title: 2016 New England Patriots season

text: After a 49ers three-and-out, Amendola returned the punt 30 yards to the 49ers 27. Six plays later, Brady hit Edelman on a 7-yard touchdown pass, but Gostkowski missed the extra point. The 49ers drove all the way to the Patriots 6 on their next drive, but Hightower sacked Colin Kaepernick for a 9-yard loss on 3rd-down and they were forced to settle for a 33-yard field goal by Phil Dawson. The Patriots countered on their next drive, racing 77 yards in just 6 plays, scoring on Brady's 9-yard touchdown pass to James White, increasing the lead to 13–3. Two possessions later, the 49ers raced 92 yards in just over four minutes, scoring on an 18-yard touchdown catch by Vance McDonald, trimming the deficit to 13–10. After both teams punted, the Patriots drove to the 49ers 41, but White couldn't get out of bounds in time after a 25-yard catch, and the Patriots led 13–10 at halftime. After the first four possessions of the second half ended in punts, the Patriots marched 80 yards in 10 plays, scoring on Brady's 5-yard connection to Amendola, increasing the lead to 20–10. Three possessions later, Brady found Mitchell for a 56-yard touchdown pass as Brady was falling down, capping off a 70-yard drive, upping the lead to 27–10. After a 49ers three-and-out, the Patriots kept pouring it on, driving all the way to the 49ers 20, and Gostkowski added a 38-yard field goal, widening the lead to 30–10. The Niners marched 75 yards on their next drive, scoring on Kaepernick's 13-yard touchdown pass to Shaun Draughn, trimming the deficit to 30–17. Amendola recovered the ensuing onside kick and the Patriots ran out the rest of the clock to end the game.


title: 2016 New England Patriots season

text: The Patriots improved to 8–2. Running back LeGarrette Blount had a big day as he rushed for a total of 125 yards on 19 carries. In addition, Tom Brady also had a big day passing for a total of 4 touchdowns against the 49ers. This was also Brady's 199th career win (regular season and postseason combined), tied with Brett Favre for second place.


title: 2016 New England Patriots season

text: After forcing a three-and-out, the Jets marched 41 yards to the Patriots 33, finishing the drive with a 51-yard field goal by Nick Folk. On the Patriots third possession of the game, Gronkowski came to the sideline injured. He went to the locker room and didn't play another game that season. Later in the first quarter, the Jets marched 79 yards, converting a 3rd-and-9, with Ryan Fitzpatrick finding Brandon Marshall for a 1-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the second quarter, increasing the lead to 10–0. The Patriots responded on their next drive, reaching the Jets 8, but after a 2-yard sack and an incompletion, Gostkowski kicked a 28-yard field goal, trimming the deficit to 10–3. On the second play of the Jets ensuing possession, Fitzpatrick connected with Robby Anderson for a 25-yard gain, but Anderson was stripped by Malcolm Butler, who recovered at midfield. The Patriots drove 50 yards, only facing one third-down, and scored on a 4-yard touchdown catch by Malcolm Mitchell. The Jets drove to the Patriots 36 on their next drive, but Folk missed a 54-yard field goal attempt. With great field position at their own 46, the Patriots drove 33 yards to the Jets 21, but Gostkowski missed a 39-yarder, sending the game to halftime tied 10-10. After a Jets three-and-out, the Patriots marched all the way to the Jets 11, but the Jets clamped down and forced a 29-yard field goal by Gostkowski, giving the Patriots their first lead, 13–10. After swapping punts, the Jets covered 73 yards, not facing a single third down, regaining the lead with Fitzpatrick throwing a 22-yard pass to Quincy Enunwa with 10:17 remaining in the fourth quarter. Down 17–13, the Patriots advanced to the Jets 22, but decided to kick a 40-yard field goal, trimming the deficit to 17–16. The Jets reached their own 27, but an intentional grounding penalty pushed them back, and they punted two plays later. A holding penalty on McCourty negated Amendola's 15-yard return which would have set the Patriots up at their own 42. Starting at their own 17, Brady led a clutch, 9 play, 83-yard drive. Facing a 4th-and-4 at the Jets 37, Brady completed three consecutive passes: a 4-yard completion to White, a 25-yard completion to Hogan, and then an 8-yard touchdown pass to Mitchell, with a missed two-point conversion, giving the Patriots a 22–17 lead with just 1:56 remaining. After a five-yard completion to Jalin Marshall, Fitzpatrick was strip-sacked by Long with Trey Flowers recovering at the Jets 34. A 3-yard run by Blount on 3rd-and-2 sealed the win for the Patriots.


title: 2016 New England Patriots season

text: With the win, the Patriots improved to 9–2 and clinched their 16th consecutive winning season. This was also the Patriots' 500th franchise win, as well as Tom Brady's 200th career win, tying him with Peyton Manning and surpassing Brett Favre, who had 199 wins. In addition to this, Tom Brady also surpassed the 60,000-yard career passing mark.


title: 2016 New England Patriots season

text: The Patriots marched 80 yards right down the field on their opening possession, scoring on a 43-yard burst by Blount. The next four possessions of the game were punts, but Butler intercepted Jared Goff on the last play of the first quarter and returned it 7 yards to the Rams 30. It only took four plays from Brady to find Chris Hogan on a 14-yard touchdown pass, increasing the Patriots lead to 14–0. After the next three drives ended in punts, the Patriots marched 48 yards to the Rams 10, but as a sign of the Patriots soon-to-come red zone struggles, Stephen Gostkowski kicked a field goal with 0:11 remaining in the first half. The Rams took a knee and the Patriots led 17–0 at halftime. The first two possessions of the second half were punts, but the Rams finally got on board late in the 3rd quarter. After Pharoh Cooper returned a punt 6 yards to the Rams 45, the Rams drove to the Patriots 26-yard line and Greg Zuerlein got the Rams on the scoreboard with a 44-yard field goal. The Patriots countered by driving to the Rams 30 with Gostkowski adding a 48-yard field goal, increasing the lead to 20–3. Kyle Van Noy intercepted Goff on the first play of the Rams next possession. The Patriots only managed to reach the Rams 27, but Gostkowski added a 44-yard field goal. Down 23–3, the Rams were still unable to move the ball and punted. Once again the Patriots drove to the Rams 27 and another 45-yard Gostkowski field goal increased the Patriots lead to 26–3. a few plays into the fourth quarter. Late in the game, Goff hit Kenny Britt for a 66-yard gain to the Patriots 1-yard line. Four plays later, they connected again on a 1-yard touchdown pass, trimming the score to 26–10, but only 1:15 remained. The Patriots recovered the Rams onside kick attempt and ran out the clock to end the game.


title: 2016 New England Patriots season

text: With the win, the Patriots improved to 10–2, clinching their 14th consecutive 10-win season. The defense dominated, holding the Rams to a paltry 162 yards and just 10 points while forcing two turnovers. Additionally, Tom Brady won his 201st career game, surpassing Peyton Manning for the most combined regular season and postseason victories by a quarterback in NFL history.


title: 2016 New England Patriots season

text: The defenses dominated the first three drives of the game, all ending in punts. But midway through the first quarter, Malcom Brown and Patrick Chung shared a tackle of Kenneth Dixon in the end zone for a safety(the third by the Patriots' defense on the season). The Ravens forced the Patriots to punt, and, aided by a 40-yard gain from Joe Flacco to Kyle Juszczyk and a 15-yard pass interference penalty on Cyrus Jones, drove all the way to the Patriots 16, but Shea McClellin blocked Justin Tucker's field goal attempt. Following that, the Patriots covering 74 yards in 10 plays, scoring on a 1-yard touchdown run by Blount, his 14th, which tied him with Curtis Martin who had 14 for the 1995 New England Patriots. The Ravens reached Patriot territory on their following possession, too, but punted again. Aided by a 61-yard completion to White, the Patriots raced 89 yards in just eight plays with Brady finding Mitchell on a 6-yard touchdown pass, extending the lead to 16–0. On the second plays of the Ravens next drive, McCourty intercepted Flacco at the Patriots 22 and returned it 40 yards to the Ravens 38, but official review ruled him down by contact at the Patriots 23. Despite this, the Patriots reached the Ravens 1-yard line, but Eric Weddle intercepted Brady (only his second interception of the season) and returned it 14 yards to the Ravens 10. Two possessions later, after Devin Hester returned a punt 12 yards to the Ravens 28, the Ravens reached the Patriots 28 and got on board with a 50-yard Tucker field goal with 0:11 seconds left in the half, making the score 16–3 at halftime. After forcing the Ravens to punt on the initial drive of the third quarter, the Patriots marched 65 yards to score on Brady's 19-yard pass to Bennett, increasing the lead to 23–3. A 6-yard run by Blount on the drive game him 1,005 yards for the season. However, the Ravens got back in the game with aide from the Patriots. While the Ravens offense continued its ineptitude, Cyrus Jones muffed a punt with Chris Moore recovering at the Patriots 3. Two plays later, Flacco connected with Darren Waller for a two-yard touchdown pass, trimming the deficit to 23–10. Things got better for the Ravens with Matthew Slater fumbling the kick return and Shareece Wright recovering at the Patriots 22-yard line. Four plays later, Dixon caught a swing pass for an 8-yard touchdown, and all of a sudden the score was 23–17. After three consecutive punts, the Ravens, aided by a 47-yard catch by Breshad Perriman, reached the Patriots 12, but on 3rd-and-4 Flacco was sacked by Ninkovich for an 8-yard loss. Tucker finished the drive with a 38-yard field goal, trimming the deficit to 23–20 with 6:35 remaining in the game. On the first play of the Patriots next drive, Brady found Chris Hogan wide open for a 79-yard touchdown, extending the Patriots lead to 30–20. That was Brady's 450th career touchdown pass and only Hogan's second career 100-yard receiving game. Yet, the Ravens were still in the game, driving to the Patriots 20-yard line, Tucker hit a 37-yard field goal, trimming the deficit to 30–23 and giving the Ravens a chance. On the Patriots next drive, the Ravens brought the game to a 4th-and-1 with 0:13 remaining. Instead of punting, the Patriots went for the kill shot and got it with Blount's 3-yard run enabling the Patriots to run out the clock and end the game.


