

text: Virtually every telephone exchange in Europe was named for its local area (village, town, or city). However, in the largest cities it was clear as early as the 1880s that several exchanges would be needed. These were usually given names reflecting a district of a city, for example "Holborn" in London, "Docks" in Manchester, "Leith" in Edinburgh, or in some cases an entirely unrelated name, e.g., "Acorn" or "Advance" in London, "Pyramid" in Manchester, and "Midland" in Birmingham. As automated systems were introduced starting in the late 1920s, the first three letters of these names were used in the numbering plans for those exchanges. The 3L-4N system was notably used in the capital cities Paris and London, both examples of the "big-city" problem. Large cities served by many manual exchanges could only be converted to automatic operation gradually, which required a logistics of operating both types simultaneously for several years.


title: Telephone exchange names

text: Telephone directories showed the first three letters of the exchange in bold capital letters, when all seven digits were to be dialed. For example, a subscriber number for Scotland Yard on London's Whitehall exchange was shown as "WHItehall 1212".


title: Telephone exchange names

text: If the first three letters were capitalized but not bolded, e.g., HAYes 1295, the caller would dial the first three letters only, and when connected to Hayes ask the operator for the local number. Later, "Coded Call Indicator working" equipment was installed at some manual exchanges so that the caller could dial all seven digits, and the required number would be displayed to the operator.


title: Telephone exchange names

text: In the United Kingdom, the first Director exchange in London, Holborn Tandem, was cutover in 1927; preceded by any necessary changes in the London area, e.g. changing some exchange names and making all local numbers (4N) 4-digit. As each digit represents three letters the same network cannot have exchanges called BRIxton and CRIcklewood, which both correspond to 274. In smaller director areas some A-digit levels were combined so that local director exchange would only need four or fewer groups of directors instead of eight. But if (say) A-digit levels 7 and 8 were combined it would not be possible to have both PERivale and TERminus exchanges in the same network.


title: Telephone exchange names

text: The other main UK conurbations followed suit, namely Manchester in 1930 (e.g., DEAnsgate 3414, the number for Kendals department store), Birmingham (in 1931), Glasgow (in 1937), and later Liverpool and Edinburgh (c. 1950).


title: Telephone exchange names

text: The standards for converting exchange name letters in Europe varied, notably in the placement of the letters O, Q, and Z.


title: Telephone exchange names

text: The switchover to all figure dialling began in the UK in 1966, although it was not until the early 1970s that all exchange names were converted.


title: Telephone exchange names

text: In Paris and its suburbs, the conversion from 3L-4N to all numbers occurred in October 1963. For example, ÉLYsées became 379, LOUvre 508, PIGalle 744, POMpadour 706... But until October 1985, when an 8th number was added, it remained possible to make use of almost all the previous combinations.


title: Telephone exchange names

text: Telephone exchange names often provide a historical, memorable, and even nostalgic context, personal connection, or identity to a community. They can therefore often be found in popular culture, such as music, art, and prose.


title: Telephone exchange names

text: An old 2L-5N format appears in the song title "PEnnsylvania 6-5000" (phone number PE 6-5000), recorded by Glenn Miller. The inspiration for that song, the Hotel Pennsylvania in New York City, held that phone number as +1-212-736-5000 until its closure in April 2020. PEnnsylvania 6-5000 was later spoofed in the Bugs Bunny cartoon "Transylvania 6-5000" and the horror/comedy film "Transylvania 6-5000".


title: Telephone exchange names

text: Other popular songs have used 2L-5N telephone exchanges in their names including: "BEechwood 4-5789", by The Marvelettes; "LOnesome 7-7203 by Hawkshaw Hawkins; and "ECho Valley 2-6809" by The Partridge Family.


title: Telephone exchange names

text: The title of "BUtterfield 8", the 1935 John O'Hara novel whose film adaptation won Elizabeth Taylor an Academy Award for Best Actress, refers to the exchange of the characters' telephone numbers (on the Upper East Side of Manhattan). Radio show "Candy Matson, YUkon 2-8209" first aired on NBC West Coast radio in March 1949. Another movie title based on these types of phone exchanges is director Henry Hathaway's "Call Northside 777" (1948), starring Jimmy Stewart.


