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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hot_Ones_episodes#Season_23_(2024) | List of Hot Ones episodes#Season 23 (2024) | Hot Ones is an American YouTube talk show, created by Christopher Schonberger and Sean Evans and produced by First We Feast and Complex Media. Its basic premise involves celebrities being interviewed by Evans over a platter of increasingly spicy chicken wings.
399 episodes including seven bonus episodes and one removed episode have been released as of February 19, 2026.
== Series overview ==
== Episodes ==
=== Season 1 (2015) ===
=== Season 2 (2015–16) ===
=== Season 3 (2017) ===
=== Season 4 (2017) ===
=== Season 5 (2018) ===
=== Season 6 (2018) ===
=== Season 7 (2018) ===
=== Season 8 (2019) ===
=== Season 9 (2019) ===
=== Season 10 (2019) ===
=== Season 11 (2020) ===
=== Season 12 (2020) ===
=== Season 13 (2020) ===
=== Season 14 (2021) ===
=== Season 15 (2021) ===
=== Season 16 (2021) ===
=== Season 17 (2022) ===
=== Season 18 (2022) ===
=== Season 19 (2022) ===
=== Season 20 (2023) ===
=== Season 21 (2023) ===
=== Season 22 (2023) ===
=== Season 23 (2024) ===
=== Season 24 (2024) ===
=== Season 25 (2024) ===
=== Season 26 (2025) ===
=== Season 27 (2025) ===
=== Season 28 (2025) ===
=== Season 29 (2026) ===
== Specials == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ypsilanti,_Michigan | Ypsilanti, Michigan | Ypsilanti ( IP-sə-LAN-tee), commonly shortened to Ypsi ( IP-see), is a city and college town located on the Huron River in Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 20,648. The city is bounded to the north by Superior Charter Township and on the west, south, and east by Ypsilanti Charter Township (a separately governed municipality). Ypsilanti is a part of the Ann Arbor–Ypsilanti metropolitan area, the Huron River Valley, and the Detroit–Warren–Ann Arbor combined statistical area.
Ypsilanti is known for being the home of Eastern Michigan University (formerly the Michigan State Normal College) since the university's founding as Michigan's first normal school (teachers' college) in 1849, its location on the historic Detroit–Chicago Road (now US Highway 12), its historic Depot Town commercial district, and for its distinctive Ypsilanti Water Tower constructed in 1890. The city is closely associated with Ford Motor Company's Willow Run Bomber Plant which manufactured over 8,500 Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bombers during World War II; Ypsilanti's Ford Lake was created when Ford Motor Company dammed the Huron River to generate hydroelectric power. Ypsilanti is also home to the first Domino's Pizza location, located near EMU's McKenny Student Union in South Campus.
== History ==
Originally a trading post established in 1809 by a French-Canadian fur trader from Montreal, a permanent settlement was established on the east side of the Huron River in 1823 by Major Thomas Woodruff. It was incorporated into the Territory of Michigan as the village Woodruff's Grove. A separate community a short distance away on the west side of the river was established in 1825 under the name "Ypsilanti", after Demetrios Ypsilantis, a hero in the Greek War of Independence. Woodruff's Grove changed its name to Ypsilanti in 1829, the year its namesake effectively won the war for Greek Independence at the Battle of Petra, with the two communities eventually merging. A bust of Demetrios Ypsilantis by Greek sculptor Christopher Nastos stands between a Greek and a US flag at the base of the landmark Ypsilanti Water Tower.
Elijah McCoy lived in Ypsilanti with his family after moving from Canada following the Civil War. In Ypsilanti, racial barriers prevented him from working immediately as an engineer, so he took a position as a fireman and oiler for the Michigan Central Railroad while experimenting with machinery in a home workshop. It was during this period in Ypsilanti that he developed his first automatic lubricator. Today, Ypsilanti honors McCoy’s connection to the city with a Michigan historical marker at or near his former home and workshop.
In the late 19th century, Ypsilanti became known for producing full-body long underwear called union suits, commonly referred to as “Ypsilanti suits.” The garments were made at the Hay & Todd woolen mill, later renamed the Ypsilanti Underwear Company, along the Huron River near Forest Avenue. The suits were displayed at the 1893 The World's Columbian Exposition, (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) in Chicago and distributed internationally, earning the city a reputation for quality garment production. The factory employed many workers, particularly women, and featured a large mural of a union suit visible to passing trains. The company declined in the early 20th century, was sold to the Oak Knitting Company in 1907, and the mill buildings were demolished in 1933. Surviving examples of *Ypsilanti* underwear are preserved at the Ypsilanti Historical Museum.
Ypsilanti has played an important role in the automobile industry. From 1920 to 1922, Apex Motors produced the "ACE" car. The quarter mile stretch of land along Michigan Avenue became a hub for car dealerships starting in 1912 when the first car dealership opened, and ending in the 1990s when the last dealership closed. This area has been referred to as "The Amazing Quarter Mile" and was eventually added to the Ypsilanti Historic District. This site is part of a collection of parcels known as the Water Street Redevelopment Area. It was in Ypsilanti that Preston Tucker (whose family owned the Ypsilanti Machine Tool Company) designed and built the prototypes for his Tucker '48. Tucker's story was related in the film Tucker: The Man and His Dream, directed by Francis Ford Coppola.
In 1945, Henry J. Kaiser and Joseph W. Frazer bought the nearby Willow Run B-24 Liberator bomber plant from Ford Motor Company, and started to make Kaiser and Frazer model cars in 1947. The last Kaiser car made in Ypsilanti rolled off the assembly line in 1953, when the company merged with Willys–Overland and moved production to Toledo, Ohio. General Motors purchased the Kaiser Frazer plant, and converted it into its Hydramatic Division (now called its Powertrain division), beginning production in November 1953. The GM Powertrain Division ceased production at this facility in 2010.
Ypsilanti is also the location of the last Hudson automobile dealership. Today, the former dealership is the site of the Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage Collection. The museum is the home to an original Fabulous Hudson Hornet race car, which inspired the character Doc Hudson in the 2006 Pixar animated film Cars.
In the early 1970s, the citizens reduced the penalty for the use and sale of marijuana to $5 (the Ypsilanti Marijuana Initiative; see also the Human Rights Party).
In 1979, Faz Husain was elected to the Ypsilanti city council, the first Muslim and the first native of India to win elected office in Michigan.
In the 1990s, Ypsilanti became the first city in Michigan to pass a living wage ordinance.
On July 23, 2007, Governor Jennifer Granholm announced that Ypsilanti, along with the cities of Caro and Clio, was chosen by the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) to take part in the Blueprints for Michigan's Downtowns program. The award provides for an economic development consultant to assist Ypsilanti in developing a growth and job creation strategy for the downtown area.
On June 23, 2020, Mayor Beth Bashert resigned after a controversial comment she made about race during a Zoom meeting.
In 2025, amid several major data center development agreements across Michigan, the University of Michigan selected Ypsilanti as the site for its new data center. According to the university, the Ypsilanti facility will be its largest data center to date, representing a $1.2 billion investment.
=== Timeline ===
1929 – Miller Motors Hudson opens, it eventually becomes the last Hudson dealership in the world
1931 – McKenny Union opens as the first student union on the campus of a teachers' college.
1937 - American jazz musician Nat King Cole married singer and dancer Nadine Robinson at a private residence located at 370 First Avenue. The couple, who had met while performing in the musical revue Shuffle Along, were married on January 29, 1937.
1939–mid‑1940s – Phyllis Diller lived at 215 ½ Oakwood Street in Ypsilanti while her husband worked at the Willow Run bomber plant. Locals recall her singing in the Presbyterian Church choir and performing at community events. She also developed early comedic routines referencing neighborhood life, which she later incorporated into her professional comedy acts.
1967–1969 – Ypsilanti resident John Norman Collins was linked to the Michigan Murders, a series of killings targeting female students at the University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University. He was arrested in July 1969 and convicted of one murder on August 19, 1970.
1998 – The Michigan Firehouse Museum is established preserving a firehouse built in 1898.
== Geography ==
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 4.47 square miles (11.58 km2), of which 4.29 square miles (11.11 km2) is land and 0.18 square miles (0.47 km2) (4.02%) is water.
The Huron River flows through Ypsilanti with Ford Lake on the southern edge of the city. Paint Creek also runs through the city. The Border-to-Border Trail runs through the city.
== Demographics ==
=== 2020 census ===
=== 2010 census ===
As of the census of 2010, there were 19,435 people, 8,026 households, and 2,880 families residing in the city. The population density was 4,488.5 inhabitants per square mile (1,733.0/km2). There were 9,271 housing units at an average density of 2,141.1 per square mile (826.7/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 61.5% White, 29.2% African American, 0.6% Native American, 3.4% Asian, 1.1% from other races, and 4.3% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race were 3.9% of the population.
There were 8,026 households, of which 18.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 19.7% were married couples living together, 12.1% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.0% had a male householder with no wife present, and 64.1% were non-families. 42.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.06 and the average family size was 2.92.
The median age in the city was 25 years. 14.1% of residents were under the age of 18; 35.8% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 25.3% were from 25 to 44; 16.6% were from 45 to 64; and 8.3% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 49.7% male and 50.3% female.
=== 2000 census ===
As of the census of 2000, there were 22,362 people, 8,551 households, and 3,377 families residing in the city. The population density was 5,081.5 inhabitants per square mile (1,962.0/km2). There were 9,215 housing units at an average density of 2,094.0 per square mile (808.5/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 61.40% White, 30.58% African American, 0.44% Native American, 3.18% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 1.32% from other races, and 3.01% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race were 2.47% of the population. 13.6% were of German ancestry, 6.8% Irish, 6.4% English and 5.5% Polish heritage according to Census 2000.
There were 8,551 households, out of which 19.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 23.0% were married couples living together, 13.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 60.5% were non-families. 40.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.15 and the average family size was 2.96.
In the city, 15.9% of the population was under the age of 18, 38.2% was from 18 to 24, 26.4% from 25 to 44, 12.4% from 45 to 64, and 7.0% was 65 years of age or older. The median age was 24 years. For every 100 females, there were 89.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.2 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $28,610, and the median income for a family was $40,793. Males had a median income of $30,328 versus $26,745 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,692. About 16.9% of families and 25.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 30.1% of those under age 18 and 15.3% of those age 65 or over.
== Arts and culture ==
The Martha Washington Theatre opened in 1915. It was initially operated by Florence W. Signor, who was the only woman theatre operator in Michigan at the time. It was sold to W. S. Butterfield Theatres in 1925. It was converted to an adult theatre in 1971, then to a strip club in 1982. It closed in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and was damaged in a fire three months later.
Domino's Pizza was founded in Ypsilanti in 1960 near the campus of Eastern Michigan University.
By 1963, Clara Owens established the Ypsilanti Greek Theater in Ypsilanti, Michigan for the performance of Greek theater productions.
Summer festivals that occur in Depot Town include the annual Ypsilanti Heritage Festival, Michigan ElvisFest, the Orphan Car Festival, the Michigan Brewers Guild Summer Beer Festival, a Latino festival.
Riverside Arts Center, established in 1994, features a 115-seat black box theater and art gallery.
Since 2013, Ypsilanti has participated in First Fridays, an arts and culture-based monthly event that features a self-guided tour of participating businesses highlighting local artists, food and drink.
Ypsi Pride was established in 2017.
=== Sites of interest ===
Sites of interest include:
Ypsilanti District Library
Ypsilanti Historical Museum (housed in a Victorian mansion built in 1860)
Automotive Heritage Museum
Michigan Firehouse Museum
Ypsilanti Water Tower, built in 1890, described as Phallic architecture
Ypsilanti Food Co-op
Highland Cemetery, founded in 1864
Pease Auditorium, built in 1914 (on the campus of Eastern Michigan University)
Starkweather Hall, built in 1896 as a student religious center
Peninsular Paper Dam
Ladies' Literary Club Building, built in approximately 1843
Brinkerhoff–Becker House, built in 1863–1869
The Tridge, a three-way wooden footbridge.
Ypsilanti Historic District, the second largest contiguous historic district in Michigan
== Parks and recreation ==
Parks and recreation centers include:
Border-to-Border Trail
Prospect Park
Riverside Park, which hosts the Ypsilanti Heritage Festival, Michigan ElvisFest, and Michigan Summer Beer Festival
Frog Island Park
Rutherford Municipal Pool
== Government ==
Ypsilanti City Council is composed of a mayor and six council members elected from three voting wards. The city uses a council–manager government. The mayor is Nicole Brown.
== Education ==
=== K–12 education ===
Ypsilanti Community Schools serve residents of the city, as well as parts of Ypsilanti Township and Superior Township. Ypsilanti Public Schools and Willow Run Community Schools merged to form a new, united district on July 1, 2013. Charter schools in the city include Arbor Preparatory High School.
The High/Scope Perry Preschool Study, which studied the effects of preschool on the later lives of low income children, occurred in Ypsilanti.
=== Higher education ===
A college town, Ypsilanti is the location of Eastern Michigan University, founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School. Eastern Michigan University had over 10,000 undergraduate and more than 2000 graduate students in 2025.
Washtenaw Community College sponsors an off-site extension center in Ypsilanti.
== Media ==
Ypsilanti is served by daily newspapers from Detroit. Ypsilanti once had its own daily newspaper, the Ypsilanti Press, but that paper closed June 28, 1994, after 90 years in business. Upon closing, the Press sold its masthead, archives and subscriber list to The Ann Arbor News, which then began publishing an Ypsilanti edition. The Ann Arbor News ceased publication on July 23, 2009; it was replaced by a new Internet-based news operation, AnnArbor.com, which also produces print editions on Thursdays and Sundays. A weekly newspaper, the Ypsilanti Courier, is published every Thursday by Heritage Media from their Saline, Michigan offices. The only newspaper currently operating in Ypsilanti is Eastern Michigan University's independent newspaper The Eastern Echo.
Local radio stations include:
WEMU FM - public radio
WQBR - EMU's student-run radio
WDEO - religious radio
WSDS - Spanish-language
WAAM - talk and news
=== Filming location ===
The 2009 film Whip It was partly filmed in Ypsilanti.
The 2010 film Stone was partially filmed at Emmanuel Lutheran Church.
The 2012 film The Five-Year Engagement was filmed in downtown Ypsilanti and surrounding areas.
The 2013 romantic drama Love and Honor includes scenes shot in Ypsilanti.
The 2017 film Three Christs includes establishing shots of Michigan Avenue and the water tower.
== Infrastructure ==
=== Major highways ===
I-94
US 12 (Michigan Avenue)
Bus. US 12
M-17 (Washtenaw Avenue)
=== Airport ===
Willow Run Airport, Ypsilanti's airport, located on the east side of the city, is a general aviation airport, operated by the Wayne County Airport Authority, which also operates Detroit's main airport.
=== Bus ===
Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority operates bus service in the area, with routes serving the Ypsilanti Transit Center.
== Notable people ==
Blanch Ackers – folk artist and painter
Ella Anderson – actress known for her role on Henry Danger as Henry's overreactive sister Piper Hart
Nickolas Ashford – songwriter and singer in the duo Ashford & Simpson
BabyTron – rapper
Samiya Bashir – poet and author, born in Ypsilanti
Mike Bass – NFL player, defensive back for Detroit Lions (1967) and Washington Redskins (1969–1975), scored touchdown in Super Bowl VII
Walter Briggs Sr. – owner of Detroit Tigers 1919–1952, born in Ypsilanti
John Burton (1910–1992), first African-American mayor and one of three African-American mayors elected in 1967 prior to which none had served in Michigan
Emor L. Calkins – State president of the Michigan Woman's Christian Temperance Union for 25 years
Jalen Chatfield – professional ice hockey player
Byron M. Cutcheon – American Civil War general and U.S. Congressman
Brandon Denson – professional Canadian Football League player who plays defensive end for the Ottawa Redblacks
Amy Devers – furniture designer and TV personality (Freeform Furniture, Designer People, Trading Spaces, Fix This Yard, Home Made Simple)
Ron Fernandes – American football player
Adam Gase – former New York Jets head coach
Kyle Gupton – Basketball player
Rodney Holman – NFL player, tight end for the Cincinnati Bengals (1982–1992), and the Detroit Lions (1993–1995)
Jaylen Johnson (born 1996), basketball player for Hapoel Haifa of the Israeli Basketball Premier League
Zeke Jones – Olympic wrestler
Doug Kalitta – racing driver and owner of Kalitta Charters
Colby Keller – visual artist, blogger and pornographic film actor
Mike Kennedy – United States Congressman, raised in Ypsilanti and attended Ypsilanti High School.
Charles S. Kettles – retired United States Army lieutenant colonel and a Medal of Honor recipient.
Carolyn King – one of first girls to play Little League baseball; centerpiece of landmark lawsuit in 1973 that led to Little League dropping boys-only policy
Janae Marie Kroc – record-setting powerlifter and transgender model
Alfred Lucking – U.S. Congressman
Helen Walker McAndrew (1825–1906) – Washtenaw County's first female physician and participant in the Underground Railroad
William McAndrew (1863–1937), educator who served as the superintendent of Chicago Public Schools
Elijah McCoy – inventor and participant in the Underground Railroad in Ypsilanti
Shara Nova – lead singer and songwriter for My Brightest Diamond
K. J. Osborn – NFL player, wide receiver for the Washington Commanders
Russell C. Ostrander – former mayor of Lansing and Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court
Frank Owen – pitcher for 1906 World Series champion Chicago White Sox
Lowell Perry – NFL football player, first African American hired to be assistant coach in the NFL
Iggy Pop – rock star, "Godfather of Punk" – grew up in the Coachville trailer park, lot 963423, on Carpenter Road in Pittsfield Township (near Ypsilanti) during his teenage years at the start of his music career.
Queen Naija – American R&B singer and YouTuber active from the 2010s through the 2020s; rose to prominence through social media and reality television before achieving mainstream success in contemporary and adult R&B.
Charles Ramsey – former Eastern Michigan Eagles men's basketball head coach; he played on the YHS baseball, basketball and football teams
Victor Roache – left fielder for Milwaukee Brewers
Bob Schneider – American singer-songwriter active from the 1990s through the 2010s, working in pop/rock and roots rock; notable for extensive solo output and earlier work with bands including The Ugly Americans.
Don Schwall – former MLB player (Boston Red Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates, Atlanta Braves)
Dax Shepard – actor, born in Ypsilanti
Ryan Shay (1979–2007) – long-distance runner
Michael Joseph Sobran Jr. – known professionally as Joseph Sobran, conservative writer and syndicated columnist
Bob Sutton – defensive coordinator for NFL's Kansas City Chiefs, New York Jets – head coach for Army 1991–1999
Marie Tharp (1920–2006) – geologist who pioneered understanding of plate tectonics and continental drift
Preston Tucker (1903–1956) – automobile entrepreneur, owned the Ypsilanti Tool & Dye Company.
Edwin F. Uhl – mayor of Grand Rapids, ambassador, U.S. Secretary of State
== In popular culture ==
Elizabeth Meriwether's 2006 play Heddatron is largely set in Ypsilanti. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Fincher | David Fincher | David Andrew Leo Fincher (born August 28, 1962) is an American film director. Often described as one of the pre-eminent directors of his generation, his films have collectively grossed over $2.1 billion worldwide and received numerous accolades, including three nominations for the Academy Award for Best Director. He has also received four Primetime Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards, a BAFTA Award, and a Golden Globe.
Fincher co-founded the production company Propaganda Films in 1986. He directed numerous music videos for the company, including Madonna's "Express Yourself" in 1989 and "Vogue" in 1990, both of which won him the MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction. He received two Grammy Awards for Best Music Video for "Love Is Strong" (1994) by the Rolling Stones and "Suit & Tie" (2013) by Justin Timberlake featuring Jay-Z.
He made his feature film debut with Alien 3 (1992) and gained his breakthrough with Seven (1995). He has since directed The Game (1997), Fight Club (1999), Panic Room (2002), Zodiac (2007), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), Gone Girl (2014), and The Killer (2023). He received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Director for the dramas The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), The Social Network (2010), and Mank (2020).
In television, Fincher has served as an executive producer and director for the Netflix series House of Cards (2013–2018) and Mindhunter (2017–2019), winning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for the pilot episode of the former. He also executive produced and co-created the Netflix animated series Love, Death & Robots (2019–present) which received three Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Short Form Animated Program.
== Early life and education ==
David Andrew Leo Fincher was born in Denver on August 28, 1962. His mother, Claire Mae (née Boettcher), was a mental health nurse from South Dakota who worked in drug addiction programs. His father, Howard Kelly "Jack" Fincher (1930–2003), was an author from Oklahoma who worked as a reporter and bureau chief for Life magazine. When Fincher was two years old, the family moved to San Anselmo, California, where he counted filmmaker George Lucas among his neighbors. He became fascinated with filmmaking at the age of eight and began making films on an 8mm camera. In a 2012 interview, he said:
I was eight years old and I saw a documentary on the making of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. It had never occurred to me that movies didn't take place in real time. I knew that they were fake, I knew that the people were acting, but it had never occurred to me that it could take [...] four months to make a movie! It showed the entire company with all these rental horses and moving trailers to shoot a scene on top of a train. They would hire somebody who looked like Robert Redford to jump onto the train. It never occurred to me that there were hours between each of these shots. The actual circus of it was invisible, as it should be, but in seeing that I became obsessed with the idea of "How?" It was the ultimate magic trick. The notion that 24 still photographs are shown in such quick succession that movement is imparted from it—wow! And I thought that there would never be anything that would be as interesting as that to do with the rest of my life.
As a teenager, Fincher moved to Ashland, Oregon, where he attended Ashland High School. He directed plays and designed sets and lighting after school, was a non-union projectionist at Varsity Theatre, and worked as a production assistant at the KOBI news station in Medford. He supported himself by working as a busboy, dishwasher, and fry cook.
== Career ==
=== 1983–1991: Early work ===
While establishing himself in the film industry, Fincher was employed at John Korty's studio as a production head. Gaining further experience, he became a visual effects producer, working on the animated Twice Upon a Time (1983) with George Lucas. He was hired by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) in 1983 as an assistant cameraman and matte photographer and worked on Return of the Jedi (1983) and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984). In 1984, he left ILM to direct a television commercial for the American Cancer Society that depicted a fetus smoking a cigarette.
This quickly brought Fincher to the attention of producers in Los Angeles, and he was soon given the opportunity to direct Rick Springfield's 1985 documentary, To The Beat of the Live Drum. Set on a directing career, Fincher co-founded production company Propaganda Films and started directing commercials and music videos. Other directors such as Michael Bay, Antoine Fuqua, Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze, Alex Proyas, Paul Rachman, Mark Romanek, Zack Snyder and Gore Verbinski also honed their skills at Propaganda Films before moving on to feature films.
Fincher directed TV commercials for many companies including Levi's, Converse, Nike, Pepsi, Revlon, Sony, Coca-Cola and Chanel, although he loathed doing them. Starting in 1984, Fincher began his foray into music videos. He directed videos for various artists including singer-songwriters Rick Springfield, Don Henley, Martha Davis, Paula Abdul, rock band the Outfield, and R&B singer Jermaine Stewart. Fincher's 1990 music video for "Freedom! '90" was one of the most successful for George Michael.
He directed Michael Jackson's "Who Is It", Aerosmith's "Janie's Got a Gun" and Billy Idol's "Cradle of Love". For Madonna, he directed the videos for "Express Yourself", "Oh Father", "Bad Girl" and "Vogue". The black-and-white video for "Vogue" took inspiration from the films of the 1920s and 1930s and has been frequently cited as one of the best videos of all time. Between 1984 and 1993, Fincher was credited as a director for 53 music videos. He referred to the production of music videos as his own "film school", in which he learned how to work efficiently within a small budget and time frame.
=== 1992–2000: Breakthrough ===
In 1990, 20th Century Fox hired Fincher to replace Vincent Ward as the director for the science-fiction horror Alien 3 (1992), his film directorial debut. It was the third installment in the Alien franchise starring Sigourney Weaver. The film was released in May 1992 to a mixed reception from critics and was considered weaker than the preceding films. From the beginning, Alien 3 was hampered by studio intervention and several abandoned scripts. Peter Travers of the Rolling Stone called the film "bold and haunting", despite the "struggle of nine writers" and "studio interference".
The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects. Years later, Fincher publicly expressed his dismay and subsequently disowned the film. In the book Director's Cut: Picturing Hollywood in the 21st Century, Fincher blames the producers for their lack of trust in him. In an interview with The Guardian in 2009, he stated, "No one hated it more than me; to this day, no one hates it more than me."
After this critical disappointment, Fincher eschewed reading film scripts or directing another project. He briefly retreated to directing commercials and music videos, including the video for the song "Love Is Strong" by the Rolling Stones in 1994, which won the Grammy Award for Best Music Video. Shortly, Fincher decided to make a foray back into film. He read Andrew Kevin Walker's original screenplay for Seven (1995), which had been revised by Jeremiah Chechik, the director attached to the project at one point. Fincher expressed no interest in directing the revised version, so New Line Cinema agreed to keep the original ending. Starring Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow, R. Lee Ermey, and Kevin Spacey, it tells the story of two detectives who attempt to identify a serial killer who bases his murders on the Christian seven deadly sins. Seven was positively received by film critics and was one of the highest-earning films of 1995, grossing more than $320 million worldwide. Writing for Sight and Sound, John Wrathall said it "stands as the most complex and disturbing entry in the serial killer genre since Manhunter" and Roger Ebert opined that Seven is "one of the darkest and most merciless films ever made in the Hollywood mainstream."
Following Seven, Fincher directed a music video for "6th Avenue Heartache" by the Wallflowers and went on to direct his third feature film, the mystery thriller The Game (1997), written by the duo John Brancato and Michael Ferris. Fincher also hired Seven screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker to contribute and polish the script. Filmed on location in San Francisco, the story follows an investment banker, played by Michael Douglas, who receives an unusual gift from his younger brother (Sean Penn), where he becomes involved in a "game" that integrates with his everyday life, making him unable to differentiate between game and reality. Almar Haflidason of the BBC was critical of the ending, but praised the visuals—"Fincher does a marvelous job of turning ordinary city locations into frightening backdrops, where every corner turned is another step into the unknown". Upon The Game's release in September 1997, the film received generally favorable reviews but performed moderately at the box office. The Game was later included in the Criterion Collection.
In August 1997, Fincher agreed to direct Fight Club, based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk. It was his second film with 20th Century Fox after the troubled production of Alien 3. Starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton and Helena Bonham Carter, the film is about a nameless office worker suffering from insomnia, who meets a salesman, and together form an underground fighting club as a form of therapy. Fox struggled with the marketing of the film, and were concerned that it would have a limited audience. Fight Club premiered on October 15, 1999, in the United States to a polarized response and modest box office success; the film grossed $100.9 million against a budget of $63 million. Initially, many critics thought the film was "a violent and dangerous express train of masochism and aggression." However, in following years, Fight Club became a cult favorite and gained acknowledgement for its multilayered themes; the film has been the source of critical analysis from academics and film critics.
=== 2001–2010: Continued success ===
In 2001, Fincher served as an executive producer for the first season of The Hire, a series of short films to promote BMW automobiles. The films were released on the internet in 2001. Next in 2002, Fincher returned to another feature film, a thriller titled Panic Room. The story follows a single mother and her daughter who hide in a safe room of their new home, during a home invasion by a trio. Starring Jodie Foster (who replaced Nicole Kidman), Forest Whitaker, Kristen Stewart, Dwight Yoakam, and Jared Leto, it was theatrically released on March 29, 2002, after a month delay, to critical acclaim and commercial success.
In North America, the film earned $96.4 million. In other countries, it grossed $100 million for a worldwide $196.4 million. Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle praised the filmmakers for their "fair degree of ingenuity ... for 88 minutes of excitement" and the convincing performance given by Foster. Fincher acknowledged Panic Room for being more mainstream, describing the film, "It's supposed to be a popcorn movie—there are no great, overriding implications. It's just about survival."
Five years after Panic Room, Fincher returned on March 2, 2007, with Zodiac, a thriller based on Robert Graysmith's books about the search for the Zodiac, a real life serial murderer who terrorized communities between the late 1960s and early 1970s. Fincher first learned of the project after being approached by producer Brad Fischer; he was intrigued by the story due to his childhood personal experience. "The highway patrol had been following our school buses", he recalled. His father told him, "There's a serial killer who has killed four or five people ... who's threatened to ... shoot the children as they come off the bus."
After extensive research on the case with fellow producers, Fincher formed a principal cast of Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr., Anthony Edwards and Brian Cox. It was the first of Fincher's films to be shot in digital, with a Thomson Viper FilmStream HD camera. However, high-speed film cameras were used for particular murder scenes. Zodiac was well received, appearing in more than two hundred top ten lists (only No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood appeared in more). However, the film struggled at the United States box office, earning $33 million, but did better overseas with a gross of $51.7 million. Worldwide, Zodiac was a moderate success. Despite a campaign by Paramount Pictures, the film did not receive any major award nominations.
In 2008, Fincher was attached to a film adaptation of the science-fiction novel, Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke, however, Fincher said the film is unlikely to go ahead due to problems with the script. His next project was The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), an adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's eponymous 1923 short story, about a man who is born as a seventy-year-old baby and ages in reverse. The romantic-drama marked Fincher's third collaboration with Brad Pitt, who stars opposite Cate Blanchett. The budget for the film was estimated to be $167 million, with very expensive visual effects utilized for Pitt's character.
Filming started in November 2006 in New Orleans, taking advantage of Louisiana's film incentive. The film was theatrically released on December 25, 2008, in the United States to a commercial success and warm reception. Writing for the USA Today, Claudia Puig praises the "graceful and poignant" tale despite it being "overlong and not as emotionally involving as it could be". The film received thirteen Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director for Fincher, Best Actor for Pitt, and Best Supporting Actress for Taraji P. Henson, and won three, for Best Art Direction, Best Makeup, and Best Visual Effects.
Fincher directed the 2010 film The Social Network, a biographical drama about Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg and his legal battles. The screenplay was written by Aaron Sorkin, who adapted it from the book The Accidental Billionaires. It stars Jesse Eisenberg as Zuckerberg, with a supporting cast of Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Armie Hammer and Max Minghella. Principal photography started in October 2009 in Cambridge, Massachusetts and the film was released one year later. The Social Network was also a commercial success, earning $224.9 million worldwide. At the 83rd Academy Awards, the film received eight nominations and won three awards; soundtrack composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross won for Best Original Score, and the other two awards were for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Film Editing. The film received awards for Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Original Score at the 68th Golden Globe Awards. Critics including Roger Ebert, complimented the writing, describing the film as having "spellbinding dialogue. It makes an untellable story clear and fascinating".
=== 2011–present: Established filmmaker and work with Netflix ===
In 2011, Fincher followed the success of The Social Network with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, a psychological thriller based on the novel by Swedish writer Stieg Larsson. Screenwriter Steven Zaillian spent three months analyzing the novel, writing notes and deleting elements to achieve a suitable running time. Featuring Daniel Craig as journalist Mikael Blomkvist and Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander, it follows Blomkvist's investigation to solve what happened to a woman from a wealthy family who disappeared four decades ago. To maintain the novel's setting, the film was primarily shot in Sweden.
The soundtrack, composed by collaborators Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, was described by A. O. Scott of The New York Times as "unnerving and powerful". Upon the film's release in December, reviews were generally favorable, according to review aggregator Metacritic. Scott adds, "Mr. Fincher creates a persuasive ambience of political menace and moral despair". Philip French of The Guardian praised the "authentic, quirky detail" and faithful adaptation. The film received five Academy Award nominations, including Best Actress for Mara, and won the award for Best Film Editing. In 2012, Fincher signed a first look deal with Regency Enterprises.
In 2013, Fincher served as an executive producer for the Netflix television series House of Cards, a political thriller about a Congressman's quest for revenge, of which he also directed the first two episodes. The series received positive reviews, earning nine Primetime Emmy Award nominations, including Outstanding Drama Series; Fincher won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for the first episode. He also directed a music video for the first time since 2005, "Suit & Tie" by Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z, which won the Grammy Award for Best Music Video.
In 2014, Fincher signed a deal with HBO for three television series—Utopia (an adaptation of the British series, to be written by Gillian Flynn), Shakedown, and Videosyncrazy. In August 2015, budget disputes between him and the network halted production. However, in 2018, Utopia was picked up by Amazon MGM Studios, with Flynn as creator.
Fincher directed Gone Girl (2014), an adaptation of Gillian Flynn's novel of the same name, starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike. He even met with Flynn to discuss his interest in the project before a director was selected. Set in Missouri, the story begins as a mystery that follows the events surrounding Nick Dunne (Affleck), who becomes the prime suspect in the sudden disappearance of his wife Amy (Pike). A critical and commercial success, the film earned $369 million worldwide against a $61 million budget, making it Fincher's highest-grossing work to date. Writing for Salon.com, Andrew O'Hehir praised the "tremendous ensemble cast who mesh marvelously", adding, "All the technical command of image, sound and production design for which Fincher is justly famous is here as well." Gone Girl garnered awards and nominations in a various categories; Pike earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress and Fincher received his third Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Director.
Between 2016 and 2019, Fincher directed, produced and served as showrunner for another series, Mindhunter, starring Holt McCallany and Jonathan Groff. The series, based on the book Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit, debuted on Netflix worldwide on October 13, 2017. He has expressed interest in eventually making a third season of Mindhunter, which was put on indefinite hold in 2020. In 2023, Fincher confirmed that Netflix will not be making a third season of Mindhunter, saying "I'm very proud of the first two seasons. But it's a very expensive show and, in the eyes of Netflix, we didn't attract enough of an audience to justify such an investment [for Season 3]."
In June 2017, Jim Gianopulos of Paramount Pictures announced that a sequel to World War Z was "in advanced development" with Fincher and Brad Pitt. Producers Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner said that Fincher would begin directing it in June 2019. However, in February 2019, Paramount cancelled the project. As of 2019, Fincher serves as an executive producer for Love, Death & Robots, an animated science-fiction web series for Netflix.
In July 2019, Fincher signed on to direct Mank, a biopic about Citizen Kane screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, based on a screenplay written by his late father, Jack, with Gary Oldman portraying Mankiewicz. Mank received a limited theatrical release on November 13, 2020, and was made available on Netflix on December 4. The film received ten Academy Award nominations, and won two: Best Cinematography and Best Production Design. Wendy Ide, writing for The Guardian, praised Fincher for his nod to old Hollywood, and theatrical approach to Mank.
Fincher served as an executive producer on a series titled Voir (2021) for Netflix. In 2022, Fincher made his first foray in animation directing an episode for the third season of Love, Death & Robots. The episode, "Bad Travelling", was written by Seven screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker. In February 2021, it was reported that Fincher would direct an adaptation of the graphic novel The Killer for Netflix, with Walker writing the screenplay and Michael Fassbender attached to star. It premiered at the 80th Venice International Film Festival on September 3, 2023, began a limited theatrical release on October 27, and was released on Netflix on November 10. The film received generally positive reviews from critics.
In 2024, it was reported that Fincher was interested in working on an American adaptation of the popular Korean series Squid Game and was developing it alongside a Chinatown (1974) prequel miniseries that he co-wrote with the late Robert Towne. It was confirmed in October 2024 that he would develop and work on the Squid Game adaptation for 2025. Fincher is currently directing The Adventures of Cliff Booth, a sequel to Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019), written by Tarantino and starring Brad Pitt in the lead role.
== Filmmaking style and techniques ==
=== Influences ===
Fincher did not attend film school. He has listed filmmakers George Roy Hill, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, Alan J. Pakula, Ridley Scott, and Martin Scorsese as his major influences. His personal favorite films include Rear Window (1954), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), The Graduate (1967), Paper Moon (1973), American Graffiti (1973), Jaws (1975), All the President's Men (1976), Taxi Driver (1976), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), and Zelig (1983). He suggested that his film Panic Room is a combination of Rear Window and Straw Dogs (1971).
For Seven, Fincher and cinematographer Darius Khondji were inspired by films The French Connection (1971) and Klute (1971), as well as the work of photographer Robert Frank. He has cited graphic designer Saul Bass as an inspiration for his films' title sequences; Bass designed many such sequences for prominent directors, including Hitchcock and Kubrick.
=== Method ===
Fincher's filmmaking process always begins with extensive research and preparation, although he has said the process is different every time: "I enjoy reading a script that you can see in your head, and then I enjoy the casting and I enjoy the rehearsal, and I enjoy all the meetings about what it should be, what it could be, what it might be." He has admitted to having autocratic tendencies and prefers to micromanage every aspect of a film's production. Icelandic film producer Sigurjón Sighvatsson, with whom Fincher has collaborated for decades, has said that "[Fincher] was always a rebel ... always challenging the status quo".
Known for his perfectionism and meticulous eye for detail, Fincher performs thorough research when casting actors to ensure their suitability for the part. His colleague Max Daly said, "He's really good at finding the one detail that was missed. He knows more than anybody." Producer Laura Ziskin said of him, "He's just scary smart, sort of smarter than everyone else in the room." He approaches editing like "intricate mathematical problems". Long-time collaborator Angus Wall said that editing Zodiac was like "putting together a Swiss watch ... all the pieces are so beautifully machined". He elaborated, "[Fincher] is incredibly specific. He never settles. And there's a purity that shows in his work."
When working with actors, Fincher is known to demand a grueling series of takes to capture a scene perfectly. For instance, the Zodiac cast members were required to do upwards of 70 takes for certain scenes, much to the displeasure of Jake Gyllenhaal. Rooney Mara had to endure 99 takes for a scene in The Social Network and said that Fincher enjoys challenging people. Gone Girl averaged 50 takes per scene. In one of the episodes for Mindhunter, it was reported that a nine-minute scene took 11 hours to shoot. When asked about this method, Fincher said, "I hate earnestness in performance ... usually by take 17 the earnestness is gone." He added that he wants a scene to be as natural and authentic as possible. Some actors appreciate this approach, arguing that the subtle adjustments have a big difference in the way a scene is carried. Others have been critical, with R. Lee Ermey stating, "[Fincher] wants puppets. He doesn't want actors that are creative."
Fincher prefers shooting with Red digital cameras, under natural or pre-existing light conditions rather than using elaborate lighting setups. Fincher is known to use computer-generated imagery, which is mostly unnoticeable to the viewer. He does not normally use hand-held cameras during filming, instead preferring cameras on a tripod. He said, "Handheld has a powerful psychological stranglehold. It means something specific and I don't want to cloud what's going on with too much meaning." He has experimented with the disembodied camera movement, notably in Panic Room, where the camera glides around the house to give the impression of surveillance by an unseen observer.
=== Style and themes ===
One element of Fincher's visual style is the specific way in which he uses tilt, pan, and track in the camera movements. When a character is in motion or expressing emotions, the camera moves at the exact same speed and direction as their body. The movements are choreographed precisely between the actors and camera operators. The resulting effect helps the audience connect with the character to understand their feelings. Similarly, in his music videos, Fincher appreciated that the visuals should enhance the listening experience. He would cut around the vocals, and let the choreography finish before cutting the shot. Camera movements are synchronized to the beat of the music.
Some regard Fincher as an auteur filmmaker, although he dislikes being associated with that term. Much of his work is influenced by classical film noir and neo noir genres. Fincher's visual style also includes using monochromatic and desaturated colors of blue, green, and yellow, representing the world that the characters are in. In The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Fincher uses heavy desaturation for certain scenes, and increases or decreases the effect based on the story or characters' emotions. Erik Messerschmidt, cinematographer for Mindhunter, explained the color palette: "The show has a desaturated green-yellow look ... [it] helps give the show its period feel." He states the effect is achieved through production design, costumes, and filming locations—not necessarily through lighting used on set. Fincher also favors detailed and pronounced shadows, as well as using minimal light. When asked about his use of dim lighting, he said bright lights make the color of skin appear unnatural, and that the lights and colors in his films represent "the way the world looks to [him]".
Fincher has explored themes of martyrdom, alienation, and dehumanization of both culture and society. In addition to the wider themes of good and evil, his characters are usually troubled, discontented, engrossed and flawed outsiders, outcasts, loners and misfits; they are often unable to socialize and suffer from loneliness. In Seven, Zodiac, and The Social Network, themes of pressure and obsession are explored, leading to the character's downfall. Quoting historian Frank Krutnik, the writer Piers McCarthy argues that "the protagonists of these films are not totally in control of their actions but are subject to darker, inner impulses".
In a 2017 interview, Fincher explained his fascination of sinister themes: "There was always a house in any neighborhood that I ever lived in that all the kids on the street wondered, 'What are those people up to?' We sort of attach the sinister to the mundane in order to make things interesting ... I think it's also because in order for something to be evil, it almost has to cloak itself as something else." Fincher once stated, "I think people are perverts. I've maintained that. That's the foundation of my career."
=== Collaborators ===
Over the course of his career, Fincher has shown loyalty to many members of his cast and crew. As a music video director, he collaborated with Paula Abdul five times, as well as Madonna and Rick Springfield four times each. Once he made the transition to feature films, he cast Brad Pitt in three of them. He said of Pitt, "On-screen and off-screen, Brad's the ultimate guy ... he has such a great ease with who he is." Bob Stephenson, Michael Massee, Christopher John Fields, John Getz, Elias Koteas, Zach Grenier, Charles Dance, Rooney Mara, Jared Leto, Arliss Howard, and Richmond Arquette have also appeared in at least two of his films.
Fight Club was scored by the Dust Brothers, who at that point had never scored a film. Describing their working relationship with Fincher, they said he "was not hanging over our shoulders telling us what to do" and that the only direction he gave was to make the music sound as great as the score from The Graduate (1967). Nine Inch Nails members Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross composed the music for The Social Network, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Gone Girl, Mank, and The Killer. The musicians describe their working relationship as "collaborative, respectful, and inspiring" although quipped that it "hasn't gotten any easier". Many years before the duo worked with Fincher, he arranged for a remix of the Nine Inch Nails song "Closer" to play over the opening credits of Seven. Howard Shore composed the scores for Seven, The Game, and Panic Room.
Darius Khondji and Jeff Cronenweth have served as cinematographers for Fincher's films. Khondji said, "Fincher deserves a lot of credit. It was his influence that pushed me to experiment and got me as far as I did." Fincher has hired sound designer Ren Klyce in all his films since 1995 and trusts him "implicitly". He has worked with film editor Angus Wall since 1988. Wall has worked on seven of his films, five of which as editor.
Donald Graham Burt has served as a production designer for six films and Bob Wagner has served as an assistant director for six. Casting director Laray Mayfield has worked with Fincher for over 20 years. In a 2010 interview, Fincher said, "You don't have to love all of your co-collaborators, but you do have to respect them. And when you do, when you realize that people bring stuff to the table that's not necessarily your experience, but if you allow yourself to relate to it, it can enrich the buffet that you're going to bring with you into the editing room."
== Personal life ==
Fincher married model Donya Fiorentino (sister of actress Linda Fiorentino) in 1990. They had one daughter together, before divorcing in 1995. Fincher married producer Ceán Chaffin in 1996.
== Filmography ==
== Awards and recognitions ==
Tim Walker of The Independent praised Fincher's work, stating "His portrayals of the modern psyche have a power and precision that few film-makers can match." In 2003, Fincher was ranked 39th in The Guardian's 40 best directors. In 2012, The Guardian listed him again in their ranking of 23 best film directors in the world, applauding "his ability to sustain tone and tension". In 2016, Zodiac and The Social Network appeared in the BBC's 100 Greatest Films of the 21st Century list. In addition to films, Fincher has often been admired for producing some of the most creative music videos.
Fincher received three Academy Award for Best Director nominations for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), The Social Network (2010), and Mank (2020). He won both the BAFTA Award for Best Direction and the Golden Globe Award for Best Director for The Social Network. He has four nominations for the DGA Award for Outstanding Directing – Feature Film for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), The Social Network (2010), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) and Mank (2020) as well as a nomination for Outstanding Directing – Drama Series for House of Cards (2013). His work on the latter also earned him the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series and the Peabody Award in addition to four nominations for the PGA Award for Best Episodic Drama.
Fincher also received two Grammy Awards for Best Music Video for "Love Is Strong" (1995) by The Rolling Stones and "Suit & Tie" (2013) by Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z as well as three Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Short Form Animated Program for Love, Death & Robots.
Directed Academy Award performances
Under Fincher's direction, these actors have received Academy Award nominations for their performances in the respective roles: |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_brig_Serpent_(1807) | French brig Serpent (1807) | Serpent was a French navy brig of the Palinure class, launched in 1807 at Paimbeouf (Nantes) as Rivolli, but renamed. HMS Acasta captured her in 1808 in the Caribbean and the British Royal Navy took her into service there as HMS Pert but renamed her Asp. The navy disposed of her in 1814. She then made five voyages as a whaler, and wrecked in December 1828 on her sixth voyage.
== French service and capture ==
Lieutenant de vaisseau Paul de Lamanon sailed Serpent from Paimboeuf carrying troops to Senegal. He then conducted missions to Cayenne and Venezuela.
HMS Acasta captured Serpent on 17 July 1808 off La Guaira, Venezuela. Serpent was armed with sixteen 24-pounder carronades and two long 6-pounder guns, and had a crew of 104 men. British records name the commander as enseigne de vaisseau Mons. Lamanon.
== Royal Navy service ==
The Royal Navy commissioned her as 16-gun sloop and Rear-Admiral the Honourable Sir Alexander Cochrane provisionally named her Pert. Commander Robert Preston took command in August 1808. As there was already a brig HMS Pert, the Admiralty named her HMS Asp.
On 8 February 1809 Asp and Superieure sighted Junon passing close to the Virgin Islands. Junon ignored their orders that she halt and prepare to be boarded.
The British frigate Horatio brought Junon to action and she surrendered when the frigate Latona and the brig Driver arrived on the scene and joined the engagement. Junon was carrying some sugar and cargo, which resulted in prize money (over and above that for the vessel itself) for all five British captors (i.e., including Asp).
In January -February 1810 Asp was also at the invasion of Guadeloupe. This campaign led to the award in 1847 of the clasp "Guadaloupe" to the Naval General Service Medal to all surviving claimants from the invasion.
Commander William M'Culloch replaced Preston after the invasion. Then in May Commander Henry Nathaniel Rowe replaced M'Culloch. Rowe sailed Asp back to Britain with dispatches, and M'Culloch replaced Rowe in command of Saint Christopher.
Asp arrived at Portsmouth on 30 July 1810 and was paid off and laid up. She spent much of that time in Ordinary.
Disposal: The "Principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy" offered the "Asp sloop, of 333 tons", for sale at Portsmouth on 16 March 1814. She sold on that day for £1,050.
== Whaler ==
John Bell & Co. purchased Asp to employ her as a South Seas whaler and appointed Captain J. Kenney master. Captain John Kenney received a letter of marque against America on 27 July 1814.
Whaling voyage #1: Captain Kenney sailed Asp on 23 August 1814, bound for the coast of Peru. On 20 October she was at 1°15′S 28°30′W. At some point in 1815 she was on the coast of Peru with 680 barrels. She left the Galapagos on 15 March, and called at St Catherine's (Florianópolis) after transiting Cape Horn. She returned on 6 August 1816 with 460 casks of oil.
Whaling voyage #2: Captain Kenney sailed on 8 October 1816 for the Pacific Ocean. She was reported to have been "on-the-line" on 24 November 1816 "all well". She returned on 27 August 1818 with 480 casks of oil.
Whaling voyage #3: Captain Kenney sailed on 15 December 1818 bound for the Galapagos. Asp was there in February 1820. She returned on 14 August 1821 with 2110 casks.
Whaling voyage #4: By this time Bell & Co. had sold Asp to Samuel Enderby & Sons. Captain William Darby Brind sailed from Britain on 17 July 1822 bound for New Zealand. On 20 December 1823 she was at the Bay of Islands with 1200 barrels. Under Captain Phillip Tapsell she then undertook whaling during the winter right whaling season at Great Oyster Bay (Tasmania). There she took four whales. She left New Zealand on 10 January 1825 and returned home on 26 May with 760 casks, including some black oil.
Whaling voyage #5: Captain House left Britain on 2 August 1825 bound for the Seychelles. She stopped at Mauritius in December 1825, or 1826. She returned to Britain on 21 September 1827 with 700 casks.
== Fate ==
Asp, Kenneck (or Kenneth, or Renneck, or Rennick), master, sailed from Britain on 16 November 1827 with destination the Indian Ocean. She was wrecked on the Mudge Rocks, Madagascar, on 17 December 1828. The crew was rescued. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_national_parks_of_the_United_States | List of national parks of the United States | The United States has 63 national parks, which are congressionally designated protected areas operated by the National Park Service, an agency of the Department of the Interior. National parks are designated for their natural beauty, unique geological features, diverse ecosystems, and recreational opportunities, typically "because of some outstanding scenic feature or natural phenomena." While legislatively all units of the National Park System are considered equal with the same mission, national parks are generally larger and more of a destination, and hunting and extractive activities are prohibited. National monuments, on the other hand, are also frequently protected for their historical or archaeological significance. Eight national parks (including six in Alaska) are paired with a national preserve, areas with different levels of protection that are administered together but considered separate units and whose areas are not included in the figures below. The 433 units of the National Park System can be broadly referred to as national parks, but most have other formal designations.
A bill creating the first national park, Yellowstone, was signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant in 1872, followed by Mackinac National Park in 1875 (decommissioned in 1895), and then Rock Creek Park (later merged into National Capital Parks), Sequoia and Yosemite in 1890. The Organic Act of 1916 created the National Park Service "to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and wildlife therein, and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." Many current national parks had been previously protected as national monuments by the president under the Antiquities Act or as other designations created by Congress before being redesignated by Congress; the newest national park is New River Gorge, previously a National River, and the most recent entirely new park is National Park of American Samoa. A few former national parks are no longer designated as such, or have been disbanded. Fourteen national parks are designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites (WHS), and 21 national parks are named UNESCO Biosphere Reserves (BR), with eight national parks in both programs.
Thirty states have national parks, as do the territories of American Samoa and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The state with the most national parks is California with nine, followed by Alaska with eight, Utah with five, and Colorado with four. The largest national park is Wrangell–St. Elias in Alaska: at over 8 million acres (32,375 km2), it is larger than each of the nine smallest states. The next three largest parks are also in Alaska. The smallest park is Gateway Arch National Park, Missouri, at 192.83 acres (0.7804 km2). The total area protected by national parks is approximately 52.4 million acres (212,000 km2), for an average of 833 thousand acres (3,370 km2) but a median of only 220 thousand acres (890 km2).
The national parks set a visitation record in 2024, with more than 94 million visitors; although overall visitation at the national parks in 2025 dropped by about 400,000. Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee has been the most-visited park since 1944, and had over 12 million visitors in 2024. In contrast, about 11,900 people visited the remote Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve in Alaska that same year.
== National parks ==
Legend
=== Parks by state or territory ===
The following table includes the 30 states and two territories that have national parks. Exclusive parks refer to parks entirely within one state or territory. Shared parks refer to parks in multiple states.
Territories are set in italics. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Pablo_Paz_(tennis) | Juan Pablo Paz (tennis) | Juan Pablo Paz (Latin American Spanish: [ˈxwam ˈpaβlo ˈpas]; born 4 January 1995) is an Argentine tennis player. Paz has a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 284 achieved on 8 May 2017 and a career-high ATP doubles ranking of No. 231 achieved on 6 May 2024.
Paz made his ATP main draw debut at the 2017 Ecuador Open Quito in the doubles draw partnering Gonzalo Escobar.
== ATP Challenger and ITF Futures/World Tennis Tour finals ==
=== Singles: 26 (8–18) ===
=== Doubles: 41 (23–18) === |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Kane | Bob Kane | Robert Kane (né Kahn ; October 24, 1915 – November 3, 1998) was an American comic book writer, animator, and artist who co-created Batman (with Bill Finger) and many other early related characters for DC Comics. He was inducted into the comic book industry's Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1993 and into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1996.
== Early life ==
Kahn was born in New York City. His parents, Augusta (née Tuchman) and Herman Kahn, an engraver, were of Ashkenazi Jewish descent. A high school friend of fellow cartoonist and future Spirit creator Will Eisner, Robert Kahn graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School and then legally changed his name to Robert Kane. He studied art at Cooper Union before joining the Max Fleischer Studio as a trainee animator in the year of 1934.
== Comics ==
He entered the comics field two years later, in 1936, freelancing original material to editor Jerry Iger's comic book Wow, What a Magazine!, including his first pencil and ink work on the serial Hiram Hick. The following year, Kane began to work at Iger's subsequent studio, Eisner & Iger, which was one of the first comic book "packagers" that produced comics on demand for publishers entering the new medium during its late-1930s and 1940s Golden Age. Among his work there was the talking animal feature "Peter Pupp"—which belied its look with overtones of "mystery and menace"—published in the U.K. comic magazine Wags and reprinted in Fiction House's Jumbo Comics. Kane also produced work through Eisner & Iger for two of the companies that would later merge to form DC Comics, including the humor features "Ginger Snap" in More Fun Comics, "Oscar the Gumshoe" for Detective Comics, and "Professor Doolittle" for Adventure Comics. For that last title he went on to do his first adventure strip, "Rusty and his Pals".
=== Batman ===
In early 1939, DC's success with the seminal superhero Superman in Action Comics prompted editors to scramble for more such heroes. In response, Bob Kane conceived "the Bat-Man." Kane said his influences for the character included actor Douglas Fairbanks's film portrayal of the swashbuckler Zorro; Leonardo da Vinci's diagram of the ornithopter, a flying machine with huge bat-like wings; and the 1930 film The Bat Whispers, based on Mary Rinehart's mystery novel The Circular Staircase (1908).
Bill Finger joined Bob Kane's nascent studio in 1938. An aspiring writer and part-time shoe salesperson, he had met Kane at a party, and Kane later offered him a job ghost writing the strips Rusty and Clip Carson. He recalled that Kane
...had an idea for a character called 'Batman', and he'd like me to see the drawings. I went over to Kane's, and he had drawn a character who looked very much like Superman with kind of ... reddish tights, I believe, with boots ... no gloves, no gauntlets ... with a small domino mask, swinging on a rope. He had two stiff wings that were sticking out, looking like bat wings. And under it was a big sign ... BATMAN.
Finger said he offered such suggestions as giving the character a cowl and scalloped cape instead of wings; adding gloves; leaving the mask's eyeholes blank to connote mystery; and removing the bright red sections of the original costume, suggesting instead a gray-and-black color scheme. Finger additionally said his suggestions were influenced by Lee Falk's The Phantom, a syndicated newspaper comic strip character with which Kane was familiar as well. Finger, who said he also devised the character's civilian name, Bruce Wayne, wrote the first Batman story, while Kane provided art. Kane, who had already submitted the proposal for Batman at DC and held a contract, was the only person given an official company credit for Batman's creation until 2015, when Bill Finger was officially named a co-creator. Comics historian Ron Goulart, in Comic Book Encyclopedia, refers to Batman as the "creation of artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger".
According to Kane, "Bill Finger was a contributing force on Batman right from the beginning. He wrote most of the great stories and was influential in setting the style and genre other writers would emulate ... I made Batman a superhero-vigilante when I first created him. Bill turned him into a scientific detective."
The character debuted in Detective Comics #27 (May 1939) and proved a breakout hit. Within a year, Kane hired art assistants Jerry Robinson (initially as an inker) and George Roussos (backgrounds artist and letterer). Though Robinson and Roussos worked out of Kane's art studio in The New York Times building, Kane himself did all his drawing at home. Shortly afterward, when DC wanted more Batman stories than Kane's studio could deliver, the company assigned Dick Sprang and other in-house pencilers as "ghost artists", drawing uncredited under Kane's supervision. Future Justice League writer Gardner Fox wrote some early scripts, including the two-part story "The Monk" that introduced some of The Batman's first "Bat-" equipment.
In 1943, Kane left the Batman comic books to focus on penciling the daily Batman newspaper comic strip. DC Comics artists ghosting the comic-book stories now included Jack Burnley and Win Mortimer, with Robinson moving up as penciler and Fred Ray contributing some covers. After the strip finished in 1946, Kane returned to the comic books but, unknown to DC, had hired his own personal ghosts, including Lew Schwartz and Sheldon Moldoff from 1953 to 1967.
=== Robin ===
Bill Finger recalled that
Robin was an outgrowth of a conversation I had with Bob. As I said, Batman was a combination of [Douglas] Fairbanks and Sherlock Holmes. Holmes had his Watson. The thing that bothered me was that Batman didn't have anyone to talk to, and it got a little tiresome always having him thinking. I found that as I went along Batman needed a Watson to talk to. That's how Robin came to be. Bob called me over and said he was going to put a boy in the strip to identify with Batman. I thought it was a great idea.
Kane, who had previously created a sidekick for Peter Pupp, proposed adding a boy named Mercury who would have worn a "super-costume". Robinson suggested a normal human, along with the name "Robin", after Robin Hood books he had read during boyhood, and noting in a 2005 interview he had been inspired by one book's N. C. Wyeth illustrations.
The impetus came from Bill's wanting to extend the parameters of the story potential and of the drama. He saw that adding a sidekick would enhance the drama. Also, it enlarged the readership identification. The younger kids could then identify with Robin, which they couldn't with Batman, and the older ones with Batman. It extended the appeal on a lot of levels. The new character, an orphaned circus performer named Dick Grayson, came to live with Bruce Wayne as his young ward in Detective Comics #38 (April 1940) and would inspire many similar sidekicks throughout the Golden Age of comic books.
=== The Joker ===
Batman's nemesis the Joker was introduced near that same time, in Batman #1 (Spring 1940). Credit for that character's creation is disputed. Kane's position is that
Bill Finger and I created the Joker. Bill was the writer. Jerry Robinson came to me with a playing card of the Joker. That's the way I sum it up. [The Joker] looks like Conrad Veidt—you know, the actor in The Man Who Laughs, [the 1928 movie based on the novel] by Victor Hugo. ... Bill Finger had a book with a photograph of Conrad Veidt and showed it to me and said, 'Here's the Joker'. Jerry Robinson had absolutely nothing to do with it. But he'll always say he created it till he dies. He brought in a playing card, which we used for a couple of issues for him [the Joker] to use as his playing card.
Robinson, whose original Joker playing card was on public display in the exhibition "Masters of American Comics" at the Jewish Museum in New York City, New York, from September 16, 2006 to January 28, 2007, and the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum in Atlanta, Georgia from October 24, 2004 to August 28, 2005, has countered that:
Bill Finger knew of Conrad Veidt because Bill had been to a lot of the foreign films. Veidt ... had this clown makeup with the frozen smile on his face (classic). When Bill saw the first drawing of the Joker, he said, 'That reminds me of Conrad Veidt in The Man Who Laughs.' He said he would bring in some shots of that movie to show me. That's how that came about. I think in Bill's mind, he fleshed out the concept of the character.
Robinson added, however, "If you read the Batman historian [E. Nelson] Bridwell, he had one interview where he interviewed Bill Finger and he said no, the Joker was created by me—an acknowledgement. He can be credited and Bob himself, we all played a role in it. ... He wrote the script of that, so he really was co-creator, and Bob and I did the visuals, so Bob was also."
=== Other characters ===
According to comics historian Les Daniels, "nearly everyone seems to agree that Two-Face was Kane's brainchild exclusively". Catwoman, originally introduced by Kane with no costume as "the Cat", was partially inspired by his cousin, Ruth Steel. Kane, a frequent moviegoer, mentioned that Jean Harlow was a model for the design and added that "I always felt that women were feline". Kane created the Scarecrow and drew his first appearance, which was scripted by Finger. Kane also created the original incarnation of Clayface. According to Kane, he drew the Penguin after being inspired by the then advertising mascot of Kool cigarettes—a penguin with a top hat and cane. Finger, however, claimed that he created the villain as a caricature of the aristocratic type, because "stuffy English gentlemen" reminded him of emperor penguins.
== Later life and career ==
In 1966, Kane retired from DC Comics, choosing to focus on fine art. As Kane's comic-book work tapered off in the 1960s, he parlayed his Batman status into minor celebrity. He enjoyed a post-comics career in television animation, creating the characters Courageous Cat and Cool McCool, and as a painter showed his work in art galleries, although some of these paintings were produced by ghost artists. DC Comics named Kane in 1985 as one of the honorees in the company's 50th anniversary publication Fifty Who Made DC Great. In 1989, Kane published the autobiography Batman and Me, with an updated edition Batman and Me: The Saga Continues, in 1996.
Kane worked as a consultant on the 1989 film Batman and its three sequels with directors Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher.
Stan Lee interviewed Kane in the documentary series The Comic Book Greats.
== Personal life ==
Kane married his first wife, Beverly, in the 1940s, and the two divorced in 1957. They had a daughter. Kane married his second wife, actress Elizabeth Sanders Kane, in 1987.
== Death ==
Kane died November 3, 1998, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, at age 83. He is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles, California.
== Awards and honors ==
Kane was a recipient of the Inkpot Award in 1977, was inducted into the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1996. He was added to the National Comics Awards' Roll of Honour in 1999.
On October 21, 2015, for his work in motion pictures, he posthumously received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 6764 Hollywood Boulevard.
Kane's work is housed in collections in New York City's Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, and St. John's University. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Lloyd_Wright | Frank Lloyd Wright | Frank Lloyd Wright Sr. (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements of the twentieth century, influencing architects worldwide through his works and mentoring hundreds of apprentices in his Taliesin Fellowship. Wright believed in designing in harmony with humanity and the environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture. This philosophy was exemplified in Fallingwater (1935), which has been called "the best all-time work of American architecture".
Wright was a pioneer of what came to be called the Prairie School movement of architecture and also developed the concept of the Usonian home within Broadacre City, his vision for urban planning in the United States. Wright also designed original and innovative offices, churches, schools, skyscrapers, hotels, museums, and other commercial projects. Wright-designed interior elements (including leaded glass windows, floors, furniture and even tableware) were integrated into these structures. He wrote several books and numerous articles and was a popular lecturer in the United States and in Europe. Wright was recognized in 1991 by the American Institute of Architects as "the greatest American architect of all time". In 2019, a selection of his work became a listed World Heritage Site under the name The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright.
Raised in rural Wisconsin, Wright studied civil engineering at the University of Wisconsin and later apprenticed in Chicago, first briefly with Joseph Lyman Silsbee, and then with Louis Sullivan at Adler & Sullivan. Wright opened his own successful Chicago practice in 1893 and established a studio in his Oak Park, Illinois home in 1898. His fame increased, and his personal life sometimes made headlines: leaving his first wife Catherine "Kitty" Tobin for Mamah Cheney in 1909; the murder of Mamah, her children, and others at his Taliesin estate by a staff member in 1914; his tempestuous marriage with second wife Miriam Noel (m. 1923–1927); and his courtship and marriage to Olgivanna Lazović (m. 1928–1959).
== Early life and education ==
=== Childhood (1867–1885) ===
Frank Lloyd Wright was born on June 8, 1867, in Richland Center, Wisconsin, though he claimed throughout his life that he was born in 1869. In 1987, Brendan Gill's biography of Wright suggested that his full name was "Frank Lincoln Wright", chosen by his father, but the middle name was soon changed to Lloyd by his mother. There are no references to "Frank Lincoln Wright" prior to Gill's book and the earliest official documentation of his full name was in an 1880 United States census that listed a Frank Loyd Wright (sic) working as a hired hand for his uncle, James Lloyd Jones.
Wright's father, William Cary Wright (1825–1904), was a gifted musician, orator, and occasional preacher who had been admitted to the bar in 1857." He was also a published composer. Originally from Massachusetts, William Wright had served as a Baptist minister, but he later joined the Unitarian faith through his wife's family.
Wright's mother, Anna Lloyd Jones (1838/39–1923), was a teacher and a member of the Lloyd Jones clan, whose Welsh parents had emigrated to Wisconsin from the United Kingdom. One of her brothers, Jenkin Lloyd Jones, was a prominent figure in promoting the Unitarian faith in the Midwest.
According to Wright's autobiography, his mother believed her first child would grow up to build beautiful buildings. She decorated his nursery with engravings of English cathedrals torn from periodicals to nurture the child's ambition.
Wright had two younger sisters: Maginel Wright Enright (1880–1966), a successful children's book illustrator and the mother of a writer and illustrator Elizabeth Enright, and Jane Wright (1869–1953).
Architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable wrote that Wright grew up in an unstable household marked by a constant lack of resources, poverty, and anxiety, which resulted in what she described as a deeply disturbed and obviously unhappy childhood. His father held pastorates in McGregor, Iowa (1869), Pawtucket, Rhode Island (1871), and Weymouth, Massachusetts (1874). When financial hardship followed them to Weymouth, the family returned to Spring Green, Wisconsin, where the supportive Lloyd Jones family could help William find employment. In 1877, they had moved to Madison, Wisconsin, where William gave music lessons and served as the secretary to the newly formed Unitarian society. Though William was a distant parent, he shared his love of music with his children.
In 1876, Anna discovered an exhibit of educational blocks called the Froebel Gifts, the foundation of an innovative kindergarten curriculum. As a trained teacher, she was excited by the program and bought a set, which the 9-year old young Wright spent much time playing. The blocks in the set were geometrically shaped and could be assembled in various combinations to form two- and three-dimensional compositions. In his autobiography, Wright described the influence of these exercises on his approach to design: "For several years, I sat at the little kindergarten table-top... and played... with the cube, the sphere and the triangle – these smooth wooden maple blocks... All are in my fingers to this day... "
In 1881, shortly after Wright turned 14, his parents separated. In 1884, his father filed for divorce from Anna on the grounds of "... emotional cruelty and physical violence and spousal abandonment". Wright attended Madison High School, but there is no evidence that he graduated. His father left Wisconsin after the divorce was granted in 1885. Wright said that he never saw his father again.
=== Education (1885–1887) ===
In 1886, at age 19, Wright was admitted to the University of Wisconsin–Madison as a special student. He studied civil engineering under professor Allan D. Conover before leaving the school without taking a degree; in 1955, the university presented him with an honorary doctorate of fine arts at the age of 88.
Wright's uncle, Jenkin Lloyd Jones, had hired the Chicago architectural firm of Joseph Lyman Silsbee to design the All Souls Church in Chicago in 1885. The following year, Jones commissioned Silsbee to design the Unity Chapel, a private family chapel in Wyoming, Wisconsin.
Although not officially employed by Silsbee, Wright was a skilled draftsman and "looked after the interior [drawings and construction]" in Wisconsin. This chapel is considered his earliest known work.
After the chapel was completed, Wright moved to Chicago.
== Early career ==
=== Silsbee and other early work experience (1887–1888) ===
In 1887, Wright arrived in Chicago in search of employment. Following the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and a population boom, new construction was widespread. In his autobiography, Wright described his first impression of Chicago as an ugly and chaotic city. Within days of arriving and after interviewing with several prominent firms, he was hired as a draftsman by Joseph Lyman Silsbee. While at the firm, he also worked on two other family projects: All Souls Church in Chicago for his uncle, Jenkin Lloyd Jones, and the Hillside Home School I in Spring Green for two of his aunts. Others working in Silsbee's office at the time included Cecil S. Corwin (1860–1941), George W. Maher (1864–1926), and George G. Elmslie (1869–1952). Corwin, who was seven years older than Wright, soon took his young colleague under his wing and the two became close friends.
Feeling underpaid and seeking to earn more, Wright briefly left Silsbee to work for architect William W. Clay (1849–1926). However, he soon felt overwhelmed by his new level of responsibility and returned to Silsbee, but this time with a raise in salary. Although Silsbee mainly followed Victorian and Revivalist styles, Wright considered his designs more "gracefully picturesque" than the other "brutalities" of the period. Wright stayed with Silsbee for just under a year before leaving to join Adler & Sullivan around November 1887.
=== Adler & Sullivan (1888–1893) ===
Wright learned that the Chicago firm of Adler & Sullivan was "... looking for someone to make the finished drawings for the interior of the Auditorium Building". Wright demonstrated that he was a competent impressionist of Louis Sullivan's ornamental designs and two short interviews later, was an official apprentice in the firm. Wright did not get along well with Sullivan's other draftsmen; he wrote that several violent altercations occurred between them during the first years of his apprenticeship. For that matter, Sullivan showed very little respect for his own employees as well. In spite of this, "Sullivan took [Wright] under his wing and gave him great design responsibility." As an act of respect, Wright would later refer to Sullivan as lieber Meister (German for "dear master"). He also formed a bond with office foreman Paul Mueller. Wright later engaged Mueller in the construction of several of his public and commercial buildings between 1903 and 1923.
By 1890, Wright had an office next to Sullivan's that he shared with friend and draftsman George Elmslie, who had been hired by Sullivan at Wright's request. Wright had risen to head draftsman and handled all residential design work in the office. As a general rule, the firm of Adler & Sullivan did not design or build houses, but would oblige when asked by the clients of their important commercial projects. Wright was occupied by the firm's major commissions during office hours, so house designs were relegated to evening and weekend overtime hours at his home studio. He later claimed total responsibility for the design of these houses, but a careful inspection of their architectural style (and accounts from historian Robert Twombly) suggests that Sullivan dictated the overall form and motifs of the residential works; Wright's design duties were often reduced to detailing the projects from Sullivan's sketches. During this time, Wright was assigned to work on the Sullivan's bungalow (1890) and the James A. Charnley bungalow (1890) in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, the Berry-MacHarg House, James A. Charnley House (both 1891), and the Albert Sullivan House (1892), all in Chicago.
Despite Sullivan's loan and overtime salary, Wright was constantly short on funds. Wright admitted that his poor finances were likely due to his expensive tastes in wardrobe and vehicles, and the extra luxuries he designed into his house. To supplement his income and repay his debts, Wright accepted independent commissions for at least nine houses. These "bootlegged" houses, as he later called them, were conservatively designed in variations of the fashionable Queen Anne and Colonial Revival styles. Nevertheless, unlike the prevailing architecture of the period, each house emphasized simple geometric massing and contained features such as bands of horizontal windows, occasional cantilevers, and open floor plans, which would become hallmarks of his later work. Eight of these early houses remain today, including the Thomas Gale, Robert Parker, George Blossom, and Walter Gale houses.
As with the residential projects for Adler & Sullivan, he designed his bootleg houses on his own time. Sullivan knew nothing of the independent works until 1893, when he recognized that one of the houses was unmistakably a Frank Lloyd Wright design. This particular house, built for Allison Harlan, was only blocks away from Sullivan's townhouse in the Chicago community of Kenwood. Aside from the location, the geometric purity of the composition and balcony tracery in the same style as the Charnley House likely gave away Wright's involvement. Since Wright's five-year contract forbade any outside work, the incident led to his departure from Sullivan's firm. Several stories recount the break in the relationship between Sullivan and Wright; even Wright later told two different versions of the occurrence. In An Autobiography, Wright claimed that he was unaware that his side ventures were a breach of his contract. When Sullivan learned of them, he was angered and offended; he prohibited any further outside commissions and refused to issue Wright the deed to his Oak Park house until after he completed his five years. Wright could not bear the new hostility from his master and thought that the situation was unjust. He "... threw down [his] pencil and walked out of the Adler & Sullivan office never to return". Dankmar Adler, who was more sympathetic to Wright's actions, later sent him the deed. However, Wright told his Taliesin apprentices (as recorded by Edgar Tafel) that Sullivan fired him on the spot upon learning of the Harlan House. Tafel also recounted that Wright had Cecil Corwin sign several of the bootleg jobs, indicating that Wright was aware of their forbidden nature. Regardless of the correct series of events, Wright and Sullivan did not meet or speak for 12 years.
=== Transition and experimentation (1893–1900) ===
After leaving Adler & Sullivan, Wright established his own practice on the top floor of the Sullivan-designed Schiller Building on Randolph Street in Chicago. Wright chose to locate his office in the building because the tower location reminded him of the office of Adler & Sullivan. Cecil Corwin followed Wright and set up his architecture practice in the same office, but the two worked independently and did not consider themselves partners.
In 1896, Wright moved from the Schiller Building to the nearby and newly completed Steinway Hall building. The loft space was shared with Robert C. Spencer Jr., Myron Hunt, and Dwight H. Perkins. These young architects, inspired by the Arts and Crafts Movement and the philosophies of Louis Sullivan, formed what became known as the Prairie School. They were joined by Perkins' apprentice Marion Mahony, who in 1895 transferred to Wright's team of drafters and took over production of his presentation drawings and watercolor renderings. Mahony, the third woman to be licensed as an architect in Illinois and one of the first licensed female architects in the U.S., also designed furniture, leaded glass windows, and light fixtures, among other features, for Wright's houses. Between 1894 and the early 1910s, several other leading Prairie School architects and many of Wright's future employees launched their careers in the offices of Steinway Hall.
Wright's projects during this period followed two basic models. His first independent commission, the Winslow House, combined Sullivanesque ornamentation with the emphasis on simple geometry and horizontal lines. The Francis Apartments (1895, demolished 1971), Heller House (1896), Rollin Furbeck House (1897) and Husser House (1899, demolished 1926) were designed in the same mode. For his more conservative clients, Wright designed more traditional dwellings. These included the Dutch Colonial Revival style Bagley House (1894), Tudor Revival style Moore House I (1895), and Queen Anne style Charles E. Roberts House (1896). While Wright could not afford to turn down clients over disagreements in taste, even his most conservative designs retained simplified massing and occasional Sullivan-inspired details.
Soon after the completion of the Winslow House in 1894, Edward Waller, a friend and former client, invited Wright to meet Chicago architect and planner Daniel Burnham. Burnham had been impressed by the Winslow House and other examples of Wright's work; he offered to finance a four-year education at the École des Beaux-Arts and two years in Rome. To top it off, Wright would have a position in Burnham's firm upon his return. In spite of guaranteed success and support of his family, Wright declined the offer. Burnham, who had directed the classical design of the World's Columbian Exposition and was a major proponent of the Beaux Arts movement, thought that Wright was making a foolish mistake. Yet for Wright, the classical education of the École lacked creativity and was altogether at odds with his vision of modern American architecture.
Wright relocated his practice to his home in 1898 to bring his work and family lives closer. This move made further sense as the majority of the architect's projects at that time were in Oak Park or neighboring River Forest. The birth of three more children prompted Wright to sacrifice his original home studio space for additional bedrooms and necessitated his design and construction of an expansive studio addition to the north of the main house. The space, which included a hanging balcony within the two-story drafting room, was one of Wright's first experiments with innovative structure. The studio embodied Wright's developing aesthetics and would become the laboratory from which his next 10 years of architectural creations would emerge.
=== Prairie Style houses (1900–1914) ===
By 1901, Wright had completed about 50 projects, including many houses in Oak Park. As his son John Lloyd Wright wrote:
William Eugene Drummond, Francis Barry Byrne, Walter Burley Griffin, Albert Chase McArthur, Marion Mahony, Isabel Roberts, and George Willis were the draftsmen. Five men, two women. They wore flowing ties, and smocks suitable to the realm. The men wore their hair like Papa, all except Albert, he didn't have enough hair. They worshiped Papa! Papa liked them! I know that each one of them was then making valuable contributions to the pioneering of the modern American architecture for which my father gets the full glory, headaches, and recognition today!
Between 1900 and 1901, Frank Lloyd Wright completed four houses, which have since been identified as the onset of the "Prairie Style". Two, the Hickox and Bradley Houses, were the last transitional step between Wright's early designs and the Prairie creations. Meanwhile, the Thomas House and Willits House received recognition as the first mature examples of the new style. At the same time, Wright gave his new ideas for the American house widespread awareness through two publications in the Ladies' Home Journal. The articles were in response to an invitation from the president of Curtis Publishing Company, Edward Bok, as part of a project to improve modern house design. "A Home in a Prairie Town" and "A Small House with Lots of Room in it" appeared respectively in the February and July 1901 issues of the journal. Although neither of the affordable house plans was ever constructed, Wright received increased requests for similar designs in following years. Wright came to Buffalo and designed homes for three of the company's executives: the Darwin D. Martin House (1904), the William R. Heath House 1905), and the Walter V. Davidson House (1908). Wright also designed Graycliff (1931), a summer home for the Martin family on the shore of Lake Erie. Other Wright houses considered to be masterpieces of the Prairie Style are the Frederick Robie House in Chicago and the Avery and Queene Coonley House in Riverside, Illinois. The Robie House, with its extended cantilevered roof lines supported by a 110-foot-long (34 m) channel of steel, is the most dramatic. Its living and dining areas form virtually one uninterrupted space. With this and other buildings, included in the publication of the Wasmuth Portfolio (1910), Wright's work became known to European architects and had a profound influence on them after World War I.
Wright's residential designs of this era were known as "prairie houses" because the designs complemented the land around Chicago. Prairie Style houses often have a combination of these features: one or two stories with one-story projections, an open floor plan, low-pitched roofs with broad, overhanging eaves, strong horizontal lines, ribbons of windows (often casements), a prominent central chimney, built-in stylized cabinetry, and a wide use of natural materials – especially stone and wood.
By 1909, Wright had begun to reject the upper-middle-class Prairie Style single-family house model, shifting his focus to a more democratic architecture. Wright went to Europe in 1909 with a portfolio of his work and presented it to Berlin publisher Ernst Wasmuth. Studies and Executed Buildings of Frank Lloyd Wright, published in 1911, was the first major exposure of Wright's work in Europe. The work contained more than 100 lithographs of Wright's designs and is commonly known as the Wasmuth Portfolio.
=== Notable public works (1900–1917) ===
Wright designed the Hillside Home School II (built for his aunts) in Spring Green, Wisconsin (1901) as well as the Unity Temple (1905) in Oak Park, Illinois. As a lifelong Unitarian and member of Unity Temple, Wright offered his services to the congregation after their church burned down, working on the building from 1905 to 1909. Wright later said that Unity Temple was the edifice in which he ceased to be an architect of structure, and became an architect of space.
Some other early notable public buildings and projects in this era: the Larkin Administration Building (1905); the Geneva Inn (Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, 1911); the Midway Gardens (Chicago, Illinois, 1913); the Banff National Park Pavilion (Alberta, Canada, 1914).
=== Designing in Japan (1917–1922) ===
While working in Japan, Wright left an impressive architectural heritage. The Imperial Hotel, completed in 1923, is the most important. Thanks to its solid foundations and steel construction, the hotel survived the Great Kantō Earthquake almost unscathed. The hotel was damaged during the bombing of Tokyo and by the subsequent US military occupation of it after World War II. As land in the center of Tokyo increased in value the hotel was deemed obsolete and was demolished in 1968, but the lobby was saved and later re-constructed at the Meiji Mura architecture museum in Nagoya in 1976.
Jiyu Gakuen was founded as a girls' school in 1921. The construction of the main building began in 1921 under Wright's direction and, after his departure, was continued by Endo. The school building, like the Imperial Hotel, is covered with Ōya stones.
The Yodoko Guesthouse (designed in 1918 and completed in 1924) was built as the summer villa for Tadzaemon Yamamura.
Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture had a strong influence on young Japanese architects. The Japanese architects Wright commissioned to carry out his designs were Arata Endo, Takehiko Okami, Taue Sasaki and Kameshiro Tsuchiura. Endo supervised the completion of the Imperial Hotel after Wright's departure in 1922 and also supervised the construction of the Jiyu Gakuen Girls' School and the Yodokō Guest House. Tsuchiura went on to create so-called "light" buildings, which had similarities to Wright's later work.