title: 2016 New England Patriots season

text: The Patriots improved to 11–2 and dropped 496 yards of total offense and 30 points on the Ravens' top-ranked defense, both the most allowed in the season by the Ravens. The Patriots posted their 10th all-time franchise victory against the Ravens. This was Brady's 100th career home win and his 9th 400+ yard passing game of his career and his second of the season.


title: 2016 New England Patriots season

text: The Patriots faced the Denver Broncos in a rematch of the previous season's AFC Championship game. The Broncos won the coin toss and elected to kick. Beginning at their own 24, the Patriots went were unable to get a first down causing them to punt. Unluckily for the Broncos, during Ryan Allen's punt Jordan Norwood muffed the punt and the Patriots obtained it with a Jonathan Jones recovery. The Patriots began at the Denver 31. Unfortunately for the Patriots, they were unable to get a first down and were forced to settle with a Stephen Gostkowski 45-yard field goal for 3 points. The Broncos began the ball on their own 25 on the next possession. They started off well with a 13-yard run by Justin Forsett. However, they were unable to get a first down. On the Patriots next drive, they began at their own 15. On the beginning of the first play, an illegal formation was called on the Patriots forcing them to move back 5-yards. Once again, they went three and out unable to acquire a first down. The Patriots punted and the Broncos began at their own 38. This time, they managed to get a field goal with Brandon McManus's 33-yard kick. They traveled 47-yards in 8 plays and 2:55. The next Patriots drive again ended in a punt but this time traveling 31 yards on 6 plays. The Broncos received the punt at their own 7. This time, they managed to get to the Patriot's red zone nearly getting into the end zone. Nonetheless, Trevor Siemian was intercepted by Logan Ryan on a pass intended for Emmanuel Sanders. Ryan ran the ball back all the way to the Denver' 46. This was the first play of the second quarter. This time the Patriots managed to get a touchdown in spite of the fact that they had to face a 1st & 20. The first play of the drive ending in a Tom Brady fumble in which Patriot offensive lineman Joe Thuney recovered. The Patriots reached the Broncos' 1 and scored a touchdown with LeGarrette Blount's 1-yard run. The next 2 drives of both teams ended in punts. The Broncos received the ball once more and ended the first half with a run play. The Broncos began with first possession in the beginning of the second half. On their first drive, they went three and out having to punt. Similarly, the Patriots also went three and out. On the next Broncos' possession once again, they were unable to get a first down. The Patriots managed to score on their next drive with Gostkowski's 40-yard field goal. They went 11 plays for 61 yards in 5:12. The next 5 incoming drives all ended in punts. The next three points came on another Gostkowski 21-yard field goal. The next two drives ended in downs. McCourty stripped Jordan Norwood with a few seconds left to seal the win.


title: 2016 New England Patriots season

text: Despite just sixteen completions for 188 yards Brady defeated the Broncos for only the third time at Denver and seventh time in his career With the win, the Patriots improved to 12–2, and they clinched a first round bye for the playoffs and the AFC East title for the eighth straight season. Their eighth straight division title surpassed the Rams franchise from 1973 to 1979 for the most consecutive division titles won by one team in NFL history.


title: 2016 New England Patriots season

text: The Patriots dominated the game from start to finish as they blew out the Jets 41–3 to move to a 13–2 record. The game began with a coin toss in which the Pats won and elected to kick. After forcing the Jets to punt on the first drive of the game, the Patriots used good field position to reach the Jets' 11 and Gostkowski gave the Patriots the early lead with a 29-yard field goal. On 3rd-and-11 on the Jets next drive, Bryce Petty was intercepted by Malcolm Butler at the Jets' 47 for no gain. The Patriots wasted no time, needing just 8 plays to score on a 5-yard touchdown pass from Brady to Bennett, extending the lead to 10–0. After both teams punted on their next possession, Khiry Robinson lost a fumble while being tackled by Elandon Roberts and Butler recovered for the Patriots. Petty was suffered a dislocated shoulder injury on the play and didn't return, being replaced by embattled veteran, Ryan Fitzpatrick. Taking over at the Jets' 28, outstanding field position, the Patriots drove all the way to the Jets 4, but could only settle for a field goal. The Jets finally moved the ball on their ensuing possession, but Nick Folk missed a 34-yard field goal wide right. Following a Patriots three-and-out, Fitzpatrick was intercepted by Eric Rowe at the Patriots' 46 for no gain. It took the Patriots a mere four plays to score on Brady's 18-yard touchdown pass to third-string tight end Matt Lengel, his first career catch, and the lead widened to 20–0. As the Jets anemic offense punted, a 47-yard pass interference penalty on Doug Middleton moved the ball from the Patriots' 28 to the Jets' 25 and on the next play, Brady threw a touchdown pass to James White with just 0:25 seconds left in the half to increase the margin to 27–0. The pass was just out of the reach of linebacker David Harris, who was covering him. After the first two drives of the second half ended in punts, the Patriots marched 63 yards in 13, lasting nearly 8 minutes to further their lead to 34–0 on a 1-yard touchdown run by Blount. On the 5th play of the Jets next drive, Fitzpatrick was intercepted by Butler, his second, who returned the ball 21 yards to the Jets 47, plus a face mask penalty moving the ball to the Jets' 22. With Garoppolo replacing Brady, the Patriots continued rolling 8 plays later with another 1-yard touchdown run by Blount early in the fourth quarter. With that touchdown (his 17th of the season) the lead increased to 41–0. On their next drive, the Jets finally ended the shutout attempt with Folk's 29-yard field goal. After a Patriots punt, the Jets once again drove into Patriots territory, but turned the ball over on downs. The Patriots proceeded to run out the clock to end the game.


title: 2016 New England Patriots season

text: The Patriots improved to 13–2, and their defense shut down Fitzpatrick, who had had a career day against the Patriots just four weeks earlier. The Patriots forced four turnovers from the Jets, including three interceptions; one being made by Eric Rowe and another two which were made by Malcolm Butler, who also recovered a fumble. Furthermore, head coach Bill Belichick recorded his 200th regular season victory with the Patriots; he became the fifth coach in NFL history to accomplish this feat with a single franchise.


title: 2016 New England Patriots season

text: The Patriots took the opening kickoff right down the field, marching 75 yards in 13 plays, taking seven-and-a-half minutes off the clock, to score on a two-yard touchdown pass from Brady to Bennett. After a Dolphins three-and-out, starting at the Dolphins 45, the Patriots needed just five plays to score on a 14-yard touchdown pass from Brady to Michael Floyd, who managed to get into the end zone while fighting through 4 defenders for his first touchdown as a Patriot. On the next Dolphins' possession, Matt Moore was intercepted by Logan Ryan. Beginning at their own 44 yard line, the Patriots managed to reach the Dolphins' 22, but were forced to settle for a 40-yard field goal, extending the lead to 17–0 on the first play of the second quarter. Once again, the Dolphins offense remained lifeless and they punted. The Patriots scored again, driving from their own 10 all the way to the Dolphins 8, but the Miami defense stiffened, and the Patriots settled for a 26-yard field goal by Gostkowski, increasing the Patriots lead to 20–0 with just over three minutes remaining in the first half. The Dolphins finally answered on their next drive, putting together a 10 play, 75-yard drive, with Jarvis Landry scoring on an 8-yard touchdown pass in which he was knocked back by Dont'a Hightower but still managed to reach the end zone pylon. Develin returned the ensuing squib kick 15 yards to the Patriots 43 with 0:23 seconds remaining. The Patriots drove to the Dolphins 34, but Gostkowski missed the 52-yard field goal attempt wide-right, keeping the score 20–7 at half time. The Dolphins struck again, taking the opening possession 75 yards in 12 plays, with Moore bombing a 24-yard touchdown pass to Kenny Stills, trimming the deficit to just 20–14. The Patriots countered, facing a 3rd-and-7 from the Patriots 23, Brady connected with Edelman on a quick-screen, aided by a huge block by Floyd, 77-yards for a touchdown, widening the lead to 27–14. Neither team scored for the remainder of the quarter. Early in the fourth quarter, the Dolphins drove all the way to the Patriots 9, but on 2nd-and-goal Damien Williams was stripped by McCourty with Shea McClellin returning it 69 yards to the Dolphins 18. Six plays later, Blount scored on a 1-yard run with a successful two point conversion to give the Patriots a 35–14 lead. Neither team did anything for the remainder of the game and the Patriots won.


title: 2016 New England Patriots season

text: With this win, the Patriots clinch home field advantage throughout the entire AFC playoffs. They also finished with a record of 14–2 for the first time since 2010. This was the Patriots first win in Miami since the 2012 season. Julian Edelman had a huge day against the Dolphins as he had 151 yards of receiving in 9 receptions, 6 rushing yards, and 1 receiving touchdown.


title: 2016 New England Patriots season

text: With this win, the Patriots advance to the AFC Championship for the 6th time in a row. After throwing only two regular-season interceptions in 437 attempts, Tom Brady surprisingly threw 2 in this game. Dion Lewis had a big night with three total touchdowns - 1 receiving, 1 rushing, and 1 returning. He became the first player to ever accomplish this in the NFL Postseason. Furthermore, the Patriots' defensive backs also played outstandingly in this game, especially cornerback Logan Ryan, safety Devin McCourty, and safety Duron Harmon who all recorded one interception each. In a coincidence, they were all alumni of Rutgers University and played on its football team. In the locker room after the match, coach Bill Belichick acknowledged the work of the Rutgers' alumni as he was quoted for saying, "Big day for Rutgers." Also, on a 44-yard pass from Brady to wide receiver Julian Edelman, Edelman surpassed former Patriot Wes Welker for most receptions in the postseason; breaking the former Patriots' record of 69. He finished the game with 76 career receptions.


title: 2016 New England Patriots season

text: In a rematch of the regular season meeting between these two teams, the Patriots proved to be the superior team, cruising to the seventh Super Bowl of the Brady–Belichick era (ninth overall).


