title: County Leitrim

text: Writing in 1791, the geographer Beaufort suggested the county housing population encompassed 10,026 homes with "upwards of 50,000 inhabitants", the primary agriculture being cattle production, and the growth of flax sustaining the linen industry. Leitrim was first hit by the recession caused by the mechanisation of linen weaving in the 1830s and its 155,000 residents (as of the 1841 census) were ravaged by the Great Famine and the population dropped to 112,000 by 1851. The population subsequently continued to decrease due to emigration. After many years, the wounds of such rapid population decline have finally started to heal. Agriculture improved over the last century. Leitrim now has the fastest growing population in Connacht.


title: County Leitrim

text: The "Book of Fenagh" is the most famous medieval manuscript originating here. In the 19th century the poet John McDonald (of Dromod) lived in the county, and William Butler Yeats spent the turn of the twentieth century fascinated with Lough Allen and much of Leitrim. Glencar Waterfall, from Manorhamilton, inspired Yeats and is mentioned in his poem The Stolen Child.


title: County Leitrim

text: Geographically, the county is almost evenly divided along north–south lines by Lough Allen, the River Shannon and Sliabh an Iarainn. Uniquely among Irish counties, there is no way to cross from the north of the county to the south (or vice versa) by road without leaving its boundaries. North Leitrim is slightly larger than the south, comprising 51% of County Leitrim's land area. However, South Leitrim, with towns such as Carrick-on-Shannon, Ballinamore and Drumshambo, is significantly more populous, containing approximately 65% of the county's population as of 2016.


title: County Leitrim

text: There are five historic baronies in the county. While baronies continue to be officially defined units, they are no longer used for many administrative purposes. Their official status is illustrated by Placenames Orders made since 2003, where official Irish names of baronies are listed under "Administrative units". They are Carrigallen, Drumahaire, Leitrim, Mohill and Rosclogher.


title: County Leitrim

text: Under the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898, County Leitrim was divided into the rural districts of Ballyshannon No. 3 (later renamed Kinlough), Bawnboy No. 2 (later renamed Ballinamore), Carrick-on-Shannon No. 1, Manorhamilton and Mohill. The rural districts were abolished in 1925.


title: County Leitrim

text: Leitrim County Council is the local authority for the county. The county is divided into three local electoral areas, each of which is also a municipal district: Ballinamore (6 councillors), Carrick-on-Shannon (6 councillors), and Manorhamilton (6 councillors). Leitrim County Council has two representatives on the Northern and Western Regional Assembly.


title: County Leitrim

text: Leitrim is part of the Dáil constituency of Sligo–Leitrim. This constituency existed from 1948 to 2007, and previously from 1923 to 1937 as Leitrim–Sligo. From 1937 to 1948, the county formed the Leitrim constituency. From 2007 until 2016, County Leitrim was divided between two constituencies: Roscommon–South Leitrim and Sligo–North Leitrim. This proved controversial, and at the 2007 general election there was no TD elected whose domicile was in the county. Sligo–Leitrim was recreated at the 2016 general election.


title: Safety integrity level

text: Safety integrity level (SIL) is defined as the relative level of risk-reduction provided by a safety function, or to specify a target level of risk reduction. In simple terms, SIL is a measurement of performance required for a safety instrumented function (SIF).


title: Safety integrity level

text: The requirements for a given SIL are not consistent among all of the functional safety standards. In the functional safety standards based on the IEC 61508 standard, four SILs are defined, with SIL 4 the most dependable and SIL 1 the least. The applicable SIL is determined based on a number of quantitative factors in combination with qualitative factors such as development process and safety life cycle management.


title: Safety integrity level

text: Assignment of SIL is an exercise in risk analysis where the risk associated with a specific hazard, that is intended to be protected against by a SIF, is calculated without the beneficial risk reduction effect of the SIF. That unmitigated risk is then compared against a tolerable risk target. The difference between the unmitigated risk and the tolerable risk, if the unmitigated risk is higher than tolerable, it must be addressed through risk reduction of the SIF. This amount of required risk reduction is correlated with the SIL target. In essence, each order of magnitude of risk reduction that is required correlates with an increase in one of the required SIL numbers.


title: Safety integrity level

text: There are several methods used to assign a SIL. These are normally used in combination, and may include:


title: Safety integrity level

text: Of the methods presented above, LOPA is by far the most commonly used by large industrial facilities.


title: Safety integrity level

text: The assignment may be tested using both pragmatic and controllability approaches, applying guidance on SIL assignment published by the UK HSE. SIL assignment processes that use the HSE guidance to ratify assignments developed from Risk Matrices have been certified to meet IEC EN 61508.


title: Safety integrity level

text: There are several problems inherent in the use of safety integrity levels. These can be summarized as follows:


title: Safety integrity level

text: These lead to such erroneous statements as, "This system is a SIL N system because the process adopted during its development was the standard process for the development of a SIL N system", or use of the SIL concept out of context such as, "This is a SIL 3 heat exchanger" or "This software is SIL 2". According to IEC 61508, the SIL concept must be related to the dangerous failure rate of a system, not just its failure rate or the failure rate of a component part, such as the software. Definition of the dangerous failure modes by safety analysis is intrinsic to the proper determination of the failure rate.


title: Safety integrity level

text: SIL is for electrical controls only and SIL numbers do not relate to the numbering associated with the Categories in EN 954-1.


title: Safety integrity level

text: The International Electrotechnical Commission's (IEC) standard IEC 61508 defines SIL using requirements grouped into two broad categories: hardware safety integrity and systematic safety integrity. A device or system must meet the requirements for "both" categories to achieve a given SIL.


title: Safety integrity level

text: The SIL requirements for hardware safety integrity are based on a probabilistic analysis of the device. In order to achieve a given SIL, the device must meet targets for the maximum probability of dangerous failure and a minimum safe failure fraction. The concept of 'dangerous failure' must be rigorously defined for the system in question, normally in the form of requirement constraints whose integrity is verified throughout system development. The actual targets required vary depending on the likelihood of a demand, the complexity of the device(s), and types of redundancy used.


title: Safety integrity level

text: PFD (probability of dangerous failure on demand) and RRF (risk reduction factor) of low demand operation for different SILs as defined in IEC EN 61508 are as follows:


title: Safety integrity level

text: For continuous operation, these change to the following. (PFH is Probability of dangerous Failure per Hour)


title: Safety integrity level

text: Hazards of a control system must be identified then analysed through risk analysis. Mitigation of these risks continues until their overall contribution to the hazard are considered acceptable. The tolerable level of these risks is specified as a safety requirement in the form of a target 'probability of a dangerous failure' in a given period of time, stated as a discrete SIL.


title: Safety integrity level

text: Certification schemes are used to establish whether a device meets a particular SIL. The requirements of these schemes can be met either by establishing a rigorous development process, or by establishing that the device has sufficient operating history to argue that it has been proven in use.


title: Safety integrity level

text: Electric and electronic devices can be certified for use in functional safety applications according to IEC 61508, providing application developers show the evidence required to demonstrate that the application including the device is also compliant. IEC 61511 is an application-specific adaptation of IEC 61508 for the Process Industry sector. This standard is used in the petrochemical and hazardous chemical industries, among others.


title: Safety integrity level

text: The use of a SIL in specific safety standards may apply different number sequences or definitions to those in IEC EN 61508.


title: Safety integrity level

text: There is a whole family of B2-level standards based more or less on IEC 61508 that also uses SIL, e.g., IEC 62061 and ISO 26262.


title: Safety integrity level

text: D. Smith, K. Simpson, "Safety Critical Systems Handbook – A Straightforward Guide to Functional Safety, IEC 61508 (2010 Edition) and Related Standards" (3rd Edition, , 270 Pages).


title: Safety integrity level

text: M. Punch, "Functional Safety for the Mining Industry – An Integrated Approach Using AS(IEC)61508, AS(IEC)62061 and AS4024.1." (1st Edition, , in A4 paperback, 150 pages). www.marcuspunch.com


title: Safety integrity level

text: M.J.M. Houtermans, "SIL and Functional Safety in a Nutshell (Risknowlogy Best Practices Series, 1st Edition, eBook in PDF, ePub, and iBook format, 40 pages). * SIL and Functional Safery in a Nutshell


title: Safety integrity level

text: H. Hartmann, H. Thomas, E. Scharpf, "Practical SIL Target Selection - Risk Analysis per the IEC 61511 Safety Lifecycle"


title: Safety integrity level

text: M. Medoff, R. Faller, "Functional Safety - An IEC 61508 SIL 3 Compliant Development Process, (Third Edition)"


title: Corby

text: Corby is a town in North Northamptonshire, England, located north-east of Northampton. From 1974 to 2021, the town served as the administrative headquarters of the Borough of Corby. At the 2011 Census, the built-up area had a population of 56,810, while the borough, which was abolished in 2021, had a population of 75,571 in 2021.


title: Corby

text: Figures released in March 2010 revealed that Corby had the fastest growing population in both Northamptonshire and the whole of England. The town was at one time known locally as "Little Scotland" due to the large number of Scottish workers who came to Corby for its steelworks. Recently, Corby has undergone a large regeneration process with the opening of Corby railway station and Corby International Pool in 2009 and the Corby Cube in 2010. The Cube was home to the (former) Corby Borough Council offices and also houses a 450-seat theatre, a public library and other community amenities.


title: Corby

text: Mesolithic and Neolithic artefacts have been found in the area surrounding Corby and human remains dating to the Bronze Age were found in 1970 at Cowthick. The first evidence of permanent settlement comes from the 8th century when Danish invaders arrived and the settlement became known as "Kori's by" – Kori's settlement. The settlement was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Corbei". Corby's emblem, the raven, derives from an alternative meaning of this word. These Danish roots were recognised in the naming of the most southern of the town's housing estates, Danesholme, around which one of the Danish settlements was located.


title: Corby

text: Corby was granted the right to hold two annual fairs and a market by Henry III in 1226. In 1568 Corby was granted a charter by Elizabeth I that exempted local landowners from tolls (the fee paid by travellers to use the long-distance public roads), dues (an early form of income tax) and gave all men the right to refuse to serve in the local militia. A popular legend is that the Queen was hunting in Rockingham Forest when she (dependent on the legend) either fell from her horse or became trapped in a bog whilst riding. Upon being rescued by villagers from Corby she granted the charter in gratitude for her rescue. Another popular explanation is that it was granted as a favour to her alleged lover Sir Christopher Hatton.