=== Textile concrete block system ===
In the early 1920s, Wright designed a "textile" concrete block system. The system of precast blocks, reinforced by an internal system of bars, enabled "fabrication as infinite in color, texture, and variety as in that rug." Wright first used his textile block system on the Millard House in Pasadena, California, in 1923. Typically Wrightian is the joining of the structure to its site by a series of terraces that reach out into and reorder the landscape, making it an integral part of the architect's vision. With the Ennis House and the Samuel Freeman House (both 1923), Wright had further opportunities to test the limits of the textile block system, including limited use in the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in 1927. The Ennis house is often used in films, television, and print media to represent the future. Wright's son, Lloyd Wright, supervised construction for the Storer, Freeman, and Ennis Houses. Architectural historian Thomas Hines has suggested that Lloyd's contribution to these projects is often overlooked.
After World War II, Wright updated the concrete block system, calling it the Usonian Automatic system, resulting in the construction of several notable homes. As he explained in The Natural House (1954), "The original blocks are made on the site by ramming concrete into wood or metal wrap-around forms, with one outside face (which may be patterned), and one rear or inside face, generally coffered, for lightness."
== Midlife problems ==
=== Family turmoil ===
In 1903, while Wright was designing a house for Edwin Cheney (a neighbor in Oak Park), he became enamored with Cheney's wife, Mamah Borthwick Cheney. Mamah was a modern woman with interests outside the home. She was an early feminist, and Wright viewed her as his intellectual equal. Their relationship became the talk of the town; they often could be seen taking rides in Wright's automobile through Oak Park. In 1909, Wright and Mamah Cheney met up in Europe, leaving their spouses and children behind. Wright remained in Europe for almost a year, first in Florence, Italy (where he lived with his eldest son Lloyd) and, later, in Fiesole, Italy, where he lived with Mamah. During this time, Edwin Cheney granted Mamah a divorce, although Frank's wife Catherine refused to grant him one. After Wright returned to the United States in October 1910, he persuaded his mother to buy land for him in Spring Green, Wisconsin. The land, bought on April 10, 1911, was adjacent to land held by his mother's family, the Lloyd-Joneses. Wright began to build himself a new home, which he called Taliesin, by May 1911. The recurring theme of Taliesin also came from his mother's side: Taliesin was a Welsh poet, magician, and priest. The family motto, "Y Gwir yn Erbyn y Byd" ("The Truth Against the World"), was taken from the Welsh poet Iolo Morganwg, who also had a son named Taliesin. The motto is still used today as the cry of the druids and chief bard of the Eisteddfod in Wales.
=== Tragedy at Taliesin ===
On August 15, 1914, while Wright was working in Chicago, Julian Carlton, a servant, set fire to the living quarters of Taliesin and then murdered seven people with an axe as the fire burned. The dead included Mamah; her two children, John and Martha Cheney; a gardener (David Lindblom); a draftsman (Emil Brodelle); a workman (Thomas Brunker); and another workman's son (Ernest Weston). Two people survived, one of whom, William Weston, helped to put out the fire that almost completely consumed the residential wing of the house. Carlton swallowed hydrochloric acid following the attack in an attempt to kill himself. He was nearly lynched on the spot, but was taken to the Dodgeville jail. Carlton died from starvation seven weeks after the attack.
=== Divorces ===
In 1922, Kitty Wright finally granted Wright a divorce. Under the terms of the divorce, Wright was required to wait one year before he could marry his then-mistress, Maude "Miriam" Noel. In 1923, Wright's mother, Anna (Lloyd Jones) Wright, died. Wright wed Miriam Noel in November 1923, but her addiction to morphine led to the failure of the marriage in less than one year. In 1924, after the separation, but while still married, Wright met Olga (Olgivanna) Lazovich Hinzenburg. They moved in together at Taliesin in 1925, and soon after Olgivanna became pregnant. Their daughter, Iovanna, was born on December 3, 1925.
On April 20, 1925, another fire destroyed the bungalow at Taliesin. Crossed wires from a newly installed telephone system were deemed to be responsible for the blaze, which destroyed a collection of Japanese prints that Wright estimated to be worth $250,000 to $500,000 ($4,590,000 to $9,179,000 in 2025). Wright rebuilt the living quarters, naming the home "Taliesin III".
In 1926, Olga's ex-husband, Vlademar Hinzenburg, sought custody of his daughter, Svetlana. In October 1926, Wright and Olgivanna were accused of violating the Mann Act and were arrested in Tonka Bay, Minnesota. The charges were later dropped.
The divorce of Wright and Miriam Noel was finalized in 1927. Wright was again required to wait for one year before remarrying. Wright and Olgivanna married in 1928.
== Later career ==
=== Taliesin Fellowship ===
In 1932, Wright and his wife Olgivanna put out a call for students to come to Taliesin to study and work under Wright while they learned architecture and spiritual development. Olgivanna Wright had been a student of G. I. Gurdjieff who had previously established a similar school. Twenty-three came to live and work that year, including John (Jack) H. Howe, who would become Wright's chief draftsman. A total of 625 people joined The Fellowship in Wright's lifetime. The Fellowship was a source of workers for Wright's later projects, including: Fallingwater; The Johnson Wax Headquarters; and The Guggenheim Museum in New York City.
Considerable controversy exists over the living conditions and education of the fellows. Wright was reputedly a difficult person to work with. One apprentice wrote: "He is devoid of consideration and has a blind spot regarding others' qualities. Yet I believe, that a year in his studio would be worth any sacrifice." The Fellowship evolved into The School of Architecture at Taliesin which was an accredited school until it closed under acrimonious circumstances in 2020. Taking on the name "The School of Architecture" in June 2020, the school moved to the Cosanti Foundation, which it had worked with in the past.
=== Broadacre City ===
Wright is responsible for a series of concepts of suburban development united under the term Broadacre City. He proposed the idea in his book The Disappearing City in 1932. The model for Broadacre City covered 2,560 acres of land with 7,000 residents living in 1,400 housing units. Wright planned for minor roads to provide access to a nearby highway. Wright fused the city with the surrounding countryside and Broadacre City is regarded as a forerunner of the contemporary edge city. Largely impractical the project was never built. But the model was admired as a patchwork of small-scale homesteads, farms, and factories connected by roads with residents benefiting from embedded parks and community facilities. Wright was also credited for one of the earliest concepts for a highway flyover.
=== Usonian Houses ===
Concurrent with the development of Broadacre City, also referred to as Usonia, Wright conceived a new type of dwelling that came to be known as the Usonian House. Although an early version of the form can be seen in the Malcolm Willey House (1934) in Minneapolis, the Usonian ideal emerged most completely in the Herbert and Katherine Jacobs First House (1937) in Madison, Wisconsin. Designed on a gridded concrete slab that integrated the house's radiant heating system, the house featured new approaches to construction, including walls composed of wood siding, plywood cores and building paper. Usonian houses commonly featured flat roofs and were usually constructed without basements or attics, all features that Wright had been promoting since the early 20th century.
Usonian houses were Wright's response to the transformation of domestic life that occurred in the early 20th century when servants had become less prominent or completely absent from most American households. By developing homes with progressively more open plans, Wright allotted the woman of the house a "workspace", as he often called the kitchen, where she could keep track of and be available for the children and/or guests in the dining room. The built-in furnishings related to the Arts and Crafts movement's principles that influenced Wright's early work. Spatially and in terms of their construction, the Usonian houses represented a new model for independent living and allowed dozens of clients to live in a Wright-designed house at a relatively low cost. His Usonian homes set a new style for suburban design that influenced countless property developers after World War II. Many features of modern American homes date back to Wright: open plans, slab-on-grade foundations, and simplified construction techniques that allowed more mechanization and efficiency in construction.
=== Significant later works ===
Fallingwater, one of Wright's most famous private residences (completed 1937), was built for Mr. and Mrs. Edgar J. Kaufmann Sr., at Mill Run, Pennsylvania. Constructed over a 20-foot waterfall, it was designed according to Wright's desire to place the occupants close to the natural surroundings. The house was intended to be more of a family getaway, rather than a live-in home. The construction is a series of cantilevered balconies and terraces, using sandstone for all verticals and concrete for the horizontals. The house cost $155,000 (equivalent to $3,471,000 in 2025), including the architect's fee of $8,000 (equivalent to $179,000 in 2025). It was one of Wright's most expensive pieces. Kaufmann's own engineers argued that the design was not sound. They were overruled by Wright, but the contractor secretly added extra steel to the horizontal concrete elements. In 1994, Robert Silman and Associates examined the building and developed a plan to restore the structure. In the late 1990s, steel supports were added under the lowest cantilever until a detailed structural analysis could be done. In March 2002, post-tensioning of the lowest terrace was completed.
Taliesin West, Wright's winter home and studio complex in Scottsdale, Arizona, was a laboratory for Wright from 1937 to his death in 1959. It is now the home of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.
The design and construction of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City occupied Wright from 1943 until 1959 and is probably his most recognized masterpiece. The building's unique central geometry allows visitors to experience Guggenheim's collection of nonobjective geometric paintings by taking an elevator to the top level and then viewing artworks by walking down the slowly descending, central spiral ramp.
The only realized skyscraper designed by Wright is the Price Tower, a 19-story tower in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. It is also one of the two existing vertically oriented Wright structures (the other is the S.C. Johnson Wax Research Tower in Racine, Wisconsin). The Price Tower was commissioned by Harold C. Price of the H. C. Price Company, a local oil pipeline and chemical firm. On March 29, 2007, Price Tower was designated a National Historic Landmark by the United States Department of the Interior, one of only 20 such properties in Oklahoma.
Monona Terrace, originally designed in 1937 as municipal offices for Madison, Wisconsin, was completed in 1997 on the original site, using a variation of Wright's final design for the exterior, with the interior design altered by its new purpose as a convention center. The "as-built" design was carried out by Wright's apprentice Tony Puttnam. Monona Terrace was accompanied by controversy until the structure was completed.
Florida Southern College, located in Lakeland, Florida, constructed 12 (out of 18 planned) Frank Lloyd Wright buildings between 1941 and 1958 as part of the Child of the Sun project. It is the world's largest single-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture.
=== Politics ===
During World War II, Wright's outspoken pacifism, anti-authoritarianism, and anti-nationalism led to his investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He was alleged to have encouraged his architectural apprentices to apply for conscientious objector status to dodge the draft, a charge he "vehemently denied." In 1948, Wright made the first political endorsement of his career when he supported former Vice President Henry A. Wallace for President.
Wright advocated for an economic system he called "organic capitalism," believing that the role of government was not ensuring equality of outcome but equality of opportunity. These views were reflected in his vision for Broadacre City. Later analysis of his writings led historian Kenneth Frampton to describe his political solutions as "some kind of neo-capitalist social democracy."
== Personal style and concepts ==
=== Design elements ===
His Prairie houses use themed, coordinated design elements (often based on plant forms) that are repeated in windows, carpets, and other fittings. He made innovative use of new building materials such as precast concrete blocks, glass bricks, and zinc cames (instead of the traditional lead) for his leadlight windows, and he famously used Pyrex glass tubing as a major element in the Johnson Wax Headquarters. Wright was also one of the first architects to design and install custom-made electric light fittings, including some of the first electric floor lamps, and his very early use of the then-novel spherical glass lampshade (a design previously not possible due to the physical restrictions of gas lighting). In 1897, Wright received a patent for "Prism Glass Tiles" that were used in storefronts to direct light toward the interior. Wright fully embraced glass in his designs and found that it fit well into his philosophy of organic architecture. According to Wright's organic theory, all components of the building should appear unified, as though they belong together. Nothing should be attached to it without considering the effect on the whole. To unify the house to its site, Wright often used large expanses of glass to blur the boundary between the indoors and outdoors. Glass allowed for interaction and viewing of the outdoors while still protecting from the elements. In 1928, Wright wrote an essay on glass in which he compared it to the mirrors of nature: lakes, rivers and ponds. One of Wright's earliest uses of glass in his works was to string panes of glass along whole walls in an attempt to create light screens to join solid walls. By using this large amount of glass, Wright sought to achieve a balance between the lightness and airiness of the glass and the solid, hard walls. Arguably, Wright's best-known art glass is that of the Prairie style. The simple geometric shapes that yield to very ornate and intricate windows represent some of the most integral ornamentation of his career. Wright also designed some of his own clothing.
=== Influences and collaborations ===
Wright, an individualist, did not affiliate with the American Institute of Architects during his career; he called the organization "a harbor of refuge for the incompetent" and "a form of refined gangsterism". When an associate referred to him as "an old amateur" Wright confirmed, "I am the oldest." Wright rarely credited any influences on his designs, but most architects, historians and scholars agree he had five major influences:
Louis Sullivan, whom he considered to be his lieber Meister (dear master)
Nature, particularly shapes/forms and colors/patterns of plant life
Music (his favorite composer was Ludwig van Beethoven)
Japanese art, prints and buildings
Froebel gifts
Wright was given a set of Froebel gifts at about age nine, and in his autobiography he cited them indirectly in explaining that he learned the geometry of architecture in kindergarten play: For several years I sat at the little kindergarten table-top ruled by lines about four inches apart each way making four-inch squares; and, among other things, played upon these 'unit-lines' with the square (cube), the circle (sphere) and the triangle (tetrahedron or tripod)—these were smooth maple-wood blocks. All are in my fingers to this day. Wright later wrote, "The virtue of all this lay in the awakening of the child-mind to rhythmic structures in Nature… I soon became susceptible to constructive pattern evolving in everything I saw."
He routinely claimed the work of architects and architectural designers who were his employees as his own designs, and believed that the rest of the Prairie School architects were merely his followers, imitators, and subordinates. As with any architect, though, Wright worked in a collaborative process and drew his ideas from the work of others. In his earlier days, Wright worked with some of the top architects of the Chicago School, including Sullivan. In his Prairie School days, Wright's office was populated by many talented architects, including William Eugene Drummond, John Van Bergen, Isabel Roberts, Francis Barry Byrne, Albert McArthur, Marion Mahony Griffin, and Walter Burley Griffin. The Czech-born architect Antonin Raymond worked for Wright at Taliesin and led the construction of the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. He subsequently stayed in Japan and opened his own practice. Rudolf Schindler also worked for Wright on the Imperial Hotel and his own work is often credited as influencing Wright's Usonian houses. Schindler's friend Richard Neutra also worked briefly for Wright. In the Taliesin days, Wright employed many architects and artists who later become notable, such as Aaron Green, John Lautner, E. Fay Jones, Henry Klumb, William Bernoudy, and Paolo Soleri.
=== Japanese art ===
Wright was a passionate Japanophile — he once proclaimed Japan to be "the most romantic, artistic, nature-inspired country on earth." He was particularly interested in ukiyo-e woodblock prints, to which he claimed he was "enslaved." Wright spent much of his free time selling, collecting, and appreciating these prints. He held parties and other events centered around them, proclaiming their pedagogical value to his guests and students. Before arriving in Japan, his impressions of the nation were based almost entirely on them.
Wright found particular inspiration in the formal aspects of Japanese art. He described ukiyo-e prints as "organic," because of their understated qualities, their harmony, and their ability to be appreciated on a purely aesthetic level. Additionally, he cherished their free-form compositions, where elements of the scene would frequently breach in front of one another, and their lack of extraneous detail, which he called a "gospel of elimination." His interpretation of chashitsu (tea ceremony venues), mediated by the ideas of Okakura Kakuzō, was of an architecture that emphasized openness, the "vacant space between the roof and walls." Wright applied these principles on a large scale, and they became trademarks of his practice.
Wright's floor plans exhibit strong similarities to their presumed Japanese forebears. The open living spaces of his early homes were likely appropriated from the World's Columbian Exposition's Ho-O-Den Pavilion, whose sliding-screen dividers were removed in preparation for the event. Likewise, Unity Temple follows a gongen-zukuri layout, characteristic of Shinto shrines and likely inspired by his 1905 visit to the Rinnō-ji temple complex, and the shape of many of his cantilevered towers, including the Johnson Research Tower, may have been inspired by Japanese pagodas. Wright's ornamental flourishes, as seen in his leaded glass windows and lively architectural drawings, demonstrate a technical indebtedness to ukiyo-e. One modern commentator, discussing the Robie House, suggests that such elements combined allow Wright's architecture to exhibit iki, a particularly Japanese aesthetic value marked by a subdued stylishness.
His ideas about the art of Japan appear to have drawn greatly from the activities of Ernest Fenollosa, whose work he likely first encountered between 1890 and 1893. Many of Fenollosa's ideas are quite similar to those of Wright: these include his view of architecture as a "mother art," his condemnation of the West's "separation of construction and decoration," and his identification of an "organic wholeness" within ukiyo-e prints. Also like Wright, Fenollosa perceived a "degeneracy" in Western architecture, with particular emphasis on Renaissance architecture; Wright himself admitted that Japanese prints helped to "vulgarize" the Renaissance for him. Wright's art criticism treatise, The Japanese Print: An Interpretation, may be read as a straightforward expansion upon Fenollosa's ideas.
Though Wright always acknowledged his indebtedness to Japanese art and architecture, he took offense to claims that he copied or adapted it. In his view, Japanese art simply validated his personal principles especially well, and as such it was not a source of special inspiration. Responding to a claim by Charles Robert Ashbee that he was "trying to adapt Japanese forms to the United States," Wright said that such borrowing was "against [his] very religion." Nonetheless, his insistence did not stop others from observing the same throughout his life.
==== Art collecting and dealing ====
Wright was also an active dealer in Japanese art, primarily ukiyo-e. He frequently served as both architect and art dealer to the same clients: he designed a home, then provided the art to fill it. For a time, Wright made more from selling art than from his work as an architect. He also kept a personal collection, which he used as a teaching aid with his apprentices in what were called "print parties"; to better suit his taste, he sometimes modified these personal prints using colored pencils and crayons. Wright owned prints from masters such as Okumura Masanobu, Torii Kiyomasu I, Katsukawa Shunshō, Utagawa Toyoharu, Utagawa Kunisada, Katsushika Hokusai, and Utagawa Hiroshige; he was especially fond of Hiroshige, whom he considered "the greatest artist in the world."
Wright first traveled to Japan in 1905, where he bought hundreds of prints. The following year, he helped organize the world's first retrospective exhibition on Hiroshige, held at the Art Institute of Chicago, a job that strengthened his reputation as an expert in Japanese art. Wright continued buying prints in his return trips to Japan and for many years he was a major presence in the art world, selling a great number of works both to prominent private collectors and to museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In sum, Wright spent more than $500,000 on prints between 1905 and 1923. He penned a book on Japanese art, The Japanese Print: An Interpretation, in 1912.
In 1920, many of the prints Wright sold had been found to exhibit signs of retouching, including pinholes and unoriginal pigments. These retouched prints were likely made in retribution by some of his Japanese dealers, who were disgruntled by the architect's under-the-table sales. In an attempt to clear his name, Wright took one of his dealers, Kyūgo Hayashi, to court over the issue; Hayashi was subsequently sentenced to one year in prison, and barred from selling prints for an extended period of time.
Though Wright protested his innocence, and provided his clients with genuine prints as replacements for those he was accused of retouching, the incident marked the end of the high point of his career as an art dealer. He was forced to sell off much of his art collection to pay off outstanding debts: in 1928, the Bank of Wisconsin claimed Taliesin and sold thousands of his prints — for only one dollar a piece — to collector Edward Burr Van Vleck. Nonetheless, Wright continued to collect and deal in prints until his death in 1959, using them as bartering chips and collateral for loans; he often relied upon his art business to remain financially solvent. He once claimed that Taliesin I and II were "practically built" by his prints.
The extent of his dealings in Japanese art went largely unknown, or underestimated, among art historians for decades. In 1980, Julia Meech, then associate curator of Japanese art at the Metropolitan Museum, began researching the history of the museum's collection of Japanese prints. She discovered "a three-inch-deep 'clump of 400 cards' from 1918, each listing a print bought from the same seller — 'F. L. Wright'" — and a number of letters exchanged between Wright and the museum's first curator of Far Eastern Art, Sigisbert C. Bosch Reitz. These discoveries and subsequent research led to a renewed understanding of Wright's career as an art dealer.
=== Community planning ===
Frank Lloyd Wright's commissions and theories on urban design began as early as 1900 and continued until his death. He had 41 commissions on the scale of community planning or urban design.
His thoughts on suburban design started in 1900 with a proposed subdivision layout for Charles E. Roberts entitled the "Quadruple Block Plan". This design strayed from traditional suburban lot layouts and set houses on small square blocks of four equal-sized lots surrounded on all sides by roads instead of straight rows of houses on parallel streets. The houses, which used the same design as published in "A Home in a Prairie Town" from the Ladies' Home Journal, were set toward the center of the block to maximize the yard space and included private space in the center. This also allowed for far more interesting views from each house. Although this plan was never realized, Wright published the design in the Wasmuth Portfolio in 1910.
The more ambitious designs of entire communities were exemplified by his entry into the City Club of Chicago Land Development Competition in 1913. The contest was for the development of a suburban quarter section. This design expanded on the Quadruple Block Plan and included several social levels. The design shows the placement of the upscale homes in the most desirable areas and the blue collar homes and apartments separated by parks and common spaces. The design also included all the amenities of a small city: schools, museums, markets, etc. This view of decentralization was later reinforced by theoretical Broadacre City design. The philosophy behind his community planning was decentralization. The new development must be away from the cities. In this decentralized America, all services and facilities could coexist "factories side by side with farm and home".
Notable community planning designs:
1900–03 – Quadruple Block Plan, 24 homes in Oak Park, Illinois (unbuilt);
1909 – Como Orchard Summer Colony, town site development for new town in the Bitterroot Valley, Montana;
1913 – Chicago Land Development competition, suburban Chicago quarter section;
1934–59 – Broadacre City, theoretical decentralized city plan, exhibits of large-scale model;
1938 – Suntop Homes, also known as Cloverleaf Quadruple Housing Project – commission from Federal Works Agency, Division of Defense Housing, a low-cost multifamily housing alternative to suburban development;
1942 – Cooperative Homesteads, commissioned by a group of auto workers, teachers and other professionals, 160-acre farm co-op was to be the pioneer of rammed earth and earth berm construction (unbuilt);
1945 – Usonia Homes, 47 homes (three designed by Wright) in Pleasantville, New York;
1949 – Parkwyn Village, a plat in Kalamazoo, Michigan, developed by Wright containing mostly Usonian houses by other architects with four by Wright. The community was planned to be on circular lots but was re-platted and squared off.
1949 – The Acres, also known as Galesburg Country Homes, with five houses (four designed by Wright) in Charleston Township, Michigan; The Acres remains the sole example of a planned community that has not had its circular lots squared off or been sub-divided.
== Legacy ==
=== Death ===
On April 4, 1959, Wright was hospitalized for abdominal pains and was operated upon. Wright seemed to be recovering but he died quietly on April 9 at the age of 91 years. The New York Times then reported he was 89.
After his death, Wright's legacy was engulfed in turmoil for years. His third wife Olgivanna's dying wish had been that she, Wright, and her daughter by her first marriage would all be cremated and interred together in a memorial garden being built at Taliesin West. According to his own wishes, Wright's body had lain in the Lloyd-Jones cemetery, next to the Unity Chapel, within view of Taliesin in Wisconsin. Although Olgivanna had taken no legal steps to move Wright's remains (and against the wishes of other family members and the Wisconsin legislature), his remains were removed from his grave in 1985 by members of the Taliesin Fellowship. They were cremated and sent to Scottsdale where they were later interred as per Olgivanna's instructions. The original grave site in Wisconsin is now empty but is still marked with Wright's name.
=== Archives ===
After Wright's death, most of his archives were stored at the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation in Taliesin (in Wisconsin), and Taliesin West (in Arizona). These collections included more than 23,000 architectural drawings, some 44,000 photographs, 600 manuscripts, and more than 300,000 pieces of office and personal correspondence. It also contained about 40 large-scale architectural models, most of which were constructed for MoMA's retrospective of Wright in 1940. In 2012, to guarantee a high level of conservation and access, as well as to transfer the considerable financial burden of maintaining the archive, the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation partnered with the Museum of Modern Art and the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library of Columbia University to move the archive's content to New York. Wright's furniture and art collection remains with the foundation, which will also have a role in monitoring the archive. These three parties established an advisory group to oversee exhibitions, symposiums, events, and publications.
Photographs and other archival materials are held by the Ryerson and Burnham Libraries at the Art Institute of Chicago. The architect's personal archives are located at Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Arizona. The Frank Lloyd Wright archives include photographs of his drawings, indexed correspondence beginning in the 1880s and continuing through Wright's life, and other ephemera. The Getty Research Center, Los Angeles, also has copies of Wright's correspondence and photographs of his drawings in their Frank Lloyd Wright Special Collection. Wright's correspondence is indexed in An Index to the Taliesin Correspondence, ed. by Professor Anthony Alofsin, which is available at larger libraries.
The Oak Park Public Library has various materials concerning Frank Lloyd Wright, including one of his original portfolios.
=== Destroyed Wright buildings ===
Wright designed more than 400 built structures, of which about 300 survived as of 2023. At least five have been lost to forces of nature: the waterfront house for W. L. Fuller in Pass Christian, Mississippi, destroyed by Hurricane Camille in August 1969; the Louis Sullivan Bungalow of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005; and the Arinobu Fukuhara House (1918) in Hakone, Japan, destroyed in the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake. In January 2006, the Wilbur Wynant House in Gary, Indiana, was destroyed by fire. In 2018, the Arch Oboler complex in Malibu, California, was gutted in the Woolsey Fire.
Many other notable Wright buildings were intentionally demolished: Midway Gardens (built 1913, demolished 1929), the Larkin Administration Building (built 1903, demolished 1950), the Francis Apartments and Francisco Terrace Apartments (Chicago, built 1895, demolished 1971 and 1974, respectively), the Geneva Inn (Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, built 1911, demolished 1970), and the Banff National Park Pavilion (built 1914, demolished 1934). The Imperial Hotel (built 1923) survived the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, but was demolished in 1968 due to urban developmental pressures. The Hoffman Auto Showroom in New York City (built 1954) was demolished in 2013.
=== Unbuilt and posthumously built ===
Several of Wright's projects either were built after his death or remain unbuilt. These include:
Crystal Heights, a large mixed-use development in Washington, D.C., 1940 (unbuilt)
The Illinois, mile-high tower in Chicago, 1956 (unbuilt)
Marin County Civic Center, a municipal complex in San Rafael, California; groundbreaking occurred just one year after Wright's death
Monona Terrace, convention center in Madison, Wisconsin; designed 1938–1959, built in 1997
Clubhouse at the Nakoma Golf Resort, Plumas County, California; designed in 1923, opened in 2000
Passive Solar Hemi-Cycle Home in Hawaii; designed in 1954, built in 1995
=== Recognition ===
Later in his life (and after his death in 1959), Wright was accorded significant honorary recognition for his lifetime achievements. He received a Gold Medal award from The Royal Institute of British Architects in 1941. The American Institute of Architects awarded him the AIA Gold Medal in 1949. That medal was a symbolic "burying the hatchet" between Wright and the AIA. In a radio interview, he commented, "Well, the AIA I never joined, and they know why. When they gave me the gold medal in Houston, I told them frankly why. Feeling that the architecture profession is all that's the matter with architecture, why should I join them?" He was awarded the Franklin Institute's Frank P. Brown Medal in 1953. He received honorary degrees from several universities (including his alma mater, the University of Wisconsin), and several nations named him as an honorary board member to their national academies of art and/or architecture. In 2000, Fallingwater was named "The Building of the 20th century" in an unscientific "Top-Ten" poll taken by members attending the AIA annual convention in Philadelphia. On that list, Wright was listed along with many of the USA's other greatest architects including Eero Saarinen, I.M. Pei, Louis Kahn, Philip Johnson, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe; he was the only architect who had more than one building on the list. The other three buildings were the Guggenheim Museum, the Frederick C. Robie House, and the Johnson Wax Building.
In 1992, the Madison Opera in Madison, Wisconsin, commissioned and premiered the opera Shining Brow, by composer Daron Hagen and librettist Paul Muldoon based on events early in Wright's life. The work has since received numerous revivals, including a June 2013 revival at Fallingwater, in Bull Run, Pennsylvania, by Opera Theater of Pittsburgh. In 2000, Work Song: Three Views of Frank Lloyd Wright, a play based on the relationship between the personal and working aspects of Wright's life, debuted at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater.
In 1966, the United States Postal Service honored Wright with a Prominent Americans series 2¢ postage stamp.
In 1957, Arizona made plans to construct a new capitol building. Believing that the submitted plans for the new capitol were tombs to the past, Frank Lloyd Wright offered Oasis as an alternative to the people of Arizona. In 2004, one of the spires included in his design was erected in Scottsdale.
The city of Scottsdale, Arizona renamed a portion of Bell Road, a major east–west thoroughfare in the Phoenix metropolitan area, in honor of Frank Lloyd Wright.
Eight of Wright's buildings – Fallingwater, the Guggenheim Museum, the Hollyhock House, the Jacobs House, the Robie House, Taliesin, Taliesin West, and the Unity Temple – were inscribed on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites under the title The 20th-century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright in July 2019. UNESCO stated that these buildings were "innovative solutions to the needs for housing, worship, work or leisure" and "had a strong impact on the development of modern architecture in Europe".
=== Family ===
Frank Lloyd Wright was married three times, fathering four sons and three daughters. He also adopted Svetlana Milanoff, the daughter of his third wife, Olgivanna Lloyd Wright.
His wives/partners were:
Catherine "Kitty" (Tobin) Wright (1871–1959), social worker, socialite (married in June 1889; divorced November 1922)
Martha Bouton "Mamah" Borthwick (June 19, 1869 – August 15, 1914) was an American translator who had a romantic relationship with architect Frank Lloyd Wright (1909–1914), which ended when she was murdered after a male servant set fire to the living quarters of Taliesin and murdered seven people with an axe as they fled the burning structure.
Maude "Miriam" (Noel) Wright (1869–1930), artist (married in November 1923; divorced August 1927)
Olga Ivanovna "Olgivanna" (Lazovich Milanoff) Lloyd Wright (1897–1985), dancer and writer (married in August 1928)
His children with Catherine were:
Frank Lloyd Wright Jr., known as Lloyd Wright (1890–1978), became a notable architect in Los Angeles. Lloyd's son, Eric Lloyd Wright (1929–2023), was an architect in Malibu, California, specializing in residences, but also designed civic and commercial buildings.
John Lloyd Wright (1892–1972), invented Lincoln Logs in 1918 and practiced architecture extensively in the San Diego area. John's daughter, Elizabeth Wright Ingraham (1922–2013), was an architect in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She was the mother of Christine, an interior designer in Connecticut, and Catherine, an architecture professor at the Pratt Institute.
Catherine Wright Baxter (1894–1979), a homemaker and the mother of Oscar-winning actress Anne Baxter. Anne Baxter is the mother of Melissa Galt, an interior designer.
David Samuel Wright (1895–1997), a building-products representative for whom Wright designed the David & Gladys Wright House, which was rescued from demolition and given to the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture.
Frances Wright Caroe (1898–1959), an arts administrator.
Robert Llewellyn Wright (1903–1986), an attorney for whom Wright designed a house in Bethesda, Maryland.
His children with Olgivanna were:
Svetlana Peters (1917–1946, adopted daughter of Olgivanna), a musician who died in an automobile accident with her son Daniel. After Svetlana's death her other son, Brandoch Peters (1941–2022), was raised by Frank and Olgivanna. Svetlana's widower, William Wesley Peters, was later briefly married to Svetlana Alliluyeva, the youngest child and only daughter of Joseph Stalin. William Wesley Peters served as chairman of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation from 1985 to 1991.
Iovanna Lloyd Wright (1925–2015), an artist and musician.
== Selected works ==
=== Books ===
Ausgeführte Bauten und Entwürfe von Frank Lloyd Wright (Wasmuth Portfolio) (1910)
An Organic Architecture: The Architecture of Democracy (1939)
When Democracy Builds (1945)
The Living City, by Frank Lloyd Wright (1958)
In the Cause of Architecture: Essays by Frank Lloyd Wright for Architectural Record 1908–1952 (1987)
Visions of Wright: Photographs by Farrell Grehan, Introduction by Terence Riley ISBN 0-8212-2470-0 (1997)
=== Buildings ===
Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio, Oak Park, Illinois, 1889–1909
Winslow House, River Forest, Illinois, 1894
B. Harley Bradley House, Kankakee, Illinois, 1900–1901
Frank Thomas House, Oak Park, Illinois, 1901
Ward Winfield Willits Residence, and Gardener's Cottage and Stables, Highland Park, Illinois, 1901
Dana–Thomas House, Springfield, Illinois, 1902
Larkin Administration Building, Buffalo, New York, 1903 (demolished, 1950)
Darwin D. Martin House, Buffalo, New York, 1903–1905
Unity Temple, Oak Park, Illinois, 1904
Dr. G.C. Stockman House, Mason City, Iowa, 1908
Edward E. Boynton House, Rochester, New York, 1908
Frederick C. Robie Residence, Chicago, Illinois, 1909
Park Inn Hotel, the last standing Wright designed hotel, Mason City, Iowa, 1910
Taliesin, Spring Green, Wisconsin, 1911 & 1925
Midway Gardens, Chicago, Illinois, 1913 (demolished, 1929)
Hollyhock House (Aline Barnsdall Residence), Los Angeles, 1919–1921
Ennis House, Los Angeles, 1923
Imperial Hotel, Tokyo, Japan, 1923 (demolished, 1968; entrance hall reconstructed at Meiji Mura near Nagoya, Japan, 1976)
Westhope (Richard Lloyd Jones Residence), Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1929
Malcolm Willey House 1934, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Fallingwater (Edgar J. Kaufmann Sr. Residence), Mill Run, Pennsylvania, 1935–1937
Johnson Wax Headquarters, Racine, Wisconsin, 1936
First Jacobs House, Madison, Wisconsin, 1936–1937
Usonian homes, various locations, 1930s–1950s
Taliesin West, Scottsdale, Arizona, 1937
Wingspread, Herbert F. Johnson Residence in Wind Point, Wisconsin, 1937
Pope–Leighey House, Alexandria, Virginia, 1941
Child of the Sun, Florida Southern College, Lakeland, Florida, 1941–1958, site of the largest collection of the architect's work
First Unitarian Society of Madison, Shorewood Hills, Wisconsin, 1947
V. C. Morris Gift Shop, San Francisco, California 1948
Kenneth and Phyllis Laurent House, Rockford, Illinois, only home Wright designed to be handicapped accessible, 1951
Price Tower, Bartlesville, Oklahoma, 1952–1956
Beth Sholom Synagogue, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, 1954
Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, 1956–1961
Kentuck Knob, Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania, 1956
Marshall Erdman Prefab Houses, various locations, 1956–1960
Marin County Civic Center, San Rafael, California, 1957–1966
R. W. Lindholm Service Station, Cloquet, Minnesota, 1958
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City, 1956–1959
Gammage Memorial Auditorium, Tempe, Arizona, 1959–1964 |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Belmont_(bird_impressionist) | Joe Belmont (bird impressionist) | Joe Belmont was the stage name of Joseph Walter Fulton (July 22, 1876 – August 29, 1949) who was a whistling performer and baritone in the United States who came to be known as "The Human Bird". He was one of the most popular recording artists in the years leading up to 1900 and sang as a baritone and whistled for the Columbia Quartet along with Albert Campbell, Jim Reynard and Joe Majors. His top-selling records included "Beautiful Birds, Sing On", "Tell Me, Pretty Maiden" (with Byron G. Harlan, Frank C. Stanley, and the Florodora Girls, Columbia 31604, 1901).
== Biography ==
Joseph Walter Fulton was born in Shamokin, Pennsylvania on July 22, 1876. When Joseph was eight years old his family moved to Charles Town, West Virginia, and while there he studied the piano and became skilled in imitating birds through whistling. His talent was discovered in 1892 and he began performing at the theater. In 1894 he made his first recordings for the Columbia Phonograph Company, by which time he began using his professional name. He would later also record for Edison Records and at least forty other phonograph firms. By 1900 he was one of the most popular recording artists. He became a top theater draw, appearing not only across the United States but also in Europe, Australia, and even Fiji. He made several recordings for European companies while on a 1908 tour there, including a remarkable session for Germany's Favorite Records that resulted in ten issued sides. Dental problems led to his retirement from whistling after which he performed for the Ziegfeld Follies in the 1920s with the "Belmont Canary Opera" show consisting of trained singing and talking birds where he was assisted by Virginia, a dancer who later married his son Walter Joseph. Belmont also started a birds-only pet shop in Radio City named the Belmont Bird and Kennel Shop, assisted by his son Walter and daughter-in-law Virginia. Belmont's last recording was made in 1929 for Columbia, the company he started with, in a recording featuring his canaries. Joe Belmont died on August 28, 1949. Virginia Belmont did shows and recordings with trained singing and talking birds on her own and ran the store until the early 1980s.
Belmont's most popular recordings as a solo artist were "Listen to the Mockingbird" and his own composition, "Beautiful Birds, Sing On." According to Joel Whitburn, Belmont's best-selling record was "Tell Me Pretty Maiden" in an ensemble with Byron G. Harlan, Frank C. Stanley and "The Floradora Girls" in a 1901 recording for Columbia.
Belmont sang in addition to his whistling. He sang the baritone part in the first recordings of the "Columbia Quartette". Belmont claimed to have "discovered" Henry Burr by bringing him to the attention of Columbia recording engineer George Emerson.
== Recorded compositions ==
The Blacksmith and the Bird
The Blue Jay and the Thrush
Beautiful Birds, Sing On
Gentle Spring Is Here Again
How Birds Make Love
The Merry Farmer Boys
The Nightingale
On an Afternoon in June
The Songs of the Nations
Whistle While You Walk
The Whistling Coquette |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Summer_Olympics | 2020 Summer Olympics | The 2020 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXXII Olympiad and officially branded as Tokyo 2020, were an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 7 September 2013.
Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the Tokyo Games were postponed until 2021 on 24 March 2020 as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the first such postponement in the history of the Olympic Games (some previous editions had been cancelled but not rescheduled). However, the Tokyo 2020 branding was retained for marketing purposes. The events were largely held behind closed doors with no public spectators permitted due to the declaration of a state of emergency in the Greater Tokyo Area in response to the pandemic, the only Olympic Games to be held without official spectators. As a consequence of the postponement and the additional challenges caused by the pandemic, the 2020 Games were the most costly ever, with a total expenditure of over $20 billion.
The 2020 Games were the fourth Olympics to be held in Japan, following the 1964 Summer Olympics (Tokyo), the 1972 Winter Olympics (Sapporo), and the 1998 Winter Olympics (Nagano). Tokyo became the first city in Asia to hold the Summer Olympic Games twice. The 2020 Games were the second of three consecutive Olympics to be held in East Asia, following the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea and preceding the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China. Because of the one-year postponement, Tokyo 2020 is the only Olympic Games to have taken place in an odd-numbered year.
New events were introduced in existing sports, including 3x3 basketball, freestyle BMX and mixed-gender team events in a number of existing sports, as well as the return of madison cycling for men and an introduction of the same event for women. New IOC policies allowed the host city's organizing committee to add new sports to the Olympic program for just one Games. The disciplines added by the Japanese Olympic Committee were baseball and softball, karate, sport climbing, surfing and skateboarding; the last four of these were making their Olympic debuts, and the last three have remained on the Olympic program.
The United States topped the medal table both by gold (39) and total medals (113), with China finishing second (38 and 89). Host nation Japan finished third, setting a record for the most gold and overall medals won by their delegation at an Olympic Games with 27 and 58. Great Britain finished fourth, with 22 gold and 64 total medals. The Russian delegation competing as the ROC finished fifth with 20 gold medals and third in the overall medal count, with 71 medals. Bermuda, the Philippines and Qatar won their first-ever Olympic gold medals. Burkina Faso, San Marino and Turkmenistan also won their first-ever Olympic medals.
== Bidding process ==
The three candidate cities were Tokyo, Istanbul, and Madrid. The applicant cities of Baku and Doha were not promoted to candidate status. A bid from Rome was withdrawn.
=== Host city selection ===
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) voted to select the host city of the 2020 Summer Olympics on 7 September 2013, at the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires, Argentina, using an exhaustive ballot system. None of the candidate cities won more than 50% of the votes in the first round; Madrid and Istanbul were tied for second place, so a runoff vote was held to determine which of the two cities would be eliminated. The final vote was a head-to-head contest between Tokyo and Istanbul. Tokyo was selected by 60 votes to 36, gaining at least the 49 votes required for a majority.
== Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic ==
In January 2020, concerns were raised about the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on athletes and visitors to the Summer Olympic Games. Tokyo organizers and the International Olympic Committee insisted they were monitoring the spread of the disease to minimize its effects on preparations for the Olympics. The IOC stated that in 2020, their Japanese partners and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe "made it very clear that Japan could not manage a postponement beyond next summer [2021] at the latest". Unlike the case for Zika virus during the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, SARS-CoV-2 can be transmitted directly between humans, posing tougher challenges for the organizers to counteract the infectious disease and host a safe and secure event. Also unlike the case for H1N1 "swine flu" during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, COVID-19 has a higher fatality rate, and there was no effective vaccine until December 2020. In a February 2020 interview, Conservative London mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey argued that London would be able to host the Olympic Games at the former 2012 Olympic venues should the Games need to be moved because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike criticized Bailey's comment as inappropriate. In early 2021, officials in the U.S. state of Florida offered to host the delayed Games in their state, while John Coates, the IOC vice president in charge of the Tokyo Olympics, said the Games would open even if the city and other parts of Japan were under a state of emergency because of COVID-19.
Estimates by the National Institute of Infectious Diseases and Kyoto University predicted that states of emergency might be required during the Games. The reports published at the Ministry of Health experts' panel also showed new patients increasing to 10,000 if the Games were to allow spectators.
=== Qualifying event cancellation and postponement ===
Concerns about the pandemic began to affect qualifying events in early 2020. Some that were due to take place in February were moved to alternative locations to address concerns about travelling to the affected areas, particularly China. For example, the women's basketball qualification was played in Belgrade, Serbia, instead of Foshan, China. The Asia & Oceania boxing qualification tournament, which was originally planned to be held from 3–14 February in Wuhan, China (the location of the original outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic), instead took place in Amman, Jordan, at the beginning of March. The third round of the women's football qualification tournament was also affected, as the group matches formerly scheduled to be held in China were moved to Australia. The European boxing qualification began on 14 March 2020 in London, United Kingdom, but was suspended after two days of competition before being rescheduled for April 2021. It eventually resumed in June 2021 but was moved to Paris, France, because of renewed concerns over travel to the United Kingdom. Other qualifying events that were due to take place in March to June 2020 began to be postponed until later in the year and mid-2021 as part of a wider suspension of international sporting competitions in response to the pandemic. A multitude of Olympic sports were affected, including archery, baseball, cycling, handball, judo, rowing, sailing, volleyball, and water polo.
=== Effect on doping tests ===
Mandatory doping tests were significantly restricted by the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. European anti-doping organizations raised concerns that blood and urine tests could not be performed and that mobilizing the necessary staff before the pandemic's end would pose health risks. Despite the need for extensive testing ahead of the Games, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) stated that public health and safety remained its top priority. The China Anti-Doping Agency (CHINADA) temporarily suspended testing on 3 February 2020, with plans to resume phased testing later that month. By the end of March, anti-doping organizations in the United States, France, Great Britain, and Germany had also reduced their testing activities.
It was subsequently revealed that twenty-three Chinese swimmers had tested positive for the drug trimetazidine, but were permitted to compete, after CHINADA claimed they had ingested tiny amounts unawares from a kitchen. Some, including Zhang Yufei, Wang Shun, and Qin Haiyang, went on to win medals. The affair resulted in deep upset amongst the international athletic community.
=== Postponement to 2021 ===
The Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (TOCOG) released a statement on 2 March 2020, confirming that preparations for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics were "continuing as planned". On 23 March, both Canada and Australia indicated that they would withdraw from the Games if they were not postponed by a year. On the same day, Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe stated he would support a proposed postponement, citing that ensuring athlete safety was "paramount", and veteran IOC member and former vice president Dick Pound said that he expected the Games to be postponed.
On 24 March 2020, 122 days to go for the planned start, the IOC, TOCOG and prime minister Abe released a joint statement announcing that the 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics would be rescheduled to a date "beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021". They stated that the Games could "stand as a beacon of hope to the world during these troubled times", and that the Olympic flame could become "the light at the end of the tunnel in which the world finds itself at present". Prime Minister Abe stated that IOC president Thomas Bach responded "with 100% agreement" to his proposal to delay the Games. For continuity and marketing purposes, it was agreed that the Games would still be branded as Tokyo 2020 despite the change in schedule.
On 30 March 2020, the IOC and TOCOG announced that they had reached an agreement on the new dates for the 2020 Summer Olympics, which would now begin with the opening ceremony on 23 July 2021 and end with the closing ceremony on 8 August 2021, still to be held in Tokyo. The subsequent Winter Olympics in Beijing are scheduled to begin on 4 February 2022, less than six months later. Shortly before the postponement was confirmed, the IOC and Tokyo 2020 organizers formed a task force named "Here We Go" with the remit to address any issues arising from postponing the Games, such as sponsorship and accommodation. The organizers confirmed that all athletes who had already qualified for Tokyo 2020 prior to 24 March 2020 would keep their qualification slots.
=== Calls for cancellation ===
Health experts expressed concern in April 2020 that the Games might have to be cancelled if the pandemic should persist. In an interview, the then president of TOCOG and former Japanese prime minister, Yoshirō Mori, asserted that the Games would be "scrapped" if they could not go ahead in 2021. On 29 April 2020, Prime Minister Abe stated that the Games "must be held in a way that shows the world has won its battle against the coronavirus pandemic". Thomas Bach acknowledged in an interview on 20 May 2020, that the job of reorganizing the Tokyo Games was "a mammoth task" and also admitted that the event would have to be cancelled altogether if it could not take place in the summer of 2021. However, both Mori and Bach expressed optimism about the Games going ahead.
A member of the Japanese COVID-19 Advisory Committee on the basic action policy co-authored a British Medical Journal editorial, which stated, "holding Tokyo 2020 for domestic political and economic purposes—ignoring scientific and moral imperatives—is contradictory to Japan's commitment to global health and human security".
On 21 January 2021, multiple sources reported that the Japanese government had "privately concluded" that the Games would have to be cancelled. The government dismissed the claims, stating that the reports were "categorically untrue". The new Japanese prime minister Yoshihide Suga confirmed on 19 February that the G7 had given unanimous support for the postponed Games to go ahead as scheduled. It was reported in April 2021, just three months before the start of the Games, that there was still the option to cancel the Tokyo Olympics with the country having vaccinated less than 1% of its population, with tens of thousands of volunteers expected to take part and athletes not being required to quarantine after arriving in Japan.
Public support for the Games in Japan decreased significantly amid a 2021 surge in COVID-19 cases in the country. Multiple organizations of medical professionals voiced oppositions to the Games, while an opinion poll in April 2021 saw 40% of participants support the cancellation of the Games, and 33% support a second postponement. In May 2021, 83% of those polled supported the cancellation or postponement of the Games. The Tokyo Medical Practitioners Association called for the cancellation, stating that hospitals in Tokyo "have their hands full and have almost no spare capacity" in an open letter to the prime minister. At least nine out of 47 elected governors supported the cancellation of the Games. Nearly 37% of Japanese companies surveyed supported the cancellation of the Games, and 32% supported postponement.
Kenji Utsunomiya, who had previously run for Governor of Tokyo, collected more than 351,000 signatures on a petition calling for the organizers to "prioritize life" over the Olympics. Japanese writers Jiro Akagawa and Fuminori Nakamura also called for the Games to be postponed or cancelled.
On 26 May 2021, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper, which was a local sponsor of the Games, published an editorial calling for Prime Minister Suga to "calmly and objectively assess the situation and decide on the cancellation of the event this summer." On 4 June it was reported that Japanese sponsors proposed to the organizers for "the Games to be postponed for several months," citing a comment by a corporate sponsor senior executive: "It just makes much, much more sense from our perspective to hold the Games when there are more vaccinated people, the weather is cooler and maybe public opposition is lower."
In July 2021, it was announced that all events in Tokyo were to be held behind closed doors with no spectators due to a new state of emergency. A poll by the Asahi Shimbun found that 55% of those surveyed supported the cancellation of the Olympics, and 68% felt that organizers would not be able to suitably control COVID-19 at the Games. The decision was also detrimental to local sponsors, which had planned in-person presences to promote their products during the Games; an executive of official sponsor Toyota stated that the company had pulled a television advertising campaign it had planned for the Games in Japan, citing that the Olympics were "becoming an event that has not gained the public's understanding."
Had the games been cancelled, it would have been the first time since World War II that an Olympic event had been called off and the first games to be scrapped due to circumstances unrelated to war. A complete cancellation would have also cost Japan ¥4.52 trillion (US$41.5 billion), based on operating expenses and loss of tourism activity due to Japan which had closed its international borders to foreign travellers since March 2020, did not eventually reopen until October 2022, and was initially scheduled to end preventive border measures in May 2023 but had moved early at the end of April of that year, less than two years after the Games ended.
=== Costs and insurance ===
According to an estimate conducted by professor emeritus Katsuhiro Miyamoto of Kansai University and reported by the NHK in March 2020, the cost of delaying the 2020 Olympics by one year would be 640.8 billion yen (US$5.8 billion), taking maintenance expenditures for the unused facilities into account.
The Nomura Research Institute estimated that cancelling the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics in 2021 would cost around 1.81 trillion yen ($17 billion), less than the economic damages projected if another state of emergency is declared, noting that a decision to hold the games "should be made based on the impact on infection risks, not from the standpoint of economic loss".
The Tokyo Games were protected through the commercial insurance marketplace Lloyd's of London, by global reinsurers Munich Re and Swiss Re. The IOC takes out around $800 million of insurance for each Summer Olympics, with the total amount of loss insured for the 2020 Games likely to be more than $2 billion. The disruption caused by postponing the Games was covered by the insurance policy, with those likely to make claims for their financial losses including local organizers, sponsors, hospitality firms, and travel providers.
Holders of tickets purchased from overseas prior to postponement were entitled to refunds for both Olympic and Paralympic ticket purchases, except for the costs of cancelled hotel bookings. Although about 600,000 Olympic tickets and 300,000 Paralympic tickets were eligible to be refunded, organizers said that they would not release the total costs of the refunds. Reuters quoted industry sources who estimated that the Tokyo Olympics Committee had taken out US$500–800 million in insurance, and that after accounting for costs such as rebooking sporting venues and the Olympic Village, little of that payout would be available to recoup the proceeds of lost and refunded ticket sales. The local organizers are responsible for ticket sales and use them to defray the costs of holding the games; ticket sales were expected to bring in approximately US$800 million, but actual sales were close to zero.
In June 2022, the Tokyo Organizing Committee revealed in the final budget report for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics that the cost for the Olympic Games was 640.4 billion yen (US$5.8 billion), which was higher than the cost for the Rio 2016.
=== Public opinion and COVID-19 effect during and after the Games ===
Prior to the Tokyo Olympics being held, many Japanese people were negative about hosting the event, but their attitudes had become more positive towards the end of the Games. According to a public opinion poll conducted jointly by the Nippon News Network and the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper, which targeted Japanese citizens at the end of the Olympics, 38% of respondents said that it was possible to hold the Olympics in a safe manner against COVID-19, while 55% said that it was not possible. However, 64% answered that it was good that the Tokyo Games had gone ahead, while 28% answered that they wished the event had not been held. Of the respondents, 61% were glad the event had been held without spectators and only 12% said that spectators should have been allowed.
On 29 July, less than a week into the Games, journalist Masaki Kubota reported his analysis of the Japanese people's perspective on the Olympics, which he believed was greatly influenced by the change in the way the Japanese news media reported on the Games. He pointed out that many Japanese news media had insisted on canceling the Olympics, citing fears that COVID-19 would spread, but once Japanese athletes started winning medals, the media changed their reporting policy and began livening up the Olympics, which had the effect of altering public opinion in Japan.
Once the Tokyo Olympics were underway, followed by the Tokyo Paralympics, there was a sharp increase in COVID-19 cases in Japan, especially those caused by the Delta variant. On 26 July, there were 60,157 cases detected in Japan, breaking the record of 44,961 cases recorded on 10 May. On 9 August, one day after the Olympics had ended, daily cases in Japan reached 100,000 for the first time, and new cases continued to increase until the peak on 23 August, when 156,931 cases were recorded.
== Development and preparations ==
The Tokyo Organizing Committee was originally headed by former Japanese prime minister Yoshirō Mori, but he resigned in February 2021 due to backlash from sexist comments about women in meetings. Seiko Hashimoto was chosen to succeed him. Tamayo Marukawa, Minister for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, was responsible for overseeing the preparations on behalf of the Japanese government.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government set aside a fund of ¥400 billion (more than US$3.67 billion) to cover the cost of hosting the Games. The Japanese government was considering easing airspace restrictions to allow an increased slot capacity at both Haneda and Narita airports. A new railway line was planned to link both airports through an expansion of Tokyo Station, cutting travel time from Tokyo Station to Haneda from 30 minutes to 18 minutes, and from Tokyo Station to Narita from 55 minutes to 36 minutes; funded primarily by private investors, the line would cost ¥400 billion. The East Japan Railway Company (JR East) was also planning a new route near Tamachi to Haneda Airport.
There were plans to fund the accelerated completion of the Central Circular Route, Tokyo Gaikan Expressway, and Ken-Ō Expressway, and the refurbishment of other major expressways in the area. The Yurikamome automated transit line was also to be extended from its existing terminal at Toyosu Station to a new terminal at Kachidoki Station, passing the site of the Olympic Village, although the line was not expected to have adequate capacity to serve major events in the Odaiba area on its own.
In April 2018, the Tokyo Organizing Committee signed a partnership with the International Labour Organization to ensure decent work in the preparation of and during the 2020 Olympic Games.
In June 2020, the chief executive of the Organizing Committee, Toshirō Mutō, stated that the committee was exploring options for streamlining the Games to achieve cost savings. On 25 September, the IOC and Tokyo Organizing Committee agreed to a suite of measures to simplify the Games' logistics, including a cut to non-athlete staff, use of online meetings, and streamlined transport, among others. The committee also outlined areas it would be exploring in order to maintain the health and safety of all participants.
=== Venues and infrastructure ===
In February 2012, it was announced that Tokyo's former National Stadium, the central venue for the 1964 Summer Olympics, would undergo a ¥100 billion renovation for the 2019 Rugby World Cup and the 2020 Summer Olympics. In November 2012, the Japan Sport Council announced that it was taking bids for proposed stadium designs. Of the 46 finalists, Zaha Hadid Architects was awarded the project, which would replace the old stadium with a new 80,000-seat stadium. There was criticism of the Zaha Hadid design—which was compared to a bicycle helmet and regarded as clashing with the surrounding Meiji Shrine—and widespread disapproval of the costs, even with attempts to revise and "optimize" the design.
In June 2015, the government announced plans to reduce the new stadium's permanent capacity to 65,000 in its athletics configuration (although with the option to add up to 15,000 temporary seats for football) as a further cost-saving measure. The original plan to build a retractable roof was also abandoned. At the end of 2015, as a result of public opposition to the increasing costs of the new stadium (which had reached ¥252 billion), the government chose to reject Zaha Hadid's design entirely and selected a new design by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma. Inspired by traditional temples and with a lower profile, Kuma's design had a budget of ¥149 billion. The changes meant the new stadium could not be completed in time for the 2019 Rugby World Cup as originally intended. The National Stadium, which was inaugurated on 21 December 2019, was named the Olympic Stadium for the duration of the Tokyo Games.
In October 2018, the Board of Audit issued a report stating that the total cost of the Olympic venues could exceed US$25 billion.
Of the 33 competition venues in Tokyo, 28 were within 8 kilometers (5 miles) of the Olympic Village, with eleven new venues to be constructed. On 16 October 2019, the IOC announced that there were plans to re-locate the marathon and racewalking events to Sapporo for heat concerns. The plans were made official on 1 November 2019 after Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike accepted the IOC's decision, despite her belief that the events should have remained in Tokyo.
In general, as urban studies scholar Faure notes, "The Tokyo 2020–2021 Games had a relatively moderate impact on the city, compared to previous cases such as Rio and Sochi, or cases in which a major Olympic park was built in Barcelona in 1992, and in Beijing in 2008. The transport infrastructure has been marginally improved by facilitating access for people with mobility constraints and improving signage in other languages. Haneda Airport has been expanded, and a hydrogen-powered bus rapid transit system has been introduced. Several sports and event facilities were built, including the new Olympic Stadium. Finally, the Olympic Village has been built on the Harumi landfill."
=== Security ===
In December 2018, the Japanese government chose to ban drones from flying over venues being used for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. A similar ban was also imposed for the 2019 Rugby World Cup, which Japan also hosted. In January 2020, counterterrorism drills began in different parts where the Games would take place, after intelligence data showed that terrorist groups could have carried out an attack seeking worldwide attention. In July 2021, prior to the start of the Games, the Japan Coast Guard conducted counterterrorism drills in the Tokyo Bay. The drill consisted of two inflatable boats trying to stop a suspicious ship from getting to shore.
=== Volunteers ===
Applications for volunteering at the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games were accepted beginning on 26 September 2018. By 18 January 2019, a total of 204,680 applications had been received by the Tokyo Organizing Committee. Interviews to select the requisite number of volunteers began in February 2019, with training scheduled to take place in October 2019. The volunteers at the venues were to be known as "Field Cast", and the volunteers in the city were to be known as "City Cast". These names were chosen from a shortlist of four from an original 150 pairs of names; the other three shortlisted names were "Shining Blue" and "Shining Blue Tokyo", "Games Anchor" and "City Anchor", and "Games Force" and "City Force". The names were chosen by the people who had applied to be volunteers at the Games.
As of early June 2021, approximately 10,000 out of the 80,000 registered volunteers resigned from the Games. Media attributed the rise in pandemic cases as the reason for massive quitting. More volunteer assignments were expected to be cancelled due to the spectator ban.
=== Medals ===
In February 2017, the Tokyo Organizing Committee announced an electronics recycling program in partnership with Japan Environmental Sanitation Center and NTT Docomo, soliciting donations of electronics such as mobile phones to be reclaimed as materials for the medals. Aiming to collect eight tonnes of metals to produce the medals for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, collection boxes were deployed at public locations and NTT Docomo retail shops in April 2017. A design competition for the medals was launched in December of that year.
In May 2018, the organizing committee reported that they had obtained half the required 2,700 kilograms of bronze but were struggling to obtain the required amount of silver; although bronze and silver medals purely utilize their respective materials, IOC requirements mandate that gold medals utilize silver as a base. The collection of bronze was completed in November 2018, with the remainder estimated to have been completed by March 2019.
On 24 July 2019 (one year ahead of the originally scheduled opening ceremony), the designs of the medals were unveiled. The medals for the Olympic and Paralympic Games were designed by Junichi Kawanishi following a nationwide competition. A new feature shared with the Paralympic medals is that the ribbons contain one, two, or three silicone convex lines to distinguish gold, silver, and bronze medals, respectively.
Medals used in the games
=== Torch relay ===
The slogan of the 2020 Summer Olympics torch relay was "Hope Lights Our Way".
As determined by a 2009 IOC ruling that banned international torch relays for any future Olympic Games, the 2020 Summer Olympics torch was scheduled to only visit the two countries of Greece and the host nation Japan. The first phase of the relay began on 12 March 2020, with the traditional flame lighting ceremony at the Temple of Hera in Olympia, Greece. The torch then travelled to Athens, where the Greek leg of the relay culminated in a handover ceremony at the Panathenaic Stadium on 19 March, during which the torch was transferred to the Japanese contingent. The flame was placed inside a special lantern and transported from Athens International Airport on a chartered flight to Higashimatsushima in Japan. The torch was then expected to begin the second phase of its journey on 20 March, as it traveled for one week around the three most affected areas of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami—Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima—where it would go on display under the heading "Flame of Recovery". After leaving Naraha on 26 March, the torch would commence its main relay around Japan, incorporating all 47 prefectural capitals.
After the decision to postpone the Games was made, the torch was placed again in a special lantern on display in the city of Fukushima for a month. After that, the lantern was transferred to the Tokyo prefecture, where it was kept safe until the restart of the relay in 2021. On 23 July 2020 (one year ahead of the rescheduled opening ceremony), a promotional video was released featuring Japanese swimmer Rikako Ikee carrying the lantern inside Japan National Stadium, drawing comparisons between emergence from the pandemic and her own return to sport after being diagnosed with leukemia. On 20 August 2020, it was announced that the torch relay would begin again in Naraha, Fukushima on 25 March 2021, nearly a year later than originally planned.
The final course of the relay was altered due to concerns regarding public health concerns about gatherings along the route (e.g., the Miyakojima leg was canceled), and the relay was held without spectators due to states of emergency in some regions (e.g., Matsuyama, Hiroshima, Hyōgo, and Okayama). The relay ended at Tokyo's National Stadium (Olympic Stadium) on 23 July, with tennis player Naomi Osaka lighting the Olympic cauldron at the finale of the opening ceremony. The cauldron lit in the Olympic Stadium was only used during the opening and closing ceremonies: a separate cauldron was lit on the Tokyo waterfront for public view at the Yume No Ohashi Bridge in Odaiba, making it only the second time in Olympic history where the cauldron was not displayed in the athletics stadium, the other time being in 2016.
=== Biosecurity protocols ===
In February 2021, the IOC began releasing "playbooks" containing details on planned COVID-19 biosecurity protocols for athletes, officials, the press, and other staff, including standard protocols such as practicing social distancing, hygiene, the wearing of face masks (outside of training and competition for athletes), and being restricted from visiting bars, restaurants, shops, and other tourist areas around Greater Tokyo Area, or using public transport unless otherwise permitted. Participants would be asked to use Japan's COCOA Exposure Notification app and would be tested at least every four days. Athletes who tested positive would be unable to compete and could be quarantined at a government facility (although leeway would be given in the event of false positives). Close contacts would also need to test negative in order to be cleared for competition. Athletes would be discouraged from "excessive" celebrations because the actions could spread infected droplets. The playbooks were criticized in a paper published by The New England Journal of Medicine in May 2021, for lacking "scientifically rigorous risk assessment" and failing to "distinguish the various levels of risk faced by athletes". The playbook stated that the athletes were required to arrive up to five days prior to the start of the competition and to leave within 48 hours of being eliminated from their sport or the conclusion of the competitions.
The IOC recommended the vaccination of athletes against COVID-19 if vaccines were available to them, but this was not a prerequisite for participation and the IOC advised against athletes "jumping the queue" in order to obtain priority over essential populations. On 12 March 2021, Thomas Bach announced that in nations where they were approved for use, the Chinese Olympic Committee had offered to cover the costs of the Chinese CoronaVac and the Sinopharm BIBP vaccine for athletes competing in the 2020 Summer Olympics and 2022 Winter Olympics, and would purchase two doses for their nation's general public for each vaccinated athlete. On 6 May 2021, Pfizer announced that it would donate doses of its vaccine to NOCs competing in Tokyo.
Approximately 93,000 athletes and officials were exempt from the quarantine rules upon arriving in Japan, provided that they remained in areas separated from the local population. With around 300,000 local staff and volunteers entering and exiting these bubbles, and 20,000 vaccine doses allocated for this group, this led to concerns of COVID-19 spreading both during the Games and when teams returned to their countries.
Due to international travel restrictions, the organizing committee announced in March 2021 that no international guests (including spectators, and friends and family members of the athletes) would be allowed to attend the Games. As per existing guidance for spectator sports in Japan, spectators would be asked to refrain from cheering or shouting. On 19 June 2021, Governor Koike announced that plans for public viewing events for the Games had been scrapped, in order to use the planned venues (such as Yoyogi Park) as mass vaccination sites instead. On 21 June, it was announced that all venues would be capped at a maximum of 10,000 ticketed spectators or 50% capacity, whichever was lower.
On 2 July 2021, the new TOCOG president Seiko Hashimoto warned that there was still a possibility of the Games being held behind closed doors because of rising COVID-19 cases in the country. Japan's slow vaccination rate had been of particular concern. A simulation run by the University of Tokyo in May 2021 projected that a new wave of infections could peak in mid-October if the Games went on after the existing state of emergency in Tokyo had expired.
On 8 July 2021, after Tokyo had recorded 920 new COVID-19 cases (its highest increase since May), Prime Minister Suga declared a new state of emergency in the Tokyo area from 12 July through 22 August (ending only two days before the Paralympics' opening ceremony), and announced that all events at venues in the area would therefore be held behind closed doors with no spectators permitted. Hashimoto stated that "it is extremely regrettable that the Games will be staged in a very limited manner in the face of the spread of novel coronavirus infections." IOC President Thomas Bach stated that "we will support any measure which is necessary to have a safe and secure Olympic and Paralympic Games for the Japanese people and all the participants."
The announcement stated that spectators would still be allowed at events being held outside of Tokyo, subject to the approval by local health authorities and the aforementioned 50%/10,000-spectator limit. The prefectures of Fukushima, Hokkaido and Ibaraki announced that they would prohibit spectators at events held in the areas. The opening ceremony was expected to be limited to fewer than 1,000 VIP guests, including IOC representatives and dignitaries, while some events did allow members of other competing delegations to occupy spectator seats as well. School students were invited to watch football matches in Ibaraki.
On 16 July, it was reported that Bach had asked Prime Minister Suga about the possibility that restrictions on spectators could be eased later on if COVID-19 conditions were to improve in Tokyo. However, on 2 August, Suga announced that all existing state of emergency declarations would be extended through 31 August, and be extended to Chiba, Kanagawa, Saitama, and parts of Osaka.
=== Ticketing ===
The opening ceremony tickets were expected to range from ¥12,000 to ¥300,000, with a maximum price of ¥130,000 for the finals of the athletics track and field events. The average ticket price was ¥7,700, with half the tickets being sold for up to ¥8,000. A symbolic ticket price of ¥2,020 was expected for families, groups resident in Japan, and in conjunction with a school program. Tickets would be sold through 40,000 shops in Japan and by mail order to Japanese addresses through the internet. International guests, had they been allowed, would have needed to visit Japan during the sales period, or arrange to buy tickets through a third party such as a travel agent.
Tickets went on general sale in Japan in the autumn of 2019 and were expected to be sold globally from June 2020; however, this plan was suspended when the Games were postponed on 24 March 2020. The Tokyo Organizing Committee confirmed that tickets already purchased would remain valid for the same sessions according to the new schedule and that refunds were also being offered.
On 20 March 2021, it was announced that due to COVID-19-related concerns, no international guests would be allowed to attend the 2020 Olympics or Paralympics. This included both spectators, as well as the friends and family of athletes. All overseas ticketholders would be refunded. Hashimoto cited uncertainties surrounding international travel restrictions, and goals to preserve the safety of all participants and spectators, and not place a burden on the health care system. It was ultimately announced in July that all local spectators were not allowed to attend any events held in Tokyo, Fukushima and Hokkaido.
=== Cultural festival ===
A cultural program known as Nippon Festival was scheduled to coincide with the Olympics and Paralympics, running from April to September 2021 as a series of streaming events held by the Tokyo Organizing Committee and other partners. The events reflected the themes of "Participation and Interaction", "Towards the Realization of an Inclusive Society" and "Reconstruction of the Tohoku Region". The program was either downsized or reformatted to virtual format due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the postponement of the Games. One of these events was a concert held on 18 July, which featured J-rock band Wanima, choreography by dancers Aio Yamada and Tuki Takamura, and the presentation of animated "creatures" based on illustrations "embodying the thoughts and emotions of people from across the world".
The original plans for Nippon Festival included events such as Kabuki x Opera (a concert that would have featured stage actor Ichikawa Ebizō XI, opera singers Anna Pirozzi and Erwin Schrott, and the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra), an arts and culture festival focusing on disabilities, and a special two-day exhibition sumo tournament at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan shortly after the Olympics—which would have differed significantly from the traditional bi-monthly Honbasho tournaments, and featured special commentary in English and Japanese to help explain to spectators the customs and traditions of professional sumo, which are deeply rooted in the Shinto religion.
== The Games ==
=== Opening ceremony ===
The opening ceremony was held on 23 July 2021 in the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo. It included the traditional Parade of Nations. Emperor Naruhito formally opened the Games, and at the end of the torch relay the Olympic cauldron was lit by Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka.
For the first time in the history of Olympic Games, it was decided that one male and one female in each country would take turns holding flags and serve as two of them.
This was done by embodying the "Agenda 2020" set during President Bach's term.
A moment of silence was observed in the opening ceremony for the victims of COVID-19 pandemic, the 2011 earthquake and tsunami and the Munich massacre.
=== Sports ===
The event program for the games was approved by the IOC executive board on 9 June 2017. IOC president Thomas Bach stated that their goal was to give the Games "youthful" and "urban" appeal, and to increase the number of female participants.
The Games featured 339 medal events in 33 different sports, encompassing a total of 51 disciplines. Karate, sport climbing, surfing, and skateboarding made their Olympic debut, while baseball and softball also made a one-off return to the Summer Olympics for the first time since 2008. 15 new events within existing sports were also added, including 3×3 basketball, freestyle BMX, and the return of madison cycling, as well as nine new mixed events in several sports (table tennis, archery, judo, shooting (3), triathlon, 4 × 400 m relay running and 4 × 100 m medley swimming).
In the list below, the number of events in each discipline is noted in parentheses.
==== New and Optional sports ====
On 12 February 2013, with a remit to control the cost of the Games and ensure they are "relevant to sports fans of all generations", the IOC Executive Board recommended the removal of one of the 26 sports contested at the 2012 Summer Olympics, leaving a vacancy which the IOC would seek to fill at the 125th IOC Session. The new entrant would join golf and rugby sevens (which would both debut in 2016) as part of the program of 28 "core" sports. Five sports were shortlisted for removal, including canoe, field hockey, modern pentathlon, taekwondo, and wrestling. In the final round of voting by the executive board, eight members voted to remove wrestling from the Olympic program. Field hockey and taekwondo tied in second with three votes each.
The 2013 decision to drop wrestling after Rio 2016 surprised many media outlets, given that the sport's role in the Olympics dates back to the ancient Olympic Games, and was included in the original program for the modern Games. The New York Times felt that the decision was based on the shortage of well-known talent and the absence of women's events in the sport. Out of the shortlist from the IOC vote, Wrestling was duly added to the shortlist of applicants for inclusion in the 2020 Games, alongside the seven new sports that were put forward for consideration.
On 29 May 2013, it was announced that three of the eight sports under consideration had made the final shortlist: baseball/softball, squash and wrestling. The other five sports were rejected at this point: karate, roller sports, sport climbing, wakeboarding, and wushu. At the 125th IOC Session on 8 September 2013, wrestling was chosen to be included in the Olympic program for 2020 and 2024. Wrestling secured 49 votes, while baseball/softball and squash received 24 votes and 22 votes respectively.
With the adoption of the Olympic Agenda 2020 in December 2014, the IOC shifted from a "sport-based" approach to the Olympic program to an "event-based" program—establishing that organizing committees may propose discretionary events to be included in the program to improve local interest. As a result of these changes, a shortlist of eight new proposed sports was unveiled on 22 June 2015, consisting of baseball/softball, bowling, karate, roller sports, sport climbing, squash, surfing, and wushu. On 28 September 2015, the Tokyo Organizing Committee submitted their shortlist of five proposed sports to the IOC: baseball/softball, karate, sport climbing, surfing, and skateboarding. These five new sports were approved on 3 August 2016 by the IOC during the 129th IOC Session in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and were included in the sports program for 2020 only, bringing the total number of sports at the 2020 Olympics to 33.
=== Test events ===
A total of 56 test events were scheduled to take place in the run-up to the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics. Two of the events were held in late 2018, but the main test event schedule commenced in June 2019 and was originally due to be completed in May 2020 prior to the start of the Olympics. Several of the events were incorporated into pre-existing championships, but some have been newly created specifically to serve as Olympic test events for the 2020 Summer Games.
In February 2019, it was announced that the test events would be branded under the banner "Ready, Steady, Tokyo". The Tokyo Organizing Committee is responsible for 22 of the test events, with the remaining events being arranged by national and international sports federations. The first test event was World Sailing's World Cup Series, held at Enoshima in September 2018. The last scheduled event is the Tokyo Challenge Track Meet, which was originally due to take place at the Olympic Stadium on 6 May 2020.
All test events originally scheduled to take place from 12 March 2020 onwards were postponed due to COVID-19, with the test event calendar to be reviewed during the preparations for the rescheduled Games.
== Participating National Olympic Committees ==
The Republic of Macedonia has competed under the provisional name "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" in every Summer and Winter Games since its debut in 1996 because of the disputed status of its official name. The naming disputes with Greece ended in 2018 with the signing of the Prespa agreement, and the country was officially renamed North Macedonia in February 2019. The new name was immediately recognized by the IOC, although the Olympic Committee of North Macedonia (NMOC) was not officially adopted until February 2020. The NMOC sent a delegation to the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics in January 2020, but the Tokyo Games were North Macedonia's first appearance at the Summer Olympics under its new name.
Since competing as Swaziland ten times at the Summer and Winter Olympics, Eswatini made its debut under that name after the renaming of the country by the king in 2018.
On 9 December 2019, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) banned Russia from all international sport for a period of four years, after the Russian government was found to have tampered with laboratory data that it had provided to WADA in January 2019 as a condition of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency being reinstated. As a result of the ban, WADA planned to allow individually cleared Russian athletes to take part in the 2020 Summer Olympics under a neutral banner, as instigated at the 2018 Winter Olympics, but they would be excluded from team sports. The head of WADA's Compliance Review Committee, Jonathan Taylor, stated that the IOC would not be able to use the "Olympic Athletes from Russia" (OAR) designation as it did in 2018, emphasizing that neutral athletes could not be portrayed as representing a specific country. Russia later filed an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against WADA's decision. After reviewing the case on appeal, CAS ruled on 17 December 2020 that the penalty placed on Russia be reduced. Instead of a total ban from all sporting events, the ruling allowed Russia to participate at the Olympics and other international events, but the team would not be permitted to use the Russian name, flag, or anthem for a period of two years and must present themselves as "Neutral Athlete" or "Neutral Team". The ruling does allow for "Russia" to be displayed on the team uniform—although it should be no more visible than the "Neutral Athlete/Team" designation—as well as the use of the Russian flag's colors within the uniform's design.
On 19 February 2021, it was announced that Russia would compete under the acronym "ROC" after the name of the Russian Olympic Committee although the name of the committee itself in full could not be used to refer to the delegation. The ROC team would be represented by the flag of the Russian Olympic Committee.
On 6 April 2021, North Korea announced that it would not participate in the 2020 Summer Olympics because of COVID-19 concerns. This marked North Korea's first absence from the Summer Olympics since 1988. In September, a month after the games concluded, the Olympic Committee of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was banned from participation in the 2022 Winter Olympics, after they failed to participate in the Tokyo Olympics. On 21 July 2021, Guinea announced it would not be sending a delegation to the Tokyo Olympics, allegedly due to COVID-19 concerns, though media outlets suggested that financial considerations may have been the real motivating factor. Guinea later reversed the decision and confirmed that it would be participating.
The following 206 teams qualified (including the 104 universality places guaranteed in athletics, under which all 206 NOCs may send competitors regardless of qualification).
=== Number of athletes by National Olympic Committee ===
11,420 athletes from 206 NOCs:
== Calendar ==
The 2020 schedule by session was approved by the IOC Executive Board on 18 July 2018, with the exception of swimming, diving, and artistic swimming. A more detailed schedule by event was released on 16 April 2019, still omitting a detailed schedule for the boxing events. A detailed boxing schedule was released in late 2019.
The original schedule was from 22 July to 9 August 2020. To postpone the Olympics until 2021, all events were delayed by 364 days (one day less than a full year to preserve the same days of the week), giving a new schedule of 21 July to 8 August 2021.
All times and dates use Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)
== Medal table ==
* Host nation (Japan)
=== Podium sweeps ===
There were two podium sweeps, as follows:
=== Medal ceremonies ===
Naoki Satō composed the music for the medal ceremonies. Satō chose not to employ any musical elements distinctive to Japan "because victory ceremonies are for athletes from around the world" and he wanted all medalists to "feel at ease" when taking their places on the podium, regardless of their nationality.
The bouquets presented to the athletes came from regions affected by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. The individual flowers were selected to represent the prefectures of Miyagi, Fukushima, Iwate, and Tokyo. The sunflowers were grown in Miyagi, planted by families whose children had died during the disaster; the white and purple eustomas and Solomon's seals were provided by a non-profit initiative to boost the local economy in Fukushima; the small bright blue gentians were grown in Iwate; and aspidistras, grown in Tokyo, were chosen to complete the bouquets.
=== Event scheduling ===
Per the historical precedent of swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and figure skating at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, swimming finals were held in the morning to allow live primetime broadcasts in the Americas. NBC paid substantial fees for rights to the Olympics, so the IOC has allowed NBC to influence event scheduling to maximize U.S. television ratings when possible. On 7 May 2014, NBC agreed to a US$7.75 billion contract extension to air the Olympics through the 2032 games, with the company being one of the IOC's major sources of revenue. Japanese broadcasters were said to have criticized the decision, as swimming is one of the most popular Olympic events in the country.
== Marketing ==
The official emblems for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics were unveiled on 25 April 2016; designed by Asao Tokolo, who won a nationwide design contest, it takes the form of a ring in an indigo-colored checkerboard pattern. The design was meant to "express a refined elegance and sophistication that exemplifies Japan". The checkered design resembles a pattern called ichimatsu moyo that was popular during the Edo period in Japan from 1603 to 1867. The designs replaced a previous emblem which had been scrapped after allegations that it plagiarized the logo of the Théâtre de Liège in Belgium. The Games' bid slogan was Discover Tomorrow (Japanese: 未来（あした）をつかもう, romanized: Ashita o tsukamō). While ashita literally means "tomorrow", it is intentionally spelled as mirai, "future". The official slogan United by Emotion was unveiled on 17 February 2020. The slogan was used solely in English.
The official mascot of the 2020 Summer Olympics was Miraitowa, a figure with blue-checkered ichimatsu moyo patterns inspired by the Games' official emblem. Its fictional characteristics include the ability to teleport. Created by Japanese artist Ryo Taniguchi, the mascots were selected from a competition process which took place in late 2017 and early 2018. A total of 2,042 candidate designs were submitted to the Tokyo Organizing Committee, which selected three pairs of unnamed mascot designs to present to Japanese elementary school students for the final decision. The results of the selection were announced on 28 February 2018, and the mascots were named on 22 July 2018. Miraitowa is named after the Japanese words for "future" and "eternity". The mascots were expected to help finance the Tokyo Games through merchandizing and licensing deals.
Alongside the main Emblem blue, the five other colors used in the branding of the 2020 Games were :
Kurenai red, Ai blue, Sakura pink, Fuji purple, and Matsuba green. These five traditional colors of Japan were used as sub-colors to create points of difference in the color variations.
== Concerns and controversies ==
Several controversial issues occurred during the preparations for the Tokyo Games. There were allegations of bribery in the Japanese Olympic Committee's (JOC) bid and of plagiarism in the initial design for the Games' logo. On 10 December 2018, the French financial crimes office began an investigation of Tsunekazu Takeda, the president of the Japanese Olympic Committee, concerning a 2013 scheme to obtain votes from African IOC members in support of Tokyo as host for the 2020 Olympics over Istanbul or Madrid. In March 2020, a Japanese businessman admitted to giving gifts, including cameras and watches, to IOC officials in order to lobby for their support of Tokyo's bid to host the Olympic Games. The official emblems of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, designed by Kenjirō Sano, were unveiled in July 2015 but were withdrawn and replaced following plagiarism accusations. The lawsuit by Olivier Debie, who claimed that his logo design was copied, was later dropped, with the designer citing escalating legal costs.