title: 2016 New England Patriots season

text: The Patriots took the opening kickoff and marched all the way to the Steelers 13, but Malcolm Mitchell dropped a wide open pass on 3rd-and-1 and the Patriots settled for a 31-yard Gostkowski field goal. After the next few drives ended in punts, quarterback Tom Brady capped of an 80-yard drive with a 16-yard touchdown pass to Chris Hogan for a 10–0 lead. The Steelers countered with an 11-play, 84-yard drive with DeAngelo Williams scoring on a 5-yard touchdown run (with a missed PAT) early in the second quarter. The Patriots answered the Steelers, though, storming 82 yards with a flea flicker from Dion Lewis to Brady, resulting in a 34-yard touchdown pass to Hogan. The touchdown pass increased Brady's all-time playoff record to 19 as well as Hogan having his first career 100-yard receiving playoff game in just his second career playoff game. The Steelers then answered with a 70-yard, marathon drive, but were only able to score on a 23-yard field goal by Chris Boswell, trimming the deficit to 17–9 at halftime. On the drive, Ben Roethlisberger seemingly hit tight end Jesse James for a 19-yard touchdown pass, but a review ruled James down at the 1, but the Patriots kept the Steelers out of the endzone. After forcing the Steelers to punt on their opening drive, the Patriots marched 55 yards in 9 plays with Gostkowski increasing the Patriots lead to 20–9 on a field goal on a 47-yard field goal by Gostkowski. The Steelers seemed primed to respond, driving to the Patriots 39, but the Patriots defense clamped down again, and the Steelers punted. The Patriots took advantage and stormed 88 yards with LeGarrette Blount carrying half of the Steelers to the 1-yard line then finishing off the drive on the next play and the Patriots began to pull away leading 27–9. A 39-yard pass to Hogan on the drive gave Brady his 11th career 300-yard passing game in the playoffs and Hogan with 180 yards receiving broke the previous record of 153 yards set by Deion Branch. The Steelers situation grew worse on the first play of the Steelers next drive, Kyle Van Noy stripped Eli Rogers after a 5-yard catch with Rob Ninkovich recovering at the Steelers 28-yard line. Four plays later, Brady found Edelman for a 10-yard touchdown, widening the lead to 33–9 (with a missed PAT). The Steelers then stormed all the way to Patriots 2-yard line, but turned the ball over on downs early in the fourth quarter. After forcing the Patriots to punt, Eric Rowe intercepted Roethlisberger and returned the ball 37 yards to the Steelers 32, ending any hope of a miraculous comeback. Eight plays later, Gostkowski kicked a 26-yard field goal giving the Patriots a 36–9 lead. Roethlisberger struck back with a 30-yard touchdown pass plus a two-point conversion, trimming the deficit to 36–17. The onside kick went out of bounds and the Patriots ran out the clock to win the game.


title: 2016 New England Patriots season

text: During the game, the Patriots broke numerous records. One of the records was by placekicker Stephen Gostkowski, in which he set the Patriots' franchise record for most postseason field goals in a career. He passed former Patriot Adam Vinatieri who had 26 with the franchise. He only trails three other kickers in the history of the NFL who are Gary Anderson (32), David Akers (39), and Vinatieri who now has 51 after he added 25 with the Indianapolis Colts. Adding to this, wide receiver Julian Edelman made a new record of most receptions yards in the playoff by a Patriot. He surpassed Deion Branch for the record. Surprisingly, both of these records were made in the first drive of the Patriots. Next, wide receiver Chris Hogan set the single-game franchise receiving record in the postseason. He finished the game with a total of 180 yards along with 2 touchdowns. Finally, with the win, the Patriots set the record for most Super Bowls ever attended by a single franchise with 9. They surpassed the Pittsburgh Steelers, Dallas Cowboys, and Denver Broncos who are all tied at 8. This will be the 7th for the Brady-Belichick tandem.


title: 2016 New England Patriots season

text: Both the Patriots and Falcons were held scoreless in the first quarter of Super Bowl LI. After a LeGarrette Blount fumble in Atlanta territory early in the second quarter gave the Falcons possession, the offense drove 71 yards in 5 plays, with running back Devonta Freeman capping the drive off with a 5-yard touchdown run to put the Falcons up 7–0 with 12:20 left in the second quarter. After a Patriots punt, the Falcons quickly returned to the red zone, where tight end Austin Hooper caught a 19-yard pass in the back of the end zone from Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan to extend the Falcons' lead to 14–0. The Patriots then drove to the Atlanta 23-yard line (aided by three Falcons holding penalties that negated third-down stops) where cornerback Robert Alford intercepted a Tom Brady pass intended for Danny Amendola and returned 82 yards for a touchdown to put the Falcons up 21–0 with 2:21 left in the first half. The ensuing Patriots possession resulted in a 41-yard Stephen Gostkowski field goal with five seconds left in the first half, leaving the score 21–3 in favor of Atlanta at halftime.


title: 2016 New England Patriots season

text: After the two teams traded punts to begin the second half, the Falcons drove 85 yards in 8 plays, with Ryan throwing a 6-yard touchdown pass from Ryan to running back Tevin Coleman, putting Atlanta up 28–3, with 8:31 left in the 3rd quarter. A fourth-down pass from Brady to Amendola extended the Patriots' ensuing drive, which ended with a 5-yard touchdown pass from Brady to James White to cut the Patriots' deficit to 28–9 with 2:06 left in the 3rd quarter after Gostkowski missed the extra point. After a failed onside-kick attempt and a Falcons punt, the Patriots drove inside the Atlanta 10-yard line, but Brady was sacked twice in three plays and the Patriots settled for a 33-yard Gostkowski field goal to make the score 28–12 with 9:44 remaining in regulation. On third and one on the Falcons' next drive, Dont'a Hightower sacked Ryan and forced a fumble, which was recovered by Alan Branch at the Falcons' 25-yard line. With new life, Brady threw a 6-yard touchdown to Amendola, and James White took a direct snap into the end zone for a 2-point conversion to make the score 28–20 with 5:56 left. The Falcons then drove to the New England 22-yard line, aided by a Devonta Freeman 39-yard catch-and-run and a 27-yard sideline catch by Julio Jones, and were in range to kick a field goal to go up by 11 points and virtually seal the win. However, a 12-yard sack and a holding penalty knocked Atlanta out of field goal range, and they were forced to punt. Starting at their own 9-yard line, the Patriots drove 91 yards in 10 plays, with James White scoring a one-yard touchdown with 57 seconds left in regulation to make the score 28–26. On the ensuing 2-point attempt, Danny Amendola took a Brady screen pass into the end zone to tie the game, completing a 25-point comeback, the largest in Super Bowl history.


title: 2016 New England Patriots season

text: For the first time in Super Bowl history, the game went into overtime. New England won the coin toss, calling "heads" and chose to receive the kick. After passes from Brady to White, Amendola, Chris Hogan, and Julian Edelman, as well as a 10-yard rush by White, the Patriots had first-and-10 at the Falcons' 15-yard line. A pass interference penalty against De'Vondre Campbell put the ball at the Atlanta 2. After an incomplete pass intended for Martellus Bennett, James White took a toss to the right and dove at the goal line for a touchdown, winning Super Bowl LI for the Patriots, 34–28.


title: 2016 New England Patriots season

text: With the victory, the Patriots won their fifth Super Bowl, tying them with the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers for the second most of all time. The win was also the fifth Super Bowl victory for Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, both setting records (Belichick surpassing Chuck Noll for most Super Bowl wins by a head coach, and Brady surpassing Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw for most Super Bowl wins by a quarterback). Brady was named Super Bowl MVP for the fourth time, also setting a record.


title: 2016 New England Patriots season

text: Four Patriots were elected to the 2017 Pro Bowl. Quarterback Tom Brady, linebacker Dont'a Hightower, safety Devin McCourty, and special teamer Matthew Slater were all named as starters. However, none of them participated because the Patriots reached Super Bowl LI.


title: 2016 New England Patriots season

text: Seven Patriots were elected to the 2016 All-Pro Team. Only Slater was named to the first team as a special teamer. Everyone else was named to second team. This included pro bowlers Brady, Hightower, and McCourty. Adding to this, there was also tackle Marcus Cannon, cornerback Malcolm Butler, and special teamer Nate Ebner.


title: Alternative versions of Thor (Marvel Comics)

text: Thor was created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby. There had been multiple alternative versions of Thor, both in the main continuity as well as alternate stories. The character is based on the Norse Mythological deity Thor.


text: Part of a documentary crew brought to Asgard by Loki, Roger "Red" Norvell meets and falls in love with Lady Sif. Red Norvell is given Thor's "Iron Gauntlets" and "Belt of Strength" by Loki to compete with Thor for Sif's affections, beating him and taking his hammer, with neither realizing this was part of a master plan by Odin to create a surrogate God of Thunder to die fighting the Serpent of Ragnarok and fulfill the prophecy.


text: Thori is the pet of Thor. Thori is a Hel-Hound who can exude flames, track beings across dimensional planes, and, alone among his litter, speak.


text: Beta Ray Bill is the champion of the Korbinites, an alien race. Debuting in "Thor" #337, the character was initially intended to be a surprise as an apparent monster who unexpectedly proves to be actually a great hero. As such, Bill becomes the first being outside of the Marvel Universe's Norse pantheon to be deemed worthy enough to wield Thor's hammer, Mjolnir. After an initial rivalry for possession of the weapon, both the Thunder God and the alien warrior reconciled as staunch allies. Bill is granted a war hammer of his own called Stormbreaker, which grants him the same powers as Thor. He has since made numerous appearances.


text: Thor initially bonded with architect Eric Masterson to save the latter's life when he was injured as a bystander during one of Thor's battles. The bonding allows Masterson to transform into Thor while Thor's mind gains control. Later, Thor is punished for apparently killing Loki and exiled. Masterson retains possession of Mjolnir and the ability to transform into Thor's form, continuing his roles as a member of the Avengers and protector of Earth. Thor is eventually released from exile, but asks that Masterson continue serving as in his stead. Tricked by the Enchantress Masterson attacks Thor, and soon after relinquishes Mjolnir to Thor. In gratitude for his services, Odin provides Masterson with an enchanted mace, Thunderstrike, the name of which he uses as his new code name. He later heroically sacrifices himself to defeat the Egyptian god Set. The weapon and name Thunderstrike are later taken up by Masterson's son Kevin.


text: Marvel announced that in October 2014 there will be a new Thor who is female. As revealed in the aftermath of the "Original Sin" storyline, Thor lost his ability to wield Mjolnir, which was later found by Jane Foster who obtains Thor's power and his name. Thor, unaware of his successor's identity and believing Jane Foster would not be able to use Mjolnir due to her cancer, used the battle axe Jarnbjorn.