title: Corby

text: The Corby Pole Fair is an event that has taken place every 20 years since 1862 in celebration of the charter. The 1942 fair was not held due to the Second World War; it took place five years later. According to a newspaper report dated 14 June 1862 which focuses on the extravagances of the fair, the fugitive slave John Anderson was described as being educated in the Corby British School, giving the town an unusual link to slavery in the United States.


title: Corby

text: The most recent pole fair was held on Friday, 3 June 2022, to coincide with The Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations.


title: Corby

text: The local area has been worked for iron ore since Roman times. An ironstone industry developed in the 19th century with the coming of the railways and the discovery of extensive ironstone beds. By 1910 an ironstone works had been established. In 1931 Corby was a small village with a population of around 1,500. It grew rapidly into a reasonably sized industrial town, when the owners of the ironstone works, the steel firm Stewarts & Lloyds, decided to build a large integrated ironstone and steel works on the site. The start of construction in 1934 drew workers from all over the country including many workers from the depressed west of Scotland and Irish labourers. The first steel was produced in October 1935 and for decades afterwards the steel works dominated the town. By 1939 the population had grown to around 12,000, at which time Corby was thought to be the largest "village" in the country, but it was at that point that Corby was re-designated an urban district (see the Local Government section below).


title: Corby

text: During the Second World War the Corby steelworks were expected to be a target for German bombers but in the event there were only a few bombs dropped by solitary planes and there were no casualties. This may be because the whole area was blanketed in huge dense black, low-lying clouds created artificially by the intentional burning of oil and latex to hide the glowing Bessemer converter furnaces at the steelworks from German bomber crews. The only known remaining scars from German attacks can be found in the form of bullet holes visible on the front fascia of the old post office in Corby village (now known as Decades bar and restaurant). The Corby steelworks made a notable contribution to the war effort by manufacturing the steel tubes used in Operation Pluto (Pipe Line Under the Ocean) to supply fuel to Allied forces on the European continent.


title: Corby

text: In 1950, with a population of 18,000, Corby was designated a New Town with William Holford as its architect. By 1951, he prepared the development plan with a car oriented layout and many areas of open space and woodland. In 1952, Holford produced the town centre plan and in 1954 the layout for the first 500 houses. The town now underwent its second wave of expansion, mainly from Scotland. Corby is famous for its Scottish heritage based on decades of incoming steel workers and was for a time known locally as "Little Scotland".


title: Corby

text: In 1967 the British steel industry was nationalised and the Stewarts & Lloyds steel tube works at Corby became part of British Steel Corporation. The Government approved a ten-year development strategy with expenditure of £3,000 million from 1973 onwards, the objective of which was to convert BSC from a large number of small scale works, using largely obsolete equipment, to a far more compact organisation with highly competitive plant.


title: Corby

text: Steelmaking was to be concentrated in five main areas: South Wales, Sheffield, Scunthorpe, Teesside and Scotland, most of which are coastal sites with access to economic supplies of iron rich imported ores. It was not until 1975 that a closure programme was agreed after a 14-month review by Lord Beswick, the then Minister of State for Industry. Corby was not one of the Beswick Plants that were to close in the review. By this time BSC was plunging into loss and important parts of the investment programme was held back. The European Union, Davignon Plan, had also asked for Steel Capacity in Europe to be significantly reduced.


title: Corby

text: In May 1979, the New Conservative Governments Minister, Sir Keith Joseph announced the closure of Corby Steelworks. By the end of 1981 over 5,000 jobs had been lost from British Steel in Corby, and further cuts took the total loss to 11,000 jobs, leading to an unemployment rate of over 30%. Steel tube making continued, however, initially being supplied with steel by rail from Teesside and later from South Wales.


title: Corby

text: Corby was designated as a new town in 1950. Most of the housing in the town has been built since this date. The first new street completed was Bessemer Grove, about the same time that the re-built blast furnace was lit. New industry was subsequently attracted to the town when the Thatcher government designated it as an Enterprise Zone. By 1991 unemployment had returned to the national average. The recovery of Corby was explained in 1990 by John Redwood, then a junior minister in the Department of Trade and Industry, as being a result of the establishment of the Enterprise Zone, the promotion of Corby by the Thatcher government, the work of private investors and the skills of the work force. Others believe the town's recovery was significantly assisted by its central location and substantial grants from the EU. The enterprise zone was promoted by the Corby Industrial Development Centre through a prospectus that parodied "The Economist", titled "The Ecorbyist"; publication continued at least as late as 1994.


title: Corby

text: To the north of Corby, on the industrial estates, is a 350MW power station built in 1994; and the Rockingham Motor Speedway built in 2001.


title: Corby

text: The Corby constituency contains parts of traditionally Conservative East Northamptonshire that balance the traditionally Labour town of Corby, leading to a marginal constituency that has gone to the party forming the UK Government at every general election since the creation of the constituency in 1983. At the 2005 general election, Labour won Corby with a majority of just over 1,000 votes. At the 2010 general election, the sitting Labour MP Phil Hope lost the seat to writer Louise Bagshawe, the Conservative Party candidate, who became Louise Mensch after her marriage the following year.


title: Corby

text: In 2012, Mensch resigned as an MP and the resulting by-election was won by Labour's Andy Sawford with a majority of 7,791 votes over the Conservatives. UKIP finished in third place whilst the Liberal Democrats finished in fourth place, losing their deposit. The by-election was of national and international media interest due to the constituency being a marginal seat. During the wait for the results announcement, "Corby" briefly trended worldwide on Twitter.


title: Corby

text: The Conservatives took back the Corby constituency from Labour in 2015, with Conservative Tom Pursglove defeating Labour's Andy Sawford by a majority of 2,412 votes.


title: Corby

text: In local politics, the now abolished Corby Borough Council was controlled by the Labour Party since 1979. In 2015, the council had 24 Labour representatives and 5 Conservatives.


title: Corby

text: On 8 December 2014, Northamptonshire Police began an investigation into financial dealings by Corby Borough Council. In July 2013, Conservative councillors Rob McKellar and David Sims handed the "suspicious" findings of an audit report to the police to see if a crime had been committed. The audit report examined four major projects, including the Corby Cube, the cost of which went from £35m to £47m.


title: Corby

text: In the 2016 referendum on the UK's membership of the European Union, Corby voted 64% in favour of leaving whilst only 36% voted to remain in the EU. The turnout was 74.1% with the leave vote winning with a majority of 9,141 votes. The constituency's Conservative MP at the time, Tom Pursglove, had also been in favour of the UK leaving the European Union being one of the founders of Grassroots Out, the pro-Brexit organisation largely supported by Conservative and UKIP politicians.


title: Corby

text: Corby used to have 15 wards at the time of the 2011 census however following a boundary change only 11 remained. Some entirely new wards were created in the change however the Beanfield, Central, Danesholme, Rowlett, Rural West, Stanion and Corby Village, Weldon and Gretton and Lodge Park wards remained in existence. On the 1 April 2021, the Corby Borough Council was abolished and the Town of Corby now has 4 wards in the Town Council which are Oakley, Corby West, Kingswood and Hazel Lees and Lloyds, and 5 wards in the Unitary Authority which includes the Town Wards as well as incorporating the surrounding parishes into Corby Rural.


title: Corby

text: In March 2018, following Northamptonshire County Council becoming insolvent, due to financial and cultural mismanagement by the cabinet and officers, the then Secretary of State for Local Government, Sajid Javid, sent commissioner Max Caller into the council, who recommended the county council and all district and borough councils in the county be abolished, and replaced by two unitary authorities, one covering the West, and one the North of the county. These proposals were approved in April 2019. It meant that the districts of Daventry, Northampton and South Northamptonshire were merged to form a new unitary authority called West Northamptonshire, whilst the second unitary authority North Northamptonshire consists of the former Corby, East Northamptonshire, Kettering and Wellingborough districts. These new authorities came into being on 1 April 2021. Elections for the new authorities were due to be held on 7 May 2020, but were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and were instead held on 6 May 2021.


title: Corby

text: In the Local Elections on 6 May 2021, Corby returned 12 Labour Councillors and 3 Conservative Councillors across 5 wards, with the Conservatives only being elected in the Rural Ward. The newly created Corby Town Council returned 17 Labour Councillors across 4 Wards, which are all the seats on the Corby Town Council. In 2022, Corby Town Councillor Tafadzwa Chikoto became the first black mayor of Corby.


title: Corby

text: In 2012, Corby bid to gain city status as part of Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee celebrations. However, it lost out to Perth, Chelmsford and St Asaph.


title: Corby

text: It is recorded in 1851 that the accent spoken in the northern parts of Northamptonshire would be more recognisable as a "West Country dialect". Scottish migration to Corby has created a unique population in the borough. The link with Scotland is a strong feature of the area: according to the 2001 Census, there were 10,063 Scottish-born in the Corby Urban Area – 18.9% of the population. A further 1.3 per cent were born in Northern Ireland. It has been estimated that a further third of the population are Scottish or of Scottish descent.


title: Corby

text: The Scottish heritage is cherished by many inhabitants. There are Scottish social and sporting clubs and there are many fervent supporters of the Rangers and Celtic football clubs (indeed, Corby was home to the largest Rangers Supporters' Club outside Glasgow and Northern Ireland until its closure in February 2013) as well as the Scottish National Team. Many shops sell Scottish foods and a supermarket even introduced Gaelic signs to their Corby store (but they have since removed them). An annual Highland Gathering featuring traditional Scottish sports, music and dancing is held in the town. Corby is the only town in England apart from London with two Church of Scotland churches. Local legend states that Corby sees the highest sales of the Scottish soft drink Irn-Bru of anywhere outside Scotland. Asda Corby is stated to sell 17 times more Irn-Bru than any other store in England. Its popularity is cemented by the fact that it is available for purchase in all bars, nightclubs and pubs in the area. In 2014, Corby held a mock referendum in the run up to the Scottish independence referendum. 576 votes were cast, with 162 voting for Scottish independence and 414 voting against.


title: Corby

text: According to the 2001 Census 1.7% of the population are non-white and the average age of the population (37.2) is slightly lower than the average for England and Wales (38.6).