Mass logging for construction of the Olympic venues received international criticism. Petitions, containing more than 140,000 signatures in total, were delivered to the Japanese embassies in Switzerland and Germany, expressing concerns over claims of using tropical wood sourced from Shin Yang, a Malaysian company with a record of human rights abuses, illegal logging, and rainforest destruction. In February 2018, the Olympics Organizing Committee admitted that 87% of plywood panels used to build the new national stadium was sourced from endangered rainforests.
Portions of the Games were scheduled for locations impacted by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, and the subsequent Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. The hosting of events in these locations was promoted as a means of furthering recovery in the regions, with the Games sometimes being promoted as the "Recovery Olympics".
However, the organization of events in these regions has faced criticism; Fukushima is considered safe by the World Health Organization and the United Nations, although scientific studies on the safety of the area are still disputed. Some Tōhoku residents questioned the decision to use the region as a host site, arguing that preparations for the Games slowed down recovery efforts, and that the region lost workers to projects associated with the Games.
It was widely reported by international media that South Korea had asked the IOC to ban the Japanese Rising Sun Flag from the 2020 Summer Olympics, claiming it to be a symbol of Japan's imperialist past, recalling "historic scars and pain" for people of Korea just as the swastika "reminds Europeans of the nightmare of World War II". Use of the flag in international sporting events such as the Olympic Games is controversial because it was used for waging aggressive war against many countries in Pacific regions, including the attack on Pearl Harbor. According to the Associated Press, the IOC issued a statement in response to South Korea's request, saying, "sports stadiums should be free of any political demonstration. When concerns arise at games time we look at them on a case-by-case basis." Russian and South Korean officials took issue with a map of the torch relay on the Games' official website, which depicted the disputed Liancourt Rocks (governed by South Korea) and Kuril Islands (governed by Russia since 1945) as part of Japan.
In February 2021, the TOCOG president Yoshirō Mori resigned, after facing both domestic and international criticisms over his sexist remarks. The previous conduct of the new president, Seiko Hashimoto, has also drawn criticisms, leading her to comment "I regret it and think I should be careful" on one of the accusations. The head creative director for the opening and closing ceremonies, Hiroshi Sasaki, resigned in March 2021, after making demeaning comments about Naomi Watanabe. Sasaki's replacement, Kentarō Kobayashi, was dismissed by the Organizing Committee the day before the opening ceremony, after it was reported by Japanese media that he had made a joke about the Holocaust in a script for his comedy in 1998, saying "Let's play Holocaust." On the eve of the opening ceremony, Yoshihide Suga, the Prime Minister of Japan and the Supreme Advisor of the Organizing Committee, described Kobayashi's jokes as "outrageous and unacceptable", but also said that the opening ceremony, which was directed by Kobayashi, should proceed as planned.
The composer for the opening ceremony, Keigo Oyamada, resigned days before the ceremony after growing criticism of his past bullying of people with apparent disabilities, such as Down syndrome. On 16 July, a week before the opening ceremony, TOCOG announced their support of Oyamada as a composer and vowed not to change his selection for the ceremonies, but growing criticism forced him to announce his resignation on 19 July. The opening ceremony music included arrangements of video game soundtracks originating in Japan; however, this included music from the Dragon Quest series, composed by Koichi Sugiyama whom The Daily Beast described as "notoriously homophobic and ultranationalist", leading to further criticism of the Organizing Committee.
Officials reported that by early June 2021, about 10,000 of the 80,000 registered volunteers had quit. "There's no doubt that one of the reasons is concern over coronavirus infections," the chief executive of the Organizing Committee said, also stating he did not believe this would impact the operation of the Games. On 23 July, hundreds of anti-Olympic protestors gathered outside the Japan National Stadium before the opening ceremony. Security guards blocked reporters from leaving the stadium to interview protestors. In total, more than 60,000 police were mobilized for security during the Games, and police were regularly deployed to break up public displays of protest, including tackling protestors on their way to join the anti-Olympic protest in Sendagaya during the closing ceremony on September 5, 2021. This overwhelming police presence, including plainclothes police officers who encircled the protest area, "served as an effective tool to criminalize a peaceful rally and to maintain a frightening image of open protest."
Writing for The Conversation, Olympic scholar MacIntosh Ross raised concerns about the relationship between the IOC and WHO, suggesting the organizations showed a lack of concern for the health of Japanese citizens and Olympians. As Ross explained, "when the IOC and WHO support a global mega-event held during a pandemic, it's difficult to believe that the well-being of the host nation remains a priority." Similarly, Japan scholars O'Shea and Maslow remark, "International media coverage and commentary runs the gamut from sometimes scathing critique for attempting to pull off a 'pandemic games', to praise and plaudits for successfully pulling off a 'pandemic games'. Still, the story that Japan—or at least the LDP—wanted to tell, of a newly reborn and 'normal' Japan (re-)entering the world stage remained untold. Instead, the story of the 2020/2021 Tokyo Olympics was more mundane, that of a state doing a decent job of managing Covid and hosting a mega-event against the wishes of many of its inhabitants."
A number of controversies arose during the Games, most notably the attempted repatriation on 1 August of Belarusian sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, allegedly for her criticism of the national sports authorities and team management. Refusing to return to Belarus, over fears for her safety, Tsimanouskaya sought assistance from the IOC and traveled to Warsaw, Poland, on 4 August after being granted a humanitarian visa by Tokyo's Polish Embassy.
Near the end of the Olympics, it was reported that Australian athletes had damaged the village rooms before departure, leaving a pool of vomit on the floor, damaged beds and a hole in the wall. Australian rugby Olympians also reportedly became drunk on the flight to Sydney, leaving vomit in the plane bathroom and receiving complaints from other passengers. Team Australia chief Ian Chesterman played down the incidents, and said that the Olympians would not be punished.
Algerian judoka Fethi Nourine and his coach Amar Benikhlef were suspended for 10 years by the International Judo Federation after Nourine refused to fight an Israeli athlete at the Olympics. Nourine said his political support for the Palestinians in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict made it impossible for him to compete against Israeli athletes. Sudan's Mohamed Abdalarasool also withdrew from the competition to avoid the Israeli athlete.
After the Olympics concluded, New Zealand diving judge Lisa Wright revealed that during the diving events, Zhou Jihong, Vice President of FINA from China, allegedly launched a verbal tirade at Wright at the conclusion of the men's 10 m platform final. Wright alleged that Zhou verbally abused her for underscoring Chinese divers. Diving New Zealand subsequently complained about the incident to FINA's Ethics Panel. As a result, Zhou was ordered by a FINA Ethics Panel decision to write a letter of apology to Wright. A recommendation was also made by the Ethics Panel to disestablish Zhou's position as Diving Bureau Liaison for FINA. The FINA Ethics Panel stated that the incident during the men's platform final was "unfortunate" and led to a "misunderstanding mixed with misjudgement" between Wright and Zhou. In May 2022, former international diver, Olympic judge and previous member of FINA's Technical Diving Committee from New Zealand Simon Latimer revealed he had sent a whistleblower complaint to FINA's Executive Director Brent Nowicki in December 2021 detailing Zhou's alleged "unethical behavior" which also contained allegations that Zhou coached Chinese divers during major events during the 2020 Summer Olympics and she had manipulated judging panels in order to benefit Chinese athletes. Latimer claimed that Zhou's behavior was tarnishing the reputation of international diving and that she was acting in the interests of China rather than international diving as a whole. Subsequent to Latimer's complaint, video evidence emerged online showing Zhou coaching Chinese divers during competition sessions at the Olympics, a behavior considered unethical given her supposedly neutral role as a FINA Vice President and Diving Bureau Liaison.
== Broadcasting ==
The Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 reached a global broadcast audience of 3.05 billion people, according to independent research conducted on behalf of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Official coverage on Olympic broadcast partners' digital platforms alone generated 28 billion video views in total – representing a 139 per cent increase compared with the Olympic Games Rio 2016 and underlining the changing media landscape and Tokyo 2020's designation as the first streaming Games and the most watched Olympic Games ever on digital platforms.
Sony and Panasonic partnered with NHK to develop broadcasting standards for 8K resolution television, with a goal to release 8K television sets in time for the 2020 Summer Olympics. In early 2019, Italian broadcaster RAI announced its intention to deploy 8K broadcasting for the Games. NHK broadcast the opening and closing ceremonies, and coverage of selected events in 8K. Telecom company NTT Docomo signed a deal with Finland's Nokia to provide 5G-ready baseband networks in Japan in time for the Games. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmanuel_Lubezki#Feature_film | Emmanuel Lubezki#Feature film | Emmanuel Lubezki Morgenstern (Spanish pronunciation: [emaˈnwel luˈβeski]; born November 30, 1964) is a Mexican cinematographer. Lubezki is known for uses of natural lighting and continuous uninterrupted shots in cinematography, often utilizing a Steadicam, a 3-axis gimbal, or hand-held camera. He is also known for his frequent collaborations with Terrence Malick, Alfonso Cuarón, and Alejandro González Iñárritu.
He has received numerous accolades including three consecutive wins for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for the science fiction thriller Gravity (2013), the dark comedy Birdman (2014), and the epic western The Revenant (2015). He was Oscar-nominated for his work on A Little Princess (1995), Sleepy Hollow (1999), The New World (2005), Children of Men (2006), and The Tree of Life (2011).
Lubezki is a member of both the Mexican Society of Cinematographers and the American Society of Cinematographers. Lubezki won the Royal Photographic Society Lumière Award for major achievement in cinematography, video or animation in 2016.
== Early life and education ==
Lubezki was born to a Jewish family in Mexico City, Mexico. His father was actor and producer Muni Lubezki. His paternal grandfather is Lithuanian Jewish while his grandmother is also Jewish, from Russia. Lubezki studied film at Mexico's Centro Universitario de Estudios Cinematográficos (CUEC), where he met Alfonso Cuarón. Lubezki is the cousin of billionaire businessman Daniel Lubetzky.
== Career ==
Lubezki began his career in Mexican film and television productions in the late 1980s. His first international production was the 1993 independent film Twenty Bucks.
Lubezki is a frequent collaborator with fellow Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón. The two have been friends since they were teenagers and attended the same film school at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Together they have worked on six motion pictures: Sólo Con Tu Pareja, A Little Princess, Great Expectations, Y Tu Mamá También, Children of Men, and Gravity.
His work with Cuarón on Children of Men was praised for utilizing a number of new technologies and distinctive techniques. The "roadside ambush" scene was shot in one extended take utilizing a special camera rig invented by Doggicam systems, developed from the company's Power Slide system. For the scene, a vehicle was modified to enable seats to tilt and lower actors out of the way of the camera. The windshield of the car was designed to tilt out of the way to allow camera movement in and out through the front windscreen. A crew of four, including Lubezki, rode on the roof. Children of Men also features a seven-and-a-half-minute battle sequence composed of roughly five seamless edits.
Lubezki won his first Academy Award for Best Cinematography for his work on Cuarón's Gravity, a thriller set in outer space. The film was praised for the way it combined two shots through digital backgrounds of space to create the illusion of scenes done in a single shot. Lubezki won his second Academy Award in the following year for his work on Alejandro González Iñárritu's Birdman. The film used a similar technique from Gravity, being very unusual in the way the entire movie was shot so as to appear to be photographed in one continuous take. Lubezki won the award again in 2015 for Iñárritu's The Revenant, becoming a milestone for his third consecutive win and for being the first cinematographer to do so. The film was shot entirely in the wilderness during a cold season, minimizing the amount of CGI and using only natural lighting. The process proved to be extremely difficult, which required a limited amount of time to shoot each scene, thus causing production delays, budget overruns, and changes of locations for proper settings. Despite everything, the movie became both a commercial and a critical success, with much praise towards its atmospheric tone and realism.
== Style and reception ==
Lubezki is known for groundbreaking uses of natural lighting and continuous uninterrupted shots in cinematography, often utilizing a Steadicam, a 3-axis gimbal, or hand-held camera to orchestrate fluid, uninterrupted camera movements during particularly significant scenes. He is also known for his frequent collaborations with directors Terrence Malick, Alfonso Cuarón, and Alejandro González Iñárritu.
Lubezki is a member of both the Mexican Society of Cinematographers and the American Society of Cinematographers. Lubezki won the Royal Photographic Society Lumière Award for major achievement in cinematography, video or animation in 2016.
== Filmography ==
=== Feature film ===
=== Television ===
TV shorts
== Awards and nominations ==
Lubezki has been recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the following films:
68th Academy Awards: Best Cinematography, nomination, A Little Princess (1995)
72nd Academy Awards: Best Cinematography, nomination, Sleepy Hollow (1999)
78th Academy Awards: Best Cinematography, nomination, The New World (2005)
79th Academy Awards: Best Cinematography, nomination, Children of Men (2006)
84th Academy Awards: Best Cinematography, nomination, The Tree of Life (2011)
86th Academy Awards: Best Cinematography, win, Gravity (2013)
87th Academy Awards: Best Cinematography, win, Birdman (2014)
88th Academy Awards: Best Cinematography, win, The Revenant (2015) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bard_College | Bard College | Bard College is a private liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, United States. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains within the Hudson River Historic District and is a National Historic Landmark.
Founded in 1860, the institution consists of a liberal arts college and a conservatory. The college offers undergraduate and graduate programs. It participates in a network of many affiliated programs internationally.
== History ==
=== Origins and early years ===
During much of the nineteenth century, the land since owned by Bard was mainly composed of several country estates. These estates were called Blithewood, Bartlett, Sands and Ward Manor/Almont.
In 1853, John Bard and Margaret Bard purchased a part of the Blithewood estate and renamed it Annandale. John Bard was the grandson of Samuel Bard, a prominent doctor, a founder of Columbia University's medical school, and physician to George Washington. John Bard was also the nephew of John McVickar, a professor at Columbia University. The family had strong connections with the Episcopal Church.
The following year, in 1854, John and Margaret established a parish school on their estate in order to educate the area's children. A wood-frame cottage, known today as Bard Hall, served as a school on weekdays and a chapel on weekends. In 1857, the Bards expanded the parish by building the Chapel of the Holy Innocents next to Bard Hall. During this time, John Bard remained in close contact with the New York leaders of the Episcopal Church. The church suggested that he found a theological college.
With the promise of outside financial support, John Bard donated the unfinished chapel, and the surrounding 18 acres (7.3 ha), to the diocese in November 1858. In March 1860, "St. Stephen's College" was founded. In 1861, construction began on the first St. Stephen's College building, a stone collegiate Gothic dormitory called Aspinwall, after early trustee John Lloyd Aspinwall, brother of William Henry Aspinwall. During its initial years, the college relied on wealthy benefactors, like trustee Cornelius Vanderbilt, for funding.
The college began taking shape within four decades. In 1866, Ludlow Hall, an administrative building, was erected. Preston Hall was built in 1873 and used as a refectory. A set of four dormitories, collectively known as Stone Row, were completed in 1891. And in 1895, the Greek Revival Hoffman Memorial Library was built. The school officially changed its name to Bard College in 1934 in honor of its founder.
=== 20th century growth and secularization ===
In the 20th century, social and cultural changes amongst New York's high society would bring about the demise of the great estates. In 1914, Louis Hamersley purchased the fire-damaged Ward Manor/Almont estate and erected a Tudor style mansion and gatehouse, or what is today known as Ward Manor. Hamersley expanded his estate in 1926 by acquiring the abandoned Cruger's Island estate. That same year, after Hamersley's combined estate was purchased by William Ward, it was donated to charity and served as a retirement home for almost four decades.
By the mid-1900s, Bard's campus significantly expanded. The Blithewood estate was donated to the college in 1951, and in 1963, Bard purchased 90 acres (36 ha) of the Ward Manor estate, including the main manor house. The rest of the Ward Manor estate became the 900-acre (360 ha) Tivoli Bays nature preserve.
In 1919, Bernard Iddings Bell became Bard's youngest president at the age of 34. His adherence to classical education, decorum, and dress eventually clashed with the school's push towards Deweyism and secularization, and he resigned in 1933.
In 1928, Bard merged with Columbia University, serving as an undergraduate school similar to Barnard College. Under the agreement, Bard remained affiliated with the Episcopal Church and retained control of its finances. The merger raised Bard's prestige; however, it failed to provide financial support to the college during the Great Depression. So dire was Bard's financial situation that in 1932, then-Governor of New York and College trustee Franklin D. Roosevelt sent a telegram to the likes of John D. Rockefeller Jr., George Eastman, and Frederick William Vanderbilt requesting donations for the college.
On May 26, 1933, Donald Tewksbury, a Columbia professor, was appointed dean of the college. Although dean for only four years, Tewksbury had a lasting impact on the school. Tewksbury, an educational philosopher, had extensive ideas regarding higher education. While he was dean, Tewksbury steered the college into a more secular direction and changed its name from St. Stephen's to Bard. He also emphasized the arts, something atypical of colleges at the time, and set the foundations for Bard's Moderation and Senior Project requirement. While Tewksbury never characterized Bard's curriculum as "progressive," the school would later be considered an early adopter of progressive education. In his 1943 study of early progressive colleges, titled General Education in the Progressive College, Louis T. Benezet used Bard as one of his three case studies.
During the 1940s, Bard provided a haven for intellectual refugees fleeing Europe. These included Hannah Arendt, the political theorist, Stefan Hirsch, the precisionist painter; Felix Hirsch, the political editor of the Berliner Tageblatt; the violinist Emil Hauser; the linguist Hans Marchand; the noted psychologist Werner Wolff; and the philosopher Heinrich Blücher. Arendt is buried at Bard, alongside her husband Heinrich Blücher, as is eminent novelist Philip Roth.
In 1944, as a result of World War II, enrollment significantly dropped putting financial stress on the college. In order to increase enrollment, the college became co-educational, thereby severing all ties with Columbia. The college became an independent, secular, institution in 1944. Enrollment more than doubled, from 137 students in 1944, to 293 in 1947.
Donald Fagen and Walter Becker's experiences at Bard prompted them to write the 1973 song "My Old School" for their rock group, Steely Dan. The song was motivated by the 1969 drug bust at Bard in which the college administration colluded. The DA involved was G. Gordon Liddy of Watergate notoriety. Fagen wrote another Steely Dan song, "Rikki Don't Lose That Number", about novelist, artist and former Bard faculty spouse Rikki Ducornet.
=== 21st century ===
In 2020, Bard College and Central European University became the founding members of the Open Society University Network, a collaborative global education initiative endowed with US$1 billion. As part of this new initiative, the college received a US$100 million gift from the Open Society Foundations which ranks among the largest financial contributions to a U.S. institution in recent history. In 2021, philanthropist George Soros made a $500 million endowment pledge to Bard College. It is one of the largest pledges of money ever made to higher education in the United States.
In June 2021, Bard College was declared an "undesirable organization" in Russia, becoming the first international higher education organization to be branded with this designation. Bard president Botstein hypothesized that this tag was due to their association with and funding from the Open Society Foundations which was also classified as undesirable in Russia and related conspiracy theories about George Soros.
Throughout the early 2010s, Bard College president Leon Botstein maintained a relationship with financier, child sex offender, and human trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, from whom he received gifts and donations to Bard totaling $150,000. Epstein had presented himself as a philanthropist interested in Bard's educational programs, particularly its arts and music programs, as well as taking an interest in Bard's high school early college model for young gifted individuals ready to start college 2 years earlier than typically normal. Epstein made an endowment gift to the flagship Bard High School Early College in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, to which he added 30% to the High School's endowment that operates separate finances from Bard College. Epstein repeatedly visited Bard, by helicopter, landing the helicopter on the south end of Bard's Campus, on the Blithewood lawn, a popular gathering sight for Bard's students.
In response, more than one hundred Bard alumni, including Fergie Chambers, the son of the chair of the Bard College Board of Trustees James Cox Chambers, called on Botstein to resign as president.
=== College leaders ===
At various times, the leaders of the college have been titled president, warden or dean. They are listed below:
George Franklin Seymour (1860–1861)
Thomas Richey (1861–1863)
Robert Brinckerhoff Fairbairn (1863–1898)
Lawrence T. Cole (1899–1903)
Thomas R. Harris (1904–1907)
William Cunningham Rodgers (1909–1919)
Bernard Iddings Bell (1919–1933)
Donald George Tewksbury (1933–1937)
Harold Mestre (1938–1939)
Charles Harold Gray (1940–1946)
Edward C. Fuller (1946–1950)
James Herbert Case Jr. (1950–1960)
Reamer Kline (1960–1974)
Leon Botstein (1975–present)
== Campus ==
The campus of Bard College is in Annandale-on-Hudson, a hamlet in Dutchess County, New York, United States, in the town of Red Hook. It contains more than 70 buildings with a total gross building space of 1,167,090 sq ft (108,426 m2) and was listed as a census-designated place in 2020. Campus buildings represent varied architectural styles, but the campus remains heavily influenced by the Collegiate Gothic and Postmodern styles.
Bard's historic buildings are associated with the early development of the college and the history of the Hudson River estates (see Bard College History). During a late twentieth-century building boom, the college embraced a trend of building signature buildings designed by prominent architects like Venturi, Gehry, and Viñoly.
In January 2016, Bard purchased Montgomery Place, a 380-acre (150 ha) estate adjacent to the Bard campus, with significant historic and cultural assets. The estate consists of a historic mansion, a farm, and some 20 smaller buildings. The college purchased the property from Historic Hudson Valley, the historical preservation organization that had owned Montgomery Place since the late 1980s. The addition of this property brings Bard's total campus size to nearly 1,000 acres (400 ha) along the Hudson River in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.
In late 2023, Bard purchased 260 acres of land adjacent to the Montgomery Place campus in Barrytown, which used to be the campus of the Unification Theological Seminary. The property, originally owned by the Livingston and later Aspinwall families, features a mansion designed by William Appleton Potter. It was acquired by the De La Salle Brothers in 1928, who completed a large seminary and normal institute there in 1931. In turn, the property was sold in 1974 to the Unification Church. Bard College at Simon's Rock announced that it would be moving into the property in fall 2025. The purchase of the property brings Bard's total acreage to 1260 acres (510 ha).
The area around the campus first appeared as a census-designated place (CDP) in the 2020 Census, with a population of 358.
The college has some housing for faculty members. School-age dependents in this faculty housing are in the Red Hook Central School District.
== Academics ==
=== Rankings and awards ===
In its 2025 edition of college rankings, U.S. News & World Report ranked Bard 71st overall, 5th in "Most Innovative Schools", tied at 33rd for "Best Undergraduate Teaching", tied at #38 in "Top Performers on Social Mobility", tied at #19 in "First-Year Experiences", and 19th for "Best Value" out of 211 "National Liberal Arts Colleges" in the United States. In 2024, Washington Monthly ranked Bard 50th among 194 liberal arts colleges in the U.S. based on its contribution to the public good, as measured by social mobility, research, and promoting public service.
Bard's Master of Fine Arts program was ranked one of ten most influential Master of Fine Arts programs in the world by Artspace Magazine in 2023.
Bard has been named a top producer of U.S. Fulbright Scholars. Many Bard alumni have also been named Watson Fellows, Critical Language Scholarship recipients, Davis Projects for Peace winners, Rhodes Scholars, Marshall Scholars, and Peace Corps fellows, among other postgraduate awards.
=== Undergraduate programs ===
In the undergraduate college, Bard offers Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees. There are 23 academic departments that offer over 40 major programs, as well as 12 interdisciplinary concentrations. The college was the first in the nation to offer a human rights major. Its most popular undergraduate majors, based on 2021 graduates, were: Fine/Studio Arts (106), English Language and Literature/Letters (81), and Biological and Physical Sciences (80).
==== Undergraduate admissions ====
For the academic year 2022–2023, Bard's acceptance rate stands at 46%. Out of the total 6,482 students who applied, 2,982 were admitted to the school. For the 2022–2023 academic year 447 students enrolled representing a yield rate of 15%. Admission trends note a 25% increase in applications in the 2022–2023 academic year. Bard does not require applicants to submit SAT or ACT test scores in order to apply. As an alternative, applicants may take an examination composed of 19 essay questions in four categories: Social Studies; Languages and Literature; Arts; and Science, Mathematics, and Computing, with applicants required to complete three 2,500-word essays covering three of the four categories. For admitted students who submitted test scores, 50% had an SAT score between 1296 and 1468 or an ACT score between 28 and 33, with a reported average GPA of 3.79. Admissions officials consider a student's GPA a very important academic factor. Honors, AP, and IB classes are important, an applicant's high school class rank is considered, and letters of recommendation are considered very important for admissions officials at Bard.
=== Graduate programs ===
Bard College offers a range of postgraduate degree programs, including the Bard MFA, Bard Graduate Center, Center for Curatorial Studies, Center for Human Rights and the Arts, Center for Environmental Policy, Bard MBA in Sustainability, Levy Economics Institute, the Master of Arts in Teaching, and the Master of Arts in Global Studies.
=== Bard MFA ===
Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts is a nontraditional graduate school for interdisciplinary study in the visual and creative arts. The program takes place over two years and two months, with students residing on campus during three consecutive summers, and two winter sessions of independent study completed off campus. Notable artists and writers that have been affiliated with the Bard MFA as faculty and visiting artists include Marina Abramovic, Eileen Myles, Paul Chan, Robert Kelly, Tony Conrad, Okkyung Lee, Yto Barrada, Carolee Schneemann, Lynne Tillman, and Ben Lerner.
==== Bard Graduate Center ====
The Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture is a graduate research institute and gallery located in New York City. Established in 1993, the institute offers a two-year MA program and a PhD program that began in 1998. The institute's facilities include a gallery space at 18 West 86th Street and an academic building with a library at 38 West 86th Street.
==== Center for Curatorial Studies ====
The Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College (CCS Bard) established in 1990, is a museum and research center dedicated to the study of contemporary art and exhibition practices from the 1960s to the present. In 1994, CCS Bard launched its (MA) Master of Arts in Curatorial Studies program. The center also hosts public events throughout the year including lectures and panel discussions on topics in contemporary art.
The museum, spanning an area of 55,000 square feet, offers a variety of exhibitions accessible to the general public throughout the year. It houses two distinct collections, the CCS Bard Collection and the Marieluise Hessel collection, which has been loaned to CCS Bard on a permanent basis. Artists such as Keith Haring, Julian Schnabel, Wolfgang Tillmans, Stephen Shore, and Cindy Sherman, among numerous others, are featured within these collections.
The CCS Bard Library is a research collection for contemporary art with a focus on post-1960s contemporary art, curatorial practice, exhibition histories, theory, and criticism. in 2023 historian Robert Storr donated over 25,000 volumes to the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, nearly doubling the total collection size to 63,000 volumes.
In 2022 CCS Bard received $50 million from a $25 million donation from the Gochman Family Foundation to form a Center for American and Indigenous Studies at CCS Bard and a matching donation of $25 million from George Soros. This followed two 2021 gifts of $25 million, one from Marieluise Hessel and a matching donation from Soros.
==== Levy Economics Institute ====
Levy Economics Institute is a public policy think tank focused on generating public policy responses to economic problems. Through research, analysis, and informed debate, the institute aims to enable scholars and leaders from business, labor, and government to collaborate on common interest issues.
== Endowment ==
Bard has access to multiple, distinct endowments. Bard, along with Central European University, is a founding member of the Open Society University Network, endowed with $1 billion from philanthropist George Soros, which is a network of universities to operate throughout the world to better prepare students for current and future global challenges through integrated teaching and research. As of 2025 Bard maintained its own endowment of approximately $395,986,151. In July 2020, Bard received a gift of $100 million from the Open Society Foundations, which will dispense $10 million yearly over a period of ten years. In April 2021, Bard received a $500 million endowment challenge grant from George Soros. On January 21 2026 the Open Society Foundation and Bard College published a joint newsletter signaling the successful completion of the endowment drive, Bard raised $520 of the $500 million over 5 years meeting the pledge amount set by George Soros and the Open Society Foundation, bringing Bard's endowment to $1.4 billion.
== Programs, centers, and associated institutes ==
Bard has developed several graduate programs and research institutes, including the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts, the Levy Economics Institute which began offering a Masters of Science in Economic Theory and Policy in 2014, the Center for Curatorial Studies and Art in Contemporary Culture, the Bard Center for Environmental Policy, the Bard College Conservatory of Music, the ICP-Bard Program in Advanced Photographic Studies in Manhattan, the Master of Arts in Teaching Program (MAT), the Bard College Clemente Program, and the Bard Graduate Center in Manhattan.
In 1990, Bard College acquired, on permanent loan, art collector Marieluise Hessel's substantial collection of important contemporary artwork. In 2006, Hessel contributed another $8 million (USD) for the construction of a 17,000-square-foot addition to Bard's Center for Curatorial Studies building, in which the collection is exhibited.
The Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) provides a liberal arts degree to incarcerated individuals (prison education) in five prisons in New York State, and enrolls nearly 200 students. Since federal funding for prison education programs was eliminated in 1994,
In February 2009, Bard announced the first dual degree program between a Palestinian university and an American institution of higher education. The college entered into a collaboration with Al-Quds University involving an honors college, a master's program in teaching and a model high school.
In accordance with AlQuds-Bard requirements, students are not allowed to decide their major during the first year of their studies; instead, as a liberal arts college, students are advised to diverge in different classes that would allow them to decide what program they would like to take interest in as in the following year. Students are encouraged to look upon different classes to help them decide the subject they would mostly enjoy studying.
In June 2011, Bard acquired the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and in November 2011, Bard took ownership of the European College of Liberal Arts in Berlin, Germany, to become Bard College Berlin.
== Student life ==
Over 120 student clubs are financed through Bard's Convocation Fund, which is distributed once a semester by an elected student body and ratified during a public forum. Bard College has one print newspaper, the Bard Free Press, which was awarded a Best in Show title by the Associated Collegiate Press in 2013. In 2003, the Bard Free Press won Best Campus Publication in SPIN Magazine's first annual Campus Awards.
College radio station WXBC was founded in 1947. In 2006, it was nominated for "Station of the Year" and "Biggest Improvement" in the CMJ College Radio Awards.
== Athletics ==
Bard College teams (nicknamed the Raptors) participate as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division III. The Raptors are a member of the Liberty League. Prior conference affiliations include the Skyline Conference and the former Hudson Valley Athletic Conference. Women's sports include basketball, cross country, lacrosse, soccer, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field, volleyball and squash. Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, soccer, squash, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field and volleyball.
Bard College Rugby Football Club fields men's and women's teams that compete in the Tristate Conference, affiliated with National Collegiate Rugby. Additional club sports include: ultimate frisbee, fencing, and equestrian.
== Alumni and faculty ==
=== Notable alumni ===
=== Notable faculty === |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Arnold | David Arnold | David Arnold (born 23 January 1962) is an English film composer whose credits include scoring five James Bond films (1997–2008), as well as Stargate (1994), Independence Day (1996), Godzilla (1998), Shaft (2000), 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), Four Brothers (2005), Hot Fuzz (2007), and the television series Little Britain and Sherlock. For Independence Day, he received a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television, and for Sherlock, he and co-composer Michael Price won a Creative Arts Emmy for the score of "His Last Vow", the final episode in the third series. Arnold scored the BBC / Amazon Prime series Good Omens (2019) adapted by Neil Gaiman from his book Good Omens, written with Terry Pratchett. Arnold is a fellow of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors.
== Career ==
While attending a Sixth Form College in Luton, Arnold became friends with director Danny Cannon. Cannon initially created short films for which Arnold was asked to write the music. The two made their respective major film debuts with The Young Americans. "Play Dead", a song from the film with singer Björk, charted No. 12 in the UK. The following year he scored Stargate and Last of the Dogmen, with excerpts from the former ranking third in the most commonly used soundtrack cues for film trailers.
Arnold then composed music for Stargate director Roland Emmerich's next two movies, Independence Day and Godzilla, as well as four movies for director John Singleton. In addition, he has scored various comedies, dramas, and nineteenth-century period pieces, as well as providing music for several British television shows including the 2000 remake of Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) and Little Britain. During film production, his compositions are conducted by Nicholas Dodd. In 2010, he composed the music for Come Fly With Me, a British television series from the producers of Little Britain.
He is a member of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA). On Thursday 29 November 2012, Arnold received an honorary degree from University of West London. Now a university honorary, he will work closely with the University in particular London College of Music, a faculty within the institute. In 2014, he appeared as himself in The Life of Rock with Brian Pern.
=== Film music concerts ===
Arnold performed his debut orchestral concert, showcasing his film and television music, on Sunday 6 July 2014 at London's Royal Festival Hall. The line-up featured Nicholas Dodd conducting, David McAlmont as surprise guest vocalist ("My secret weapon!" said Arnold) and the Urban Voices Collective choir, plus Mark Gatiss and Amanda Abbington introducing the suite of Sherlock music, for which Arnold's collaborator on the project, Michael Price, replaced Dodd.
He performed his music in a series of orchestral concerts in 2015: Dublin) in January (with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra); Manchester (with the Manchester Camerata) in April; and London (with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra), Birmingham and Nottingham (with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO)) in June 2015. He was also the special guest at 'The music of David Arnold', a concert in Lucerne in October 2015, with Ludwig Wicki conducting the 21st Century Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. On 5 June 2016 Film Music Prague performed a concert of his work, with Arnold in attendance (and performing) as special guest. In February 2016 the Royal Albert Hall announced the premiere of Independence Day Live on 22 September 2016. This celebrated the 20th anniversary of the film's release with a live orchestral performance. David Arnold gave a pre-show talk about his work and the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra and Maida Vale Singers (conducted by Gavin Greenaway) performed the original music while the film screened. The Upcoming magazine gave the event a five star review noting that "with unrivalled acoustics and a ceiling filled with floating UFO-shaped objects, the Hall set the ideal scene for the audience and the musicians alike" and that the production "kept the audience on the edge of their seats as if the film had just been released for the first time."
Arnold hosted another two concerts of his music in Dublin, at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre on 19 and 20 May 2017, with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. The first concert showcased his career in writing music for film and television, the second was Independence Day Live with the film screened as the orchestra played the score alongside. The first James Bond film ever to be screened with a live orchestra was Casino Royale in Concert which took place at the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday 30 September 2017; David Arnold held a pre-concert question and answer session.
=== James Bond ===
Arnold was a Bond fan from an early age and also a fan of Bond composer John Barry. In 1997, Arnold produced Shaken and Stirred: The David Arnold James Bond Project, an album featuring new versions of the themes from various James Bond films. The album featured a variety of contemporary artists including Jarvis Cocker, Chrissie Hynde, David McAlmont, Propellerheads and Iggy Pop; a version of You Only Live Twice by Björk was recorded but not included on the album. John Barry, the composer of many of the themes on the album, was complimentary about Arnold's interpretation of his work: "He was very faithful to the melodic and harmonic content, but he's added a whole other rhythmic freshness and some interesting casting in terms of the artists chosen to do the songs. I think it's a terrific album. I'm very flattered." Barry contacted Barbara Broccoli, producer of the then-upcoming Tomorrow Never Dies, to recommend Arnold as the film's composer. Arnold was hired to score the instalment and, returning the compliment to the man he refers to as "The guvnor", included musical references to Barry's score for From Russia with Love, as well as, of course, the James Bond Theme composed by Monty Norman with Barry's arrangement.
Arnold scored the four subsequent Bond films: The World Is Not Enough, Die Another Day (in which he included references to John Barry's score for On Her Majesty's Secret Service), Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. Arnold did not score the 23rd James Bond film, Skyfall, with Thomas Newman taking his place. Arnold commented that Newman had been selected by the film's director, Sam Mendes, because of their history of working together, rather than because of Arnold's commitment to working with director Danny Boyle as composer for the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics. However, a part of Arnold's composition work on Casino Royale was reused, with a credit, in Skyfall and again in SPECTRE.
Arnold also co-wrote the main theme songs for The World Is Not Enough ("The World Is Not Enough" by Garbage) and Casino Royale ("You Know My Name" by Chris Cornell), as well as "Surrender" by k.d. lang which appears during the end credits of Tomorrow Never Dies having been originally proposed as the opening theme. Arnold also contributed the main themes to Kevin Kiner's score for Activision's GoldenEye 007, the remake of the 1997 game of the same name.
In 2017, a part of a track entitled "Vesper" from Arnold's composition work on the Casino Royale soundtrack was reused in a Sherlock episode entitled "The Final Problem", the third episode of the fourth series, in a track entitled "Pick Up" composed by Arnold himself and Michael Price.
== Other work ==
Arnold has collaborated with such musical acts as Cast, Kaiser Chiefs, Massive Attack, and Pulp, and solo artists Natasha Bedingfield, Melanie C, Björk, Chris Cornell, Shirley Manson, Mark Morriss, Nina Persson and in 2009 produced Shirley Bassey's album The Performance.
In 2001, he provided a new arrangement of Ron Grainer's Doctor Who theme music for the Eighth Doctor audio dramas from Big Finish Productions. His version was used as the Eighth Doctor theme starting with 2001's Storm Warning until 2008, when it was replaced with a new version arranged by Nicholas Briggs starting with Dead London. Arnold's theme returned to the Eighth Doctor releases with the 2012 box set, Dark Eyes.
Arnold is the second cousin of Irish singer-songwriter Damien Rice, and is an ambassador for aid agency CARE International in the UK. He has made minor appearances in two different episodes of Little Britain as separate characters.
In February 2011, it was announced that he had been appointed Musical Director for the 2012 Olympic Games and the 2012 Paralympic Games in London.
In May 2011, he was part of the United Kingdom's jury for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011.
Arnold took part in a tribute to John Barry on 20 June 2011 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, singing a song that was composed by Barry and playing the guitar part of the James Bond theme.
In 2014, Arnold teamed up with Richard Thomas, to write the music and lyrics for the new West End musical Made in Dagenham.
In October 2015 he collaborated with Lethal Bizzle and Sinead Harnett to create a song combining orchestral, grime and soul elements. The song, 'Come This Far', was performed live at a special event at One Mayfair, as part of Bulmers Cider's LiveColourful LIVE promotion, and made available as a free download from Bulmers' website. He and Sherlock co-composer Michael Price also composed the music for ITV's Jekyll and Hyde television series which premiered in October 2015.
In September 2016 the Royal Albert Hall hosted an orchestral performance of Independence Day with the score performed live to picture, David Arnold gave a pre-show talk.
In 2019, David Arnold provided additional production for Sophie Ellis-Bextor's orchestral album, The Song Diaries. Later in 2020, he co-produced an orchestral cover of 'My Favourite Things' (from The Sound of Music) along with Richard Jones (of The Feeling) for Sophie's 2020 compilation album Songs From The Kitchen Disco.
In July 2023, it was announced that Arnold and Ellis-Bextor would collaborate with lyricist Don Black for the track to Channel 4 and Universal Pictures film, "Mog's Christmas", based upon the children's book series by Judith Kerr. The track, titled "As Long As I Belong", is about "the importance of belonging". The film is slated for a Q4 2023 release.
== Acting filmography ==
== Discography ==
=== Films ===
=== Television ===
=== Video games ===
=== Web series ===
=== Singles in charts ===
== Awards ==
Won: Grammy Award – Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television – Independence Day
Won: Ivor Novello Awards – Best International Film Score for The World Is Not Enough
Won: Ivor Novello Awards – BASCA Fellowship (2005)
Nominated: BAFTA Award – Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music – Casino Royale
Nominated: Grammy Award – Best Song Written for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media – You Know My Name from Casino Royale (songwriter)
Won: BBC Radio Awards – Best music production – The Sound of Cinema with David Arnold
Won: Emmy Award - Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie, or a Special – Sherlock ("His Last Vow") (with Michael Price) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_honorary_citizens_of_Beijing | List of honorary citizens of Beijing | Honorary citizen of Beijing is an honorary title awarded to foreigners, overseas Chinese and Hong Kong and Macau compatriots who have made outstanding contributions to Beijing's foreign cooperation, economic construction and social development. The honorary citizen's certificate and badge will be issued by the Beijing Municipal Government.
For foreigners, overseas Chinese, Hong Kong and Macau compatriots who have been awarded the honorary citizenship of Beijing, all relevant institutions in Beijing shall provide assistance in their working and living in Beijing. They will be invited to participate in major celebrations organized by Beijing and enjoy VIP privileges.
== List of honorary citizens ==
As of 30 March 2017. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic-size_swimming_pool | Olympic-size swimming pool | An Olympic-size swimming pool is a swimming pool which conforms to the regulations for length, breadth, and depth made by World Aquatics (formerly FINA) for swimming at the Summer Olympics and the swimming events at the World Aquatics Championships. Different size regulations apply for other pool-based events, such as diving, synchronized swimming, and water polo. Less onerous breadth and depth regulations exist for lesser swimming competitions, but any "long course" event requires a course length of 50 metres (164 ft 0.5 in), as distinct from "short course" which applies to competitions in pools that are 25 metres (82 ft 0 in) in length (or 75 feet (22.9 m) in the United States). And If touch pads are used in competition, then the distance is relative to the touch pads at either end of the course, so that the pool itself is generally oversized to allow for the width of the pads.
An Olympic-size swimming pool is used as a colloquial unit of volume, to make approximate comparisons to similarly sized objects or volumes. It is not a specific definition, as there is no maximum limit on the depth of an Olympic pool. The value has an order of magnitude of 1 megaliter (ML). Some style guides caution against the hyperbole of describing any relatively large pool as "Olympic-size[d]".
== Specifications ==
World Aquatics specifications for an Olympic-size pool are as follows:
There must be two spaces 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) wide outside lanes 1 and 8 (in effect, two empty lanes). The length of 50 metres (164 ft) must be between the touch pads at the end of each lane, if they are used. If starting blocks are used, then there must be a minimum depth of 1.35 metres (4.4 ft) from between 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) from the end of the pool to at least 6 metres (19 ft 8 in) from the end of the pool. At all other points, the minimum depth is 1 metre (3 ft 3 in). If the pool is used for Olympic Games or World Championships, then the minimum depth is increased to 2 metres (6 ft 7 in). Whereas the Water Cube pool used for the 2008 Olympics was 3 metres (9 ft 10 in) deep, the temporary pool used in 2024 was only 2.2 metres (7 ft 3 in), which commentators suggested made for slower race times.
== Ten-lane pools ==
At FINA's 2009 Congress, rules were approved for 10-lane courses for competition, as an alternative to the more traditional 8-lane course.
This version of the Olympic-sized swimming pool debuted in the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. Beforehand, the Summer Olympics featured the more traditional 8-lane course with a depth of roughly seven feet, now the minimum depth requirement. Twenty-five world records were broken at this pool, although this is more heavily attributed to the polyurethane "supersuits" worn by many competitors (banned by FINA in 2010).
The new Olympic-sized swimming pool was designed to provide advantages to competitors. Increasing the lane count from eight to ten introduces a "buffer lane", helping to absorb waves generated by movements of the swimmers. The increased depth of the pool assists the lane lines in dissipating water churn, thereby creating less hydrodynamic drag. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keir_Clark | Keir Clark | William Keir Clark (May 30, 1910 – November 28, 2010) was a Canadian merchant and political figure in Prince Edward Island. After serving as mayor of Montague in 1941 and 1942, he represented 3rd Kings in the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island from 1947 to 1959 and 4th Kings from 1966 to 1970 as a Liberal. In 1970, he sat as an Independent Liberal.
He was born in Mount Stewart, Prince Edward Island, the son of Russell Charles Clark and Marion J. McKay, and was educated at Prince of Wales College and Dalhousie University. In 1940, Clark married Anna I. McLaren. He served as mayor of Montague. Clark served in the province's Executive Council as Minister of Education from 1953 to 1959, as Provincial Treasurer from 1954 to 1955 and as Minister of Health and Municipal Affairs from 1966 to 1969. He resigned from cabinet in 1969, saying that he did not support all aspects of his government's development plan.
He was defeated when he ran for reelection in 1959. In 2008 he became P.E.I.'s oldest living former politician, and he turned 100 in 2010. Clark died in Eldon, Prince Edward Island on November 28, 2010. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rufus_Wilmot_Griswold | Rufus Wilmot Griswold | Rufus Wilmot Griswold (February 13, 1815 – August 27, 1857) was an American anthologist, editor, poet, and critic. Born in Vermont, Griswold left home when he was 15 years old. He worked as a journalist, editor, and critic in Philadelphia, New York City, and elsewhere. He built a strong literary reputation, in part due to his 1842 collection The Poets and Poetry of America. This anthology, the most comprehensive of its time, included what he deemed the best examples of American poetry. He produced revised versions and similar anthologies for the remainder of his life, although many of the poets he promoted have since faded into obscurity. Many writers hoped to have their work included in one of these editions, although they commented harshly on Griswold's abrasive character. Griswold was married three times: his first wife died young, his second marriage ended in a public and controversial divorce, and his third wife left him after the previous divorce was almost repealed.
Edgar Allan Poe, whose poetry had been included in Griswold's anthology, published a critical response that questioned which poets were included. This began a rivalry which grew when Griswold succeeded Poe as editor of Graham's Magazine at a salary higher than Poe's. Later, the two competed for the attention of poet Frances Sargent Osgood. They never reconciled their differences, and after Poe's mysterious death in 1849, Griswold wrote an unsympathetic obituary. Claiming to be Poe's chosen literary executor, he began a campaign to harm Poe's reputation that lasted until his own death eight years later.
Griswold considered himself an expert in American poetry and was an early proponent of its inclusion on the school curriculum. He also supported the introduction of copyright legislation, speaking to Congress on behalf of the publishing industry, but he was not above infringing the copyright of other people's work. A fellow editor remarked "even while haranguing the loudest, [he] is purloining the fastest".
== Life and career ==
=== Early life ===
Griswold was born to Rufus and Deborah (Wass) Griswold on February 13, 1815, in Vermont, near Rutland, and raised a strict Calvinist in the hamlet of Benson. He was the twelfth of fourteen children and his father was a farmer and shoemaker. In 1822, the family sold the Benson farm and moved to nearby Hubbardton. As a child, Griswold was complex, unpredictable, and reckless. He left home when he was 15, calling himself a "solitary soul, wandering through the world, a homeless, joyless outcast".
Griswold moved to Albany, New York, and lived with a 22-year-old flute-playing journalist named George C. Foster, a writer best known for his work New-York by Gas-Light. Griswold lived with Foster until he was 17, and the two may have had a romantic relationship. When Griswold moved away, Foster wrote to him begging him to return, signing his letter "come to me if you love me". Griswold attempted to enroll at the Rensselaer School in 1830, but was not allowed to take any classes after he was caught attempting to play a prank on a professor.
=== Early career and first marriage ===
After a brief spell as a printer's apprentice, Griswold moved to Syracuse, New York, where he started a newspaper with friends titled The Porcupine. This publication purposefully targeted locals for what was later remembered as merely malicious critique.
He moved to New York City in 1836. and in March of this year, was introduced to 19-year-old Caroline Searles, whom he later married. He was employed as an editor for various publications in the New York area. In October, he considered running for office as a Whig but did not receive the party's support. In 1837, he was licensed as a Baptist clergyman, but he never had a permanent congregation.
Griswold married Caroline on August 12, 1837, and the couple had two daughters. Following the birth of their second daughter, Griswold left his family behind in New York and moved to Philadelphia. His departure on November 27, 1840 was by all accounts abrupt, leaving his job with Horace Greeley's New York Tribune, and his library of several thousand volumes. He joined the staff of Philadelphia's Daily Standard and began to build his reputation as a literary critic, becoming known for his savagery and vindictiveness.
On November 6, 1842, Griswold visited his wife in New York after she had given birth to their third child, a son. Three days later, after returning to Philadelphia, he was informed that both she and the infant had died. Deeply shocked, Griswold traveled by train alongside her coffin, refusing to leave her side for 30 hours. When fellow passengers urged him to try to sleep, he answered by kissing her dead lips and embracing her, his two children crying next to him. He refused to leave the cemetery after her funeral, even after the other mourners had left, until forced to do so by a relative. He wrote a long poem in blank verse dedicated to Caroline, titled "Five Days", which was printed in the New York Tribune on November 16, 1842. Griswold had difficulty believing she had died and often dreamed of their reunion. Forty days after her entombment, he entered her vault, cut off a lock of her hair, kissed her on the forehead and lips, and wept for several hours, staying by her side until a friend found him 30 hours later.
=== Anthologist and critic ===
In 1842, Griswold released his 476-page anthology of American poetry, The Poets and Poetry of America, which he dedicated to Washington Allston. Griswold's collection featured poems from over 80 authors, including 17 by Lydia Sigourney, three by Edgar Allan Poe, and 45 by Charles Fenno Hoffman. Hoffman, a close friend, was allotted twice as much space as any other author. Griswold oversaw many anthologies, including Biographical Annual, which collected memoirs of "eminent persons recently deceased", Gems from American Female Poets, Prose Writers of America, and Female Poets of America.
Between 1842 and 1845, while Griswold was collecting material for Prose Writers of America, he discovered the identity of Horace Binney Wallace, who had been writing in various literary magazines at the time (including Burton's Gentleman's Magazine) under the pen name William Landor. Wallace declined to be included in the anthology but the two became friends, exchanging many letters over the years. Wallace eventually ghostwrote Griswold's Napoleon and the Marshals of the Empire (1847).
Prose Writers of America, published in 1847, was prepared specifically to compete with a similar anthology by Cornelius Mathews and Evert Augustus Duyckinck. The prose collection earned Griswold a rivalry with the two men, which Griswold expected. As it was being published, Griswold wrote to Boston publisher James T. Fields that "Young America will be rabid". In preparing his anthologies, Griswold wrote to the living authors whose work he was including to ask their suggestions on which poems to include as well as to gather information for a biographical sketch.
In 1843, Griswold founded The Opal, an annual gift book that collected essays, stories, and poetry. Nathaniel Parker Willis edited its first edition, released in the fall of 1844. For a time, Griswold was editor of the Saturday Evening Post and published a collection of poetry, titled The Cypress Wreath (1844). His poems, with titles such as "The Happy Hour of Death", "On the Death of a Young Girl", and "The Slumber of Death", emphasized mortality and mourning. Another collection of his poetry, Christian Ballads and Other Poems, was published in 1844, and his nonfiction book, The Republican Court or, American Society in the Days of Washington, was published in 1854. The book is meant to cover events during the presidency of George Washington, though it mixes historical fact with apocryphal legend until one is indistinguishable from the other. During this period, Griswold occasionally offered his services at the pulpit delivering sermons and he may have received an honorary doctorate from Shurtleff College, a Baptist institution in Illinois, leading to his nickname the "Reverend Dr. Griswold".
=== Second marriage ===
On August 20, 1845, Griswold married Charlotte Myers, a Jewish woman; she was 42 and he was 33. Griswold had been pressured into the marriage by the woman's aunts despite his concern about their difference in religious beliefs. This difference was strong enough that one of Griswold's friends referred to his wife only as "the little Jewess". On their wedding night, he discovered that she was, according to Griswold biographer Joy Bayless, "through some physical misfortune, incapable of being a wife" or, as Poe biographer Kenneth Silverman explains, incapable of having sex. Griswold considered the marriage void and no more valid "than there would have been had the ceremony taken place between parties of the same sex, or where the sex of one was doubtful or ambiguous". Still, the couple moved together to Charleston, South Carolina, Charlotte's home town, and lived under the same roof, albeit sleeping in separate rooms. Neither of the two was happy with the situation, and at the end of April 1846, she had a lawyer write a contract "to separate, altogether and forever, ... which would in effect be a divorce". The contract forbade Griswold from remarrying and paid him $1,000 (~$35,833 in 2025) for expenses in exchange for his daughter Caroline staying with the Myers family. After this separation, Griswold immediately moved back to Philadelphia.
=== Move to New York City ===
A few years later, Griswold moved back to New York City, leaving his younger daughter in the care of the Myers family and his elder daughter, Emily, with relatives on her mother's side. He had by now earned the nickname "Grand Turk", and in the summer of 1847, made plans to edit an anthology of poetry by American women. He believed that women were incapable of the same kind of "intellectual" poetry as men and believed they needed to be divided: "The conditions of aesthetic ability in the two sexes are probably distinct, or even opposite", he wrote in his introduction. The selections he chose for The Female Poets of America were not necessarily the greatest examples of poetry but instead were chosen because they emphasized traditional morality and values. The same year, Griswold began working on what he considered "the maximum opus of his life", an extensive biographical dictionary. Although he worked on it for several years and even advertised for it, he never produced it. He also helped Elizabeth F. Ellet publish her book Women of the American Revolution, and was angered when she did not acknowledge his assistance in the book. In July 1848, he visited poet Sarah Helen Whitman in Providence, Rhode Island, but he had been suffering with vertigo and exhaustion, rarely leaving his apartment at New York University, and was unable to write without taking opium. In autumn of that year, he had an epileptic seizure, the first of many he would have for the remainder of his life. One seizure caused him to fall out of a ferry in Brooklyn and nearly drown. He wrote to publisher James T. Fields: "I am in a terrible condition, physically and mentally. I do not know what the end will be ... I am exhausted—betwixt life and death—and heaven and hell." In 1849, he was further troubled when Charles Fenno Hoffman, with whom he had become good friends, was committed to an insane asylum.
Griswold continued editing and contributing literary criticism for various publications, both full-time and freelance, including 22 months from July 1, 1850, to April 1, 1852, with The International Magazine. There, he worked with contributors including Elizabeth Oakes Smith, Mary E. Hewitt and John R. Thompson. In the November 10, 1855, issue of The Criterion, Griswold anonymously reviewed the first edition of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, declaring: "It is impossible to image how any man's fancy could have conceived such a mass of stupid filth". Griswold charged that Whitman was guilty of "the vilest imaginings and shamefullest license", a "degrading, beastly sensuality." Referring to Whitman's poetry, Griswold said he left "this gathering of muck to the laws which ... must have the power to suppress such gross obscenity." Whitman later included Griswold's review in a new edition of Leaves of Grass. He ended his review with a phrase in Latin referring to "that horrible sin, among Christians not to be named", the stock phrase long associated with Christian condemnations of sodomy, referring in this instance to homosexual, rather than heterosexual sodomy. Griswold was the first person in the 19th century to publicly point to and stress the theme of erotic desire and acts between men in Whitman's poetry. More attention to that aspect of Whitman's poetry surfaced late in the 19th century.
=== Divorce and third marriage ===
After a brief flirtation with poet Alice Cary, Griswold pursued a relationship with Harriet McCrillis. He originally did not want to divorce Charlotte Myers because he "dreaded the publicity" and because of her love for his daughter. He applied for divorce at the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia on March 25, 1852. Elizabeth Ellet and Ann S. Stephens wrote to Myers urging her not to grant the divorce, and to McCrillis not to marry him. To convince Myers to agree to the divorce, Griswold allowed her to keep his daughter Caroline if she signed a statement that she had deserted him. She agreed, and the divorce was made official December 18; he likely never saw Myers or his daughter again. McCrillis and Griswold were married shortly thereafter on December 26, 1852, and settled at 196 West Twenty-third Street in New York. Their son, William, was born on October 9, 1853.
Ellet and Stephens continued writing to Griswold's ex-wife, urging her to have the divorce repealed. Myers was convinced and filed in Philadelphia on September 23, 1853. The court, however, had lost records of the divorce and had to delay the appeal. Adding to Griswold's troubles, that fall, a gas leak in his home caused an explosion and a fire. He was severely burned, losing his eyelashes, eyebrows, and seven of his finger nails. The same year, his 15-year-old daughter, Emily, nearly died in Connecticut. A train she was riding on had fallen off a drawbridge into a river. When Griswold arrived, he saw 49 corpses in a makeshift morgue. Emily had been pronounced dead when pinned underwater but a doctor was able to revive her. On February 24, 1856, the divorce appeal went to court, with Ellet and Stephens providing lengthy testimony against Griswold's character. Neither Griswold nor Myers attended, and the appeal was dismissed. Embarrassed by the ordeal, McCrillis left Griswold in New York and moved in with family in Bangor, Maine.
=== Death ===
Griswold died of tuberculosis in New York City on August 27, 1857. Estelle Anna Lewis, a friend and writer, suggested that the interference of Elizabeth Ellet had exacerbated Griswold's condition and that she "goaded Griswold to his death". At the time of his death, the sole decorations found in his room were portraits of himself, Frances Osgood, and Poe. A friend, Charles Godfrey Leland, found in Griswold's desk several documents attacking a number of authors which Griswold was preparing for publication. Leland decided to burn them.
Griswold's funeral was held on August 30. His pallbearers included Leland, Charles Frederick Briggs, George Henry Moore, and Richard Henry Stoddard. His remains were left for eight years in the receiving tomb of Green-Wood Cemetery before being buried on July 12, 1865, without a headstone. Although his library of several thousand volumes was auctioned, raising over $3,000 (~$48,015 in 2024) to be put toward a monument, none was commissioned.
== Reputation and influence ==
Griswold's anthology The Poets and Poetry of America was the most comprehensive of its kind to date. As critic Lewis Gaylord Clark said, it was expected Griswold's book would "become incorporated into the permanent undying literature of our age and nation". The anthology helped Griswold build up a considerable reputation throughout the 1840s and 1850s and its first edition went through three printings in only six months. His choice of authors, however, was occasionally questioned. A British editor reviewed the collection and concluded, "with two or three exceptions, there is not a poet of mark in the whole Union" and referred to the anthology as "the most conspicuous act of martyrdom yet committed in the service of the transatlantic muses". Even so, the book was popular and was continued in several editions after Griswold's death by Richard Henry Stoddard.
In later times, The Poets and Poetry of America has been nicknamed a "graveyard of poets" because its anthologized writers have since passed into obscurity to become, as literary historian Fred Lewis Pattee wrote, "dead ... beyond all resurrection". Pattee also called the book a "collection of poetic trash" and "voluminous worthlessness".
Within the contemporary American literary scene Griswold became known as erratic, dogmatic, pretentious, and vindictive. Historian Perry Miller wrote "Griswold was about as devious as they came in this era of deviousness; did not ample documentation prove that he actually existed, we might suppose him ... one of the less plausible inventions of Charles Dickens". Later anthologies such as Prose Writers of America and Female Poets of America helped him become known as a literary dictator, whose approval writers sought even while they feared his growing power. Even as they tried to impress him, however, several authors voiced their opinion on Griswold's character. Ann S. Stephens called him two-faced and "constitutionally incapable of speaking the truth". Even his friends knew him as a consummate liar and had a saying: "Is that a Griswold or a fact?" Another friend once called him "one of the most irritable and vindictive men I ever met". Author Cornelius Mathews wrote in 1847 that Griswold fished for writers to exploit, warning "the poor little innocent fishes" to avoid his "Griswold Hook". A review of one of Griswold's anthologies, published anonymously in the Philadelphia Saturday Museum on January 28, 1843, but believed to have been written by Poe, asked: "What will be [Griswold's] fate? Forgotten, save only by those whom he has injured and insulted, he will sink into oblivion, without leaving a landmark to tell that he once existed; or if he is spoken of hereafter, he will be quoted as the unfaithful servant who abused his trust."
James Russell Lowell, who had privately called Griswold "an ass and, what's more, a knave", composed a verse on Griswold's temperament in his satirical A Fable for Critics:
Griswold was one of the early proponents of teaching schoolchildren American poetry in addition to English poetry. One of his anthologies, Readings in American Poetry for the Use of Schools, was created specifically for that purpose. His knowledge in American poetry was emphasized by his claim that he had read every American poem published before 1850—an estimated 500 volumes. "He has more literary patriotism, if the phrase be allowable ... than any person we ever knew", wrote a contributor to Graham's. "Since the Pilgrims landed, no man or woman has written anything on any subject which has escaped his untiring research." Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. noted that Griswold researched literature like "a kind of naturalist whose subjects are authors, whose memory is a perfect fauna of all flying and creeping things that feed on ink."
Evert Augustus Duyckinck commented that "the thought [of a national literature] seems to have entered and taken possession of (Griswold's) mind with the force of monomania". Poet Philip Pendleton Cooke questioned Griswold's sincerity, saying he "should have loved [it] ... better than to say it". By the 1850s, Griswold's literary nationalism had subsided somewhat, and he began following the more popular contemporary trend of reading literature from England, France, and Germany. He disassociated himself from the "absurd notion ... that we are to create an entirely new literature".
Publicly, Griswold supported the establishment of international copyright, but he often duplicated entire works during his time as an editor, particularly with The Brother Jonathan. A contemporary editor said of him: "He takes advantage of a state of things which he declares to be 'immoral, unjust and wicked,' and even while haranguing the loudest, is purloining the fastest." Even so, he was chosen to represent the publishing industry before Congress in the spring of 1844 to discuss the need for copyright law.
== Relationship with Poe ==
Griswold first met Edgar Allan Poe in Philadelphia in May 1841 while working for the Daily Standard. At the outset, their relationship was cordial, at least superficially. In a letter dated March 29, 1841, Poe sent Griswold several poems for The Poets and Poetry of America anthology, writing that he would be proud to see "one or two of them in the book". Griswold included three of these poems: "Coliseum", "The Haunted Palace", and "The Sleeper". In November of this year, Poe, who previously praised Griswold in his "Autography" series as "a gentleman of fine taste and sound judgment", wrote a critical review of the anthology, on Griswold's behalf. Griswold paid Poe for the review and used his influence to have it published in a Boston periodical. The review was generally favorable, but Poe questioned the inclusion of certain authors and the omission of others. Poe also said that Griswold "unduly favored" New England writers. Griswold had expected more praise, and Poe privately told others he was not particularly impressed by the book, even calling it "a most outrageous humbug" in a letter to a friend. In another letter, this time to fellow writer Frederick W. Thomas, Poe suggested that Griswold's promise to help get the review published was a bribe for a favorable review, knowing Poe needed the money.
Making the relationship more strained, only months later, Griswold was hired by George Rex Graham to take up Poe's former position as editor of Graham's Magazine. Griswold, however, was paid more and given more editorial control of the magazine than Poe. Shortly after, Poe began presenting a series of lectures called "The Poets and Poetry of America", the first of which was given in Philadelphia on November 25, 1843. Poe openly attacked Griswold in front of his large audience and continued to do so in similar lectures. Graham said that during these lectures, Poe "gave Mr. Griswold some raps over the knuckles of force sufficient to be remembered". In a letter dated January 16, 1845, Poe tried to reconcile with Griswold, promising him that his lecture now omitted all that Griswold found objectionable.
Another source of animosity between the two men was their competition for the attention of the poet Frances Sargent Osgood in the mid to late 1840s. While both she and Poe were still married to their respective spouses, the two carried on a public flirtation that resulted in much gossip among the literati. Griswold, who was smitten with Osgood, escorted her to literary salons and became her staunchest defender. "She is in all things the most admirable woman I ever knew", he wrote to publisher James T. Fields in 1848. Osgood responded by dedicating a collection of her poetry to Griswold "as a souvenir of admiration for his genius, of regard for his generous character, and of gratitude for his valuable literary counsels".
=== "Ludwig" obituary ===
After Poe's death, Griswold prepared an obituary signed with the pseudonym Ludwig. First printed in the October 9, 1849, issue of the New York Tribune, it was soon republished many times. Here he asserted that "few will be grieved" by Poe's death as he had few friends. He claimed that Poe often wandered the streets, either in "madness or melancholy", mumbling and cursing to himself, was easily irritated, was envious of others, and that he "regarded society as composed of villains". Poe's drive to succeed, Griswold wrote, was because he sought "the right to despise a world which galled his self-conceit". Much of this characterization of Poe was copied almost verbatim from that of the fictitious Francis Vivian in The Caxtons by Edward Bulwer-Lytton.
Griswold biographer Joy Bayless wrote that Griswold used a pseudonym not to conceal his relationship to the obituary but because it was his custom never to sign his newspaper and magazine contributions. Regardless, Griswold's true identity was soon revealed. In a letter to Sarah Helen Whitman dated December 17, 1849, he admitted his role in writing Poe's death notice. "I was not his friend, nor was he mine", he wrote.
=== Memoir ===
Griswold claimed that "among the last requests of Mr. Poe" was that he become his literary executor "for the benefit of his family". Griswold claimed that Poe's aunt and mother-in-law Maria Clemm said Poe had made such a statement on June 9, 1849, and that she herself released any claim to Poe's works. And indeed a document exists in which Clemm transfers power of attorney to Griswold, dated October 20, 1849, although there are no signed witnesses. Clemm, however, had no right to make such a decision; Poe's younger sister Rosalie was his closest next of kin. Although Griswold had acted as a literary agent for other American writers, it is unclear if Poe really appointed Griswold his executor (perhaps as part of his "Imp of the Perverse"), if it were a trick on Griswold's part, or a mistake on Maria Clemm's. It is also possible that Osgood persuaded Poe to name Griswold as his executor.
In any case, Griswold, along with James Russell Lowell and Nathaniel Parker Willis, edited a posthumous collection of Poe's works published in three volumes starting in January 1850. He did not share the profits of his edition with Poe's surviving relatives. This edition included a biographical sketch titled "Memoir of the Author" which has become notorious for its inaccuracy. The "Memoir" depicts Poe as a madman, addicted to drugs and chronically drunk. Many elements were fabricated by Griswold using forged letters as evidence and it was denounced by those who knew Poe, including Sarah Helen Whitman, Charles Frederick Briggs, and George Rex Graham. In March, Graham published a notice in his magazine accusing Griswold of betraying trust and taking revenge on the dead. "Mr. Griswold", he wrote, "has allowed old prejudices and old enmities to steal ... into the coloring of his picture." Thomas Holley Chivers wrote a book called New Life of Edgar Allan Poe which directly responded to Griswold's accusations. He said that Griswold "is not only incompetent to Edit any of [Poe's] works, but totally unconscious of the duties which he and every man who sets himself up as a Literary Executor, owe the dead".
Today Griswold's name is usually associated with Poe's as a character assassin, but not all believe that Griswold deliberately intended to cause harm. Some of the information that Griswold asserted or implied was that Poe was expelled from the University of Virginia and that Poe had tried to seduce his guardian John Allan's second wife. Even so, Griswold's attempts only drew attention to Poe's work; readers were thrilled at the idea of reading the works of an "evil" man. Griswold's characterization of Poe and the false information he originated appeared consistently in Poe biographies for the next two decades. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seapoint_railway_station | Seapoint railway station | Seapoint railway station (Irish: Stáisiún Rinn na Mara) serves the locality of Seapoint, between Blackrock and Salthill in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Ireland.
== History ==
The station opened on 1 July 1862 and was originally called Monkstown & Seapoint, though the following year this was changed to just Seapoint. It was upgraded and electrified in 1984 with the arrival of DART services.
== Transport services ==
There is no direct public transport to or from the station. The nearest bus stops are on Monkstown Road, located 450 m from the station, which are served by the following:
Dublin Bus Routes:
7 / 7A from Mountjoy Square to Bride's Glen / Loughlinstown. Route 7 provides a connection to the Luas Green Line terminus at Bride's Glen
7N Nitelink from Dublin city centre to Shankill, via Blackrock (Friday & Saturday only) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaque | Macaque | The macaques () constitute a genus (Macaca) of gregarious Old World monkeys of the subfamily Cercopithecinae. The 23 species of macaques inhabit ranges throughout Asia, North Africa, and Europe (in Gibraltar). Macaques are principally frugivorous (preferring fruit), although their diet also includes seeds, leaves, flowers, and tree bark. Some species such as the long-tailed macaque (M. fascicularis; also called the crab-eating macaque) will supplement their diets with small amounts of meat from shellfish, insects, and small mammals. On average, a southern pig-tailed macaque (M. nemestrina) in Malaysia eats about 70 large rats each year. All macaque social groups are arranged around dominant matriarchs.
Macaques are found in a variety of habitats throughout the Asian continent and are highly adaptable. Certain species are synanthropic, having learned to live alongside humans, but they have become problematic in urban areas in Southeast Asia and are not suitable to live with, as they can carry transmittable diseases.
Most macaque species are listed as vulnerable to critically endangered on the International Union of the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.
== Description ==
Aside from humans (genus Homo), the macaques are the most widespread primate genus, ranging from Japan to the Indian subcontinent, and in the case of the Barbary macaque (Macaca sylvanus), to North Africa and Southern Europe. Twenty-three macaque species are currently recognized. Macaques are robust primates whose arms and legs are about the same in length. The fur of these animals is typically varying shades of brown or black and their muzzles are rounded in profile with nostrils on the upper surface. The tail varies among each species, which can be long, moderate, short or totally absent. Although several species lack tails, and their common names refer to them as apes, these are true monkeys, with no greater relationship to the true apes than any other Old World monkeys. Instead, this comes from an earlier definition of 'ape' that included primates generally.
In some species, skin folds join the second through fifth toes, almost reaching the first metatarsal joint. The monkey's size differs depending on sex and species. Males from all species can range from 41 to 70 cm (16 to 27.5 in) in head and body length, and in weight from 5.5 to 18 kg (12 to 40 lb). Females can range from a weight of 2.4 to 13 kg (5.3 to 28.7 lb). These primates live in troops that vary in size, where males dominate, however the order of dominance frequently shifts. Female dominance lasts longer and depends upon their genealogical position. Macaques are able to swim and spend most of their time on the ground and spend some time in trees. They have large pouches in their cheeks where they carry extra food. They are considered highly intelligent and are often used in the medical field for experimentation due to their remarkable similarity to humans in emotional and cognitive development. Extensive experimentation has led to the long-tailed macaque being listed as endangered.
== Distribution and habitat ==
Macaques are highly adaptable to different habitats and climates and can tolerate a wide fluctuation of temperatures and live in varying landscape settings. They easily adapt to human-built environments and can survive well in urban settings if they are able to obtain food. They can also survive in completely natural settings absent of humans.
The ecological and geographic ranges of the macaque are the widest of any non-human primate. Their habitats include the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka, India, arid mountains of Pakistan and Afghanistan, and temperate mountains in Algeria, Japan, China, Morocco, and Nepal. Some species also inhabit villages and towns in cities in Asia. There is also an introduced population of rhesus macaques in the US state of Florida consisting, essentially, of monkeys abandoned when a failed boat ride-safari was shut down in the mid-20th century.
A probable Early Pliocene macaque molar from the Red Crag Formation (Waldringfield, United Kingdom), represents one of the oldest and northernmost records of the genus in Europe reported to date.
== Ecology and behavior ==
=== Diet ===
Macaques are mainly frugivorous, although some species have been observed feeding on insects. In natural habitats, they have been observed to consume certain parts of over one hundred species of plants including the buds, fruit, young leaves, bark, roots, and flowers. When macaques live amongst people, they raid agricultural crops such as wheat, rice, or sugarcane; and garden crops like tomatoes, bananas, melons, mangos, or papayas. In human settings, they also rely heavily on direct handouts from people. This includes peanuts, rice, legumes, or even prepared food.
=== Group structure ===
Macaques live in established social groups that can range from a few individuals to several hundred, as they are social animals. A typical social group possess between 20 and 50 individuals of all ages and of both sexes. The typical composition consists of 15% adult males, 35% adult females, 20% infants, and 30% juveniles, though there exists variation in structure and size of groups across populations.
Macaques have a very intricate social structure and hierarchy, with different classifications of despotism depending on species. If a macaque of a lower level in the social chain has eaten berries and none are left for a higher-ranking macaque, then the one higher in status can, within this social organization, remove the berries from the other monkey's mouth.
=== Reproduction and mortality ===
The reproductive potential of each species differs. Populations of the rhesus macaque can grow at rates of 10% to 15% per year if the environmental conditions are favorable. However, some forest-dwelling species are endangered with much lower reproductive rates. After one year of age, macaques move from being dependent on their mother during infancy, to the juvenile stage, where they begin to associate more with other juveniles through rough tumble and playing activities. They sexually mature between three and five years of age. Females will usually stay with the social group in which they were born; however, young adult males tend to disperse and attempt to enter other social groups. Not all males succeed in joining other groups and may become solitary, attempting to join other social groups for many years. Macaques have a typical lifespan of 20 to 30 years.
=== As invasive species ===
Certain species under the genus Macaca have been transplanted to different parts of the world, where they become invasive, while others remain threatened. The long-tailed macaque (M. fascicularis) is listed as an invasive alien species in Mauritius, along with the rhesus macaques (M. mulatta) in Florida. Despite this, the former is listed as endangered.
The long-tailed macaque causes severe damage to parts of its range where it has been introduced because the populations grow unchecked due to a lack of predators. On the island of Mauritius, they have created serious conservation concerns for other endemic species. They consume seeds of native plants and aid in the spread of exotic weeds throughout the forests. This changes the composition of the habitats and allows them to be rapidly overrun by invasive plants.
Long-tailed macaques are also responsible for the near extinction of several bird species on Mauritius by destroying the nests of the birds and eating the eggs of critically endangered species, such as the pink pigeon and Mauritian green parrot. They have been known to eat crops from human farms and gardens, sparking human-wildlife conflicts.
In Florida, a group of rhesus macaques inhabit Silver Springs State Park. Humans often feed them, which may alter their movement and keep them close to the river on weekends where high human traffic is present. The monkeys can become aggressive toward humans, largely due to human ignorance of macaque behavior. They carry potentially fatal human diseases, including the herpes B virus.
== Relations with humans ==
Several species of macaque are used extensively in animal testing, particularly in the neuroscience of visual perception and the visual system.
Nearly all (73–100%) captive rhesus macaques are carriers of the herpes B virus. This virus is harmless to macaques, but infections of humans, while rare, are potentially fatal, a risk that makes macaques unsuitable as pets.
Urban performing macaques also carried simian foamy virus, suggesting they could be involved in the species-to-species jump of similar retroviruses to humans.
=== Population control ===
Management techniques have historically been controversial, and public disapproval can hinder control efforts. Previously, efforts to remove macaque individuals were met with public resistance. One management strategy that is currently being explored is that of sterilization. Natural resource managers are being educated by scientific studies in the proposed strategy. Effectiveness of this strategy is estimated to succeed in keeping populations in check. For example, if 80% of females are sterilized every five years, or 50% every two years, it could effectively reduce the population. Other control strategies include planting specific trees to provide protection to native birds from macaque predation, live trapping, and the vaccine porcine zona pellucida (PZP), which causes infertility in females.
=== Cloning ===
In January 2018, scientists in China reported in the journal Cell the first creation of two crab-eating macaque clones, named Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua, using somatic cell nuclear transfer – the same method that produced Dolly the sheep.
== Species ==
=== Prehistoric (fossil) species ===
M. anderssoni Schlosser, 1924
M. jiangchuanensis Pan et al., 1992
M. libyca Stromer, 1920
M. majori Schaub & Azzaroli in Comaschi Caria, 1969 (sometimes included in M. sylvanus)
M. florentina Cocchi, 1872 |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Band#Discography | The Band#Discography | The Band (sometimes stylized as the Band or the band) were a Canadian-American rock band formed in Toronto, Ontario. It consisted of Canadians Rick Danko (bass, guitar, vocals, fiddle), Garth Hudson (organ, keyboards, accordion, saxophone), Richard Manuel (piano, drums, vocals) and Robbie Robertson (guitar, piano, percussion) and American Levon Helm (drums, vocals, mandolin, guitar, bass). The Band's music combined elements of Americana, folk, rock, R&B, jazz and country, which influenced artists including George Harrison, Elton John, the Grateful Dead, Eric Clapton and Wilco.
Between 1958 and 1963, the group were known as the Hawks and were the backing band for rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins, based in Toronto, Ontario. In the mid-1960s, they gained recognition for backing Bob Dylan on his 1966 concert tour as Dylan's first electric band. After leaving Dylan and changing their name to "The Band", they released their 1968 debut album, Music from Big Pink, and its succeeding album, 1969's The Band, to critical acclaim and commercial success. Pink Floyd's Roger Waters deemed their debut the "second-most influential record in the history of rock and roll", and music journalist Al Aronowitz called it "country soul ... a sound never heard before". The Band's most popular songs include "The Weight" (1968), "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" (1969), and "Up on Cripple Creek" (1969). The Band later released Stage Fright (1970), Cahoots (1971), the live album Rock of Ages (1972), the covers album Moondog Matinee (1973), and Northern Lights – Southern Cross (1975).
The Band performed a farewell concert on November 25, 1976. Footage from the event was released in 1978 as the concert film The Last Waltz, directed by Martin Scorsese. After five years apart, Danko, Hudson, Helm, and Manuel reunited in 1983 for a tour without Robertson. Manuel died in 1986, but the remaining three members continued to tour and occasionally released new albums of studio material until Danko's death in 1999, after which the Band broke up for good. The Band was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1989 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked them 50th on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. The Band received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008 and were inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame in 2014.
== History ==
=== 1957–1964: The Hawks ===
The future members of the Band first played together as the Hawks, the backing group for rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins, based in Toronto. Levon Helm began playing with the group in 1957 and became their fulltime drummer after graduating from high school in 1958. Helm journeyed with Hawkins from Arkansas to Ontario, where they were joined by Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel, and finally Garth Hudson. Later-Band member Stan Szelest was also in the group at that time. Hawkins's act was popular in and around Toronto and in Hamilton to the south, and he had an effective way of eliminating his musical competition. When a promising band appeared, Hawkins would hire their best musicians for his own group; Robertson, Danko, and Manuel came under Hawkins's tutelage this way.
In the late 1950s, with Helm and Robertson in his band, Hawkins performed regularly at Pop Ivey's Summer Garden Pavilion in Port Dover, Ontario. In May 1961, he recruited Danko after watching the Simcoe native, who was 17, playing at the Pavilion. At the same venue, Hawkins and other members of the Hawks happened to see Richard Manuel's group Revols perform for the first time. That led Hawkins to take on management of Manuel's band. In September 1961, Hawkins convinced Manuel to leave the Revols and join the Hawks.
While most of the Hawks were eager to join Hawkins's group, getting Hudson to join was more difficult. Having earned a college degree, Hudson planned on a career as a music teacher, and was only interested in playing rock music as a hobby. The Hawks admired his wild, full-bore organ style and asked him repeatedly to join. Hudson finally agreed, under the condition that the Hawks each pay him $10 per week to be their instructor and purchase a new state-of-the-art Lowrey organ; all music theory questions were directed to Hudson.
With Hawkins, they recorded a few singles in this period and became well known as the best rock group in the thriving Toronto music scene. Hawkins regularly convened all-night rehearsals following long club shows, with the result that the young musicians quickly developed their instrumental skills. In late 1963, the group split from Hawkins over personal differences. They had grown tired of playing the same songs so often and wanted to perform original material, and they were also wary of Hawkins's heavy-handed leadership. He would fine the Hawks if they brought their girlfriends to the clubs (fearing it might reduce the numbers of "available" girls who came to performances) or if they smoked marijuana.
Robertson later said:
Eventually, [Hawkins] built us up to the point where we outgrew his music and had to leave. He shot himself in the foot, really, by sharpening us into such a crackerjack band that we had to go on out into the world, because we knew what his vision was for himself, and we were all younger and more ambitious musically.
The group was briefly known as the Levon Helm Sextet, with a sixth member, saxophonist Jerry Penfound after leaving Hawkins. Then it became Levon and the Hawks after Penfound's departure. In 1965, they released a single on Ware Records under the name the Canadian Squires, but they returned as Levon and the Hawks for a recording session for Atco later that year. Also in 1965, Helm and the band met blues singer and harmonica player Sonny Boy Williamson. They wanted to record with him, offering to become his backing band, but Williamson died not long after their meeting.
Later in 1965, American musician Bob Dylan hired the group as his backing band for his U.S. tour in 1965 and world tour in 1966. After the 1966 tour, the group moved with help from Dylan and his manager, Albert Grossman, to Saugerties, New York, where they made the informal 1967 recordings that became The Basement Tapes, the basis for their 1968 debut album, Music from Big Pink. Because they were always referred to simply as "the band" to various frontmen and the locals in Woodstock, Helm said the name "The Band" worked well when the group came into its own. The group decided on it as their official name and began performing under it from 1968 onward. Dylan continued to collaborate with The Band over the course of their career, most notably in a joint 1974 tour.