text: A version of Thor appears with an alter ego of an elderly Christian priest named Donal—an allusion to Thor's original secret identity Donald Blake. Donal fears and despises his alter-ego, believing that the shared existence will damn him. This version of Thor speaks in Anglo-Saxon alliterative verse rather than the Shakespearean English that the mainstream universe Thor speaks in.


text: Set in the year 2099, the role of Thor is taken by a man named Cecil MacAdam, who belongs to a class of priests known as "Thorites" who worship the original version of Thor. Avatarr, the CEO of Alchemax, grants him and others the powers of the Norse gods, along with brainwashing that both convinces them they are the gods and keeps them under his control Later, in "2099: Manifest Destiny", a rejuvenated Steve Rogers finds Mjolnir and becomes the new Thor. He gives Mjolnir to Miguel O'Hara (Spider-Man 2090) at the end of the story.


text: In this continuity, Donald Blake never discovers Mjolnir and thus never becomes Thor. Blake, as a member of the Human High Council, meets with Mikhail Rasputin (one of Apocalypse's horsemen) for peace talks. Knowing the mutant would never keep his word, Blake stabbed him through the chest with his cane and shoved him out a window, where both fell to their deaths.


text: In the Amalgam Comics universe, Thor is joined with Orion to form Thorion. Thorion was the son of Thanoseid (Thanos/Darkseid), but was traded to All-Highfather Odin in order to seal a truce between the realms of Apokolips and New Asgard.


text: During one adventure, L'ok D'saad (An amalgamation of Loki and Desaad), he for whom Thorion was traded, sought to use the Mother Cube (a mixture of a Mother box and the Cosmic Cube) and its Infinity Essence to awaken the Sleeping One called Surtur and bring about a second Ragnarok that would end everything. Thorion, however, invoked the power of the Source via his hammer to halt L'ok's evil wishes. Because of the great energies released during their conflict, Thorion was remade into a cosmic being known as The Celestial.


text: In "Unlimited Access", a limited series which further explored themes introduced in DC vs. Marvel, the hero known as Access formed an amalgamation of what appeared to be the Silver Age versions of Thor and Superman (in his then-current blue energy form). Together, they were known as Thor-El.


text: On Earth-56377, there is a version of Thor who had since been unworthy to wield Mjolnir as it had failed him when the Masters of Evil burned Asgard to a cinder and also when Midgard was further defiled by them. Since those days, Thor had been stalked by Mjolnir which led to Mjolnir following him to the Himalayas. After hurting his hand punching Mjolnir, Thor is approached by the Ghost of Lei Kung who takes him into K'un-Lun which was also desecrated by the Masters of Evil where it's Iron Fist fell in battle and Shou-Lao is behind its doors weakened but alive. When Thor mentions how he has been unworthy of Mjolnir, Lei Kung claims that Thor is not worthy to wield hammers and that he will train him to wield the Iron Fist move. Thor undergoes the training for it while repeatedly hurting his hand. After the training, Thor successfully subdued Mjolnir. Then Lei Kung fights Thor which led to Thor using what he has learned to send Lei Kung into Shou-Lao's chambers. It is here that Thor finds that Shou-Lao had passed away at some point. Before he disappears, Lei Kung advises Thor to use his "weapons" well. As Mjolnir acts up again, Thor allows it to come as a companion while advising it to stay out of his way. As Thor and Mjolnir leave the ruins of K'un-Lun, they are approached by Ghost Rider and Ant-Man who are looking for a Thor and offer him a ride.


text: This version of Thor would later be nicknamed the "God of Fists" when Ant-Man recaps on who he, Ghost Rider, and Ghost Rider's Deathlok companion have recruited so far.


text: During the "Infinity Wars" storyline, where the universe was combined in half, Thor was fused with Iron Man creating Iron Hammer. Sigurd Stark was the fifth richest person on the world thanks to his genius about technology. However, due to his lack of memories five years earlier, he was driven to drink. After going through the Norvegian, he was attacked by some Dark Elves, led by Krimson Kurse (fusion of Crimson Dynamo and Kurse). He got poisoned by an arrow, slowing killing him, and taken by the Elves to aid their other prisoner Eitri (fusion of Eitri and Ho Yinsen) in order to build powerful weapons for the Elves. Then, Sigurd became friends with Eitri and together they build an armor, that prevented the poison from killing Sigurd, along with a hammer in order to escape the Dark Elves. However, during their escape, Eitri is killed. After Sigurd defeated the Elves and Krimson Kurse, he discovered that Krimson was his lost friend, who had turned into a Thrall to be a servant to Dark Elves, and after that he killed his friend out of mercy. Sigurd then decided to go to the All-Father on Asgard, to seek help into defeating Malekith (fusion of Malekith and Mandarin), and with the help of his A.I. assistant H.E.I.M.D.A.L.L. (fusion of Heimdall and J.A.R.V.I.S.) opened the B.I.F.R.O.S.T. and went to Asgard. When travelling, he remembered his old memories: his true name was Stark Odinson who, due to his arrogance, his father Howard Odin (fusion of Howard Stark and Odin) banished his son to Earth, where he would learn how is like to be a mortal. Upon arriving, Malekith had trapped the Aesir and had allied with Madame Hel (fusion of Madame Masque and Hela) and Stane Odinson (fusion of Loki and Obadiah Stane). Luckily, Iron Hammer was able to defeat Malekith and Odin allowed his son to become a god again. However, Sigurd refused, feeling better as a human.


text: King Thor first appears in "Thor: God of Thunder" #1 where his reality takes place on Earth-14412. He is visually based on Odin, having only one eye, but in addition one of his arms is replaced by one of the arms of the Destroyer armor. He also is in possession of the Odinforce, now renamed the Thor Force. He also has adapted some of Odin's mannerisms, notably his bitterness and cynicism. Until further continuity changes, this version of Thor seems to be the destined future of the Prime/Earth-616 Thor.


text: Millennia from the present, Thor becomes the All-Father of Asgard. However, some time before this, Loki successfully destroys the Earth, and King Thor comes to him for revenge for killing everyone he loves. Loki raises an army of undead from the corpses of the Avengers, and Thor fights them off before Loki retreats into the past to corrupt the Thor of the present. This experience leaves Thor a bitter and cynical king, much like his father.


text: Some time after this, Gorr the God Butcher razes Asgard with an army of Black Berserkers, killing or capturing its inhabitants. Gorr spares King Thor as a form of torture, marooning him in the ruins of Asgard to look back on his failures, keeping him there with an army of Black Berserkers to guard him. King Thor remains imprisoned in Asgard for 900 years, only to be liberated when the Prime Thor travels through time in pursuit of Gorr, who has fled his present. Together, along with a young version of Thor from the 9th century AD, the Thors defeat Gorr and save the surviving Asgardians and other gods.


text: Some time after this, Galactus returns to Earth to consume what is left of it. King Thor, having grown sentimental over what the Earth once was, attempts to fight Galactus off, but is blasted into space by the Devourer of Worlds. King Thor retrieves All-Black the Necrosword from the black hole he cast it in after Gorr's defeat, returns to Earth, and makes short work of Galactus, sparing the Devourer of Worlds only when he collapses from the exhaustion of the battle. During this, King Thor's blood restores life to Earth. King Thor then agrees to let Galactus live and gives him leave to consume Mars in exchange for his life. However, Galactus acquires All-Black shortly after this and goes on a planet killing spree across the universe, becoming the Butcher of Worlds.


text: Millennia later, King Thor and his granddaughters repopulate the Earth with flora and fauna like multi-tusked elephants and different hybrids. Thor personally created two new humans, naming them Jane and Steve.


text: During the "Secret Wars" storyline, King Thor was recreated on Battleworld where he became the Lawspeaker of the Thor Corps.


text: After Earth-14412 was restored, he human race steadily regrows and prospers under Thor's guidance. However, the universe eventually starts to get consumed by entropy. King Thor heads to the edge of the universe in an attempt to stop it, only to be confronted by an older version of Wolverine, who is now in possession of the Phoenix Force. Logan is bitter at Thor for having disrupted the natural order of things out of sentiment, warning him that his actions have attracted the attention of Doctor Doom, who is still alive in this time and in possession of the Starbrand, the Iron Fist, the Spirit of Vengeance, and is also the Sorcerer Supreme. Doom returns to Earth to conquer it only to be opposed by King Thor and Old Man Phoenix. After their combined might still proves to be unable to defeat Doom, Logan sacrifices himself by transferring the Phoenix Force into Mjolnir, imbuing Thor with the power of the Phoenix. Phoenix King Thor fights Doom in the Earth's mantle for 99 years, emerging victorious but collapsing into the Forever Sleep to recover from his efforts.


text: Some time later, Loki attacks Asgard again, this time in possession of All-Black the Necrosword, wanting to kill Thor once and for all. However, in the midst of their battle, Loki is unexpectedly stabbed by Gorr, whose consciousness has remained in All-Black for all these years. Thor, Loki, and Thor's granddaughters attempt to kill Gorr, but Gorr has transcended mortality by becoming one with All-Black, which has also been perfuming itself throughout the universe, slowly destroying it. King Thor finally defeats All-Black after it takes over a massive black hole, traveling to its center and unleashing his full power. This destroys All-Black with the foundations of the universe and renders Gorr mortal, this time with amnesia. Eventually, King Thor leaves Earth in the care of his granddaughters, and sails to the edge of the universe in Skidbladnir to stave off the inevitable entropy.


text: While Thor does not appear in Marvel Noir, the Noir version of Baron Zemo reveals that his castle was previously inhabited by a mad Norse Man who believed that he was a God of Asgard, and would frequently attack people with a hammer. Zemo holds up his skeleton, and the skull is wearing a helmet reminiscent of Thor's original helmet in the 616 continuity.


text: Briefly, Thor appears as a cannibalistic zombie wielding a makeshift version of a hammer composed of a concrete block and pipe as he is no longer worthy to wield Mjolnir, which he breaks when trying to attack the Silver Surfer. When the Silver Surfer is finally struck down, only a handful of zombies manage to eat a piece of his body, and Thor is not one of them. Those who did consume the Silver Surfer acquire his cosmic powers, and Thor, along with the rest of the zombies, is seemingly slaughtered. Giant-Man can be seen throwing away his skeleton after burning his body.