title: Telephone exchange names

text: Artie Shaw and His Gramercy 5—Artie Shaw named his band the Gramercy Five after his home telephone exchange in Greenwich Village. In 1940 the original Gramercy Five pressed eight records, then dissolved this band in early 1941.


title: Telephone exchange names

text: Stan Freberg, on his 1966 album, "Freberg Underground", objected to all digit dialing in song, including the lyric:


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: Cambridge is a city in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, located at the confluence of the Grand and Speed rivers. The city had a population of 138,479 as of the 2021 census. Along with Kitchener and Waterloo, Cambridge is one of the three core cities of Canada's tenth-largest metropolitan area.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: Cambridge was formed in 1973 by the amalgamation of Galt, Preston, Hespeler, the settlement of Blair and a small portion of surrounding townships. The former Galt covers the largest portion of Cambridge, making up the southern half of the city, while Preston and Blair cover the western side. Hespeler makes up the most northeastern section of Cambridge. Historical information and records of each entity are well documented in the Cambridge City Archives.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: Galt is situated on land once granted to the Iroquois people by the British Crown at the end of the American Revolutionary War. In the late 1700s, developers began to buy land around the Grand River from the Six Nations who were led by Joseph Brant. One speculator, William Dickson, a wealthy immigrant from Scotland, bought of land along the Grand River in 1816; this was later to become Galt and the Dumfries Townships. Dickson divided the land and sold smaller lots, particularly to Scottish settlers. The centre of the planned community was at the junction of Mill Creek and the Grand River, then called Shade's Mills.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: Dickson decided to name the Post Office Galt, in honour of John Galt of the Canada Company which was developing this entire area. Primarily agricultural in early years, Galt had attracted industry by 1840 and became the largest town in the Grand River area until the early 1900s. The town continued to grow, however, based on a large industrial base. In fact, Galt was called "Manchester of Canada" because of the extensive industry, powered by the Grand River. Some of the important businesses in about 1870 included the Dickson Mills (opened in 1843), the Axe Factory forge, two furniture factories, The Dumfries iron and brass foundry, three large woolen factories, a malt factory, the Victoria Steam Carriage Works, the Dumfries Flour Mill, the Victoria Foundry making farm implements, a large soap and candles works and two steam-powered tanneries.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: Records from 1846 indicate that Galt had very valuable water-power that allowed for milling and manufacturing. Stone buildings in the downtown area had already been erected and the population was 1,000, most of whom were originally from Scotland. Amenities included a curling club, library, a weekly newspaper, a school, a bank (Gore) and a fire company. The post office was receiving daily mail. Industries included two grist mills, two saw mills, two foundries, two carding machines and cloth factories, one brewery, two distilleries, one tannery, eight stores, nine taverns, two grocery stores and various tradesmen.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: The largest of the early schools in the community, the Galt Grammar School, opened in 1852 with William Tassie as headmaster starting in 1853 at the site of what later became the Galt Collegiate. The school gained widespread recognition and attracted students from across North America. By 1872, it had been recognized as a Collegiate Institute.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: Galt was incorporated as a town on January 1, 1857, with Morris C. Lutz elected as the first mayor. By 1858, a "Town Hall and Market House" had been built with an "Italianate", particularly Tuscan, influence. In later years, the building became the City Hall and was extensively modified. Galt was incorporated as a town in 1857. Throughout that entire period, it continued to grow based on a large industrial base.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: The railway reached Galt in 1879, increasing the opportunities of exporting local goods and importing others. The Credit Valley Railway planned to implement several lines running west and north from Toronto and in 1873, built freight and passenger buildings in Galt. By 1879, the company had installed a bridge crossing the river and in December completed a preliminary test run with a train; it was successful. The CVR venture was not long-lived, however, and in 1883, the line was taken over by the Canadian Pacific Railway, which built a brick passenger building that still stands.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: The first hospital in Waterloo County opened in 1890 as Galt General Hospital. Additional buildings and facilities were added in the early 1900s. By 1918, the facility had an X-ray room, a 27-room nurses' residence, and also served as a nurses' training school.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: A new streetcar system, the Galt, Preston and Hespeler electric railway, (later called the Grand River Railway Company) also began to operate in 1894, connecting Preston and Galt. In 1911, the line reached Hespeler, Berlin (later called Kitchener) and Waterloo; by 1916 it had been extended to Brantford/Port Dover. The electric rail system ended passenger services in April 1955.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: In 1911, most of the population of Galt were Protestant: 4,240 Presbyterians, 1,930 Anglicans, and 2,122 Methodists. There were very few Roman Catholics.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: Not long after Galt had become part of Cambridge, in May 1974, flooding on the Grand River filled city streets with water to a depth of about . In some areas of the downtown core, the depth was , smashing windows and carrying goods along the streets. Approximately 75 businesses were affected, with virtually none covered by relevant insurance. The flood caused an estimated $5 million in damage.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: The Dickson Hill Heritage Conservation District, located in West Galt, is composed of stately homes from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: Preston was formed on land belonging to the German Company Tract, along the Speed River, which was purchased earlier from the Six Nations Indians. The name Preston is from the hometown of William Scollick, who was surveyor and a native of Preston, Lancashire in England.