=== 1965–1967: With Bob Dylan ===
In late summer 1965, Bob Dylan was looking for a backup band for his first U.S. "electric" tour. Levon and the Hawks were recommended by blues singer John P. Hammond, who earlier that year had recorded with Helm, Hudson and Robertson on his Vanguard album So Many Roads. Around the same time, one of their friends from Toronto, Mary Martin, was working as secretary to Dylan's manager, Albert Grossman. She told Dylan to visit the group at Le Coq d'Or Tavern, a club on Yonge Street, in Toronto—though Robertson recollects it was the Friar's Tavern, just down the street. Her advice to Dylan: "You gotta see these guys."
After hearing the Band play and meeting with Robertson, Dylan invited Helm and Robertson to join his backing band. After two concerts backing Dylan, Helm and Robertson told Dylan of their loyalty to their bandmates and told him that they would continue with him only if he hired all of the Hawks. Dylan accepted and invited Levon and the Hawks to tour with him. The group was receptive to the offer, knowing it could give them the wider exposure they craved. They thought of themselves as a tightly rehearsed rock and rhythm and blues group and knew Dylan mostly from his early acoustic folk and protest music. Furthermore, they had little inkling of how internationally popular Dylan had become.
With Dylan, the Hawks played a series of concerts from September 1965 through May 1966, billed as "Bob Dylan and The Band". The tours were marked by Dylan's reportedly copious use of amphetamines. Some, though not all, of the Hawks joined in the excesses. Most of the concerts were met with heckling and disapproval from folk music purists. Helm was so affected by the negative reception that he left the tour after a little more than one month and sat out the rest of that year's concerts, as well as the world tour in 1966. Helm spent much of this period working on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico.
During and between tours, Dylan and the Hawks attempted several recording sessions, but with less than satisfying results. Sessions in October and November yielded just one usable single ("Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?"), and two days of recording in January 1966 for what was intended to be Dylan's next album, Blonde on Blonde, resulted in "One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)", which was released as a single a few weeks later and was subsequently selected for the album. On "One of Us Must Know", Dylan was backed by drummer Bobby Gregg, bassist Danko (or Bill Lee), guitarist Robbie Robertson, pianist Paul Griffin, and Al Kooper (who was more a guitarist than an organist) playing organ. Frustrated by the slow progress in the New York studio, Dylan accepted the suggestion of producer Bob Johnston and moved the recording sessions to Nashville. In Nashville, Robertson's guitar was prominent on the Blonde on Blonde recordings, especially in the song "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat", but the other members of the Hawks did not attend the sessions.
During the European leg of their 1966 world tour, Mickey Jones replaced Sandy Konikoff on drums. Dylan and the Hawks played at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester on May 17, 1966. The gig became legendary when, near the end of Dylan's electric set, an audience member shouted "Judas!" After a pause, Dylan replied, "I don't believe you. You're a liar!" He then turned to the Hawks and said, "Play it fucking loud!" With that, they launched into an acidic version of "Like a Rolling Stone".
The Manchester performance was widely bootlegged (and mistakenly placed at the Royal Albert Hall). In a 1971 review for Creem, critic Dave Marsh wrote:
My response is that crystallization of everything that is rock'n'roll music, at its finest, was to allow my jaw to drop, my body to move, to leap out of the chair ... It is an experience that one desires simply to share, to play over and over again for those he knows thirst for such pleasure. If I speak in an almost worshipful sense about this music, it is not because I have lost perspective, it is precisely because I have found it, within music, yes, that was made five years ago. But it is there and unignorable.
When the concert finally saw an official release as The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966, The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert in 1998, critic Richie Unterberger declared the record "an important document of rock history."
On July 29, 1966, while on a break from touring, Dylan was injured in a motorcycle accident that precipitated his retreat into semi-seclusion in Woodstock, New York. For a while, the Hawks returned to the bar and roadhouse touring circuit, sometimes backing other singers, including a brief stint with Tiny Tim. Dylan invited the Hawks to join him in Woodstock in February 1967, and Danko, Hudson, and Manuel rented a large pink house, which they named "Big Pink", in nearby West Saugerties, New York. The next month (initially without Helm) they commenced recording a much-bootlegged and influential series of demos, initially at Dylan's house in Woodstock and later at Big Pink, which were released partially on LP as The Basement Tapes in 1975 and in full in 2014. A track-by-track review of the bootleg was detailed by Jann Wenner in Rolling Stone, in which the band members were explicitly named and given the collective name "the Crackers". While Helm was not involved in the initial recording, he did perform in later sessions and in overdubs recorded in 1975 before the album's release.
=== 1968–1972: Initial success as The Band ===
The sessions with Dylan ended in October 1967, with Helm having rejoined the group by that time, and the Hawks began writing their own songs at Big Pink. When they went into the recording studio, they still did not have a name for themselves. Stories vary as to the manner in which they ultimately adopted the name "The Band". In The Last Waltz, Manuel claimed that they wanted to call themselves either "The Honkies" or "The Crackers" (which they used when backing Dylan for a January 1968 concert tribute to Woody Guthrie), but these names were vetoed by their record label; Robertson suggests that during their time with Dylan everyone just referred to them as "the band" and the name stuck. Initially they disliked the moniker, but eventually they grew to like it, thinking it both humble and presumptuous. In 1969, Rolling Stone referred to them as "the band from Big Pink".
Their debut album, Music from Big Pink, was released in July 1968 and was widely acclaimed. It included three songs written or co-written by Dylan ("This Wheel's on Fire", "Tears of Rage" and "I Shall Be Released") as well as "The Weight", which became one of their best-known songs after it was used in the 1969 film Easy Rider. While a thematic continuity ran through the music, the musical style varied from song to song. Pink Floyd's Roger Waters deemed it the "second-most influential record in the history of rock and roll", and music journalist Al Aronowitz called it "country soul... a sound never heard before".
In early 1969, after the success of Music from Big Pink, the Band went on tour, starting with an appearance at Winterland Ballroom. They performed at the Woodstock Festival (their performance was not included in the famed Woodstock film because of legal complications), and later that year they performed with Dylan at the UK Isle of Wight Festival (several songs from which were subsequently included on Dylan's Self Portrait album). That same year, they left for Los Angeles to record their follow-up, The Band (1969). From their rustic appearance on the cover to the songs and arrangements within, the album stood in contrast to other popular music of the day. Several other artists had already made similar stylistic moves, notably Dylan, on John Wesley Harding (1967), which was written during the Basement Tapes sessions, and the Byrds, on Sweetheart of the Rodeo (1968), which featured two Basement Tapes covers. The Band featured songs that evoked old-time rural America, from the Civil War in "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" to the unionization of farm workers in "King Harvest (Has Surely Come)".
These first two records were produced by John Simon, who was practically a group member: he aided in arrangements in addition to playing occasional piano and tuba. Simon reported that he was often asked about the distinctive horn sections featured effectively on the first two albums: people wanted to know how they had achieved such memorable sounds. Simon stated that, besides Hudson (an accomplished saxophonist), the others had only rudimentary horn skills, and achieved their sound simply by creatively using their limited technique.
Greil Marcus's articles in Rolling Stone contributed to the Band's mystique. The Band was also featured on the cover of Time (January 12, 1970), the first rock group after the Beatles, over two years earlier, to achieve this rare distinction. David Attie's unused photographs for this cover—among the very few studio portraits taken during The Band's prime—have only recently been discovered, and were featured in Daniel Roher's Robbie Robertson documentary Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band, as well as having their own four-page spread in Harvey Kubernik and his brother, Ken Kubernik's "The Story of The Band: From Big Pink to The Last Waltz" (Sterling Publishing, 2018).
A critical and commercial triumph, The Band, along with works by the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers, established a musical template (dubbed country rock) that paved the way to the Eagles. Both Big Pink and The Band also influenced their musical contemporaries. Eric Clapton and George Harrison cited the Band as a major influence on their musical direction in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Clapton later revealed that he wanted to join the group. While he never did join, he recruited all of the members of the Band as well as other roots rock performers for his 1976 album No Reason to Cry.
After their second album, The Band embarked on their first tour as a lead act. The anxiety of fame was clear, as the group's songs turned to darker themes of fear and alienation: the influence on their next work is self-explanatory. Stage Fright (1970) was engineered by musician-engineer-producer Todd Rundgren and recorded on stage at the iconic Woodstock Playhouse. As with their previous, self-titled record, Robertson was credited with most of the songwriting. Initial critical reaction was positive, but it was seen as a disappointment from the previous two albums for various reasons. After recording Stage Fright, The Band was among the acts participating in the Festival Express, an all-star rock concert tour of Canada by train that also included Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead and future Band member Richard Bell (at the time he was a member of Joplin's band). In the concert documentary film, released in 2003, Danko can be seen participating in a drunken jam session with Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, John Dawson, and Joplin while singing "Ain't No More Cane".
About that time, Robertson began exerting greater control over the Band, a point of contention between him and Helm. Helm charged Robertson with authoritarianism and greed, while Robertson suggested that he made increased efforts to guide the group in part because Danko, Helm, and Manuel were becoming more unreliable due to their heroin usage. Robertson insists he did his best to coax Manuel into writing more songs, only to see him descend into addiction.
Despite mounting problems among the group members, The Band forged ahead with their next album, Cahoots (1971). Cahoots featured Dylan's "When I Paint My Masterpiece", "4% Pantomime" (with Van Morrison), and "Life Is a Carnival", the last featuring a horn arrangement by Allen Toussaint. Toussaint's contribution was a critical addition to The Band's next project, and the group would later record two songs written by Toussaint: "Holy Cow" on Moondog Matinee and "You See Me" on Jubilation. In late December 1971, The Band recorded the live album Rock of Ages, which was released in the summer of 1972. On Rock of Ages, they were bolstered by the addition of a horn section, with arrangements written by Toussaint. Dylan appeared on stage on New Year's Eve and performed four songs with the group, including a version of "When I Paint My Masterpiece".
=== 1973–1975: Move to Shangri-La ===
In 1973, the Band released the covers album Moondog Matinee. There was no tour in support of the album, which garnered mixed reviews. However, on July 28, 1973, they played at Summer Jam at Watkins Glen, a massive concert that took place at the Grand Prix Raceway outside Watkins Glen, New York. The event, which was attended by over 600,000 fans, also featured the Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers Band. It was during the event that discussions began about a possible tour with Bob Dylan. By late 1973, Danko, Helm, Hudson and Manuel had joined them, and the first order of business was backing Dylan on his album Planet Waves. The album was released concurrently with their joint 1974 tour, in which they played 40 shows in North America during January and February 1974. Later that year, the tour was documented on the live album Before the Flood.
During that time, the Band brought in Planet Waves producer Rob Fraboni to help design a music studio for the group. By 1975, the studio, Shangri-La, was completed. That year, the Band recorded and released Northern Lights – Southern Cross, their first album of new material since 1971. All eight songs were written solely by Robertson. Despite comparatively poor record sales, the album is favored by critics and fans. Levon Helm regards this album highly in his book, This Wheel's on Fire: "It was the best album we had done since The Band." The album also produced more experimentation from Hudson, switching to synthesizers, showcased on "Jupiter Hollow".
=== 1976–1978: The Last Waltz ===
By the mid-1970s, Robbie Robertson was weary of touring. After Northern Lights – Southern Cross failed to meet commercial expectations, much of the group's 1976 tour was confined to theaters and smaller arenas in secondary markets (including the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium, the Long Island Arena and the Champlain Valley Expo in Essex Junction, Vermont), culminating in an opening slot for the ascendant ZZ Top at the Nashville Fairgrounds in September. In early September, Richard Manuel suffered a severe neck injury in a boating accident in Texas, prompting Robertson to urge The Band to retire from live performances after staging a "farewell concert" known as The Last Waltz. Following an October 30 appearance on Saturday Night Live, the event, including turkey dinner for the audience of 5,000, was held on November 25 (Thanksgiving Day) of 1976 at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco and featured a horn section with arrangements by Allen Toussaint and an all-star lineup of guests, including Canadian artists Joni Mitchell and Neil Young. Two of the guests were fundamental to The Band's existence and growth: Ronnie Hawkins and Bob Dylan. Other guests they admired (and in most cases had worked with before) included Muddy Waters, Dr. John, Van Morrison, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Ron Wood, Bobby Charles, Neil Diamond, and Paul Butterfield. The concert was filmed by Robertson's friend, filmmaker Martin Scorsese.
In 1977, the Band released their seventh studio album Islands, which fulfilled their record contract with Capitol so that a planned Last Waltz film and album could be released on the Warner Bros. label. Islands contained a mix of originals and covers, and was the last with the Band's original lineup. Also in 1977, the group recorded soundstage performances with country singer Emmylou Harris ("Evangeline") and gospel-soul group the Staple Singers ("The Weight"); Scorsese combined these new performances—as well as interviews he had conducted with the group—with the 1976 concert footage. The resulting concert film–documentary was released in 1978, along with a three-LP soundtrack.
Helm later wrote about The Last Waltz in his autobiography, This Wheel's on Fire, in which he made the case that it had been primarily Robbie Robertson's project and that Robertson had forced The Band's breakup on the rest of the group. Robertson offered a different take in a 1986 interview:
I made my big statement. I did the movie, I made a three-record album about it—and if this is only my statement, not theirs, I'll accept that. They're saying, "Well, that was really his trip, not our trip." Well, fine. I'll take the best music film that's ever been made, and make it my statement. I don't have any problems with that. None at all.
The original quintet performed together one last time: on March 1, 1978 after the late set of a Rick Danko solo show at The Roxy, the group performed "Stage Fright", "The Shape I'm In", and "The Weight" for an encore.
=== 1983–1989: Reformation and the death of Richard Manuel ===
The Band resumed touring in 1983 without Robertson. An accomplished musician from Woodstock, New York, Jim Weider, became lead guitarist. Robertson had found success with a solo career and as a Hollywood music producer. As a result of their diminished popularity, they performed in theaters and clubs as headliners and took support slots in larger venues for onetime peers such as the Grateful Dead and Crosby, Stills and Nash.
After a performance in Winter Park, Florida, on March 4, 1986, Manuel hanged himself, aged 42, in his motel room. He had suffered for many years from alcoholism and drug addiction and had been clean and sober for several years beginning in 1978 but had begun drinking and using drugs again by 1984. Manuel's position as pianist was filled by old friend Stan Szelest (who died not long after) and then by Richard Bell. Bell had played with Ronnie Hawkins after the departure of the original Hawks, and was best known from his days as a member of Janis Joplin's Full Tilt Boogie Band.
The Band was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame at the 1989 Juno Awards, where Robertson was reunited with original members Danko and Hudson. With Canadian country rock superstars Blue Rodeo as a back-up band, Music Express called the 1989 Juno appearance a symbolic "passing of the torch" from The Band to Blue Rodeo.
=== 1990–1999: Final recording and death of Rick Danko ===
In 1990, Capitol Records began to re-release the records from the 1970s. The remaining three members continued to tour and record albums with a succession of musicians filling Manuel's and Robertson's roles. The Band appeared at Bob Dylan's 30th anniversary concert in New York City in October 1992, where they performed their version of Dylan's "When I Paint My Masterpiece". In 1993, the group released their eighth studio album, Jericho. Jericho was their first album recorded since The Last Waltz 17 years prior, and also their first studio album since Islands. Without Robbie Robertson as primary lyricist, much of the songwriting for the album came from outside of the group. Also in the same year, The Band, along with Ronnie Hawkins, Bob Dylan, and other performers appeared at President Bill Clinton's 1993 "Blue Jean Bash" inauguration party.
In 1994, The Band performed at Woodstock '94. Later in 1994, Robertson appeared with Danko and Hudson as The Band for the second time since the original group broke up. The occasion was the induction of The Band into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Helm, who had been at odds with Robertson for years over accusations of stolen songwriting credits, did not attend. In February 1996, The Band with the Crickets recorded "Not Fade Away", released on the tribute album Not Fade Away (Remembering Buddy Holly). The Band released two more albums after Jericho: High on the Hog (1996) and Jubilation (1998), the latter of which included guest appearances by Eric Clapton and John Hiatt. Helm was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1998 and was unable to sing for several years but he eventually regained the use of his voice. In 1998, the group revealed they were working on a follow-up album to Jubilation that has not been released.
The final song the group recorded together was their 1999 version of Bob Dylan's "One Too Many Mornings", which they contributed to the Dylan tribute album Tangled Up in Blues. On December 10, 1999, Rick Danko died in his sleep at the age of 55. Following his death, The Band broke up for good. The final configuration of the group included Richard Bell (piano), Randy Ciarlante (drums), and Jim Weider (guitar).
=== Later developments ===
In 2002, Robertson bought all other former members' financial interests in the group (with the exception of Helm's), giving him major control of the presentation of the group's material, including latter-day compilations.
Richard Bell died of multiple myeloma in June 2007.
The Band received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award on February 9, 2008, but there was no reunion of former members. In honor of the event, Helm held a Midnight Ramble in Woodstock.
Levon Helm died at the age of 71 on April 19, 2012, after a prolonged battle with throat cancer.
Robbie Robertson died at the age of 80 on August 9, 2023, after battling prostate cancer.
Garth Hudson, the last living original member of the Band, died at the age of 87 on January 21, 2025.
== Musical style ==
The Band's style "thematically and musically fuse[d] the past and the present" by combining various genres. Although primarily incorporating old country music and early rock and roll, the rhythm section often was reminiscent of Stax- or Motown-style rhythm and blues, and Robertson cites Curtis Mayfield and the Staple Singers as major influences, resulting in a synthesis of many musical genres. Singers Manuel, Danko, and Helm each brought a distinctive voice to The Band: Helm's Southern accent was prevalent in his raw and powerful vocals, Danko sang tenor with a distinctively choppy enunciation, and Manuel alternated between falsetto and a soulful baritone. The singers regularly blended singing harmonies. Though the singing was more or less evenly shared among the three, both Danko and Helm have stated that they saw Manuel as The Band's "lead" singer.
Every member was a multi-instrumentalist. There was little instrument-switching when they played live, but when recording, the musicians could make up different configurations in service of the songs. Hudson in particular was able to coax a wide range of timbres from his Lowrey organ. Helm's drumming was often praised: critic Jon Carroll declared that Helm was "the only drummer who can make you cry," while prolific session drummer Jim Keltner admits to appropriating several of Helm's techniques. Producer John Simon is often cited as a "sixth member" of The Band for producing and playing on Music from Big Pink, co-producing and playing on The Band, and playing on other songs up through The Band's 1993 reunion album Jericho.
== Copyright controversy ==
Robertson is credited as writer or co-writer of the majority of The Band's songs and, as a result, has received most of the songwriting royalties generated from the music. That developed into a point of contention, especially for Helm. In his 1993 autobiography, This Wheel's on Fire: Levon Helm and the Story of The Band, Helm disputed the validity of the songwriting credits as listed on the albums and explained that The Band's songs were developed in collaboration with all members. Danko concurred with Helm:
I think Levon's book hits the nail on the head about where Robbie and Albert Grossman and some of those people went wrong and when The Band stopped being The Band... I'm truly friends with everybody but, hey—it could happen to Levon, too. When people take themselves too seriously and believe too much in their own bullshit, they usually get in trouble.
Robertson denied that Helm had written any of the songs attributed to Robertson.
Furthermore, the songs recorded by Levon Helm as a solo artist were almost entirely written by others. For the albums Levon Helm (1978), American Son, Levon Helm (1982), Dirt Farmer, and Electric Dirt he rarely participated in songwriting.
== Legacy ==
The Band was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1989 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked them 50th on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time", and ranked "The Weight" 41st on its list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time". In 2008, the group received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and in 2014, they were inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame.
The Band "ushered in the roots-rock of the '70s, embodying Americana in a way that no one else has approached," according to Mark Deming of AllMusic. He further explained:
Their work reflected the influences of country, blues, folk, and other forms of American roots music in a way that was fresh, organic, and innovative, and showed a creative maturity that was a revelation in the psychedelic era.
Music critic Bruce Eder said that The Band as "one of the most popular and influential rock groups in the world, their music embraced by critics... as seriously as the music of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones."
The Band has influenced numerous bands, songwriters and performers, including the Grateful Dead, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Led Zeppelin, Elvis Costello, Elton John, Phish, and Pink Floyd. The album Music from Big Pink, in particular, is credited with contributing to Clapton's decision to leave the supergroup Cream. In his introduction of The Band during the Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary Concert, Clapton announced that in 1968 he had heard the album, "and it changed my life." The band Nazareth took their name from a line in "The Weight". Guitarist Richard Thompson has acknowledged the album's influence on Fairport Convention's Liege and Lief, and journalist John Harris has asserted that The Band's debut also influenced the spirit of the Beatles' back-to-basics album Let It Be as well as the Rolling Stones' string of roots-infused albums that began with Beggars Banquet. George Harrison said that his song "All Things Must Pass" was heavily influenced by The Band and that, while writing the song, he imagined Levon Helm singing it. Meanwhile, "The Weight" has been covered numerous times, and in various musical styles. In a 1969 interview, Robbie Robertson remarked on the group's influence:
We certainly didn't want everybody to go out and get a banjo and a fiddle player. We were trying to calm things down a bit though. What we're going to do now is go to Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and record four sides, four psychedelic songs. Total freak-me songs. Just to show that we have no hard feelings. Just pretty good rock and roll.
In the 1990s, a new generation of bands influenced by The Band began to gain popularity, including Counting Crows, the Wallflowers, and the Black Crowes. Counting Crows indicated this influence with their tribute to the late Richard Manuel, "If I Could Give All My Love (Richard Manuel Is Dead)", from their album Hard Candy. The Black Crowes frequently cover songs by The Band during live performances, such as "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down", which appears on their DVD/CD Freak 'n' Roll into the Fog. They have also recorded at Helm's studio in Woodstock.
The Hold Steady was formed after members Craig Finn and Tad Kubler watched The Last Waltz. Rick Danko and Robbie Robertson are name-checked in the lyrics of "The Swish" from the Hold Steady's 2004 debut album Almost Killed Me. Also that year, southern rock-revivalists Drive-By Truckers released the Jason Isbell penned track "Danko/Manuel" on the album The Dirty South.
The Band also inspired Grace Potter, of Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, to form the band in 2002. In an interview with the Montreal Gazette, Potter said:
The Band blew my mind. I thought if this is what Matt [Burr] meant when he said "Let's start a rock 'n' roll band,"... that was the kind of rock 'n' roll band I could believe in.
A tribute album, entitled Endless Highway: The Music of The Band, released in January 2007, included contributions from My Morning Jacket, Death Cab for Cutie, Gomez, Guster, Bruce Hornsby, Jack Johnson and ALO, Lee Ann Womack, the Allman Brothers Band, Blues Traveler, Jakob Dylan, Rosanne Cash, and others.
Members of Wilco, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, the Shins, Dr Dog, Yellowbirds, Ween, Furthur, and other bands staged The Complete Last Waltz in 2012 and 2013. Their performances included all 41 songs from the original 1976 concert in sequence, even those edited out of the film. Musical director Sam Cohen of Yellowbirds claims "the movie is pretty ingrained in me. I've watched it probably 100 times."
An incarnation of The Band's legacy, The Weight Band, originated inside the barn of Levon Helm in 2012 when Jim Weider and Randy Ciarlante, both former members of The Band were performing "Songs of The Band" with Garth Hudson, Jimmy Vivino and Byron Isaacs. In July 2017, PBS's Infinity Hall Live program began airing a televised performance by The Weight Band, featuring Band covers and new music by the band. Every year on the Wednesday before and the Friday after Thanksgiving, Dayton, Ohio NPR affiliate WYSO and The Dayton Art Institute host a tribute to The Last Waltz. Frequently selling out, the show features more than 30 local musicians. A similar event takes place annually in Madison, Wisconsin, on the Saturday night after Thanksgiving.
The Band are the subjects of the 2019 documentary film Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band, which premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival. The Band is the subject of an extensive historical podcast, The Band: A History, currently covering the entire history of the group.
== Members ==
=== Classic lineup ===
Rick Danko – bass guitar, vocals, guitar, double bass, fiddle (1965–1977, 1983–1999; his death)
Garth Hudson – organ, keyboards, saxophone, accordion, woodwinds, brass (1965–1977, 1983–1999; died 2025)
Levon Helm – drums, vocals, mandolin, guitar, percussion, bass guitar (1967–1977, 1983–1999; died 2012)
Richard Manuel – piano, vocals, keyboards, drums (1965–1977, 1983–1986; his death)
Robbie Robertson – guitars, vocals, percussion, piano (1965–1977; died 2023)
=== Other members ===
Jim Weider – guitar, backing vocals, bass, mandolin (1985–1999)
Stan Szelest – keyboards (1990–1991; his death)
Randy Ciarlante – drums, percussion, vocals (1990–1999)
Richard Bell – keyboards (1992–1999; died 2007)
=== Additional musicians ===
John Simon – baritone horn, electric piano, piano, tenor saxophone, tuba (1968–1993)
Terry Cagle – drums, backing vocals (1983–1985, 1986–1989; died 2023)
Earl Cate – guitars (1983–1985)
Ernie Cate – keyboards (1983–1985)
Ron Eoff – bass (1983–1985)
Buddy Cage – pedal steel guitar (1986–1989; died 2020)
Fred Carter, Jr. – guitars (1986–1989; died 2010)
Jack Casady – bass (1986–1989)
Blondie Chaplin – guitars, drums, backing vocals (1986–1989)
Jorma Kaukonen – guitars (1986–1989)
Sredni Vollmer – harmonica (1986–1989, 1990–1991; died 2013)
Billy Preston – keyboards, backing vocals (1991; died 2006)
Aaron L. Hurwitz – accordion, organ, piano (1992–1999)
=== Timeline ===
== Discography == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rahul_Ligma | Rahul Ligma | Rahul Ligma is a fictional fired Twitter employee, a character played by one of a pair of amateur improvisational actors that pranked multiple major media outlets on October 28, 2022. Ligma, the fictional character's surname, is a reference to the Ligma joke. The spontaneous and intentionally transparent hoax was revealed the same day, after the initial news coverage triggered debate among real Twitter employees about whether or not expected mass layoffs had already started. The Rahul Ligma character next appeared in early November as a recently unemployed FTX employee in the Bahamas. On November 15, Elon Musk, the incoming CEO of Twitter, facetiously offered Ligma and his compatriot their (fictional) old jobs back, and posted a photograph taken with them at Twitter headquarters.
Although at least one journalist had publicly apologized for their failure to fact check before reporting the news, several notable media outlets were still oblivious to the running joke, and reported the duo's firing and rehiring as actual news. In social media, the follow-up stunt was widely criticized for lack of sensitivity to actual Twitter employees who had lost their jobs. On November 23, news reports surfaced once again, this time reporting that the actor playing Daniel Johnson had in fact been hired by Twitter for the first time.
== Background ==
On October 28, 2022, many members of the press were present outside Twitter's San Francisco headquarters on the first day that Elon Musk gained control of the social media company. It had been previously reported that mass layoffs were expected in the coming weeks and months. That day, two individuals identifying as "Rahul Ligma" and "Daniel Johnson" left Twitter's building carrying large cardboard boxes, pretending to be two recently fired employees departing with their belongings. Neither had ever worked for Twitter, but the inventor of the Ligma character regularly exercised in a gymnasium in the same building, and he "thought it would be really funny" if he and a friend "walked out with a [cardboard] box and they fell for it."
== Prank ==
Rahul Ligma, in character, acted dismayed about his firing, telling a group of reporters his concerns about the "future of their democracy... the future of celebrity conservatorship" (a Britney Spears reference) and lamenting that "this wouldn't have happened under Michelle Obama", while holding up a copy of the former first lady's autobiography. Claiming to be a Tesla owner and a software engineer with Twitter for the past three years, he also identified himself as "a big fan of clean energy, climate change, even free speech too."
"Daniel Johnson", also part of the fictional team of fired data engineers, said he had to leave the interview to "touch base with my husband and wife".
Although no "Rahul Ligma" existed in Twitter's Slack or email system, nor appeared on LinkedIn, multiple news networks reported the fictional names along with statements, photographs, and video of the pranksters as being of actual ex-employees of Twitter. California State Senator Melissa Melendez tweeted at the time, "This is too funny. Two guys posing as laid-off Twitter employees. They said their names were Rahul Ligma and Daniel Johnson. Not one reporter thought that was odd. They just ran with the story."
CNBC technology reporter Deirdre Bosa tweeted, "It's happening. The entire team of data engineers let go. These are two of them. They are visibly shaken. Daniel tells us he owns a Tesla and doesn't know how he will make payments." The San Francisco ABC News affiliate reported that one "was terminated during a Zoom meeting". Based on the visual of the pair carrying boxes, two Bloomberg journalists wrote that mass layoffs were already underway at Twitter, but actually it was only top executives that had lost their jobs. Reuters was also among the major media companies fooled by the hoax.
== Reactions ==
Among Twitter employees, the initial news reports launched a debate about whether or not layoffs had already begun. Later in the day on October 28, Twitter CEO Elon Musk, aware of the joke, continued the crude puns by tweeting about the firing that "Ligma Johnson had it coming", along with eggplant and water splash emojis.
The Times of India called the Ligma–Johnson hoax "perfectly-timed" and "one of the greatest pranks on the internet."
Blake Shuster wrote for USA Today that the journalists involved were "duped by real-life trolls" and "all it would've taken was 30 seconds to stop and actually do their jobs to avoid the whole news-cycle". He criticized the journalists for not bothering to search for "Daniel Johnson" and "Rahul Ligma" before publishing their stories, and remarked, "it's probably not great that during a time of immense and worrisome change at one of the largest tech platforms...all we're left with is BOFA reporting."
On October 31, 2022, CNBC's Bosa apologized and told The Daily Beast, "They got me" and "I didn't do enough to confirm who they were". But NBC, as of December 2022, still had not corrected its October 28 coverage that, "some Twitter employees appeared to have been let go".
The Rahul Ligma character resurfaced a few weeks later, apparently having relocated along with his "husband and wife" to the Bahamas to work for the cryptocurrency platform FTX. But when the company suddenly faced financial collapse, on November 11, 2022, he found himself unemployed once again. Again on video with a cardboard box, this time on a sandy beach, Ligma commented, "It's really tough, this is my second job in a month", adding, "Web2 chewed me up and spit me out, I just really thought Web3 was gonna be different."
== Fictional rehiring ==
On November 15, 2022, Musk changed course and apologized for "firing these geniuses", jokingly saying it was "truly one of [my] biggest mistakes" and offered them their (fictional) jobs back. Calling their October media stunt "one of the best trolls ever", Musk publicized a photograph taken with himself along with "Ligma & Johnson" at Twitter headquarters. Meanwhile, Newsweek reported that "there was widespread criticism of Musk for joking about firings when his employees were losing their jobs in the shake-up", noting that initial reactions were divided among those who thought the prank was "disrespectful" and "cruel to the real employees who were fired", and those who thought that the joke was "top-notch".
On November 16, 2022, the Hindi news channel Aaj Tak reported the comic duo's fictional rehiring as an actual news story, continuing to fall for the prank. In a 37-second video, the broadcaster announced, "After the large scale layoff, Elon is realizing his mistake. He is now calling back fired employees and has shared an image with two who have returned." The following day, the Indonesian news website VOI also published the photograph in an article with the caption "Rahul Ligma, Elon Musk, and Daniel Johnson, are back as a team".
In the November 17, 2022 edition of Rising, co-host Briahna Joy Gray said that the rehiring proved Musk "actually needs these employees to work for him" and that "the employees didn't look so happy in that photograph" to be back, having been "fired—prematurely".
== Aftermath ==
On November 23, 2022, The Daily Beast reported that Daniel Francis, the actor who played Daniel Johnson in the hoax, had just been hired by Twitter as a software developer, citing a Business Insider article.
In a December 2022 article for TechCrunch reflecting on the absurd nature of tech industry news over the past year, Amanda Silberling commented that because "a herd of reporters did not get the joke" about Rahul Ligma, she had to explain the "ligma" meme on four different podcasts.
Also in December 2022, Ligma announced his presidential run in 2024 "to fight for the rights of laid off workers, polygamists, and men who wear gym shorts outside in November."
In May 2025, TechCrunch reported that Rahul Sonwalkar—the improvisational actor behind the Rahul Ligma character—was, and remains, a real software engineer. He is now the co-founder of an AI data startup whose tools are used by research institutions including Harvard University, further blurring the lines between satire and Silicon Valley reality. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leicester_City_F.C. | Leicester City F.C. | Leicester City Football Club is a professional football club based in Leicester, East Midlands, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football.
The club was founded in 1884 as Leicester Fosse F.C, before they became known as Leicester City in 1919, coinciding with the city of Leicester gaining official city status. They moved to Filbert Street in 1891, were elected to the Football League in 1894, and moved to the nearby Walkers Stadium in 2002. The stadium was renamed to the present day King Power Stadium in 2011.
Leicester City have won seven prominent trophies within the English football league system, including one Premier League, one FA Cup, three League Cups, and two FA Community Shields. They are currently the sixth most successful team in English football since the turn of the century, as one of only five clubs to have won all three major domestic trophies since 2000. The club's 2015–16 Premier League title win attracted global attention, and they became one of seven clubs to have won the Premier League since its inception in 1992. Prior to 2015–16, Leicester's highest league finish was second place in the 1928–29 First Division.
The club's longest period of time spent at the top level of English football came between 1957 and 1969. During these years, Leicester reached three FA Cup finals, competed in European football for the first time, and recorded their third highest ever league finish. The club have since participated in a further six European campaigns and two FA Cup finals, reaching the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals in 2016–17, winning the FA Cup in 2021, and reaching the UEFA Europa Conference League semi-finals in 2021–22. Leicester won the League Cup in 1964, 1997, and 2000 respectively, and were finalists in 1964–65 and 1998–99.
== History ==
=== Founding and early years (1884–1949) ===
Formed in 1884 by a group of old boys of Wyggeston School as "Leicester Fosse", the club joined The Football Association (FA) in 1890. Before moving to Filbert Street in 1891, the club played at five different grounds, including Victoria Park south-east of the city centre and the Belgrave Road Cycle and Cricket Ground. The club also joined the Midland League in 1891, and were elected to Division Two of the Football League in 1894 after finishing second. Leicester's first match in the Football League was a 4–3 defeat at Grimsby Town, with a first league win the following week, against Rotherham United at Filbert Street. The same season also saw the team's largest win to date, a 13–0 victory over Notts Olympic in an FA Cup qualifying match. In 1907–08, the club finished as Second Division runners-up, gaining promotion to the First Division, the highest level of English football. However, the club was relegated after a single season which included the team's record defeat, a 12–0 loss against Nottingham Forest.
In 1919, when league football resumed after World War I, Leicester Fosse ceased trading due to financial difficulties. The club was reformed as "Leicester City Football Club" which was particularly appropriate as the borough of Leicester had recently been given city status. Following the name change, the club enjoyed moderate success in the 1920s under the management of Peter Hodge, who won the Division Two title in 1924–25. Hodge left in May 1926 and was replaced two months later by Willie Orr. In 1928–29, the club recorded their second highest ever league finish, finishing as runners-up by a single point to The Wednesday. However, the 1930s saw a downturn in fortunes, with the club relegated in 1934–35. After promotion in 1936–37, another relegation in 1938–39 would see them finish the decade in Division Two.
=== Post-World War II (1949–2000) ===
Leicester reached the FA Cup final for the first time in their history in 1949, losing 3–1 to Wolverhampton Wanderers. The club, however, was celebrating a week later when a draw on the last day of the season ensured survival in Division Two. In 1954, Leicester won the Division Two championship, with the help of Arthur Rowley, one of the club's most prolific ever strikers. Despite relegation in the previous season, under the management of Dave Halliday, Leicester returned to Division One in 1957, with Rowley scoring a club record 44 goals in one season. Leicester remained in Division One for 12 years until 1969, their longest period to date in the top division of English football. Halliday left the club in October 1958.
Under the management of Matt Gillies, who was appointed on 8 November 1958, and his assistant Bert Johnson, Leicester reached the FA Cup final on another two occasions, but lost both in 1961 and 1963. As they lost to double winners Tottenham Hotspur in 1961, Leicester were England's representatives in the 1961–62 European Cup Winners' Cup. For much of the 1962–63 season, the club led the First Division and became nicknamed the "Ice Kings" due to their remarkable run of form on icy and frozen pitches. Leicester eventually finished in 4th place, the club's best post-war finish. Gillies guided Leicester to their first piece of silverware in 1964, when they beat Stoke City 4–3 on aggregate to win the League Cup. Leicester also reached the League Cup final in the following year, but lost 3–2 on aggregate to Chelsea. Gillies and Johnson received praise for their version of the "whirl" and the "switch" system, a system that had previously been used by the Austrian and Hungarian national teams. After a poor start to the season, Matt Gillies resigned as manager in November 1968. His successor Frank O'Farrell was unable to prevent relegation, but the club reached the FA Cup final again in 1969, losing 1–0 to Manchester City.
In 1971, Leicester were promoted back to the First Division, and won the FA Charity Shield for the first time. Due to double winners Arsenal's commitments in European competition, Second Division winners Leicester were invited to play FA Cup runners-up Liverpool. Leicester won the match 1–0 thanks to a goal from Steve Whitworth. Jimmy Bloomfield was appointed as the club's new manager in June 1971, and the team remained in the First Division throughout his tenure. Leicester also reached the FA Cup semi-final in 1973–74. Frank McLintock, a notable former player of seven years in a successful period from the late 1950s to the mid-1960s, succeeded Bloomfield in 1977.
On 19 March 1977, Winston White became Leicester's first black player to feature for the club, in an away match at Stoke City. The club was relegated at the end of the 1977–78 season and McLintock resigned. Jock Wallace resumed the tradition of successful Scottish managers (after Peter Hodge and Matt Gillies) by steering Leicester to the Second Division championship in 1980. Wallace was unable to keep Leicester in the First Division, but they reached the FA Cup semi-final in 1982. Under Wallace, one of Leicester City's most famous home-grown players, Gary Lineker, emerged into the first-team squad.
Leicester's next manager was Gordon Milne, who was appointed in August 1982. He achieved promotion with the club a year later in 1983. Lineker helped Leicester maintain their place in the First Division, but was sold to Everton in 1985. Two years later, Leicester were relegated, having failed to find a suitable replacement to partner Alan Smith, who was then sold to Arsenal after Leicester went down. Milne left in 1986 and was replaced in 1987 by David Pleat, who managed the club until January 1991. Gordon Lee succeeded Pleat and was put in charge until the end of the 1990–91 season, guiding Leicester clear of relegation to the third tier of English football.
Brian Little took over in May 1991 and by the end of the 1991–92 season, Leicester had reached the play-off final for a place in the new Premier League. They lost to Blackburn Rovers by way of a penalty from former Leicester striker Mike Newell. The club also reached the play-off final the following year, but lost 4–3 to Swindon Town. In the 1993–94 season, Leicester were promoted from the play-offs at the third attempt under Brian Little, beating East Midlands rivals Derby County 2–1 in the final. Little quit as Leicester manager in the following November to take charge at Aston Villa, and his successor Mark McGhee was unable to save Leicester from finishing second bottom of the 1994–95 Premier League.
McGhee left the club unexpectedly in December 1995, while Leicester were top of the Second Division, to take charge of Wolverhampton Wanderers. McGhee was replaced by Martin O'Neill. Under O'Neill, Leicester reached the play-off final in 1996 and gained promotion to the Premier League. Following promotion, Leicester established themselves in the Premier League with four successive top 10 finishes. O'Neill also ended Leicester's 33-year wait for a major trophy, winning the League Cup in 1997 and again in 2000. Thus, the club qualified for the UEFA Cup in 1997–98 and 2000–01, which was their first participation in European football since 1961. In June 2000, O'Neill left Leicester City to take over as manager of Celtic.
=== Decline in the early 21st century (2000–2008) ===
Martin O'Neill was replaced by former England under-21 coach Peter Taylor. During this time, one of Leicester's European campaigns ended in a 3–1 defeat to Red Star Belgrade on 28 September 2000 in the UEFA Cup. Leicester began well under Taylor's management, topping the Premier League for two weeks in the autumn and remaining in contention for a European place for most of the season, before a late-season collapse following an FA Cup semi-final defeat to Wycombe Wanderers, dragged them down to a 13th-place finish. Taylor was dismissed by the club after a poor start to the 2001–02 season, and his successor Dave Bassett lasted just six months. Bassett was replaced by his assistant Micky Adams - the change of management being announced just before relegation was confirmed. Leicester won just five league matches all season.
The club moved into the new 32,314-seat Walkers Stadium at the start of the 2002–03 season, ending 111 years at Filbert Street. Walkers, the Leicester-based crisp manufacturers, acquired the naming rights for a ten-year period. In October 2002, the club went into administration with debts of £30 million. The key attributing factors were the loss of TV money (ITV Digital, itself in administration, had promised money to First Division clubs for TV rights), the large wage bill, lower-than-expected fees for players transferred to other clubs and the cost of building the new stadium. The manager, Micky Adams, was banned from the transfer market for most of the season, even after the club was rescued with a takeover by a Gary Lineker-led consortium. In the club's first season at the new stadium, they gained automatic promotion back to the Premier League with more than 90 points. However, Leicester were relegated in the following season, to the newly labelled Championship (previously known as Division One).
Micky Adams resigned as manager in October 2004, and Craig Levein was appointed as his replacement. The club parted company with Levein after 15 months in charge on 25 January 2006. Assistant manager Rob Kelly took over as caretaker manager, and was subsequently appointed to see out the rest of the 2005–06 season, ater winning three out of his first four matches in charge. Kelly steered Leicester to safety and in April 2006, was given the manager's job on a permanent basis.
In October 2006, ex-Portsmouth chairman Milan Mandarić was quoted as saying he was interested in buying the club, reportedly at a price of around £6 million, with the current playing squad valued at roughly £4.2 million. The takeover was formally announced on 13 February 2007. On 11 April 2007, the club parted ways with Rob Kelly, and Nigel Worthington was appointed as caretaker manager until the end of the 2006–07 season. Worthington saved the club from a first-ever relegation to the third tier, but was not offered the job on a permanent basis. On 25 May 2007, the club announced former Milton Keynes Dons manager Martin Allen as their new manager on a three-year contract. Allen's relationship with Mandarić quickly became so fractured that after only four matches, he left the club by mutual consent on 29 August 2007. On 13 September 2007, Mandarić announced Gary Megson as Leicester's new manager, citing his "wealth of experience" as a deciding factor in the appointment. However, Megson left on 24 October 2007 after only six weeks in charge, following an approach made for his services by Bolton Wanderers. Mandarić placed Frank Burrows and former player Gerry Taggart in the shared position as caretaker managers until a permanent manager was appointed.
On 22 November 2007, Ian Holloway was appointed as the club's new manager, and he became the first Leicester manager in over 50 years to win his first league match in charge. However, this proved to be an unsuccessful appointment, as Leicester were relegated from the Championship at the end of the 2007–08 season. Holloway left by mutual consent after less than a season at the club, and was replaced by Nigel Pearson.
=== Rise back to Premier League and change of ownership (2008–2015) ===
Following relegation, the 2008–09 League One campaign was Leicester's first season outside the top two levels of English football, but they hit this nadir only seven years before becoming the 2015–16 Premier League champions – one of the fastest ever rises to the top of the English football league system. Leicester returned to the Championship at the first attempt in 2008–09, finishing as champions of League One after a 2–0 win at Southend United, with two matches still to play. The 2009–10 season saw Leicester's revival under manager Nigel Pearson continue. The club finished in 5th place and reached the Championship play-offs in their first season back in the second tier. In the first leg match at home to Cardiff City, they lost 0–1. In the second leg match away from home, though coming from 2–0 down on aggregate to briefly lead 3–2, they eventually lost to a penalty shoot-out. At the end of the season, Pearson left Leicester to become the manager of Hull City, claiming he felt the club seemed reluctant to keep him, and citing that Paulo Sousa's appearance at both play-off games hinted at a possible replacement. On 7 July 2010, Sousa was confirmed as Pearson's successor.
In August 2010, after securing a three-year shirt sponsorship agreement with the Thai duty-free retailer King Power, Mandarić sold the club to Asian Football Investments (AFI), a Thai-led consortium headed by King Power owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha (then known as Vichai Raksriaksorn) and his son, Aiyawatt. Mandarić, who remained an investor in AFI, continued to serve as the club's chairman.
On 1 October 2010, after a poor start to the season which saw the club bottom of the Championship with only one win from their first nine league matches, Leicester parted company with Paulo Sousa with immediate effect. Two days later on 3 October 2010, Sven-Göran Eriksson, who had been approached by the club after a 6–1 defeat to bottom-of-the-table Portsmouth two weeks earlier, was appointed as Sousa's replacement on a two-year contract. On 10 February 2011, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, representing the Thai-based Asian Football Investments (AFI) consortium, was appointed chairman of the club following Mandarić’s departure in November 2010 to take over at Sheffield Wednesday.
Leicester were viewed as one of the favourites for promotion in the 2011–12 season, but on 24 October 2011, following an inconsistent start with just 5 wins from the first 13 matches, Eriksson left the club by mutual consent. Three weeks later, on 15 November 2011, Nigel Pearson returned to the club as Eriksson's successor. Pearson would go on to lead Leicester to a 6th place finish in the 2012–13 season, after guiding the club to a 5th place finish four seasons earlier in 2009–10. Leicester won the first leg match against Watford 1–0, but were defeated 3–2 on aggregate over both matches. In the second leg at Vicarage Road, Manuel Almunia made a double save from an Anthony Knockaert late penalty, before Troy Deeney scored at the other end in dramatic fashion to send Watford to Wembley at Leicester's expense.
In May 2014, Leicester's march up the league system hit a breakthrough. The 2–1 home win over Sheffield Wednesday, combined with losses by Queens Park Rangers and Derby County, allowed Leicester City to clinch promotion to the Premier League after a ten-year absence. Later that month, a win at Bolton Wanderers saw Leicester become champions of the 2013–14 Championship, which was a joint-record 7th second-tier title. Upon conclusion of the season, chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha outlined his ambition for the club to achieve a top five finish in the Premier League within three years.
Leicester started their first season back in the Premier League since 2004 with a 2–2 draw at home to Everton on the opening day. The club then claimed their first Premier League win since May 2004 four weeks later, on 13 September 2014, in a 1–0 away victory at Stoke City. On 21 September 2014, Leicester went on to produce one of the greatest comebacks in Premier League history, winning 5–3 against Manchester United at the King Power Stadium. The club made Premier League history by becoming the first team since the league's launch in 1992 to overcome Manchester United by a two-goal deficit.
During the 2014–15 season, Leicester slipped to the bottom of the league table after picking up just 19 points from 29 matches. By 3 April 2015, they were seven points adrift from safety. This could have brought a sudden end to Leicester's seven-year rise up the league system, but seven wins from their final nine league matches ensured they finished the season in 14th place on 41 points. They concluded the season with a 5–1 win over relegated Queens Park Rangers on the final day, and Leicester's upturn in results was described as one of the Premier League's greatest ever escapes from relegation. They also became only the third team in Premier League history to survive after being bottom at Christmas (the other two being West Bromwich Albion in 2005 and Sunderland in 2014), and no team with fewer than 20 points from 29 matches had previously stayed up.
On 30 June 2015, the club took the surprise decision to part company with manager Nigel Pearson, after four years in charge. The decision was taken after Pearson's son, James Pearson, was involved in a "racist sex tape" during a post-season goodwill tour in Thailand. Pearson's departure was also linked to a number of public relations issues involving him throughout the season. On 13 July 2015, the club appointed Claudio Ranieri as their new manager ahead of the 2015–16 Premier League season. Despite an initially sceptical reaction to Ranieri's appointment, Leicester made an exceptional start to the season. Striker Jamie Vardy scored 13 goals over 11 consecutive matches from August to November, breaking the record held by Ruud van Nistelrooy of scoring in 11 consecutive Premier League matches. On 19 December 2015, Leicester defeated Everton 3–2 at Goodison Park to top the Premier League on Christmas Day, having been bottom of the table exactly 12 months earlier.
=== The club's most successful era (2016–2021) ===
The club qualified for the UEFA Champions League for the first time in their history on 10 April 2016, as a result of a 2–0 away win at Sunderland and Tottenham Hotspur's 3–0 win over Manchester United. The 2016–17 Champions League campaign would also be the club's first season in European football for 15 years.
On 2 May 2016, Leicester City won the Premier League, after Chelsea came from two goals down at Stamford Bridge to draw 2–2 with Tottenham Hotspur, in a match that was labelled "The Battle Of The Bridge." Bookmakers thought Leicester's title win was so unlikely that Ladbrokes and William Hill offered odds of 5,000–1 for it at the start of the season, which subsequently resulted in the largest payout in British sporting history, with total winnings of £25 million. Multiple newspapers described Leicester's title success as the greatest sporting shock ever; a number of bookmakers (including Ladbrokes and William Hill) had never paid out at such long odds for any sport. The scale of the surprise title victory attracted global attention for the club and the city of Leicester. The Economist declared it would be "pored over for management lessons." Several commentators viewed it as transformative to the expectations faced by clubs outside of the league's traditional 'big six.' On 16 May 2016, over 240,000 supporters lined the streets of Leicester to celebrate the club's historic title win.
During the 2015–16 campaign, Leicester became known for their counterattacking style of play, "incredible pace in the areas it is most essential" and defensive solidity. Former manager Nigel Pearson was widely credited as having laid the foundations for Leicester's major success. In reaction to the title triumph, executive chairman of the Premier League Richard Scudamore said:
"If this was a once in every 5,000-year event, then we've effectively got another 5,000 years of hope ahead of us."
Leicester, while performing well in the UEFA Champions League, struggled domestically during 2016–17, spending much of the first few months in the bottom half of the Premier League table. In December 2016, Ranieri was awarded coach of the year, and Leicester were awarded team of the year, at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards. However, on 23 February 2017, Ranieri was controversially dismissed by the club, due to the team's continuing poor form which resulted in them being only one point above the relegation zone. Ranieri's departure was met with significant upset and anger from sections of the media, with famous former player Gary Lineker calling it "very sad" and "inexplicable", while Manchester United manager José Mourinho blamed it on "selfish players". Rumours began emerging some days later that players had been meeting with the owners to discuss the removal of Ranieri without him knowing, which sparked widespread outrage over social media, but these claims were never proven. Craig Shakespeare took over as caretaker manager, and in his first match in charge, he led Leicester to a 3–1 victory over 5th place Liverpool. In his second match as caretaker, Shakespeare led Leicester to another 3–1 victory, this time over Hull City. Following these two results, it was decided on 12 March 2017 that Shakespeare would become manager until the end of the season.
Leicester were placed in Group G of the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League, alongside Porto, Copenhagen and Club Brugge. In their inaugural Champions League campaign, they went undefeated in their first five matches to progress to the knockout stages as group winners. Leicester then faced La Liga club Sevilla in the round of 16 and were defeated 2–1 in the first leg at the Vicente Calderon Stadium. In the second leg at the King Power Stadium, Leicester won 2–0 on the night, and 3–2 on aggregate, to advance to the quarter-finals. They then faced Atlético Madrid, and lost 1–0 away in the first leg, before drawing 1–1 at home in the second leg. This put an end to Leicester's first European campaign in 15 years, after losing 2–1 on aggregate, exiting the competition as quarter-finalists. Leicester did however, maintain an unbeaten home record throughout their 2016–17 UEFA Champions League campaign.
Craig Shakespeare, having impressed during his caretaker spell, was appointed full-time on a three-year contract. However, following a poor start to the season, he was dismissed as manager in October 2017 after four months officially in charge, with Leicester in 18th place in the table. He was subsequently replaced by Claude Puel on 25 October 2017. By Christmas, Leicester were in 8th place in the Premier League and finished 9th at the end of the season. On 21 February 2018, it was widely reported that the club had reached a settlement with the English Football League, to pay £3.1 million for a Financial Fair Play (FFP) dispute relating to the 2013–14 season. The EFL stated that Leicester "did not make any deliberate attempt to infringe the rules or to deceive, and that the dispute arose out of genuine differences of interpretation of the rules between the parties."
On 27 October 2018, following a home match against West Ham United, a Leonardo AW169 helicopter carrying chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha and four others malfunctioned and crashed outside the club's stadium. This happened shortly after take off from the pitch, and all five people on board the helicopter died. One year later, The Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha Memorial Garden opened on 27 October 2019, before The Khun Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha Statue was unveiled on 4 April 2022, which would have been Srivaddhanaprabha's 64th birthday.
During the early months of 2019, Leicester went on a seven match winless run, which included four successive home defeats. Following a 1–4 home defeat to Crystal Palace, the club parted company with manager Claude Puel on 24 February 2019, with the club in 12th place. Former Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers was appointed as his replacement, and the club finished the season again in 9th place.
The 2019–20 season under Rodgers started with the team picking up 38 points from their first 16 matches, which included a record eight-match winning streak from 19 October to 8 December 2019. On 25 October 2019, Leicester recorded a 0–9 away win at Southampton, the joint-largest win in Premier League history and the largest away win in English top-flight history. During the same season, the club reached the semi-final stage of the League Cup but lost out to Aston Villa over two legs. Despite competing in the top four for most of the season, Leicester suffered a drop-off in form at the end of the season, winning only two of their nine games following the resumption of play due to the coronavirus pandemic. Three defeats in their last four matches saw them slide into 5th place, which was the club's second-highest Premier League finish in their history, ensuring them a place in the UEFA Europa League for the following season.
The club's finances were heavily impacted by the COVID pandemic, with the parent company King Power International Group being in the travel retail sector. Despite this, the club spent £57 million on transfer fees in the summer of 2020, which came in at a net spend of £10 million, with £46 million generated from player sales. In December 2020, the club moved to a new £100m state-of-the-art training facility. Leicester finished in 5th place again in the 2020–21 Premier League season, and therefore qualified for the UEFA Europa League for the second consecutive year. On 15 May 2021, Leicester City won the FA Cup for the first time, having lost four previous finals in 1949, 1961, 1963 and 1969, securing a second major trophy in the space of five years. Youri Tielemans scored the only goal against Chelsea at Wembley Stadium. The club subsequently became the 6th most successful team in English football since the turn of the century, as one of only five clubs to have won all three major domestic trophies since 2000.
=== Post success and downfall (2021–present) ===
During the 2021 summer transfer window, Leicester again spent more than £50 million on new signings, but this time did not sell any key players for high profit, which went against the club's model from previous years. The summer of 2021 dramatically increased Leicester's wages-to-turnover ratio, but the club subsequently failed to qualify for European football in the Premier League season which followed (2021–22), finishing in 8th place. On 7 August 2021, Leicester won the FA Community Shield for the second time in their history. In their 2021–22 UEFA Europa League campaign, Leicester came third in their group and were transferred to the newly established UEFA Europa Conference League. They went on to reach their first European semi-final, losing out to eventual winners AS Roma over two legs. Leicester's spending during the 2022 summer transfer window was heavily restricted, amid concerns over breaching Financial Fair Play regulations. At the same time however, the club were reportedly prioritising investment in infrastructure, to better compete with the Premier League's 'big six' in the long term.
Brendan Rodgers left the club on 2 April 2023, after four years in charge, with ten games remaining and the team in the relegation zone. Dean Smith was appointed as his replacement until the end of the season. On 28 May 2023, despite a 2–1 home win over West Ham United, Leicester City were relegated as a consequence of Everton's 1–0 home victory over AFC Bournemouth. The club went down with the highest ever squad value and wage bill outside of the Premier League's traditional 'big-six' clubs, and the 2022–23 season ended the club's nine-year stint in the Premier League. This made Leicester only the second former Premier League champions to be relegated from the league since it began in 1992–93, following Blackburn Rovers in 1998–99.
On 16 June 2023, Enzo Maresca was appointed as the club's new manager ahead of the 2023–24 EFL Championship season. During this record-breaking campaign, Leicester made their best start to a league season, and the best start since the league became known as the Championship in 2004–05. The club went on to gain promotion back to the Premier League as champions at the first attempt, registering 31 wins, 4 draws and 11 defeats. This was also Leicester's 8th second-tier title which is currently a record for the division.
In March 2024, the club were referred to an independent commission by the Premier League over an alleged breach of Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) for the 2022–23 season. In September 2024, the club successfully appealed the PSR case relating to the 2022–23 season, arguing the Premier League did not lawfully have jurisdiction to apply any sanction, after ceasing to become a member of the league at the end of the season. On 3 June 2024, Enzo Maresca left the club to join Chelsea ahead of the 2024–25 Premier League season. Leicester appointed Steve Cooper as his replacement on 20 June 2024, but the club parted company with Cooper after five months on 25 November 2024. Five days later on 29 November 2024, Ruud van Nistelrooy was named as Leicester's new manager.
On 20 April 2025, the club was relegated from the Premier League for the second time in three years, with five matches remaining in the season. On 20 May 2025, Leicester were charged by the Premier League with three separate breaches of PSR rules. On 27 June 2025, the club terminated van Nistelrooy's contract with immediate effect. On 15 July 2025, the club appointed Martí Cifuentes as manager on a three-year contract.
On 2 October 2025, it was announced that Susan Whelan had stepped down as CEO at the club after 15 years, following "a mutual decision" with owner and chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha. On 14 November 2025, it was reported that the club would be overhauling its football operations, including the appointment of a Technical Director for the first time. The club announced the appointment of Kamonthip Netthanomsak as Interim Managing Director on the same day. On 25 January 2026, the club announced that it had parted company with manager Marti Cifuentes, which was the third managerial change in the space of 14 months. During this period of time, Srivaddhanaprabha conducted several UK media interviews for the first time since the club's title success of 2016.
On 5 February 2026, it was announced that the club had been hit with a six point deduction for breaching the EFL's profit and sustainability rules by £20.8 million, over the three-year period up to and including the 2023–24 season. Leicester were also found to have been in breach of Premier League rules by not providing their annual accounts to the league by the specified deadline. This consequently moved the club's league position down from 17th to 20th place in the 2025–26 EFL Championship, which put them above the relegation zone only on goal difference. In the three years leading up to 30 June 2024, Leicester made combined losses of more than £200 million, exceeding the maximum limit of £81 million in losses over a three-year rolling period.
The PSR case against Leicester and subsequent points deduction, although officially enacted by the English Football League, was initiated by the Premier League in May 2025, with the independent commission handling the case also appointed by the Premier League. This was therefore the first time ever that a sporting sanction had been imposed by the EFL on behalf of the Premier League, following a rule change which previously allowed the club to win a legal challenge relating to a separate alleged PSR breach in the 2022–23 season. On 18 February 2026, Gary Rowett was announced as the club's new manager on a short-term contract until the end of the 2025–26 season. On 19 February 2026, it was announced that both Leicester City and the Premier League had officially lodged appeals against the recent six point deduction.
On 3 March 2026, the club announced a "new executive leadership structure", which included the appointments of Kevin Davies as Chief Executive Officer, James McCarron as Sporting Director, and Russell Jones as Commercial Director. Jon Rudkin, the existing Director of Football, was appointed to the role of Chief Football Officer. The club's statement also confirmed Interim Managing Director Kamonthip Netthanomsak would continue in her role, and that recruitment for a new Finance Director was underway, a role held by Kevin Davies (the newly appointed CEO) since May 2023.
== Club identity ==
The club's traditional home colours of royal blue shirts, white shorts and either white or blue socks have been used for the team's kits throughout most of their history. Since the 2015–16 season, the club has played in an all-blue strip with the exception of the 2019–20 and 2021–22 seasons, where they reverted back to wearing white shorts. In 1948, an image of a fox was first incorporated into the club's crest. Since 1992, the club's badge has featured a fox's head overlaid onto a cinquefoil, which is similar to the cinquefoil used on the coat of arms of Leicester.
The club's stadium move in 2002 prompted some changes to the crest, and the updated design was incorporated into the new stadium, with the emblem used as the main feature on the outside of the West Stand. For the 2009–10 season, the club's 125th anniversary year, a special edition badge was worn on the home and away kits. For this season's away kit, there was also a return to the first colours worn by the club (originally Leicester Fosse), albeit with black shorts as opposed to the original white. This kit returned once again for the 2023–24 season, having also featured during the 2004–05 season. The club's current crest has been in use since 2010.
In 1941, the club adopted the playing of the "Post Horn Galop" at home matches, to signal both teams entering the pitch. To the present day, the tune is usually played live on the pitch for the first half, while a modern version of the tune is played over the PA system for the second half. The club also play a modern version of their anthem "When You're Smiling" before kick-off on home matchdays, with the connection to the song dating back to the late 1970s. Foxes Never Quit is the club's motto, with these words placed above the tunnel inside the stadium.
=== Kit suppliers and shirt sponsors ===
Source:
Since 2018, Leicester City's kit has been manufactured by German sportswear company Adidas. Previous manufacturers have included Bukta (1972–76, 1990–92), Admiral (1976–79, 1983–88), Umbro (1979–83), Scoreline (1988–90), Fox Leisure (1992–2000), Le Coq Sportif (1999–2005), JJB (2005–07), Jako (2007–09), Joma (2009–10), Burrda (2010–12) and Puma (2012–18).
The club's current main shirt sponsor is BC.GAME. The first sponsorship logo to appear on a Leicester shirt was that of Ind Coope in 1983. British snack food manufacturer Walkers Crisps are the club's official snack partner. Walkers Crisps have held a long association with the club, sponsoring their shirts from 1987 to 2001 and the stadium from 2002 to 2011. Other sponsors have included John Bull (1986–87), LG (2001–03), Alliance & Leicester (2003–07), Topps Tiles (2007–09), Loros (2009–10), King Power (2010–21, 2023–24), Tourism Authority of Thailand (2020–21) and FBS (2021–23). Siam Commercial Bank became the club's first sleeve sponsor in the 2017–18 season. Since the 2018–19 season, the sleeve sponsor has been Bia Saigon.
== Stadium and training ground ==
In their early years, Leicester played at numerous grounds, but have only played at two since they joined the Football League. They first started out by playing on a field by Fosse Road, hence the original club name of Leicester Fosse. They moved from there to Victoria Park, and subsequently to Belgrave Road. Upon turning professional, the club moved to Mill Lane. After eviction from Mill Lane, the club played at the County Cricket ground while seeking a new ground. The club secured the use of an area of land by Filbert Street and moved there in 1891.
Some improvements by noted football architect Archibald Leitch occurred in the Edwardian era, and in 1927, a new two-tier stand was built nicknamed "The Double Decker." This stand would persist until the ground's closure in 2002. Filbert Street saw no further development (except for compulsory seating) until 1993, when the Main Stand was demolished and replaced by the new Carling Stand. The addition of the new stand, while the rest of the ground had been untouched since the 1920s, led manager Martin O'Neill to joke that he used to "lead new signings out backwards" so they only saw the Carling Stand.
The club moved away from Filbert Street in 2002, to a new 32,500-capacity all-seater stadium located less than 300 yards away. The address of the current site, Filbert Way, retains a link with the club's former home ground. The first match hosted at the stadium was a 1–1 draw against Athletic Bilbao, Bilbao's Tiko scored the first goal at the stadium and Jordan Stewart became the first Leicester player to score. The first competitive match was a 2–0 victory against Watford.
The stadium was known as the Walkers Stadium until 2011 in a sponsorship deal with Leicester-based food manufacturers Walkers. On 19 August 2010, it emerged that the new owners King Power wanted to rename the stadium King Power Stadium, and had plans to increase the capacity to 42,000 should Leicester secure promotion. On 5 July 2011, it was announced that the Walkers Stadium would now be known as the King Power Stadium.
The stadium currently has a capacity of 32,259, with plans formally approved in December 2023 to extend this to 40,000. In 2020, the club moved into a new state-of-the-art training complex in the Leicestershire village of Seagrave, described as being "one of the world's most advanced training facilities." The club's former training ground Belvoir Drive now serves as the training ground for Leicester City Women.
== Support, rivalries, and hooliganism ==
The origin of the club's anthem "When You're Smiling", sung by supporters at home and away matches, dates back to the late 1970s with a modern version of the tune currently played before kick-off on home matchdays.
The club's main rivals are Nottingham Forest, Derby County and Coventry City. Lesser rivalries also exist with Chelsea, which dates back to around 1980, and more recently with Tottenham Hotspur, as both teams battled to win the 2015–16 Premier League. Leicester were widely considered to be Nottingham Forest's main rivals prior to the mid-1970s. However, when Brian Clough was appointed as Forest manager in 1975, much to the dismay of Derby fans, the rivalry between Forest and Derby quickly intensified. The Leicester-Forest rivalry is however, still prominent on the border of both cities, and on the border of both counties (Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire). The same is also applicable to the rivalry with Derby County, while the rivalry with Coventry City tends to be most keenly felt by supporters in the southern parts of Leicestershire.
Like many other clubs in English football, Leicester have had links to hooliganism. In August 2000, Leicester were listed as the 2nd most violent football club in England and Wales. In June 2002, Leicester were one of six clubs who were banned from taking travelling supporters to Millwall during the 2002–03 season. Between 2019 and 2023, Leicester were classed as having the 5th highest number of hooligans at matches. During the 2022–23 and 2023–24 seasons, the club were ranked 3rd and 4th respectively for football banning orders. In March 2025, a report revealed that in the past five seasons, Leicester were ranked 12th overall in the country for arrests.
== European record ==
Notes
LCFC goals listed first
KPO: Knockout round play-offs
PR: Preliminary round
1R: First round
GS: Group stage
R32: Round of 32
R16: Round of 16
QF: Quarter-final
SF: Semi-final
== Managerial history ==
The club's current manager is Gary Rowett, who was appointed on 18 February 2026 until the end of the 2025–26 season.
Nigel Pearson and Peter Hodge have both had two separate spells in charge of the club. Dave Bassett also had a second spell as caretaker manager after his first spell as permanent manager. Up until Peter Hodge was hired after World War I, the club had no official manager. A nominal role of secretary/manager was employed, though the board and the selection committee took control of most team affairs. It was Hodge who instated a system at the club for the manager having complete control over player and staff recruitment, team selection, and tactics. Though Hodge was originally titled "secretary/manager" he has retrospectively been named as the club's first official "manager."
Matt Gillies is the club's longest-serving manager. Between 1958 and 1968, he led Leicester City to four major domestic cup finals including a first major trophy, as well as four top eight finishes in the First Division. Under Gillies, the club competed for the First Division and FA Cup double in the 1962–63 season.
== Records and statistics ==
Graham Cross holds the record for the most Leicester appearances, with the defender playing 600 games between 1960 and 1976, increased from 599 following the club's decision to incorporate the 1971 FA Charity Shield into official records. However, Adam Black holds the record for the most appearances in the league with 528 matches between 1920 and 1935.
Striker Arthur Chandler is currently the club's all-time record goalscorer, scoring 273 times in his 12 years at the club. He also scored in 8 consecutive matches during the 1924–25 season. The most goals managed in a single season for the club is 44 by Arthur Rowley, in the 1956–57 season. The fastest goal in the club's history was scored in 9 seconds by Matty Fryatt against Preston North End in April 2006.
Striker Jamie Vardy broke the previous Premier League record of 11 goals in 11 consecutive matches by scoring 13 goals in 11 consecutive matches during the 2015–16 Premier League season. Vardy's goal at Sunderland on 10 April 2016 saw him become the first Leicester player since Gary Lineker in 1984–85 to score 20 top flight goals for the club, having already become Leicester's highest Premier League scorer in a single season. Vardy finished the campaign with 23 goals and was awarded the Premier League Golden Boot for the season.
The record transfer fee paid by Leicester for a player was in the region of £32-to-40 million for midfielder Youri Tielemans from AS Monaco. The highest transfer fee received for a Leicester player was approximately £80 million from Manchester United for Harry Maguire; at the time of the transfer this was the eleventh-highest-ever fee, the highest-ever move between two English teams, and the highest-ever fee for a defender.
Leicester's record home attendance is 47,298, for a fifth-round FA Cup match against Tottenham Hotspur at Filbert Street in 1928. The current record home attendance at the current stadium is 32,242, for a Premier League match against Sunderland on 8 August 2015. The highest-ever attendance for a non-competitive football match at the King Power Stadium stands at 32,188, for a pre-season friendly against Real Madrid on 30 July 2011.
Leicester's highest ever league finish is first place in the Premier League in 2015–16. The club currently holds the all-time record for second tier titles with eight.
Leicester's longest unbeaten run in league football to date came between 1 November 2008 and 7 March 2009. The team remained unbeaten for 23 games on their way to the League One title. The club's longest run of consecutive victories in league football is currently nine, which the team achieved between 21 December 2013 and 1 February 2014 in the Championship.
During the 2015–16 season, Leicester achieved many new club records in what The Daily Telegraph described as "one of the most astonishing league titles of all-time". They recorded the most consecutive wins and fewest losses in any of the club's previous Premier League seasons, as well as the fewest away defeats in any previous top-flight season. The record for consecutive victories came against Watford, Newcastle United, Crystal Palace, Southampton and Sunderland. Coincidentally, Leicester kept a record of five straight clean sheets against each of the same five opponents. The club's home crowds in 2015–16 saw their team beaten just once in the Premier League all season.
Leicester made their UEFA Champions League debut in the 2016–17 season, their fourth appearance in European football. The club became the third English team to win on their Champions League debut, after Manchester United in 1994 and Newcastle United in 1997. They also became the first English team to win away on their Champions League debut, and win all three of their opening matches in the competition. Leicester are currently the first and only team in Champions League history to keep clean sheets in each of their opening four matches in the competition. In March 2017, Leicester became the 50th team to reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals.
During the start of the 2019–20 Premier League campaign, the club won 12 matches from their opening 16 fixtures, which was the most victories recorded at this stage of any previous league season.
On 25 October 2019, the Leicester team under manager Brendan Rodgers set the record for the highest margin of away victory in English top-flight history, defeating Southampton 9–0 at St Mary's Stadium. In doing so, they also tied the record for the highest margin of victory in Premier League history, equalling Manchester United's 9–0 home victory over Ipswich Town in 1995. As a result, Leicester City hold the all-time top tier records for the biggest defeat, biggest away win, and highest-scoring draw.
On 8 December 2019, a 1–4 away win at Aston Villa saw the club set a new record of eight consecutive victories. This surpassed the record of five consecutive wins during the 2015–16 Premier League title-winning campaign, and also surpassed Leicester's previous all-time top flight record of seven consecutive victories achieved between December 1962 and March 1963.
On 15 May 2021, Leicester City won the FA Cup for the first time in their history, having lost four previous finals in 1949, 1961, 1963 and 1969. The club's record signing Youri Tielemans scored the winning goal against Chelsea at Wembley Stadium.
On 28 May 2023, the club was relegated from the Premier League with the highest ever squad value and player wages outside of the Premier League's traditional 'big-six' clubs.
During the 2023–24 EFL Championship season, the club set a number of new records. They made their best start to a league season to date, and the best in the competition's history (since becoming known as the Championship in 2004). They also notably matched the all-time record of nine consecutive league wins home and away, and went four home matches without conceding for the first time since 1973.
== League history ==
Since their election to the Football League in 1894, Leicester City have spent all but one season within the top two tiers of English football. The club's longest stint at the top level to date came between 1957 and 1969. During these years, the club reached three FA Cup finals, participated in European football for the first time, and recorded their third highest ever league finish. During the 2008–09 season, Leicester played in League One, the third tier of English football, for the first time following the club's relegation from the Championship. However, the club made an instant return to the second tier and were promoted as 2008–09 League One champions.
Source
Seasons spent at Level 1 of the football league system: 56
Seasons spent at Level 2 of the football league system: 63
Seasons spent at Level 3 of the football league system: 1
(up to and including 2024–25)
== Players ==
=== First-team squad ===
As of 3 February 2026
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
=== Out on loan ===
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
=== Under-21s and Academy ===
=== Former players ===
== Management ==
As of 3 March 2026
== Player statistics ==
=== Player of the Year ===
Leicester City's Player of the Year award is voted for by the club's supporters at the end of every season.
=== English Hall of Fame Members ===
The following have played for Leicester City and have been inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame:
Gordon Banks 2002 (Inaugural Inductee)
Peter Shilton 2002 (Inaugural Inductee)
Gary Lineker 2003
Don Revie 2004 (Inducted as a manager)
Frank McLintock 2009
=== Football League 100 Legends ===
The Football League 100 Legends is a list of "100 legendary football players" produced by The Football League in 1998, to celebrate the 100th season of league football. The list also included Premier League players, and the following former Leicester City players were included:
Arthur Rowley
Gordon Banks
Frank McLintock
Peter Shilton
Gary Lineker
=== Players with over 300 appearances for Leicester ===
Includes competitive appearances only. Current players in bold.
As of 18 May 2025
=== Players with 50 or more goals for Leicester ===
Includes competitive appearances only.
Current players in bold.
As of 18 May 2025
== Honours ==
Leicester City are currently one of five clubs, including Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool, to have won the Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup since 2000. Since the start of the millennium, they are the 6th most successful club in English football and one of 14 clubs to have won all four major domestic competitions. The club also hold the record for the most second division titles with eight.
League
First Division / Premier League (level 1)
Champions: 2015–16
Runners-up: 1928–29
Second Division / First Division / Championship (level 2)
Champions (8, record): 1924–25, 1936–37, 1953–54, 1956–57, 1970–71, 1979–80, 2013–14, 2023–24
Runners-up: 1907–08, 2002–03
Play-off winners: 1994, 1996
League One (level 3)
Champions: 2008–09
Cup
FA Cup
Winners: 2020–21
Runners-up: 1948–49, 1960–61, 1962–63, 1968–69
League Cup
Winners: 1963–64, 1996–97, 1999–2000
Runners-up: 1964–65, 1998–99
FA Charity Shield / FA Community Shield
Winners: 1971, 2021
Runners-up: 2016 |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Commanders | Washington Commanders | The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The franchise was founded by George Preston Marshall as the Boston Braves in 1932, were renamed the Boston Redskins the following year, and became the Washington Redskins upon moving to Washington, D.C., in 1937. The Redskins name and logo drew criticism for decades before they were retired in 2020 as part of a wave of name changes during a period of racial unrest in the United States. The team played as the Washington Football Team for two seasons before rebranding as the Commanders in 2022.
The Commanders play their home games at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland, and have a headquarters and training facility in Ashburn, Virginia. The Commanders have played more than 1,300 games and have won more than 600. Washington was among the first NFL franchises with an original fight song, "Hail to the Commanders", which has been played by their marching band after home game touchdowns since 1937. The franchise won NFL championships in 1937 and 1942 and Super Bowls XVII (1982), XXII (1987), and XXVI (1991). The Commanders have finished a season as league runner-up six times, losing the 1936, 1940, 1943, and 1945 title games and Super Bowls VII (1972) and XVIII (1983). Washington has 14 division titles and 26 total playoff appearances.
All of Washington's championships were attained during two 10-year spans. From 1936 to 1945, the team went to the NFL Championship six times, winning two of them under general manager Jack Espey and head coach Ray Flaherty. Washington appeared in four Super Bowls and won three under owner Jack Kent Cooke, general managers Bobby Beathard and Charley Casserly, and head coach Joe Gibbs from 1982 to 1991. From 1946 to 1970, Washington posted just four winning seasons and never reached the playoffs. They went without a single winning season from 1956 to 1968 and achieved their worst regular-season record, 1–12–1, in 1961. From their 1991 Super Bowl victory through 2024, the team notched just four NFC East division titles and three playoff wins.
== History ==
=== George Preston Marshall era (1932–1965) ===
The city of Boston was awarded a National Football League (NFL) franchise on July 9, 1932, under the ownership of American businessman George Preston Marshall. The team was named after the Boston Braves baseball team, with whom they shared Braves Field, with the inaugural season coached by Lud Wray. The team saw several changes in 1933, including a name change to the "Redskins" and playing their home games at Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox. Wray was also replaced at head coach by Lone Star Dietz.
The situation faced by Marshall in Boston was difficult. In 1935, Joe F. Carr opined: "To the casual observer bred in the knowledge of New England's place in football's sun, because its cradle and nursery were there, the success of a Boston team in the professional ranks would be a foregone conclusion. Nothing could have been more erroneous. Boston finished the most forbidding ground for professional football of any large city in the country. The history of the game in Boston and New England was entirely associated with college, preparatory, and high school playing. Its eminence as an institution of sport grew in a hallowed atmosphere as an almost sacrosanct element of education which was to be kept ever free from commercial pollution." The Redskins appeared in the 1936 NFL Championship Game, their first championship appearance, but lost to the Green Bay Packers 21–6.
After five years in Boston, which Marshall said showed a lack of interest in the team, the Redskins moved to Washington, D.C., in 1937. The team arranged to share Griffith Stadium with the Washington Senators, an American League baseball team. In their first game in D.C., the season opener, the Redskins defeated the New York Giants. The same season, they earned their first division title in Washington with a 49–14 win over the Giants. Shortly after, the team won their first championship by defeating the Chicago Bears in the 1937 NFL Championship Game.
The Redskins met the Bears again in the 1940 NFL Championship Game. The result, 73–0 in favor of the Bears, remains the worst one-sided loss in NFL history. The Redskins won their second championship in 1942, defeating the Bears 14–6. In 1943, Dutch Bergman was named head coach and led the team to a return to the NFL championship game, however they were defeated by the Chicago Bears 41–21. That same season, Sammy Baugh led the NFL in passing, punting, and interceptions.
The Redskins played in the NFL Championship one more time before a quarter-century drought that lasted until the 1972 season. With former Olympic gold medalist Dudley DeGroot as their new head coach, the Redskins went 8–2 during the 1945 season. One of the most impressive performances came from Baugh, who had a completion percentage of 70.3. They ended the season by losing to the Cleveland Rams in the 1945 NFL Championship Game, 15–14. The one-point margin of victory came under scrutiny because of a safety that occurred early in the game. In the first quarter, the Redskins had the ball at their own 5-yard line. Dropping back into the end zone, quarterback Baugh threw to an open receiver, but the ball hit the goal post and bounced back to the ground in the end zone. Under the rules at the time, this was ruled as a safety and thus gave the Rams a 2–0 lead. Marshall was so upset at the outcome that he became a major force in passing a major rule change after the season, in which a forward pass that struck the goalpost was automatically ruled incomplete. This later became known as the "Baugh/Marshall Rule".
The Redskins had four head coaches from 1946 to 1951, including former players Turk Edwards and Dick Todd, plus John Whelchel and Herman Ball. Meanwhile, Marshall sought to make the Redskins the most profitable franchise in the league. On June 14, 1950, the team announced that it would become the first NFL team to televise all of its games in a season, thanks to sponsorship by the American Oil Company. In February 1952, Marshall hired former Green Bay Packers coach Earl "Curly" Lambeau., but fired him two seasons later after the Redskins lost in their exhibition opener to the Los Angeles Rams. Marshall hired Joe Kuharich, who in 1955, led the Redskins to their first winning season in ten years and was named Sporting News Coach of the Year and UPI NFL Coach of the Year.