text: But in "Marvel Zombies: Dead Days"- a one shot prequel to the main events of the "Zombie" universe-, Thor is amongst the heroes on the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier who survived the first wave of the zombie plague. After Reed Richards was driven insane following his construction of a device to travel to other universes, Thor, on Nick Fury's orders, destroyed the device rather than using it to escape to another dimension unaffected by the virus, in order to ensure that what had happened to their world couldn't happen to another.


text: During the "Old Man Logan" storyline taking place on Earth-807128, Thor was listed as the Last White Hope the day when the villains won. He was mentioned by Hawkeye to have been killed by Absorbing Man (who absorbed the magic from Scarlet Witch's corpse) and Magneto (who conjured an electromagnetic storm to make Absorbing Man stronger). Mjolnir was left on the sight of Las Vegas which was later renamed Hammer Falls.


text: On Earth-21923, Thor's history remained the same. A grown up Dani Cage, daughter of Luke Cage and Jessica Jones, is a recurring character in the "Old Man Logan" miniseries and its sequel, "Dead Man Logan". In the Wastelands, Thor died many years in the past and his hammer lies in the countryside, with nobody able to lift it, and a small cult is formed around it. Dani is shot in the area, and falls next to the hammer. She takes it before dying, and becomes a new Thor. The character would be used next in the limited series "Avengers of the Wastelands", which was released in January 2020.


text: In "Ruins" an alternate universe where "everything that can go wrong will go wrong" Donald Blake (Thor's human alter ego) appears claiming to have found Mjolnir when in fact he ate hallucinogenic agaric mushrooms. However, Mjolnir appears at the site where the Avengers of this reality had perished at the hands of the United States military indicating Thor and Donald Blake are two separate people in this reality.


text: In the Spider-Ham comics, which take place on Earth-8311, a universe populated by talking animal parodies of Marvel Comics characters, Thor appears as Thrr, an anthropomorphic dog from "Arfgard".


text: Thor is a member of the superhero team the Ultimates in the Ultimate Marvel Universe. Despite his claims to be a Norse god, he is regarded by many to be delusional during the first months of his career. It is not until he is seen summoning an army of Asgardian warriors to fend off an attack on Washington DC by demonic forces commanded by Loki that Thor's teammates realize he is exactly who he says he is.


text: In an early "What If" story, Jane Foster discovered the stick rather than Donald Blake, spending time as a female Thor (called Thordis) before she was recalled to Asgard, allowing Odin to return the hammer to its rightful owner, although Jane went on to be elevated to godhood so that she could marry Odin.


text: In "What If Rogue possessed the power of Thor?", Rogue accidentally permanently absorbed Thor when she and Mystique attempted to break the Brotherhood out of prison, resulting in her killing most of the Avengers and the Brotherhood when she was unable to cope with Thor's power. Although Loki attempted to manipulate her into waging war on Asgard after she was able to lift Thor's hammer, the sight of Odin's genuine sense of loss allowed Thor's remnants to manifest in her subconscious, affirming that he was an ideal as well as a person, allowing Rogue to inherit his power and position as she became the new Thor.


text: In "What if Thor was the Herald of Galactus?", Galactus comes to devour Asgard. His herald kills Sif and Thor kills the herald in revenge. Galactus then announces that Asgard has fed him enough, and asks Thor to become his new herald in exchange for leaving Asgard alone. Thor agrees and directs Galactus to worlds with bloodthirsty races he deems worthy of destruction. Until the day Munnin, one of Odin's ravens, reaches him to inform him that Odin is dead and Asgard has fallen. Thor returns to Asgard, now under control of Loki and the frost giants, who reveal that Galactus' coming to Asgard was part of his plan to weaken Odin. After recovering Mjolnir, which he left behind, Thor guides Galactus to Asgard to feed in order to defeat Loki, since Asgard is an insult to what it once was. Thor frees Balder and the other imprisoned Asgardians, telling them to flee to Midgard. Thor defeats Loki, but continues being Galactus' herald: if he can be bold enough to decide which world is to be devoured, he is still worthy of wielding Mjolnir. On Earth, Balder becomes the premier super hero of Chicago. Thor also later becomes the Herald of Galactus in the 2020 run of the main "Thor" comic book series.


text: Dargo Ktor lived in a distant dystopian future, where people of earth are oppressed by the oppressive corp. He becomes the Thor of that future after realising that he is worthy to lift mjolnir and thus fights the oppressive corp and Loki to save his people from the oppressive regime.


text: Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Earth-199999) is depicted as one of the most powerful Asgardians, an ancient alien civilization with long ties to Earth, who humans consider to be gods. Thor wields a powerful hammer called Mjolnir, and is initially depicted as the arrogant heir to the throne of Asgard whose brash behaviors causes turmoil among the Nine Realms under Asgard's protection. This brings him into conflict with his villainous adopted brother, Loki. Thor commits himself to the protection of Earth, and becomes a founding member of the Avengers.Thor eventually becomes the King of Asgard after Odin's death, but the entire realm is destroyed during Ragnarök, where he had to fight his sister, Hela. Following the Blip, he passes the crown of New Asgard to Valkyrie and joins the Guardians of the Galaxy. Thor later comes into conflict with Gorr the God Butcher and the Olympian god Zeus, while reconnecting with his terminally ill ex-girlfriend, the now Mjolnir-wielding Jane Foster. After Foster succumbs to her cancer to assist in Gorr's defeat, Thor adopts the latter's daughter, Love. This version of Thor is played by Australian actor Chris Hemsworth.


text: Thor starred in the segment "The Mighty Thor" of the animated "The Marvel Super Heroes", originally syndicated in 1966. There were thirteen episodes that centered on Thor, who was voiced by Chris Wiggins who also voiced his human host Donald Blake.


text: Thor and the rest of Avengers are forced to battle the world's most dangerous supervillains, including Baron Zemo, the Leader, Kang the Conqueror, and Ultron, as well as the criminal organizations Hydra and A.I.M..


text: Thor is a young God, who must prove himself worthy of his father's ideals, while trying to stop an inevitable war between the Asgardians and frost giants.


text: the founding member of the Avengers. Thor is the heavy hitter of the team as he fights evil and saves the world with his teammates. The Avengers team consist of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow, Hawkeye and Falcon.


text: What if episode 7 explores what would happen if the events of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film "Thor" (2011) occurred differently, with Thor growing up without his adopted brother Loki and adopting a party lifestyle.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: Wadham College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorothy Wadham, according to the will of her late husband Nicholas Wadham, a member of an ancient Devon and Somerset family.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: The central buildings, a notable example of Jacobean architecture, were designed by the architect William Arnold and erected between 1610 and 1613. They include a large and ornate Hall. Adjacent to the central buildings are the Wadham Gardens.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: Amongst Wadham's most famous is Sir Christopher Wren. Wren was one of a brilliant group of experimental scientists at Oxford in the 1650s, the Oxford Philosophical Club, which included Robert Boyle and Robert Hooke. This group held regular meetings at Wadham College under the guidance of the warden, John Wilkins, and the group formed the nucleus which went on to found the Royal Society.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: Wadham is a liberal and progressive college which aims to maintain the diversity of its student body and a friendly atmosphere. Founded as a men's college, in 1974 it was among the first to become coeducational, and the college has a strong reputation as a promoter of gay rights. In 2011 it became the first Oxford college to fly the rainbow flag as part of queer week, a celebration of sexual diversity and individuality.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: Wadham is one of the largest colleges of the University of Oxford, with about 480 undergraduates and 240 graduate students. The college publishes an annual magazine for alumni, the "Wadham College Gazette".


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: As of 2021, it had an estimated financial endowment of £116 million, and in 2014/2015 ranked 3rd in the Norrington Table, a measure which ranks Oxford colleges by academic performance. In the year 2020/2021, Wadham ranked 11th in the Norrington table.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: The college was founded by Dorothy Wadham (née Petre) in 1610, according to the wishes set out in the will of her husband Nicholas Wadham. Over four years, she gained royal and ecclesiastical support for the new college, negotiated the purchase of a site, appointed the West Country architect William Arnold, drew up the college statutes, and appointed the first warden, fellows, scholars, and cook. Although she never visited Oxford, she kept tight control of her new college and its finances until her death in 1618.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: The wardenship of John Wilkins (1648–1659) is a significant period in the history of the college. Wilkins was a member of a group which had met for some years in London to discuss problems in the natural sciences. Many of the group moved to Oxford and held regular meetings in the Warden's lodgings at Wadham. Among them were Robert Boyle, Robert Hooke, John Locke, William Petty, John Wallis, and Thomas Willis. Wadham provided the largest contingent, some twelve of the fifty names mentioned. These included Christopher Brookes (mathematician and instrument-maker), John Mayow (a distinguished chemist and physician), Lawrence Rooke (later astronomy professor at Gresham College, London), Thomas Sprat (later the official historian of the Royal Society), Seth Ward (mathematician and Savilian Professor of Astronomy), and Sir Christopher Wren (mathematician and Savilian Professor of Astronomy).