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: In the 1800s a group of German-speaking Mennonites from Pennsylvania arrived in the area and purchased land. Among the first settlers to arrive in what was later to become Preston was John Erb, a Mennonite from Lancaster County, who arrived in 1805. He bought including land at the confluence of the Grand and Speed Rivers in what later became Preston.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: It was John Erb who bought the of land and settled it in 1805. He later built a sawmill in 1806 and a gristmill in 1807. This settlement became known as Cambridge Mills.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: Even in the early 1800s, the area included homes, a store, an inn, small shops operated by artisans and craftsmen, mostly immigrants from Germany. The Erb sons had hired William Scollick for their development business and the latter completed a full survey in 1834; he also convinced the Erbs to rename the Cambridge Mills area Preston. After Erb's death in 1832, a son sold off property on both sides of the Speed River. What eventually became Preston started as a large settlement on the north side.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: There were only 250 inhabitants in 1836, many from Pennsylvania, but the population had reached about 1600 by 1855, with some 70% originally from Germany. By then, the area had eight hotels and taverns.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: The Canadian Gazetteer of 1846 indicates a population of about 600 inhabitants, two churches, a post office that receives mail each day, a steam grist mill, and tradesmen of various types. At the time, there was no significant industry.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: The Preston post office opened in 1837 and the population continued to grow primarily because of immigration from Germany. Preston was incorporated as a village in 1853. The population declined in the late 1800s but by 1900, it had increased to 2,000 partly because of the new electric railway systems that started in 1894. In 1911, the line reached Hespeler, Berlin (later called Kitchener) and Waterloo; by 1916 it had been extended to Brantford/Port Dover. This made visiting other communities and carrying of goods very convenient.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: Due to continued growth, by 1879 there were many industries such as a foundry, carriage manufacturer, potteries and a furniture company. This was also the year that the Cherry Flour Mills started, which would later become the Dover Flour Mills, a Preston company that still operates today.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: By 1888, the Preston Springs Hotel, then called the Del Monte Hotel, was operating. Demolition of the building began in December 2020 for reasons of public safety.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: On September 30, 1899, Preston was incorporated as a town with a population of just under 11,000. The Great Road between Dundas and Berlin (Kitchener) as well as the railroad connections helped the community to continue growing into an important industrial centre. Products made here included flour, agricultural implements, furniture, stoves, shoes and textiles. Preston grew and continued to be a successful industrial area; expansion followed in the 1950s and 1960s.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: While most of the population of what became Waterloo County, Ontario was Protestant in 1911, Preston had a larger share of Roman Catholics, 844, while 862 were Lutherans, 707 Methodists, 704 Anglicans, and 525 Presbyterians.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: The area that eventually came to be Hespeler was also on land (Block 2 measuring over purchased in 1798 by Mennonites from Pennsylvania from the Six Nations Indians with the assistance of developer Richard Beasley. The first of settler, in 1809, was Abraham Clemens who had bought of land from Mr. Beasley on the Speed River. In 1810, Cornelius Pannabecker arrived and set up a blacksmithy a year or two later. Twenty years later, Joseph Oberholtzer purchased a much larger area of land that would become the early Hespeler. It was named Bergeytown in honour of his brother-in-law and the name became New Hope in about 1835.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: Settler Jacob Hespeler arrived in 1845 and bought a tract on the Speed River. He built an industrial complex that was the beginning of Hespeler's future industrialization which would consist primarily of woollen and textile mills. Records from 1846 indicate a population of only 100 inhabitants, a grist and a saw mill, a tannery, a tavern, one store, one pail factory, two blacksmiths, two tailors, two shoemakers.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: In 1858, Jacob Hespeler opened the Post Office and the settlement, previously called New Hope, was incorporated as the village of Hespeler.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: The arrival of the railway in 1859 helped businesses to develop and prosper. By 1864, there was a large flour mill, cloth and wool manufacturing plants, a sawmill and a distillery all built of cut stone. There was also a large furniture factory and four churches.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: Continued growth allowed Hespeler to be incorporated as a town in January 1901. Over the following years, the community continued growing slowly. By 1911 the electric railway system between Preston and Galt had reached Hespeler as well as Berlin (later called Kitchener) and Waterloo; by 1916 it had been extended to Brantford/Port Dover.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: Textile production mills were the primary industry in the early 1900s and continued to be successful until the late 1940s, when this industry began to decline. Other industries continued to boom and by 1969, Hespeler's population was 6,000.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: The land (west of what is now Preston), including Carolinian forest, that would eventually become Blair was purchased from the Six Nations, through land speculator Richard Beasley. It was settled in 1800 by Samuel D. Betzner, one of the Mennonites from Pennsylvania. The group later discovered that Beasley had gotten into financial trouble and that a lien was placed on the lands. To solve the problem, the group created the German Company that bought an additional 60,000 acres of land from Beasley, who used the proceeds to pay off the debt on the previous lands. This ensured a clear title for the Mennonite group.