In 1961, the Redskins moved into D.C. Stadium, which would be renamed Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in 1969. The first game in the new stadium occurred on October 1 in front of 37,767 fans. The Redskins failed to hold a 14-point lead and lost to the New York Giants 24–21. That same year, Bill McPeak became the head coach and had a record of 21–46–3 over five seasons. During his tenure, he helped draft future stars: wide receiver Charley Taylor, tight end Jerry Smith, safety Paul Krause, center Len Hauss, and linebacker Chris Hanburger. He also helped pull off two important trades, gaining quarterback Sonny Jurgensen from the Philadelphia Eagles and linebacker Sam Huff from the New York Giants. In 1966, Otto Graham was hired as the new head coach. Graham coached the Redskins for three seasons for a record of 17–22–3. He resigned after the 1968 season, and the team hired former Green Bay Packers head coach Vince Lombardi for the same role.
==== Integration controversy ====
During most of this unsuccessful period, Marshall continually refused to integrate the team, despite pressure from the U.S. government. Two months into the Kennedy administration on March 24, 1961, Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall warned Marshall to hire black players or face federal retribution. For the first time in history, the federal government had attempted to desegregate a professional sports team. The Redskins were under the threat of civil rights legal action by the Kennedy administration, which would have prevented a segregated team from playing at the new federally-owned D.C. Stadium, managed by the U.S. Department of the Interior. The Redskins' previous venue, Griffith Stadium, was owned by the Griffith family, owners of the Washington Senators, who moved and became the Minnesota Twins in 1961.
In 1962, Washington became the final professional American football franchise to integrate. First, the Redskins selected running back Ernie Davis of Syracuse with the first overall pick in the 1962 NFL draft; Davis was the first black player to win the Heisman Trophy and the first to be the top selection in an NFL draft. Washington also took fullback Ron Hatcher of Michigan State in the eighth round, who became the first black player to sign a contract with the team.
In December 1961, Marshall announced he had traded the rights to Davis to the Cleveland Browns, who wanted Davis to join the league's leading rusher, Jim Brown, in their backfield. Davis was traded for veteran running back Bobby Mitchell, who became a wide receiver in Washington, D.C., and 1962 first-round draft choice Leroy Jackson of Western Illinois. The move was made under unfortunate circumstances – as it turned out that Davis had leukemia, and died without ever playing a down in professional football. The Redskins ended the 1962 season with their best record in five years: 5–7–2. Mitchell led the league with 11 touchdowns, and caught 72 passes and was selected to the Pro Bowl. In time, Mitchell would be joined by other black players like receiver Charley Taylor, running back Larry Brown, safety Brig Owens, and guard John Nisby.
=== Edward Bennett Williams era (1965–1979) ===
Marshall appointed board member Edward Bennett Williams to run the team's daily operations in 1965 due to declining health. He acquired controlling interest in the franchise following Marshall's death on August 9, 1969. In 1969, Williams hired former Green Bay Packers head coach Vince Lombardi for the same role, granting him a 5% stake in ownership and full control over football operations as the team's executive vice president. Lombardi coached the Redskins to a 7–5–2 record, their first winning season since 1955, but died from cancer shortly before the start of the 1970 season. Bill Austin, appointed earlier by Lombardi, served as interim head coach for the season.
==== George Allen years (1971–1977) ====
On January 6, 1971, Williams hired former Los Angeles Rams head coach George Allen as head coach and general manager. Partial to seasoned veterans instead of highly touted young players, Allen's teams became known as the Over-the-Hill Gang. That season, the Redskins made the playoffs for the first time since 1945 with a 9–4–1 record with Redskins first-year head coach George Allen winning the 1971 NFL Coach of the Year award, the second of his career, having won his first in 1967 as head coach of the Los Angeles Rams. However, they lost in the Divisional Playoffs to the San Francisco 49ers, 24–20.
The following season, the Redskins hosted their first postseason game in Washington since 1942, where they beat the Green Bay Packers 16–3 in the NFC Divisional Playoffs. The Redskins reached the NFC Championship Game, and in a much-anticipated match-up against the arch-rival Dallas Cowboys, the Redskins placekicker Curt Knight kicked an 18-yard field goal in the second quarter to get the scoring underway, after which Redskins quarterback Billy Kilmer connected with wide receiver Charley Taylor on a 15-yard touchdown pass giving Washington a 10–3 lead at halftime. In the fourth quarter, Kilmer again went to Taylor, this time for a 45-yard touchdown. Knight added three more field goals during that period and so-called "The Over-The-Hill-Gang" defense allowed only a second-quarter field goal. The final score was Washington 26, Dallas 3. After winning the NFC Championship, the Redskins went on to lose to the undefeated Miami Dolphins 14–7 in Super Bowl VII. Redskins running back Larry Brown was named the 1972 NFL MVP. The Redskins again made the playoffs in 1973, 1974, and 1976, only to lose all three times in the first round. After the team failed to make the playoffs in Redskins despite a 9–5 record, Allen was fired and was replaced at head coach by Jack Pardee.
=== Jack Kent Cooke era (1979–1998) ===
Canadian-American businessman Jack Kent Cooke, who had owned minority shares of the Redskins and been a board member since 1960, purchased majority interest from Edward Bennett Williams in 1974. Due to NFL rules at the time disallowing controlling ownership in other leagues, he allowed Williams to operate the team until selling his other properties, the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers and the NHL's Los Angeles Kings, to Jerry Buss in May 1979. Cooke became the team's sole owner in 1985 after purchasing the remaining shares from Williams for around $9 million.
==== Joe Gibbs years (1981–1992) ====
Jack Pardee, the 1979 NFL Coach of the Year, was fired following a 6–10 record in 1980. On January 13, 1981, Cooke hired San Diego Chargers offensive coordinator Joe Gibbs as head coach. During the offseason, the Redskins acquired players such as Mark May, Russ Grimm, and Dexter Manley in the 1981 NFL draft. After starting the 1981 season 0–5, the Redskins won eight out of their next 11 games and finished the season 8–8 but fourth in the NFC East.
===== Super Bowl XVII champions (1982) =====
Starting on September 21, 1982, the NFL faced a 57-day long players' strike, which reduced the 1982 season from a 16-game schedule to nine. Because of the shortened season, the NFL adopted a special 16-team playoff tournament in which eight teams from each conference were seeded 1–8 based on their regular season records. After the strike was settled, the Redskins dominated, winning six out of the seven remaining games to make the playoffs for the first time since 1976.
In January 1983, during the second round of the playoffs against the Minnesota Vikings, John Riggins rushed for franchise playoff record 185 yards, leading Washington to a 21–7 win. The game is perhaps best known for a moment when the stadium physically shook as a crowd chanted "We Want Dallas!", which later became a rallying cry of sorts for Redskin fans before games against the Cowboys. In the NFC Championship Game against them at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, Redskins defensive end Dexter Manley knocked Cowboys' quarterback Danny White out for the rest of the game and sent him into the locker room shortly before halftime. Later in the game, Redskins defensive tackle Darryl Grant intercepted a tipped pass that he returned for a 10-yard touchdown off of Cowboys' backup quarterback Gary Hogeboom. John Riggins rushed for 140 yards and two touchdowns on 36 carries and the Redskins went on to defeat the Cowboys' by a score of 31–17. The Redskins' first Super Bowl win and their first NFL Championship in 40 years was in Super Bowl XVII, where the Redskins defeated the Miami Dolphins 27–17. Riggins provided the game's signature play on 4th and inches with the Redskins down 17–13 when the coaches called "70 Chip", a play designed for short yardage. Riggins instead gained 43 yards (39 meters) by running through would-be tackler Don McNeal and getting the go-ahead touchdown. The Redskins ended up winning by a 27–17 score with John Riggins winning the Super Bowl MVP.
After the 1982 season Redskins kicker Mark Moseley was the first and only kicker in NFL history to be named the NFL's Most Valuable Player; Moseley made 20 of 21 field goals attempted in 1982. Redskins head coach Joe Gibbs also won his first NFL Coach of the Year award in 1982, which was the first of his back-to-back NFL Coach of the Year awards, his second coming in the 1983 NFL season.
Cornerback Darrell Green and defensive end Charles Mann were selected in the 1983 NFL draft and became key contributors for the team; Green would play his entire 20-year career with the Redskins. On October 1, 1983, the Redskins lost to the Green Bay Packers 48–47 in the highest-scoring Monday night football game in history, in which both teams combined for more than 1,000 yards (910 m) of total offense. Then during the regular-season finale on December 17, 1983, Moseley set an NFL scoring record with 161 points while Riggins' total of 144 points was second. This marked the first time since 1951 that the top two scorers in a season played on the same team. They dominated the NFL with a 14-win season which included scoring a then NFL record 541 points, many of which came from Riggins, who scored 24 touchdowns. Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann would also be named the 1983 NFL's Most Valuable Player, finishing the season with a career-high with 3,714 yards passing and 29 touchdown passes while throwing only 11 interceptions. In the postseason, the Redskins beat the Los Angeles Rams 51–7. The next week, Washington beat the San Francisco 49ers 24–21 in the NFC Championship Game. It was their final win of the season because two weeks later, the Raiders beat the Redskins 38–9 in Super Bowl XVIII.
The Redskins finished the 1984 season with an 11–5 record and won the NFC East for the third consecutive season. However, they lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Chicago Bears, 23–19. On November 18, 1985, while playing against the Giants, Theismann broke his leg during a sack by Lawrence Taylor. The compound fracture forced him to retire after a 12-year career, during which he had become the Redskins' all-time leader in pass attempts and completions. The Redskins finished 3rd in the NFC East behind the Cowboys and missed the wild card to the Giants by virtue of tiebreakers.
The 1986 offseason's major highlight occurred during the 1986 NFL draft when the Redskins picked up future Super Bowl MVP Mark Rypien in the sixth round. The Redskins defensive end Dexter Manley also set a franchise single-season record when he recorded 18.5 sacks while earning All-Pro honors. In 1986 season, the Redskins made the postseason as a wild-card team despite having a regular season record of 12–4. They won the Wild Card playoff against the Rams and then against the Bears in the Divisional playoffs. This game was Gibbs's 70th career win, which made him the winningest head coach in Redskins history. The season ended the next week, however, when the Redskins lost to the eventual Super Bowl XXI Champion Giants 17–0 in the NFC Championship game.
===== Super Bowl XXII champions (1987) =====
The 1987 NFL season began with a players' strike that reduced the 16-game season to 15. No Redskins players crossed the picket line—the only such team—and the games for Weeks 4–6 were won with all-replacement squads. Those three victories, often credited with getting the team into the playoffs, are the basis for the 2000 movie The Replacements. The Redskins won their second championship in Super Bowl XXII on January 31, 1988, in San Diego, California. The Redskins routed the Denver Broncos 42–10 after starting the game down 10–0. This game is also noted for Super Bowl MVP quarterback Doug Williams, who threw four touchdowns in the second quarter en route to becoming the first black quarterback to lead his team to a championship, and for rookie running back Timmy Smith, who ran for a Super Bowl–record 204 yards (187 m).
In 1988, the team missed the playoffs with a 7–9 record. The 1989 Redskins finished with a 10–6 record but missed the playoffs. The team is best remembered for "The Posse"—Art Monk, Gary Clark, and Ricky Sanders—the first trio of NFL wide receivers to post more than 1,000 yards apiece in a single season. Also, Redskins head coach Joe Gibbs achieved his 100th career victory in a week-14 win against the San Diego Chargers. The Redskins returned to the playoffs in 1990 as a Wild Card team, but lost in the Divisional round to the 49ers.
===== Super Bowl XXVI champions (1991) =====
The 1991 season started with a franchise-record 11 straight wins. "The Hogs", under the coaching of Redskins offensive line coach Joe Bugel, allowed a franchise-record nine sacks, the third-lowest total in NFL history. The offense also dominated under head football coach Joe Gibbs, scoring 485 points, more than any other team that year. The defense was also dominant under defensive coordinator Richie Petitbon, giving up 224 total points, second-best of any team that year, while holding opponents scoreless three times. After posting a 14–2 record, the Redskins dominated the playoffs, beating the Falcons and Lions by a combined score of 64–17. On January 26, 1992, the Redskins won Super Bowl XXVI by defeating the Buffalo Bills 37–24; QB Mark Rypien won the Super Bowl MVP award. After the Super Bowl, the Redskins set another franchise record by sending eight players to the Pro Bowl. The 1991 Washington Redskins are widely considered one of the best teams in NFL history.
In 1992, the Redskins reached the playoffs as a wild-card team, but lost in the Divisional playoffs to the 49ers, 20–13. On October 12, 1992, Art Monk became the NFL's all-time leading pass receiver by catching his 820th career reception against the Denver Broncos on Monday Night Football. The era ended on March 5, 1993, when Gibbs retired after 12 years of coaching with the Redskins. Gibbs later founded Joe Gibbs Racing.
After the end of Gibbs' first tenure, the Redskins hired former Redskins player Richie Petitbon for the 1993 season. However, his first and only year as head coach, the Redskins finished with a record of 4–12. Petitbon was fired at the end of the season and on February 2, 1994, Norv Turner was hired as head coach after being the offensive coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys. 1994 was even worse as they finished 3–13, their worst season in over 30 years. Their sole bright spot that year came on October 9, 1994, linebacker Monte Coleman played in his 206th career game with the Redskins, which broke Art Monk's team record for games played (Coleman retired at season's end with 216 games played). They improved to 6–10 in 1995 where they were able to get a season sweep on the eventual Super Bowl XXX Champions the Dallas Cowboys. On March 13, 1996, Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke, Maryland Governor Parris Glendening, and Prince George's County Executive Wayne K. Curry signed a contract that paved the way for the immediate start of construction for the new home of the Redskins (now Northwest Stadium). The 1996 season saw Washington post their first winning record in 4 years by finishing 9–7. On December 22, 1996, the Redskins played their final game at RFK Stadium, a victory over the Dallas Cowboys 37–10, and finished their tenure at the stadium with a 173–102–3 record, including 11–1 in the playoffs.
On April 6, 1997, Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke died of congestive heart failure at the age of 84. In his will, Cooke left the Redskins to the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, with instructions to sell the team. In the meantime, management of the team was given to son and executive vice president John Kent Cooke. On September 14, 1997, the Redskins played in their new stadium for the first time and beat the Arizona Cardinals, 19–13 in overtime. On November 23, 1997, they played the New York Giants and the result was a 7–7 tie, the Redskins first tie game since the 1971 season. They would finish 1997 8–7–1 and would miss the playoffs for the fifth season in a row. Cornerback Darrell Green would break Monte Coleman's record for games played with the team during the season. The 1998 season started with a seven-game losing streak, and the Redskins finished with a 6–10 record.
=== Daniel Snyder era (1999–2023) ===
On May 25, 1999, Cooke sold the Redskins to local businessman Daniel Snyder for $800 million after being unable to raise sufficient funds to keep the team. Snyder sold the naming rights to Jack Kent Cooke Stadium to FedEx in November 1999, becoming FedExField.
In Snyder's first season as owner, the Redskins went 10–6, including a four-game winning streak early in the season, and made it to the playoffs for the first time in Norv Turner's career (and the first time for the Redskins since 1992) in the final game of the season (on January 2, 2000, against the Dolphins). Running back Stephen Davis rushed for a then franchise record 1,405 yards and quarterback Brad Johnson completed a then franchise record 316 passes and threw for more than 4,000 yards in regular play that season. They then defeated the Detroit Lions in the first round of the playoffs, but lost to the Buccaneers, 14–13.
In the 2000 NFL draft, the team picked future Pro Bowler Chris Samuels and the tumultuous LaVar Arrington. The first half of the 2000 season saw five consecutive wins, but subsequent losses led to Turner's firing mid-season; under interim head coach Terry Robiskie, the team finished 8–8. During the final game of the season, Larry Centers became the NFL's all-time leader in receptions by a fullback with 685.
On January 3, 2001, the Redskins hired former Cleveland Browns and Kansas City Chiefs head coach Marty Schottenheimer. The 2001 season began with a loss to the San Diego Chargers, 30–3, two days before the September 11, 2001, attacks. On September 13, the Redskins announced the establishment of the Redskins Relief Fund to help families of the victims of the attack at the Pentagon; it would raise more than $700,000 in the first season. The team finished 8–8 and Schottenheimer was fired after the final game. Snyder would say in a 2013 interview that Schottenheimer was fired for his controlling nature.
On January 14, 2002, Snyder hired Florida Gators coach Steve Spurrier, the Redskins' fifth head coach in 10 years. They finished with a 7–9 record, their first losing season in four years. A bittersweet moment during the season occurred on December 29, when Darrell Green concluded his 20th and final season as the Redskins defeated the Cowboys 20–14 at FedExField. During his 20 seasons, he set an NFL record for consecutive seasons with at least one interception (19) and a Redskins team record for regular-season games played (295) and started (258). The Redskins finished the 2003 season with a 5–11 record, their worst since 1994. After two mediocre years, Spurrier resigned after the 2003 season with three years left on his contract.
For the 2004 season, Snyder hired former coach Joe Gibbs to return as head coach and team president. Gibbs' return to the franchise did not pay instant dividends as the Redskins finished the 2004 season with a record of 6–10. Despite an impressive defense, the team struggled offensively. Quarterback Mark Brunell—an offseason addition from the Jacksonville Jaguars—struggled in his first season, and was replaced midway through the season by backup Patrick Ramsey. On the other hand, some of Gibbs' other new signings, such as cornerback Shawn Springs and linebacker Marcus Washington, did very well. The Redskins also selected Sean Taylor during the first draft in Gibbs' return.
The 2005 season started with three wins, including a win on September 19 against the Dallas Cowboys. Dallas led 13–0 with less than four minutes left when Brunell threw a 39-yard (36 m) touchdown pass to Moss on a fourth-down play. Then, with 2:44 left, Brunell connected with Moss again on a 70-yard (64 m) touchdown pass and Nick Novak kicked the game-winning extra point. It was the Redskins' first victory at Texas Stadium since 1995. They then fell into a slump, losing six of the next eight games which included three straight losses in November, and their playoff chances looked bleak. On December 18, 2005, the Redskins beat Cowboys, 35–7, which marked the first time since 1995 that the Redskins swept the season series with Dallas. The Redskins clinched their first playoff berth since 1999. The game also culminated impressive season performances by individuals. Portis set a team mark for most rushing yards in a single season with 1,516 yards (1,386 m), and Moss set a team record for most receiving yards in a single season with 1,483 yards (1,356 m), breaking Bobby Mitchell's previous record set in 1963. Also, Chris Cooley's 71 receptions broke Jerry Smith's season record for a Redskins tight end. In the first round of the playoffs, the Redskins met the Buccaneers. The Redskins won 17–10, after taking an early 14–0 lead, which they thought they lost until replay showed that a touchdown, which would have tied the game, was an incomplete pass. In that game, the Redskins broke the record for fewest offensive yards (120) gained in a playoff victory, with one of their two touchdowns being from a defensive run after a fumble recovery. The following weekend, they played the Seahawks, who defeated the Redskins 20–10, ending their hopes of reaching their first NFC Championship Game since 1991.
The first major move of the 2006 off-season was the hiring of Kansas City Chiefs' offensive coordinator Al Saunders as offensive coordinator. Gibbs also added former Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator Jerry Gray to his staff as secondary/cornerbacks coach and lost quarterbacks coach Bill Musgrave to the Falcons. The Redskins also picked up future starters Rocky McIntosh, Anthony Montgomery, Reed Doughty, and Kedric Golston in the 2006 NFL draft. After winning only three of the first nine games, Gibbs benched quarterback Brunell for former first-round draft pick Jason Campbell. After losing his first game as a starter to Tampa Bay, Campbell got his first NFL victory against the Carolina Panthers, bringing the Redskins out of a three-game losing streak. The highlight of the season happened on November 5, and concluded with one of the most exciting endings in the history of the Cowboys–Redskins rivalry. Tied 19–19, Troy Vincent blocked a last-second field goal attempt by Dallas that would have given them the win. Sean Taylor picked up the ball and ran 30 yards (27 m), breaking tackles along the way. It was thought that the game would then go in overtime, however because of a defensive 15-yard (14 m) face mask penalty, the Redskins would get an untimed down. Novak kicked a 47-yard (43 m) field goal, giving Washington a 22–19 victory. However, the Redskins finished the year with a 5–11 record, which resulted in them being last in the NFC East. This marked the second losing season of Joe Gibbs' second term as head coach with the Redskins, compared to the one losing season he had in his first 12-year tenure as head coach.
The Redskins began the 2007 season by "winning ugly" starting the season off 2–0. The Redskins kept winning and losing close games, the only exception to this a 34–3 rout of the Detroit Lions. The Redskins continued to win ugly and lose ugly to be 5–3 at the halfway mark. However, the Redskins would begin to collapse. The team lost their next three games to fall to 5–6. On Monday, November 26, Redskins safety Sean Taylor was shot by home intruders early in the morning in his Miami home. The next morning, Taylor died from severe blood loss. However, the Redskins rebounded to finish 9–7 and clinch the final playoff spot in the NFC. Washington trailed 13–0 entering the 4th quarter to the Seattle Seahawks in the wild-card round, but rallied to take a 14–13 lead, but Redskins kicker Shaun Suisham missed a field goal later in the game, and the Seahawks scored on the next drive and converted the two-point conversion. To close the game, Todd Collins threw two interceptions, each returned for a touchdown, and the Redskins fell 35–14.
After Joe Gibbs announced his retirement following the 2007 season, Jim Zorn was hired as head coach and brought in a West Coast Offense. The 2008 season started well, as the Redskins started the season 6–2. Furthermore, Redskins RB Clinton Portis led the NFL in rushing yards. However, things turned for the worse in early November, when they were routed 23–6 by the Pittsburgh Steelers and Portis' injuries finally caught up to him. The Redskins continued to struggle, falling all the way to 7–7, with their only win during that six-week period being a 3-point victory of the then-2–8 Seattle Seahawks. The Redskins managed to upset the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 16, but were eliminated from playoff contention. The team's fortunes continued to slide in 2009, as they finished 4–12. Zorn was fired and replaced by Mike Shanahan after the season.
On April 4, the Redskins acquired quarterback Donovan McNabb in a trade from the rival Philadelphia Eagles. However, the Redskins struggled to a 6–10 finish, once again 4th place in the division. The McNabb era came to an abrupt end when he was traded to Minnesota in August 2011. After cutting the injury-prone Clinton Portis, the Redskins had no important offensive players left except for Santana Moss. Mike Shanahan surprised most observers by his decision to name John Beck, an obscure free-agent quarterback, as the starter. However, Shanahan suddenly reversed direction by naming veteran backup Rex Grossman to the starting position. In Week 1, Grossman threw for 305 yards and two touchdown passes as the Redskins crushed the Giants 28–14, ending a six-game losing streak against that team. The Washington Redskins started the season 2–0, but then struggled to a 5–11 finish, however, they managed to win both meetings over the eventual Super Bowl champion New York Giants.
In 2012, the Redskins traded several high draft picks to the St. Louis Rams in order to take Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III second overall in the 2012 NFL draft. Although the need for a franchise quarterback was obvious, many journalists had doubts about the value of giving up a lot for a single player. In the opening game of the season, Griffin threw for 320 yards and two touchdown passes in a 40–32 victory over the New Orleans Saints to give the team its highest-scoring game since 2005. The Redskins struggled to a 3–6 start, but in Week 11, the Redskins would host the struggling Philadelphia Eagles. Griffin would have one of the best games of his career to date, as the Redskins won 31–6 with long touchdowns to Santana Moss and Aldrick Robinson. The Redskins would win their next 6 games after that, including the crucial final game of the season against the Cowboys, which would clinch the division for and send the Redskins to the playoffs. The Redskins hosted the Seattle Seahawks in the Wild Card round but lost 24–14.
Hopes were high for a repeat division title in 2013. However, these hopes were in vain, as poor play and controversy stirred during the entire year, leading to a 3–13 record. Even though most players had a down year compared to 2012, Pierre Garçon had his greatest season statistically yet. Garcon broke Art Monk's 29-year-old franchise record for catches in a single season. Garcon had 113 catches total, which broke Monk's 106 catches in 1984 by seven. The Redskins fired Shanahan and most of his staff after the season.
On January 9, 2014, the Redskins hired Jay Gruden as their head coach. Gruden became the eighth head coach of the team since Daniel Snyder purchased the franchise in 1999. The Redskins struggled throughout the season, having three different quarterbacks start games, amounting to a 4–12 record. Defensive coordinator Jim Haslett was fired at the end of the season.
In 2015, the Redskins hired Scot McCloughan to be their general manager, with Bruce Allen serving as team president. In October 2015, the Redskins had their largest comeback win in franchise history, coming back to win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31–30 after being down 0–24 in the second quarter. The Redskins clinched the NFC East division title on December 26, when they beat the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 16, 38–24. The division title was their third since Snyder took over ownership of the team, and was the first since the 1999 season to be clinched before Week 17. The Redskins hosted the Green Bay Packers in the Wild Card round on January 10, 2016, but lost 35–18, ending their 2015 season. Kirk Cousins, who took over as starting quarterback in the preseason, finished the season with career highs in touchdowns (29), yards (4,166), and completion percentage (69.8%). His completion percentage led the league, while his 29 touchdowns tied him for second on the franchise single-season list.
The team's offense in 2016 set several franchise records, including having over 6,000 total net yards, which was only the third time in franchise history the team had accomplished that. Quarterback Kirk Cousins also set single-season team records in attempts, completions, and passing yards, breaking many of his records he had previously set in 2015. DeSean Jackson, Pierre Garçon, Jamison Crowder, Robert Kelley, Chris Thompson, Jordan Reed, Vernon Davis, and Matt Jones all finished the season with at least 500 yards from scrimmage, tying the 2011 New Orleans Saints for the most in a single season in NFL history. Despite the numerous records set, the Redskins missed the playoffs, losing 19–10 in a "win and in" situation against the New York Giants in the final week of the season. However, the Redskins still finished the season with a record of 8–7–1, giving the team their first consecutive winning seasons in nearly 20 years. In contrast with the record setting offense, the team's defense had a poor season, finishing 29 out of 32 teams in total defense, which led to the firing of defensive coordinator Joe Barry, as well as three of his assistants. In 2017, Cousins had his third straight season with 4,000 passing yards while once again playing under the franchise tag. For the second straight season, the Redskins missed the playoffs, finishing 7–9.
During the 2018 offseason, the Redskins traded for quarterback Alex Smith to replace Kirk Cousins as he left for the Minnesota Vikings in free agency. Despite early success starting the season 6–3, their best start since 2008, the team finished the season 1–6 due to injuries. In a game against the Houston Texans on November 18, 2018, Smith suffered a compound and spiral fracture to his tibia and fibula in his right leg when he was sacked by Kareem Jackson and J. J. Watt which forced him to miss the rest of the season. This led to Colt McCoy, Mark Sanchez, and Josh Johnson starting games in the second half of the season. The team finished at 7–9 and missed the playoffs for the third consecutive year, with 25 players on injured reserve.
Due to Smith's injury, the Redskins signed Case Keenum from the Denver Broncos in the 2019 offseason, and drafted Dwayne Haskins from Ohio State in the 2019 NFL draft. With a league worst 0–5 start to the season, tying with the Cincinnati Bengals, and their worst start since 2001, the Redskins fired Gruden on October 7, 2019, with offensive line coach Bill Callahan serving as the interim head coach for the rest of the season. Gruden finished as the longest-tenured head coach in the Snyder era with six seasons, a 35–49–1 regular season record and one playoff appearance. The Redskins finished the season at 3–13, with victories over the Detroit Lions and Carolina Panthers, and missed the playoffs for the fourth straight year. The record matched their worst since 2013 and was the second worst of any team that season.
==== Rebranding and workplace culture investigations (2020–2023) ====
The team underwent several changes in 2020, including retiring the Redskins name and logo and hiring former Carolina Panthers head coach Ron Rivera in the same role, as well as naming Jason Wright as team president, the first black person named to that position in NFL history. Some notable members of Rivera's staff include former Jacksonville Jaguars and Oakland Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio as defensive coordinator and Scott Turner, the son of former Redskins head coach Norv Turner, as offensive coordinator.
Under Rivera and Del Rio, the team switched their defensive scheme from a 3–4 defense, which the team had used under both Shanahan and Gruden's tenure, to a 4–3 defense. Due to their 3–13 record the previous season, the team held the second overall pick in the 2020 NFL draft and selected Chase Young, who would go on to be named Defensive Rookie of the Year. Dwayne Haskins, the team's first-round draft pick from 2019, was released mid-season for ineffective play and not meeting the team's off-the-field standards. Washington would won the division for the first time since 2015, going 7–9 and becoming only the third team in NFL history to win a division with a losing record in a non-strike year after the 2010 Seattle Seahawks and the Rivera-coached 2014 Carolina Panthers.
In July 2021, lawyer Beth Wilkinson concluded a year-long independent investigation into the team's workplace culture under owner Daniel Snyder. It found that sexual harassment, bullying, and intimidation were common throughout the organization. The NFL fined the team $10 million in response, and Snyder stepped down from running the team's day-to-day operations, giving those responsibilities to his wife and team CEO Tanya. A U.S. House Oversight Committee report later corroborated the claims and accused him of withholding security deposits from season ticket holders.
The 2021 season saw the hiring of Martin Mayhew as general manager and Marty Hurney as another high-ranking executive. With the hiring of Mayhew, Washington became the first NFL team to concurrently have a minority general manager, head coach, and president. Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick was injured in the opening game, and backup quarterback Taylor Heinicke would start most of the season. The team missed the playoffs with a 7–10 record.
The Football Team rebranded as the Commanders in 2022 with new logos and uniforms. The team traded for Colts quarterback Carson Wentz in the offseason, but benched him for Heinicke. Neither would be retained after the season. The team finished 8–8–1, the first team since 2008 to finish last in the division with a non-losing record. The season was the last under Snyder's ownership.
=== Josh Harris era (2023–present) ===
In November 2022, Snyder hired BofA Securities after mounting pressure from other NFL owners to sell the team to explore possible transactions. In May 2023, he reached an agreement to sell the franchise to a group headed by Josh Harris, co-founder of Apollo Global Management and owner of the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers and NHL's New Jersey Devils, for $6.05 billion. Key limited partners include Danaher and Glenstone founder Mitchell Rales, Hall of Fame basketball player Magic Johnson, and venture capitalist Mark Ein. The sale, the highest price ever paid for a sports team at the time, was approved by the NFL on July 20, 2023. By 2024, the team had invested $75 million in improving the infrastructure and game experience of Northwest Stadium, including improved food options and renovations to the sound system and suites.
The Commanders finished the 2023 season with a 4–13 record, allowing the most points and having the worst point differential in the league. Second-year quarterback Sam Howell, who started all 17 games, also led the league in sacks allowed (65) and interceptions thrown (21). It was their seventh straight non-winning season and third straight being eliminated from the playoffs, with the team also going winless in the division for the first time since 2019. Head coach Ron Rivera and his staff were fired following the season's conclusion. The 2024 season saw the hiring of Adam Peters as general manager and former Falcons coach Dan Quinn as head coach. The front office and roster saw several changes under Peters, including signing around 30 free agents and selecting 2023 Heisman quarterback Jayden Daniels second overall in the 2024 NFL draft. Led by Daniels, the 2024 Offensive Rookie of the Year, the Commanders went 12–5, won a playoff game for the first time since 2005, and made the NFC Championship Game for the first time since 1991.
In April 2025, the Commanders and the D.C. government announced a $3.7 billion stadium and mixed-use campus project to be built on the former site of RFK Stadium for a targeted opening of 2030.
== Logos and uniforms ==
The franchise's primary colors are burgundy and gold. From 1961 through 1978, Washington wore gold pants with both the burgundy and white jerseys, although details of the jerseys and pants changed a few times during this period. Gold face masks were introduced in 1978 and remain as such to this day; previous to that they were grey. Throughout most of the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, Washington was just one of three other teams that primarily wore their white jerseys at home (the others being the Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins). The tradition of wearing white jerseys over burgundy pants at home, which is considered the "classic" look, was started by Joe Gibbs when he took over as coach in 1981. Gibbs was an assistant for the San Diego Chargers in 1979 and 1980 when the team wore white at home under head coach Don Coryell. Prior to Gibbs's arrival, the only season in which the Redskins wore white at home was 1964.
Their burgundy jerseys were primarily used only when the opposing team decided to wear white at home, which came mostly against the Dallas Cowboys and was normally worn over white pants. It was worn on the road against other teams that prefer to wear white at home for games occurring early in the season. From 1981 through 2000, Washington wore their white jerseys over burgundy pants at home almost exclusively. In 1994, as part of a league-wide celebration of the NFL's 75th anniversary, during certain games, the team wore special uniforms which emulated the uniforms worn by the team in its inaugural season in Washington in 1937. Both worn over gold pants, the burgundy jerseys featured gold numbers bordered in white and the white jerseys featured burgundy numbers bordered in gold. The most distinctive feature of both colors of the jersey was the patches worn on both sleeves, which were a reproduction of the patches worn on the full-length sleeves of the 1937 jerseys. Worn with these uniforms was a plain burgundy helmet with a gold facemask.
In 2001, the team wore burgundy for all home games in the preseason and regular season per a decision by Marty Schottenheimer, their coach for that year. In 2002, the team celebrated the passing of 70 years since its creation as the Boston Braves in 1932 and wore a special home uniform, a burgundy jersey over gold pants, which roughly resembled the home uniforms used from 1969 to 1978. The helmets used with this special home uniform during that year were a reproduction of the helmets used by the team from 1965 to 1969, though they wore white at home in Week 1 against the Arizona Cardinals and again in Week 17, the latter forcing the Cowboys to use their blue jerseys. This special home uniform was also worn during one game in 2003 vs.the Saints. In 2004, when Gibbs became the coach of the team once again, the team switched back to wearing white jerseys at home; in Gibbs's 16 years as head coach, the team never wore burgundy jerseys at home.
Their white jerseys have provided three basic color combinations. The last combination consists of both white jerseys and pants. That particular combination surfaced in the first game of the 2003 season when the team was coached by Steve Spurrier, during a nationally televised game against the New York Jets, which led many sports fans and Redskins faithful alike to point out that they had never seen that particular combination before. The Redskins won six straight games, including one in the playoffs against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, wearing that combination. In the NFC Divisional Playoff game against the eventual 2005 NFC Champion Seattle Seahawks, Washington wore the all-white uniforms in hopes that they could keep their streak going; however, they lost 20–10. The white jersey over burgundy pants look reappeared in a home game against the Carolina Panthers later in 2006.
In celebration of the franchise's 75th anniversary, Washington wore a one-time throwback uniform for a home game against the New York Giants, based on their away uniform from 1970 to 1971. Players wore a white jersey with three burgundy and two gold stripes on each sleeve and the 75th-anniversary logo on the left chest. The pants were gold, with one white stripe bordered by a burgundy stripe on each side, running down each side. The helmet was gold-colored with a burgundy "R" logo. The helmet and uniform styles were the same as the ones the franchise used during the 1970–71 seasons. Vince Lombardi, who coached Washington in 1969 before dying during the 1970 preseason, was the inspiration behind the helmet. Lombardi pushed for the logo, which sat inside a white circle enclosed within a burgundy circle border, with Native American feathers hanging down from the side because of its similarity to the "G" on the helmets worn by the Green Bay Packers, who he had coached during most of the 1960s.
In a 2008 Monday Night Football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Washington wore a monochrome look by wearing burgundy jerseys over burgundy pants. This combination made two further appearances the following season against the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants. The Redskins, starting in 2010, began to wear the burgundy jersey paired with the gold pants reminiscent of the George Allen era. Against the Tennessee Titans later that season, the team matched the gold pants with the usual white jerseys for the first time. Washington wore the same combination against the Giants on the road two weeks later.
In 2011, the Redskins wore the burgundy jersey and gold pants for five home games and a road game at Dallas, the burgundy jersey with white pants for three home games and a road game at Miami, the white jersey and burgundy pants for five road games, and the white jersey and gold pants for a Bills game in Toronto. The following year, the team wore an updated throwback uniform of the 1937 championship team that featured a helmet pattern based on the logo-less leather helmets worn at the time, in a game against the Carolina Panthers. In 2013, a newly implemented NFL rule stated that teams could not wear alternate helmets (thus limiting them to one helmet) on account of player safety. As a result, Washington wore its 1937 throwbacks with the logo removed from the regular helmet in a game versus the San Diego Chargers. That year, the Redskins removed the burgundy collar from their white jerseys in order to have better consistency with the new Nike uniforms that had debuted the previous season.
Between 2014 and 2016, the team wore the gold pants with their standard uniforms, although the burgundy pants returned as part of the team's away uniform later in 2016. In 2017, Washington resurrected the all-burgundy ensemble as part of the NFL Color Rush. Nike initially provided an all-gold uniform but team officials called it "garish" and refused to wear it. In 2018, Washington replaced the gold pants with white for the majority of their home games.
During their two season as the Washington Football Team in 2020 and 2021, their logo was a simple "W" with the helmets having player numbers. The Commanders rebranding included new logos and uniforms featuring military-inspired motifs. The primary home uniform remained burgundy with gold and white stripes with the letters having a gold base. The team name is placed atop the numbers in front, which were also gold and trimmed in white. The road white uniform features burgundy and white gradient numbers with black trim, along with burgundy and white gradient and black sleeve stripes. Both sets are paired with either burgundy or white pants. The alternate black uniform features the team name on the left chest in gold, and numbers have a gold base with burgundy trim. Black pants are paired with this uniform with an alternate black helmet having with the "W" logo in front and uniform numbers on each side. A pig mascot, Major Tuddy, was also unveiled near the end of the season. In 2024, gold pants returned to the uniform rotation for the first time since 2018. The standard uniform combination from then on was burgundy-on-gold at home and white-on-burgundy on the road with burgundy socks.
The Commanders unveiled alternate throwback uniforms in 2025 based on the set worn during the 1980s, featuring white jerseys and burgundy pants. The helmet was emblazoned with the team's Golden W in place of the Redskins logo.
=== Redskins branding controversy ===
The team's former Redskins branding, used from 1933 until 2020, was one of the leading examples of the Native American mascot controversy. Various people and groups, such as the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), considered the name a racial slur and attempted to get the team to change it for decades. In a 2013 letter, Snyder said that while he respected those who said they were offended, a 2004 Annenberg Public Policy Center poll found that 90% of Native Americans were not. This poll was essentially replicated in 2016 by The Washington Post. In 2020, social scientists from the University of Michigan and University of California at Berkeley measured Native American opinion in detail, finding that 49% had responded that the name was offensive, with the level of offense increasing to 67% for those with a stronger involvement in Native American culture. When the franchise was undergoing a trademark dispute in 2014, the Washington Post announced their editorials would no longer use the "Redskins" name. ESPN updated its policies to allow its reporters to choose how to refer to the team. Some argued the name was too racially charged, while most people believed the branding advocated for and honored the bravery and warrior spirit associated with Native American culture.
After a period of racial unrest triggered by the murder of George Floyd and subsequent protests in 2020, a letter signed by 87 shareholders and investors was sent to team and league sponsors Nike, FedEx, and PepsiCo urging them to cut their ties unless the name was changed. Around the same time, several retail companies began removing Redskins merchandise from their stores. In response, the team underwent a review in July 2020 and announced that it would play as the Washington Football Team after retiring its name and logo.
In 2022, the team rebranded as the Commanders, with new logos and uniforms. In 2023, the Native American Guardians Association (NAGA) launched a petition to return to the Redskins branding; NAGA later attempted to sue the Commanders for defamation after team management claimed NAGA was a "fake" association. In 2024, U.S. Senator Steve Daines advocated that the NFL honor Blackfeet Nation member Blackie Wetzel in recognition of his role in designing the team's former logo depicting a Native American chief based on John Two Guns White Calf, the last Blackfeet chief. Daines sought to honor the legacy without calling for the return of the Redskins branding, but some viewed the gesture as insufficient compared to addressing more pressing community needs. The Wetzel family said they wished to regain the rights to the logo to use it to raise awareness about social issues on reservations. In November 2024, the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources voted 17–2 to transfer control of the RFK Stadium site to the District of Columbia. The bill's approval came after negotiations between the team, NFL, and Daines about restoring the Redskins logo, with portions of merchandise proceeds going to Native American causes. In July 2025, President Donald Trump suggested he would block a deal for New Commanders Stadium to be built in Washington, D.C. if the team did not return to the Redskins branding.
== Rivalries ==
=== Divisional ===
==== Dallas Cowboys ====
The Commanders' rivalry with the Dallas Cowboys features two teams that have won 31 combined division titles and 10 championships, including eight combined Super Bowls. The rivalry started in 1960 when the Cowboys joined the league as an expansion team. During that year they were in separate conferences, but played once during the season. In 1961, Dallas was placed in the same division as the Redskins, and from that point on, they have played each other twice during every regular season.
Texas oil tycoon Clint Murchison Jr. was having a difficult time bringing an NFL team to Dallas. In 1958, Murchison heard that George Preston Marshall, owner of the Washington Redskins, was eager to sell the team. Just as the sale was about to be finalized, Marshall called for a change in terms. Murchison was outraged and canceled the whole deal. Around this time, Marshall had a falling out with the Redskin band director, Barnee Breeskin. Breeskin had written the music for the team's fight song, now known as "Hail to the Commanders", which gets played by the Washington Commanders Marching Band after every touchdown at home games. He wanted revenge after the failed negotiations with Marshall. He approached Tom Webb, Murchison's lawyer, and sold the rights for $2,500 (equivalent to $27,200 in 2025). Murchison then decided to create his own team, with the support of NFL expansion committee chairman, George Halas. Halas decided to put the proposition of a Dallas franchise before the NFL owners, which needed to have unanimous approval in order to pass. The only owner against the proposal was George Preston Marshall. However, Marshall found out that Murchison owned the rights to Washington's fight song, so a deal was finally struck. If Marshall showed his approval of the Dallas franchise, Murchison would return the song. The Cowboys were then founded and began playing in 1960. At the time in 2016, a matchup between the teams on Thanksgiving was the most-watched regular-season game broadcast by the NFL on Fox. The Cowboys lead the series 78–48–2.
==== Philadelphia Eagles ====
The Commanders' rivalry with the Philadelphia Eagles began in 1934. Washington leads the series 90–87–6.
==== New York Giants ====
The Commanders' rivalry with the New York Giants began in 1932. The Giants lead the all-time series 108–73–5.
=== Other ===
==== Baltimore Ravens (Beltway Bowl) ====
The Commanders have a minor geographic rivalry with the Baltimore Ravens, who play about 40 miles away. The teams play each other annually during the preseason, but rarely during the regular season because they are in different conferences. The Ravens lead the all-time series 5–3. After the Baltimore Colts moved to Indianapolis in 1984, the Washington team's then-owner, Jack Kent Cooke, worked to prevent a new team from settling in the Maryland city. After the Cleveland Browns moved to Baltimore in 1996 and rebranded as the Baltimore Ravens, Cooke put the Redskins' then-new stadium in Landover, Maryland.
== Players ==
=== Roster ===
=== Retired numbers ===
Some numbers are unofficially retired and are withheld from being selected by other players.
7 Joe Theismann, QB, 1974–1985
42 Charley Taylor, WR, 1964–1977
43 Larry Brown, RB, 1969–1976
44 John Riggins, FB, 1976–1979, 1981–1985
65 Dave Butz, DT, 1975–1988
70 Sam Huff, ILB, 1964–1969
The use of unofficial retired numbers drew controversy during Steve Spurrier's first year as head coach in 2002. Quarterbacks Danny Wuerffel and Shane Matthews first wore 7 and 9 respectively during training camp. The resulting controversy led to them switching to 17 and 6. Quarterback Dwayne Haskins, the team's first-round draft selection in 2019, wore number 7 with permission from Theismann for his two-year tenure with the team.
=== Pro Football Hall of Fame members ===
Names in bold indicate induction primarily based on accomplishments with Washington.
=== Ring of Fame ===
When the team left RFK Stadium in 1996, they left behind the signs commemorating the Washington Hall of Stars. The team began a new tradition of honoring Redskins greats via the "Ring of Fame", a set of signs on the upper-level facade at Northwest Stadium. Team founder George Preston Marshall was removed in 2020, the only member to lose his place in the ring.
=== 90 Greatest ===
For the Redskins' 70th anniversary in 2002, a panel selected the "70 Greatest Redskins", player and coaches who were honored in a weekend of festivities, including a halftime ceremony during a Redskins' game against the Indianapolis Colts. In 2012, ten players and personnel were added to the list for the team's 80th anniversary. In 2022, ten more were added for the franchise's 90th anniversary.
The panel that chose the 70 consisted of former news anchor Bernard Shaw; former player Bobby Mitchell; Senator George Allen (son of coach George Allen); broadcaster Ken Beatrice; Noel Epstein, editor for the Washington Post; former diplomat Joseph J. Sisco; Phil Hochberg, who retired in 2001 after 38 years as team stadium announcer; Pro Football Hall of Fame historian Joe Horrigan; sportscaster George Michael; sports director Andy Pollin; NFL Films president Steven Sabol; and news anchor Jim Vance.
The list includes three head coaches and 67 players, of which 41 were offensive players, 23 defensive players, and three special teams players. Among the 70 Greatest, there are 92 Super Bowl appearances, with 47 going once and 45 playing in more than one. 29 members possess one Super Bowl ring and 26 have more than one. Also, before the Super Bowl, members of the 70 made 18 World Championship appearances including six that participated in the Redskins' NFL Championship victories in 1937 and 1942. Bold indicates people elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
=== Individual awards ===
== Staff ==
=== Owners ===
=== Front office and coaches ===
=== Command Force ===
The Command Force is the team's professional dance and performance group. They were formed in 1962 as a cheerleading squad called the Redskinettes, then renamed the Command Force upon the team's rebranding as the Commanders in 2022. As cheerleaders, they were sometimes referred to as the First Ladies of Football.
== Records ==
=== Franchise ===
Single-game
Passing yards: 471 Brad Johnson (1999)
Passing touchdowns: 6 Sammy Baugh (1943, 1947), Mark Rypien (1991)
Completions: 33 Jason Campbell (2007), Kirk Cousins (2015)
Completion percentage (minimum 20 attempts): 91.3% Jayden Daniels (2024)
Rushing yards: 221 Gerald Riggs (1989)
Rushing touchdowns: 3 (several)
Receptions: 14 Roy Helu (2011)
Receiving yards: 255 Anthony Allen (1987)
Receiving touchdowns: 3 (several)
Tackles: 17 Jessie Armstead (2002)
Sacks: 4 Dexter Manley (1988), Ken Harvey (1997), Phillip Daniels (2005), Brian Orakpo (2009), Ryan Kerrigan (2014)
Forced fumbles: 3 Ryan Anderson (2019)
Interceptions: 4 DeAngelo Hall (2010)
Field goals: 7 Austin Seibert (2024)
Punts: 11 Mike Bragg (1976)
Season
Passing yards: 4,917 Kirk Cousins (2016)
Passing touchdowns: 31 Sonny Jurgensen (1967)
Completions: 406 Kirk Cousins (2016)
Rushing yards: 1,613 Alfred Morris (2012)
Rushing touchdowns: 24 John Riggins (1983)
Receptions: 113 Pierre Garçon (2013)
Receiving yards: 1,483 Santana Moss (2005)
Receiving touchdowns: 13 Terry McLaurin (2024)
Tackles: 101 London Fletcher (2007)
Sacks: 18.5 Dexter Manley (1986)
Forced fumbles: 6 LaVar Arrington (2003)
Interceptions: 13 Dan Sandifer (1948)
Field goals: 33 Mark Moseley (1983)
Points: 161 Mark Moseley (1983)
Kickoff return average (minimum 5 returns): 42.8 yards Hall Haynes (1950)
Punts: 103 Mike Bragg (1978), Tom Tupa (2004)
Punt return average (minimum 5 returns): 24.3 yards Derrick Shepard (1987)
Punting average: 51.4 yards Sammy Baugh (1940)
Career
Passing yards: 25,206 Joe Theismann (1974–1985)
Passing touchdowns: 187 Sammy Baugh (1937–1952)
Rushing yards: 7,472 John Riggins (1976–1979, 1981–1985)
Rushing touchdowns: 79 John Riggins (1976–1979, 1981–1985)
Receptions: 889 Art Monk (1980–1993)
Receiving yards: 12,029 Art Monk (1980–1993)
Receiving touchdowns: 79 Charley Taylor (1964–1977)
Tackles: 1,162 Darrell Green (1983–2002)
Sacks: 95.5 Ryan Kerrigan (2011–2020)
Forced fumbles: 26 Ryan Kerrigan (2011–2020)
Interceptions: 54 Darrell Green (1983–2002)
Field goals: 263 Mark Moseley (1974–1986)
Longest field goal: 61 yards Joey Slye (2023)
Points: 1,207 Mark Moseley (1974–1986)
Kickoff return average (minimum 25 returns): 28.5 Bobby Mitchell (1962–1968)
Punts: 896 Mike Bragg (1968–1979)
Punt return average (minimum 25 returns): 13.8 Bob Seymour (1941–1944)
Punting average: 45.1 Sammy Baugh (1937–1952)
=== NFL ===
Offense
The Redskins scored 541 points in 1983, which is the sixth highest total in a season of all time.
The Redskins' 72 points against the New York Giants on November 27, 1966, are the most points ever scored by an NFL team in a regular-season game, and the 72–41 score amounted to 113 points and the highest-scoring game ever in NFL history. The second-half scoring for the game amounted to 65 points, the second-highest point total for second-half scoring and the third-highest total scoring in any half in NFL history. The Redskins' 10 touchdowns are the most by a team in a single game, and the 16 total touchdowns are the most combined for a game. The Redskins' nine PATs are the second-most all-time for a single game, and the 14 combined PATs are the most ever in a game.
The Redskins set a record for most first downs in a game with 39 in a game against the Lions on November 4, 1990. They also set a record by not allowing a single first down against the Giants on September 27, 1942.
The Redskins have led the league in passing eight times: in 1938, 1940, 1944, 1947–48, 1967, 1974 and 1989. Only the San Diego Chargers have led more times. The Redskins led the league in completion percentage 11 times: in 1937, 1939–1940, 1942–45, 1947–48 and 1969–1970, second only to the San Francisco 49ers. Their four straight years from 1942 to 1945 is the second longest streak.
The Redskins' nine sacks allowed in 1991 are the third-fewest allowed in a season.
The Redskins completed 43 passes in an overtime win against Detroit on November 4, 1990, second-most all-time.
Defense
The Redskins recovered eight opponent's fumbles against the St. Louis Cardinals on October 25, 1976, the most ever in one game.
The Redskins allowed 82 first downs in 1937, third fewest all-time.
The Redskins have led the league in fewest total yards allowed five times, 1935–37, 1939, and 1946, which is the third most. Their three consecutive years from 1935 to 1937 is an NFL record.
The Redskins have led the league in fewest passing yards allowed seven times, in 1939, 1942, 1945, 1952–53, 1980, and 1985, second only to Green Bay (10).
The Redskins had 61 defensive turnovers in 1983, the third most all-time. The turnover differential of +43 that year was the highest of all time.
The Redskins had only 12 defensive turnovers in 2006, the fewest in a 16-game season and second all time (the Baltimore Colts had 11 turnovers in the strike-shortened 1982 season which lasted only nine games.)
Special teams
The Redskins led the league in field goals for eight seasons, 1945, 1956, 1971, 1976–77, 1979, 1982, 1992. Only the Green Bay Packers have ever led more.
The Redskins and Bears attempted an NFL record 11 field goals on November 14, 1971, and the Redskins and Giants tied that mark on November 14, 1976.
The Redskins 28 consecutive games, from 1988 to 1990, scoring a field goal is third all time.
The Redskins have led the league in punting average six times, in 1940–43, 1945, and 1958, second only to the Denver Broncos. Their four consecutive years from 1940 to 1943 is an NFL record.
The Redskins have led the league in average kick return yards eight times, in 1942, 1947, 1962–63, 1973–74, 1981, and 1995, more than any other team.
== Broadcasting ==
The Commanders' flagship station is Big 100 (WBIG-FM), which acquired the rights in 2022 as part of an agreement with iHeartMedia. Frank Herzog served the team's lead play-by-play announcer from 1979 until 2004, when he was replaced by Larry Michael. Herzog was joined from 1981 by former Redskins Sonny Jurgensen and Sam Huff. Michael retired in 2020 and was replaced by Bram Weinstein. Weinstein is joined by color commentators and former players London Fletcher and Logan Paulsen. Julie Donaldson served as host from 2020 to 2023 and was the first woman to be an on-air broadcaster for an NFL team.
WMAL served as the team's flagship station from 1942 to 1956 and from 1963 through 1991. From 1992 to 1994, WTEM—which had become DC's first all-sports radio station—became the Redskins' flagship station after which they moved to WJFK-FM. In 2006, after WJFK and CBS Radio declined to renew its rights to the team, the Redskins moved to WWXT, WWXX, and WXTR. The stations had recently been bought by Red Zebra Broadcasting—a group co-owned by Snyder—and had become a sports radio trimulcast known as "Triple X ESPN Radio". Red Zebra Broadcasting would eventually acquire WTEM in 2008, making it the originating station of the simulcast.
In 2017, Cumulus Media reached an agreement to carry the team's radio broadcasts on WMAL, marking its return to the station for the first time since 1991. As part of the agreement, WTEM remained the team's official flagship. In 2018, WTEM was sold to Urban One, but maintained its rights to the team. In June 2019, WMAL flipped to sports radio itself as WSBN, taking over the local ESPN Radio affiliation from WTEM; WMAL's previous conservative talk format moved exclusively to its FM simulcast station.
Telecasts of preseason games were previously carried by NBC Sports Washington in the Mid-Atlantic region. Sister NBC owned-and-operated station WRC-TV was the team's "official" broadcast television station, simulcasting the preseason games and airing other team-produced programs during the season. With the sale of NBC Sports Washington by NBCUniversal to Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards owner Ted Leonsis, the network declined to renew its rights to the team. Most regular season Commanders games are carried by NFL on Fox. In June 2024, the team and WUSA announced a partnership to broadcast the team's preseason games as well as some original content.
== U.S. presidential election superstition ==
Between 1932 and 2008, for 19 of 20 United States presidential elections, a win for the Redskins in their last home game prior to Election Day coincided with the incumbent party winning re-election. The exception was in 2004, when Republican incumbent George W. Bush won re-election despite the Green Bay Packers beating the Redskins. The trend subsequently came to an end when in 2012, Democratic incumbent Barack Obama won re-election despite the Redskins losing to the Carolina Panthers. It has since been wrong for the elections in 2016, 2020, and 2024.
== Footnotes == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Burroughs | Jeff Burroughs | Jeffrey Alan Burroughs (born March 7, 1951) is an American former professional baseball player. He played as an outfielder in Major League Baseball from 1970 through 1985, for the Washington Senators / Texas Rangers (1970–76), Atlanta Braves (1977–80), Seattle Mariners (1981), Oakland Athletics (1982–84) and Toronto Blue Jays (1985).
A two-time All-Star player, Burroughs was the first overall pick in the 1969 Major League Baseball draft and was notable for being the 1974 American League RBI champion and for being named the American League's Most Valuable Player that same year. He is the father of former major league third baseman Sean Burroughs.
In a 16-season career, Burroughs posted a .261 batting average with 240 home runs and 882 RBI in 1,689 games.
== Early life ==
Burroughs was born to Charles Douglas and Iona Mae Burroughs in Long Beach, California, on March 7, 1951. He attended Woodrow Wilson Classical High School.
== Career ==
Burroughs was selected by the Washington Senators with the first overall pick in the 1969 Major League Baseball draft. He made his major league debut with the Senators on July 20, 1970, at the age of 19. He started the game in right field and was 0-for-3 in Washington's 2–0 win. Considered a "good bat-no field" kind of player, Burroughs was a considerable slugging threat during his playing days. Defensively, he was capable but slow.
In four full seasons with the Texas Rangers, Burroughs averaged 25.5 home runs a year with a high of 30 home runs in 1973. His most productive season came in 1974, when he batted .301 with 25 home runs and a league-leading and career-high 118 RBI in 152 games. He was voted the American League MVP, making him one of only seven overall number-one draft picks to win the MVP title (the others are Chipper Jones, Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey Jr., Bryce Harper, Joe Mauer and Josh Hamilton) and the first Ranger to win the award. During the 1974 season, Burroughs was at the center of the violent Ten Cent Beer Night debacle at Cleveland Stadium, where Burroughs was one of the targets of thrown objects and a few punches by unruly and inebriated Cleveland fans, in a game that was forfeited to Texas.
Burroughs was selected an All-Star in both 1974 with the Rangers and 1978 as a member of the Atlanta Braves, when he entered the All-Star break with a National League-leading .324 batting average. Burroughs was also named AL Player of the Year and selected as an OF on the AL All-Star team by The Sporting News his MVP season of 1974.
On December 9, 1976, Burroughs was acquired by the Braves in a five-for-one trade that sent Ken Henderson, Dave May, Roger Moret, Adrian Devine, Carl Morton and $200,000 to the Rangers.
As a member of the Braves, in 1977, Burroughs batted .271 with 41 home runs and 114 RBI in 154 games. His 41 home runs trailed only Cincinnati Reds outfielder George Foster (52) for the major league lead. Burroughs had fans who maintained a large banner below the right field deck titled "Jeff's Jackpot", which displayed his home run total for the season plus one.
On March 8, 1981, Burroughs was traded to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for relief pitcher Carlos Diaz. In his only season with Seattle, he batted .254 with 10 home runs and 41 RBI in 89 games.
Late in his career, Burroughs was used mainly as a designated hitter and pinch hitter. Burroughs played his final year with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1985 after being purchased by them. In 86 games, he had 49 hits, 19 runs, six home runs and 28 RBI, along with 36 strikeouts and 34 walks. He batted .257 with a .366 on-base percentage (OBP). His final regular season game was on October 6, 1985, batting as a DH. He went 1-for-4 with two strikeouts in an 8–0 loss to the New York Yankees, in which he struck out as the final out of Phil Niekro's 300th career win. He made his first and only appearance in a postseason game, having one at-bat in the ALCS that year, batting in Game 7 in the bottom of the ninth inning against the Kansas City Royals as a pinch hitter, which resulted in a ground out.
== Post-playing career ==
Burroughs is the father of Sean Burroughs, who also played in the major leagues.
After he retired, Burroughs coached his son's Little League team, the Long Beach All-Stars. These teams won the Little League World Series in both 1992 and 1993, winning the former by forfeit after their opponents (who had beaten them 15–4) were found to have used no fewer than 14 ineligible players and the latter 3–2 over Panama to be the first American team to repeat as champion and only the third city to ever do so after Monterrey, Mexico (1957, 1958) and Seoul, South Korea (1984, 1985). |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psycho_(1998_film) | Psycho (1998 film) | Psycho is a 1998 American horror film produced and directed by Gus Van Sant, and starring Vince Vaughn, Julianne Moore, Viggo Mortensen, William H. Macy, and Anne Heche. It is a modern remake of Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film of the same name, in which Marion Crane, an embezzler, arrives at an old motel run by a mysterious man named Norman Bates; both films are adapted from Robert Bloch's 1959 novel.
Though filmed in color and set in 1998, the film is closer to a shot-for-shot retelling than most remakes, often copying Hitchcock's camera movements and editing, including the original script by Joseph Stefano (and uncredited writer Alma Reville) mostly being carried over. Bernard Herrmann's musical score is reused as well, though with a new arrangement by Danny Elfman and Steve Bartek, recorded in stereo. Some changes are introduced to account for advances in technology since the original film and to make the content more explicit. The film's murder sequences are also intercut with surreal images. Van Sant later stated that the film was an experiment to demonstrate that "You can't copy a film... you can appropriate, but it's not going to be the same thing".
Psycho was released by Universal Pictures on December 4, 1998. The film was a commercial failure and received polarizing reviews from critics, who criticized the similarities to the original film. It won the Golden Raspberry Awards for Worst Remake and Worst Director, and was nominated for Worst Actress (Heche) at the 19th Golden Raspberry Awards. However, it earned two Saturn Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress (Heche) and Best Writing (Stefano) at the 25th Saturn Awards.
== Plot ==
During a Friday afternoon tryst in a Phoenix hotel, real-estate secretary Marion Crane and her boyfriend Sam Loomis discuss their inability to get married because of his debts. Returning to work, she decides to steal a cash payment of $400,000 entrusted to her for deposit at the bank and drive to Sam's home in Fairvale, California. En route, she hurriedly trades her car, arousing suspicion.
Running into bad weather, Marion stops for the night at the Bates Motel and uses an alias. Proprietor Norman Bates invites her to dine with him. After he returns to his house atop a hill overlooking the hotel, Marion overhears him arguing with his mother Norma about her presence. Norman returns and apologizes for his mother's outbursts. He discusses his taxidermy hobby, his mother's "illness" and how people have their own "private trap" that they wish to escape from. Marion, remorseful of her crime, decides to return the stolen money, unaware that the aroused Norman is watching her through a hole in the wall. As she showers, a shadowy figure brutally stabs her to death. Horrified upon finding Marion's corpse, Norman places her body and the hidden cash in her car, and sinks the car in a swamp nearby.
Marion's sister Lila arrives a week later and tells Sam about the theft. Private investigator Milton Arbogast says that he has been hired to retrieve the money. He questions Norman and finds him suspicious; when he asks to speak to Norman's mother, Norman refuses. Arbogast enters the Bates home, where a figure resembling an elderly woman fatally stabs him.
Hearing no word from Arbogast, Sam and Lila grow curious about the Bates Motel, Arbogast's last stop. Al Chambers, the local sheriff, tells them that Norman's mother died in a murder-suicide ten years earlier. Convinced that something happened to Arbogast, Lila and Sam check into the Bates Motel posing as a married couple, and infiltrate Marion's room, finding a missing shower curtain and a paper indicating that Marion subtracted an amount from her cash payment. Sam distracts Norman in the office, while Lila sneaks into his house. Norman becomes agitated and knocks Sam unconscious. Lila hides in the fruit cellar, where she discovers the mother's mummified body. She screams, and Norman, wearing his mother's clothes and a wig, tries to stab her. Sam subdues him, rescuing Lila.
At the police station, psychiatrist Dr. Simon Richmond explains that Norman jealously murdered Norma and her lover by poisoning them with strychnine ten years earlier. He mummified her corpse and began treating it as if she were still alive, going so far as to recreate her in his mind as an alternate personality, as jealous and possessive as she was while alive. When Norman is attracted to a woman, "Mother" takes over: he had murdered two other women before Marion, and Arbogast was killed to hide "his mother's" crime. "Mother" has now completely taken over Norman's personality. Sitting in a jail cell, Norman hears his mother saying that the murders were all his doing, as Marion's car is retrieved from the swamp.
== Cast ==
== Production ==
=== Development ===
Director Gus Van Sant was a longtime admirer of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960), and, while a film student, shot a parody commercial for a fictional "Psycho Shampoo" brand, which featured a recreation of the 1960 film's shower murder sequence. After the release of Van Sant's financially successful Good Will Hunting (1997), Universal Pictures agreed to option his proposed remake of the film. Van Sant's pitch was to remake the film shot-for-shot, which Casey Silver, then-head of production at Universal Pictures, felt was "a very strange idea. The idea of remaking a classic like Psycho just seemed like a dangerous business to get into". When asked why he wanted to remake the film in this manner, Van Sant responded: "Why not? It's a marketing scheme. Why does a studio ever remake a film? Because they have this little thing they've forgotten about that they could put in the marketplace and make money from".
=== Casting ===
Marion Crane was initially going be played by Nicole Kidman, but she was forced to leave the role due to scheduling problems. Drew Barrymore was also considered for the role before Anne Heche was ultimately cast. Julianne Moore, who was cast as Lila Crane, intentionally chose to portray the character as a more aggressive personality in contrast to Vera Miles's interpretation. William H. Macy chose to stay true to the portrayal of his character Milton Arbogast in the 1960 film, while Vince Vaughn, who played Norman Bates, and Moore interpreted the dialogue and scenes from the original film differently.
=== Filming ===
Filming of Psycho took place largely on the Universal Studios Hollywood backlot in Los Angeles, with additional exterior filming taking place in Phoenix, including at the Hotel Westward Ho. from July 6, 1998, to August 26, 1998.
Van Sant began with the vision of remaking the film entirely shot-for-shot, stating that he and his crew started out being fanatical about doing it exactly the same, but early into the filming process, realized that doing so was unfeasible: "There were a couple of scenes we just couldn't get it right. We just couldn't see how Hitchcock did the blocking, where people were supposed to be standing in relation to the camera. So all we could do was loosely base them on the original".
Because the film was shot in color, fake blood was used during the film's famous shower murder scene, instead of chocolate syrup as had been done in the original film. Rick Baker designed the Mrs. Norma Bates dummy. The new film heightened the violence to the levels of depictions of violence in films made circa 1998 by portraying two knife wounds in her back and blood on the wall in the shower scene. It also shows the buttocks of the Marion character when she dies, an aspect cut from the original film.
The costume designer, Beatrix Aruna Pasztor, originally thought that the film was going to be a period piece, so she acquired period clothing for the cast, which was used in the film.
=== Diversions from the 1960 film ===
Though almost entirely a shot-for-shot remake of the original, the film does feature slight differences in terms of visuals, minor plot details, as well as the actors' portrayals of the characters. Van Sant updated several elements in the screenplay, including setting the film in contemporary 1998, and adjusting the references to money that would be anachronistic in a modern-day setting. Due to inflation, the amount of money stolen as stipulated in the original film was adjusted from $40,000 (equivalent to $181,000 in 1998) to $400,000.
Where the 1960 film features little visual bloodletting in its murder sequences, Van Sant's film features more explicit violence, particularly during Marion Crane's murder sequence in the shower: in Van Sant's film, blood is shown streaming down the shower wall tiles, as well as visible stab wounds to Crane's back as she collapses in the bathtub.
During the scene where Norman Bates spies on Marion through a peephole as she undresses, it is made explicit that Bates is masturbating through the use of sound effects as well as Vaughn's performance, which suggests Bates's voyeuristic encounter ends in him having an orgasm; in the 1960 film, the sequence consists merely of Bates observing, with no suggestion that he is masturbating.
Van Sant also employed several surreal subliminal images that were edited into the film's murder sequences, likened by horror writer Charles Derry as "surreal memory fragments" that "flash" before the characters' eyes as they die.
== Soundtrack ==
The film's soundtrack, Psycho: Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture, included Danny Elfman's re-recordings of some of Bernard Herrmann's score for the original film, along with a collection of songs in genres from country to drum and bass, connected mainly by titles containing "psycho" or other death or insanity-related words. Many of the songs were recorded specifically for the soundtrack, and included a sampling of Herrmann's score composed by Elfman. The soundtrack also includes the track "Living Dead Girl" by Rob Zombie, which can be heard during the film when Marion trades in her old car for a new one.
== Release ==
=== Box office ===
Psycho was released theatrically in the United States on December 4, 1998, in 2,477 theaters, ranking at number two at the domestic box office below A Bug's Life with a weekend gross of $10,031,850. It went on to earn a total of $37,141,130 in the worldwide box office, $21,456,130 domestically. The film's production budget was an estimated $25 million; while promoting his 2002 film Gerry, Van Sant said he thought the producers "broke even" financially.
=== Critical reception ===
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 40% of 77 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.3/10. The website's consensus reads: "Van Sant's pointless remake neither improves nor illuminates Hitchcock's original." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 47 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C−" on an A+ to F scale.
Literary critic Camille Paglia commented that the only reason to watch it was "to see Anne Heche being assassinated" and that "it should have been a much more important work and event than it was". At the 1998 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards, the film was cited as one of 37 dishonourable mentions for Worst Picture. Universal Pictures received the Founders Award "for even thinking the moviegoing public would line up and pay to see a shot-for-shot remake of Psycho".
Film critic Roger Ebert, who gave the film one-and-a-half stars, noted that the addition of a masturbation scene was "appropriate, because this new Psycho evokes the real thing in an attempt to re-create remembered passion". He thought Vaughn was miscast, unable to capture the "secret pool of madness" in the character of Norman Bates, and Heche was guilty of overacting. Ebert wrote that the film "is an invaluable experiment in the theory of cinema, because it demonstrates that a shot-by-shot remake is pointless; genius apparently resides between or beneath the shots, or in chemistry that cannot be timed or counted".
Janet Maslin remarks that it is an "artful, good-looking remake (a modest term, but it beats plagiarism) that shrewdly revitalizes the aspects of the real Psycho (1960) that it follows most faithfully but seldom diverges seriously or successfully from one of the cinema's most brilliant blueprints"; she noted that the "absence of anything like Anthony Perkins's sensational performance with that vitally birdlike presence and sneaky way with a double-entendre ('A boy's best friend is his mother') is the new film's greatest weakness".
Eugene Novikov for Film Blather admired the film, saying that he enjoyed the remake more than the original film. Jonathan Romney of The Guardian also championed the film, writing: "Somehow, Van Sant has managed to spin a big-budget studio project into a piece of conceptual art, a provocative inquiry into the nature of cinematic originality. It's not the full-on 'queer Psycho' that Van Sant fans predicted, but it is an extraordinary drag act".
Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide classified the film as a "bomb", compared to the four-out-of-four stars he gave the original. He describes it as a "slow, stilted, completely pointless scene-for-scene remake of the Hitchcock classic (with a few awkward new touches to taint its claim as an exact replica)". He ultimately calls it "an insult, rather than a tribute, to a landmark film...What promised to be 'Drugstore Cowboy's answer to Hitchcock' is more like Hitchcock's answer to Even Cowgirls Get the Blues."
=== Accolades ===
At the 19th Golden Raspberry Awards, the film was awarded two Golden Raspberry Awards (or "Razzies"), for Worst Remake or Sequel and Worst Director for Gus Van Sant, while Anne Heche was nominated for Worst Actress, where she lost the trophy to the Spice Girls for Spice World. Contrastingly, at the 25th Saturn Awards the film was nominated for the Saturn Awards of Best Supporting Actress for Heche and Best Writing for Joseph Stefano.
=== Home media ===
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment released Psycho on VHS and in a collector's edition DVD on June 8, 1999. In June 2017, Scream Factory released the film on Blu-ray for the first time, which featured a new critical audio commentary, as well as the bonus materials included on Universal's 1999 DVD release.
== Legacy ==
A number of critics and writers viewed Van Sant's version as an experiment in shot-for-shot remakes.
Screenwriter Joseph Stefano, who wrote the original script that was carried over to the remake, thought that although she spoke the same lines, Heche portrays Crane as an entirely different character.
Van Sant later called the film an experiment in appropriation - "If I hold a camera, it's different than if Irving Penn holds it. Even if it's in the same place, it will magically take on his character." One favorable take on the film came from an LA Weekly retrospective article published in 2013, in which writer Vern stated that the film was misunderstood as a commercially motivated film when it was in fact an "experiment" and this was the reason for the poor reception. Vern concluded that "experiments don't always have to work to be worth doing".
Although the film's overall reception was less-than-favorable, it did receive a blessing from Hitchcock's daughter Pat Hitchcock, who stated that her father would have been flattered by the remake of his original work.
=== Psychos ===
On February 24, 2014, a mashup of Alfred Hitchcock and Van Sant's versions of Psycho appeared on Steven Soderbergh's Extension 765 website. Retitled Psychos and featuring no explanatory text, the recut appears to be a fan edit of the two films by Soderbergh. The opening credits intermingle names from both the 1960 and 1998 versions, and all color has been removed from Van Sant's scenes with the exception of the infamous shower scene. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Bonds | Barry Bonds | Barry Lamar Bonds (born July 24, 1964) is an American former professional baseball left fielder who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). Bonds was a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1986 to 1992 and the San Francisco Giants from 1993 to 2007. He is considered one of the greatest baseball players of all time.
Recognized as an all-around player, Bonds received a record seven National League (NL) Most Valuable Player Awards and 12 Silver Slugger Awards, along with 14 All-Star selections. He holds many MLB hitting records, including most career home runs (762), most home runs in a single season (73, set in 2001), and the records for the most walks and intentional walks in a career, season, and in consecutive games. Bonds led MLB in on-base plus slugging six times and placed within the top five hitters in 12 of his 17 qualifying seasons. For his defensive play in the outfield, he won eight Gold Glove Awards. He also had 514 stolen bases, becoming the first and only MLB player to date with at least 500 home runs and 500 stolen bases. Bonds is ranked first in career Wins Above Replacement among all Major League position players by Baseball Reference and second by FanGraphs, behind only Babe Ruth.
Despite his accolades, Bonds led a controversial career, notably as a central figure in baseball's steroids scandal. He was indicted in 2007 on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice for allegedly lying to a grand jury during the federal government's investigation of BALCO, a manufacturer of an undetectable steroid. After the perjury charges were dropped, Bonds was convicted of obstruction of justice in 2011, but was exonerated on appeal in 2015. During his 10 years of eligibility, he did not receive the 75% of the vote needed to be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Some voters of the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) stated they did not vote for Bonds because they believe he used performance-enhancing drugs.
== Early life ==
Barry Lamar Bonds was born on July 24, 1964, in Riverside, California, to Patricia (née Howard) and then-future Major League right fielder Bobby Bonds. Bonds grew up on the San Francisco Peninsula in San Carlos, California, where he attended Arundel Elementary School. His father spent the first seven seasons of his Major League career with the San Francisco Giants, where he played with future National Baseball Hall of Famers Willie Mays, Gaylord Perry, Willie McCovey, and Juan Marichal. His father Bobby played in right field and with Mays playing in center field, the Giants had a venerable defensive tandem that worked together to cover a lot of ground on the field, and Mays became Barry's godfather. As a child, Bonds would spend time in the Giants home clubhouse and dugout at Candlestick Park and had to choke up on his baseball bat that he carried around because it was too heavy for him at the time, something that he would stick with for the rest of his life. Before Arundel, he attended the Carey School, which overlooks Junípero Serra High School in San Mateo, California, where he would also later attend. He excelled in baseball, basketball, and football. He played on the junior varsity team during his freshman year and on the varsity team for the remainder of his high school career. Frustrated with Bonds’ progress in junior biology, his teacher told him that baseball will never get him anywhere.
Bonds garnered a .467 batting average his senior year, and was named prep All-American. The Giants drafted Bonds in the second round (39th overall) of the 1982 MLB draft as a high school senior, but the Giants and Bonds were unable to agree on contract terms when Tom Haller's maximum offer was $70,000 ($230,000 today) and Bonds's minimum to go pro was $75,000, and Mays helped advise Bonds to instead attend college. Bonds, along with late Major League Baseball pitcher Danny Frisella, were inducted into the Serra Athletics Hall of Fame in 1992.
== College career ==
Bonds attended Arizona State University, where his distant cousin and fellow university Hall of Fame right fielder Reggie Jackson attended and played as well. Bonds hit .347 with 45 home runs and 175 runs batted in (RBI). In 1984, he batted .360 and had 30 stolen bases. In 1985, he hit 23 home runs with 66 RBI and a .368 batting average. He was a Sporting News All-American selection that year. He tied the NCAA record with seven consecutive hits in the College World Series as a sophomore and was named to All-Time College World Series Team in 1996.
Bonds was not well-liked by his Sun Devil teammates, in part because in the words of longtime coach Jim Brock, he was "rude, inconsiderate and self-centered". When he was suspended for breaking curfew, the other players initially voted against his return even though he was easily the best player on the team. He graduated from Arizona State in 1986 with a degree in criminology. He was named ASU On Deck Circle Most Valuable Player; other winners include Dustin Pedroia, Willie Bloomquist, Paul Lo Duca, and Ike Davis. During college, he played part of one summer in the amateur Alaska Baseball League with the Alaska Goldpanners. Bonds was inducted into the Sun Devil Hall of Fame 1999 Class.
== Professional career ==
=== Draft and minor leagues ===
The Pittsburgh Pirates drafted Bonds with the sixth overall pick of the 1985 Major League Baseball draft. He joined the Prince William Pirates of the Carolina League and was named July 1985 Player of the Month for the league. In 1986, he hit .311 with seven home runs and 37 RBI in 44 games for the Hawaii Islanders of the Pacific Coast League.
=== Pittsburgh Pirates (1986–1992) ===
==== 1986 season ====
Before Bonds made it to the Major Leagues in Pittsburgh, Pirate fan attendance was low, with 1984 and 1985 attendance below 10,000 per game for the 81-game home schedule, with attendance woes being a combination of the economic problems of Western Pennsylvania in the early 1980s as well as the Pittsburgh drug trials that directly affected the Pirates going from World Series champions to nearly relocating to Denver, Colorado in only six years. On May 30, 1986, at Three Rivers Stadium, Bonds made his Major League debut, starting in center field and wearing jersey number 7. He finished the game 0-for-5 with a walk in a 6–4 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
On June 4, at Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium, in a 12–3 win over the Atlanta Braves, Bonds hit his first career Major League home run, an opposite field solo home run with two outs in the top of the fifth inning. Leading 10–2, Bonds hit a fly ball well off of pitcher Craig McMurtry to deep left field and over Gerald Perry and the fence, making the score 11–2. Bonds hit his first home run in the exact same part of the exact same ballpark where Hank Aaron hit his 715th to break the all-time career home run record, formerly held by Babe Ruth. Bonds went four for five along with the home run as well as a double and four runs batted in. "Barry Bonds remember that name you'll be hearing a lot of it," the announcer said. Looking back on the play twenty years later, McMurtry said "It was a fastball, down and away. He took it the other way. I don't know how he hit it." In 1986, Bonds led National League (NL) rookies with 16 home runs, 48 RBI, 36 stolen bases, and 65 walks, but he finished sixth in NL Rookie of the Year Award voting. He played center field in 1986, but switched to left field with the arrival of centerfielder Andy Van Slyke in 1987.
==== 1987 season ====
The Pirates experienced a surge in fan enthusiasm with Bonds on the team and set the club attendance record of 52,119 in the 1987 home opener. In his early years, Bonds batted as the leadoff hitter. On May 30 at Three Rivers Stadium, against the Cincinnati Reds, after starting the season as the everyday center fielder, Bonds switched and started his first career game in left field. With Van Slyke also in the outfield, the Pirates had a venerable defensive tandem that worked together to cover a lot of ground on the field, although they were not close off of it. That year, Bonds hit .261 with 25 home runs, along with 32 stolen bases and 59 RBI in 150 games.
==== 1988 season ====
The Pirates broke the record set the previous year with 54,089 attending the home opener. Bonds improved in 1988, hitting .283 with 24 home runs and 58 RBI in 144 games.
==== 1989 season ====
Bonds now fit into a highly respected lineup featuring Bobby Bonilla, Van Slyke, and Jay Bell. He finished with 19 homers, 58 RBI, and 14 outfield assists in 1989, which was second in the NL. Following the season, there were rumors that he would be traded to the Dodgers for Jeff Hamilton and John Wetteland, but the team denied the rumors and no such trade occurred.
==== 1990 season ====
On July 12, 1990, at Three Rivers Stadium, in a 4–3 win over the San Diego Padres, Bonds hit a fly ball off of pitcher Andy Benes to deep right field for his 100th career Major League home run. Bonds won his first career Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award in 1990, hitting .301 with 33 home runs and 114 RBI in 151 games. He also stole 52 bases, which was third in the league, and joined the 30–30 and 20–50 clubs for the first time. He won his first Gold Glove Award and Silver Slugger Award. That year, the Pirates won the National League East title for their first postseason berth since winning the 1979 World Series. However, the Cincinnati Reds, whose last postseason berth had also been in 1979 when they lost to the Pirates in that year's NLCS, defeated the Pirates in the NLCS en route to winning the 1990 World Series.
==== 1991 season ====
In 1991, Bonds again put up great numbers, batting .292 with 25 homers and driving in 116 runs in 153 games, earning him another Gold Glove and Silver Slugger. He finished second to the Atlanta Braves' Terry Pendleton (the NL batting champion) in the NL MVP voting.