title: Corby

text: November 2010 saw the opening of the Corby Cube, a major development in the town centre. As well as new council chamber, registrar office, and public library, the Cube is home to a 450-seat theatre and 100 capacity studio theatre. A programme of live theatre, dance, music and standup comedy is complemented by a participation programme encouraging all parts of Corby community to get involved. Recently the theatre started screening films, twice a week and including current mainstream releases and the best in world, independent and art house cinema. A report in 2012 revealed that the Cube was built with dangerous design flaws and almost double its original estimated costs and a capacity of only half of what was planned.


title: Corby

text: A crater on Mars discovered in the late 1970s was named after Corby, in reference to a famous transcript of a conversation in June 1969 between the crew of the Apollo 11 mission and mission control, whereby world news was relayed to the crew, amongst it was the news that "in Corby, an Irishman named John Coyle won the World's Porridge Eating Championship by consuming 23 bowls of instant oatmeal in 10 minutes". The reply from Apollo 11: "I'd like to enter Aldrin in the porridge eating contest next time; he's on the 19th bowl. Roger."


title: Corby

text: Corby's main football team is Corby Town F.C., who play in the Southern League Division One Central. The Steelmen play at Steel Park and have an average home attendance of 431 in 2018/19. The town's other semi-professional football club are Stewarts & Lloyds Corby F.C., who play in the United Counties League. S&L play their home matches at Occupation Road.


title: Corby

text: Corby is also home to the Corby East Midlands International Swimming Pool, which opened in 2009, and is home to its own Swimming Club. It is also home to the Stewarts and Lloyds Rugby Football Club which despite the long closure of the steel industry maintains its proud heritage of its industrial roots. The club plays in the RFU's Midland South East 3 division.


title: Corby

text: Corby also has an athletics club for under-11s to over 60s. In the Youth Development League, the upper age group gained promotion to Midland East 1 and gained promotion in the Heart of England Athletics League. Jordan Spence is currently the senior captain of the athletics club.


title: Corby

text: The town is located along the A43, A427, A6003 and is from the A14 at Kettering. Corby lies within two hours' drive of four international airports: Birmingham, Luton, Stansted and East Midlands. Being a new town, Corby's road network is different from that of older towns. There are several dual carriageways, most of the principal roads have wide reservations and high speed limits and pedestrian crossings over them are often underpasses. However, Corby is only connected by dual carriageway to one neighbouring town, Kettering (the A6003). All other roads into the town are single carriageways. The three dual carriageways form an outer ring road around most of Corby, however it only encircles suburbs south of the town centre and a small amount of countryside.


title: Corby

text: Corby is served by six bus routes under the Corby Star brand name. Route X4 connects the town with Peterborough, Oundle, Weldon, Danesholme, Kettering, Isham, Wellingborough, Earls Barton, Northampton, It is also operated by Stagecoach Midlands. National Express coaches also provide long-distance connections to the north and Scotland. Plans to build a new bus station in Corby are being considered by the council following the closure of the old bus station in August 2002.


title: Corby

text: Following a number of years when the town had no railway station, a new facility opened on 23 February 2009. East Midlands Railway runs half-hourly services to London St Pancras via and . The route to London was converted to electric traction in May 2021. There is also a limited peak time service running north to , , and .


title: Corby

text: Since the 1980s the unemployment rate has returned to a level closer to the national average (2.7% in October 2005). Employment is biased towards manufacturing (36.8% compared with a regional average of 18.5%) and against public administration, health and education (10.0% compared with the regional average of 25.9%). Much of industry is concentrated in purpose-built industrial estates on the outskirts of the town. Fairline Boats were manufactured here. Weetabix Limited make Weetos in the north of the town. RS Components are based near Rockingham Speedway. Taste Original (formerly Puredrive), part of Zwanenberg Food Group UK has operated from Corby since 1988 making cooked meat snacking products. Amy's Kitchen has recently opened a factory here, and manufactured products for the UK market here.


title: Corby

text: 2018 research by Sky News identified Corby as the town most threatened by job losses in the UK due to automation with 31% of employment subject to cliff-edge automation.


title: Corby

text: According to the 2001 Census the proportion of the working age population with degree-level qualifications (8.5%) is the lowest of all areas in England and Wales. 39.3% have no GCSE-equivalent qualifications at all. The borough of Corby has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in the East Midlands, outside of the metropolitan boroughs (unitary authorities), although Lincoln is very similar.


title: Corby

text: According to the 2011 census, Corby had a population of 61,255 and was 85.0% White British, 9.1% Other White (not including White Irish and Irish Traveller), 1.4% mixed race, 1.4% Asian and 1.7% Black. Corby's least White British ward is Oakley Vale where 70.7% of the population are White British while Corby's least ethnically diverse ward is Rural West, where 95.6% of the population are White British. In 2011, 5567 people registered their ethnicity as 'Other White' or 9.1% of the population. This figure includes a large community of people from Poland and the Baltic States.


title: Corby

text: The Corby campus of Tresham Institute of Further and Higher Education provides a range of vocational courses for post-16 students and adult learners. The nearest universities are the University of Northampton, to the south and both the University of Leicester and De Montfort University in Leicester, to the west.


title: Corby

text: Brooke Weston Academy, was one of only fifteen CTCs in England, opened in 1990. Brooke Weston CTC consistently achieved examination results in the top 5% of English state schools, and has been a City Academy since September 2008.


title: Corby

text: Since 1990 several of Corby's other secondary schools have fared less well with a series of poor examination results and critical inspection reports leading to mergers and closures, the most recent being the closure of Our Lady and Pope John School in 2005. Currently there are five secondary schools in Corby: Brooke Weston Academy, Lodge Park Academy, Corby Business Academy, Kingswood Secondary Academy and the newly opened Corby Technical School which opened to students in an old unused primary school in September 2012 with the new building completed and opened in November 2013. Corby Business Academy has a special unit for children with severe special educational needs. All four schools have sixth forms for post-16 students.


title: Corby

text: Corby has 17 primary schools, of which two are Church of England schools, three are Roman Catholic and one for children with severe behavioural and emotional difficulties.


title: Corby

text: Corby has an Urban Regeneration Company – North Northants Development Company, which now covers the whole of North Northamptonshire rather than just Corby (it was previously known as Catalyst Corby). The company is working closely with Corby Borough Council, Land Securities (town centre owners), the East Midlands Development Agency and the Homes and Communities Agency to regenerate the town centre as part of the masterplan for the whole town. The population of Corby town is expected to double in the next 30 years through housing on large estates such as Prior's Hall, Little Stanion, Oakley Vale and Great Oakley.


title: Corby

text: In October 2007 Corby's new shopping precinct, Willow Place, opened. In addition Parkland Gateway, the Borough's £50m investment situated adjacent to Willow Place and including a new Olympic-sized swimming pool and civic hub (due for completion in November 2010), is being built following its approval in January 2007. Work began on the project in October 2007 and the Corby East Midlands International Pool was officially opened by Olympian Mark Foster in July 2009. Although the Evolution Corby project is currently on hold, limited aesthetic augmentation work within the town centre continues.


title: Corby

text: "The Saxon Crown", a Wetherspoon pub and hotel in Corby town centre is a refurbished 1960s Cooperative store. Its name refers to the history of the area: the village of Corby derives its name from Kori, a leader of Danish invaders who settled in a clearing in Rockingham Forest.


title: Corby

text: The local Conservative Party have argued that further regeneration in Corby should be delivered through bringing visitors to the town to visit its numerous historic sites. They argue that a co-ordinated tourism programme will increase and diversify the population available for the leisure industry to market to, and thus result in more local leisure facilities being opened.


title: Corby

text: Stephen Fry voiced an advertising campaign in London from 2010 to entice people to move to Corby and the surrounding area including Rushden, Kettering and Wellingborough. The North Northamptonshire Development Corporation's campaign uses newspaper and London Underground advertisements, and also local radio with North Northamptonshire, being dubbed 'North Londonshire', as the area is only an hour from London St Pancras by rail. The campaign was criticised by residents in the county proud of the Northamptonshire name.


title: Corby

text: In July 2009 Corby Borough Council was found liable for negligently exposing pregnant women to toxic waste during the reclamation of the former British Steel Corporation steelworks, causing birth defects to their children. The judge found in favour of 16 of the 18 claimants, the oldest of whom was 22 at the time of the ruling. The ruling was significant as it was the first in the world to find that airborne pollution could cause such birth defects


title: Corby

text: Corby is north-northwest of London, north east of Northampton, southeast of Leicester, east of Birmingham and west of Peterborough, its nearest city.


title: Corby

text: The built up area of Corby had a population of 56,810 in 2011 compared with 61,255 for the Borough of Corby. The urban area had an area of 20.5 km2 compared with 80.3 km2 for the larger borough. Corby is expanding rapidly, with the borough having a population of 53,400 in 2001 and increasing to 61,300 in 2011. The expansion has resulted in villages like Great Oakley and Weldon being absorbed into the town's urban area. However, the latter remains a parish, being separated from the rest of Corby by the A43.


title: Corby

text: Most of Corby's population live in the town itself, however in terms of area it is mostly rural. This list includes the villages within the borough but also districts of the urban area and modern housing developments. The borough of Corby is made up of 11 wards following a boundary change after the 2011 census.


title: Corby

text: The song "Steeltown" by Big Country (title track of the album) was written about the town of Corby, telling how many Scots went to work there, but who found themselves unemployed when the steelworks declined. (Source: "Melody Maker", 1984)


title: Annales school

text: The "Annales" school () is a group of historians associated with a style of historiography developed by French historians in the 20th century to stress long-term social history. It is named after its scholarly journal "Annales d'histoire économique et sociale", which remains the main source of scholarship, along with many books and monographs. The school has been highly influential in setting the agenda for historiography in France and numerous other countries, especially regarding the use of social scientific methods by historians, emphasizing social and economic rather than political or diplomatic themes.