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: Sir Christopher Wren was an undergraduate at Wadham before he became a fellow of All Souls and then succeeded Rooke as astronomy professor at Gresham College, London. He eventually returned to occupy rooms at Wadham while he was the Savilian Professor of Astronomy from 1661. Wren had notable achievements in pure and applied mathematics, astronomy, physics and biology to his credit before he turned to architecture, in his thirties. In mathematical ability alone, Wren was ranked by competent authorities second only to Newton among the men of his time.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: The Warden's lodgings were stuffed with ingenious instruments, and powerful telescopes were mounted on the college tower. The Oxford group kept up close relations with their colleagues in London, and in 1660, at Gresham, the decision was taken to create the body which, in 1662, was to be formally incorporated as the Royal Society. Wilkins was the first president of the provisional body, and became the first secretary of the Royal Society itself. These were the beginnings of organised scientific research in Britain.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: Maurice Bowra was warden of the college from 1938 until 1970, and was influential in determining the character of the college as open and meritocratic. He was known for his hospitality but also for his waspish wit, and anecdotes about his time as Warden remain in circulation amongst Wadham alumni. A statue of Bowra is in the college gardens, and the college's 1992 Bowra Building bears his name.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: The college now consists of some 70 Fellows, about 230 graduate students, and about 450 undergraduates. The current Warden is Robert Hannigan. Hannigan succeeded Lord Macdonald of River Glaven QC as Warden upon Macdonald's retirement in 2021.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: In 1974, after more than three and a half centuries as a men-only institution, Wadham was among the first group of five all-male colleges at Oxford to admit women as full members, the others being Brasenose, Jesus College, Hertford and St Catherine's.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: Wadham College has a reputation as a supporter of gay rights partly because it plays host to "Queerfest", a celebration of the LGBTQ cause. In 2011, Wadham became the first Oxbridge college to fly the Rainbow Flag in support of equality, as part of its annual Queerweek. The Rainbow Flag also flies over Wadham each year during February, to mark LGBT Month.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: A Wadham student tradition is that student social events are always concluded with the playing of the Specials' "Free Nelson Mandela". The motion to play the song to conclude every student event until Nelson Mandela was freed from prison was passed by the Wadham Student Union in 1987, when Wadham alumnus Simon Milner (History, 1985), now Policy Director at Facebook, was SU President. Following Mr Mandela's liberation, the Student Union voted to continue the tradition as a mark of affection. President Mandela visited Wadham College and dined there on 11 July 1997. In 2017, this tradition was challenged by a South African student, who is a member of the ANC and active in equality campaigning in South Africa, as no longer appropriate given the complex legacy of Mandela in post-Apartheid South Africa. He also highlighted that there is much more to South Africa than just the history of Apartheid, and that constant reference to it rather than South Africa's current issues is outdated and no longer the progressive act it was intended to be. A vote to remove the constitutional requirement to play the song was narrowly defeated in a Wadham SU meeting.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: In 2013 the warden, Lord Macdonald of River Glaven QC, created the Wadham Human Rights Forum, a new public forum for the discussion of human rights issues that welcomes top level speakers to Wadham College. Lord Macdonald was also frequently in the media speaking on legal issues and, particularly, on issues relating to rights and security.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: Wadham is sometimes put forward as the last major English public building to be created according to the mediaeval tradition of the Master Mason. Wadham's front quadrangle (quad), which served as almost the entire college until the mid-20th century, is also an early example of the "Jacobean Gothic" style that was adopted for many of the university's buildings.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: The main building was erected in a single building operation in 1610–1613. The architect, William Arnold, was also responsible for Montacute House and Dunster Castle in Somerset, and was involved in the building of Cranborne Manor, Dorset for Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, James I’s Lord Treasurer. The style of the building is a fairly traditional Oxford Gothic, modified by classical decorative detail, most notably the 'frontispiece' framing statues of James I and the Founders immediately facing visitors as they enter the college. Classical, too, is the over-powering emphasis on symmetry. The central quadrangle was originally gravelled throughout; the present lawn was laid down in 1809. The college was refaced in the 1960s, and much of the front quad has undergone further restoration work.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: In 1898, the hall was the third largest amongst Oxford colleges after Christ Church and New College. It is notable for its great hammer-beam roof and for the Jacobean woodwork of the entrance screen. The portraits include those of the founders and of distinguished members of the college. The large portrait in the gallery is of Lord Lovelace, who held Oxford for William of Orange during the Revolution of 1688; the inscription records his role in freeing England 'from popery and slavery'.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: Although a ceremonial door opens directly into Front Quad, the chapel is usually reached through the door in staircase 3. The screen, similar to that in the hall, was carved by John Bolton. Originally Jacobean woodwork ran right round the chapel. The present stone reredos was inserted in the east end in 1834. The monumental East window depicting Jonah's whale, top right, was made by a Dutchman, Bernard van Linge, in 1622. The elegant young man reclining on his monument is Sir John Portman, baronet, who died in 1624 as a nineteen-year-old undergraduate. Another monument is in the form of a pile of books; it commemorates Thomas Harris, one of the fellows of the college appointed at the foundation. The Chapel organ dates from 1862 and 1886. It is one of the few instruments by Henry Willis, the doyen of Victorian English organ builders, to survive without substantial modification of its tonal design.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: Limited additions were made during the 18th and 19th centuries, including a converted warehouse originally used to store bibles. A series of expansions since 1952 have made use of a range of 17th- and 18th-century houses and several modern buildings to create a Back Quad between the Front Quad and Holywell Street.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: The small quadrangle formed by the Junior Common Room, the 1950s accommodation block, the Holywell Music Room and (latterly) the Bowra Building was sometimes known to students as the "Ho Chi Minh" quad. It is thought to have been thus named (in honour of Vietnamese revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh) during the period of student radicalism in the 1960s. The quad is used for games of croquet.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: The college grounds contain the Holywell Music Room. This is said to be the oldest purpose-built music room in Europe, and hence England's first concert hall. It was designed by Thomas Camplin, at that time Vice-Principal of St Edmund Hall, and opened in July 1748. The interior has been restored to a near-replica of the original and contains the only surviving Donaldson organ, built in 1790 by John Donaldson of Newcastle and installed in 1985 after being restored.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: The Ferdowsi Library (formerly the Ashraf Pahlavi Library) specialises in Persian literature, art, history, and culture. It possesses about 3,500 volumes, almost 800 manuscripts, about 200 lithographs in Arabic and Persian, and about 700 rare and early Armenian books, most of which were donated by Dr. Caro Minasian.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: At the end of the 1960s, the Warden, Maurice Bowra, President of the British Academy and one of the first co-founders of the British Institute of Persian Studies (BIPS), welcomed a donation to construct the building of the New Library in Wadham, where the emphasis would be given to Persian Studies and the post in Persian. Since then a special connection between Wadham and Iran has been established.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: The Wadham library building was initially funded by donations from the then (1976) Iranian ruling family, the Pahlavi dynasty. The funds were secured by Fellow and tutor in economics, Eprime Eshag. The building, with associated accommodation blocks, was designed by Gillespie, Kidd & Coia. Today the library is open 24/7 and has wireless connectivity throughout.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: The Bowra Building next to the Ferdowsi Library and Bar Quad was designed by Sir Richard MacCormac and opened in 1992. It includes a cafeteria, bar, seminar rooms, squash court and the Moser Theatre as well as student rooms.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: The McCall MacBain Graduate Centre was designed by Lee/Fitzgerald Architects and opened in 2012. It won a 2014 Riba Regional Award and Conservation Award. It provides a dedicated social and study space for Wadham's graduate students on the main site of Wadham college.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: The Dr Lee Shau Kee Building and William Doo Undergraduate Centre were designed by Amanda Levete Architects. They replaced the Goddard building of 1951 and now provide facilities for the college's access activities and student union. Construction began in 2018 and was completed in late 2020.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: The Merifield annexe, named after Merryfield, Ilton once home to the Wadhams, is in Summertown, about 1.2 miles from the centre of town.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: The Dorothy Wadham Building, on Iffley Road, was designed by Allies and Morrison and opened in 2019. It houses undergraduates, predominantly in their second year of studies.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: Wadham Gardens are relatively large when compared with those of other Oxford colleges, even without the land sold to build Rhodes House in the 1920s. Originally a series of orchards and market-gardens carved out from the property of the previously existing Augustinian priory, their appearance and configuration have been significantly modified over the course of the last four hundred years to reflect their constantly changing functional and aesthetic purpose.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: The land was shaped, in particular, by two major periods of planning. Gardens were first created under Warden Wilkins (1648–1659) as a series of formal rectangles laid out around a (then fashionable) mound which was, in turn, surmounted by a figure of Atlas. These gardens were notable not least for their collection of mechanical contrivances (including a talking statue and a rainbow-maker), a number of obelisks and a Doric temple. Under Warden Wills (1783–1806), the terrain was then radically remodelled and landscaped (by Shipley) and became notable for a distinguished collection of trees.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: Restored and reshaped following the Second World War, the present Gardens are divided into the Warden's Garden, the Fellows’ Private Garden and the Fellows’ Garden, together with the Cloister Garden (originally the cemetery) and the White Scented Garden.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: They are still notable for their collection of trees (specimens include a holm oak, silver pendent lime, tulip tree, golden yew, purple beech, cedar of Lebanon, ginkgo, giant redwood, tree of heaven, incense cedar, Corsican pine, magnolia and a rare Chinese gutta-percha) and they still contain a number of vestigial curiosities from the past (notably an 18th-century 'cowshed' set into the remnants of the Royalist earthworks of 1642, one of the second generation of 'Emperors Heads' that adorned the Sheldonian Theatre from 1868 to around 1970, and a sculpture of Warden Bowra).


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: Undergraduate students at Wadham are offered accommodation for three years of their course, from 2019.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: Accommodation is provided within college for the first and final years of their course, and during the second (or fourth) year within the newly constructed Dorothy Wadham Building, on Iffley Road, or within the Merifield annexe in Summertown.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: Since 1976, Wadham has been distinctive in having a Student Union, which in principle represents both undergraduate and graduate members. In practice the SU is more concerned with undergraduate interests and activities, whilst the separate MCR committee represents graduate students.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: All students can use the on-site facilities such as the Moser Theatre, squash court, gym, kitchen, laundry room, music practice rooms and various meeting rooms. The JCR Lounge is the main common room space used by undergraduate students, along with the bar. Since 2012 the MCR has had its own social area in the McCall MacBain Graduate Centre, with its kitchen, small bar, and media room. The college sports ground is located in Summertown, adjoining the Merifield residential complex.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: The Wadham JCR common room consists of a pool table and a table tennis table . Famously, this has been the home of the Wadham bar sports team for over 15 years which has now grown to over 30 members. Notable alumni include influential figures from the finance, tech and legal sectors, in particular BlackRock, Google and Hogan Lovells. An annual dinner is an important part of student life and has brought the years together over a shared love of pool and darts. In 2022 the Wadham pool team set a new record with a 78% frame win rate in Cuppers.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: Wadham has a student exchange program with the Sarah Lawrence College in New York. About 30 students come each year and live at Merifield, and about six Wadham students go to SLC in the spring each year for 3 weeks.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: There are elected welfare officers on both the SU and MCR committees. There is a general welfare room, as well as a men's room and women's room. The college also has a nurse who runs an open surgery.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: Wadham has a relatively high number of state school students, compared to other Oxford colleges. Wadham hosts "Queer Festival" (formally "Queer Bop"), and "Wadstock" (a twelve-hour live music festival). It also hosts "bops" five times a term in Michaelmas term and Hilary term. A Wadham student tradition is that events are always concluded with the playing of "Free Nelson Mandela".