==== 1992 season ====
In March 1992, Pirates general manager Ted Simmons agreed to a deal with Atlanta Braves counterpart John Schuerholz to trade Bonds, in exchange for Alejandro Peña, Keith Mitchell, and a player to be named later. Pirates manager Jim Leyland opposed the trade vehemently, and the proposal was rescinded. Bonds stayed with Pittsburgh and won his second National League MVP Award in the last three seasons, making him the only Pittsburgh Pirate with multiple regular season MVPs. While hitting .311 with 34 homers and 103 RBI, he propelled the Pirates to their third straight National League East division title. However, Pittsburgh was defeated by the Braves in a seven-game National League Championship Series. Bonds participated in the final play of Game 7 of the NLCS, whereby he fielded a base hit by Francisco Cabrera and attempted to throw out Sid Bream at home plate. The throw to Pirates catcher Mike LaValliere was late and Bream scored the winning run.
For the third consecutive season, the NL East Champion Pirates were denied a trip to the World Series. Following the loss, Bonds and star teammate Doug Drabek were expected to command salaries too high for Pittsburgh to again sign them. Following Bonds' departure, the Pittsburgh Pirates missed the playoffs for 21 straight years from 1993 until 2013, when they reached the MLB postseason as a Wild Card team. In his seven-season Pittsburgh Pirates career, Bonds amassed a .275 batting average, 984 base hits, 176 home runs, and 556 runs batted in. Bonds was never well-liked by reporters or fans while in Pittsburgh, despite winning two NL MVP awards. One paper even gave him an "award" as the "MDP" (Most Despised Pirate).
=== San Francisco Giants (1993–2007) ===
Bonds became an unrestricted free agent on October 26, 1992. During this time, he was contacted by multiple teams, including the Atlanta Braves, New York Yankees, and San Francisco Giants. On December 6, 1992, news broke that Bonds would leave the Pirates to sign a lucrative free agent contract worth a then-record $43.75 million (equivalent to $97.5 million in 2025) over six years with the Giants, with whom his father had spent the first seven years of his career, and with whom his godfather Willie Mays played 21 of his 22 Major League seasons. The deal was at that time the largest in baseball history, in terms of both total value and average annual salary.
Once he signed with the Giants, Bonds intended to wear the number 24, his number during most of his stay with the Pirates, but it was Willie Mays's old number, which the Giants had retired. After receiving Mays's blessing, the Giants were willing to unretire it until the public commotion from fans and media became too much. To honor his father, Bonds switched his jersey number to 25, as it had been Bobby's number in San Francisco. On December 8, 1992, the deal was finalized. In an emotional press conference announcing the signing, Bonds described joining the Giants as going "home" and following in the footsteps of his father and godfather as "unbelievable" and "...like a boyhood dream that comes true for me." His father joined the team as a coach in the same year.
==== 1993 season ====
On April 18, 1993, at Candlestick Park, in a 13–12 win over the Atlanta Braves, Bonds had four base hits and a stolen base, with his third double of the game in the bottom of the ninth inning being his 1,000th career Major League hit. On May 12, 1993, at Mile High Stadium, in a 8–2 win over the Colorado Rockies, both Bonds and his father, along with Rockies outfielder Jerald Clark and coach Ron Hassey, were ejected for their role in an on-field fight. On July 8, 1993, at Veterans Stadium, in a 13–2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies, Bonds had three base hits, two home runs, and six runs batted in. Leading 11–2 and leading off the top of the seventh inning, Bonds bolted a line drive on the first pitch he saw from pitcher José DeLeón, a low breaking ball, to deep right-center field and into the stands for his 200th career Major League home run, making the score 12–2.
Bonds hit .336 in 1993, leading the NL with 46 home runs and 123 RBI in 159 games en route to his second consecutive NL MVP Award, and third one overall in the last four seasons. Bonds and Bryce Harper are the only MLB players to win a regular season MVP with two different teams before the age of 30. "1993 was probably the most dominant team I've ever been on," Bonds said. The Giants won 103 games, a then-San Francisco Era record that would last until 2021, when that year's team broke the all-time single season franchise record for wins by one with 107. The Atlanta Braves won 104 in what some call the last great pennant race (because the wild card was instituted the year after). "One of us has to lose. Unfortunately it's always us, or me," Bonds said.
==== 1994 season ====
In the strike-shortened season of 1994, Bonds hit .312 with 37 home runs, 81 RBI and a league-leading 74 walks in 112 games. He finished fourth in NL MVP voting.
==== 1995 season ====
In 1995, Bonds played in 144 games, hitting .294 with 33 homers and 104 RBI, but finished only 12th in NL MVP voting. In 1994, he appeared in a small role as himself in the television film Jane's House, starring James Woods and Anne Archer.
==== 1996 season ====
In 1996, Bonds became the first National League player and second Major League player (of the current list of six) to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in the same season. The other members of the 40–40 club are José Canseco (1988), Alex Rodriguez (1998), Alfonso Soriano (2006), Ronald Acuña Jr. (2023), and Shohei Ohtani (2024). His father Bobby Bonds was one home run short in 1973 when he hit 39 home runs and stole 43 bases. Bonds hit his 300th and 301st career Major League home runs off former Giants teammate and Florida Marlins pitcher John Burkett on April 27. He became the fourth player in history to join the 300–300 club with 300 stolen bases and 300 home runs for a career, joining Willie Mays, Andre Dawson, and his father. Bonds's totals for the season included 129 runs driven in, a .308 average and a then-National League record 151 walks. He finished fifth in the NL MVP balloting.
==== 1997 season ====
In 1997, Bonds hit .291, his lowest average since 1989. He hit 40 home runs for the second straight year and drove in 101 runs, leading the league in walks again with 145. He also stole 37 bases, tying his father for having the most 30–30 seasons (five), and he again placed fifth in the NL MVP balloting.
==== 1998 season ====
On May 28, 1998, at 3Com Park, with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, Arizona Diamondbacks manager Buck Showalter decided to intentionally walk Bonds with the bases loaded. Nap Lajoie (1901), Del Bissonette (1928) and Bill Nicholson (1944) were three other players in the 20th century who received that rare honor. The first to receive one was Abner Dalrymple in 1881. The Diamondbacks, a 1998 Major League Baseball expansion team, were leading the Giants 8–5, when closing pitcher Gregg Olson began the inning by striking out leadoff hitter and starting center fielder Darryl Hamilton, the Giants responded by loading the bases with two walks and a hit before starting right fielder Stan Javier had an RBI grounder that made it 8–6. The Giants loaded the bases again after pinch-hitter J. T. Snow walked, and Showalter ordered Olson to intentionally walk Bonds, forcing home a run, and bringing up pinch hitting catcher Brent Mayne, who worked the count full before he lined to right field for the third out. Olson put together one of the strangest saves imaginable, working around six walks in 1+1⁄3 innings, throwing 49 pitches (not counting the bases-loaded intentional walk), and only 22 of them were for strikes.
On August 23, Bonds hit his 400th career Major League home run. By doing so, he became the first player ever to enter the 400–400 club by having career totals of 400 home runs and 400 stolen bases; he is still the only player to have achieved this feat. The milestone home run came off Kirt Ojala, who, like Burkett, was pitching for the Marlins. For the season, he hit .303 with 37 home runs and drove in 122 runs, winning his eighth Gold Glove. He finished eighth in the NL MVP voting.
==== 1999 season ====
1999 marked a career-low, up to that point, for Bonds in terms of playing time. Bonds started off the 1999 season hitting well by batting .366 in the month of April with four home runs and 12 RBI in the Giants' first 12 games of the season. But on April 18, he was placed on the 15-day disabled list for only the second time in his career up to that point. Bonds had suffered a torn tendon in his biceps as well as bone spurs in his elbow, both of which required surgery and cost him the rest of April and all of May.
Upon returning to action on June 9, Bonds struggled somewhat at the plate for the remainder of the 1999 season. A series of nagging injuries including elbow pain, knee inflammation and groin issues hampered his play. On September 11, 1999, at 3Com Park, in a 3–2 win over the Atlanta Braves, leading off the top of the fourth inning, Bonds hit a fly ball double off of future National Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Glavine to deep left field for his 2,000th career Major League hit. Only hitting .248 after his return from the disabled list, he still managed to slug 34 home runs, drive in 83 runs as well as hit for a .617 slugging percentage, despite missing nearly two full months with injuries and only playing in 102 games. He finished 24th in the NL MVP voting.
Bill James ranked Bonds as the best player of the 1990s. He added that the decade's second-best player, Craig Biggio, had been closer in production to the decade's 10th-best player than to Bonds. In 1999, with statistics through 1997 being considered, Bonds ranked Number 34 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, making him the highest-ranking active player. When the Sporting News list was redone in 2005, Bonds was ranked 6th behind Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, and Hank Aaron. Bonds was omitted from 1999's Major League Baseball All-Century Team, to which Ken Griffey Jr. was elected. James wrote of Bonds, "Certainly the most unappreciated superstar of my lifetime. ... Griffey has always been more popular, but Bonds has been a far, far greater player." In 1999, he rated Bonds as the 16th-best player of all time. "When people begin to take in all of his accomplishments," he predicted, "Bonds may well be rated among the five greatest players in the history of the game."
==== 2000 season ====
In 2000, Bonds hit .306 with career bests through that time in both slugging percentage (.688) and home runs (49) in just 143 games. He also drew a league-leading 117 walks. He finished second in the NL MVP voting behind future National Baseball Hall of Fame second baseman and teammate Jeff Kent.
==== 2001 season: Single-season home run record ====
The next year, Bonds's offensive production reached even higher levels, breaking not only his own personal records but several Major League records. In the Giants' first 50 games in 2001, he hit 28 home runs, including 17 in May—a career high. This early stretch included his 500th career Major League home run hit on April 17 against Terry Adams of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He became the 17th member and fourth Giant to reach the milestone. Following his 500th home run, his father Bobby suggested to him that he should start collecting every game-used bat in which he hit a home run, which he did. He also hit 39 home runs by the All-star break (a Major League record), drew a Major League record 177 walks, and had a .515 on-base average, a feat not seen since Mickey Mantle and Ted Williams over forty years earlier. Bonds' slugging percentage (.863) was the fifth-highest in MLB history, and the highest since Josh Gibson's .868 in 1943.
On October 4, by homering off Wilfredo Rodríguez in the 159th game of the season, Bonds tied the previous record of 70 set by Mark McGwire—which McGwire set in the 162nd game in 1998. He then broke the record by hitting numbers 71 and 72 the following night off Chan Ho Park. Bonds added his 73rd off Dennis Springer on October 7. The ball was later sold to toy manufacturer Todd McFarlane for $450,000. He previously bought Mark McGwire's 70th home run ball from 1998. Bonds received the Babe Ruth Home Run Award for leading MLB in home runs that season. Bonds won the National League MVP in a landslide, becoming baseball's first four-time regular season MVP. He received 30 of 32 first-place votes, beating out Chicago Cubs right fielder Sammy Sosa and Arizona Diamondbacks left fielder Luis Gonzalez.
==== 2002 season ====
Bonds re-signed with the Giants for a five-year, $90 million contract on January 15, 2002. He hit five home runs in the Giants' first four games of the season, tying Lou Brock's 35-year record for most home runs after four games. He won the NL batting title with a career-high .370 average, and also recorded 46 home runs, 110 RBI, and just 47 strikeouts in 403 at-bats.
Despite playing in nine fewer games than the previous season, he drew 198 walks, a Major League record; 68 of them were intentional walks, surpassing Willie McCovey's 45 in 1969 for another Major League record. He slugged .799, then the fourth-highest total all time. Bonds broke Ted Williams' Major League record for on-base average with .582. He posted a 268 OPS+, which was, somehow, higher than his record-breaking 2001 season of 259. Bonds also hit his 600th career Major League home run, less than a year and a half after hitting his 500th. The home run came on August 9 at home against his former team, the Pittsburgh Pirates, and pitcher Kip Wells.
==== 2002 postseason ====
Bonds batted .322 with eight home runs, 16 RBI, and 27 walks in the postseason en route to the 2002 World Series, which the Giants lost in seven games to the Anaheim Angels. In the World Series, Bonds batted .471 with eight hits, two doubles, four home runs, six runs batted in, and scored eight runs. He was also walked 13 times (seven intentionally).
==== 2003 season ====
In 2003, Bonds played in just 130 games. He hit 45 home runs in just 390 at-bats, along with a .341 batting average. He slugged .749, walked 148 times, and had an on-base average well over .500 (.529) for the third straight year. He also became the only member of the career 500 home run/500 stolen base club by stealing second base on June 23 off pitcher Éric Gagné in the 11th inning of a tied ball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers (against whom Bonds had tallied his 500th home run). Bonds scored the game-winning run later that inning.
==== 2004 season ====
On April 13 at SBC Park, in a 4–2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers, Bonds hit his 661st career Major League home run, surpassing Mays on the all-time list and putting him alone in third place behind Aaron and Ruth. Leading 3–1 in the bottom of the seventh inning, he flew a hanging breaking ball off of pitcher Ben Ford to deep right field and into McCovey Cove for a solo "Splash Hit" home run, making the score 4–1. On July 4 at SBC Park, ironically against the Oakland Athletics, he tied and passed Rickey Henderson's all-time MLB record for the most career bases on balls with his 2,190th and 2,191st career walks. Henderson played 25 MLB seasons. Leading off the bottom of the sixth inning and working a 3-2 count, Bonds tied the record by walking against starting pitcher Mark Mulder. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Bonds walked against submarine-style pitcher Chad Bradford, breaking the previous record and moving starting center fielder Marquis Grissom to second base. On September 17 at SBC Park, in a 4–1 win over the San Diego Padres, he hit his 700th career Major League home run. Leading 3–0 and leading off the bottom of the third inning, he hit a fly ball well off of starting pitcher and future 2014 World Series champion Giant Jake Peavy, who led MLB with a 2.27 earned run average that season, to left-center field over the head of left fielder and future teammate Ryan Klesko and the wall for an opposite field solo home run, making the score 4–0. He became the third player at the Major League level to reach the milestone.
2004 is perhaps Bonds' best season. Bonds is the first and only player in MLB history to reach base more times than the number of at bats in a single season, reaching base 376 times in 373 at bats. He hit .362 en route to his second National League batting title, and broke his own record by walking 232 times (including an MLB record 120 intentional walks). He slugged .812, the tenth-highest of all time, and broke his on-base percentage record with a .609 average. Bonds hit 45 home runs and only struck out just 41 times, putting himself in elite company, as few major leaguers have ever had more home runs than strikeouts in a season. This was the last season that a Giant hit at least 30 home runs in a season, as the team would go on to set an MLB record for the most consecutive seasons without hitting that mark from 2005 to 2024 at 20 seasons. Out of all 30 teams, this was the longest such drought for any team by 12 seasons, until newly signed shortstop Willy Adames ended the streak on the last day of the 2025 season. Bonds would win his fourth consecutive MVP award and his seventh overall. Shohei Ohtani is the only other player to win at least four regular season MVP awards. In addition, no other player from either league has been awarded the MVP four times in a row. (The MVP award was first given in 1931). The 40-year-old Bonds also broke Willie Stargell's 25-year record as the oldest player to win a Most Valuable Player Award (Stargell, at 39 years, 8 months, was National League co-MVP with Keith Hernandez in 1979).
As Bonds neared Aaron's record, Aaron was called on for his opinion of Bonds. He clarified that he was a fan and admirer of Bonds and avoided the controversy regarding whether the record should be denoted with an asterisk for Bonds's alleged steroid usage. He felt recognition and respect for the award was something to be determined by the fans. As the steroid controversy received greater media attention during the offseason before the 2005 season, Aaron expressed some reservations about the statements Bonds made on the issue. Aaron expressed that he felt drug and steroid use to boost athletic performance was inappropriate. Aaron was frustrated that the media could not focus on events that occurred in the field of play and wished drugs or gambling allegations such as those associated with Pete Rose could be emphasized less. In 2007, Aaron felt the whole steroid use issue was very controversial and decided that he would not attend any possible record-breaking games. Aaron congratulated Bonds through the media including a video played on the scoreboard when Bonds eventually broke Aaron's record in August 2007.
==== 2005 season ====
Bonds's salary for the 2005 season was $22 million, the second-highest salary in Major League Baseball (the Yankees' Alex Rodriguez earned the highest, $25.2 million).
Bonds endured a knee injury, multiple surgeries, and rehabilitation. He was activated on September 12 and started in left field. In his return against the San Diego Padres, he nearly hit a home run in his first at-bat. Bonds finished the night 1-for-4. Upon his return, Bonds resumed his high-caliber performance at the plate, hitting home runs in four consecutive games from September 18 to 21. He finished with a .286 average, five homers and 10 RBI in only 14 games.
==== 2006 season ====
In 2006, Bonds earned $20 million (not including bonuses), the fourth-highest salary in baseball. Through the 2006 season he had earned approximately $172 million during his then 21-year career, making him baseball's all-time highest-paid player. Bonds hit under .200 for his first 10 games of the season and did not hit a home run until April 22. This 10-game stretch was his longest home run slump since the 1998 season. On May 7, Bonds drew within one home run of tying Babe Ruth for second place on the all-time list, hitting his 713th career home run into the second level of Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, off pitcher Jon Lieber in a game in which the Giants lost to the Philadelphia Phillies. The towering home run—one of the longest in Citizens Bank Park's two-season history, traveling an estimated 450 feet (140 m)—hit off the facade of the third deck in right field.
On May 20, Bonds hit his 714th career home run to deep right field to lead off the top of the second inning, tying Ruth for second all-time. The home run came off left-handed pitcher Brad Halsey of the Oakland Athletics, in an interleague game played in Oakland, California. Since this was an interleague game at an American League stadium, Bonds was batting as the designated hitter in the lineup for the Giants. Bonds was quoted after the game as being "glad it's over with" and stated that more attention could be focused on Albert Pujols, who was on a very rapid home run pace in early 2006.
On May 28, Bonds passed Ruth, hitting his 715th career home run to center field off Colorado Rockies pitcher Byung-hyun Kim. The ball was hit an estimated 445 feet (140 m) into center field where it went through the hands of several fans but then fell onto an elevated platform in center field. Then it rolled off the platform where Andrew Morbitzer, a 38-year-old San Francisco resident, caught the ball while he was in line at a concession stand. Mysteriously, radio broadcaster Dave Flemming's radio play-by-play of the home run went silent just as the ball was hit, apparently from a microphone failure. But the televised version, called by Giants broadcaster Duane Kuiper, was not affected.
On September 22, Bonds tied Henry Aaron's National League career home run record of 733. The home run came in the top of the sixth inning of a high-scoring game against the Milwaukee Brewers, at Miller Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The achievement was notable for its occurrence in the very city where Aaron began (with the Milwaukee Braves) and concluded (with the Brewers, then in the American League) his career. With the Giants trailing 10–8, Bonds hit a blast to deep center field on a 2–0 pitch off the Brewers' Chris Spurling with runners on first and second and one out. Though the Giants were at the time clinging to only a slim chance of making the playoffs, Bonds' home run provided the additional drama of giving the Giants an 11–10 lead late in a critical game in the final days of a pennant race. The Brewers eventually won the game, 13–12, though Bonds went 3-for-5, with two doubles, the record-tying home run, and six runs batted in.
On September 23, Bonds surpassed Aaron for the NL career home run record. Hit in Milwaukee like the previous one, this was a solo home run off Chris Capuano of the Brewers. This was the last home run Bonds hit in 2006. In 2006, Bonds recorded his lowest slugging percentage (a statistic that he had historically ranked among league leaders season after season) since 1991 with the Pittsburgh Pirates. In January 2007, the New York Daily News reported that Bonds had tested positive for amphetamines. Under baseball's amphetamine policy, which had been in effect for one season, players testing positive were to submit to six additional tests and undergo treatment and counseling. The policy also stated that players were not to be identified for a first positive test, but the New York Daily News leaked the test's results. When the Players Association informed Bonds of the test results, he initially attributed it to a substance he had taken from the locker of Giants teammate Mark Sweeney, but would later retract this claim and publicly apologize to Sweeney.
==== 2007 season: Home run record ====
On January 29, 2007, the Giants finalized a contract with Bonds for the 2007 season. After the commissioner's office rejected Bonds's one-year, $15.8 million deal because it contained a personal-appearance provision, the team sent revised documents to his agent, Jeff Borris, who stated that "At this time, Barry is not signing the new documents." Bonds signed a revised one-year, $15.8 million contract on February 15 and reported to the Giants' Spring training camp on time.
Bonds resumed his march to the all-time record early in the 2007 season. In the season opener on April 3, all he had was a first-inning single past third base with the infield shifted right, immediately followed by a stolen base and then thrown out at home on a baserunning mistake, followed by a deep fly-out to left field, late in the game. Bonds regrouped the next day with his first at-bat in the second game of the season at the Giants' AT&T Park. Bonds hit a pitch from Chris Young of the San Diego Padres just over the wall to the left of straight-away center field for career home run 735. This home run put Bonds past the midway point between Ruth and Aaron. Bonds did not homer again until April 13, when he hit two (736 and 737) in a three for three night that included four runs batted in against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Bonds splashed a pitch by St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Ryan Franklin into McCovey Cove on April 18 for home run 738. Home runs number 739 and 740 came in back to back games on April 21 and 22 against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The hype surrounding Bonds's pursuit of the home run record escalated on May 14. On this day, Sports Auction for Heritage (a Dallas-based auction house) offered US$1 million to the fan who would catch Bonds's record-breaking 756th-career home run. The million-dollar offer was rescinded on June 11 out of concern of fan safety. Home run 748 came on Father's Day, June 17, in the final game of a three-game road series against the eventual World Series Champion Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, where Bonds had never previously played. With this homer, Fenway Park became the 36th Major League ballpark in which Bonds had hit a home run. He hit a Tim Wakefield knuckleball just over the low fence into the Giants' bullpen in right field. It was his first home run off his former Pittsburgh Pirate teammate, who became the 441st different pitcher to surrender a four-bagger to Bonds. The 750th career home run, hit on June 29, also came off a former teammate: Liván Hernández. The blast came in the eighth inning and at that point tied the game at 3–3.
On July 19, after a 21 at-bat hitless streak, Bonds hit two home runs, numbers 752 and 753, against the Chicago Cubs. He went three for three with two home runs, six runs batted in, and a walk on that day. The struggling last-place Giants still lost the game, 9–8. On July 27, Bonds hit home run 754 against Florida Marlins pitcher Rick VandenHurk. Bonds was then walked his next four at-bats in the game, but a two-run shot helped the Giants win the game 12–10. It marked the first time since he had hit #747 that Bonds had homered in a game the Giants won. On August 4, Bonds hit a 382 foot (116 m) home run against former Giants draftee, San Diego Padres starting pitcher, and future San Francisco Giant Clay Hensley for home run number 755, tying Hank Aaron's all-time record. Bonds greeted his son, Nikolai, with an extended bear hug after crossing home plate. Bonds greeted his teammates and then his wife, Liz Watson, and daughter Aisha Lynn behind the backstop. Hensley was the 445th different pitcher to give up a home run to Bonds. Ironically, given the cloud of suspicion that surrounded Bonds, the tying home run was hit off a pitcher who had been suspended by baseball in 2005 for steroid use. He was walked in his next at-bat and eventually scored on a fielder's choice.
On August 7 at 8:51 PM PDT, at Oracle Park (then known as AT&T Park) in San Francisco, Bonds hit a 435 foot (133 m) solo home run, his 756th, off a pitch from Washington Nationals starting pitcher Mike Bacsik, breaking the all-time career home run record, formerly held by Hank Aaron. Coincidentally, Bacsik's father had faced Aaron (as a pitcher for the Texas Rangers) after Aaron had hit his 755th home run. On August 23, 1976, Michael J. Bacsik held Aaron to a single and a fly out to right field. The younger Bacsik commented later, "If my dad had been gracious enough to let Hank Aaron hit a home run, we both would have given up 756." After hitting the home run, Bonds gave Bacsik an autographed bat.
With the score tied 4–4 and leading off the bottom of the fifth inning, right fielder Randy Winn hit a flyball to deep left field that was caught by Ryan Church, who was playing in front of the orange BONDS shield with the logo that read "ROAD TO HISTORY". As Bonds walked from the on deck circle to the plate and entered the batter's box, the entire ballpark stood up at the same time. With one out, the pitch, the seventh of the at-bat, was a 3–2 pitch which Bonds hit into the right-center field bleachers. This put the Giants ahead 5–4. The fan who ended up with the ball, 22-year-old Matt Murphy from Queens, New York City, and a Mets fan, was promptly protected and escorted away from the mayhem by a group of San Francisco police officers. Fireworks went off and Bonds was hugged by his son Nikolai, the Giants bat boy, as he touched home plate, pointing towards the sky. After Bonds finished his home run trot, he was embraced by his teammates, coaches, and family, as a ten-minute delay followed, including a brief video by Aaron congratulating Bonds on breaking the record Aaron had held for 33 years, and expressing the hope that "the achievement of this record will inspire others to chase their own dreams."
Bonds made an impromptu emotional statement on the field, with Willie Mays, his godfather, at his side and thanked the fans, his teammates, family, the Washington Nationals, and his late father "for everything." In the top of the sixth inning and with no outs, Bonds took left field and was substituted with Dave Roberts on a double switch by manager Bruce Bochy. Bonds finished the game three for three and was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle, something that he had never done in the Major Leagues. The Giants lost the game 8–6. Bonds spoke to members of the media after the game. When asked if the record is tainted, Bonds, speaking postgame at the podium and dodging one steroid question, said "This record is not tainted at all, at all, Period."
The Commissioner of Baseball Bud Selig was not in attendance in this game but was represented by the Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations, Jimmie Lee Solomon. Selig called Bonds later that night to congratulate him on breaking the record. President George W. Bush also called Bonds the next day to congratulate him. On August 24, San Francisco honored and celebrated Bonds' career accomplishments and breaking the home run record with a large rally in Justin Herman Plaza. The rally included video messages from Lou Brock, Ernie Banks, Ozzie Smith, Joe Montana, Wayne Gretzky and Michael Jordan. Speeches were made by Willie Mays, Giants teammates Omar Vizquel and Rich Aurilia, and Giants owner Peter Magowan. Mayor Gavin Newsom presented Bonds the key to the City and County of San Francisco and Giants vice president Larry Baer gave Bonds the home plate he touched after hitting his 756th career home run.
The record-setting ball was consigned to an auction house on August 21. Bidding began on August 28 and closed with a winning bid of US$752,467 on September 15 after a three-phase online auction. The high bidder, fashion designer Marc Ecko, created a website to let fans decide its fate. Subsequently, Ben Padnos, who submitted the $186,750 winning bid on Bonds' record-tying 755th home run ball also set up a website to let fans decide its fate. On September 26, 2007, the day that Bonds would play in his last career Major League game, ten million voters helped Ecko decide to brand the ball with an asterisk and send it to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Of Ecko's plans, Bonds said "He spent $750,000 on the ball and that's what he's doing with it? What he's doing is stupid." Padnos, on the other hand, sold five-year ads on a website, www.endthedebate.com, where people voted by a two-to-one margin to smash the ball.
On September 15, 2007, at Petco Park, leading off the top of the second inning, Bonds hit a line drive single off of starting pitcher and former teammate Brett Tomko to short center field for his 2,935th and final career hit in the Major Leagues. "Tomko got the pitch out over the plate and Bonds hit it about five feet over Tomko's head," commented Giants sportscaster Duane Kuiper. On September 21, 2007, at AT&T Park, General Manager Brian Sabean and team CEO, Managing general partner, owner, and President Peter Magowan announced at a press conference that the Giants would not be re-signing Bonds for the 2008 season. The story was first announced on Bonds' own website earlier that day. On September 26, 2007, at AT&T Park, after missing the previous ten games, Bonds played in his 2,986th career game and made his last MLB appearance. In his last career Major League game, Bonds had no hits in three at bats against San Diego Padres starting pitcher and that season's 2007 NL Pitching Triple Crown and NL Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy, who had allowed Bonds' 700th career Major League home run three years earlier.
Bonds concluded the 2007 season with a .276 batting average, 28 home runs, and 66 RBI in 126 games and 340 at-bats. At the age of 43, he led the Majors in three categories with 132 walks, a .480 on-base percentage, and 43 intentional walks. He is the only player in their final season to lead the Majors in each of these categories separately. In his 15-season San Francisco Giants career, Bonds amassed a .312 batting average, 1,951 base hits, and the San Francisco Era records for home runs and runs batted in with 586 and 1,440 respectively.
== Career overall ==
=== Statistics and achievements ===
== Post-playing career ==
On October 29, 2007, Bonds officially filed for free agency. His agent Jeff Borris said: "I'm anticipating widespread interest from every Major League team." There was much speculation before the 2008 season about where Bonds might play. However, no one signed him during the 2008 or 2009 seasons. The 2008 Giants finished in fourth place in the NL West with a 72–90 win–loss record and the 2009 Giants finished in third place in the division with an 88–74 record. Many teams could have used his services. If he had returned to MLB, Bonds would have been within close range of many significant career batting milestones and records. He needed only just 14 games played and 65 hits to reach 3,000, 394 plate appearances to reach 13,000, 153 at bats to reach 10,000, 38 home runs to reach 800, four runs batted in to reach 2,000, 24 total bases to reach 6,000, 60 extra base hits to reach 1,500, and 12 intentional walks to reach 700. On August 7, 2017, which marked the 10-year anniversary of Bonds hitting his record-breaking 756th career Major League home run, Bonds told The Associated Press that he wished to have played one more year and that he believes he would have reached 800 or come very close. He would have needed 69 runs scored to move past Rickey Henderson as the all-time MLB career runs scored leader, 38 extra base hits to move past Hank Aaron as the all-time MLB career extra base hits leader, and 107 home runs to move past Sadaharu Oh as the world record holder for professional career home runs hit during the regular season.
As of November 13, 2009, Borris maintained that Bonds was still not retired. On December 9, however, Borris told the San Francisco Chronicle that Bonds had played his last Major League game. Bonds announced on April 11, 2010, that he was proud of McGwire for admitting his use of steroids. Bonds said that it was not the time to retire, but he noted that he was not in shape to play immediately if an interested club called him. The Giants won the World Series two times in three years in 2010 and 2012. In May 2015, Bonds filed a grievance against Major League Baseball through the players' union arguing that the league colluded in not signing him after the 2007 season. In August 2015, an arbitrator ruled in favor of MLB and against Bonds in his collusion case.
On December 15, 2011, Bonds was sentenced to 30 days of house arrest, two years of probation and 250 hours of community service, for an obstruction of justice conviction stemming from a grand jury appearance in 2003. However, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston then delayed the sentence pending an appeal. In 2013 his conviction was upheld on appeal by a three judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. However, the full court later granted Bonds an en banc rehearing, and on April 22, 2015, an 11-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit voted 10–1 that his testimony was not obstruction.
On February 22, 2014, news broke that Bonds would be a roving spring training instructor for the Giants, which he began serving on March 10, 2014, for seven days at Scottsdale Stadium. The Giants won the 2014 World Series and he received a World Series ring for his contributions. On February 8, 2015, Bonds was elected to the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame and he was enshrined on May 11, 2015. On March 21, 2017, Bonds rejoined the Giants as a Special Advisor to the CEO. On July 8, 2017, Bonds was added onto the San Francisco Giants Wall of Fame. On February 6, 2018, the Giants announced their intentions to retire his number 25 jersey, which happened on August 11, 2018, during a pregame ceremony at 5:57 PM PDT before the Giants played his former team, the Pittsburgh Pirates. On November 28, 2019, Bonds was inducted into the California Sports Hall of Fame.
On August 25, 2019, Bonds was featured in Alex Rodriguez' YouTube video called "LAUNCH ANGLES feat. BARRY BONDS". Bonds says that he could have hit .400 if he had bunted. Batting .400 or higher is something that no MLB player has done since Ted Williams in 1941. In his career when bunting for base hits, Bonds batted .571, going 8–14, according to Baseball Reference. On August 24, 2024, Bonds was inducted into the Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Fame. His number 24 with the Pirates remains in circulation, most prominently worn by Brian Giles from 1999 to 2003 and by Pedro Alvarez from 2011 to 2015.
On February 5, 2025, at San Francisco City Hall, Mayor Daniel Lurie officially proclaimed 2/5/25 as "Barry Bonds Day", honoring his contributions to baseball and the city, and it was a way to celebrate him on the "once-in-a-century date". On March 6, 2025, Bonds appeared as a guest on the digital video podcast All the Smoke with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson and he said that he can still hit a 100 mile per hour pitch. Since Bonds' last season in 2007, the Giants have started a different left fielder on every Opening Day, tying the Major League record for the longest streak by any team at any position since at least 1900. On June 25, 2025, Giants CEO Larry Baer hinted that planning a future statue of Bonds outside of Oracle Park is on the radar and coming during an interview on 95.7 The Game.
=== National Baseball Hall of Fame consideration ===
In his ten years of eligibility for the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Bonds fell short of the 75% of the votes from the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) needed for induction. His vote percentages from 2013 through 2022 were: 36.2%, 34.7%, 36.8%, 44.3%, 53.8%, 56.4%, 59.1%, 60.7%, 61.8% and 66%. He appeared on 260 of 394 ballots in his last year. Despite falling off the ballot, Bonds remained eligible through the Hall of Fame's Today's Game Committee, a committee of 16 members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, executives, and media members, hence the nickname of "Veterans Committee", who consider retired players who lost ballot eligibility while still having made notable contributions to baseball from 1986 to 2016. The vote was held in December 2022; twelve of the sixteen votes were required for induction, but Bonds received fewer than four.
== Coaching career ==
=== Miami Marlins (2016) ===
On December 4, 2015, he was announced as the new hitting coach for the Miami Marlins, but was relieved of his duties on October 3, 2016, after just one season. He followed up with a public thank-you letter, acknowledging owner Jeffrey Loria, and the opportunity as "one of the most rewarding experiences of my baseball career."
== Public persona ==
During his playing career, Bonds was frequently described as a difficult person, surly, standoffish and ungrateful. In a 2016 interview with Terence Moore, he said he regretted the persona he had created. He attributed it to a response to the pressure he felt to perform as a young player with the Pirates. Remarked Bonds,
Hell, I kick myself now, because I'm getting great press [since being more cooperative], and I could have had a trillion more endorsements, but that wasn't my driving force. The problem was, when I tried to give in a little bit, it never got better. I knew I was in the midst of that image, and I determined at that point that I was never going to get out of it.
So I just said, 'I've created this fire around me, and I'm stuck in it, so I might as well live with the flames.'
Bonds reports that for a short time during his playing days with the Giants he changed his demeanor at the behest of a group of teammates, smiling much more frequently and engaging more with others with a pleasant attitude. Shortly thereafter, Bonds says, in the midst of a slump, the same group of teammates pleaded that he revert, having seemingly lost his competitive edge, and causing the team to lose more. In spite of his protest that they would not appreciate the results, his teammates insisted. Bonds says he complied, maintaining that familiar standoffish edge the rest of his playing career.
On May 9, 1996, Bonds shoved USA Today journalist Rod Beaton in the team's clubhouse. As Beaton was waiting to interview Robby Thompson one hour before a game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Bonds told Beaton to leave. The reporter replied that Major League Baseball rules allowed him 15 minutes more to talk with players. Bonds waved a finger in Beaton's face and shoved him in the chest, after which members of the team's coaching staff and front office interceded. Bonds and Beaton spoke again after the game. Beaton later said, "He accused me of having an attitude" and "I told him he went over the line by shoving me, but there was no apology." Bonds felt that the incident was overblown and said that, "We don't have a problem. We like each other. It was a big joke. He just got whacked out." Beaton filed no formal complaint about the incident, but USA Today filed a grievance with the team.
== Controversies ==
=== BALCO scandal ===
Since 2003, Bonds has been a key figure in the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (BALCO) scandal. BALCO marketed tetrahydrogestrinone ("the Clear"), a performance-enhancing anabolic steroid that was undetectable by doping tests. He was under investigation by a federal grand jury regarding his testimony in the BALCO case, and was indicted on perjury and obstruction of justice charges on November 15, 2007. The indictment alleges that Bonds lied while under oath about his alleged use of steroids.
In 2003, BALCO's Greg Anderson, Bonds's trainer since 2000, was indicted by a federal grand jury in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California and charged with supplying anabolic steroids to athletes, including a number of baseball players. This led to speculation that Bonds had used performance-enhancing drugs during a time when there was no mandatory testing in Major League Baseball. Bonds declared his innocence, attributing his changed physique and increased power to a strict regimen of bodybuilding, diet, and legitimate supplements.
During grand jury testimony on December 4, 2003, Bonds said that he used a clear substance and a cream that he received from his personal strength trainer, Greg Anderson, who told him they were the nutritional supplement flaxseed oil and a rubbing balm for arthritis. Later reports on Bonds's leaked grand-jury testimony contend that he admitted to unknowingly using "the cream" and "the clear".
On February 22, 2005, during a press conference about the scandal, Bonds addressed the assembled reporters. "All you guys lied," Bonds said. "All of y'all in a story or whatever have lied. Should you have an asterisk behind your name? All of you lied. All of you have said something wrong. All of you have dirt. All of you. When your closet's clean, then come clean somebody else's. But clean yours first, okay?" In July 2005, all four defendants in the BALCO steroid scandal trial, including Anderson, struck deals with federal prosecutors that did not require them to reveal names of athletes who might have used banned drugs.
==== Perjury case ====
On November 15, 2007, a federal grand jury indicted Bonds on four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice as it relates to the government investigation of BALCO. He was tried in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. On February 14, 2008, a typo in court papers filed by Federal prosecutors erroneously alleged that Bonds tested positive for steroids in November 2001, a month after hitting his record 73rd home run. The reference was meant instead to refer to a November 2000 test that had already been disclosed and previously reported. The typo sparked a brief media frenzy. His trial for obstruction of justice was to have begun on March 2, 2009, but jury selection was postponed by emergency appeals by the prosecution. The trial commenced on March 21, 2011, with Judge Susan Illston presiding. He was convicted on April 13, 2011, on the obstruction of justice charge, for giving an evasive answer to a question under oath. On December 15, 2011, Bonds was found guilty for an obstruction of justice conviction stemming from a grand jury appearance in 2003. However, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston then delayed the sentence pending his appeal. He was sentenced to 30 days of house arrest. He also received two years of probation and was ordered to perform 250 hours of community service. Bonds appealed his conviction to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. In 2013, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit affirmed his conviction, but in 2015 his appeal was reheard by the full court en banc, which voted 10–1 to overturn his conviction.
=== Players' union licensing withdrawal ===
In 2003, Bonds withdrew from the MLB Players Association (MLBPA) licensing agreement because he felt independent marketing deals would be more lucrative for him. Bonds is the first player in the 30-year history of the licensing program not to sign. Because of this withdrawal, his name and likeness are not usable in any merchandise licensed by the MLBPA. In order to use his name or likeness, a company must deal directly with Bonds. For this reason, he does not appear in some baseball video games, forcing game-makers to create generic athletes as replacements. These generic video games replacements tended to be white and sometimes had different handedness which was done likely to avoid potential player likeness lawsuits from Bonds.
=== Game of Shadows ===
In March 2006 the book Game of Shadows, written by Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada, was released amid a storm of media publicity including the cover of Sports Illustrated. Initially small excerpts of the book were released by the authors in the issue of Sports Illustrated. The book alleges Bonds used stanozolol and a host of other steroids, and is perhaps most responsible for the change in public opinion regarding Bonds's steroid use. The book contained excerpts of grand jury testimony that is supposed to be sealed and confidential by law. The authors have been steadfast in their refusal to divulge their sources and at one point faced jail time. On February 14, 2007, Troy Ellerman, one of Victor Conte's lawyers, pleaded guilty to leaking grand jury testimony. Through the plea agreement, he would spend two and a half years in jail.
=== Love Me, Hate Me ===
In May 2006, former Sports Illustrated writer Jeff Pearlman released a revealing biography of Bonds entitled Love Me, Hate Me: Barry Bonds and the Making of an Anti-Hero. The book also contained many allegations against Bonds. The book, which describes Bonds as a polarizing, insufferable braggart with a legendary ego and staggering talent, relied on over five hundred interviews, none with Bonds himself.
=== Bonds on Bonds ===
In April 2006 and May 2006, ESPN aired a few episodes of a 10-part reality TV (unscripted, documentary-style) series starring Bonds. The show, titled Bonds on Bonds, focused on Bonds's chase of Babe Ruth's and Hank Aaron's home run records. Some felt the show should be put on hiatus until baseball investigated Bonds's steroid use allegations. The series was canceled in June 2006, ESPN and producer Tollin/Robbins Productions citing "creative control" issues with Bonds and his representatives.
== Personal life ==
Several of Bonds' family and extended family members have been involved in athletics as either a career or a notable pastime. Bonds has a younger brother, Bobby Jr., who was also a professional baseball player. His paternal aunt, Rosie Bonds, is a former American record holder in the 80 meter hurdles, and competed in the 1964 Summer Olympics. In addition, he is a distant cousin of National Baseball Hall of Fame right fielder Reggie Jackson.
Bonds met Susann ("Sun") Margreth Branco, the mother of his first two children (Nikolai and Shikari), in Montreal, Quebec, in August 1987. They eloped to Las Vegas February 5, 1988. The couple separated in June 1994, divorced in December 1994, and had their marriage annulled in 1997 by the Catholic Church. The divorce was a media affair because Bonds had his Swedish spouse sign a prenuptial agreement in which she "waived her right to a share of his present and future earnings" and which was upheld. Bonds had been providing his wife $20,000/month in child support and $10,000 in spousal support at the time of the ruling. During the hearings to set permanent support levels, allegations of abuse came from both parties. The trial dragged on for months, but Bonds was awarded both houses and reduced support. On August 21, 2000, the Supreme Court of California, in an opinion signed by Chief Justice Ronald M. George, unanimously held that "substantial evidence supports the determination of the trial court that the [prenuptial] agreement in the present case was entered into voluntarily." In reaction to the decision, significant changes in California law relating to the validity and enforceability of premarital agreements soon followed. In 2010, Bonds's son Nikolai, who served as a Giants batboy during his father's years playing in San Francisco and always sat next to his dad in the dugout during games, was charged with five misdemeanors resulting from a confrontation with his mother, Sun Bonds, who was granted a restraining order against Nikolai.
In 1994, Bonds and Kimberly Bell, a graphic designer, started a relationship, which lasted through May 2003. Bonds purchased a home in Scottsdale, Arizona, for Kimberly. On January 10, 1998, Bonds married his second wife, Liz Watson, at the San Francisco Ritz-Carlton Hotel in front of 240 guests. The couple lived in Los Altos Hills, California, with their daughter Aisha during their ten-and-a-half years of marriage before Watson filed for legal separation on June 9, 2009, citing irreconcilable differences. On July 21, 2009, just six weeks later, Watson announced that she was withdrawing her Legal Separation action. The couple were reconciled for seven months before Watson formally filed for divorce in Los Angeles on February 26, 2010. On June 6, 2011, Bonds and Watson filed a legal agreement not to take the divorce to trial and instead settle it in an "uncontested manner," agreeing to end the marriage privately at an unspecified later date without further court involvement.
In 2002, Bonds purchased a 17,100-square-foot mansion in the exclusive gated community of Beverly Park in Beverly Hills, California for $8.7 million. In 2014, Bonds sold it for $22 million. In 2007, Bonds purchased a Mediterranean-style mansion in Hillsborough, California, and in 2018 sold it for $6 million. An avid cyclist, Bonds chose the activity to be a primary means of keeping in shape and great passion since his playing career. Because knee surgeries, back surgeries, and hip surgeries made it much more difficult to run, cycling has allowed him to engage in sufficient cardiovascular activity to help keep in shape. As a result of the cycling, he has lost 25 pounds from his final playing weight of 240 pounds. Bonds is a member of the Olympic Club. Bonds is an active practitioner of Brazilian jiu-jitsu and was promoted to blue belt in the martial art in 2023.
=== Philanthropy ===
Bonds' foundation is the Barry Bonds Family Foundation. Since 1993, it has helped uplift youth through education, sports, and support for children in hospitals.
== Legacy ==
Recorded between 2005 and 2007, American rapper, songwriter, and record producer Kanye West released his third studio album Graduation on September 11, 2007. The seventh track, a song titled "Barry Bonds", is named after the slugger and features Lil Wayne.
== Career distinctions ==
Besides holding Major League career records in home runs (762), walks (2,558), and intentional walks (688), at the time of his retirement, Bonds also led all active players in RBI (1,996), on-base percentage (.444), runs (2,227), games (2,986), extra-base hits (1,440), at-bats per home run (12.92), and total bases (5,976). He is 2nd in doubles (601), slugging percentage (.607), stolen bases (514), at-bats (9,847), and hits (2,935), 6th in triples (77), 8th in sacrifice flies (91), and 9th in strikeouts (1,539), through September 26, 2007.
Bonds is the lone member of the 500–500 club, which means he has hit at least 500 home runs (762) and stolen at least 500 bases (514); no other player has even 400 of both. He is also one of only six baseball players all-time to be in the 40–40 club (1996), which means he hit 40 home runs (42) and stole 40 bases (40) in the same season; the other members are José Canseco, Alex Rodriguez, Alfonso Soriano, Ronald Acuña Jr, and Shohei Ohtani.
=== Records held ===
Home runs in a single season (73), 2001
Home runs in a career (762)
Home runs in a career on the road (383)
Home runs after turning 40 years old (74)
Home runs in the year he turned 43 years old (28)
Consecutive seasons with 30 or more home runs (13), 1992–2004
Slugging percentage in a World Series (1.294), 2002
Consecutive seasons with .600 slugging percentage or higher (8), 1998–2005
On-base percentage in a single season (.609), 2004
Walks in a career (2,558)
Walks in a single season (232), 2004
Consecutive games with a walk (18)
Intentional walks in a career (688)
Intentional walks in a single season (120), 2004
Consecutive games with an intentional walk (6)
MVP awards (7)
Consecutive MVP awards (4), 2001–2004
National League Player of the Month selections (13)
Oldest player to win the National League batting title for the first time, batting .370 at age 38 in 2002
Putouts as a left fielder (5,226)
Career games with at least one home run and one stolen base (102)
=== Records shared ===
Home runs in a career hit at home (379 - tied with Hank Aaron)
Consecutive plate appearances with a walk (7)
Consecutive plate appearances reaching base, National League modern era (15)
Tied with his father, Bobby, for most seasons with 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases (5); they are the only father-son members of the 30–30 club
=== Other accomplishments ===
Awards and distinctions
Five-time SF Giants Player of the Year (1998, 2001–2004)
Three-time NL Hank Aaron Award winner (2001–02, 2004)
Listed at #6 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, the highest-ranked active player, in 2005.
Named a finalist to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999, but not elected to the team in the fan balloting.
Rating of 340 on Bill James' Hall of Fame monitor (100 is a good HOF candidate); 10th among all hitters, second-highest among hitters not yet in the Hall of Fame.
The fourth player to have two or more seasons with a slugging percentage over .800 (.863 in 2001 and .812 in 2004). The others are Babe Ruth (.847 in 1920 and .846 in 1921), Mule Suttles (.877 in 1926 and .817 in 1930), and Josh Gibson (.974 in 1937, .8675 in 1943, and .8235 in 1939).
Became the first player in history with more times on base (376) than official at-bats (373) in 2004. This was due to the record number of walks, which count as a time on base and as a plate appearance, but not an at-bat. He had 135 hits, 232 walks, and 9 hit-by-pitches for the 376 number.
Tenth all-time in plate appearances with 12,606. He is the only player in the top ten of this category to not obtain 3,000 hits and just one of two players with as many as 12,000 plate appearances to not do so (the other being Omar Vizquel).
With his father Bobby (332, 461), leads all father-son combinations in combined home runs (1,094) and stolen bases (975), respectively through September 26, 2007.
Played minor league baseball in both Alaska and Hawaii. In 1983, he played for the Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks in the Alaska Baseball League, and in 1986, he played for the Hawaii Islanders in the Pacific Coast League.
Featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated. He has appeared as the main subject on the cover eight times in total; seven with the Giants and once with the Pirates. He has also appeared in an inset on the cover twice. He was the most recent Pirate player to appear on the cover, until Jason Grilli was featured on July 22, 2013. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saving_Private_Ryan#Reception | Saving Private Ryan#Reception | Saving Private Ryan is a 1998 American epic war film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Robert Rodat. Set in 1944 in Normandy, France, during World War II, it follows a group of soldiers, led by Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks), on a mission to locate Private James Francis Ryan (Matt Damon) and bring him home safely after his three brothers have been killed in action. The cast also includes Edward Burns, Tom Sizemore and Jeremy Davies.
Inspired by the books of Stephen E. Ambrose and accounts of multiple soldiers in a single family, such as the Niland brothers, being killed in action, Rodat drafted the script, and Paramount Pictures hired him to finish writing it. The project came to the attention of Hanks and Spielberg, whose involvement, due to their previous successes, secured the project's development. Spielberg wanted to make Saving Private Ryan as authentic as possible and hired Frank Darabont and Scott Frank to do uncredited rewrites based on research and interviews with veterans. The main cast went through a week-long boot camp to help them understand the soldier's experience. Filming took place from June to September 1997, on a $65–70 million budget, almost entirely on location in England and Ireland. The opening Omaha Beach battle was the most demanding scene, costing $12 million to film over a four-week period, and using 1,500 background actors.
Released on July 24, 1998, Saving Private Ryan became one of the year's most successful films, earning critical acclaim for its graphic portrayal of combat. WWII veterans described the combat scenes as the most realistic portrayal of their own experiences they had seen; some said they had been unable to watch it due to their traumatic memories. The film earned $481.8 million, making it the second-highest-grossing film of 1998, and went on to win many accolades, including Golden Globe, Academy, BAFTA, and Saturn awards.
Considered one of the greatest war films ever made, Saving Private Ryan's battle-scene filming techniques inspired many subsequent war, action, and superhero films, and numerous directors have cited Saving Private Ryan as an influence on them. The picture is credited with having helped to renew interest in WWII at the turn of the century, inspiring other films, television shows, and video games set during the war. In 2014, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
== Plot ==
On June 6, 1944, soldiers of the U.S. Army land at Omaha Beach during the Normandy invasion, suffering heavily from artillery and machine gun fire from the fortified German defenders. Initially dazed by the ferocity of the defense, 2nd Ranger Battalion Captain John H. Miller leads a surviving group up the cliffs to neutralize the coastal defenses firing onto the beach, ensuring the success of the landings.
The United States Department of War receives communication that three of four Ryan brothers have been killed in action; the last, James Francis Ryan of the 101st Airborne Division, is listed as missing. General George C. Marshall orders that Ryan be found and sent home, to spare his family the loss of all its sons. Miller is tasked with recovering Ryan and assembles a detachment of soldiers to accompany him: Mike Horvath, Richard Reiben, Adrian Caparzo, Stanley Mellish, Daniel Jackson, medic Irwin Wade, and interpreter Timothy Upham, who lacks combat experience.
The group tracks Ryan to the town of Neuville-au-Plain, where Caparzo is killed by a German sniper while trying to rescue a young girl. Mourning their friend, the men grow resentful at being forced to risk their lives for one man. They later find James Frederick Ryan, but realize he is the wrong man with a similar name. That evening, the men rest in a chapel, where Miller tells Horvath that his hands began uncontrollably shaking after he joined the war. The men travel to a rallying point where the 101st Airborne might be after landing off course, where they find scores of wounded and displaced soldiers. Wade admonishes Reiben, Mellish, and Jackson for callously searching through a pile of deceased soldiers' dog tags in front of passing troops, hoping to find Ryan's among them and conclude their mission. Remorseful for ignoring their behavior, Miller shouts for anyone who knows Ryan; one soldier tells him that Ryan was reassigned to defend a vital bridge in the town of Ramelle.
On the way, Miller decides to neutralize a German gun nest they discover, against the advice of his men, and although they are successful, Wade is killed. The men prepare to execute a surrendered German soldier in revenge, but Upham intervenes, arguing that they should follow the rules of war. Miller releases the soldier, nicknamed "Steamboat Willie", ordering that he surrender to the next Allied patrol. Discontented with the mission, Reiben threatens to desert, leading to a standoff between the men that Miller defuses by revealing his civilian background as a teacher and baseball coach, which he had always refused to disclose. Miller muses that people often guessed his career before he became a soldier, while his men could not, implying that war has changed him, and worries whether his wife will still recognize him after the war.
In Ramelle, Miller's detachment finds Ryan and informs him of their mission, but Ryan refuses to abandon his post or his fellow soldiers, believing he does not deserve to go home more than anyone else. Horvath convinces Miller that saving Ryan might be the only truly decent thing they can accomplish during the war. Miller takes command of Ryan's group as the only officer present and prepares the soldiers for a German assault. Jackson and Horvath are killed, and Upham stands paralyzed with fear as Mellish is stabbed to death. Steamboat Willie returns and shoots Miller before reinforcements arrive to defeat the Germans. Upham confronts Willie, who attempts to surrender again, and kills him. Upham and Reiben observe as the mortally wounded Miller tells Ryan to earn the sacrifices made to send him home.
Decades later, an elderly Ryan and his family visit Miller's grave at the Normandy Cemetery. Ryan expresses that he remembers Miller's words every day, has lived his life the best he could, and hopes he has earned their sacrifices.
== Cast ==
Tom Hanks as John H. Miller: A determined U.S. captain suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder
Edward Burns as Richard Reiben: A rebellious soldier
Tom Sizemore as Mike Horvath: Miller's long-time friend and second-in-command
Jeremy Davies as Timothy Upham: A staff assistant lacking any combat experience, recruited by Miller as a French and German interpreter
Vin Diesel as Adrian Caparzo: A battle-hardened and compassionate soldier
Adam Goldberg as Stanley "Fish" Mellish: A wisecracking Jewish trooper, and Caparzo's close friend
Barry Pepper as Daniel Jackson: A religious sniper
Giovanni Ribisi as Irwin Wade: The team's diligent and caring combat medic
Matt Damon as James Francis Ryan: A young soldier from Iowa
Dennis Farina as Walter Anderson: An American officer who tasks Miller with finding Ryan
Ted Danson as Fred Hamill: A captain in the 101st Airborne Division's Pathfinders
Harve Presnell as George C. Marshall: The Chief of Staff of the United States Army, who orders the mission to recover Ryan.
Bryan Cranston as Mac: A staff officer in the War Department
David Wohl as T. E. Sanders: An officer in the War Department
Nathan Fillion as James Frederick Ryan: A soldier mistaken for James Francis Ryan (credited as Minnesota Ryan)
Paul Giamatti as William Hill: A war-weary sergeant in Neuville
Ryan Hurst as Michaelson: A hearing-impaired paratrooper
Max Martini as Henderson: A soldier in Ryan's company
Leland Orser as DeWindt: A lieutenant from the 99th Troop Carrier Squadron
The cast also includes Glenn Wrage as Doyle, Corey Johnson as a radioman, John Sharian as Corporal Loeb, and Rolf Saxon as Lieutenant Briggs—Allied soldiers at the Omaha beach landing. Demetri Goritsas and Dylan Bruno portray Parker and Private First Class Toynbe, respectively, who aid in the battle of Ramelle. Joerg Stadler appears as Steamboat Willie, a German prisoner. Amanda Boxer portrays Ryan's mother, while Harrison Young and Kathleen Byron portray the elderly James Ryan and his wife, Margaret. Technical advisor and Marine veteran Dale Dye appears as a War Department colonel.
== Production ==
=== Concept ===
Producer Mark Gordon was a fan of writer Robert Rodat's previous work on films such as Tall Tale (1995) and Fly Away Home (1996). The pair met in early 1995 to discuss potential projects and ideas. Within a few weeks, Rodat conceived of Saving Private Ryan. He was inspired by a gift from his wife, the historical book D-Day June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II (1994), by Stephen E. Ambrose, recounting the events of the Normandy landings. Rodat visited a monument in Keene, New Hampshire dedicated to American soldiers killed in combat; he noticed the losses included brothers. He said, "The idea of losing a son to war is painful beyond description ... the idea of losing more than one son is inconceivable". The Ryan family was based primarily on the four Niland brothers detailed in Ambrose's book, who were deployed during WWII; two were killed and a third presumed dead; the fourth was returned from the war.
=== Development ===
To develop Saving Private Ryan, Gordon founded the independent film studio Mutual Film Company, alongside producer Gary Levinsohn. Gordon brought Rodat's draft to Paramount Pictures executives; they responded positively and hired Rodat who wrote the script over the following 12 months. Michael Bay was hired as director, but left the project because he could not resolve how to approach the material. Carin Sage, a junior agent representing Tom Hanks at the Creative Artists Agency, gave the script to Hanks, who was immediately interested and met with Gordon and Levinsohn. Hanks shared the script with Steven Spielberg who agreed to direct because the pair had wanted to work together for some time. Rodat thought that Paramount would cancel the project after the studio purchased two other WWII-era scripts, Combat and With Wings as Eagles, with popular actors Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger attached, respectively. However, having secured the involvement of Hanks and Spielberg, two of the highest-paid and most successful actors and directors, Gordon suggested Paramount executives prioritize Saving Private Ryan.
Describing what interested him about the project, Spielberg said, "So what you're doing is sending eight people out, all of whom have parents, to rescue one boy and send him back to his mom when any or all of these kids, along the mission route, could be killed. That was the central tug that made me want to tell the story." Spielberg had a lifelong interest in WWII, having made war films as a teenager because "it was the seminal conversation inside my family. My parents talked about the Holocaust and they talked about combat and war. And I was born knowing this. My dad was a veteran ... he had many veterans over to the house, and I became absolutely obsessed ... based on my father's stories, recollections, and also based on all the WWII movies". He described the project as a tribute to his father.
With Spielberg on board, DreamWorks Pictures, which he co-founded, became involved as a financier, with his company Amblin Entertainment as a production company. Spielberg's clout effectively removed Gordon and Levinsohn from the production, having no creative input, equity, or rights, but receiving a producer's credit and one-off payment. Levinsohn said, "You just know going in what the score is ... I guess it's unspoken that when you hire Steven Spielberg you're not going to be on the set making decisions". DreamWorks hired Ian Bryce to replace them. In April 1997, Sumner Redstone, chairman of Paramount's parent company Viacom, had Spielberg flip a coin to determine the film's distribution rights. Spielberg won the toss, giving DreamWorks the favored North American distribution rights and Paramount the international rights. Earnings were held collectively and split evenly between the studios. In exchange, Paramount received the North American distribution rights to DreamWorks' Deep Impact (1998). To keep the budget low, Spielberg and Hanks took minimal upfront salaries in exchange for a guaranteed 17.5% of the gross profits, equivalent to 35 cents of every dollar earned.
=== Rewrite ===
Spielberg's initial concept for Saving Private Ryan was a Boys' Own–style adventure film in which the search for Ryan was a public relations effort by the war department. However, after interviewing WWII veterans for research, he found this idea inappropriate. He decided to embed the story within a realistic portrayal of actual events while portraying the conflicted morality of sending men into life-threatening situations to save one man. He said, "I cannot tell you how many veterans came up to me ... and said: 'Please be honest about it. Please don't make another Hollywood movie about WWII. Please tell our stories ...'" The surviving Niland family was interviewed, and the story was further influenced by other substantial family war losses, including the five Sullivan brothers killed during WWII, and the Bixby brothers during the American Civil War; the resulting letter by Abraham Lincoln is quoted in the film.
Spielberg described existing WWII films as "sanitized" and sentimentalized, focused on depicting honor and the glory of service in a manner that was "very safe and wholly untrue". He wanted to present the courage of the soldiers in the face of "palpable terror, almost blind terror":
I remember one of the [veterans] telling me the entire charge up the beach was a blur—not a blur to his memory because he still remembered every single grain of sand when he had his face buried in it from that fusillade raining down on them from above. But he described how everything was not in focus for him. He described the sounds, and he described the vibrations of every concussion of every 88 shell that hit the beach, which gave some of them bloody noses, rattled their ears. The ground would come up and slam into their faces from the concussions."
Ambrose served as a historical consultant. He disliked glorified depictions of the Normandy landings that ignored the reality of soldiers slowly dying in mud and water, wanting "their mothers, they wanted morphine. It took a long time." Spielberg believed the legacy of the Vietnam War had made his generation less interested in glorifying combat in film. Even so, he was influenced by early war films such as Battleground (1949), The Steel Helmet (1951), and Hell Is for Heroes (1962).
Although Rodat's script came close to the ideal WWII project he had hoped for, Spielberg said it had "a few problems". He hired Frank Darabont and Scott Frank to perform uncredited script rewrites. The scene begins as the second wave of soldiers arrives on Omaha beach (Darabont's suggestion), so they would be walking into "Hell on Earth" instead of empty beaches. Scott Frank performed rewrites based on transcriptions of Spielberg's recorded ideas and two folders of historical facts about the Normandy landings; these gave Frank ideas but he found it difficult to parse the reality of events into original ideas.
The Normandy cemetery scene was based on Spielberg's own experience visiting the area as a youth; he witnessed a family accompanying a man who fell to his knees and began to cry at a grave marker.
=== Casting ===
Spielberg wanted older actors for his main cast, claiming that young soldiers would look older than their age under the stresses of war. Miller is the "adult in the story," intended to project a calmness and feeling of safety that is undermined by the character's uncontrollable handshaking. Spielberg wanted Hanks to play Miller because he was the only actor he thought of who "would not immediately want to use his teeth to pull out a pin from a hand grenade." Hanks formed Miller's character based on the history of the 2nd Ranger Battalion before Omaha Beach, saying he believed Miller was "horribly afraid" of getting more of his men killed. Mel Gibson and Harrison Ford were considered for the role. Miller's detachment is a diverse group, including a Jew and Italian, reminiscent of earlier WWII films; this was not a deliberate choice, although Spielberg believed he had subconsciously drawn on conventional WWII films. Burns described Reiben as a "wise guy" in the script, but the experience of filming the Omaha Beach landing inspired him to give the character a "much harder edge". Sizemore had been offered a role in The Thin Red Line (1998) but took Spielberg's offer of an alternative role as Horvath, Miller's friend and confidant. The actor had a history of drug addiction, and Spielberg mandated that he pass regular drug tests to keep his part, or the role would be recast and his scenes re-shot. Describing his character, Sizemore said, "he was a quiet man; he was taciturn; he followed orders, and he loved the captain ... if he had a tragic flaw, it was that he didn't know when he had had enough, when it was time to say, 'I can't do this anymore.'"
Diesel was cast after Spielberg saw his self-starring directorial efforts, Multi-Facial (1995) and Strays (1997). The actor was working as a telemarketer at the time, having struggled to secure acting jobs. Goldberg's role did not exist in the script until his casting. Spielberg wanted a relatively unknown actor to portray Private Ryan. Spielberg visited the set of Good Will Hunting (1997), and Robin Williams introduced him to Damon. Spielberg cast him shortly after, believing he possessed a "great American everyboy look," unaware that Good Will Hunting's success would significantly raise Damon's profile. Neil Patrick Harris was considered for the role, and Edward Norton turned it down for American History X (1998). Thomas Haden Church, Pete Postlethwaite, Tony Shalhoub, and Garth Brooks were considered for unspecified roles.
At Hanks's and Dye's suggestion, Spielberg had the principal cast take part in a six-day boot camp, wanting them to experience cold, wet, and exhaustive conditions, like those of WWII soldiers. Overseen by Dye and retired U.S. Marines, the actors remained in character while simulating attacks, performing 5-mile (8 km) runs with full backpacks, weapons training, military exercises, and push-ups after making mistakes, on three hours of sleep per night in cold and rainy conditions. The men wanted to quit, but Hanks convinced them otherwise, saying they would regret not following through and the experience would help them understand their characters and motivations. Diesel said, "at that moment we got this huge respect for him in real life, we were all exhausted, we all wanted to leave and here was this guy who was a superstar, who doesn't have to be here, voting to stay". Dye was present throughout filming to remind the actors of their training. Spielberg kept Damon out of the boot camp because he wanted the other actors to resent him and his character.
=== Pre-production ===
The pre-production for Saving Private Ryan was truncated because Spielberg chose to film Amistad (1997) immediately after finishing work on The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997). Cinematographer Janusz Kamiński spent several weeks performing camera tests to define the film's visual aesthetic. The pair considered filming monochromatically as Spielberg had with his Holocaust film, Schindler's List (1993). However, they considered that this would seem "pretentious," and were interested in emulating the colored WWII footage from their research. Kamiński let his interpretation of the narrative dictate how to light scenes and narrowed down visual styles by identifying which films he did not want Saving Private Ryan to emulate. He and Spielberg were visually influenced by WWII documentaries, such as Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress (1944), The Battle of Midway (1942), Why We Fight (1942–1945), and the Nazi propaganda films of Leni Riefenstahl. They also looked at various books, paintings, and photographs of the Omaha Beach invasion taken by the war photographer Robert Capa. Kamiński wanted it to look like a major production "shot on [16 mm film] by a bunch of combat cameramen".
A variety of camera techniques were used to emulate the experience of being on a battlefield: Kamiński removed the protective coating on some lenses, creating a "flatter", degraded image akin to WWII-era cameras, and mismatched lenses when using multiple cameras for an inconsistent result; alternating shutter angles and speeds; and desynchronizing the camera shutter which created a "streaking" effect. Kamiński considered this a risky option because if it failed there was no way to fix the image in post-production. A Clairmont Camera Image Shaker vibrated the camera to emulate the effects of a nearby explosion or rolling tank. Spielberg chose to film in 1.85:1 aspect ratio because he believed it was more lifelike and closer to "the way the human eye really sees," and found widescreen formats to be artificial.
Three months were spent scouting for a location to portray the Normandy coast. The real location was too developed for their needs, and many other French beaches were restricted by military or wildlife use; Spielberg believed officials were difficult because they did not want him filming there. Beaches researched in England and Scotland lacked either the aesthetics or amenities required, such as housing for the crew, and the filmmakers needed a specific depth for the cast to leap from the landing crafts into the water. Associate producer, Kevin De La Noy's earlier work on Braveheart (1995) in Ireland had developed contacts with the Irish Army and knowledge of local beaches. One such location, the 11 km (6.8 miles) long Curracloe Beach, near Curracloe, County Wexford, offered the desired golden sands and sheer cliffs and nearby amenities. Spielberg selected a 1 km (0.62 miles) segment of the beach, known as Ballinesker. He said, "I was a bit disappointed that the beach we used wasn't as broad as the real Omaha Beach ... I tried to use certain wide-angle lenses to extend the length of the flats on the sandy beach before the soldiers reach the shingle. I used wider lenses for geography and tighter lenses for the compression of action." A segment adjacent to Blackwater, also in Wexford, was considered, but the local nuns could not make the land available in time. Service roads were built for vehicles to reach Ballinesker. Production designer Thomas E. Sanders led construction of the concrete battlements, bunkers, Czech hedgehogs, and barbed wire, much of which was made by local metalworkers. Over eleven weeks were spent preparing Ballinesker for filming. A storm destroyed some of the props just before filming, but they were rebuilt overnight. The main crew arrived on location on June 25, 1997.
=== Filming in Ireland ===
Principal photography began on June 27, 1997. Filming completed up to 50 shots per day. Spielberg wanted the actors to get little rest, "A war is fought fast, and I really wanted to keep all of the actors off-balance. I didn't want them to be able to read 75 pages of a novel ... I wanted to work fast enough so that they always felt as if they were in combat ... I had to keep them on the set, which meant shooting the film even faster than I normally do. War doesn't give you a break." Saving Private Ryan was shot almost entirely in continuity order, although some of the crew found this "a mentally demoralizing experience" because the cast started together and left as their characters died.
The Omaha Beach battle was filmed over three to four weeks, for $12 million. The scene involved about 1,500 people including 400 crew, 1,000 volunteer reserve and Irish army soldiers, and dozens of extras and about 30 amputees and paraplegics fitted with prosthetic limbs to portray disfigured soldiers. Their numbers were supplemented with over one thousand detailed mannequins. The extras were divided into platoons with a designated leader, allowing Dye to control their action via four different radios with aid from three non-commissioned officers. Costume designer Joanna Johnston contracted an American company responsible for making boots for soldiers during WWII to create about 2,000 pairs, using the last batch of dye from that period. Soldiers in the ocean wore wet suits beneath their uniforms to minimize hypothermia. Armorer Simon Atherton was responsible for supplying authentic weapons.
Two Higgins Boats used in the landings were used in the scene; additional boats from the 1950s were brought from California, Donegal, and Southampton. Hanks recalled:
The first day of shooting ... I was in the back of the landing craft, and that ramp went down and I saw the first 1-2-3-4 rows of guys just getting blown to bits. In my head, of course, I knew it was special effects, but I still wasn't prepared for how tactile it was. The air literally went pink and the noise was deafening and there's bits and pieces of stuff falling all on top of you and it was horrifying."
Soldiers vomiting from the boats was achieved using milk of magnesia. A crane shot moving from beneath the ocean surface to above the battlefield was achieved by placing the crane on a flatbed trailer and reversing it into the sea.
The Omaha Beach sequence was extensively choreographed by stunt coordinator Simon Crane, with squibs and explosives managed by Neil Corbould. The only serious accident resulted when an extra's foot was run over by a car. Thousands of gallons of fake blood were used, mainly to turn the ocean and shoreline red. Based on his interviews with veterans, Spielberg had dead fish strewn in the water and around the battlefield, as well as floating a Bible on the surface. Bullet impacts were emulated using air pipes concealed beneath the sand and ocean surface. Drums of diesel fuel were burned to create black smoke, while a series of pickup trucks carried systems to disperse white smoke.
During filming, the weather was cold, rainy, and overcast; Kamiński said this matched the weather during the Normandy landings, enhancing the film's accuracy. Artificial light was used sparingly apart from on the boats to highlight the actors' eyes under their helmets. Spielberg had the camera stay close to the ground to appear as if it was the view of a soldier avoiding getting shot or a combat cameraman. He intended for the audience to feel like they were a part of the battle rather than watching. Most of Saving Private Ryan was filmed with handheld cameras. This was physically demanding on camera operator Mitch Dubin and Steadicam operator Chris Haarhoff due to both proximity to the ground and movement through exploding scenery. The camera was close enough that fake blood, water, and sand would stick to the camera lens, but the filmmakers believed this made the footage more authentic.
Kamiński considered the extensive setup of explosives, smoke, and choreography of over a thousand characters to be demanding as it could take half a day to reset if something went wrong, but the majority of scenes in the sequence were captured in less than four takes, using up to three cameras simultaneously. Spielberg said, "I rarely walked away from a scene until I got what I wanted, and I'd say that I got what I wanted from those complex setups about 80 percent of the time." He reviewed each day's footage nightly in a local parish hall. The production crew remained after filming to restore the beach to its original state over the following month, per an ecological protection order.
=== Filming in England and France ===
Filming relocated to the Hatfield Aerodrome in Hertfordshire, England, at the end of August, for the remaining scenes and the battle of Ramelle. French towns and rivers were scouted where a partial set could be built, but this was discarded over environmental concerns of filming contaminating the water. Instead, Sanders and his team built the fictional Ramelle on the grounds of the Aerodrome, based on five towns where fighting took place. Nearly three city blocks long, the set included fully built buildings, facades, and a custom built, 900 ft (270 m) long river. The river was lined because they "had to control the height of the water very carefully". Explosives were used to create bomb craters and damage around Ramelle.
Though the battle involved fewer extras than the Omaha Beach scene, several weeks were spent developing the complex choreography based on a battle plan devised by Dye. Spielberg did not storyboard Saving Private Ryan because he wanted to position the camera spontaneously in reaction to what was taking place in each scene and he often relied on Dye and other WWII consultants for advice on staging the combat scenes. Dale also advised on technical aspects of weapons; where Spielberg wanted to use larger explosions typically found in Hollywood action films, Dye would generally advise him to "go half that size, they were never that big". The production was estimated to have spent about £8 million in the local area.
Spielberg's spontaneous approach carried into other aspects; about halfway through filming, he decided to depict the remainder of the film from Upham's perspective, believing he represented the audience's inexperience of war. Goldberg's character was only going to be shot dead until Dye suggested a hand-to-hand combat sequence on the day of filming, leading Mellish to be stabbed through the heart. A separate scene of Ryan talking about his brothers was ad-libbed by Damon.
The German machine-gun nest and following ambush of a half-track vehicle were filmed on the grounds of Thame Park, Thame, in Oxfordshire; the chapel interior where Miller's men rest was filmed in the Thame Park chapel. The Iowa cornfields where Ryan's mother lives in a house built for filming was set near West Kennet, Wiltshire. The American war office was filmed in the Hatfield Aerodrome. Kamiński wanted scenes in America to be more colorful and a relief from the muted tones of the combat scenes, so he positioned very bright lighting outside the windows. Scenes featuring the elderly Ryan were filmed at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer, France, adjacent to Omaha Beach.
Filming concluded ahead of schedule on September 13, 1997, after 12 weeks, with the French church interior scenes. The estimated total budget was $65–$70 million.
=== Post-production ===
Kamiński chose to render his footage using Technicolor's proprietary ENR process (similar to a bleach bypass) which retained more silver in the film stock and produced deeper blacks. He used "70 percent ENR" for a desaturated image which added a blue hue. Concerned this change would make the fake blood appear inauthentic, the effects department mixed blue coloring into it, giving it a dark red appearance. Visual-effects studio Industrial Light & Magic provided digital enhancements; many bullet wounds and blood splatter were computer-generated imagery.
Michael Kahn edited the final 170-minute cut. Spielberg said that Kahn's style was intended to defy audience expectations and not make every scene or transition clear. Some scenes were cut because of their graphic imagery, such as Miller's unit encounter with burnt out tanks with charred bodies. Mellish's death was also trimmed, removing parts where the character screams in pain, after Spielberg's projectionist said "It's too painful to watch."
Spielberg said his movie had to be "ugly", but was worried the violent content could be seen as exploitative and earn it a restrictive NC-17 rating from the Motion Picture Association of America, restricting it to audiences over 17 years of age. He anticipated that the "historical importance" of the content would be taken into consideration; it received an R rating, meaning children could watch when accompanied by an adult.
=== Music ===
John Williams, Spielberg's longtime collaborator, produced, composed and conducted the score. Spielberg chose little music accompaniment, wanting the sounds of battle and death to be prominent. Using a spotting process, he and Williams watched a rough cut of the film to agree on which scenes would feature music. Williams deliberately avoided "anything grandiose or operatic". Williams recorded the 55-minute score over three days at Symphony Hall in Boston, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and vocals by the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. The recording cost about $100,000 per hour. Spielberg chose the Orchestra: "This is a movie about a company of soldiers, and it seemed appropriate to use an experienced company of musicians who are all virtuosos. Also we really wanted the sound of this room, Symphony Hall. On a soundstage you can get acoustically correct sound, but you don't hear the air. Here you get a rich, warm sound off the walls and ceiling, and you do hear the air; Symphony Hall is an instrument too."
== Release ==
=== Context ===
The 1998 summer theatrical season began in early May with Deep Impact, a surprise box office hit that studios saw as a positive indicator for their upcoming 100 film releases. Godzilla and Armageddon were expected to be the biggest successes, while industry executives were hopeful for smaller budget films (costing less than $60 million) like Small Soldiers, The Negotiator, The Parent Trap, and There's Something About Mary to become sleeper hits. Fewer sequels and less escapist entertainment were scheduled for release, and more films were targeted toward older audiences. Saving Private Ryan was highly anticipated but analysis suggested the film faced commercial limitations because of its long runtime, restricting the number of times it could be screened daily, and its violent content. DreamWorks' marketing chief Terry Press said it was risky to release a serious drama in the summer, a time generally reserved for family and escapist entertainment, but this was offset by Spielberg and Hanks's popularity. A screening for DreamWorks and Paramount executives was highly praised, but Spielberg had low expectations, believing the film was too violent to attract broad audiences.
=== Box office ===
The film premiered on July 21, 1998. The event was a low-profile affair without a party or many celebrities; Press said of the premiere, "it would have been inappropriate". Saving Private Ryan was released in the United States and Canada on July 24, 1998. During its opening weekend, it earned $30.6 million across 2,463 theaters—an average of $12,414 per theater. This figure made it the number-one film of the weekend, ahead of The Mask of Zorro ($13.4 million) in its second weekend, Lethal Weapon 4 ($13.1 million) in its third, and There's Something About Mary ($12.5 million), also in its second. The audience was split evenly between women and men, and skewed towards those aged over 25. The New York Times described it as unusual for a near-three-hour-long drama to perform so well on its opening weekend, crediting positive reviews. DreamWorks believed the box-office figure would have been higher if not for a delay in film prints arriving in hundreds of theaters across California and Arizona until late in the afternoon.
In its second weekend, Saving Private Ryan remained the number-one film, with $23.6 million, ahead of the debuting The Parent Trap ($11.1 million) and There's Something About Mary ($10.9 million) in its third. Saving Private Ryan retained the number-one position in its third weekend with ($17.4 million), ahead of the debuts of Snake Eyes ($16.3 million) and Halloween H20: 20 Years Later ($16.1 million), and its fourth with $13.2 million, ahead of the debuts of How Stella Got Her Groove Back ($11.3 million) and The Avengers ($10.3 million). In its fifth weekend, Saving Private Ryan fell to number 2 with $10.1 million, behind the debut of Blade ($17.1 million). Without regaining the number 1 position, it ranked among the top ten for 12 weeks. By the end of its theatrical run, Saving Private Ryan earned a total box-office gross of $216.5 million, making it the highest-grossing film of the year, ahead of Armageddon ($201.6 million) and There's Something About Mary ($176.5 million). This also made it only the third R-rated film to earn more than $200 million, after 1984's Beverly Hills Cop ($235 million) and 1991's Terminator 2: Judgment Day ($205 million).
Outside of the U.S. and Canada, Saving Private Ryan is estimated to have earned a further $265.3 million. This gave the film a cumulative worldwide gross of $481.8 million, making it the second-highest-grossing film of 1998, behind Armageddon ($553.7 million).
Saving Private Ryan was seen as the biggest success of the theatrical summer. The New York Times wrote that the success of a "prestige film" during a time of blockbuster entertainment with broad appeal was evidence that audiences were accepting of serious dramas alongside action films, such as Armageddon and Godzilla, and "gross-out comedy" like There's Something About Mary. The publication wrote that the popularity of Saving Private Ryan was, in part, because it depicted a "nobler, cleaner era" promoting values of heroism and "patriotic duty". The 1998 box office broke records with over $7 billion earned. Despite expectations, the biggest successes had relatively modest budgets, such as Saving Private Ryan, There's Something About Mary, Rush Hour, and The Waterboy, while the anticipated blockbusters, such as Godzilla and Armageddon, were so expensive to make that they were less profitable. Re-releases of Saving Private Ryan have raised the box office to $482.3 million. Spielberg's and Hanks's pay agreement earned them an estimated $30–$40 million each of the box office.
== Reception ==
=== Critical response ===
Saving Private Ryan received critical acclaim, and audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale. Critics generally agreed that Saving Private Ryan presented the grim and brutal reality of the "Good War" in a way previously unseen on film. Writing for the Los Angeles Times, Kenneth Turan described the film as darker and more pessimistic than any of Spielberg's previous works, dispelling the mythos of WWII as staunchly good heroes fighting against evil forces, to depict the reality of combat where, "American soldiers mock virtue and shoot surrendering Germans, where decent and altruistic actions tend to be fatal, where death is random, stupid and redeems hardly anything at all". Some reviewers said this exploration of the limitations of morality in combat asked audiences to consider that the lives lost during the conflict were as valuable as those saved by their sacrifices. Writing for the Chicago Tribune, Gene Siskel lauded the film's ability to discuss the "brutality and madness" of war while "believably" celebrating the sacrifices and courage of those fighting it. Salon.com's Gary Kamiya concluded, "it will forever change the way people imagine the most important event in 20th century history. That is no small achievement." In The New York Times, Stephen Holden said "it's a safe bet that Saving Private Ryan, a powerful but flawed movie, will be revered as a classic decades hence."