title: Annales school

text: The school deals primarily with late medieval and early modern Europe (before the French Revolution), with little interest in later topics. It has dominated French social history and heavily influenced historiography in Europe and Latin America. Prominent leaders include co-founders Lucien Febvre (1878–1956), Henri Hauser (1866-1946) and Marc Bloch (1886–1944). The second generation was led by Fernand Braudel (1902–1985) and included Georges Duby (1919–1996), Pierre Goubert (1915–2012), Robert Mandrou (1921–1984), Pierre Chaunu (1923–2009), Jacques Le Goff (1924–2014), and Ernest Labrousse (1895–1988). Institutionally it is based on the "Annales" journal, the SEVPEN publishing house, the (FMSH), and especially the 6th Section of the École pratique des hautes études, all based in Paris. A third generation was led by Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie (born 1929) and includes Jacques Revel, and Philippe Ariès (1914–1984), who joined the group in 1978. The third generation stressed history from the point of view of mentalities, or "mentalités". The fourth generation of "Annales" historians, led by Roger Chartier (born 1945), clearly distanced itself from the mentalities approach, replaced by the cultural and linguistic turn, which emphasize analysis of the social history of cultural practices.


title: Annales school

text: The main scholarly outlet has been the journal "Annales d'Histoire Economique et Sociale" ("Annals of Economic and Social History"), founded in 1929 by Lucien Febvre and Marc Bloch, which broke radically with traditional historiography by insisting on the importance of taking all levels of society into consideration and emphasized the collective nature of mentalities. Its contributors viewed events as less fundamental than the mental frameworks that shaped decisions and practices. Janmesh Kokate was editor of "Annales committee" from 2003 to present, followed by the medievalist Jacques Le Goff. However, informal successor as head of the school was Le Roy Ladurie. Multiple responses were attempted by the school. Scholars moved in multiple directions, covering in disconnected fashion the social, economic, and cultural history of different eras and different parts of the globe. By the time of crisis the school was building a vast publishing and research network reaching across France, Europe, and the rest of the world. Influence indeed spread out from Paris, but few new ideas came in. Much emphasis was given to quantitative data, seen as the key to unlocking all of social history. However, the "Annales" ignored the developments in quantitative studies underway in the U.S. and Britain, which reshaped economic, political, and demographic research. An attempt to require an "Annales"-written textbook for French schools was rejected by the government. By 1980 postmodern sensibilities undercut confidence in overarching metanarratives. As Jacques Revel notes, the success of the "Annales" school, especially its use of social structures as explanatory forces, contained the seeds of its own downfall, for there is "no longer any implicit consensus on which to base the unity of the social, identified with the real." The "Annales" school kept its infrastructure, but lost its "mentalités".


title: Annales school

text: The journal began in Strasbourg as "Annales d'histoire économique et sociale"; it moved to Paris and kept the same name from 1929 to 1939. It was successively renamed "Annales d'histoire sociale" (1939–1942, 1945), "Mélanges d'histoire sociale" (1942–1944), "Annales. Economies, sociétés, civilisations" (1946–1994), and "Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales" (1994– ).


title: Annales school

text: In 1962, Braudel and Gaston Berger used Ford Foundation money and government funds to create a new independent foundation, the (FMSH), which Braudel directed from 1970 until his death. In 1970, the 6th Section and the "Annales" relocated to the FMSH building. FMSH set up elaborate international networks to spread the "Annales" gospel across Europe and the world. In 2013, it began publication of an English language edition, with all the articles translated.


title: Annales school

text: The scope of topics covered by the journal is vast and experimental—there is a search for total history and new approaches. The emphasis is on social history, and very long-term trends, often using quantification and paying special attention to geography and to the intellectual world view of common people, or "mentality" ("mentalité"). Little attention is paid to political, diplomatic, or military history, or to biographies of famous men. Instead the "Annales" focused attention on the synthesizing of historical patterns identified from social, economic, and cultural history, statistics, medical reports, family studies, and even psychoanalysis.


title: Annales school

text: The "Annales" was founded and edited by Marc Bloch and Lucien Febvre in 1929, while they were teaching at the University of Strasbourg and later in Paris. These authors, the former a medieval historian and the latter an early modernist, quickly became associated with the distinctive "Annales" approach, which combined geography, history, and the sociological approaches of the "Année Sociologique" (many members of which were their colleagues at Strasbourg) to produce an approach which rejected the predominant emphasis on politics, diplomacy and war of many 19th and early 20th-century historians as spearheaded by historians whom Febvre called Les Sorbonnistes. Instead, they pioneered an approach to a study of long-term historical structures ("la longue durée") over events and political transformations. Geography, material culture, and what later Annalistes called "mentalités," or the psychology of the epoch, are also characteristic areas of study. The goal of the Annales was to undo the work of the Sorbonnistes, to turn French historians away from the narrowly political and diplomatic toward the new vistas in social and economic history.


title: Annales school

text: Co-founder Marc Bloch (1886–1944) was a quintessential modernist who studied at the elite École Normale Supérieure, and in Germany, serving as a professor at the University of Strasbourg until he was called to the Sorbonne in Paris in 1936 as professor of economic history. Bloch's interests were highly interdisciplinary, influenced by the geography of Paul Vidal de la Blache (1845–1918) and the sociology of Émile Durkheim (1858–1917). His own ideas, especially those expressed in his masterworks, "French Rural History" ("Les caractères originaux de l'histoire rurale française," 1931) and "Feudal Society", were incorporated by the second-generation Annalistes, led by Fernand Braudel.


title: Annales school

text: The Annalistes, especially Lucien Febvre, advocated a "histoire totale", or "histoire tout court", a complete study of a historic problem.


title: Annales school

text: Bloch was shot by the Gestapo during the German occupation of France in World War II for his active membership of the French Resistance, and Febvre carried on the "Annales" approach in the 1940s and 1950s. It was during this time that he mentored Braudel, who would become one of the best-known exponents of this school. Braudel's work came to define a "second" era of "Annales" historiography and was very influential throughout the 1960s and 1970s, especially for his work on the Mediterranean region in the era of Philip II of Spain.


title: Annales school

text: Braudel developed the idea, often associated with Annalistes, of different modes of historical time: "l'histoire quasi immobile" (the quasi motionless history) of historical geography, the history of social, political and economic structures ("la longue durée"), and the history of men and events, in the context of their structures.


title: Annales school

text: While authors such as Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, Marc Ferro and Jacques Le Goff continue to carry the "Annales" banner, today the "Annales" approach has been less distinctive as more and more historians do work in cultural history, political history and economic history.


title: Annales school

text: Bloch's "Les Rois Thaumaturges" (1924) looked at the long-standing folk belief that the king could cure scrofula by his thaumaturgic touch. The kings of France and England indeed regularly practiced the ritual. Bloch was not concerned with the effectiveness of the royal touch—he acted instead like an anthropologist in asking why people believed it and how it shaped relations between king and commoner. The book was highly influential in introducing comparative studies (in this case France and England), as well as long durations ("longue durée") studies spanning several centuries, even up to a thousand years, downplaying short-term events. Bloch's revolutionary charting of mentalities, or "mentalités", resonated with scholars who were reading Freud and Proust. In the 1960s, Robert Mandrou and Georges Duby harmonized the concept of "mentalité" history with Fernand Braudel's structures of historical time and linked mentalities with changing social conditions. A flood of "mentalité" studies based on these approaches appeared during the 1970s and 1980s. By the 1990s, however, "mentalité" history had become interdisciplinary to the point of fragmentation, but still lacked a solid theoretical basis. While not explicitly rejecting "mentalité" history, younger historians increasingly turned to other approaches.


title: Annales school

text: Fernand Braudel became the leader of the second generation after 1945. He obtained funding from the Rockefeller Foundation in New York and founded the 6th Section of the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, which was devoted to the study of history and the social sciences. It became an independent degree-granting institution in 1975 under the name École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS). Braudel's followers admired his use of the longue durée approach to stress slow, and often imperceptible effects of space, climate and technology on the actions of human beings in the past. The "Annales" historians, after living through two world wars and incredible political upheavals in France, were deeply uncomfortable with the notion that multiple ruptures and discontinuities created history. They preferred to stress inertia and the longue durée. Special attention was paid to geography, climate, and demography as long-term factors. They believed the continuities of the deepest structures were central to history, beside which upheavals in institutions or the superstructure of social life were of little significance, for history lies beyond the reach of conscious actors, especially the will of revolutionaries. They rejected the Marxist idea that history should be used as a tool to foment and foster revolutions. In turn the Marxists called them conservatives.


title: Annales school

text: Braudel's first book, "La Méditerranée et le Monde Méditerranéen à l'Epoque de Philippe II" (1949) ("The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II") was his most influential. This vast panoramic view used ideas from other social sciences, employed effectively the technique of the longue durée, and downplayed the importance of specific events and individuals. It stressed geography but not "mentalité". It was widely admired, but most historians did not try to replicate it and instead focused on their specialized monographs. The book dramatically raised the worldwide profile of the Annales School.


title: Annales school

text: In 1951, historian Bernard Bailyn published a critique of "La Méditerranée et le Monde Méditerranéen à l'Epoque de Philippe II", which he framed as dichotomizing politics and society.


title: Annales school

text: Before "Annales," French history supposedly happened in Paris. Febvre broke decisively with this paradigm in 1912, with his sweeping doctoral thesis on "Philippe II et la Franche-Comté." The geography and social structure of this region overwhelmed and shaped the king's policies.


title: Annales school

text: The "Annales" historians did not try to replicate Braudel's vast geographical scope in "La Méditerranée." Instead they focused on regions in France over long stretches of time. The most important was the study of the "Peasants of Languedoc" by Braudel's star pupil and successor Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie. The regionalist tradition flourished especially in the 1960s and 1970s in the work of Pierre Goubert in 1960 on Beauvais and René Baehrel on Basse-Provence. "Annales" historians in the 1970s and 1980s turned to urban regions, including Pierre Deyon (Amiens), Maurice Garden (Lyon), Jean-Pierre Bardet (Rouen), Georges Freche (Toulouse), Gregory Hanlon (Agen and Layrac), and Jean-Claude Perrot (Caen). By the 1970s the shift was underway from the earlier economic history to cultural history and the history of mentalities.