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: The first school in what later became Waterloo County opened in 1802 near Blair, then known as Shinglebridge. The first teacher's name was Mr. Rittenhaus.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: By 1804, the first cemetery in Waterloo County had been founded. Also located in Blair, it is often referred to as the Old Blair Cemetery or the Old Blair Memorial Cemetery. The first recorded burial was of an infant, the son of Mennonite settler John Bricker, who died on March 10 of that year.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: Joseph Bowman, a man called Wismer and John Bechtel were responsible for the early development of the community in an area laid out by Benjamin B. Bowman. They built a dam, then a sawmill and grist mill. In 1846, a large flour mill opened, which was called the Bowman Mill, Blair Mill and also the Carlisle Mill. In about 1876, a 15-horsepower hydroelectric system, the Sheave Tower, was built on Bowman Creek by Allan Bowman to help power the flour mill using a series of shafts and gears. This was a significant achievement in that era.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: Although the name Carlisle (or New Carlisle) was commonly used then, the name Blair was chosen for the first post office in 1858 because a village of Carlisle had already been established in Halton County. The new name honoured Adam Johnston Fergusson Blair, the first judge of Wellington District and a militia colonel in the area. In addition to Carlisle, earlier names for the village had included Shinglebridge, because a bridge with a shingle roof crossed the Grand River in this area from 1853 to 1857. It was also called Durham (or Durhamville) and Lambs' Bridge.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: By 1864, the settlement was receiving mail daily, had a large school, a Mennonite meeting house, a large brick church and a population of 200. Railway service arrived in Blair in 1873 when the Grand Trunk Railway, having acquired the Great Western Railway's defunct Preston and Berlin Railway, rerouted it through Blair on its way to Galt, bypassing Preston, the railway's original destination.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: Blair became part of Preston in 1969. Many historic buildings still stand in the village, including some from the early 1820s. This includes the Sheave Tower (restored in 1999) and the John Bechtel residence.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: A new electric street railway system, the Galt, Preston and Hespeler Street Railway (later called the Grand River Railway Company) began to operate in 1894, initially connecting Preston and Galt. In 1911, the line reached Hespeler, Berlin (later called Kitchener) and Waterloo; by 1916 it had been extended to Brantford/Port Dover. The electric rail system ended passenger services in April 1955. The light rail transit plan for the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, decades later, would be reminiscent of the original Electric Railway.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: The first mayor of Cambridge, taking office as of the city's creation in 1973, was Claudette Millar. Most recently, Kathryn McGarry was elected in the 2018 municipal election to succeed Doug Craig as the city's sixth mayor, taking office on December 1, 2018.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: A referendum question asking municipal electors if they wished to change to ranked voting was approved on October 23, 2018.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: In 2020, Scott Hamilton was elected in a by-election for Ward 7 to replace Councillor Frank Monteiro who passed while serving the community.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: Cambridge is also represented on the higher-tier Waterloo Regional Council which consists of the regional chair, the mayors of the seven cities and townships, and eight additional councillors - four from Kitchener and two each from Cambridge and Waterloo. Ken Seiling has held the position of regional chair from 1985-November 30, 2018. In the 2018 Region of Waterloo elections, Karen Redman was elected as Regional Chair.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: Cambridge (electoral district) is represented in Ottawa by Bryan May (Liberal), the federal member of Parliament who defeated the previous incumbent MP (Gary Goodyear, Conservative – 2004 to 2015) in the October 2015 election. The second federal representative for Cambridge is Valerie Bradford (Liberal), who represents the federal riding of Kitchener South—Hespeler.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: The MPP for the provincial district of Cambridge is Brian Riddell (Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario), who defeated New Blue Party of Ontario co-founder Belinda Karahalios in 2022. The second provincial representative for Cambridge is Jess Dixon (Progressive Conservative), who represents the provincial riding of Kitchener South—Hespeler.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: The city is responsible for Community Services, Economic Development, Transportation & Public Works, Corporate Services, Fire Department and Planning Services. Many municipal services are provided through the Regional Municipality of Waterloo (often referred to as Waterloo Region or the Region of Waterloo), which consists of the cities of Cambridge, Kitchener, and Waterloo, and the townships of Woolwich, Wilmot, Wellesley, and North Dumfries. The region of Waterloo responsibilities includes Social Services, Community Health Services, Grand River Transit and Community Policing through Waterloo Regional Police Service.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: Hospital services are provided by Cambridge Memorial Hospital at 700 Coronation Boulevard. A small hospital in the Galt area had opened in 1890, the first in Waterloo County, while the current facility, originally named South Waterloo Memorial Hospital, was completed in 1953. It was expanded in the early 1970s with the addition of Wing B, the inpatient tower. This facility began a $187 million expansion project in 2014 that was expected to be completed by 2019. The hospital summarized the plan as follows in 2013: "This transformation includes a larger Emergency Department and a 33% increase in beds to accommodate expanded mental health, medicine, surgery, birthing programs and so much more".