Many reviewers focused on the film's two major combat sequences, particularly the opening on Omaha Beach. Focus was on the "horrifying," "visceral," "brutal," "shocking," and "fierce" violence present in the opening battle, described by Entertainment Weekly's Owen Gleiberman and Time's Richard Schickel as one of the most revolutionary film sequences ever made. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times and Schickel compared it with the energy and dread of similar scenes in the Vietnam war film Platoon (1986), but with a grander scope depicting masses of men killing each other from afar, drawing the "horror" out of a lengthy, sustained sequence, without allowing the audience to become desensitized. Some reviewers believed that the scene was so impactful and thought-provoking that it overshadowed the rest of the film. Although there was some criticism toward the realistic violence and gore, Turan believed it was done purposely and dispassionately, conveying the chaos and despair experienced by the soldiers, and not done for the sake of entertainment. Spielberg rejected this criticism, affirming he wanted the audience to understand what real combat was like and what the soldiers experienced, not observe it from afar as spectators. Some reviewers believed the concluding battle in Ramelle was more violent than Omaha Beach, particularly the slow death of Mellish as he is stabbed through the chest. The New York Observer's Andrew Sarris criticized the "pornography of violence and cruelty" depicted in severed limbs and rivers of blood.
Turan and Jonathan Rosenbaum found that, outside of the combat, the script was effective but uninspired and derivative of war films by other directors, such as Oliver Stone, Stanley Kubrick, and Francis Ford Coppola. Others criticized "manipulative" oversentimentality, particularly in the modern day framing device featuring the elderly Ryan. Even so, Kamiya described it as "enormously moving, it serves as a kind of redemption, a necessary if eternally fragile answer to the hell he witnessed".
Hanks's performance was generally praised, with some reviewers calling it the best of his career to date. Many reviewers agreed that his everyman persona allowed him to portray Miller with a gentle weariness, empathy, and vulnerability beneath a surface of strength and decency, but also cynicism toward the war. Ebert and Schickel wrote that he offered a quiet reserve "hinting at unspoken competencies" that convince his men and the audience to follow along with him. Turan believed that Hanks's "indelible" performance represented how the audience would hope to be when confronted by the same situations. The other main cast also generally received positive reviews, particularly Davies, with Ebert saying that his transformation from inexperienced interpreter to soldier was the conclusion to "Spielberg's unspoken philosophical argument". Gleiberman and Turan also highlighted the performances of Pepper, Ribisi, and Sizemore, who Turan believed delivered his career's "best, most controlled" performance. Ebert praised the cast for not devolving into cliché or "zany" archetypes and effectively portraying the bonds between them. However, Kamiya wrote that Damon's performance was "jarring", believing both his more cinematic aesthetic and speech about his brothers to be artificial. The review concluded that Ryan was not very compelling, which made it difficult to care about the mission to save him.
=== Accolades ===
At the 56th Golden Globe Awards in 1999, Saving Private Ryan won Best Drama and Best Director (Spielberg), and was nominated for Best Drama Actor (Hanks), Best Original Score (Williams), and Best Screenplay (Rodat). At the 71st Academy Awards, Saving Private Ryan won Best Director (Spielberg), Best Cinematography (Kamiński), Best Film Editing (Kahn), Best Sound (Gary Rydstrom, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson, Ronald Judkins), and Best Sound Effects Editing (Rydstrom and Richard Hymns) while it was nominated for Best Actor (Hanks), Best Original Screenplay (Rodat), Best Music (Williams), Best Production Design (Sanders and Lisa Dean Kavanaugh), and Best Makeup (Lois Burwell, Conor O'Sullivan, Daniel C. Striepeke). Saving Private Ryan's unexpected loss of Best Picture to Shakespeare in Love is seen as one of the biggest upsets in the awards history and led DreamWorks executives to accuse its producers, Miramax, of "overly aggressive campaigning". A 2015 poll of academy voters suggested that, given another opportunity, they would have voted Saving Private Ryan as Best Picture.
At the 52nd British Academy Film Awards, Saving Private Ryan won Best Special Effects and Best Sound, and was nominated for Best Film, Best Direction (Spielberg), and Best Actor (Hanks). At the 25th Saturn Awards, it won Best Action, Adventure, or Thriller Film. The 3rd Golden Satellite Awards also earned the film Best Editing (Kahn), and a nomination for Best Supporting Actor (Sizemore), as well as Best Director (Spielberg) and Best Actor (Hanks) at the Empire Awards.
Saving Private Ryan also won awards for Outstanding Directorial Achievement (Directors Guild of America, Spielberg), Motion Picture Producer of the Year (PGA Awards, Spielberg, Bryce, Gordon, and Levinsohn), Best Casting (Casting Society of America, Denise Chamian), Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture (Grammy Awards, Williams), Best Sound Editing for Dialogue (Motion Picture Sound Editors, Hymns, Rydstrom, Sandina Bailo-Lape, Ethan Van der Ryn, Teresa Eckton, Frank Eulner Karen Wilson, Larry Oatfield, and Bruce Lacey), and Sound Effects (Hymns, Rydstrom, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Larry Singer, Ewa Sztompke Oatfield, Sara Bolder, Denise Whiting, and Thomas Whiting) and Best of Show - Audiovisual (Key Art Awards). In 2014, the United States Library of Congress selected Saving Private Ryan to be preserved in the National Film Registry as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
== Post-release ==
=== Historical accuracy and veteran responses ===
Several publications highlighted the accuracy of the Omaha Beach assault, down to the sound of gunfire, although some errors were noted, such as bullets killing soldiers underwater, the absence of British coxswains steering the boats, and the battle's truncated duration. Historical curator John Delaney said:
It's accurate for that unit on that bit of that beach on that day ... but you can't say, 'That's what D-Day was like', because it wasn't. Omaha beach is about three and a half miles [5.6 km] long. What's happening at one end of the beach isn't what's happening at the other end.
Discussing the core narrative, Ambrose said, "It's a stretch that they would send eight soldiers, but it could have been hard to find him ... the paratroopers were scattered everywhere."
Many World War II veterans described the opening of Saving Private Ryan as depicting the most realistic representation of combat. Another veteran, interviewed by Time, said "I remember when I walked out into the lobby of the moviehouse, not a single person coming out of that showing said one word ... everybody was stunned by it ... It just brought back so many memories." There were various reports of some veterans being unable to finish watching Saving Private Ryan because of the memories it brought back. The United States Department of Veterans Affairs created a dedicated phoneline for viewers affected by the film, and more veterans visited counselors for post traumatic stress disorder.
The rest of the film is less historically accurate. Fictitious elements include the nonexistent town of Ramelle, the battle associated with it, certain military tactical errors (included for dramatic effect), much of the dialogue, and some of the methods used to locate Ryan. Total Film and some non U.S. veterans were critical of the lack of other Allied forces throughout the film. British broadcaster Channel 4 said that these critics had missed the point of the film, in that it was "unashamedly an American story".
=== Home media ===
Saving Private Ryan was released on VHS in May 1999. It became the most successful rental debut of its time, earning $9.6 million in its first week and $44 million by July 1999. A limited edition two-VHS version was released in November 1999, adding a making-of documentary, as well as a message from Spielberg about D-Day and the National D-Day Museum.
A DVD was released alongside the limited edition VHS, with the same extras. A two-disc Special Collector's Edition DVD set was released in May 2004 to coincide with the 60th anniversary of D-Day. This edition included additional content, including behind-the-scenes content recorded during filming. Spielberg discussed his interest in WWII, the Niland brothers, the story and character development, the cast's boot camp experience, the involvement of the Irish army and locations, the recreation of Omaha Beach, the music, sound effects, and a farewell from Spielberg. This was released alongside a four-disc deluxe "The World War II Collection" DVD package that included a collectible book and two documentaries: Price for Peace (directed by James Moll) about the use of dogs in WWII, and Shooting War (directed by Richard Schickel) about combat photographers, with narration by Hanks.
Saving Private Ryan was released as a two-disc Blu-ray in May 2010, including all previously released special features apart from Price for Peace. Paramount Home Entertainment issued a recall of the Blu-rays after discovering that some versions featured an audio synchronization issue. The defect was fixed in versions re-released later that month. For the film's 20th anniversary in 2018, a three-disc "Commemorative 20th Anniversary" Blu-ray set was released, including a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray and all previously released features.
=== Other media ===
A novelization, written by Max Allan Collins and Rodat, was released alongside the film. Saving Private Ryan: The Men, the Mission, the Movie : A Film by Steven Spielberg was also released in 1998. It features illustrations, color plates, extracts from the screenplay and Ambrose's works, as well as commentary by crew including Spielberg, Hanks, and Damon.
== Thematic analysis ==
=== Patriotism ===
Leading into the early 21st century, there was renewed focus in America on glorifying the generation that had fought in WWII, depicted in films such as Saving Private Ryan and The Thin Red Line, the miniseries Band of Brothers (2001), books such as The Greatest Generation (1998), and construction of a World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. Many publications believed this resurgence of interest in the war to be a response to decades of American cynicism toward the nation's failure in the Vietnam War (1955–1975), and anticlimactic victories in the Cold and Gulf Wars that resulted in little diplomatic success or celebration.
Many films about the Vietnam War depicted its American combatants as self-hating, "deeply troubled, or even psychotic," offered little respect, and portrayed the conflict itself as one mired in dread, anxiety, and general negativity. Literature professor Marzena Sokołowska-Paryż said the worship of WWII as "the last Good War" and its veterans as "the greatest generation" represented a "therapeutic [form of] patriotism" designed to rehabilitate the modern image of combatants as the enduring legacy of WWII soldiers and the core American national identity while forgetting any lingering guilt over the Vietnam War. Film scholar Albert Auster described this reappraisal as a reversal of attitudes up to the early 1990s where historical wars, including WWII, were not beyond criticism and, particularly in response to the Vietnam War, literary critics aimed to undo the impression of WWII as the "Good War". Saving Private Ryan is American-centric, beginning and ending with an image of the nation's flag fluttering in the wind, a desaturated image suggesting a nostalgic image of "the deep pride we once felt in our flag". Stephen Holden described it as "a wholehearted celebration of American pluck and virtue and honor".
Holden and Ebert disagreed with the view of some critics that Saving Private Ryan's "harrowing" and realistic combat scenes were a statement against war. They wrote that it accepts war as a necessity and portrays its main characters not as symbols, but as real people trying to kill the enemy without getting themselves killed. The scenes of the elderly Ryan visiting Miller's grave with his family received some criticism. Author John Biguenet queried how such a "savage and unsentimental film" could conclude with a scene so sentimentalized. Spielberg said in making the film he was meant to "wave the flag and be patriotic," but that the reality of his father's experiences made him want to also convey the harsh reality. The Omaha Beach landing establishes the distance between the commanders safe at home who order Ryan be rescued, and the soldiers endangered in doing so. It is a sentimental mission intended to spare one family the grief of losing all of its sons, but Miller refers to it as a public relations scheme designed to boost civilian morale. General Marshall quotes a letter by Abraham Lincoln to a similarly affected family, but where Lincoln's letter expresses sentiment and patriotic sacrifice to the mother, it is not sentimental nor does it claim that her grief is greater than any other mother who lost her child at war. Biguenet said Marshall, in comparison, confuses sentimentality for morality.
Despite the patriotic American imagery, the characters of Saving Private Ryan do not discuss their home country or protecting democracy from fascism. The soldiers are only concerned with returning home to their loved ones. Miller's men openly state that they do not care about Ryan, but Miller says that he will go into metaphorical Hell to save him, if it means Miller can return to his wife. The soldiers actively fighting are not sentimental about their mission.
Turan and Biguenet said Saving Private Ryan "feels like an official act of atonement" for modern generations failing to acknowledge the "courage and sacrifice" of WWII soldiers. When Miller tells Ryan to "earn this," he is effectively speaking about the debt owed to veterans who made "the ultimate sacrifice" for their country. Biguenet called this a "terrible, impossible order", a moral burden that Ryan will carry until his own death because there is no way to compensate the high price paid by Miller's men. Spielberg suggested the answer was in the living paying homage to the fallen soldiers and the freedom for which they fought. History professor John Bodnar described the image of the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial as depicting a national unity with row after row of white grave markers, serving as a permanent reminder "to other nations of the sacrifices made by the United States".
=== Morality and humanity ===
Unlike some older WWII films that portrayed the soldiers as infallible heroes, Saving Private Ryan presents battles fought by brave but frightened civilians, the majority of whom at Omaha Beach were not combat veterans. Ebert believed much of the audience, including himself, would identify with Upham, someone completely unprepared for the realities of war but who must fight regardless. Miller is the opposite: an experienced soldier who is scared and anxious because he knows exactly what to expect and is haunted by his responsibility for the lives of his men. Although 94 men have died under his command, Miller rationalizes that he can prioritize his mission over his men because each sacrifice was responsible for saving many more lives. However, his mission to rescue Ryan demands he risk the lives of several men to save just one. Turan said Miller's trembling hands were a sign that he is "dangerously close to coming apart". Far Out magazine wrote that the focus on Miller's ailment acknowledges the side effects of war such as post-traumatic stress disorder, something he suppresses to fulfil his duty.
Spielberg said the mission to rescue Ryan cannot be morally or patriotically justified, risking eight lives to save one. This theme is reinforced when they encounter the sole survivor of a glider crash caused by heavy steel shielding added to protect a single general on board, resulting in 22 deaths. No character claims that the mission of Miller and his men is heroic, and the men express the grief their own mothers will feel should they be killed on this endeavor. The "toughest" soldier, Horvath, gives it meaning when he tells Miller that saving Ryan could be the one decent thing they can accomplish in "this whole godawful, shitty mess". Biguenet said that Spielberg is explicitly condemning their mission as an immoral act to force upon soldiers. Ebert considered the decision to deviate from the mission to attack the German gun nest on the way to Ramelle to be a deliberate rebellion against their orders. The action is not part of their mission and it is possible to avoid the situation entirely, but it grants the soldiers the opportunity to do what they came to Europe for: to fight a war. Hanks said the decision to stay with Ryan and defend Ramelle was the characters "bringing meaning to a situation that until then had been absurd".
While film critic Andrew Sarris found the German characters to match evil archetypes found in other WWII films, concluding with Upham's lesson that Steamboat Willie should have been killed earlier, Saving Private Ryan does not portray the Allied soldiers as unimpeachable heroes. Following Omaha Beach, two Allied soldiers laugh as they execute two pleading German soldiers, but the soldiers are speaking Czech, indicating they are potentially from German-conquered Czechoslovakia, forcibly conscripted into the war effort. Biguenet wrote that the Germans are not portrayed as any worse than the Americans, as they are similarly affected by the horrors of war and casually execute downed American soldiers. In Saving Private Ryan, allegiances do not matter, all men are equal, and rules only matter until they conflict with the mission objective.
Upham's transformation from cowardly interpreter to Willie's executioner shows the transformative realities of combat. William J. Prior and Auster wrote that Upham represents respect for human life and moral decency when he interferes to prevent Steamboat Willie's execution, despite the fact that it would protect the mission. He offers the intellectual perspective of a civilian, but his lack of combat experience makes him unable to kill the prisoner, which results in the deaths of many of his allies. Miller's experience means he is conscious of the risk involved in releasing Willie, but he is simultaneously struggling to cling to his own humanity and decency, believing that every time he kills he is moving "farther from home". Although Willie is the enemy, he is also a human with his own right to exist, and summarily executing him would further distance Miller from the self he and his wife knew. His decision to spare Willie and reveal his civilian background, returns to him a semblance of his humanity.
== Legacy ==
=== Cultural influence ===
Saving Private Ryan was credited with renewing interest in World War II leading into the 21st century. NBC News wrote that in presenting audiences with its "stomach-churning violence and soul-shaking intensity of that pivotal chapter in the war", the film had reshaped the United States' "cultural memory". It is regarded as one of the most accurate and realistic war films ever made, particularly for the opening Omaha Beach battle. Film historian Steven Jay Rubin said, "It was a game-changer ... it was devastatingly dramatic, visceral, immersive. I didn't touch my popcorn because it felt sacrilegious to eat while I'm watching it." Even so, director and Vietnam War veteran Oliver Stone claimed that Saving Private Ryan depicted a "worship" of WWII as "the good war" that, alongside films such as Gladiator (2000) and Black Hawk Down, made audiences more in favor of war: "By the time of the Iraq War, we were ready to go back." American academic Paul Fussell similarly decried Saving Private Ryan for providing an "honest, harrowing, 15-minute opening" of Omaha Beach before descending into more broadly acceptable action-adventure fare. He said, "Its genre was pure cowboys and Indians, with the virtuous cowboys of course victorious."
The film is considered to have had a lasting influence on filmmaking, particularly its opening battle scenes. Vanity Fair wrote, "no films about combat made since would look the way they do without the de-saturated, handheld, blood-splatters-and-all horror of cinema that is this extended sequence ... it's a terrifying scene, either honorable or exploitative in its all vérité, depending on whom you ask. Regardless of any moral assessment, it's easily one of the most aped and referenced scenes of the late 20th century." Saving Private Ryan was named by other directors as an influence, such as Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds, 2009), Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk, 2017), and Robert Altman. The Los Angeles Times wrote that Saving Private Ryan's stylistic choices, such as placing the audience close to the on-screen action, can be seen in war and action media that followed. This includes films such as Gladiator (2000), Enemy at the Gates, Pearl Harbor (both 2001), Flags of Our Fathers (2006), Hacksaw Ridge (2016), the "psychological anguish" of American Sniper (2014), and modern superhero films. Cinematographer Oren Soffer cited the film's battle sequences as an influence on those in Gareth Edwards' science fiction film The Creator (2023), for which he served as co-cinematographer with Greig Fraser. This influence extends to television, with shows such as Game of Thrones ("The Spoils of War", 2017) and The Pacific (2010). Saving Private Ryan is also seen as an influence on video games. Spielberg and DreamWorks developed Medal of Honor (1999) to translate the realism and setting of Saving Private Ryan. Its success launched a series of Medal of Honor games, which, in turn, contributed to the creation of the Call of Duty series.
=== Retrospective reception ===
Saving Private Ryan is considered one of the greatest war films ever made. In a 2018 interview, Spielberg said, "I didn't anticipate the success of the movie ... in very early screenings, certain associates and other people in my life were saying that I made it too tough. I feared that almost nobody would see it because the word of mouth would spread quickly after the first 25 minutes."
In 2007, the American Film Institute (AFI) listed Saving Private Ryan as 71st-greatest American film. The AFI listed it among the most thrilling, inspiring, and epic American films. A 2014 poll of 2,120 entertainment industry professionals by The Hollywood Reporter ranked Saving Private Ryan as the 46th-best film. Publications such as Parade and Variety named it one of the greatest films of all time. Saving Private Ryan is included in the 2013 film reference book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, and it is listed on Rotten Tomatoes' 300 essential movies. The film is generally considered to be among the best of Spielberg's works, and of Hanks's credits. In a 2025 retrospective by Vulture, Saving Private Ryan was listed among the best movies to have not won the Best Picture Academy Award.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 94% approval rating across 148 critics, with an average score of 8.7/10. The consensus reads; "Anchored by another winning performance from Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg's unflinchingly realistic war film virtually redefines the genre." The film has a score of 91 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 38 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Saving Private Ryan has remained popular with audiences, with reader and viewer-ranked polling listing it as one of the greatest war films, among the greatest films of the 1990s, and the greatest films of all time.
== Footnotes == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ministry_of_Administration_and_Digitization_(Poland) | Ministry of Administration and Digitization (Poland) | The Ministry of Administration and Digitization (Polish: Ministerstwo Administracji i Cyfryzacji) was formed on 21 November 2011, from a reorganisation of the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Ministry of Interior and Administration.
The Ministry was disbanded on 16 November 2015 based on the regulation of the Council of Ministers and partially superseded by the Ministry of Digital Affairs.
The ministry was concerned with various aspects of administration, Internet and telecommunication in Poland.
The last minister was Andrzej Halicki.
The Ministry used to oversee:
the Office of Electronic Communication (Urząd Komunikacji Elektronicznej)
Chief Country Geodesist (Główny Geodeta Kraju)
== Ministers (2011–2015) == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_solstice | Summer solstice | The summer solstice or estival solstice occurs when one of Earth's poles has its maximum tilt toward the Sun. It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere (Northern and Southern). The summer solstice is the day with the longest period of daylight and shortest night of the year in that hemisphere, when the sun is at its highest position in the sky. At either pole there is continuous daylight at the time of its summer solstice. The opposite event is the winter solstice.
The summer solstice occurs during the hemisphere's summer. In the Northern Hemisphere, this is the June solstice (20 or 21 June) and in the Southern Hemisphere, this is the December solstice (21 or 22 December). Since prehistory, the summer solstice has been a significant time of year in many cultures, and has been marked by festivals and rituals. Traditionally, in temperate regions (especially Europe), the summer solstice is seen as the middle of summer and referred to as "midsummer"; although today in some countries and calendars it is seen as summer's beginning.
On the summer solstice, Earth's maximum axial tilt toward the Sun is 23.44°. Likewise, the Sun's declination from the celestial equator is 23.44°. In areas outside the tropics, the sun reaches its highest elevation angle at solar noon on the summer solstice.
Although the summer solstice is the longest day of the year for that hemisphere, the dates of earliest sunrise and latest sunset vary by a few days. This is because Earth orbits the Sun in an ellipse, and its orbital speed varies slightly during the year.
== Culture ==
There is evidence that the summer solstice has been culturally important since the Neolithic era. Many ancient monuments in Europe especially, as well as parts of the Middle East, Asia and the Americas, are aligned with the sunrise or sunset on the summer solstice (see archaeoastronomy). The significance of the summer solstice has varied among cultures, but most recognize the event in some way with holidays, festivals, and rituals around that time with themes of fertility.
In the Julian calendar of the Roman Empire, the date of the summer solstice was 24 June, and Marcus Terentius Varro wrote in the 1st century BC that the Romans saw this as the middle of summer. The Julian calendar had a flaw in that the solstices and equinoxes gradually fell on earlier dates. At the First Council of Nicaea (325), the Christian Church set the date of the spring equinox to 21 March, for the purpose of calculating Easter. This also brought the date of the summer solstice forward to 20 June.
The summer solstice was seen as the middle of summer in Anglo-Saxon England and called 'midsummer'. Some Anglo-Saxon calendars placed midsummer on the older date of 24 June while others place it on 20 June.
Elsewhere in northern Europe, traditionally the summer solstice is also seen as the middle of summer and it was reckoned as the night of 23–24 June. The summer solstice continues to be seen as the middle of summer in many European cultures, but in some cultures or calendars it is seen as summer's beginning. In Sweden, midsummer is one of the year's major holidays when the country closes down as much as during Christmas.
=== Observances ===
Traditional festivals
Saint John's Eve (Europe), including:
Golowan (Cornwall)
Jaanipäev (Estonia)
Jāņi (Latvia)
Joninės (Lithuania)
Jónsmessa (Iceland)
Juhannus (Finland)
Kupala Night (Slavic peoples)
Shën Gjini–Shën Gjoni, Festa e Malit/Bjeshkës, Festa e Blegtorisë, etc. (Albanians)
Summer Solstice at Stonehenge United Kingdom
Tiregān (Iran)
Xiazhi (China)
Yhyakh (Yakuts)
Modern observances
Day of Private Reflection (Northern Ireland)
Fête de la Musique, also known as World Music Day
Fremont Solstice Parade (Fremont, Seattle, Washington, United States)
International Yoga Day
National Indigenous Peoples Day (Canada)
Santa Barbara Summer Solstice Parade (Santa Barbara, California, United States)
=== In folk music ===
"Oh at Ivan, oh at Kupala" (Ukr. Ой на Івана, ой на Купала) - Ukrainian folk song.
"Kupalinka" - (Belar. Купалінка) - Belarusian folk song
"There is a lake behind the hill" (Lith. Už kalnelio ežerėlis) - Lithuanian folk song.
== Length of the day on northern summer solstice ==
The following tables contain information on the length of the day on 20 June 2016, close to the summer solstice of the Northern Hemisphere and winter solstice of the Southern Hemisphere. The data was collected from the website of the Finnish Meteorological Institute as well as from certain other websites.
The data is arranged geographically and within the tables from the longest day to the shortest one. Times that occur the next day (21 June) are marked with +.
The length of day increases from the equator towards the North Pole in the Northern Hemisphere in June (around the summer solstice there), but decreases towards the South Pole in the Southern Hemisphere at the time of the southern winter solstice. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Dhabi_United_Group | Abu Dhabi United Group | The Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment (ADUG; Arabic: مجموعة أبوظبي الاتحاد للتنمية والاستثمار) is a United Arab Emirates (UAE) based private equity company. It is owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, member of the Abu Dhabi Royal Family and Vice President of the UAE. Leaks of internal documents show that the Abu Dhabi government manages the accounts belonging to ADUG. ADUG insists it is separate from the Abu Dhabi government.
The primary interest of the group is its 81% majority ownership of City Football Group, a worldwide organisation most notably controlling Manchester City, Mumbai City, Melbourne City and New York City, as well as several other international football clubs. However, it also holds interests in various other endeavours outside of the sporting world with an extensive property portfolio in the United Arab Emirates and Manchester.
== City Football Group ==
The Group was founded in the summer of 2008, as Sheikh Mansour looked to take over Manchester City Football Club from the former Prime Minister of Thailand Thaksin Shinawatra and signed off the deal on 1 September 2008, with due diligence completed on 23 September the same year.
Sulaiman Al-Fahim was the public face of ADUG during the initial phase of the takeover - a larger-than-life figure often described as the "Donald Trump of Abu Dhabi". On completion of the takeover, Al-Fahim generated considerable attention in the footballing world with promises of grandiose spending plans to capture the world's greatest footballing talents. Although he did bring in the Brazilian Robinho from Real Madrid on the same day on which the takeover was agreed, one week after ADUG took control of the club Al-Fahim was removed from his role to be replaced by Khaldoon al-Mubarak, who remains in position to the present day.
In 2011, Manchester City qualified for the Champions League and won the FA Cup, providing the club their first success in over three decades following ADUG's support. In 2012, the club won the Premier League, their first league title in forty-four years.
Following the success of the Manchester club, ADUG began investment into other football clubs. After founding the MLS side New York City and purchasing the A-League franchise Melbourne Heart (shortly afterwards renamed Melbourne City), it was deemed necessary to create a new infrastructure to manage the various worldwide footballing ventures, and to keep them separate from non-footballing business. For this purpose, City Football Group was created in 2014 to oversee all of the teams under their control, acting as holding company not only to the football teams but to several businesses designed to market football services to the wider market. In return, ADUG became the holding company for CFG.
ADUG have diluted their shareholding the City Football Group on two occasions in 2015 and 2019 to the approximate value of £654 million. As of 2020, they own 78% of the City Football Group. Since July 2021, CFG has been managed under Newton Investment and Development LLC, another company wholly owned by Sheikh Mansour.
== Other business interests ==
ADUG also have an extensive property portfolio in the United Arab Emirates and abroad. Aside from Manchester City, ADUG have amassed investments totalling nearly £1 billion in Manchester, mainly in property and higher education sectors. Aside from purchasing assets for their own control, ADUG signed a ten-year partnership with Manchester City Council to revamp the east end of the city - not coincidentally the same area in which Manchester City are based - creating the Manchester Life Development Company in conjunction with the council in order to build 6,000 affordable houses in the area.
== Criticism ==
According to Human Rights Watch, ADUG's investment in Manchester City enabled Abu Dhabi to "construct a public relations image of a progressive, dynamic Gulf state, which deflects attention from what is really going on in the country".
Manchester City was accused of receiving £30 million from an unknown figure from the United Arab Emirates, that was supposed to come from the sponsor. The £30 million payments are expected to be one of the 115 Premier League's financial charges against Manchester City. The report also claimed that the payments were actually disguised equity funding that came from the Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG), owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the vice president of the UAE.
According to the report, during UEFA disciplinary hearing, the Manchester City’s lawyer named the unknown person as Jaber Mohamed, claiming that he is a businessman providing financial and brokering services in the UAE. In 2025, The Athletic reported that Jaber was one of the two senior most aides of Mohamed bin Zayed. At the time of sponsorship payments, Jaber Mohamed was serving as the General of the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince's Court, which is responsible for supporting MbZ. Meanwhile, another of Sheikh Mohamed’s key aide and CPC’s undersecretary, Mohamed Al Mazrouei was also on Manchester City’s board between 2010-2022. Experts expressed concerns about how deeply MbZ was involved and how much he knew about Man City’s sponsorship deals. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalmarnock | Dalmarnock | Dalmarnock (, Scottish Gaelic: Dail Mheàrnaig) is a district in the Scottish city of Glasgow. It is situated east of the city centre, directly north of the River Clyde opposite the town of Rutherglen. It is also bounded by the Glasgow neighbourhoods of Parkhead to the north-east and Bridgeton to the north-west.
== History ==
The area was once heavily industrialised. Sir William Arrol & Co. had its extensive engineering works at Dunn Street and Baltic Street from 1873. From its beginnings in boiler making, the firm later became renowned for its achievements in the field of structural engineering. Amongst the many bridges constructed throughout Britain were the Forth Railway Bridge, the Forth Road Bridge, the Humber Bridge and London's Tower Bridge. The company was eventually taken over by Clarke Chapman in 1969 and the Dalmarnock Works closed in 1986. There was also a large coal-fired power station located near Dalmarnock Bridge. It was built by Glasgow Corporation in two stages, with phase one opening in 1920 and phase two in 1926. It was closed in 1977 by the South of Scotland Electricity Board.
The east side of Allan Street was bombed during the Second World War. Most of the Victorian red sandstone tenements on Dalmarnock Road and Springfield Road were demolished in the 1960s and early-1970s, although some were renovated as part of the Glasgow Eastern Area Renewal (GEAR) scheme in the late 1970s. In the 1960s, a new housing scheme was built, consisting of four twenty-two storey tower blocks and "H-block" maisonettes. Two of the towers, 40 & 50 Millerfield Road, were demolished on 3 February 2002. One other tower was demolished on 1 July 2007, and the final one on 9 September 2007. This physical transformation featured in Chris Leslie's 'Disappearing Glasgow' book.
Dalmarnock was the location chosen for the athletes' village when Glasgow hosted the 2014 Commonwealth Games, and by August 2011, there was no remaining housing on Ardenlea Street/Sunnybank Street side of the area, due to the preparations and land need for the construction in the area pertaining to the Games and City Legacy.
From 19 May to 2 June 2014, BBC One Scotland aired a documentary entitled "Commonwealth City", narrated by actor Martin Compston, which showed how the people and community in Dalmarnock had been affected since the games were announced in November 2007. The documentary featured local resident Margaret Jaconelli (evicted to make way for the Games), David Stewart (youth and community campaigner) Darren Faulds (local entrepreneur) and local councillors George Redmond & Yvonne Kucuk.
The Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, constructed for the Games, is located at the intersection of Springfield Road, London Road and the Glasgow East End Regeneration Route, opposite Celtic Park football stadium which denotes the district's boundary with Parkhead. A triangular piece of land to the east of the arena was the proposed location of a modern skyscraper, East One; however as of 2020 this site was still undeveloped. To the south of this is the 'Legacy Hub' building, a multi-function community facility belatedly installed to replace the previous hall at Lily Street. It opened in 2015 but by January 2019 had closed suddenly amid financial problems at the People's Development Trust charity which ran its operations; the council purchased the building to secure its future, while an investigation found funds had been embezzled by charity leaders including former councillor Yvonne Kucuk.
Clyde Gateway is a large-scale regeneration programme which includes Dalmarnock. It is a partnership between Glasgow City Council, South Lanarkshire Council and Scottish Enterprise, backed by funding and direct support from the Scottish Government. Residential developments in the area following the Commonwealth Games include Riverside, a project on the site of the former large power station overlooking the river (approximately 550 homes for purchase and social rent), and a site near the railway station (200 homes, in planning as of 2018).
After the departure of all local retailers from the area, all that remained was a small shop which was set up by the workers in the Community Centre; This was a welcome boon for the area residents as the nearest shops were not within walking distance. There is a petrol station on Dalmarnock Road and a car wash, with a pub a short distance further north past the railway station (this has been the location of a licensed premises under various names since the 1830s). There are also a lot of small business units in the Nuneaton Street area and the Calder Millerfield factory which supplies meat-based products to the fast-food market.
== Education ==
The area once had four schools: Springfield Road Primary, Springfield Primary, Riverside Secondary and Our Lady of Fatima RC Primary School on Springfield Road have now closed. There is still a 'Dalmarnock Primary School', but it is situated in nearby Bridgeton and should not be counted among the schools within the area. A new primary school was developed by Glasgow City Council; Riverbank Primary School, opened in August 2019.
== Transport ==
Dalmarnock railway station, on the Argyle Line, serves the local area. The station was upgraded for the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Glasgow Corporation Tramways had routes serving the area in the first half of the 20th century, using tracks on Dalmarnock Road, London Road and Springfield Road.
=== Dalmarnock Railway Bridges ===
There have been two railway bridges in Dalmarnock crossing the River Clyde. The first bridge was built in 1861, and was augmented in 1897, by a wider bridge to accommodate the Dalmarnock branch line. The stone pillars of the old bridge are still in situ adjacent to the newer bridge, with the track deck having been removed when it was no longer necessary to have so many lines. Both bridges were designed by George Graham.
=== Dalmarnock Bridge ===
There is also a road bridge over the River Clyde on Dalmarnock Road (A749) called Dalmarnock Bridge. The first bridge at the location was wooden, erected in 1821 to connect Dalmarnock and the Farme Cross area of Rutherglen. It was replaced by a new timber bridge in 1848, and in 1891 by the current Dalmarnock Bridge, designed by Glasgow consulting engineers, Crouch & Hogg; it is Category B listed.
The Glasgow side of the bridge is a convenient point for walkers and cyclists to join the Clyde Walkway or National Cycle Route 75 which share a tarmac path along the river at this point.
This structure should not be confused with the nearby Rutherglen Bridge which also connects Rutherglen and Dalmarnock (as well as Glasgow Green, Oatlands, Shawfield and Bridgeton), nor with two modern pedestrian bridges: one also connecting to Shawfield, and the other between the 2014 Athletes' Village homes and the Cuningar Loop, an area of open ground on a meander of the river, known locally as 'The Vallies' and converted to a park as part of the area's redevelopment).
== Notable people ==
Professional footballer Kenny Dalglish who played for Celtic F.C. and Liverpool was born in Dalmarnock although he grew up in Milton. He officially opened the Dalmarnock Legacy Hub on 9 October 2015.
George Chisholm, trombonist, was born in Dalmarnock.
Glasvegas, rock band. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Bad_Religion_members | List of Bad Religion members | Bad Religion is an American punk rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1980, the group originally included vocalist Greg Graffin, guitarist Brett Gurewitz, bassist Jay Bentley and drummer Jay Ziskrout. The band consists of Graffin, Gurewitz (who does not tour) and Bentley, alongside guitarists Brian Baker (since 1994) and Mike Dimkich (since 2013) and drummer Jamie Miller (since 2015).
== History ==
Ziskrout left the band halfway through the recording of their debut full-length album How Could Hell Be Any Worse? and was replaced for the rest of the sessions by Pete Finestone. 1983's Into the Unknown featured bassist Paul Dedona and Davy Goldman, both of whom left after the album was released. Bad Religion briefly broke up in 1984, as Gurewitz left the band to focus on his record label Epitaph Records and recording studio Westbeach Recorders, before returning with guitarist Greg Hetson, bassist Tim Gallegos and drummer Finestone for the 1985 EP Back to the Known.
Bentley and later Gurewitz returned to Bad Religion in 1986, with the five-piece lineup releasing three albums in three years before Finestone left again in 1991. He was replaced by Bobby Schayer, whose first album with the band was Generator in 1992. After Bad Religion signed to Atlantic Records and released Stranger than Fiction in 1994, Gurewitz left the band again. Shortly after the album's release, Brian Baker took Gurewitz's place in the group. After three more albums, Schayer departed the band in 2001 due to a shoulder injury, and was replaced by Brooks Wackerman. Around the same time, Gurewitz returned to the band for a third time. Longtime guitarist Hetson left in 2013 and was replaced by Mike Dimkich, and in 2016 Jamie Miller replaced Wackerman after he joined Avenged Sevenfold.
== Members ==
=== Current ===
=== Former ===
== Timeline ==
== Lineups == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Yates_(bowls) | Jim Yates (bowls) | Jim Yates is a former Australian lawn and indoor bowler and coach, born in Corowa, New South Wales on 11 October 1934.
== Bowls career ==
Yates partnered Ian Schuback when he won the 1988 World Indoor Bowls Championship Pairs. He won the Australian Singles Championship in 1979 and the Adelaide Masters in 1983, 1984 and 1987.
Additionally he has won ten Club Singles Championships and played 211 games for the Victorian State team. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_College_Cork | University College Cork | University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC; Irish: Coláiste na hOllscoile Corcaigh) is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork.
The university was founded in 1845 as one of three Queen's Colleges located in Belfast, Cork, and Galway. It became University College, Cork, under the Irish Universities Act 1908. The Universities Act 1997 renamed the university as National University of Ireland, Cork, and a Ministerial Order of 1998 renamed the university as University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork, though it continues to be almost universally known as University College Cork.
Amongst other rankings and awards, the university was named Irish University of the Year by The Sunday Times on five occasions; most recently in 2017. In 2015, UCC was also named as top performing university by the European Commission funded U-Multirank system, based on obtaining the highest number of "A" scores (21 out of 28 metrics) among a field of 1200 partaking universities. UCC also became the first university to achieve the ISO 50001 standard in energy management in 2011.
== History ==
Queen's College, Cork, was founded by the provisions of an act which enabled Queen Victoria to endow new colleges for the "Advancement of Learning in Ireland". Under the powers of this act, the three colleges of Belfast, Cork and Galway were incorporated on 30 December 1845. The college opened in 1849 with 23 professors and 181 students; Medicine, Arts, and Law were the three founding faculties. A year later the college became part of the Queen's University of Ireland.
The original site chosen for the college was considered appropriate as it was believed to have had a connection with the patron saint of Cork, Saint Finbarr. His monastery and school of learning were close by at Gill Abbey Rock and the mill attached to the monastery is thought to have stood on the bank of the south channel of the River Lee, which runs through the college lower grounds. This association is also reflected in the college motto "Where Finbarr Taught, Let Munster Learn" which is also the university motto.
Adjacent to Gillabbey and overlooking the valley of the river Lee, the site was selected in 1846. The Tudor Gothic quadrangle and early campus buildings were designed and built by Sir Thomas Deane and Benjamin Woodward. Queen's College Cork officially opened its doors in November 1849, with further buildings added later, including the Medical/Windle Building in the 1860s.
=== National University of Ireland ===
In the following century, the Irish Universities Act 1908 formed the National University of Ireland, consisting of the three constituent colleges of Dublin, Cork and Galway, and the college was given the status of a university college as University College, Cork. The Universities Act, 1997, made the university college a constituent university of the National University and made the constituent university a full university for all purposes except the awarding of degrees and diplomas which remains the sole remit of the National University.
== Today ==
As of 2022, University College Cork (UCC) had 24,195 students. These included 16,849 in undergraduate programmes, 7,346 in postgraduate study and research, and 2,800 in adult continuing education across undergraduate, postgraduate and short courses. The student base is supported by 3,429 academic, research and administrative staff. As of 2022, UCC reportedly has c. 200,000 alumni worldwide.
=== Campus ===
Student numbers, at over 24,000 in 2022, increased from the late 1980s, precipitating the expansion of the campus by the acquisition of adjacent buildings and lands. This expansion continued with the opening of the Alfred O'Rahilly building in the late 1990s, the Cavanagh Pharmacy building, the Brookfield Health Sciences centre, the extended Áras na MacLéinn (Devere Hall), the Lewis Glucksman Gallery in 2004, Experience UCC (Visitors' Centre) and an extension to the Boole Library – named for the first professor of mathematics at UCC, George Boole, who developed the algebra that would later make computer programming possible. The university also completed the Western Gateway Building in 2009 on the site of the former Cork Greyhound track on the Western Road as well as refurbishment to the Tyndall institute buildings at the Lee Maltings Complex. In 2016, UCC acquired the Cork Savings Bank building on Lapps Quay in the centre of Cork City. As of 2017, the university is rolling out a programme to increase the space across its campuses, with part of this development involving the creation of a 'student hub' to support academic strategy, add 600 new student accommodation spaces, and develop an outdoor sports facility.
The School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences and the School of Applied Psychology are based on the North Mall Campus, the site of the former North Mall Distillery.
Since 1986, 2.5 tonnes of uranium rods had been stored in the basement of the UCC physics department, for use in a sub critical assembly (SCA) for research and training purposes. The uranium was originally given to Ireland by the US as part of the Atoms for Peace programme, however, due to public opposition, the reactor was disassembled during the 1980s. As there is no nuclear waste site in Ireland, the uranium remained on campus, with the last update on its status from then-Minister for Education Ruari Quinn being that it was securely stored in a radioactive waste store until it could be permanently relocated off-campus.
In 2006, the university re-opened the Crawford Observatory, a structure built in 1880 on the grounds of the university by Sir Howard Grubb. Grubb, son of the Grubb telescope building family in Dublin, designed the observatory and built the astronomical instruments for the structure. The university paid for an extensive restoration and conservation of the building and the three main telescopes, the Equatorial, the Transit Circle and Sidereostatic telescopes.
In November 2009, several UCC buildings were damaged by flooding. The floods also affected other parts of Cork City, with many students being evacuated from accommodation. The college authorities postponed academic activities for a week, and indicated that it would take until 2010 before all flood-damaged property would be repaired. Particularly impacted was the newly opened Western Gateway Building, with the main lecture theatre requiring a total refit just months after opening for classes.
In 2018, UCC's campus became home to the first "plastic free" café in Ireland, with the opening of the Bio Green Café in the Biosciences building.
=== Research ===
The university is one of Ireland's leading research institutes, with among the highest research income in the state. In 2016, UCC secured research funding of over €96 million, a 21% increase over five years and a high for the university. The university had seven faculties: Arts and Celtic Studies, Commerce, Engineering, Food Science and Technology, Law, Medicine, and Science. Between 2005 and 2006 the university was restructured from these seven faculties into four colleges: Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Science; Business and Law; Medicine and Health; and Science, Engineering and Food Science.
According to the 2009–2012 UCC Strategic Plan, UCC aimed to enhance research and innovation. In 2009, the university was ranked in the top 3% of universities worldwide for research.
UCC's published research strategy proposed to create "Centres of Excellence" for "world-class research" in which the researchers and research teams would be given "freedom and flexibility to pursue their areas of research". Research centres in UCC cover a range of areas including: Nanoelectronics with the Tyndall Institute; Food and Health with the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre, NutraMara, Food for Health Ireland Research Centre, and Cereal Science Cork; the Environment with the Environmental Research Institute (with research in biodiversity, aquaculture, energy efficiency and ocean energy); and Business Information Systems.
The Sunday Times "Good University Guide 2015", put UCC at the top of their rankings for "research income per academic".
In October 2008, the governing body of the university announced that UCC would be the first institution in Ireland to use embryonic stem cells in research under strict guidelines of the University Research Ethics using imported hESCs from approved jurisdictions. In 2009, Professor of Mathematics at UCC, Des McHale, challenged the university's decision to allow embryonic stem cell research. According to the results of a poll conducted by irishhealth.com, almost two in three people supported the decision made by University College Cork to allow embryonic stem cell research.
In 2016, Professor Noel Caplice, director of the centre for research in Vascular Biology at UCC and a cardiologist at Cork University Hospital, announced a "major breakthrough in the field of blood vessel replacement".
=== Campus companies ===
The university has a number of related companies including: Cytrea, which is involved in pharmaceutical formulations; Firecomms, an ICT company concentrating on optical communications; Alimentary Health a biotech healthcare company; Biosensia who develop integrated micro-system analytical chips; Sensl, part of ON Semiconductor; Luxcel which is involved in the development of probes and sensors; and Optical Metrology Innovations which develops laser metrology systems.
=== Knowledge transfer ===
Innovation and Knowledge transfer is driven by UCC's Office of Technology Transfer, an office of the university dedicated to commercialising aspects of UCC's research and connecting researchers with industry. Recent spinouts from the college include pharmaceutical company Glantreo, Luxcel Biosciences, Alimentary Health, Biosensia, Firecoms, Gourmet Marine, Keelvar, Lee Oncology, and Sensl.
=== Commemorative events ===
In 2015, the university marked the bicentenary of mathematician, philosopher and logician George Boole – UCC's first professor of mathematics. In September 2017, UCC unveiled a €350 million investment plan, with university president, Professor Patrick O'Shea, outlining the development goals for UCC in the areas of philanthropy and student recruitment. The plan proposes to provide for curriculum development, an increase in national and international student numbers, the extension of the campus and an increase in the income earned from philanthropy.
The Minister for Culture, Heritage & the Gaeltacht and Chair of the National Famine Commemoration Committee, Heather Humphreys TD, also announced that 2018's National Famine Commemoration is planned to take place in UCC. Cork University Press published The Atlas of the Great Irish Famine in 2012. Subsequently, in September 2017, The Atlas of the Irish Revolution was published by Cork University Press. In November 2017, UCC's MSc Information Systems for Business Performance (ISBP) was named "Postgraduate Course of the Year – IT" at the gradireland Higher Education Awards in Dublin.
=== Reputation ===
University College Cork has been ranked by a number of bodies, and was named as the "Irish University of the Year" by the Sunday Times in 2003, 2005, 2011 and 2016, and was a runner up in the 2015 edition. In 2015, UCC was also named as top performing university by the European Commission funded U-Multirank system, based on a high number of "A" scores (21 out of 28 metrics) among a field of 1200 partaking universities. Also in 2015, the CWTS Leiden Ranking placed UCC 1st in Ireland, 16th in Europe and 52nd globally from a field of 750 universities. The 2011 QS World University Rankings assigned a 5-star rating to UCC, and ranked the university amongst the top 2% of universities worldwide. UCC was ranked 230th in the 2014 edition of the QS World University Rankings. 13 of its subject areas featured in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2015 (up from 10 subject areas in 2014), including the Pharmacy & Pharmacology disciplines, which were listed with the top 50 worldwide.
The Universitas Indonesia (UI) Greenmetric World University Ranking awarded UCC a second in the world ranking for the second year in a row in 2015 for its efforts in the area of sustainability, with 360 universities from 62 countries ranked overall.
UCC has been recognised for its digital and social media presence, winning the 'Best Social Media Engagement' category at the 2014 Social Media Awards, and as a finalist in two categories at the 2015 Social Media Awards. A previous finalist at the 2013 and 2014 Web Awards, UCC also made the 2015 finals in two categories, 'Most Influential Irish Website Ever' and 'Best Education and Third Level Website'. University College Cork had the first website in Ireland in 1991 (only the ninth website in the world at the time), serving transcriptions of Irish historical and literary documents for the CELT project converted from SGML to HTML.
It was reported in December 2020 that UCC had spent €76,265.38 investigating sexual harassment claims over the previous five years. This represented the largest amount spent by a third-level institution in Ireland during that period. UCC spent €24,460.50 on legal fees in the years 2017 and 2018, and paid out €510 in 2018.
== Academic units ==
=== College of Medicine and Health ===
Medicine, Arts, and Law were the three founding faculties when Queen's College Cork opened its doors to students in 1849. The medical buildings were built in stages between 1860 and 1880, and the faculty quickly gained a reputation for the quality of its graduates. The first two women to graduate in medicine in Ireland did so in 1898 (this was notable as it was more than 20 years before women were permitted to sit for medicine at the University of Oxford). UCC School of Medicine is part of the College of Medicine and Health, and is based at the Brookfield Health Sciences Centre on the main UCC campus and is affiliated with the 1000-bed University College Cork Teaching Hospital, which is the largest medical centre in Ireland. The UCC School Of Pharmacy is based in the Cavanagh Pharmacy Building.
=== Centre for Architectural Education ===
The Cork Centre for Architectural Education (CCAE) is the Department of Architecture at UCC, and is a school jointly run with Munster Technological University. It is accredited by the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland.
=== Humanities ===
The College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences (CACSSS) incorporates a number of schools.
UCC is home to the Irish Institute of Chinese Studies, which allows students to study Chinese culture as well as the language through Arts and Commerce. The department won the European Award for Languages in 2008.
As of 2017, Digital Humanities had grown as a discipline, with 26 PhD research students working on various Digital Humanities projects. UCC's programme for students in Digital Humanities includes BA (Hons) Digital Humanities & Information Technology, MA Digital Arts & Humanities and PhD Digital Arts & Humanities.
== Student life ==
=== Clubs, societies and representation ===
University College Cork has over 100 active societies and 50 different sports clubs. There are academic, charitable, creative, gaming/role-playing, political, religious, and social societies and clubs incorporating field sports, martial arts, watersports as well outdoor and indoor team and individual sports. UCC clubs are sponsored by Bank of Ireland, with the UCC Skull and Crossbones as the mascot for all UCC sports teams. 100 students received scholarships in 26 different sports in 2010.
The activities of UCC's societies include charity work; with over €100,000 raised annually by the Surgeon Noonan society, €10,000 raised by the War Gaming and Role Playing Society (WARPS) through its international gaming convention Warpcon, €10,000 raised by the UCC Law Society for the Cambodia orphanage and the UCC Pharmacy Society supports the Cork Hospitals Children's Club every year with a number of events. UCC societies also sometimes attract high-profile speakers such as Robert Fisk who addressed the Law Society, Nick Leeson, and Senator David Norris, who was the 2009/2010 honorary president of the UCC Philosophical Society.
An Chuallacht (Irish pronunciation: [ənˠ ˈxuəl̪ˠaxt̪ˠ], meaning "the fellowship") is UCC's Irish language and culture society. Founded in 1912, this society promotes the Irish language, and was awarded the Glór na nGael "Irish Society of the Year Award" in 2009.
The UCC Students' Union (UCCSU) acts as the representative body of the 17,000 students attending UCC. Each student is automatically a member by virtue of a student levy. The student-run radio station, "UCC 98.3FM", broadcasts on the campus.
=== Student accommodation ===
Accommodation for students is offered by UCC through a subsidiary company known as Campus Accommodation UCC DAC. UCC operate 5 accommodation complexes, including the Castlewhite Apartments (63 apartments/298 beds), Mardyke Hall (14 apartments/48 beds),
In February 2020, UCC announced their decision to raise rent in the 2020/21 academic term by three-percent over the 2019/20 academic term rate. The announcement came after similar rent increases in university-owned accommodation throughout the country, and after increases in previous years to the rent of UCC-owned accommodation. This decision was met with backlash from student representatives, UCC staff, and local politicians. On 25 February 2020, the UCC Students' Union launched a campaign which demanded that UCC reverse the increase. A group of over 300 UCC staff members signed a petition in solidarity with the Students' Union. Several members of Cork County Council also expressed opposition to the decision. In early March 2020, a spokesperson for the university said the increase was necessary due to refurbishment works, and a rise in security and maintenance costs.
=== International students ===
The largest number of the 2,400 international students at UCC in 2010 came from the United States, followed by China, France and Malaysia. UCC participates in the Erasmus program with 439 students visiting UCC in 2009–2010. 201 UCC students studied in institutions in the United States, China and Europe in the same period.
UCC was rated highly in the 2008 International Student Barometer report. This survey polled 67,000 international students studying at 84 institutions, and was carried out by the International Insight Group. The report held that 98% of UCC's international students (who participated in the survey) reported having "Expert Lecturers". And over 90% of these students said that they had "Good Teachers". In 3 categories of the survey, "sports facilities", "social facilities" and "university clubs and societies", UCC was in the top three of the 84 Institutions that took part in the survey. UCC's International Education Office was given a 93% satisfaction rating and UCC's IT Support was given a 92% satisfaction rating.
In 2023, whilst studying there, Diana Vicezar launched a podcast covering the experiences of Hispanic and Latin-American students in Ireland.
== Notable alumni ==
Notable alumni of the university include graduates from different disciplines.
In arts and literature, alumni include novelist Seán Ó Faoláin, short-story writer Daniel Corkery, film director John Crowley, composers Aloys Fleischmann, Seán Ó Riada, musicologist Ita Beausang, musician Julie Feeney, author, academic and critic Robert Anthony Welch, actors Fiona Shaw and Siobhán McSweeney, novelist and poet William Wall, poets Paul Durcan, John Mee, Liam Ó Muirthile, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, Trevor Joyce, Thomas McCarthy, Theo Dorgan, and Greg Delanty, novelist and archivist Orla Egan, singer SEARLS, comedian Des Bishop, and journalists Brendan O'Connor, Ian Bailey, Samantha Barry, Stefanie Preissner and Eoghan Harris. Actor Cillian Murphy and BBC presenter Graham Norton both attended UCC but did not graduate.
From the business community, alumni include the former head of CRH, Myles Lee.
In medicine, alumni include Sir Edwin John Butler, Charles Donovan, Patrick Parfrey, Sir Bertram Windle, Paul Whelton, and Pixie McKenna, doctor and TV presenter. In physics, alumni include Professor Margaret Murnane of the University of Colorado, Professor Patrick G. O'Shea of the University of Maryland, and Professor Séamus Davis of Cornell University. In mathematics, alumni include Irish mathematicians Seán Dineen and Des MacHale.
Politicians and public servants that attended UCC include Taoisigh Micheál Martin and Jack Lynch, Supreme Court justice Liam McKechnie, senator Annie Hoey, TD Eoin Hayes, and High Court judge Bryan MacMahon. André Ventura, founder of the Portuguese political party Chega, attended UCC as a graduate student.
In religious communities, alumni have included the Church of Ireland Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, Paul Colton, the first UCC graduate to be a Church of Ireland bishop. Some members of the Saint Patrick's Society for the Foreign Missions (Kiltegan Fathers) took their civil degrees in UCC, including Derek John Christopher Byrne, Catholic Bishop in Brazil, Maurice Anthony Crowley SPS in Kenya, John Alphonsus Ryan Bishop in Malawi, and John Magee who served as Bishop of Cloyne. Bishop of Kerry, Raymond Browne, holds a science degree from UCC.
In sport, rugby coach Declan Kidney, Gaelic footballers Séamus Moynihan, Maurice Fitzgerald and Billy Morgan, hurlers Pat Heffernan, Joe Deane, James "Cha" Fitzpatrick and Ray Cummins, rugby players Edwin Edogbo, Moss Keane, Ronan O'Gara and Donnacha Ryan, and Olympian Lizzie Lee have all attended UCC.
== Notable academics ==
George Boole was the first professor of mathematics at UCC. He developed the Boolean algebra, which would later undergird computer programming.
Aloys Fleischmann, composer and musicologist, was professor of music 1934–1980
Michael Grimes, first UCC Professor of Microbiology
Máire Herbert MRIA, historian of early medieval Ireland
Kathleen O'Flaherty, professor of French literature and awarded chevalier in the Ordre national du mérite by the French government
Mary Ryan, the first woman in Ireland or Great Britain to be a university professor, was a professor of romance languages at UCC
Eoin O'Reilly,* researcher of optoelectronics and strained-layer laser structures
J.C. Séamus Davis, Professor of Quantum Physics. Awarded the Buckley Prize (2023) for innovative visualization of complex quantum states of matter
=== List of presidents ===
1845 to 1873: Sir Robert Kane; first president
1873 to 1890: William Kirby Sullivan
1890 to 1896: James W. Slattery
1897 to 1904: Sir Rowland Blennerhassett
1904 to 1919: Bertram Windle
1919 to 1943: Patrick J. Merriman
1943 to 1954: Alfred O'Rahilly
1954 to 1963: Henry St John Atkins
1964 to 1967: John J. McHenry
1967 to 1978: Donal McCarthy
1978 to 1988: Tadhg Ó Ciardha
1989 to 1999: Michael Mortell
1999 to 2007: Gerard Wrixon
2007 to 2017: Michael Murphy
2017 to 2020: Patrick G. O'Shea
2021 to Present: John O'Halloran
== Arms == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Crampton | Bruce Crampton | Bruce Crampton (born 28 September 1935) is an Australian professional golfer.
== Early life and amateur career ==
In 1935, Crampton was born in Sydney, New South Wales. He attended Kogarah High School from 1948 to 1950.
In August 1953, Crampton reached final of the New South Wales Amateur Championship, losing 5&4 to Harry Berwick. As an amateur, he also had success at professional tournaments. In October 1953, at the age of 18, he led the Lakes Open after two rounds. According to Norman Von Nida, he was "probably" the first amateur in roughly 15 years, since Jim Ferrier, "to lead a big tournament after two rounds." In 1953, Von Nida also stated: "Crampton proves my prediction that he would become one of the greatest players Australia has produced."
== Professional career ==
In 1953, Crampton turned professional, becoming an assistant to Billy McWilliam at Beverley Park in Sydney. His decision to turn professional came soon after he had been left out of the Australian amateur team to tour Britain in 1954 and play in the Commonwealth Tournament at St Andrews.
Crampton won the Vardon Trophy for the player with the lowest stroke average on the PGA Tour in 1973 and 1975. He had 14 career wins on the PGA Tour between 1961 and 1975 and was runner up in four major championships – one Masters, one U.S. Open, and two PGA Championships – all to Jack Nicklaus. He was ranked among the top five golfers in the world in both 1972 and 1973, according to Mark McCormack's world golf rankings. His other regular career victories included the Australian Open, New Zealand PGA Championship, Far East Open and the Philippine Open. As a senior, he won 20 times on the Champions Tour, and topped the money list in 1986.
== Awards and honors ==
In 2001, Crampton was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame
== Professional wins (45) ==
=== PGA Tour wins (14) ===
PGA Tour playoff record (0–2)
Source:
=== PGA Tour satellite wins (1) ===
1968 West End Classic
=== Other wins (8) ===
this list may be incomplete
1954 New Zealand PGA Championship
1956 Australian Open, Speedo Tournament
1957 Pelaco Tournament
1958 North Coast Open
1959 Far East Open, Philippine Open
1971 Wills Masters
=== Senior PGA Tour wins (20) ===
Senior PGA Tour playoff record (2–2)
=== Other senior wins (2) ===
1987 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf (with Orville Moody)
1988 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf (with Orville Moody)
== Results in major championships ==
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
=== Summary ===
Most consecutive cuts made – 33 (1961 U.S. Open – 1973 Masters)
Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (twice)
== Team appearances ==
Amateur
Australian Men's Interstate Teams Matches (representing New South Wales): 1953
Professional
World Cup (representing Australia): 1957, 1963, 1964, 1967, 1972
Slazenger Trophy (representing British Commonwealth and Empire): 1956
Vicars Shield (representing New South Wales): 1956 (winners) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dora_Wilson | Dora Wilson | Dora Lynnell Wilson (31 August 1883 – 21 November 1946) was a British-born Australian artist, best known in her adopted country of Australia for her etchings and street scenes.
== Early life ==
Dora Lynnell Wilson was born on 31 August 1883 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Her parents were James Wilson, agent, and Annie Maria, née Green. The family emigrated to the state of Victoria in Australia in 1884, when Dora was a year old.
== Education ==
Wilson was educated at Somerset School and Methodist Ladies' College in Melbourne. From 1901–1906 she studied at the National Gallery under Bernard Hall and Frederick McCubbin, forming friendships with fellow artists Ruth Hollick, Gwendolyn Grant, Norah Gurdon, and her partner Pegg Clarke. She also took lessons from John Mather with Jessie Traill and Janie Wilkinson Whyte.
== Artistic career ==
Wilson was best known for her etchings, pastels and oils of still lifes and nudes. Her work was praised for her 'strong sense of colour' but also critiqued for demonstrating a 'chocolate box prettiness'.
Her work was included in a number of notable exhibitions, including the five week Australian Exhibition of Women's Work in Melbourne, a Royal Academy exhibition of Australian art in London. In 1923 her work, 'Reve d'Or', was reproduced on the cover of Women's World and exhibited at the Société des Artistes Français in Paris.
Her studio at Collins Street West was the meeting place of ex–Gallery School students who exhibited in 1913–14 as 'The Twelve Melbourne Painters.' This group included Jessie Traill, Janet Cumbrae Stewart, Norah Gurdon, Penleigh Boyd, and Lindsay Bernard Hall. Wilson was also a member of the Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors.
From the 1920s onwards she concentrated largely on street scenes, and in 1923 she was commissioned by Sir Baldwin Spencer to undertake a series of paintings of European landmarks, which saw her travelling around Europe for over two years, accompanied by the photographer Pegg Clarke. In 1928 these works were exhibited at the Beaux Arts Gallery, London, and the following year at Australia House. In the early 1930s she focused on historical scenes from Melbourne's history, with an exhibition entitled 'Milestones of Melbourne' held at the Fine Art Society Gallery in March 1935. Her work was received favorably by Arthur Streeton for being "fresh in colour and treatment and free from the depressing appearance of black paint." In 1937 she joined and exhibited with Robert Menzies' Australian Academy of Art.
== Death ==
Wilson died of cancer on 21 November 1946 and was cremated at Springvale Cemetery, Melbourne. She made a bequest to the National Gallery trustees in the amount of £1100 as it was her wish to help Australian artists to travel abroad.
== Exhibitions ==
1943, from 1 December; Inclusion in a group show of ninety-one paintings and etchings with Arnold Shore, Max Meldrum, John Rowell, Jas. Quinn, John Farmer, Mary Hurry, Dora Serle, Margaret Pestell, Allan Jordan, Isabel Tweddle, Aileen Dent, Murray Griffin, Geo. Colville, and Victor Cog. Hawthorn Library. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Prince_Edward_Island | University of Prince Edward Island | The University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI) is a public university in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, and the only university in the province. Founded in 1969, the enabling legislation is the University Act, R.S.P.E.I 2000.
== History ==
The university traces its roots back to 1804, when Lt. Governor Edmund Fanning and the Legislative Council of Prince Edward Island called for the establishment of Kent College. By 1820, the first Kent College building, known as "the National School", or James Breading's School was erected. It was later succeeded by Central Academy, which received a Royal Charter in 1834.
The Colleges were renamed for the Prince of Wales in honour of the future King Edward VII in 1860. The University of Prince Edward Island also traces its roots back to its two earlier predecessor organizations, St. Dunstan's University and Prince of Wales College, founded in 1855 and 1860 respectively. The two institutions were merged in 1969 by the government of Alex Campbell as part of a campaign to integrate the Island's Roman Catholic and Protestant communities, which had previously maintained the two separate institutions of higher learning. Holland College was later created to fill the void left by the merger of Prince of Wales College into the university.
The University of Prince Edward Island is a non-denominational university established in 1969 by the amalgamation of Prince of Wales College (PWC) founded in 1834, and St. Dunstan's University (SDU) founded in 1855. The first student to enrol was Elizabeth Rollins Epperly, who would later become the university president. Its predecessor institutions ceased to operate although St. Dunstan's still retains its charter and the lands that were home to Prince of Wales became the campus for Holland College. UPEI is located on the former St. Dunstan's campus.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, UPEI received a $500,000 grant from the Public Health Agency of Canada's Immunization Partnership Fund to develop and implement the Island Vaccine Education Program, intended to increase uptake of COVID-19 vaccines among vulnerable families.
== Legacy ==
On 8 May 2004 Canada Post issued 'University of Prince Edward Island, 1804-2004' as part of the Canadian Universities series. The stamp was based on a design by Denis L'Allier and on a photograph by Guy Lavigueur. The 49¢ stamps are perforated 13.5 and were printed by Canadian Bank Note Company, Limited.
== Campus ==
UPEI's campus, located at the corner of Belvedere and University Avenues in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island's capital city, is built on 134 acres (54 hectares) of land. The Confederation Trail runs alongside its eastern boundary.
Original SDU buildings in the central quadrangle have been renovated to retain integrity of their exterior aesthetic design while meeting modern standards. Main Building, built in 1854, and Dalton Hall, built between 1917 and 1919, are on the registry of Historic Places of Canada.
The War Memorial Hall (more generally known as Memorial Hall) is a landmark building on the campus of UPEI. Built as a men's residence building in 1946, Memorial Hall honours alumni who had enlisted and died in the First World War, and in the Second World War.
Over the past three decades, UPEI has experienced significant growth with many new buildings integrated into the campus, including Central Utility Building (1973), Duffy Science Centre (1967), Blanchard Hall (1973), Bernardine Hall (1968), Robertson Library (1975), Atlantic Veterinary College (1986), Chi-Wan Young Sports Centre (1990), Wanda Wyatt Dining Hall (1990), Food Technology Centre, K.C. Irving Chemistry Centre (1997), W.A. Murphy Student Centre (2002), MacLauchlan Arena (2004), Bill and Denise Andrew Hall residence facility (2006), expansions to the Atlantic Veterinary College (2007 and 2009), Regis and Joan Duffy Research Centre (2007), a research and development laboratory which is home to the National Research Council of Canada, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and other partners, and Don and Marion McDougall Hall (2008). The most recent addition is the Health Sciences Building, home to the School of Nursing and Applied Human Sciences programs.
In October 2004, the UPEI administration undertook an official campus plan to improve the aesthetics of modern buildings constructed since the amalgamation which do not enhance the original SDU design, and to take overall campus aesthetics into account for future developments on and adjacent to the campus.
== Organization ==
The current president and vice-chancellor is Dr. Wendy Rodgers, who began her appointment on June 1, 2024. The current chancellor is the Honourable Diane Griffin, who was installed on April 5, 2024.
== Academics ==
UPEI's seven faculties (arts, business, education, nursing, science, sustainable design engineering and veterinary medicine) and two schools (Mathematical & Computational Sciences and Climate Change & Adaptation) offer a wide range of programs and degrees to undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students. Co-op programs have been established in Business Administration, Computer Science, Physics, and Dietetics. The University is presently developing a Faculty of Medicine, in association with the Memorial University of Newfoundland.
Master's and Doctoral degree programs were first introduced through the Atlantic Veterinary College and, beginning in 1999, a Master of Science degree was offered through the Faculty of Science. In that same year the first students were admitted to the university's new Master of Education program. As of 2010, in addition to the MEd graduate program, the Faculty of Education offered a PhD in Educational Studies. The university also now offers a Master of Arts in Island Studies. Recently the Faculty of Business Administration began offering an Executive Master of Business Administration degree. Since 1998, The Centre for Conflict Resolution Studies has been offering courses leading to a Certificate in Conflict Resolution Studies. The Master of Applied Health Services Research (MAHSR) program is coordinated by the Atlantic Research Training Centre (ARTC).
The Faculty of Education offers one-year (12 months) post-degree bachelor's degrees with specializations in international, adult, and indigenous education, French immersion and human resources development, a Master of Education (MEd) in leadership in learning, and a PhD in Educational Studies.
The Department of Applied Human Sciences has an accredited dietitian program. The university is accredited by a professional organization such as the Dietitians of Canada and the university's graduates may subsequently become registered dieticians.
The Faculty Development Office provides professional development courses applicable to many sectors and industries, including development programs for administrative assistants and new managers; collaboration, conflict, and communication training; and, financial management courses.
=== Rankings ===
In Maclean's 2023 Guide to Canadian Universities, UPEI was ranked eighth in the publication's category for "primarily undergraduate" Canadian universities. In 2025 UPEI improved to seventh.
== Research ==
UPEI manages over $17 million in annual research expenditures. The on-campus biosciences and health research facility is used by researchers from UPEI, National Research Council (Canada), and Agriculture and Agri-Foods Canada.
UPEI houses the L.M. Montgomery Institute, founded in 1993, which promotes scholarly inquiry into the life, works, culture, and influence of the Canadian writer, L.M. Montgomery. The collection consists of novels, manuscripts, texts, letters, photographs, sound recordings and other Montgomery artifacts and ephemera.
UPEI joined with Dalhousie University and Memorial University of Newfoundland to form the Ocean Frontier Institute, a collaborative research initiative aimed at harnessing the vast potential of the world's oceans.
=== UArctic Membership ===
The university is an active member of the University of the Arctic. UArctic is an international cooperative network based in the Circumpolar Arctic region, consisting of more than 200 universities, colleges, and other organizations with an interest in promoting education and research in the Arctic region.
The university participates in UArctic’s mobility program north2north. The aim of that program is to enable students of member institutions to study in different parts of the North.
== Student life ==
=== Athletics ===
The UPEI Panthers have nine teams playing in the Atlantic University Sport (AUS) and the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS), including men's and women's ice hockey, soccer, basketball, as well as women's field hockey and rugby union and co-ed swimming.
The UPEI campus provides its students with many athletics amenities typically found on university campuses. The CARI Complex is a public recreation facility located on the campus and includes two hockey rinks (the MacLauchlan Arena as well as a practice rink) as well as two 25-metre swimming pools (a shallow recreational wading pool, and an eight-lane competitive pool with diving boards). In 2009 UPEI inaugurated the UPEI Alumni Canada Games Place which was built in part to host the 2009 Canada Games. It consists of a "class 2" eight-lane 400-metre running track and rugby field that has spectator seating for 1,335.
=== Student Union ===
The UPEI Student Union (UPEISU) is the students' union representing full-time undergraduate students at the university. It is funded by a student fee collected by the university, and provides advocacy, services, and amenities. The UPEISU Executive and UPEISU Council are elected through general elections of the UPEI full-time undergraduate student body. The Executive is made up a President, VP Academic, VP External, VP Student Life, and VP Finance. The UPEISU Council sits bi-weekly throughout the academic semester and includes representatives from faculty and special interest groups.
The amenities and services provided by the UPEISU include: Health and Dental Insurance, Charlottetown Transit System UPASS, Representation and Advocacy - including membership and lobbying in partnership with Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA), Inspiring Innovation Fund, Student Academic Enrichment Fund, Off-Campus Housing Coordination, Volunteer Match Maker, Promotions and Advertising, UPEI Student Handbook, and the W.A. Murphy Student Centre (in collaboration with UPEI).
The businesses and operations of the UPEISU include:
The Fox and the Crow - A pub and café combo which serves a full restaurant menu as well as coffee, tea, specialty drinks, and fresh baked goods.
The Cadre - student-run (and editorially autonomous) newspaper.
The Nexus - the official yearbook of UPEI.
The UPEI Student Union publishes the school newspaper called The Cadre, which gained attention by becoming one of the first Canadian publications to print the controversial Muhammad cartoons from the Jyllands-Posten.
== Residence ==
The University of Prince Edward Island provides student accommodations in four different residence buildings on campus: Bill and Denise Andrew Hall, Blanchard Hall, Bernardine Hall, and a mixed-use Performing Arts Centre and Residence. Bill and Denise Andrew Hall has two-room suites with single bedrooms. In Blanchard Hall, each suite has two single bedrooms with a kitchenette and a living room. Bernardine Hall (known as "Bernie" to the students) offers suites with two double bedrooms and a shared bathroom. Although the hall is co-ed, one floor is female-only.
Opened in 2023, the Performing Arts Centre and Residence features two towers of residence apartments and lounges with classroom space and a 400-seat auditorium on the main floor.
== UPEI/SDU/PWC notable people ==
=== List of presidents ===
Ronald James Baker (1969-1978)
Peter P.M. Meincke (1978-1985)
Charles William John Eliot (1985-1995)
Elizabeth Rollins Epperly (1995-1998)
Wade MacLauchlan (1999-2011)
Alaa Abd-El-Aziz (2011–2021)
Gregory Keefe (2021–2024)
Wendy Rodgers (2024-present)
In 2015 each of the first five presidents were recognized as Founders of the University.
Being a long-standing university and college in the Maritime province of Prince Edward Island (called the Cradle of Confederation) UPEI/SDU/PWC have been in a position to provide education to a long list of people who have gone to notable achievements. The most well known graduate (of Prince of Wales College) is Lucy Maude Montgomery, author of "Anne of Green Gables" and other books. The most distinguished Saint Dunstan's graduate may be James Charles McGuigan, Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome.
=== Religion ===
James Charles McGuigan - Cardinal; Archbishop of Toronto; Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome.
Joseph Anthony O'Sullivan - Grad of Grand Séminaire de Montréal; Archbishop of Kingston, Ontario; Titular Archbishop of Maraguia
James Morrison - Archbishop, Bishop of Antigonish, Nova Scotia; studied at the Urban College of the Congregatio de Propaganda Fide in Rome.
James Charles McDonald - 4th Bishop of Charlottetown; Studied at Grand Séminaire de Montréal
John T. McNeill - Theological Historian; Graduate of McGill University, University of Edinburgh, and University of Chicago
=== Medical ===
Heather G. Morrison - Rhodes Scholar, Oxford University, Medical Doctor, Chief Public Health Officer of PEI.
Sir Andrew Macphail - Physician; Writer for Chicago Times; Enlisted in Canadian Army in WW I at age 50 as ambulance driver. Knighted in 1918 for literary and military work.
John Joseph Alban Gillis - Surgeon, Senior House Doctor at Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal; MLA in British Columbia Legislative Assembly; Mayor of Merritt, British Columbia
William Henry Sutherland - Physician at Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal, for the Canadian Pacific Railway, and the Hotel Vancouver; Mayor of Revelstoke, British Columbia
James Walter MacNeill - Physician; First superintendent of Saskatchewan Hospital; Early developer for advanced treatments of the mentally ill
Owen Trainor - Physician; Member of Parliament for Winnipeg Manitoba South; Died during first term in House of Commons
Augustine A. MacDonald - Physician & Member of Legislative Assembly; Awarded Order of Canada in 1968 for providing medical care to the people of rural Prince Edward Island for more than sixty years
=== Business ===
Frank Zakem - LLD, B.A., B.Ed., B.Com., OPEI. businessman, politician, educator, author
Brenton St. John - Businessman, fish factory director, farm commodity exporter; Speaker of PEI Legislative Assembly
Henry Callbeck - Ship Builder, Businessman, Sheriff of Queens County, Governor of Prince of Wales College
Don McDougall (baseball) - President of Labatt Brewing Company; principal in establishment of Toronto Blue Jays
=== Prince Edward Island Lieutenant Governor (Viceregal) ===
Willibald Joseph MacDonald - 19th Lieutenant Governor (Viceregal) of PEI; Soldier in WW I and WW II
Marion Reid - C.M.Order of Canada, OPEI Order of Prince Edward Island, 24th Lieutenant Governor (Viceregal) of PEI (and first woman Lt. Gov); Dame of Grace of The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (Order of Saint John (chartered 1888))
George William Howlan - 6th Lieutenant Governor (Viceregal) of PEI; Irish-born merchant and ship owner
Augustine Colin Macdonald - 10th Lieutenant Governor (Viceregal) of PEI; also long time Member of Parliament
Murdock MacKinnon - 11th Lieutenant Governor (Viceregal) of PEI; Farmer; PEI Commissioner of Agriculture
Donald Alexander MacKinnon - 8th Lieutenant Governor (Viceregal) of PEI; Attorney, also grad Dalhousie School of Law
Thomas William Lemuel Prowse - 17th Lieutenant Governor (Vicregal) of PEI; 26th Mayor of Charlottetown; President of Prowse Brother, Ltd
Frederick Walter Hyndman - 18th Lieutenant Governor (Viceregal) of PEI; Canadian Army Major in WW II
Frank Richard Heartz - 12th Lieutenant Governor (Viceregal) of PEI; also businessman and farmer
Gordon Lockhart Bennett - 21st Lieutenant Governor (Viceregal) of PEI; Chemistry Professor at Prince of Wales College; Canadian Curling Hall of Fame
=== Prince Edward Island Premier ===
Lemuel Owen - 2nd Premier of PEI; Shipbuilder, Banker; Merchant
Sir William Wilfred Sullivan - 4th Premier of PEI; Knighted by King George V.
Louis Henry Davies - 3rd Premier of PEI, Member of Parliament, 12th Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, 6th Chief Justice of Canada
Frederick Peters - 6th Premier of PEI; mother was Mary Cunard (eldest daughter of Sir Samuel Cunard)
Donald Farquharson - 8th Premier of PEI; Member of Parliament; MLA
Herbert James Palmer - 11th Premier of PEI; son of former colonial Premier Edward Palmer (Canadian politician).
Aubin-Edmond Arsenault - 13th Premier of Prince Edward Island, PEI Supreme Court Judge
Albert Charles Saunders - 16th Premier of Prince Edward Island; PEI Supreme Court Judge; elected four times as mayor of Summerside PEI
Thane Campbell - 19th Premier of PEI, Rhodes Scholar, also grad Oxford University
Bennett Campbell - 24th Premier of PEI
Alexander Warburton - Also grad University of Edinburgh. PEI Member of Parliament, 7th Premier of Prince Edward Island
James Lee - 26th Premier of PEI; Sworn to Privy Council of Canada by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Keith Milligan - 29th Premier of PEI
William J.P. MacMillan - 18th Premier of PEI; also M.D. and graduate of McGill University School of Medicine
James David Stewart - 15th Premier of PEI
Walter Russell Shaw - 22nd Premier of PEI; Officer of the Order of Canada; Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame in 1980.
John Howatt Bell - 14th Premier of PEI; PEI Member of Parliament
John Alexander Mathieson - 12th Premier of PEI
=== Prince Edward Island Members Legislative Assembly ===
Prosper Arsenault - Educator; Politician, Speaker of the PEI Legislative Assembly
Cletus Dunn - MLA, Civil Servant
Cynthia Dunsford - MLA, Squash Coach, Writer/Performer of CBC Radio comedy show "Parkdale Doris."
Paul Connolly - Educator, Politician; Member National Parole Board in 2002, serving for seven years.
Jamie Ballem - MLA, Businessman; founded Island Green Power Company to promote the development of wind power on the island
Herb Dickieson - MLA, Physician, also grad Dalhousie University School of Medicine; Chief of Medical Staff at Charlottetown Community Hospital
Doug Currie - MLA; Head Coach and Director of Hockey Operations for the University of Prince Edward Island.