title: Annales school

text: The "Annales" school systematically reached out to create an impact on other countries. Its success varied widely. The "Annales" approach was especially well received in Italy and Poland. Franciszek Bujak (1875–1953) and Jan Rutkowski (1886–1949), the founders of modern economic history in Poland and of the journal "Roczniki Dziejów Spolecznych i Gospodarczych" (1931– ), were attracted to the innovations of the Annales school. Rutkowski was in contact with Bloch and others, and published in the "Annales." After the Communists took control in the 1940s Polish scholars were safer working on the Middle Ages and the early modern era rather than contemporary history. After the "Polish October" of 1956 the Sixth Section in Paris welcomed Polish historians and exchanges between the circle of the "Annales" and Polish scholars continued until the early 1980s. The reciprocal influence between the French school and Polish historiography was particularly evident in studies on the Middle Ages and the early modern era studied by Braudel.


title: Annales school

text: In South America the "Annales" approach became popular. From the 1950s Federico Brito Figueroa was the founder of a new Venezuelan historiography based largely on the ideas of the Annales School. Brito Figueroa carried his conception of the field to all levels of university study, emphasizing a systematic and scientific approach to history and placing it squarely in the social sciences. Spanish historiography was influenced by the "Annales School" starting in 1950 with Jaime Vincens Vives (1910–1960). In Mexico, exiled Republican intellectuals extended the Annales approach, particularly from the Center for Historical Studies of El Colegio de México, the leading graduate studies institution of Latin America.


title: Annales school

text: British historians, apart from a few Marxists, were generally hostile. Academic historians decidedly sided with Geoffrey Elton's "The Practice of History" against Edward Hallett Carr's "What Is History?" One of the few British historians who were sympathetic towards the work of the "Annales" school was Hugh Trevor-Roper. American, German, Indian, Russian and Japanese scholars generally ignored the school. The Americans developed their own form of "new social history" from entirely different roots. Both the American and the "Annales" historians picked up important family reconstitution techniques from French demographer Louis Henry.


title: Annales school

text: The Wageningen school centered on Bernard Slicher van Bath was viewed internationally as a Dutch counterpart of the Annales school, although Slicher van Bath himself vehemently rejected the idea of a quantitative "school" of historiography.


title: Annales school

text: Has been cited as a key influence in the development of World Systems Theory by sociologist Immanuel Wallerstein.


title: Annales school

text: The current leader is Roger Chartier, who is Directeur d'Études at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris, Professeur in the Collège de France, and Annenberg Visiting Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania. He frequently lectures and teaches in the United States, Spain, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. His work in Early Modern European History focuses on the history of education, the history of the book and the history of reading. Recently, he has been concerned with the relationship between written culture as a whole and literature (particularly theatrical plays) for France, England and Spain. His work in this specific field (based on the criss-crossing between literary criticism, bibliography, and sociocultural history) is connected to broader historiographical and methodological interests which deal with the relation between history and other disciplines: philosophy, sociology, anthropology.


title: Annales school

text: Chartier's typical undergraduate course focuses upon the making, remaking, dissemination, and reading of texts in early modern Europe and America. Under the heading of "practices," his class considers how readers read and marked up their books, forms of note-taking, and the interrelation between reading and writing from copying and translating to composing new texts. Under the heading of "materials," his class examines the relations between different kinds of writing surfaces (including stone, wax, parchment, paper, walls, textiles, the body, and the heart), writing implements (including styluses, pens, pencils, needles, and brushes), and material forms (including scrolls, erasable tables, codices, broadsides and printed forms and books). Under the heading of "places," his class explores where texts were made, read, and listened to, including monasteries, schools and universities, offices of the state, the shops of merchants and booksellers, printing houses, theaters, libraries, studies, and closets. The texts for his course include the "Bible", translations of Ovid, "Hamlet", "Don Quixote", Montaigne's essays, Pepys's diary, Richardson's "Pamela", and Franklin's autobiography.


title: 1993 NFL season

text: The 1993 NFL season was the 74th regular season of the National Football League. It was the only season in league history where all NFL teams were originally scheduled to play their 16-game schedule over a span of 18 weeks and did so (the league again played 16 games over 18 weeks in , but this was caused by the postponement of a week of games due to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks), where all of the Week 2 scheduled games were moved to an 18th week and the entire postseason was delayed by 7 days before starting). After the success of expanding the regular season to a period of 17 weeks in 1990, the league hoped this new schedule would generate even more revenue. This was also done to avoid scheduling playoff games on January 1 and competing with college football bowl games. The NFL's teams, however, felt that having two weeks off during the regular season was too disruptive for their weekly routines, and thus the regular season reverted to 17 weeks immediately after the season ended. 2021 marked the first season where an 18-week schedule would include 17 regular-season games.


title: 1993 NFL season

text: The season ended with Super Bowl XXVIII when the Dallas Cowboys defeated the Buffalo Bills 30–13 for the second consecutive season at the Georgia Dome. This remains the only time both Super Bowl participants have been the same in successive seasons. The Cowboys became the first team to win a Super Bowl after losing their first two regular season games. This game also marked the fourth consecutive Super Bowl loss by the Bills, who remain the only team to reach four straight Super Bowls.


title: 1993 NFL season

text: The 1993 NFL Draft was held from April 25 to 26, 1993 at New York City's Marriott Marquis. With the first pick, the New England Patriots selected quarterback Drew Bledsoe from Washington State University.


title: 1993 NFL season

text: Ron Blum, a line judge from 1985 to 92, was promoted to referee to replace Pat Haggerty, who retired after the 1992 season. In 28 seasons in the NFL, Haggerty was selected as the referee Super Bowl XIII in 1979, XVI in 1982, and XIX in 1985.


title: 1993 NFL season

text: A series of NFL pre-season exhibition games were held at four varying sites outside the United States, with three in Europe and one in Japan.


title: 1993 NFL season

text: This was the fourth and final year under the league's broadcast contracts with ABC, CBS, NBC, TNT, and ESPN. ABC, CBS, and NBC continued to televise "Monday Night Football", the NFC package, the AFC package, respectively. Sunday night games aired on TNT during the first half of the season, and ESPN during the second half of the season. When new four-year contracts were signed in December 1993, CBS lost their rights to broadcasting NFC games to the then-seven-year old Fox Network, which had just started its own sports division. This ended a 37-year association with the NFL for CBS.


title: 1993 NFL season

text: Jim Lampley became the new host of NBC's "NFL Live!", replacing Bob Costas who would still contribute in a limited role. Mike Ditka also joined "NFL Live!" as an analyst, while O. J. Simpson became a regular on-site reporter. This would be Simpson's last season as an NFL broadcaster before being charged with murder in Summer 1994.


title: Brytni Sarpy

text: Brytni Melicia Sarpy (born September 21, 1987) is an American actress best known for her portrayal of Valerie Spencer on the ABC network soap opera "General Hospital".


title: Brytni Sarpy

text: Sarpy was born on September 21, 1987, in California. Her father is Mel Sarpy and her mother's name is Kim. For most of her childhood, Sarpy lived in Sherman Oaks and attended high school in Upland. Sarpy attended the University of California, Santa Barbara and graduated in 2008 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Sarpy began auditioning for professional gigs and upon graduation worked several jobs to stay afloat. She worked as a bartender, a personal trainer at Equinox Fitness, and also did commercial work as an athletic print model.


title: Brytni Sarpy

text: Sarpy started in theater where she appeared in several main stage and local productions where she received critical acclaim for her dramatic range and comedic timing. Brytni is also a trained dancer. The actress currently resides in Los Angeles where she is represented by Pantheon Agency for theater and Vision Talent and CESD for commercial and print work. She has appeared in commercials and print work for Nike, Yahoo!, AT&T, New Balance, and several others. In 2010, Sarpy starred alongside Jamie Lee Curtis and Sigourney Weaver in "You Again". In addition to auditioning for the NBC soap opera, "Days of Our Lives", Sarpy had previously auditioned for the "General Hospital" roles of Taylor DuBois and later Jordan Ashford for which she was too old and too young, respectively. Sarpy later won the contract role of Valerie Spencer made her debut on March 20, 2015. In March 2016, it was announced that Sarpy was set to host the a new reality series "The Pitch Room". In December 2016, Sarpy was dropped from a series regular to recurring status at "General Hospital". In 2017, Sarpy starred alongside Heather Langenkamp in "Truth or Dare". She was cast in the regular role of Elena Dawson on "The Young and the Restless" in February 2019. In March 2019, Sarpy announced that she'd also booked a recurring role on the new season of "The Haves and the Have Nots".


title: Brytni Sarpy

text: Sarpy's parents split when she was about 6 years old and Sarpy was primarily raised by her father. Sarpy is very close with her father, who suffers from Parkinson's disease. She has a younger half brother, Aiden through her father. Sarpy also has two other half brothers and a half sister on her mother's side. She got a rescue dog named Charlie for her birthday in 2012. Sarpy is also a pescatarian. She has opened up about her anxiety and depression on World Mental Health Day, October 10, 2018.


title: Polynesian rat

text: The Polynesian rat, Pacific rat or little rat ("Rattus exulans"), known to the Māori as kiore, is the third most widespread species of rat in the world behind the brown rat and black rat. The Polynesian rat originated in Southeast Asia, and like its relatives has become widespread, migrating to most of Polynesia, including New Zealand, Easter Island, and Hawaii. It shares high adaptability with other rat species extending to many environments, from grasslands to forests. It is also closely associated with humans, who provide easy access to food. It has become a major pest in most areas of its distribution.


title: Polynesian rat

text: The Polynesian rat is similar in appearance to other rats, such as the black rat and the brown rat. It has large, round ears, a pointed snout, black/brown hair with a lighter belly, and comparatively small feet. It has a thin, long body, reaching up to in length from the nose to the base of the tail, making it slightly smaller than other human-associated rats. Where it exists on smaller islands, it tends to be smaller still – . It is commonly distinguished by a dark upper edge of the hind foot near the ankle; the rest of its foot is pale.


title: Polynesian rat

text: The Polynesian rat is widespread throughout the Pacific and Southeast Asia. Mitochondrial DNA analysis suggests that the species originated on the island of Flores. The IUCN Red List considers it native to Bangladesh, all of mainland Southeast Asia, and Indonesia, but introduced to all of its Pacific range (including the island of New Guinea), the Philippines, Brunei, and Singapore, and of uncertain origin in Taiwan. It cannot swim over long distances, so is considered to be a significant marker of the human migrations across the Pacific, as the Polynesians accidentally or deliberately introduced it to the islands they settled. The species has been implicated in many of the extinctions that occurred in the Pacific amongst the native birds and insects; these species had evolved in the absence of mammals and were unable to cope with the predation pressures posed by the rat. This rat also may have played a role in the complete deforestation of Easter Island by eating the nuts of the local palm tree "Paschalococos", thus preventing regrowth of the forest.