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: There are three football teams, two chess teams, a cricket team, men and women's boat crews, a hockey team with Trinity, trampolining Cuppers side (mixed); Gaelic Football Cuppers side, men's darts, men's rugby, women's rugby Fives, mixed pool, weightlifting as well as Ultimate Frisbee.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: Wadham College Boat Club is the rowing club for students at Wadham, and it also allows Harris Manchester College students to join. The college boat house is located on Boathouse Island.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: In common with many Oxford colleges, Wadham has produced a wide range of graduates in the fields of economics, history, law, physiology, medicine, management, humanities, mathematics, science, technology, media, philosophy, poetry, politics and religion who have contributed significantly to public life.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: Notable members of the college in its early years include Robert Blake, Cromwell's admiral and founder of British sea-power in the Mediterranean, John Cook the first solicitor general of the English Commonwealth and prosecutor of King Charles I, the libertine poet and courtier John Wilmot 2nd Earl of Rochester, and Sir Christopher Wren. Wren attended the meetings of scientifically inclined scholars which were held by Warden John Wilkins (Cromwell's brother-in-law) in the college in the 1650s. Those attending formed the nucleus of the Royal Society at its foundation in 1662.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: John Wilkins invited Robert Boyle to Oxford in 1653, writing that "[I] shall be most ready to provide the best accommodations for you, that this place will afford". Boyle moved to Oxford in 1655, but preferred not to accept Wilkins's offer of accommodation, choosing instead to arrange his own rooms where he could carry out his scientific experiments. Boyle became a member of the Oxford Philosophical Club that met weekly in Wilkins's chambers at Wadham, as did Robert Hooke who became Boyle's assistant after having been a chorister at Christ Church.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: Arthur Onslow (1708), a great Speaker of the House of Commons, and Richard Bethell, who became Lord Chancellor as Lord Westbury in 1861, were members of the college.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: Two 20th century Lord Chancellors, F. E. Smith (Lord Birkenhead) and John Simon, were undergraduates together in the 1890s, along with the sportsman C. B. Fry; Sir Thomas Beecham was an undergraduate in 1897, though soon abandoning Oxford for his musical career.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: Frederick Lindemann, 1st Viscount Cherwell, who was Churchill's scientific adviser during the Second World War, was a fellow of the college. Cecil Day-Lewis, later Poet-Laureate, came up in 1923, and Michael Foot, later leader of the Labour Party, in 1931. Sir Maurice Bowra, scholar and wit, was Warden between 1938 and 1970. Robert Moses, the city planner, rose to the college in 1911.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: Among recent members have been Dr Rowan Williams, the former archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Dyson, former justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and Master of the Rolls, author and broadcaster Melvyn Bragg, writer and journalist Jonathan Freedland, novelists Hari Kunzru and Monica Ali, and Wasim Sajjad, former Chairman of the Senate of Pakistan and twice President of Pakistan. The mathematical physicist and philosopher Sir Roger Penrose was Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics 1973–1999, and is now an emeritus fellow.


title: Wadham College, Oxford

text: Andrew Hodges, the theoretical physicist and author of "The Imitation Game", the biography of Alan Turing, is a Tutorial Fellow in mathematics at Wadham. Having taught at Wadham since 1986, Hodges was elected a Fellow in 2007, and was appointed Dean from start of the 2011/12 academic year.


title: Rajakumaran (director)

text: Rajakumaran is an Indian film director, who has made Tamil films. He is married to actress Devayani, who he has collaborated with in all his films.


title: Rajakumaran (director)

text: Rajakumaran, an assistant to director Vikraman, made his debut with "Nee Varuvai Ena", a romance story produced by R. B. Choudary. The film starring Parthiban and Devayani won positive reviews and commercial success, being described as "a film definitely worth watching" by a critic from Indolink.com, who cites that "it is bound to touch your heart and make you wonder about the power of love". A reviewer from the Indian Express wrote "The plot is almost always predictable, and at times, even degenerates into blatant stupidity. But the director presents all this with such a straight face, that you find yourself lapping it all up". The film went on to win the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Storywriter for Rajakumaran. He then briefly began working on another project titled "Devathai Vanthuvittaal", and then started and shelved a film titled "Aanavam", which was to feature Sathyaraj, Khushbu and Roja.


title: Rajakumaran (director)

text: After the success of his first film, Rajakumaran was given another chance by R. B. Choudary to make a film under his banner. The project was titled as "Vinnukkum Mannukkum", with an ensemble cast featuring Vikram, Devayani, Sarathkumar and Khushbu. During the making of the film, Vikram mentioned his displeasure at being a part of the film, claiming that he had arguments with the director for every single shot and that "everything in that film, right from the first shot was wrong". Furthermore, Rajakumaran failed to utilize the call sheets of Sarathkumar and this caused some delay in finishing off the shootings, taking over a year to complete. The film received mixed reviews with a critic from The Hindu noting: "director Rajakumaran has taken special care in the choice of songs and locations to make the film entertaining. He should have paid more attention to the first half and more important, must have extracted more work from Vikram, who has the potential, and Devayani, for whom it is a cakewalk".


title: Rajakumaran (director)

text: He next chose to direct and produce a film titled "Kadhaludan" (2003) with Murali in the lead role. The film won mixed reviews with a critic from Sify noting: "the plot is idiotic, as director Rajakumaran has tried to rehash his earlier film "Nee Varuvai Ena"" and described the film as tedious. Another review from The Hindu described the film as a neat family drama, adding that: "The screenplay is hampered mainly by lengthy, meandering dialogue that proves tiresome". The failure of the films prompted Rajakumaran to take a sabbatical from film-making and briefly worked as a film distributor. Along with his wife, they then launched another production "Thirumathi Thamizh" in February 2008, with Rajakumaran playing the lead role and Devayani starring opposite him. The film, after much delay, released to mixed reviews in April 2013.


title: Rajakumaran (director)

text: He married actress Devayani in April 2001 in a secret marriage at Thiruthani Murugan Temple. The pair had fallen in love during the production of his first two films .


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: The impact of Brexit on the Irish border and its adjacent polities involves changes in trade, customs, immigration checks, local economies, services, recognition of qualifications, medical cooperation, and other matters, now that it is the only external EU land border between the United Kingdom and the European Union.


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: After the UK Parliament voted to leave the European Union, all parties said that they want to avoid a hard border in Ireland, due particularly to the border's historically sensitive nature. Border issues were one of three areas of focused negotiation in the Withdrawal Agreement. Following the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union on 31 January 2020, this border is also the frontier between the EU and an external country. The Northern Ireland Protocol of the Brexit withdrawal agreement commits the UK and the EU to maintaining an open border in Ireland, so that (in many respects) the "de facto" frontier is the Irish Sea border between the two islands. This requires the continued application of the Common Travel Area as well as free trade of goods (including electricity) between Ireland and Northern Ireland. The latter requires the UK to follow EU law in Northern Ireland with respect to these areas, with jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in the interpretation of the law.


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: In 1922, the 26-county Irish Free State formally seceded from the United Kingdom as a self-governing dominion under the terms of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, setting the stage for full national independence, while the six-county Northern Ireland remained part of the United Kingdom. Consequently, the dividing line between these two parts of the island became an international border. Trade in goods and services across this frontier became subject to differing tax and tariff arrangements and an infrastructure of customs posts was put in place at designated crossing points. All traffic was subject to inspection by the jurisdiction it was entering. This could entail full vehicle searches with consequent delay and inconvenience. However, passport checks were not applied because the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland were part of the Common Travel Area.


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: A number of bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements made goods checks less intrusive; the completion of the European Single Market in 1992 meant that checks on goods were phased out. However, during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, there were British military checkpoints on main border crossings and UK security forces made some, although not all, of the remaining crossings impassable. In 2005, in a phased implementation of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, the last of the border checkpoints was removed.


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: Since about 2005, the border has been perceived as being invisible, with little or no physical infrastructure, as the security barriers and checkpoints were removed due to processes put in place by the Good Friday Agreement (or Belfast Agreement) signed in 1998. This agreement has the status of both an international treaty between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland (the British-Irish Agreement), as well as an agreement of the parties within Northern Ireland (Multi-Party Agreement).


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: Following Brexit, the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland becomes an external EU border. In theory, a "hard" border could return, with both fewer and supervised crossing posts, to support the necessary customs infrastructure. Both EU and UK negotiating teams made clear that this outcome would not be acceptable in any final exit agreement.


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: US Senator George Mitchell, who chaired the negotiations for the Belfast Agreement, has commented that he believes the creation of a border control system between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland might jeopardise the agreement. Research published on 18 February 2019 by Irish Senator Mark Daly and two UNESCO chairmen indicated that reinstating a hard border would result in the return of violence.


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: In the June 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, Northern Ireland voted 55.8% to 44.2% in favour of remaining in the European Union. Support for remaining or leaving was largely divided along sectarian lines, with a majority in Catholic areas favouring Remain and a majority in Protestant areas favouring Leave. In a November 2018 opinion poll commissioned by BBC Northern Ireland and RTÉ (Republic of Ireland), 61% of those polled believed that Brexit should not go ahead if the price is a hard border (versus 36% that it should, 3% don't know).


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: In the context of Brexit, a "hard border" means one where there is a limited number of authorised (and physically controlled) crossing points, staffed by customs officers and police, supported in times of tension by military forces. Drivers of vehicles crossing are required to declare goods in carriage, commercial carriers must produce bills of lading and evidence that the goods comply with the minimum standards of the territory being entered. Tariffs (in the form of customs duty) may be payable. This was the position that pertained on the border from 1923 until the Single European Act in 1993. (In this context, a "hard border" does not mean a fortified border but, during the Troubles, British security forces blocked many unapproved crossings for security reasons. Under the terms of the Common Travel Area agreement, British and Irish citizens are free to cross the border without any passport controls).