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: Difficulties with the general contractor, Bondfield Construction, which eventually went into receivership, delayed the process significantly. A news report on 29 December 2018 stated that "After two decades of planning and community fundraising, the expansion project, promising 54 new beds and a twice-as-large emergency department, is not quite half-complete and stalled". A consortium of banks, led by the receiver, the Bank of Montreal, called on the contractor's insurer, Zurich, to activate its surety bond. That step provided the funding to continue work on the new wing to correct the many deficiencies; the process was moving slowly as of late April 2019. At that time, Infrastructure Ontario, Zurich Insurance Company and the project lenders were in discussions with a contractor who will be hired to renovate the existing B wing after the new wing is occupied. An estimate in late 2018 indicated that the completion date for the entire hospital project was 2021 at the earliest.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: Part of the hospital expansion, the new patient care wing, was completed in mid-November 2019 and was scheduled to open in January 2020, after new equipment has been installed and staff have been trained.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: The climate in Cambridge is typical of southwestern Ontario, and has a humid continental climate under the Köppen climate classification (Köppen "Dfb") with mostly moderate winters but the occasional deep freeze. In summer, the temperatures tend to be in the high twenties on the Celsius scale, and like most of southern Ontario, there can be stretches of high humidity creating some discomfort. On most days, Cambridge tends to be slightly warmer than Kitchener and Guelph, just to the north.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: The last frost date of the season is around May 11, though most gardeners plant on the May 24 long weekend to be safe. Environment Canada issues frost warnings for the area from October 30 through to May 9.


title: Cambridge, Ontario

text: In 1988, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada opened a plant in Cambridge, which employs approximately 4,500 people and is the city's largest employer. Several other industrial companies also have locations in Cambridge, including Rimowa, Gerdau, ATS Automation Tooling Systems, Loblaw Companies Limited, Dare Foods, Frito-Lay Canada (formerly Hostess), Babcock & Wilcox, Rockwell Automation and COM DEV International in addition to service companies such as Coronation Dental Specialty Group.