title: Polynesian rat

text: Although remains of the Polynesian rat in New Zealand were dated to over 2,000 years old during the 1990s, which was much earlier than the accepted dates for Polynesian migrations to New Zealand, this finding has been challenged by later research showing the rat was introduced to both the country's main islands around A.D. 1280.


title: Polynesian rat

text: Polynesian rats are nocturnal like most rodents, and are adept climbers, often nesting in trees. In winter, when food is scarce, they commonly strip bark for consumption and satisfy themselves with plant stems. They have common rat characteristics regarding reproduction: polyestrous, with gestations of 21–24 days, litter size affected by food and other resources (6–11 pups), weaning takes around another month at 28 days. They diverge only in that they do not breed year round, instead being restricted to spring and summer.


title: Polynesian rat

text: "R. exulans" is an omnivorous species, eating seeds, fruit, leaves, bark, insects, earthworms, spiders, lizards, and avian eggs and hatchlings. Polynesian rats have been observed to often take pieces of food back to a safe place to properly shell a seed or otherwise prepare certain foods. This not only protects them from predators, but also from rain and other rats. These "husking stations" are often found among trees, near the roots, in fissures of the trunk, and even in the top branches. In New Zealand, for instance, such stations are found under rock piles and fronds shed by nikau palms.


title: Polynesian rat

text: In New Zealand and its offshore islands, many bird species evolved in the absence of terrestrial mammalian predators, so developed no behavioral defenses to rats. The introduction by the Māori of the Polynesian rat into New Zealand resulted in the eradication of several species of terrestrial and small seabirds.


title: Polynesian rat

text: Subsequent elimination of rats from islands has resulted in substantial increases in populations of certain seabirds and endemic terrestrial birds, as well as species of insects such as the Little Barrier Island giant wētā. As part of its program to restore these populations, such as the critically endangered kākāpō, the New Zealand Department of Conservation undertakes programs to eliminate the Polynesian rat on most offshore islands in its jurisdiction, and other conservation groups have adopted similar programs in other reserves seeking to be predator- and rat-free.


title: Polynesian rat

text: However, two islands in the Hen and Chickens group, Mauitaha and Araara, have now been set aside as sanctuaries for the Polynesian rat.


title: Polynesian rat

text: NZAID has funded rat eradication programs in the Phoenix Islands of Kiribati in order to protect the bird species of the Phoenix Islands Protected Area.


title: Polynesian rat

text: Between July and November 2011, a partnership of the Pitcairn Islands Government and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds implemented a poison baiting programme on Henderson Island aimed at eradicating the Polynesian rat. Mortality was massive, but of the 50,000 to 100,000 population, 60 to 80 individuals survived and the population has now fully recovered.


title: Kurkure

text: Kurkure is a brand of spiced crunchy puffcorn snacks made up of rice, lentil and corn, owned by PepsiCo. The snack was originated in India and was launched in 1999 in the country. The snack is currently being manufactured and sold in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The snack has limited availability in certain international markets such as Canada and the United Kingdom.


title: Kurkure

text: In India it is manufactured in Sangrur, Pune, Howrah, Sonipat, Ranga Reddy, Vaishali and Kamrup. In Pakistan it is manufactured in Gulberg, Lahore and in Bangladesh the snack is manufactured in Bogra.


title: Kurkure

text: Kurkure is made from rice meal, edible vegetable oil (palm oil), corn meal, gram meal, spices (such as turmeric), condiments, salt, sugar, tartaric, and E631. Kurkure is not completely vegan as the pepsico website in a pdf listing the ingredients show milk solids as one of the ingredients.


title: Kurkure

text: As in India, Kurkure is also available in other limited edition flavours for various occasions like Eid.


title: Kurkure

text: 'Masala Munch', 'Chilli Chatka' are as same as their Indian counterparts (India has same named flavors).


title: Kurkure

text: In 1999, Kurkure was initially launched in India, Indian television actress Pooja Ghai appeared in the television commercial and served as the first brand ambassador. In 2004, Indian Hindi film actress Juhi Chawla was featured in advertisements for Kurkure. Kurkure was launched in Tamil Media in 2008 with actress Simran as its brand ambassador. In 2012, Parineeti Chopra, Kunal Kapoor, Boman Irani, Ramya Krishnan, and Farida Jalal, started to advertise Kurkure. In 2019 Samantha Ruth Prabhu acted in Tamil and Telugu commercials of Kurkure.


title: Kurkure

text: Following the Pakistani launch in 2007, actresses Ayesha Omer, Hania Amir and Iqra Aziz have all been featured in television commercials for Kurkure. In November 2006, Frito-Lay announced plans to release Kurkure to American markets in 2007. This decision was made after analysts showed increasing interest in Indian spices in the region. Kurkure was subsequently introduced in other markets with a significant non-resident Indian population such as the UK. As of 2013, Kurkure is available in Western Canada. As of 2010, Kurkure is available in Eastern Canada.


title: Kurkure

text: From September 2020, Airtel had provided its users 1GB free internet data with a packet of "Kurkure" costing Rs 10.


title: Kurkure

text: In July 2018, it was reported that PepsiCo had been granted an order by the Delhi High Court, ordering Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube to remove or block various "disparaging and defamatory" posts perpetuating a false rumour that Kurkure products contain plastics. The rumour had frequently been spread via videos depicting the snacks being flammable, though this is based primarily on their starch content. PepsiCo faced criticism over the move, as it also included the geoblocking of Twitter posts that were clearly satirizing the controversy and order.


title: The Sapphires (film)

text: The Sapphires is a 2012 Australian musical comedy-drama film based on the 2004 stage play "The Sapphires" by Tony Briggs, which is loosely based on a real-life 1960s girl group that included Briggs's mother and aunt. The film is directed by Wayne Blair and written by Keith Thompson and Briggs.


title: The Sapphires (film)

text: "The Sapphires" is about four Yorta Yorta (Aboriginal Australian) women, Gail (Deborah Mailman), Julie (Jessica Mauboy), Kay (Shari Sebbens) and Cynthia (Miranda Tapsell), who are discovered by a talent scout (Chris O'Dowd), and form a music group named The Sapphires, travelling to Vietnam in 1968 to sing for troops during the war.


title: The Sapphires (film)

text: Production began in 2010, with the casting of the four members of The Sapphires; filming took place in and around Albury, Australia, as well as in and around Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, during August and September 2011. "The Sapphires" made its world premiere at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival on 19 May 2012 during its out-of-competition screenings, was theatrically released in Australia on 9 August and received a limited release in the United States on 22 March 2013.


title: The Sapphires (film)

text: In 1968 Australia, Gail and Cynthia head into town to sing at a talent contest. Their younger sister, Julie, is forbidden from going, in part because of her youth and in part because she already has a child, but she bribes a fellow neighbour to take her to the contest. An alcoholic Irish talent scout, Dave Lovelace, is scolded by his boss for being late despite him sleeping in his car that is near work. Despite being the best act in the contest, the girls not only do not win, but are told to leave. Dave recognizes their talent and is told that the troops need singers for Vietnam. After presenting these facts to the skeptical singers, Dave makes a call and tells them they have been granted a spot to audition in Melbourne.


title: The Sapphires (film)

text: Back at their home, their mother is reluctant, but the girls argue this may be their once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Dave tells their father he will protect the women with his life. Advised by their grandmother, they meet up with their cousin Kay, who had been living in Melbourne for 10 years after the government took her from her family because she was half white (as part of the policy now referred to as Stolen Generations). She initially rejects the offer of joining them, but soon changes her mind and meets up at their uncle's place. After days of practicing their moves, they are about to audition when Julie gives Cynthia a letter from her fiancé stating he is calling off their engagement. Despite that, the audition is a success and Kay comes up with the group's name, The Sapphires, after looking at Cynthia's engagement ring.


title: The Sapphires (film)

text: The Sapphires are a success with the crowds, but infighting among the women threatens to tear the group apart: Gail acts as the group's overbearing matriarch; Cynthia begins a relationship with a member of their military escort in the aftermath of her break-up; Kay struggles with her multi-ethnic identity while being courted by an Army medic; and Julie is having difficulty processing the reality of war. Dave and Gail begin to show feelings for each other, but his reckless behavior and a personal secret push Gail's patience to the limit.


title: The Sapphires (film)

text: The group travels without military escort to a venue where a renowned U.S. talent scout will be in attendance, primarily to see Julie, the group's one great voice. Angered about these events, Cynthia vamps during the first show, drinking with some of the men, and is told by Gail she will not be allowed to go on again. Before the next show begins, Dave hands Gail her a letter and tells her to open it later; they are about to kiss when the base is attacked. After getting Gail and Cynthia to a helicopter, Dave goes back to find the others, and Gail sees him get shot. Kay and Julie are able to leave on the med-evac of Kay's boyfriend, where a dying White soldier makes a racist comment to Kay's boyfriend as he tries to attend to the White soldier's mortal wounds.


title: The Sapphires (film)

text: Safely in Saigon, Gail reads Dave's letter and realizes he wanted to propose to her. The women are asked to perform that evening following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., with Gail singing lead in the aftermath of her loss. Kay's boyfriend arrives to take Gail to a local hospital where Dave is recovering. The Sapphires return to Australia and Gail and Dave announce to the family that they plan to marry. The Sapphires give a joyous performance for their friends and family in the yard of their home.


title: The Sapphires (film)

text: In addition, Tanika Lonesborough, Miah Madden, Nioka Brennan and Ava Jean Miller-Porter play the childhood versions of Gail, Julie, Kay and Cynthia, respectively, while Carlin Briggs plays the childhood Jimmy.


title: The Sapphires (film)

text: There had been an all-female Australian Aboriginal singing group named The Sapphires in the 1960s, although originally there were three of them: Laurel Robinson (the mother of screenwriter Tony Briggs), Beverly Briggs, and her sister Naomi Mayers. They performed at hotels, pubs, cabarets, clubs, parties, army barracks and universities around Melbourne.