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: According to statements in 2016 by the then UK Prime Minister Theresa May and Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny, it is intended to maintain this arrangement after the United Kingdom leaves the EU.


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: In September 2016, the (then) UK Brexit Secretary, David Davis, stated that the UK government would not seek a return to a hard border between the UK and the Republic of Ireland.


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: In October 2016, "The Guardian" reported that British proposals to avoid a hard border, by 'seeking to shift the frontline of [British] immigration controls to Ireland's ports and airports', had received "signals [of] support" by some members of Enda Kenny's government. However, by 2017, a spokesperson for the new Irish government, under Leo Varadkar, stated that these reports had been "misinformed", and that there was "no question of UK officials acting as border agents in Ireland".


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: In its white paper on Brexit, the United Kingdom government reiterated its commitment to the Good Friday Agreement. With regard to Northern Ireland's status, it said that the UK government's "clearly-stated preference is to retain Northern Ireland's current constitutional position: as part of the UK, but with strong links to Ireland".


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: The Irish Government's position has been to reduce public mention of border checks to avoid confrontation with opposition parties in the Dáil and to calm nationalist and unionist concerns in Northern Ireland. Repeated statements have been made by senior politicians in government denying plans are being made for a hard border. Concerns have been raised by opposition parties that the government is not being forthright about the risk of, and planning for, a hard border. A private admonishment by Tánaiste Simon Coveney of Minister for Transport Shane Ross in the wake of a press conference was caught on the live microphones. In reference to border checks, Coveney stated, "We can’t get into where they’ll be at this stage. They could be in the sea. They could be...but once you start talking about checks anywhere near the border people will start delving into that and all of a sudden we’ll be the Government that re-introduced a physical border on the island of Ireland".


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: In a February 2019 Sky Data poll, 79% of respondents supported the Irish government holding out for a legal guarantee that there will be no hard border, even if it risks a no-deal Brexit on 29 March. In the same poll, 81% supported cutting economic ties with the UK if forced to choose, with 19% supporting cutting ties with the EU in favour of the UK to maintain the open border.


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: There have been worries among unionists that the Irish government's position is a covert attempt to gain more power over the region in order to promote a united Ireland, a position the Irish government has denied. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) opposes a hard Irish border and wishes to maintain the Common Travel Area. The DUP was the only major party of Northern Ireland to oppose the Good Friday Agreement.


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: A referendum on the reunification of Ireland was suggested by the Sinn Féin leader Martin McGuinness immediately after the Brexit referendum results were announced, a stance reiterated by the new party leader Mary Lou McDonald in 2018.


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: A week after the Brexit referendum the then First Minister of Northern Ireland, the DUP's Arlene Foster and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness issued a joint letter in which they said that the border must not become a catalyst for illegal activity or create an incentive for those who wish to undermine the peace process.


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: In April 2017, the European Council agreed that, in the event of a united Ireland, Northern Ireland could rejoin the EU under Ireland's existing membership.


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: In January 2019, German foreign minister Heiko Maas urged British MPs not to let the UK leave the EU without a deal, saying that "some people call us stubborn, but the truth is avoiding a hard border in Ireland is a fundamental concern for the EU, a union that more than anything else serves one purpose – to build and maintain peace in Europe". Nevertheless, the European Commission's chief spokesman Margaritis Schinas stated on 23 January that it is "obvious" that there would be a hard border were the United Kingdom to leave the EU without a deal.


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: In April 2019, former WTO director-general and European trade commissioner Pascal Lamy said that "staying in a customs union after Brexit won't resolve the Irish border issue... Leaving the single market reintroduces a border – the thickness of which depends on the degree of regulatory divergence."


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: In the withdrawal negotiations, the Irish border issue was one of three areas that required a dedicated negotiation stream so as to achieve the withdrawal agreement that is required before the future relationship between the UK and EU can be agreed. The Irish and UK governments, as well as EU representatives, have stated that they do not wish for a hard border in Ireland, taking into account the historical and social "sensitivities" that permeate the island.


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: Michel Barnier, the EU chief negotiator, indicated that he would look to the United Kingdom and Ireland for "solutions" to threats posed to Ireland's trading links, the Common Travel Area, and the Good Friday Agreement. Denying UK media reports that Ireland expects the effective border to become the Irish Sea, Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney said that "the onus was on British officials to come up with an imaginative solution but [the Irish Government] would not support a proposal which would see a hard border return on Ireland".


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: The Irish backstop was a protocol in the (rejected) 2018 draft of the Withdrawal Agreement, that would have kept the United Kingdom (in general) in the European Union Customs Union and Northern Ireland (in particular) in some aspects of the European Single Market, until a solution is found to prevent a hard border. Its purpose was so as not to compromise the Good Friday Agreement and to maintain the integrity of the European Single Market. This would have come into operation only if there were no other solutions by the end of the (agreed) transition period, and would remain in place until such solutions were found and agreed to be practical. This proposal would have avoided the need for customs controls between Great Britain and Northern Ireland or between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland (in other words, between the UK and the EU).


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: The Irish government supported the proposal. It had been strongly opposed by the Democratic Unionist Party as weakening Northern Ireland's place within the United Kingdom and is regarded as the main reason why Theresa May's withdrawal agreement was never approved by the British Parliament. The UK Parliament had already rejected an earlier proposal.


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: After further negotiations in autumn of 2019, an alternative model, the Ireland/Northern Ireland Protocol of the final Brexit withdrawal agreement was agreed between the UK and the EU. A brief summary of the later protocol is given below.


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: In October 2019, the UK and the EU negotiators reached agreement on a revised protocol (see ) which resolved many of these issues by having Northern Ireland leave the EU "de jure" but with a "de facto" border between islands (Ireland and Great Britain).


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: In 1922, the United Kingdom and the newly established Irish Free State concluded a Common Travel Area (CTA) agreement. This gave British and Irish citizens the right to travel, live and work in either jurisdiction. Passport controls are not applied to travel between them. The freedom of movement provisions arising from membership of the EU to some degree superseded it, but the parties continued to keep their bilateral Agreement alive, despite its having no treaty status. In 2011, the British and Irish Governments agreed informally to continue their common controls on entry to the CTA for non-EEA nationals.


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: In September 2018, the British government guaranteed that free movement of EU citizens across the UK–Ireland border would continue.


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: In March 2022, the British government overturned a House of Lords amendment to the Nationality and Borders Bill that would have exempted non-Irish citizens of the European Economic Area and Switzerland from the requirement to obtain an Electronic Travel Authorisation before entering Northern Ireland from the Republic.


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: Former UK Prime Minister John Major has argued that Brexit might lead to a hard border since the European Union and the UK need to control their borders for customs purposes. The European Research Group faction of the Conservative Party believes that the UK might have the choice between not controlling its border if VAT is not enforced, or controlling the border in order to apply possible VAT on imported goods post-Brexit.


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: In late October 2018, the National Audit Office warned that it was already too late to prepare the necessary Irish border security checks in the event of a no-deal Brexit in March 2019 – a weakness that organised crime would be quick to exploit.


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: In March 2019, the UK government announced that it would not perform customs checks at the Irish border after a no-deal Brexit. The plan was quickly dubbed a "smuggler's charter", and criticised for likely breaching WTO rules. Local businesses expressed severe concerns.


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: On 17 October 2019, a revised withdrawal agreement that replaced the backstop with a was agreed by the EU leaders and Boris Johnson. In essence, this draft would "de facto" keep Northern Ireland in the EU Customs Union and Single Market for goods (including adoption of EU VAT) whilst allowing Great Britain to diverge. In December 2019, the UK Labour Party announced that it had obtained a HM Treasury paper using the Freedom of Information Act 2000 that appears to show that the Prime Minister's draft agreement would require some kinds of customs controls in both directions between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: The border reaches the sea at two inlets: Lough Foyle in the northwest and Carlingford Lough in the east. In the century since Ireland became independent, it and the UK have never defined where in those channels the border is. Both inlets are fished by boats of both nations. During Britain's EU membership there was no need to resolve the issue, as the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) gave all EU member states the rights to fish in each other's waters, and neighboring states further had the right to fish within 12 nautical miles of each other's coasts, in certain areas.


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: Now that Britain is no longer in the EU, the CFP no longer applies to its waters; the UK has, under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, sole control over who it allows to fish its waters. Many British fishermen strongly supported Brexit with the goal of leaving the CFP and what they considered to be the favoritism it showed fishermen from other countries, who in many cases depend on the rich fisheries around the British Isles for species much sought after in their markets but disdained by most British consumers. They wanted the British government to fully exercise this power and limit, or bar outright, all EU boats from their waters, until a deal favorable to them is reached.


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: Cooperation exists between the UK and Ireland on health matters, including the mutual recognition of qualifications. The Northern Ireland branch of the British Medical Association warned that a hard border "could risk patient care". The CEO of Cooperation and Working Together, a body that organises cross-border cooperation in health matters, suggested that the Norwegian model might be used. Along the Norway–Sweden border and other Nordic borders there is some cooperation on ambulance and helicopter pickup and on child birth clinics and some more, but otherwise health care is separated.


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: Article 7 of an EU insurance directive deals with national measures concerning vehicles normally based on the territory of third countries:


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2021/1145 of 30 June 2021 waived the need for a physical copy of a green card for British registered vehicles in the EU.


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: In the proposed withdrawal agreement, the special arrangement for Northern Ireland would end when a solution can be found that delivers a border as imperceptible as it became from the Good Friday Agreement until Brexit. , such a solution remains to be identified. Partial solutions have been proposed but have not been judged adequate.


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: A leaked memo by Industry Minister Richard Harrington, obtained by Sky News, said "This [technical solution] idea was considered and rejected by both the UK and the EU in summer 2018, as both parties concluded that it would not maintain an open border. That is why we ended up with the current backstop. There is currently no border in the world, outside a customs union, that has eliminated border infrastructure."


title: Brexit and the Irish border

text: On 8 May 2019, the UK Conservative Party established a panel of experts to advise its Alternative Arrangement Commission on possible technical solutions to the dilemma. The panel includes proponents of the two ideas below. The only participant with an Irish connection is Graham Gudgin, a former adviser to Brexit supporter Lord Trimble.