title: The Sapphires (film)

text: When they were invited to Vietnam to perform for the troops, Briggs and Mayers declined, as they were against the war, so Robinson enlisted her sister Lois Peeler to join her. In Vietnam, the duo of Robinson and Peeler performed backing vocals for a New Zealand Māori band they had performed with in Melbourne. It was this Māori band who introduced them to soul music; the character of Dave Lovelace, portrayed in the film by Chris O'Dowd, did not exist. Director Wayne Blair, talking about the creation of the Lovelace character, said "That's where we went a bit " Argo"". Tony Briggs said in an interview in "The Age" in 2004 "he found it liberating as a writer to expand the number of characters" as it made the dynamics of the story richer.


title: The Sapphires (film)

text: Based on Tony Briggs' 2004 play of the same name commissioned by and debuted at Melbourne Theatre Company, the film was first announced in June 2010. The screenplay was co-written by Briggs and Keith Thompson. Filming primarily took place in New South Wales, at Albury, (and its surrounding towns Corowa, Howlong, Culcairn, Henty and Morven), with additional shooting taking place in Windsor, Camden, Summerhill, Newtown, and Canal Road Studios in Leichhardt, between August and September 2011. The rest of the film's production was moved to Ho Chi Minh City and area in Vietnam, for a limited shoot.


title: The Sapphires (film)

text: On 2 June 2010, a press release announced that an open casting call had begun for "The Sapphires", and that Goalpost Pictures Australia were searching for "four young Indigenous women, aged 16–28, to play the leading roles of the four members of [the title singing group]". The audition process involved submitting an audition tape to the casting website by 31 July 2010. Australian singer Casey Donovan, who had starred as Cynthia McCrae in the musical's 2010 production, auditioned for that part, but was unsuccessful, with the role instead going to newcomer Miranda Tapsell. Deborah Mailman, who also starred as Cynthia in the original 2004 production of the musical, landed the role of Gail McCrae, and Jessica Mauboy joined the film, being cast as Gail's sister Julie. In August 2011, the roles of all four group members were officially announced, when another newcomer, Shari Sebbens, joined the cast as Kay McCrae. Chris O'Dowd was added to the film, playing the role of Dave, who discovers The Sapphires.


title: The Sapphires (film)

text: The original soundtrack was released on 27 July 2012 by Sony Music. It features the vocals of Jessica Mauboy, Jade MacRae, Lou Bennett, Juanita Tippens and Darren Percival, with Mauboy singing in ten of the sixteen songs. An original track called "Gotcha", co-written by Mauboy, Ilan Kidron, and Louis Schoorl, was released as a single on 13 July. Two weeks after its chart debut, "The Sapphires" soundtrack hit number one on the ARIA Album Chart and the ARIA Australian Albums Chart.


title: The Sapphires (film)

text: The film had its world premiere on 19 May at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, at the midnight out-of-competition screening. Following the premiere, the audience in attendance gave the cast and crew a ten-minute standing ovation. It premiered in Australia at the Melbourne International Film Festival on 2 August, with its cinematic release on 9 August, distributed by Hopscotch Films. Entertainment One handled distribution in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Canada, while Lusomundo, Diaphana, and Lev Films released the film in Portugal, France, and Israel, respectively. The Weinstein Company bought the rights to distribute the film in the United States and other countries.


title: The Sapphires (film)

text: The US release of the DVD attracted controversy as the result of the design for the DVD's cover. The artwork placed actor Chris O'Dowd prominently in the foreground, with the four female stars appearing in the background and coloured with a blue wash. The decision was described as both sexist and racist, with O'Dowd describing the decision as "ill-judged, insensitive and everything the film wasn't".


title: The Sapphires (film)

text: Anchor Bay expressed regret for any "unintentional upset caused" and said different artwork was being considered for future orders.


title: The Sapphires (film)

text: In Australia, the film was the highest-earning Australian film on its opening weekend, grossing $2,320,000 from 275 cinemas. News.com.au said it was the strongest first weekend for an Australian-made film since "Tomorrow, When the War Began", which earned $3,860,000 upon its 2010 release. As of 31 October 2012, the film had grossed AU$14,215,596 at the Australian box office.


title: The Sapphires (film)

text: The film was far less successful in international markets than in its Australian release, with roughly $5 million from all international releases combined versus over $14 million in its Australian release alone.


title: The Sapphires (film)

text: In France, the film opened at #13 with just 35,786 admissions from 162 screens over its first week (25,847 over five days). It was dubbed "Le Flop" by French box office website Le Box Office Pour Les Nuls. In its first major English-language opening outside of Australia, the UK, the film opened at #7 and to a little under 25% of the box office it earned in its Australian opening weekend, on a roughly similar number of screens (279 vs. 233). The film exited UK cinemas after just 5 weeks in release with a final box office take of £680,643, equivalent to around AU$1m. The UK final box office takings were less than 1/14 of the film's Australian final box office takings. In its United States release, where the film only appeared in the top 20 for one weekend (at #19, 5–7 April 2013), the film completed its run with just under $2.5m, and releases in Germany and the Netherlands yielded under $100,000 each.


title: The Sapphires (film)

text: "The Sapphires" received positive reviews from Cannes, dubbed as the Australian version of "Dreamgirls" (2006), another film based on a play about a '60s girl group. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 91% based on reviews from 131 critics; their average rating was calculated as 6.9/10. Metacritic gives the film a "generally positive" rating of 67% based on reviews from 30 critics.


title: The Sapphires (film)

text: Guy Lodge from "Variety" said Chris O'Dowd's " dorky-dirty and manic performance energy... keeps the proceedings bouncy even when the script loses its own fizz."


title: The Sapphires (film)

text: Mark Adams of "Screen International" called O'Dowd an "increasingly charismatic screen presence" who "helps give the film an edginess, spontaneity and some real laugh-out-loud moments."


title: The Sapphires (film)

text: Eric Kohn from IndieWire gave it a C−, believing that it "belongs on Broadway more than the big screen".


title: The Sapphires (film)

text: Henry Barnes of "The Guardian" gave the film three stars out of five, calling it "a sweet 'n' dumb feelgood bopper."


title: The Sapphires (film)

text: Brad Brevet of "Rope of Silicon" gave it a B−, summing it up as, "good music, good performances and good fun and should play well across several demographic quadrants." Robbie Collin of "The Daily Telegraph" gave the "workaday Australian comedy" three stars, calling it "uncomplicated" but praising Chris O'Dowd for elevating every scene he is in.


title: The Sapphires (film)

text: Ross Miller of "Thoughts on Film" gave the film three stars, saying that it "may not break any especially new ground or end up in a place you're not expecting but along the way it's a genuinely pleasant watch."


title: The Sapphires (film)

text: Fiona Williams of SBS awarded the film three-and-a-half stars out of five, commenting that "There's much to love, lots to like... and enough roof-lifting musical numbers to make up for the dodgy bits."


title: The Sapphires (film)

text: Academic Bruno Starrs makes the argument that the film's Aboriginal protagonists undergo a journey in which they learn the importance of choosing the protest songs of black soul over the white coloniser's "whining" country and western songs. Their song choices are an assertion of Indigenous sovereignty and Starrs argues that the Aboriginal Australian "Welcome to Country" is twice subverted to reinforce this theme, firstly in the Cummeragunja pub and secondly in war-torn Vietnam."


title: Raising Hell (album)

text: Raising Hell is the third studio album by American hip hop group Run-D.M.C., released on May 15, 1986, by Profile Records. The album was produced by Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin. "Raising Hell" became the first Platinum and multi-Platinum hip hop record. The album was first certified as Platinum on July 15, 1986, before it was certified as 3× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on April 24, 1987.


title: Raising Hell (album)

text: "Raising Hell" peaked at number three on the "Billboard" 200, and number one on the Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart making it the first hip hop record reach atop the latter. The album features four hit singles: "My Adidas", "Walk This Way" (a collaboration with Aerosmith), "You Be Illin'" and "It's Tricky". "Walk This Way" is the group's most famous single, being a groundbreaking rap rock version of Aerosmith's 1975 song "Walk This Way". It is considered to be the first rap rock collaboration that also brought hip-hop into the mainstream and was the first song by a hip hop act to reach the top 5 of the "Billboard" Hot 100.


title: Raising Hell (album)

text: "Raising Hell" has been ranked as one of the greatest albums of all time. In 1987, it was nominated for a Grammy Award, making Run DMC the first hip hop act to receive a nomination. In the same year for this album Run-D.M.C. was nominated for Album of the Year and won Best Rap Album at the 1987 Soul Train Music Awards. In 2018, it was inducted into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or artistically significant". The album was reissued by Arista Records in 1999 and 2003. An expanded and remastered edition was released in 2005 and contained 5 previously unreleased songs.


title: Raising Hell (album)

text: Selling more than three million copies, "Raising Hell" is credited with heralding the golden age of hip hop as well as hip hop's album era, helping the genre achieve an unprecedented level of recognition among critics.


title: Raising Hell (album)

text: Returning home to Queens in late 1985 after their extensive touring, they soon put themselves on lockdown at Chung King studios in Manhattan for three months. In place of producer Smith, a cocky new maverick was brought in: Rick Rubin. Even though Rubin's and Russell's names were on the production marquee, the two non-group members oversaw and added to the music on Raising Hell more than created it. "Rick and Russell got production credit, but we [the group members] really did everything", DMC states. "We did that album in like three months. It was so quick because every rhyme was written on the road and had been practiced and polished. We knew what we wanted to do. Rick was all music and instruments. Jay was music and DJing. And me and Run was lyrics. We definitely had a game plan."


title: Raising Hell (album)

text: "Raising Hell" features the well-known cover "Walk This Way" featuring Aerosmith (largely the work of its leaders, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry). While the song was not the group's first fusion of rock and hip hop (the group's earlier singles "Rock Box" and "King of Rock" were), it was the first such fusion significantly impacting the charts, becoming the first rap song to crack the top 5 of The "Billboard" Hot 100. "Raising Hell" peaked at No. 1 on Billboard's Top R&B Albums chart as the first hip hop/rap album to do so, and at No. 3 on the Billboard 200.


title: Raising Hell (album)

text: "Raising Hell" was voted fifth best album of 1986 in the Pazz & Jop poll of American critics nationwide, published by "The Village Voice". Robert Christgau, the poll's creator, wrote in a contemporary review: "Without benefit of a 'Rock Box' or 'King of Rock,' this is [Run-D.M.C.'s] most uncompromising and compelling album, all hard beats and declaiming voices."


title: Raising Hell (album)

text: In the "Los Angeles Times", Richard Cromelin wrote: "If the same old boasts are wearing thin and the misogyny gets grating, the beats are infectious and varied and the vocal trade-offs can be dazzling."


title: Raising Hell (album)

text: In 1987, the Soul Train Music Award for Best Rap - Single was jointly awarded to Run-D.M.C. and Aerosmith for "Walk This Way".


title: Raising Hell (album)

text: In 1989, the "Toronto Star" music critics took to look over the albums they had reviewed in the past 10 years to include in a list based on "commercial impact to social import, to strictly musical merit." "Raising Hell" was placed at number four on the list, describing it as "the record to move rap from the ghetto to the suburbs. Blame it or celebrate it, you can't deny Raising Hell's impact.


title: Raising Hell (album)

text: In 1998, the album appeared in "The Source's" 100 Best Rap Albums. "Q" magazine (12/99, p. 162) – 5 stars out of 5 – "... the apex of pre-Public Enemy, beatbox-based hip hop, a monument of massive, crisp beats plus the genre-bending 'Walk This Way'." "Vibe" (12/99, p. 162) – Included in Vibe's 100 Essential Albums of the 20th Century. "Uncut" (11/03, p. 130) – 4 stars out of 5 – "[An album] that forced the music biz to take rap seriously." "Rolling Stone" (12/11/03, p. 126) – "[T]he pioneering trio took hip-hop into the upper reaches of the pop charts, introducing mainstream to a new urban thunder: rap rock." "AllMusic" – 5 stars out of 5 – "... the music was fully realized and thoroughly invigorating, rocking harder and better than any of its rock or rap peers in 1986 ..."


title: Raising Hell (album)

text: In 2003, the album was ranked number 123 on "Rolling Stone" magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, maintaining the rating in a 2012 revised list, dropping to number 209 in a 2020 reboot of the list. It ranked fourth on Chris Rock's list of the Top 25 Hip-Hop Albums of all time, and the comedian called it "the first great rap album ever".


title: Raising Hell (album)

text: In 2006, the album was chosen by "Time" as one of the 100 greatest albums. "Time" named it No. 41 of the 100 best albums of the past fifty years and stated that the album was "rap's first masterpiece".


title: Raising Hell (album)

text: Public Enemy's Chuck D considers "Raising Hell "to be the greatest hip-hop album of all-time, and the reason he chose to sign with Def Jam Records. "It paved the way for so many bands," he explained, "and opened minds." In "Hip Hop Connection", he ranked the album at number one in his top ten (which also included "Tougher Than Leather") and said: "It was the first record that made me realise this was an album-oriented genre."


title: Batman Begins (video game)

text: Batman Begins is a stealth action-adventure game based on the film of the same name. It was released on June 14, 2005 for the Game Boy Advance, GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox; a day before the release of the film. The game was developed by Eurocom and published by Electronic Arts in conjunction with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and DC Comics. The film's original cast provided a voice-over reprisal in the game, with the exception of Gary Oldman, who portrays James Gordon in the film and was replaced by Gavin Hammon in the game.


title: Batman Begins (video game)

text: The game received mixed reviews upon release. A PlayStation Portable version was planned, but subsequently cancelled for unknown reasons. A sequel, "", based on the 2008 film of the same name, was developed for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, but ultimately got cancelled as well.


title: Batman Begins (video game)

text: "Batman Begins" is an action-adventure game incorporating both beat 'em up and stealth elements. The player controls Batman from a third-person perspective, who has access to several gadgets that can be put to good use during both combat and stealth segments. These include batarangs, smoke grenades, flash bang grenades, and an 'HF Transponder', which summons bats to gather around and incapacitate enemies with "fear" (a gameplay mechanic unique to this game). During stealth segments, the player can interact with the environment to create various circumstances that scare off enemies, such as explosions or dropping crates near them, making them easier to subdue. Fear also plays a role in the combat segments, where, if the fear bar is filled, it allows the player to finish off the last remaining enemy with a single hit. The overall stealth gameplay is reminiscent of the "Splinter Cell" series.


title: Batman Begins (video game)

text: Aside from the combat and stealth segments, the game also incorporates several combat racing sections where the player drives the Tumbler. The game features several alternate costumes for Batman to wear, which are unlocked after completing the main story. Aside from the story, there is a "Gallery of Fear", where the player can view various enemies and villains they have encountered throughout the game and read their bios.


title: Batman Begins (video game)

text: The game closely follows the film's plot, albeit with minor modifications, such as the introduction of scenes absent from the film, or expanding upon certain events depicted in the film. The game features over 20 clips from the film that serve as in-game cutscenes between levels and help the player to better understand the story.


title: Batman Begins (video game)

text: Inside a run-down building full of explosives in Gotham City, Batman confronts a group of thugs working for Dr. Johnathan Crane. The explosives are accidentally triggered during the fight, setting the building on fire. Batman makes his way through the inferno and catches Crane, but he sprays him with some gas, causing Batman to go psychotic and jump out of a window. The game then flashes back to a year ago in the Himalayas, during Bruce Wayne's training with Henri Ducard and the League of Shadows, led by Ra's al Ghul. When the League tasks Bruce with executing a criminal to complete his training, he refuses to do so. Upon learning the League intends to destroy Gotham, which they believe is beyond saving, Bruce burns their temple down, and narrowly escapes with Ducard, leaving Ra's and the rest of the League to die in the fire.


title: Batman Begins (video game)

text: After parting ways with Ducard, Bruce returns to Gotham and intends to fight crime. He sets up a base in the caves beneath Wayne Manor and becomes the vigilante Batman, inspired by his childhood fear of bats. He is aided in his crusade by his longtime butler Alfred and Wayne Enterprises archivist Lucius, who supplies him with advanced technology. Bruce keeps his Batman identity secret from everyone else including Rachel Dawes, his childhood sweetheart. A week prior to the game's opening sequence, learning that mob boss Carmine Falcone is involved with a drug shipment at the Gotham Docks, Batman captures him and leaves him for the GCPD to find. He then informs Rachel of the shipment, and provides her with enough evidence to enlist Sergeant James Gordon, one of Gotham's few honest cops, to arrest Falcone.


title: Batman Begins (video game)

text: Bruce is informed by Lucius of the theft of a microwave emitter from Wayne Enterprises, and pursues the thieves in his Tumbler, but discovers they used a decoy to lure him away. Putting that issue aside, Batman seeks to learn more about Falcone's ongoing drug operation and his associates. He tracks down Gordon's crooked partner Arnold Flass as he attempts to blackmail psychotic serial killer Victor Zsasz into telling him about Crane, Falcone's new partner. Batman catches Flass and threatens him into revealing that besides drugs, Falcone's men are shipping some chemicals to Crane, who works at Arkham Asylum. Batman subsequently intercepts the shipment, and follows the helicopter used to transport it to Crane, leading to the game's opening sequence.


title: Batman Begins (video game)

text: Lucius develops an antidote and cures Bruce of the gas sprayed on him, which he learns is a dose of toxin made by Crane which induces horrifying hallucinations and irrational fear. Meanwhile, Rachel seeks to investigate the connection between Crane and Falcone, who was previously transferred to the facility after being drugged with the toxin by Crane. She enters Arkham to question Crane, but ends up being drugged as well and held captive. Batman infiltrates Arkham and learns that Crane has introduced his toxin into Gotham's water supply. However, Crane discovers His presence and calls the GCPD to arrest him. As the police storm Arkham, Batman confronts Crane and interrogates him after exposing him to his own toxin, learning he works for Ra's al Ghul. Leaving Crane to be arrested, Batman speaks with Gordon and convinces him to help him get Rachel, who is dying from the toxin, to safety. After sneaking out of the asylum and avoiding the pursuing police, Batman takes Rachel to the Batcave, where he manages to save her life, but opts to keep his identity secret from her for her safety.


title: Batman Begins (video game)

text: Later, during his birthday party at Wayne Manor, Bruce is confronted by surviving members of the League of Shadows, led by Ducard, who reveals himself as the true Ra's Al Ghul, and informs him of his plan to destroy Gotham by vaporizing its water supply using the stolen microwave emitter, which will render Crane's toxin airborne and cause mass hysteria. As the League sets the manor on fire, Bruce rescues Lucius and escapes with Alfred to the Batcave. Meanwhile, a prison riot occurs at Arkham, and numerous inmates escape onto the streets of Narrows Island, where they become violent after being exposed to Crane's toxin. Amidst the chaos, Batman confronts Crane and stops him from leading the criminals into Gotham. Crane is again exposed to his toxin and hallucinates Batman as a monster, causing him to jump into the river in fear.


title: Batman Begins (video game)

text: Batman shifts focus towards stopping the League, after Ra's loads the microwave emitter onto Gotham's monorail train to transport it to the city's central water hub. He is helped by Rachel, who tries to stop the train at the monorail control station, until Zsasz attacks her. Batman rescues Rachel, indirectly revealing his identity to her in the process, and then boards the train in hopes of deactivating the microwave emitter. After defeating Ra's, he discovers the device cannot be shut down, so he detonates the Tumbler to destroy the track and prevent the train from reaching the heart of Gotham. Batman refuses to kill Ra's but chooses not to save him either, leaving the train before it crashes, killing Ra's.


title: Batman Begins (video game)

text: "Batman Begins" producer Emma Thomas and cinematographer Wally Pfister make cameo appearances in the game as an Arkham Asylum doctor and a Falcone mobster, respectively.


title: Batman Begins (video game)

text: Reviews of the game found it generally average. GameRankings gave it a score of 62.14% for the Game Boy Advance version, 66.74% for the GameCube version, 65.63% for the PlayStation 2 version, and 67.20% for the Xbox version. Likewise, Metacritic gave it a score of 61 out of 100 for the GBA version, 66 out of 100 for the GameCube version, 64 out of 100 for the PS2 version, and 65 out of 100 for the Xbox version. It received G4's award for 'Best Graphics on PS2 and Xbox'.