Valerie Docherty - MLA
Paula Biggar - MLA
Alan Buchanan - MLA, Educational Administrator; Communication Officer with Island Telecom and later Aliant,
Kevin MacAdam - MLA, Political Advisor
James Warburton - MLA, Mayor of Charlottetown, Physician
Jim Larkin - MLA; Executive with Tourism Industry Association of Canada
George Dewar - MLA; Physician in private practice and earlier with Royal Canadian Medical Corps in WW II; member Order of Canada
Betty Jean Brown - MLA, Nurse Practitioner; Owner of family fur farm
David McKenna - Optometrist, businessman and politician, MLA in Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island
=== Canada national government ===
Mark MacGuigan - Attorney General of Canada; Secretary of State for External Affairs in the cabinet of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau
Jacques Hebert - Quebec Senator to Parliament; Author Deux innocents en Chine rouge (with Pierre Trudeau)
Mike Duffy - PEI Senator to Parliament of Canada; TV news show host; covered fall of Saigon, Vietnam
Percy Downe - PEI Senator to Parliament of Canada; Chief of Staff for Prime Minister Jean Chrétien
Lorne Bonnell - PEI Senator to Parliament of Canada; Physician
John McLean - PEI Senator to Parliament of Canada; earlier Member of Parliament; MLA; Director of several businesses, i.e., Maritime Life Insurance Co. and The Guardian newspaper
Melvin McQuaid - PEI Member of Parliament of Canada; PEI Supreme Court Judge
Alfred Lefurgey - PEI Member of Parliament of Canada; also grad Harvard Law
Thomas Joseph Kickham - PEI Senator to Parliament of Canada
James McIsaac - PEI Member of Parliament of Canada; also grad Université Laval
Angus Alexander McLean - PEI Member of Parliament of Canada; also grad Harvard Law
Peter Adolphus McIntyre - PEI Member of Parliament; 7th Lieutenant Governor (Viceregal) of PEI
Joe McGuire - PEI Member of Parliament of Canada
Shawn Murphy - PEI Member of Parliament; Attorney, Queen's Counsel
George Henderson; PEI Member of Parliament; Shellfish Technician; Farmer, Electrical Engineer and Businessman
Chester McLure - PEI Member of Parliament; Fox Farmer; Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel in 1930 for the 2nd Medium Light Artillery
Montague Aldous - Dominion Topographical Surveyor of the Northwest Territories 1877; also grad of Bowdoin College, Maine
Thomas McMillan - political scientist and former politician, Member of Parliament; Minister of the Environment
=== Provincial/local governments of Canada ===
David Laird - 1st Lieutenant Governor of Northwest Territories, Canada; Indian Commissioner of the Northwest Territories, Manitoba, and Keewatin
Bob MacQuarrie - Ontario MLA
George Washington McPhee - Saskatchewan Member of Parliament of Canada; Attorney, King's Counsel
Robert Deschamps - Member National Assembly of Quebec; Parti Québécois member and supporter of sovereignty of Quebec
F.H. Auld - Agricultural Scientist, Saskatchewan Deputy Minister of Agriculture, 1916–46
Harold Lloyd Henderson - Presbyterian minister, Mayor Portage la Prairie, Manitoba; also grad McGill University
John Salmon Lamont - PWC and Princeton University, Reeve of Assinibola, Manitoba
John K. McInnis - Mayor of Regina, Saskatchewan
Maurice DeLory - MLA in Nova Scotia House of Assembly; Surgeon
Alexander Campbell - represented St. John's in the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly, 1928–32; also grad Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and the University of Vienna.
=== Arts and letters ===
Lucy Maud Montgomery - Author: Anne of Green Gables, Avonlea
Irene Gammel - Literary Historian: Baroness Elsa, Looking for Anne of Green Gables
Sandra M. Macdonald - Chairperson National Film Board of Canada
John Smith - Poet Laureate of PEI
Rachna Gilmore - Children's Book Writer; 1999 Governor General's Award for Children's Literature
Anne Compton - Poet; 2005 Governor General's Award for Poetry; 2012 awarded Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal
Tyler Shaw - Singer; 2012 Billboard Canada Adult Contemporary # 5 song "Kiss Goodnight." Song was certified Gold by Music Canada in 2013.
James Jeffrey Roche - Writer, American Consul in Switzerland; Editor of Boston Pilot newspaper
=== Education ===
John Angus Weir - 4th President of Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario; also grad University of Notre Dame
William Christopher Macdonald - 4th Chancellor of McGill University; founder MacDonald & Brothers tobacco company
Elizabeth Rollins Epperly - Victorian Scholar; grad UPEI and University of London; President of UPEI, 1995–98
Eddie Gardner - Elder-in-Residence University of the Fraser Valley; founder Open-Net Salmon Boycott
Marin Gallant - Educator, MLA, Inspector for PEI French Schools
William Edwin Cameron - first Saint Dunstan's Rhodes Scholar, SDU Class of 1904
Scott MacEachern - Professor of Archaeology and Anthropology at Duke Kunshan University, China, an expert in African archaeology.
Kathy Martin - Professor in the Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia and a senior research scientist with Environment and Climate Change Canada
Tim Carroll - Assistant Professor of History at Saint Francis Xavier University & UPEI; MLA in Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island
=== Philanthropist ===
Jean-Louis Lévesque - Philanthropist, entrepreneur, racehorse owner
=== Prince Edward Island law/legal ===
Wayne Cheverie - PEI Supreme Court Judge
Gerard Mitchell - Chief Justice PEI Supreme Court
Charles St. Clair Trainor - Chief Justice PEI Supreme Court, King's Counsel
Gavan Duffy - Judge of the Prince Edward Island County Court, sitting in Queens County; King's Counsel; Grand Master Knights of Columbus
Reginald Bell - PEI Supreme Court Judge
George McMahon - PEI Supreme Court Judge
=== Other Canada law/legal ===
Sir James Hyndman - Alberta Supreme Court Judge; Inducted as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1948.
J. Greg Peters - Superintendent of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Usher of the Black Rod of the Senate of Canada.
=== U.S. government ===
Jacob Gould Schurman - US Ambassador to Germany; President Cornell University
Cyrus S. Ching - U.S. federal administrator, US Department of Labor Hall of Honor
James U. Campbell - 25th Chief Justice Oregon Supreme Court, USA; U.S. Lieutenant in Philippines during Spanish–American War
Burpee L. Steeves - 9th Lieutenant Governor of Idaho; also grad Willamette University, Oregon
=== Prince Edward Island local government ===
Ian MacDonald - 43rd Mayor of Charlottetown; Known as "Tex"
William S. Stewart - Mayor of Charlottetown, 1932–34; MLA; Admiralty Court Judge
Philip Brown - Mayor of Charlottetown, as of January 2019; teacher and businessman
=== Military ===
Ralph McInerney - World War I Pilot in Royal Flying Corps; Represented the city of Saint John, New Brunswick in the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick from 1939 to 1948.
Roger Soloman - Lieutenant Royal Canadian Navy; Tourist cottages business owner on Brudenell River, PEI; High School Principal
Keith Brown - Scottish politician; Deputy Leader of the Scottish National Party; Royal Marines in Falklands War
=== Athletics ===
Scott Morrison - Assistant Coach of Boston Celtics, 2017+; 2014-15 NBA Developmental League (D-League) Coach of the Year with Maine Red Claws
Doug MacLean - NHL General Manager and Coach for the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Head Coach for Florida Panthers; Coach for two NHL All Star games, 1995–97; earlier after playing varsity hockey for the UPEI Panthers became hockey coach for the University of New Brunswick. Known as "Prince Eddy" because of his affinity for Prince Edward Island
Al MacAdam - NHL Hockey Player, Stanley Cup Champion 1974, NHL All-Star 1976 & 1977
Bill MacMillan - NHL Hockey Player, Bronze Medal 1976 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France
Joel Ward - NHL Hockey Player, Team Canada 2014 IIHF World Championship in Minsk, Belarus
Dave Cameron - NHL Coach (2016 Ass't Coach Calgary Flames) and Player (Colorado Rockies and New Jersey Devils)
Darwin McCutcheon - Hockey player; five years professional in American Hockey League and Int'l Hockey League. Played one game in NHL for Toronto Maple Leafs
Gerry Fleming - NHL hockey player for the Montreal Canadiens and American Hockey League for the Fredericton Canadiens
Jim Foley - CFL Football Player, Grey Cup Champion 1973 & 1976, CFL's Rookie of the Year Award in 1971 and later won 1975 Most Outstanding Canadian Award
Vernon Pahl - CFL Football Player, Grey Cup Champion 1984 & 1988
Erin Carmody - Curler, MVP 2010 Scotties Tournament of Hearts
Paul Craig - NASL Soccer Player, FC Edmonton
Kara Grant - Modern Pentathlon: Athens Olympics 2004 and Beijing Olympics 2008; Bronze Medalist at Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 2002
Anja Weisser - German Women's Ice Hockey Team, 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia
Park Ye-eun - Korean Women's Ice Hockey Team, 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, Korea.
Katie Baker - Captain Canada National Field Hockey Team; Pan American Games 2007 in Brazil; Commonwealth Games 2010 in Delhi, India.
Cory Vitarelli - Lacrosse player for Rochester Knighthawks in National Lacrosse League. Three time Champion's Cup now known as (National Lacrosse League Cup) winner.
Ryan Anstey - soccer player Toronto Lynx USL First Division, Crown Attorney in Alberta
Jared Gomes - hockey player; Bridgeport Sound Tigers, American Hockey League
Justin Donati - hockey player; Brampton Beast, ECHL; Toronto St. Michael's Majors, Ontario Hockey League
Calvin Tyler Scott - professional basketball player in the National Basketball League of Canada for the Island Storm
Mitch Murphy - Standardbred Canada Board of Directors (horse racing); MLA
Mathew Maione - professional hockey player for Dinamo Riga in the Kontinental Hockey League, Russia
Mark Guggenberger - professional ice hockey goaltender with the Perth Thunder of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL)
=== Honorary degrees ===
Following is a partial list of Past Honorary Degree Recipients from UPEI:
Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh - Honorary Doctor of Laws, 2007; third son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Ted Kennedy - Honorary Doctor of Laws from Saint Dunstan's University and SDU Class of 1964 Commencement Speaker
Angèle Arsenault - Honorary Doctor of Laws from UPEI; actress and singer; Ordre de la Pléiade de l'Association des parlementaires de langue française
Hisako, Princess Takamado - Member of Imperial House of Japan
Anne Murray - Singer: four time Grammy Award winner most famously for the 1970 song Snowbird (song), former H.S. teacher on PEI
Adrienne Clarkson - 26th Governor-General of Canada
David Suzuki - Climate change activist; Ph.D. from University of Chicago in zoology
Colonel George Stanley - Professor Emeritus Royal Military College; Knight of Justice of the Order of St. John; Lt. Governor of New Brunswick
Edward D. Ives - Folklorist of Maine and Canada's Maritime Provinces; Professor of Folklore at University of Maine; Ph.D. from Indiana University
Philip Oland - of the founding family of and CEO of Moosehead Breweries, Saint John, New Brunswick; Retired Brigadier Canadian Forces; Philanthropist
Alan Lund - Dancer and choreographer of television, movies, and theatre; Officer of the Order of Canada
Gordon Pinsent - Screenwriter, Actor: Wind at My Back, Red Green Show, Old Man and the Sea {1999} voice
Lester B. Pearson - Prime Minister of Canada; Awarded in 1967 at Prince of Wales College
Pierre Burton - Journalist, historian and author; Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal honoree
Beverley McLachlin - 17th Chief Justice of Canada; Judge on the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal
Doug Hall - Lecturer, author, TV and radio host and chemical engineer by education. Master Marketing Inventor at Procter & Gamble
Stompin' Tom Connors - Canadian country and folksinger/writer. Ranked 13th on The Greatest Canadian list, the highest of any artist
Art Linkletter - Canadian-born American radio & television personality, "Kids Say the Darndest Things"
=== Notable UPEI faculty and administration ===
Angus Bernard MacEachern - Founded St. Andrew's College; 1st Bishop of Charlottetown (incl Magdalen Islands); studied theology in Spain.
Bernard Donald Macdonald - 2nd Bishop of Charlottetown; Supervisor of construction of Saint Dunstan's College
Wade MacLauchlan - 32nd Premier of PEI, President UPEI; grad University of New Brunswick and Yale University with Masters of Law
William E. Andrew - Chancellor UPEI
Ronald James Baker - 1st president of UPEI; British Air Force WW II; Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal; grad University of British Columbia and School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London
Lou Hooper - Professor of Music from 1975; jazz pianist in Harlem, Yew York, Michigan, and Canada. Played with Billie Holiday and Paul Robeson; Taught piano to Oscar Peterson, 1936–39
Dave Nutbrown - Varsity basketball coach; conference all-star player at University of New Brunswick; recruit of New York Knicks
Gustave Gingras - Chancellor of UPEI, 1974–82. Physician; Consultant to United Nations, World Health Organization, and Canadian Red Cross
George Wastie Deblois - Merchant; MLA; Trustee of Prince of Wales College; Land agent for Samuel Cunard, founder of the Cunard Line of ships
Richard Raiswell - Historian and Professor of Medieval and Renaissance History; commentator on Smithsonian Network's "Treasures Decoded;" Cricket enthusiast and writer about the sport
Kenneth Ozmon - Professor and Dean of Arts; Officer of the Order of Canada; later 13th President of Mount Allison University
Godfrey Baldacchino - UNESCO Co-chair in Island Studies and Sustainability at UPEI (in partnership with the University of Malta)
Doris Anderson - Chancellor of UPEI, 1992-96: editor Chatelaine magazine; Member of Trilateral Commission; Companion of the Order of Canada; President of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women
Paul Boutilier - Instructor of International Marketing; Member of the 1983 Stanley Cup champion New York Islanders and seven year NHL player
David Bourque - Associate Professor of Music (Spring 2008 term); teacher of clarinet and bass clarinet; member of Toronto Symphony Orchestra; accompanist in several US films, e.g., Academy Award-winning Norman Jewison's film "Moonstruck"
Reginald C. Stuart - History Professor at UPEI, 1968–88. Distinguished Chair in North American Studies at the Woodrow Wilson Institute Center for Scholars in Washington, DC, Jun-Jan, 2005
Jamie Muir - Instructor of Education; Ph.D. in education from University of Virginia; also an MLA in Nova Scotia
David Staines - Professor of English; Scholar in Medieval, Victorian, and Canadian literature; grad of Harvard University (M.A. and Ph.D.)
Louis Groarke - Professor of Philosophy; Writings in Ethics, Logic, Political Philosophy, and Aesthetics
Anne Simpson - Author and poet; author of seven books, four of which are in the Toronto Globe & Mails Top 100 Books of the Year, i.e., "Falling" (2008) and "Canterbury Beach" (2001) (Short term Writer-in-Residence)
Vianne Timmons - Professor at UPEI; President of the University of Regina (Alberta)
Edward MacDonald - Associate Professor of History, teaching about Canadian political history, Atlantic Canada and Prince Edward Island
Colm Magner - Canadian actor, director and writer
Richard Covey - Canadian composer and Assistant Professor of Theory/Composition
Ian Dowbiggin - Professor in the Department of History and writer on the history of medicine. Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
Paul Boutilier - Instructor of International Marketing; Retired professional ice hockey defenceman who was a member of the 1983 Stanley Cup champion New York Islanders.
Silver Donald Cameron - Writer-in-Residence; writing focuses on social justice, nature and the environment
Sam Gindin - Intellectual and activist known for his expertise on the labour movement and the economics of the automobile industry
Hilda Woolnough - Artist who exhibited in Europe, Asia, the Caribbean and North America; member of Royal Canadian Academy of Arts
Robyn MacPhee - Virology technologist at the Atlantic Veterinary College, UPEI; Gold Medalist 2001 World Junior Curling Championships
Marcia Anastasia Christoforides - Established the Sir James Dunn Animal Welfare Centre at UPEI with gift of 2.2 million dollars. Wife of Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook with honorific as Dowager Lady Beaverbrook.
Sir Charles Dalton – Silver fox breeder; Owner of the Charlottetown Guardian newspaper; Donated and built Dalton Hall at SDU; Knight Commander in the Order of St. Gregory the Great |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leash | Leash | A leash, also known as a lead, lead line, or tether is a rope or similar material used to control an animal by attaching it to a collar, harness, or halter. In British English, a leash is typically used for larger animals that may be dangerous or aggressive, while a lead is more commonly used when walking a dog.
== Types of leashes ==
Leashes take many forms; for example:
A simple metal chain.
Very short tab leashes; a clip attached to a loop handle or to a short piece of leather with a knot or similar short handle. Allows very close, tight control of a dog in certain competition or training situations.
Short, soft, braided leather leash with a loop handle and a clip to attach to the collar, usually about 4 feet in length, commonly used during obedience training. The softness enables the trainer to fold the leash into a shorter length and the braiding allows a firmer grip.
Nylon webbing leash, also known as a tracking/training leash in the UK, usually 4 to 6 feet, with a loop handle and clip, most commonly used for walking dogs casually.
Extended-length webbing leashes, 12 to 30 feet or more, also known as a tracking/training leash in the UK, usually with a loop handle and a clip, primarily for training at a distance or during tracking sessions.
Slip-leash, usually with a loop handle and an adjustable, slipping loop at the other end that goes around the dog's neck. Often used in work or competitions—such as dog agility—where the leash must be quickly removed and replaced.
Retractable, a hook on a thin rope that retracts automatically into a large plastic handle, allowing the dog to wander 15 or 25 feet away while keeping the leash taut (in theory preventing it from tangling around obstacles or the dog's legs) but still allowing the handler to reel in the dog for closer control.
There are also bicycle dog leashes, especially designed for people who enjoy taking their pet on a ride with the bike. The leash is an aluminum tube with a plastic coated cable which runs down through the tube. It extends out of the tube end a couple of feet to allow for ease of movement for the dog. One end connects to the bike and the other to the dog's collar. This keeps them safely away from the bike. While bicycle leashes might be suitable for some dogs, they aren't a good idea for all breeds. There are numerous safety considerations before attempting to bike with a dog.
Cat leashes and harnesses are also available on the market and are convenient for people who are not comfortable letting their pet free.
== Leash laws in the United States ==
Many cities have passed legislation that requires dogs to be on leash in public areas; in some areas, cats are also required to be restrained (under control) on a leash, in a kennel, or in a cat-proof yard or house.
Purposes of a leash include: preventing animals from frightening or biting people or other animals, defecating and urinating in inappropriate places, endangering traffic, digging up lawns, causing other damage, getting lost, and getting away from owners. Leashes also provide a clear method of communication and ensure control during training of dogs.
In the United States, leash laws are different within each state. While some states do not have statewide leash laws and give localities power to make leash law, there are some other states in which leash laws apply statewide.
States that do not have statewide leash laws are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming.
In Connecticut, dogs are not permitted to run at large except in the situation of hunting. Still, if the dog has vicious propensities and the owner still allows it to run at large and a person is bitten, the owner can be fined for up to $1,000 and is also liable for 6 months of prison unless the victim has abused the dog and provoked the harmful behavior.
In Delaware, dogs are not allowed to run at large unless in situations when the owner is present and has control over the pet. An exception is for farm dogs. Also, during the night dogs must be kept in an enclosure from which they cannot escape, firmly secured with a collar or chain or other device, so they cannot stray from the premises, or are under the reasonable control of the owner or custodian. If an owner does not respect these laws and if the dog bites someone, the owner is subject to civil liability and for fines of up to $1,500.
Dogs in the District of Columbia must be kept on a leash as well. They are also not permitted on school grounds when school is in session or on any public recreation area without a leash.
Indiana is one of the states that has a restraint statute, which means that dogs must be restrained at all times. Otherwise, if the dog bites a person when not restrained the owner is subject to civil liability and criminal penalties.
Dogs are allowed to run at large during the night in Kentucky only if they are accompanied by and under control of their owner.
According to the leash laws of Louisiana, dogs are prohibited to run at large at all times of the day. The same law applies in Maine, where the only exception is for hunting dogs.
Missouri legislation requires that dogs are kept in leashes that are no longer than 10 feet when they are in state parks or on historic sites. Also, dogs that have rabies are not permitted to run at large.
In Nebraska, dogs may run at large only in counties where the population does not reach 80,000.
New Hampshire legislation does not allow dogs to run at large unless they are accompanied by their owner or custodian or when dogs are used for training or are trained for hunting, herding or exhibitions.
Illinois legislation prohibits owners from walking their dogs when they are not in a leash.
Dogs in New York must be restrained or confined at all times of the day. However, certain NYC parks allow dogs off leash at certain hours.
According to the North Carolina law, dogs are allowed to run at large during the night only if they are accompanied by their owner or a person who has received the owner's permission to do so.
Ohio law requires one to "keep the dog under the reasonable control of some person," but does not require a leash except for "any female dog … at any time the dog is in heat." There are additional provisions for "dangerous dogs" that have injured a person or killed another dog.
Some Oregon counties and cities have leash ordinances that can be used to hold dog owners responsible for injuries resulting from their animal attacking or biting a person while running at large. These ordinances expand upon Oregon law, under which dog owners have limited responsibility for injuries caused by their dogs unless the owner was aware that the animal is abnormally dangerous.
Pennsylvania legislation states that dogs must be confined or firmly secured or reasonably controlled by a person, within the property of the owner.
Tennessee law prohibits dogs to run at large except in cases in which dogs are engaged in legal hunting or herding.
West Virginia and Wisconsin are states that do not have a law that requires dogs to be leashed. Still, they do have laws that hold dog owners and keepers liable for all damages caused by dogs that are permitted to run at large.
Different law applies to dangerous dogs and female dogs as in different states they are prohibited to run at large at all times. Also, in states such as Connecticut and Louisiana, guide dogs must also be leashed.
== Dog leashes ==
Dog leashes are used to walk the dog in public places. Having the dog wear a leash is a way of protecting the dog and other persons (e.g., if the dog runs away and bites someone). The length is one of the important aspects of the leash. The length of the leash must be chosen according to the size of the dog and it is important because it allows a good control. Leashes should not be either too long or too short. Too-long leashes do not provide good control of the pet whereas too-short leashes are uncomfortable for both the dog and the owner. The perfect leash can restrain the dog but at the same time is not viewed as a punishment for the pet.
High quality dog leashes have a good quality metal clip and they can be made of leather, nylon or even chain. The metal clip must securely fasten to a metal ring on the collar in order to maintain good control of the dog. The material of which the leash is made of is not of great importance as long as the leash does not show evidence of wear or fraying. Therefore, leashes should be periodically checked to ensure they are maintained in proper condition.
An important aspect of dog leashes is their sturdiness. Although rope leashes are quite cheap, they are vulnerable to chewing and fraying and are not amongst the most recommended types of leashes. Nylon leashes are recommended; this material provides a bit of elasticity which is meant to result in more comfort for the dog. On the other hand, nylon leashes can cause chafe or can cut into the skin of the dog.
Leather leashes are often preferred over the nylon ones because of the resistance of the material and because it becomes more flexible with age and it is softer. Leather is however more prone to be chewed when compared to nylon.
The retractable dog leash is one of the most dangerous leashes for the dogs because they allow them to go as far as they want. Retractable leashes are usually made of nylon and the retractable device is made of plastic or a stronger composite. Although these leashes can be convenient for both the dog and the owner as it allows some control, they make it difficult to keep a dog under control which can result in persons or other dogs being attacked. Aggressive dogs should not be walked with such a leash, and puppies should be kept closely to ensure their protection from various dangers such as cars. Dogs with a tendency to bolt without warning should be walked with caution, as a retractable lead can allow the dog to accelerate to significant speed before being stopped, presenting the possibility of injury to both dog and owner.
Some leashes are made of reflective materials and are suitable for walking the dog at night. They are convenient because they make the dog and the owner much more visible in the traffic, reducing the likelihood of accidents.
== Cat leashes ==
Cat leashes are used with the purpose of preventing the cat getting lost. Unlike dogs, cats rarely attack persons on the street, so cat leashes are mainly a safety measure to protect the pet itself. Very often the collars are replaced with harnesses, because they avoid the dangers of collars which include escaping and running away or choking. Cats are more likely to not be willing to be walked in a harness than dogs are, and are considered to need up to months to be able to adjust to wearing a harness.
Cat leashes come in a variety of colors, designs and models and are made of different materials. There are cat leashes made of leather, nylon and rope. Whereas the leather leash is one of the best qualities because of the characteristics of the material, it is also one of the most expensive and not very comfortable for the cat at the same time. Nylon cat leashes and harnesses are, however, more elastic, and thus more comfortable and also provide more control.
== Leashes for large animals ==
Leashes are used on large animals—such as bovids, camelids, and equids—to lead them so that they will be forced to follow and come to a desired area—as well as to tether them to a specific area, such as to a fencepost or tree trunk, so that they will remain stationary and not run away. Oftentimes, leashes are used to tether such animals when they require separation, examination, or work to be done to them, such as grooming and tacking up. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Mission_Dam | Old Mission Dam | Old Mission Dam is a historic water impoundment structure in Mission Trails Regional Park in San Diego, California. It was built in 1803 to impound the San Diego River to provide water for irrigation of the fields associated with Mission San Diego de Alcalá, the first Spanish mission in what is now the US state of California. It was the first major colonial-era irrigation project on the Pacific coast of the United States. The surviving remnant of the dam was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1963.
== Description and history ==
Old Mission Dam is located about 5 miles (8.0 km) northeast of the site of Mission San Diego de Alcalá, in the hills northeast of San Diego. It spans the San Diego River, which was historically a seasonal body of water which dried out in the summer. The dam is built out of stone and cement, and was 220 ft long (67 m), 13 ft wide (4.0 m) at its base and 12 ft high (3.7 m) as originally built. The dam created a body of water behind it, which would undergo controlled releases when the river otherwise ran dry. A tile channel to the mission fields was also built, to minimize water loss in the sandy soil, but only fragments of this work still survive.
Mission San Diego de Alcalá was founded in 1769 by Father Junipero Serra, and was moved to its present surviving site in 1774. By 1800, the mission was a thriving community with 1,500 Christianized Native Americans. The mission suffered three years of drought in 1800-1802, which likely prompted construction of the irrigation project. The works probably reached their greatest extent in 1817, including the tiled aqueduct and other features lost to time and vandalism. The dam and aqueduct were reported to be in ruins in 1867, but the dam was repaired in 1874 and again put to use for a time.
The dam is now part of Mission Trails Regional Park, the largest municipal park in California. Old Mission Dam is also a registered state historic landmark. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheatland_(James_Buchanan_House) | Wheatland (James Buchanan House) | Wheatland, or the James Buchanan House, is a brick Federal style house which is located in Lancaster Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, outside of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It was formerly owned by the 15th president of the United States, James Buchanan.
The house was constructed in 1828 by William Jenkins, a local lawyer. The second owner was Thomas Fuller Potter. He sold it to William M. Meredith in 1845.
Wheatland changed hands again in 1848, when it was purchased by Buchanan. Buchanan occupied the house for the next two decades, except for several years during his ambassadorship in Great Britain and during his presidency. After his death in 1868, Wheatland was inherited by Buchanan's niece, Harriet Lane, who sold it in 1884 to George Willson.
It was inherited by a relative of Willson's in 1929. Wheatland was put up for sale again after the relative died in 1934 and was acquired by a group of people who set up a foundation for the purpose of preserving the house. Wheatland was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. It was designated a contributing property to the Northeast Lancaster Township Historic District in 1980. The foundation and the adjacent historical society merged in 2009.
== Location ==
Wheatland is located off Pennsylvania Route 23 (Marietta Avenue) in Lancaster Township, about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from the center of the city of Lancaster. It is situated on 10 acres (40,470 m2) of land, which it shares with Lancaster County's historical society, at the intersection of Marietta Avenue and President Avenue.
The region was originally inhabited by the Susquehannocks, who were first encountered in what is now Lancaster County by John Smith in 1608. They were also known to early settlers of the area as the "Conestogas", after the creek they resided near. In 1680, William Penn received a charter from Charles II for land to found the Province of Pennsylvania; Penn divided the land into the three counties: Bucks, Chester and Philadelphia. Lancaster County was formed from parts of Chester County on May 10, 1729. Lancaster Township was settled between 1717 and 1720, and was incorporated out of portions of Conestoga Township in 1729. The city of Lancaster was laid out in March 1730 and was incorporated as a borough in August 1742, before being incorporated as a city on March 20, 1818.
== History ==
On November 20, 1824, over 403 acres (1,630,883 m2) of land was turned over to a bank in Lancaster by a farmer. The bank sold 165 acres (1 km2) and 68 square perches (18,513 ft2; 1,720 m2) of that land, on January 29, 1828, for $11,731.871⁄2, (equal to $343,957 today), through the use of a straw man, to William Jenkins, a lawyer and, then, president of said bank. Jenkins had a house constructed on the property and named it "The Wheatlands", either after the surrounding wheatfields or because the site of the house used to be a wheatfield. Jenkins sold 17 acres (68,797 m2) and 253⁄4 square perches (7,010 ft2; 651 m2) of land, including the house, to his son-in-law Thomas Fuller Potter in 1836. William M. Meredith bought the same plot on May 8, 1845, plus an additional 5 acres (20,234 m2), for $6,750, equal to $233,237 today. Meredith used it as primarily a summer house and as a home for his wife and children; Meredith's duties as head of the bar in Philadelphia prevented him from living at Wheatland on a permanent basis.
Wheatland was put up for sale by Meredith and was contacted in June 1848 by Secretary of State James Buchanan, who was interested in the house. The sale of Wheatland was delayed by Meredith, who was not sure whether he really wanted to sell the estate, and by Buchanan, who did not want to force Meredith into making a decision that he might regret. Wheatland was sold in December 1848 at the same price that Meredith had purchased it at; Buchanan moved into the mansion several months later, accompanied by his niece, Harriet Lane, and nephew, James Buchanan "Buck" Henry, and his housekeeper, Esther "Miss Hetty" Parker. Buchanan ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic Party's nomination for President in the 1852 election, however he was appointed the Minister to Great Britain by the newly elected Franklin Pierce. Buchanan did not return to the United States, and to Wheatland, until 1856.
Not long after arriving back at Wheatland, Buchanan was nominated by the Democratic Party to be its candidate for President on June 9, 1856. Buchanan did not tour the country as part of the campaign. Instead, he conducted it from Wheatland as a "front porch campaign". Buchanan won the election and carried all of the Southern states, with most of the votes in the Northern states going to the Republican nominee John C. Frémont. Part of Buchanan's success in the South was his, and the party platform's, support of the Kansas–Nebraska Act. One of the tactics used in the campaign involved lithographs of Wheatland being printed and circulated, primarily in the South, "as a polite way of informing the Southerners that the Democratic candidate, though from the North, had a 'plantation estate' and held a course of life similar to their own."
=== Post-presidency ===
During his presidency, Buchanan returned to Wheatland sporadically and never for very long. He retired to Wheatland in 1861, after the election of Abraham Lincoln and the end of his term as President. Buchanan died in the main bedroom on the second floor in Wheatland on June 1, 1868. Thousands of people attended Buchanan's funeral and the procession from Wheatland to the Woodward Hill Cemetery on June 4. The estate was inherited by Harriet Lane, who used it as a summer house. After both of Lane's sons died—one in 1881 and the other a year later—and a few weeks after her husband died, Lane sold Wheatland in 1884 to George Willson.
Wheatland was inherited by Mary Willson Rettew, a cousin of George Willson, after he died of a heart attack in 1929. Rettew died in 1934 and, left a will stipulating "the establishment of 'The Willson Memorial Building'" to preserve the family's heirlooms. Her will also requested that the building be occupied by the Lancaster County Historical Society, which had been founded in 1880. Wheatland, along with 4.25 acres (17,199.14 m2) of land, were put up for sale by the executors of the will. The Junior League of Lancaster founded the "James Buchanan Foundation for the Preservation of Wheatland" in 1935 with the purpose of raising funds to buy Wheatland. Wheatland was sold to the Foundation for $40,000 (equal to $928,058 today) on February 27, 1936. It was opened to the public on May 5, 1936 and was dedicated "as a new presidential shrine, taking its place with Mount Vernon, Monticello and The Hermitage," in October 1937. Wheatland was designated a National Historic Landmark on July 4, 1961 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. Wheatland became a contributing property to the Northeast Lancaster Township Historic District on March 20, 1986. The James Buchanan Foundation and the neighboring Lancaster County Historical Society were merged in 2009 to form LancasterHistory.org.
== Architecture and decor ==
Wheatland is a Federal style house made of brick. As no documents on the actual construction are known to exist, the person or persons responsible for the design of Wheatland have remained anonymous. However, the architecture of Wheatland, as well as its location on the property, indicates someone who was skilled in classical architecture. Design elements, like various lunette windows, also show the influence of various architectural guidebooks that were prevalent in the early 19th century.
The interior of Wheatland is furnished as it would have been in the mid-19th Century, with most of the furniture being original to the house. As Wheatland has never been significantly altered or remodeled, other than the installation of modern lighting and heating, it provides an accurate view of the lifestyle in the Victorian era.
The house is made up of a 2+1⁄2-story, "bilaterally symmetrical", central section, flanked by two, three-story wings set back from the main facade. The roofs of both wings are flat and sloping towards the rear of the house; the northern wing also a "pent roof", a sloped, shingled roof between the first floor and second floor windows, on the rear. The front entrance to Wheatland is sheltered by a portico supported by Tuscan order columns, while the rear entrance is on a veranda.
=== Interior ===
Both of the main entrances into Wheatland open onto a T-shaped hallway. The main portion of the hall is 42 feet (13 m) long and 8 feet (2 m) wide, while the cross-hall is 34 by 8 feet (10 m × 2 m). It is covered with an oilcloth flooring that was decorated with "geometric squares to imitate tile"—painting one material to resemble another, more expensive one that was popular in the Victorian era. The original cloth was covered with a modern, red carpet up until 1990; it has since been overlaid with an identical, reproduction covering.
On the first floor are located the parlor, the library, two dining rooms, and the kitchen. One of the dining rooms is located in the western wing, off of the hallway, and was primarily used by the family for smaller meals like breakfast or tea. The kitchen is also in the wing, directly adjacent to the dining room. The other dining room, located in the front western side of the main house, was used only for formal dinners and as the sitting room where the men would converse after dinner. The fireplace in the room was enclosed in marble when Buchanan bought Wheatland and had a furnace installed. Across the hall, on the other side of the main house is the parlor, where the women guests would congregate after dinner. The library is located off the hallway in the east wing. The woodwork, doors, a bookcase, and a bookshelf built into the wall were grained to resemble oak. The shelves in the bookshelf no longer exist; but, the backboard of the bookshelf is visible, as is the plaster wall made to resemble wood. Two mahogany bookcases, flanking the fireplace in the library, were furnished by Jenkins and having been sold to each successive owner by the previous one. The library was primarily used by Buchanan as the place to meet with guests.
The second floor is reached by means of an elliptical stairway in the cross-hall. Embedded into the newel post at the base of the stairs is glass "peace stone", symbolizing the owners' "peace of mind" after having paid off the mortgage. The living quarters for the inhabitants of Wheatland were located on the second floor. A bathroom, complete with bathtub, shower and a bidet, was installed in the west wing when the Willsons bought Wheatland in 1884. The third floor was primarily used as servants' quarters and has been left unrestored.
=== Grounds ===
Originally constituting 22 acres (89,031 m2), the grounds surrounding Wheatland were incrementally sold until only 4.25 acres (17,199.14 m2) remained when it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The merger in 2009, however, included the 5.75 acres (23,269.42 m2) given to the historical society in 1934; the total of the two parcels is almost half of Wheatland's original property.
On the grounds, behind Wheatland, stand a privy, a smokehouse, and a carriage house. A stable used to stand on the property but was replaced by the carriage house in the late 1880s; an icehouse also no longer exists. The carriage house, today, houses meeting and reception space.
Wheatland is open to the public Monday-Saturday from mid-January through mid-November, with tours available hourly. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Kong_(franchise) | King Kong (franchise) | King Kong is an American monster media franchise that consists of thirteen films, as well as television, novels, comic books, video games, attractions, and other merchandise. The franchise is centered on King Kong, a giant ape living on a primordial island inhabited by prehistoric creatures. The original film King Kong was co-directed by Merian C. Cooper (creator of the character) and Ernest B. Schoedsack and was released on March 2, 1933; it was a box office success, despite opening during the Great Depression. The film's stop motion effects by Willis H. O'Brien revolutionized special effects, leaving a lasting impact on the film industry worldwide.
Twelve films have followed since the franchise's 1933 debut, with Kong typically serving as a benevolent and, at times, violent protagonist. Ownership over each film varies since Kong was licensed to various studios, but the original 1933 film and its sequel were produced and owned by RKO Radio Pictures. The films were inherited by Warner Bros. (via Turner Entertainment Co.) in 1996.
The franchise has had several hiatuses and revivals, and it has inspired other genre films during intervals, such as Mighty Joe Young, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Godzilla, Mothra and Jurassic Park.
== History ==
=== 1930s ===
In 1933, RKO Pictures produced and released King Kong; it became a box office success despite opening during the Great Depression, earning $90,000 in its first four days. The film's success spawned a sequel nine months later, Son of Kong, as well as what became a multimedia franchise, spanning remakes, reboots, books, videos games, attractions, parodies and references.
The film grossed $10 million at the box office and earned an additional $2.5 million when it was re-released in 1952. The film revolutionized special effects, specifically stop motion, that left a long lasting impact in the film industry worldwide, with effects animator Willis H. O'Brien largely credited for pioneering the medium. King Kong (1933) is widely regarded by critics and journalists as a masterpiece and a signature facet of American cinema, and is cited as one of the greatest monster films ever made. King Kong (1933) was selected by the National Film Registry for preservation.
=== 1960s ===
In the early 1960s, O'Brien developed a story outline titled King Kong vs. Frankenstein, supplemented with water-color illustrations and sketches, in the hopes of igniting interest for a potential production in color. Impressed with O'Brien's pitch, RKO attorney Daniel O'Shea granted O'Brien permission to use the character and introduced him to independent film producer John Beck to help secure studio funding. Despite hiring George Worthing Yates to adapt O'Brien's outline into a full screenplay (retitled as King Kong vs. Prometheus, in reference to the original Mary Shelley book) and meeting with several studios and directors, Beck failed to sell the project in Hollywood and reached out to foreign studios.
Beck succeeded in striking a deal with Toho Co., Ltd., the producers behind Godzilla (1954). However, Toho was mostly interested in licensing King Kong from RKO and Beck rather than acquiring O'Brien's story. As a result, Frankenstein/Prometheus was replaced with Godzilla and the project was redeveloped as King Kong vs. Godzilla. Beck's deal with Toho was done without O'Brien's knowledge or consent. His representative prepared a lawsuit (presumably against Beck) for unauthorized use of O'Brien's ideas in the film. However, the lawsuit was dropped due to attorney fees, and O'Brien died on November 8, 1962.
Unlike King Kong (1933), the special effects in Godzilla were accomplished with suitmation and miniature sets, also known as tokusatsu. King Kong was portrayed by Shoichi Hirose and Godzilla portrayed by Haruo Nakajima; stop motion was also used in a few brief scenes.
Toho theatrically released King Kong vs. Godzilla on August 11, 1962, in Japan and it was a box office success, having sold 11.2 million tickets during its initial theatrical run. It earned ¥352 million ($972,000) in distribution rental earnings. The film became the second-highest-grossing Japanese-produced film in history upon its release and was the fourth-highest-grossing film released in Japan that year, as well as Toho's second-biggest release.
Because Toho was so eager to acquire King Kong, they had agreed to let Beck retain exclusive distribution rights (theatrical and television) for the United States, Canada, Alaska, the United Kingdom, and Israel, while Toho retained exclusive distribution for the Far East. Beck's contract also granted him the right to produce his own version. Beck commissioned a heavily localized version with new footage using American actors and replacing Akira Ifukube's score with stock music from Universal Pictures' library. Beck sold his localized version to Universal International, who made a deal to retain copyrights to the American version for 40 years.
The American version of King Kong vs. Godzilla was released in the United States on June 26, 1963. The Japanese version remained unavailable officially outside of Japan until 2019, when American distributor The Criterion Collection included both Japanese and American versions in a Blu-ray set collecting the Shōwa era Godzilla films.
In 1966, American studio Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment acquired the rights from RKO to produce an animated series and a new live-action film. A joint venture between Rankin/Bass and Japanese studio Toei Animation, The King Kong Show premiered on ABC in September 1966. Around that time, Rankin/Bass made a deal with Toho to co-produced their King Kong film that would have been promotionally tied to The King Kong Show. Toho presented a script titled Operation Robinson Crusoe: King Kong vs. Ebirah, but Rankin/Bass vetoed the script and Toho proceeded without Rankin/Bass; King Kong was replaced with Godzilla and the film was redeveloped as Ebirah, Horror of the Deep.
In September 1966, Toho had sent Rankin/Bass a proposed synopsis for a new film titled King Kong Escapes, which was loosely based on The King Kong Show; though some elements from Operation Robinson Crusoe: King Kong vs. Ebirah remained such as over-the-top villains from an unnamed nation, illegal production of fuel for nuclear weapons, and scenes in the South Seas. The proposal was accepted and filming began in spring 1967, with Haruo Nakajima playing King Kong via suitmation. Toho theatrically released King Kong Escapes on July 22, 1967, in Japan but failed to match the box office success of King Kong vs. Godzilla. Universal Pictures released an English dubbed version in the United States the following year; similar to what they had done with King Kong vs. Godzilla, Universal made a deal to retain the copyright of the American version for 40 years.
=== 1970s–1980s ===
Accounts vary as to the genesis of the 1976 remake. Producer Dino De Laurentiis has claimed it was his idea to remake King Kong after seeing a poster of the 1933 film in his daughter's room. Michael Eisner, then-vice president of ABC, equally claimed to have conceived the idea of a remake in December 1974 after watching the 1933 film on television, and casually mentioned the idea to Sidney Sheinberg, then-president and CEO of MCA Inc. and Universal Pictures, and Sheinberg also mentioned the idea to Barry Diller, then-president of Paramount Pictures. Sheinberg and Diller soon began developing their own King Kong remakes simultaneously, both unaware of the other's project. Diller hired De Laurentiis to produce on behalf of Paramount, while Sheinberg hired Hunt Stromberg Jr. to produce for Universal. On April 15, 1975, Universal's attorney Arnold Shane and De Laurentiis met with RKO's attorney Daniel O'Shea to negotiate in acquiring the rights; Shane and De Laurentiis were unaware of each other's appointment. Despite not signing documents, both parties left believing they had secured the rights for their respected studios. However, Paramount had signed their deal with RKO the following month and soon learned about Universal's own film after they announced Joseph Sargent to direct and Bo Goldman to write the script, titled The Legend of King Kong.
Universal and Paramount soon engaged in litigation. Universal insisted that a verbal agreement was made with RKO, demanded $25 million in damages from De Laurentiis and RKO, and asserted that the material was in public domain by then since Universal published a novelization of the King Kong story in the 1930s. De Laurentiis countersued for copyright infringement, demanding $90 million in damages and pushed his film into production while also publishing ads that jabbed at Universal (e.g. "There Still is Only One King Kong"). In January 1976, negotiations were made to potentially have both studios co-produce a single film and share profits, but De Laurentiis rejected Universal's proposal of using their script and controlling the merchandise. Litigation ended that same month after De Laurentiis agreed to pay an undisclosed percentage for Universal's cancelled film, with Universal vowing to produce their own King Kong film at an undetermined date.
Carlo Rambaldi lead an effects team that built Kong's giant hand and a 40 foot tall robot of Kong, its construction overseen by Glen Robinson. Like the Toho films, an ape-suit was used to bring Kong to life, with special make-up effects artist Rick Baker portraying the character. The 40-foot robot cost roughly $2 million, while the giant hand and suit cost an additional $400,000, and a full-sized static Kong made of styrofoam, used for one scene, cost $300,000. The production was a rushed venture since the studio set the film's release date for December 1976 and De Laurentiis' persistence to beat Universal. As a result, delays occurred due to props and mechanics malfunctioning; two full-scale right hands produced by mistake; director John Guillermin's tyrant-like behavior on-set; the budget inflating to $24 million and marketing costs of $10 million, figures unheard of at the time. Paramount theatrically released King Kong on December 17, 1976, and grossed $90 million. Despite mixed reviews unfavorably comparing the remake to the original, the film won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, shared with Logan's Run.
In 1977, De Laurentiis stated that a sequel to the 1976 remake would "definitely" be produced. However, development on a sequel was impaired by the remake's disappointing box office results and legal complications over the ownership of the King Kong character. Writer Steven Pressfield stated that various scripts were written that he described as "embarrassing". Despite initially skeptical of a female Kong, De Laurentiis ultimately approved of Pressfield's and Ronald Shusett pitch of Kong put in a respirator and restored with an artificial heart. Guillermin returned to direct the sequel after finances collapsed for a film adaptation of Tai-Pan with Sean Connery. The film was announced in October 1985 and filming began in April 1986 in Tennessee for a December release later that year. King Kong Lives was theatrically released on December 19, 1986, by De Laurentiis Entertainment Group and was met with a poor response. The film flopped at the box office, grossing $4.7 million in the United States and Canada, and was panned by critics.
=== 1990s ===
In 1993, Toho had considered remaking King Kong vs. Godzilla, due to that film being their most successful Godzilla/Kong film to date. However, Toho concluded that re-acquiring the rights to King Kong would prove difficult and instead considered using the cyborg Mechani-Kong, seen in The King Kong Show and Toho's King Kong Escapes. Effects director Kōichi Kawakita regaled an idea inspired by Fantastic Voyage where Mechani-Kong would have injected people inside Godzilla's body to battle the beast internally while Mechani-Kong battled Godzilla externally. Kawakita stated that the concept would have explored different worlds inside Godzilla. However, Toho walked back on using Mechani-Kong since the character bore a likeness to King Kong and thus required obtaining the rights. Mechani-Kong was replaced with Mechagodzilla and the film was redeveloped as Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II.
In 1995, Universal Pictures offered filmmaker Peter Jackson a chance to direct a remake of King Kong, after being impressed with Jackson's The Frighteners. Licensing the character from RKO and Time Warner was no longer an issue because the character of "Kong" fell into public domain by that point. Jackson initially turned down the offer but reneged on his decision after fearing that the remake would fail under a different director. Around that time, Jackson was attached to direct live-action film adaptations of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings but proceeded with King Kong due to producer Harvey Weinstein taking too long to acquire the rights. To placate Weinstein's anger, Jackson brokered a co-financing/co-distributing deal with Miramax for King Kong that benefited all parties. Pre-production commenced with filmmaker Robert Zemeckis on board as executive producer and Universal approved the script co-written by Jackson and his wife Fran Walsh, with filming planned to commence in 1997 for a potential 1998 release. However, Universal halted progress in January 1997 after growing concern over competition from the then-upcoming releases of TriStar's Godzilla and Mighty Joe Young, both released in 1998, the latter by Miramax's parent company, Disney. Universal aborted King Kong the following month, despite Wētā FX and Wētā Workshop having already designed six months worth of pre-production, and Jackson reverted to helm The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Years later, Jackson, and his frequent collaborator Christian Rivers, had noted a similar tone between Jackson's unused script and Universal's 1999 remake of The Mummy.
In 1998, Warner Bros. released The Mighty Kong direct-to-video. An animated musical remake of the 1933 film, it features the voices of Dudley Moore, Jodi Benson, Bill Sage, Jason Gray-Stanford, and Richard Newman. The film received negative reviews and is placed in the low-tier end of most ranking lists of King Kong films.
=== 2000s ===
In response to the success of Columbia TriStar Television's animated series Godzilla: The Series, BKN International produced Kong: The Animated Series and ran on syndicated television between 2000 and 2001. The series is a direct sequel to the 1933 film and focuses on a new Kong cloned from the DNA of both the 1933 Kong and a young man named Jason and as a result, Jason is able to link with Kong via a special device in moments of crisis. The series generated two direct-to-video animated films, Kong: King of Atlantis (2005) and Kong: Return to the Jungle (2006).
After the success of The Lord of the Rings films, The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, Universal approached Jackson in early 2003 during post-production on The Return of the King about reviving his King Kong remake. In March 2003, Universal scheduled a 2005 release date and Philippa Boyens was hired to rewrite Jackson's and Walsh's 1996 script, but Jackson began to work on a new script in October 2003 that was closer to the 1933 film after being dissatisfied with the 1996 script. They included unused elements from James Ashmore Creelman's script of the 1933 film, such as the lost spider-pit scene. Delos W. Lovelace's 1932 novelization was also a source of inspiration. Weta Workshop and Weta Digital began to work immediately on King Kong after the completion of The Return of the King and Jackson had brought back the crew that worked with him on The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Filming began in September 2004, with Andy Serkis portraying Kong via motion-capture acting. Universal theatrically released King Kong on December 13, 2005, to generally positive reviews, with the film appearing in several top ten lists for 2005. The film received four Academy Award nominations, for Visual Effects, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, and Production Design, winning all but the last. Jackson had also directed a recreation of the lost spider pit sequence that was featured on the 2005 DVD release of the 1933 film.
=== 2010s–present ===
==== Monsterverse ====
In 2013, Jackson and producer Mary Parent had intended to produce Skull Island, a direct sequel to his 2005 remake and handpicked then up-and-coming director Adam Wingard to direct it. However, when Legendary Pictures took over the project and redeveloped it as a prequel, Jackson and Wingard dropped out but Parent remained; Parent eventually became Legendary's production chief.
In July 2014, Legendary announced the film at San Diego Comic-Con's Hall H with Max Borenstein (writer of Legendary's 2014 Godzilla film) to write the script. Legendary initially targeted a November 4, 2016 release and had offered Joe Cornish to direct it. Around that time, Jackson expressed interest in seeing Guillermo del Toro direct the film. In September 2014, Legendary announced Jordan Vogt-Roberts as the director, with Tom Hiddleston leading the film. In September 2015, Legendary moved the film, retitled Kong: Skull Island, from Universal to Warner Bros. to unite the King Kong and Godzilla properties under one studio. In October 2015, Legendary officially announced their plans for a shared cinematic franchise between King Kong and Godzilla that would culminate in a Godzilla vs. Kong film, at the time slated for a 2020 release. In January 2017, Legendary's Godzilla–Kong series was revealed as the Monsterverse, after it was announced that Legendary founder Thomas Tull would resign but remain as producer on the Monsterverse films.
Inspired by Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now, Borenstein had originally envisioned a war film that began in the Vietnam War and jumped to the present day; however, Legendary rejected this idea. Borenstein then wrote a draft set in 1917 while retaining the Apocalypse Now concept. That version saw Hiddleston playing a character leading a rescue mission into Skull Island to find his brother, who came to the island in search of a cure-all serum. After Vogt-Roberts joined the film, he liked Borenstein's original Vietname-era pitch and convinced Legendary to set the film near the end of the Vietnam war. For Kong's design, Vogt-Roberts took the character back the look of the 1933 iteration, wanting him to look straightforward yet iconic enough that a child could draw him, and wanted Kong to reflect a lonely and morose God. Terry Notary portrayed Kong via performance capture, while Toby Kebbell provided additional facial work; Notary sought Serkis' blessing before accepting the role. Principal photography began in October 2015, in Hawaii and Vietnam and wrapped in March 2016.
Kong: Skull Island was released on March 10, 2017, to positive reviews, and was a box office success, grossing $566 million worldwide against a budget of $185 million. The film received a nomination for Best Visual Effects at the 90th Academy Awards.
In April 2016, writer and artist Joe DeVito sued Legendary and Warner Bros. for breach of implied contract, alleging that they had stolen ideas and concepts from pitch meetings he had with Legendary in April 2014. He claimed Legendary turned him down yet used his ideas as the basis for their film without credit or compensation and sought $3.5 million in general and punitive damages.
In March 2017, Legendary had assembled a writers room for Godzilla vs. Kong, with Terry Rossio (who had co-written an unproduced script for TriStar's Godzilla) leading a team consisting of Patrick McKay, J. D. Payne, Lindsey Beer, Cat Vasko, T. S. Nowlin, Jack Paglen, and J. Michael Straczynski. At that time, Wingard had a general meeting with Parent, who recalled that Jackson had approved of Wingard and was announced as the director of Godzilla vs. Kong in May 2017.
Filming for Godzilla vs. Kong began in November 2018 in Hawaii, Australia, and Hong Kong and wrapped in April 2019. Allan Henry provided the performance capture for Kong, while animation supervisor Eric Petey provided Kong's full body performance and facial capture for the ocean battle sequence. The film endured several delays, largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but was finally released internationally on March 24, 2021 and on March 31, 2021 in the United States; the latter which saw a concurrent release in theaters and on HBO Max. The film received generally positive reviews and became a box office and streaming hit during the pandemic; it became the most successful launch item in HBO Max's history until it was overtaken by Mortal Kombat. The film grossed $470 million worldwide against a break-even point of $330 million, and became the most pirated film of 2021.
In January 2021, Legendary announced an animated series titled Skull Island. A joint-venture between Legendary Television, Tractor Pants Productions, Powerhouse Animation Studios, and Netflix Animation, the series was released on June 22, 2023, on Netflix. In March 2025, Legendary Comics announced a partnership with Titan Comics to expand Skull Island into a comic series titled Return to Skull Island, slated for June 4, 2025.
Due to the success of Godzilla vs. Kong, Legendary announced a sequel in March 2022, scheduled to commence filming later that same year. In May 2022, it was announced that Wingard would return to direct and that Dan Stevens had been cast in the lead. Wingard and Stevens had previously worked together on The Guest. Filming began in July 2022 in Gold Coast, Queensland, and finished in November 2022. Allan Henry provided the performance capture for both the Skar King and Kong, reprising his role from Godzilla vs. Kong. In April 2023, Legendary released a teaser trailer revealing the film's official title as Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. The film was theatrically released on March 29, 2024. Due to the film's success, Legendary announced in May 2024 that a follow-up is in development and would be written by David Callaham.
In January 2024, Kong briefly appeared in the finale of the television series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. The character's role would further be expanded on in the series' second season.
Due to the success of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, Legendary announced in May 2024 that a sequel, titled Godzilla x Kong: Supernova, had entered development and would be written by David Callaham. The following week, Legendary announced that Wingard would not return to direct due to scheduling conflicts, but had expressed interest in having Wingard return. In June 2024, Legendary announced Grant Sputore (director of I Am Mother) as the new director and that the film would be released on March 26, 2027. Pre-production began in January 2025, with performers being cast such as Kaitlyn Dever, Jack O'Connell, Delroy Lindo, Dan Stevens (reprises his role from the previous film), Matthew Modine, Alycia Debnam-Carey, and Sam Neill.
==== Other projects ====
In 2016, Netflix released the animated series Kong: King of the Apes; a joint venture between 41 Entertainment and Avi Arad, the series ran for two seasons.
In April 2017, MarVista Entertainment and IM Global announced their own live-action King Kong project for television; written by Jonathan Penner and Stacy Title, the series is to be based on DeVito's materials, approved by the Cooper estate.
In August 2022, Disney Branded Television announced plans for a live-action series of their own for Disney+. The series is to be co-produced by James Wan's Atomic Monster Productions and written by Stephany Folsom, and would be based on Cooper's original books and DeVito's new novelizations, focusing on a new Kong in modern times with characters exploring the origins and mysteries of his home island.
== Filmography ==
=== Films ===
=== Television ===
== Reception ==
=== Box office performance ===
N/A = no known data.
=== Critical and public response ===
=== Academy Awards ===
== Cultural impact ==
King Kong, as well as the series of films featuring him, have been featured many times in popular culture outside of the films themselves, in forms ranging from straight copies to parodies and joke references, and in media from comic books to video games. The Beatles' 1968 animated film Yellow Submarine includes a scene of the characters opening a door to reveal King Kong abducting a woman from her bed. The Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror III" features a segment called "King Homer" which parodies the plot of the original film, with Homer as Kong and Marge in the Ann Darrow role. It ends with King Homer marrying Marge and eating her father.
The British comedy TV series The Goodies made an episode called "Kitten Kong", in which a giant cat called Twinkle roams the streets of London, knocking over the British Telecom Tower. The controversial World War II Dutch resistance fighter Christiaan Lindemans — eventually arrested on suspicion of having betrayed secrets to the Nazis — was nicknamed "King Kong" due to his being exceptionally tall. Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention recorded an instrumental about "King Kong" in 1967 and featured it on the album Uncle Meat. Zappa went on to make many other versions of the song on albums such as Make a Jazz Noise Here, You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 3, Ahead of Their Time, and Beat the Boots.
The Kinks recorded a song called "King Kong" as the B-side to their 1969 "Plastic Man" single. In 1972, a 550 cm (18 ft) fiberglass statue of King Kong was erected in Birmingham, England. The second track of The Jimmy Castor Bunch album Supersound from 1975 is titled "King Kong". Filk Music artists Ookla the Mok's "Song of Kong", which explores the reasons why King Kong and Godzilla should not be roommates, appears on their 2001 album Smell No Evil. Daniel Johnston wrote and recorded a song called "King Kong" on his fifth self-released music cassette, Yip/Jump Music in 1983, rereleased on CD and double LP by Homestead Records in 1988. The song is an a cappella narrative of the original movie's story line. Tom Waits recorded a cover version of the song with various sound effects on the 2004 release, The Late Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Covered. ABBA recorded "King Kong Song" for their 1974 album Waterloo and it was included as a B-side on the singles for "Honey, Honey" and "I've Been Waiting for You".
== Other media ==
=== Video games ===
Various electronic games featuring King Kong have been released through the years by numerous companies. These range from handheld LCD games, to video games, to pinball machines. Tiger Electronics released various King Kong games in the early 1980s, including a Tabletop LCD game in 1981, a video game for the Atari 2600 home video game system in 1982, a handheld game in 1982 in both a regular edition a large screen edition (the regular edition was later reissued by Tandy in 1984), an "Orlitronic" game (for the international markets) in 1983, and a color "Flip-Up" game in 1984.
Epoch Co. released two LCD games in 1982. One was King Kong: New York, and the other was King Kong: Jungle Konami released two games based on the film King Kong Lives in 1986. The first game was King Kong 2: Ikari no Megaton Punch for the Famicom, and the second was King Kong 2: Yomigaeru Densetsu, for the MSX computer. In 1988, Konami featured the character in the crossover game Konami Wai Wai World. All of these games were only released in Japan. Data East planned to release a pinball machine called King Kong: The Eighth Wonder of the World in 1990, but only 9 units were made. In 1992, Nintendo produced an educational game called Mario is Missing that features a treasure hunt level involving King Kong in New York City. The character is represented by images of his arm grabbing the Empire State Building in the NES version and a full body statue in the SNES version. Bam! Entertainment released a Game Boy Advance game based on Kong: The Animated Series in 2002. MGA Entertainment released an electronic handheld King Kong game (packaged with a small figurine) in 2003. Majesco Entertainment released a Game Boy Advance game based on the straight to video animated film Kong: King of Atlantis in 2005.
In 2005, Ubisoft released two video games based on the 2005 King Kong. Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie was released on all video game platforms, while Kong: The 8th Wonder of the World was released for the Game Boy Advance. Also to tie into the film, Gameloft released King Kong: The Official Mobile Game of the Movie for mobile phones, while Radio Shack released a miniature pinball game. Taiyo Elec Co released a King Kong Pachinko game in 2007.
King Kong appears in the Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment game Lego Dimensions. He appears as a boss in The Lego Batman Movie pack.
In 2021, Raw Thrills released a cinematic virtual reality motion game called King Kong of Skull Island.
Also in 2021, King Kong became a playable character in the Toho mobile game Godzilla Battle Line as part of a crossover promotion with the film Godzilla vs. Kong.
In 2022, King Kong appears as a non-playable character alongside Godzilla in Call of Duty: Warzone. Once again as part of a crossover promotion with Godzilla vs. Kong, the update is titled Operation Monarch. A cosmetic outfit based on Kong is also released for both Warzone and Call of Duty: Vanguard. Also that year Kong appeared in the game World of Warships. In 2024, Kong was also featured in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III and Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 in an update called Godzilla x Kong: Battle for Hollow Earth to tie into the film Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.
Also in 2022, King Kong appeared in the mobile game Kong Skull Island x Evony: The King's Return as a tie in to the film Kong Skull Island by Evony, LLC.
In 2023, Zen Studios released a three pack video game collection for Pinball FX called Godzilla vs. Kong: Pinball Pack which features three tables, Kong Pinball, Godzilla Pinball and Godzilla vs. Kong Pinball.
Also in 2023, GameMill Entertainment released Skull Island: Rise of Kong for all platforms.
In 2024 a trio of King Kong games were released. Hunted Cow Studios and Tilting Point released the mobile game Godzilla x Kong: Titan Chasers, 7Levels released Kong: Survivor Instinct for the PC and consoles, and Supersocial released Monsterverse Supersocial Roblox Experience for Roblox.
Also in 2024, a fully licensed electronic arcade whacking game machine called Godzilla vs. Kong Smasher was released by Unis Technology.
In January 2025, a purchasable outfit based on King Kong's appearance in the Monsterverse series was added to Fortnite Battle Royale.
In April 2025, Stern Pinball released a King Kong themed Pinball table called King Kong: Myth of Terror Island. The table comes in Pro, Premium, and Limited Editions.
In October 2025, IGG Inc. released a collaboration event with Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire and their RPG Doomsday: Last Survivors.
Besides starring in his own games, King Kong was the obvious influence behind other city-destroying gigantic apes, such as George from the Rampage series, Woo from King of the Monsters (who was modeled after the Toho version of the character), and Congar from War of the Monsters, as well as giant apes worshipped as deities, like Chaos and Blizzard from Primal Rage whose beast classification is listed as "Kong" on the toy packaging.
=== Literature and comics ===
Over the decades, there have been numerous books, novels, and comic books based on King Kong by various publishers.
In December 1932, as the film King Kong was finishing production, Merian C. Cooper asked his friend Delos W. Lovelace to adapt the film's screenplay into a novelization. Published by Grosset & Dunlap, the book was released later that month on December 27, just over 2 months before the film premiered on March 2, 1933. This was a part of the film's advance marketing campaign. The novelization was credited as being based on the "Screenplay by James A. Creelman and Ruth Rose. Novelized from the Radio Picture". The byline written under the title was "Conceived by Edgar Wallace and Merian C. Cooper". However, despite the credit, Wallace had very little to do with the story or the character. In an interview, author-artist Joe DeVito explains:
From what I know, Edgar Wallace, a famous writer of the time, died very early in the process. Little if anything of his ever appeared in the final story, but his name was retained for its saleability ... King Kong was Cooper's creation, a fantasy manifestation of his real life adventures. As many have mentioned before, Cooper was Carl Denham. His actual exploits rival anything Indiana Jones ever did in the movies.
This conclusion about Wallace's contribution was verified in the book The Making of King Kong by Orville Goldner and George E. Turner (1975) where Wallace stated in his diary, "Merian Cooper called and we talked over the big animal play we are going to write, or rather I am writing and he is directing", and "An announcement has been made in the local press that I am doing a super horror story with Merian Cooper, but the truth is it is much more his story than mine...I shall get much more credit out of the picture than I deserve if it is a success, but I shall be blamed by the public if it is a failure which seems fair". Wallace died of pneumonia complicated by diabetes on February 10, 1932, and Cooper later had James Creelman and finally Ruth Rose finish the screenplay. Cooper would later state: "Actually, Edgar Wallace didn't write any of Kong, not one bloody word...I'd promised him credit and so I gave it to him".
Cooper issued a reprint of the novelization in 1965 that was published by Bantam Books. Some time later, the copyright expired and the publishing rights to the book fell into the public domain. Since then a myriad of publishers have reprinted the novelization numerous times. In 1983, Judith Conaway wrote a juvenile adaptation of the novelization called King Kong (Step Up Adventures) that featured illustrations by Mike Berenstain and was published by Random House books, while Anthony Browne wrote and illustrated another juvenile adaptation called Anthony Browne's King Kong in 1994. Credited as "From the Story Conceived by Edgar Wallace & Merian C. Cooper", the book was published by the Turner Publishing Company. It was re-released as a paperback in the U.K in 2005 by Picture Corgi. Blackstone Audio produced an audio recording of the book in 2005 narrated by Stefan Rudnicki, while StarWarp Concepts released an Ebook version complete with 6 new illustrations from pulp-comic artist Paul Tuma in 2017.
Outside of the novelization, the film was serialized in a pulp magazine. In 1933, Mystery magazine published a King Kong serial under the byline of Edgar Wallace, and written by Walter F. Ripperger. This serialization was published in two parts in the February and March issues of the magazine.
In the U.K, the film was serialized in two different pulps, both on October 28, 1933: in the juvenile Boys Magazine (Vol. 23, No. 608), where the serialization was uncredited, and in that month's issue of Cinema Weekly where it was credited to Edgar Wallace and written by Draycott Montagu Dell (1888–1940). This short story adaptation would later appear in the Peter Haining book called Movie Monsters in 1988, published by Severn House in the U.K. The novel was serialized in the London Daily Herald by H. Kingsley Long as well. The serialization was first published in April 1933 and ran 37 installments.
In 1973, Philip Jose Farmer wrote a short story sequel to the Lovelace novelization called After King Kong Fell that was published in OMEGA: a collection of original science fiction stories.
In 1977, a novelization of the 1976 remake of King Kong was published by Ace Books. This novelization was called The Dino De Laurentiis Production of King Kong and was simply the 1976 Lorenzo Semple Jr. script published in book form. The cover was done by Frank Frazetta.
To coincide with the 2005 remake of King Kong, various books were released to tie into the film. A novelization was written by Christopher Golden based on the screenplay by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Peter Jackson. Matt Costello wrote an official prequel to the film called King Kong: The Island of the Skull. These books were published by Pocket Books. Various illustrated juvenile books were published, as well, by Harper Books: Kong's Kingdom was written by Julia Simon-Kerr; Meet Kong and Ann and Journey to Skull Island were written by Jennifer Franz; Escape from Skull Island and Kong: The Eighth Wonder of the World—Junior Novel were written by Laura J. Burns; The Search for Kong was written by Catherine Hapka; and finally, a Deluxe Sound Storybook of Kong: The Eighth Wonder of the World was written by Don Curry. Weta Workshop released a collection of concept art from the film entitled The World of Kong: A Natural History of Skull Island that was published by Pocket Books. The book was written and designed to resemble and read like an actual nature guide and historical record.
In 2005, Ibooks, Inc., published an unofficial book featuring King Kong called Kong Reborn, by Russell Blackford.
Starting in 1996, artist/writer Joe DeVito began working with the Merian C. Cooper estate to write and/or illustrate various books based on the King Kong character. The first of these was an origin story labeled as an authorized sequel/prequel to the 1932 novelization of King Kong called Kong: King of Skull Island. This illustrated hardcover novel was published in 2004 by DH Press and featured a story DeVito co-wrote with Brad Strickland and John Michlig. It also included an introduction by Ray Harryhausen. A large paperback edition was then released in 2005, with extra pages at the end of the book. A CD audiobook narrated by Joey D'Auria was released by RadioArchives as well, and an interactive two-part app was released in 2011 and 2013, respectively, by Copyright 1957 LLC. In 2005, DeVito and Strickland co-wrote another book together called Merian C. Cooper's King Kong for the Merian C. Cooper estate. This book was published by St. Martin's Press. It was a full rewrite of the original 1932 novelization, which updates the language and paleontology and adds five new chapters. Some additional elements and characters tie into Kong: King of Skull Island, enabling the two separate books to form a continuous storyline.
In 2013, the first of two books featuring crossovers with pulp heroes was published. To coincide with the 80th anniversary of both King Kong and Doc Savage, Altus Press published Doc Savage: Skull Island in both softcover and hardcover editions. This officially sanctioned book was written by Will Murray and based on concepts by DeVito. In 2016, Altus Press published the other crossover book, this time featuring a meeting between King Kong and Tarzan. The novel, called King Kong vs. Tarzan, was once again written by Will Murray and featured artwork by DeVito. In 2017, a new book featuring another origin story, written and illustrated by DeVito, was released, called King Kong of Skull Island. Expanded versions of the book titled King Kong Skull Island: Exodus and King Kong Skull Island: The Wall were released by Markosia in 2020.
In March 2017, to coincide with the release of Kong: Skull Island, Titan Books released a novelization of the film written by Tim Lebbon and a hardcover book The Art and Making of Kong: Skull Island by Simon Ward.
In 2021, to coincide with the release of Godzilla vs. Kong, various tie-in books were released. On March 30, Legendary Comics released a graphic prequel novel called Kingdom Kong written by Marie Anello, as well as a children's picture book called Kong and Me written by Kiki Thorpe and illustrated by Nidhi Chanani.
On April 6, Titan Books released Godzilla vs. Kong: The Official Movie Novelization written by Greg Keyes. Insight Editions released a children's board book called Godzilla vs. Kong: Sometimes Friends Fight (But They Always Make Up) written by Carol Herring, and on May 21, also released Godzilla vs. Kong: One Will Fall, The Art of the Ultimate Battle Royale written by Daniel Wallace.
In April 2024, to coincide with the release of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, Titan Books released a novelization of the film written by Greg Keyes.
=== Theme park rides ===
Universal Studios has had popular King Kong attractions at Universal Studios Hollywood in Universal City, California and Universal Orlando Resort in Orlando, Florida.
The first King Kong attraction was called King Kong Encounter and was a part of the Studio Tour at Universal Studios Hollywood. Based upon the 1976 film King Kong, the tour took the guests in the world of 1976 New York City, where Kong was seen wreaking havoc on the city. It was opened on June 14, 1986, and was destroyed on June 1, 2008, in a major fire. Universal opened a replacement 3D King Kong ride called King Kong: 360 3-D that opened on July 1, 2010, based upon Peter Jackson's 2005 film King Kong.
A second more elaborate ride was constructed at Universal Studios Florida on June 7, 1990, called Kongfrontation. The ride featured a stand-alone extended version of King Kong Encounter and pinned guests escaping on the Roosevelt Island Tramway from Kong, who was rampaging across New York City. The ride was closed down on September 8, 2002, and was replaced with Revenge of the Mummy on May 21, 2004.
A new King Kong attraction titled Skull Island: Reign of Kong opened at Islands of Adventure on July 13, 2016, making it the first King Kong themed ride in Orlando since Kongfrontation closed down 14 years earlier at Universal Studios Florida.
A ride based on the Monsterverse titled Kong x Godzilla: The Ride opened at the Lotte World Adventure in Seoul, South Korea in December 2025.
=== Musical ===
A musical adaptation of the story (endorsed by Merian C. Cooper's estate) was staged in Melbourne at the Regent Theatre. The show premiered on June 15, 2013, as King Kong: The Eighth Wonder of The World, with music by Marius De Vries. The musical then premiered on Broadway on November 8, 2018, at the Broadway Theatre as King Kong: Alive on Broadway. The creative team included book writer Jack Thorne, director-choreographer Drew McOnie, and Australian songwriter Eddie Perfect, who replace the former creatives.
The huge King Kong puppet was created by Global Creature Technology. The puppet stands 20 feet tall and weighs 2,400 pounds. It is operated by a large rig with 10 onstage puppeteers, and features an array of microprocessors and tiny motors that power nuanced movements in the facial features. According to Sonny Tilders, who designed the Fiberglas and steel puppet for Global Creatures Company, "It's the most sophisticated marionette puppet ever made". Tilders also stated that Kong is built in layers, and is "quite similar to genuine anatomy". Over the steel skeleton, the body shell is a mixture of hard Fiberglas, enforced inflatables, high-pressure inflatables, and bags full of styrene beans that stretch and contort like muscles. Tilders said that they wanted to create the sense that Kong is a moving sculpture.
=== Other appearances ===
King Kong had three cameos in Warner Bros films:
In the 2017 film The Lego Batman Movie, King Kong (voiced by Seth Green) appears as an inmate of the Phantom Zone. He is among the Phantom Zone inmates that the Joker releases in order to take over Gotham City. During the Joker's campaign, King Kong destroys one of the towers that Batman and the others hide in. With help from Robin, Batgirl, Alfred Pennyworth, and his enemies, Batman is able to defeat King Kong and send him and his fellow Phantom Zone inmates back to the Phantom Zone.
In the 2018 film Ready Player One (based on the book of the same name), King Kong appears as one of the hazards of the OASIS racetrack.
In the 2021 film Space Jam: A New Legacy, King Kong makes a cameo as one of the many spectators to a basketball game between the Tune Squad and the Goon Squad.
=== Other references ===
King Kong, in name only, was referenced by Ian Malcolm as a sarcastic remark toward the gates of Jurassic Park in the titular 1993 film.
A frame of King Kong in the 1933 film can be seen for a split second during the 2008 monster film Cloverfield.
Both King Kong and Skull Island were referenced and made multiple appearances in the 2019 film Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
=== King Kong in the name ===
There were other unofficial movies to have borne the "King Kong" name:
A lost silent Japanese short, Japanese King Kong (和製キングコング, Wasei Kingu Kongu), directed by Torajiro Saito, featuring an all-Japanese cast and produced by the Shochiku company, was released in 1933. The plot revolves around a down-on-his-luck man who plays the King Kong character in a vaudeville theater to earn money to woo a girl he likes. The film does not actually involve King Kong per se.
The King Kong That Appeared in Edo (江戸に現れたキングコング, Edo ni Arawareta Kingu Kongu): a lost two-part silent Japanese period piece that was produced by a company called Zensho Kinema in 1938. The film revolves around kidnapping and revenge amongst the characters. The "King Kong" in this film is a trained ape (that looks more like a Yeti) who is used to kidnap one of the characters. Judging by the plot synopsis presented by periodicals at the time, the "King Kong" is regular-sized and is only depicted as gigantic on the advertisements for promotional purposes.
The 1959 Hong Kong film King Kong's Adventures in the Heavenly Palace (猩猩王大鬧天宮), which features a normal-sized gorilla.
The Hindi films King Kong (1962) and Tarzan and King Kong (1965), which feature the professional wrestler King Kong and have nothing to do with the famous movie monster, although the latter film features a normal-sized gorilla.
The 1968 Italian film Kong Island (Eva, la Venere selvaggia, lit. 'Eve, the wild Venus'), which was advertised in the U.S. as King of Kong Island. Despite the American title, the film features normal-sized gorillas and takes place in Africa.
The 1981 Mexican film Las Muñecas Del King Kong (The Dolls of King Kong), which features exotic jungle girls. The "King Kong" in the film is simply a giant ape statue on top of a building.
=== Related films ===
The premise of a giant gorilla brought to the United States for entertainment purposes, and subsequently wreaking havoc, was recycled in Mighty Joe Young (1949), through the same studio and with much of the same principal talent as the 1933 original. It was remade in 1998.
King Kong bears some similarities with an earlier effort by special effects head Willis H. O'Brien, The Lost World (1925), in which dinosaurs are found living on an isolated plateau. It was based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novel of the same name.
Banglar King Kong – an unofficial Bangladeshi musical based on the King Kong story and directed by Iftekar Jahan. The film uses large amounts of stock footage from the films King Kong and Mighty Joe Young, as well as National Geographic documentaries, and premiered in June 2010 in the Purnima Cinema Hall in Dhaka.
Other similar giant ape films include:
The 1949 American comedy film Africa Screams, where a giant ape briefly appears.
The 1961 British film Konga, where a chimpanzee is enlarged after being fed a growth serum by a deranged scientist and attacks London.
The 1969 American film The Mighty Gorga, which features a circus owner's quest to capture a giant gorilla in an African jungle. Unlike King Kong, Gorga remains in Africa.
The 1976 Korean 3D film Ape, where a giant ape runs amok in Seoul, South Korea.
The 1976 British film Queen Kong, a film that parodies King Kong with a gender reversal between the giant ape and the object of the ape's affection.
The 1977 Hong Kong film The Mighty Peking Man, featuring a huge Bigfoot/ape-like creature that attacks Hong Kong after it was brought to Hong Kong from its territory somewhere in India near the Himalayas.
The 1977 Italian film Yeti: Giant of the 20th Century, featuring a giant abominable snowman running amok in Ontario after a millionaire industrialist thaws it out of a block of ice.
The 2005 The Asylum film King of the Lost World is a mockbuster of Jackson's King Kong, loosely based on the aforementioned The Lost World.
The 2018 American film Rampage, featuring a giant albino western lowland gorilla named George. The film is based on the 1986 arcade game Rampage, which itself is a video game parody of giant monster films. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Kingsolver | Barbara Kingsolver | Barbara Ellen Kingsolver (born April 8, 1955) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, essayist, and poet. Her widely known works include The Poisonwood Bible, the tale of a missionary family in the Congo, and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, a nonfiction account of her family's attempts to eat locally. In 2023, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for the novel Demon Copperhead. Her work often focuses on topics such as social justice, biodiversity, and the interaction between humans and their communities and environments.
Kingsolver has received numerous awards, including the Dayton Literary Peace Prize's Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award in 2011 and the National Humanities Medal. After winning for The Lacuna in 2010 and Demon Copperhead in 2023, Kingsolver became the first author to win the Women's Prize for Fiction twice. Since 1993, each one of her book titles have been on the New York Times Best Seller list.
Kingsolver was raised in rural Kentucky, lived briefly in the Congo in her early childhood, and currently lives in Virginia, in the Appalachia region. Kingsolver earned degrees in biology, ecology, and evolutionary biology at DePauw University and the University of Arizona, and worked as a freelance writer before she began writing novels. In 2000, the politically progressive Kingsolver established the Bellwether Prize to support "literature of social change".
== Biography ==
Kingsolver was born in 1955 in Annapolis, Maryland, the daughter of Wendell Roy Kingsolver and Virginia Lee (née Henry) Kingsolver, but grew up in Carlisle, Kentucky. When Kingsolver was seven, her father, a physician, took the family to Léopoldville, Congo (now Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo).
After graduating from high school, Kingsolver attended DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, on a music scholarship, studying classical piano. She changed her major to biology after realizing that "classical pianists compete for six job openings a year, and the rest of [them] get to play 'Blue Moon' in a hotel lobby".
Kingsolver was involved in activism on her campus, and took part in protests against the Vietnam War. In 1977, Kingsolver graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a Bachelor of Science, and moved to France for a year. In 1980, she enrolled in graduate school at the University of Arizona, where she earned a master's degree in ecology and evolutionary biology.
In 1985, Kingsolver married Joseph Hoffmann, and gave birth to their daughter Camille in 1987. During the first First Gulf War, she moved with her daughter to Tenerife in the Canary Islands for a year, mostly due to her frustration over America's military involvement. After returning to the United States in 1992, she separated from her husband.
In 1994, Kingsolver was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Letters from her alma mater, DePauw University. That same year, she married Steven Lee Hopp, an ornithologist, and their daughter Lily was born in 1996. In 2004, Kingsolver moved with her family to a farm in Washington County, Virginia. In 2008, she received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Duke University, where she delivered a commencement address entitled "How to Be Hopeful".
In the late 1990s, Kingsolver was a founding member of the Rock Bottom Remainders, a rock-and-roll band made up of published writers. Other band members included Amy Tan, Matt Groening, Dave Barry, and Stephen King, and they played for one week during the year. Kingsolver played the keyboard, but is no longer an active member of the band.
In a 2010 interview with The Guardian, Kingsolver said, "I never wanted to be famous, and still don't… the universe rewarded me with what I dreaded most". She said she created her own website just to compete with a plethora of fake ones "as a defense to protect my family from misinformation".
Kingsolver lives in the Appalachia area of the United States. She said in 2020 that rural America is generally regarded by artistic elites with "a profound antipathy".
== Writing career ==
Kingsolver began her full-time writing career in the mid-1980s as a science writer for the University of Arizona, which eventually led to freelance feature writing, including many cover stories for the local alternative weekly, the Tucson Weekly. She began her career in fiction writing after winning a short-story contest in a local Phoenix newspaper.
Kingsolver's first novel, The Bean Trees, was published in 1988, and told the story of a young woman who leaves Kentucky for Arizona, adopting an abandoned child along the way; she wrote it at night while pregnant with her first child and struggling with insomnia. Her next work of fiction, published in 1990, was Homeland and Other Stories, a collection of short stories on a variety of topics exploring various themes from the evolution of cultural and ancestral lands to the struggles of marriage.
The novel Animal Dreams was also published in 1990, followed by Pigs in Heaven, the sequel to The Bean Trees, in 1993. Every book that Kingsolver has written since Pigs in Heaven has been on The New York Times Best Seller list.
The Poisonwood Bible, published in 1998, is one of her best-known works; it chronicles the lives of the wife and daughters of a Baptist missionary on a Christian mission in Africa. Although the setting of the novel is somewhat similar to Kingsolver's own childhood in the Democratic Republic of Congo (then Zaire), the novel is not autobiographical. The novel was chosen as an Oprah's Book Club selection. The Poisonwood Bible won the National Book Prize of South Africa and was shortlisted for both the Pulitzer Prize and PEN/Faulkner Award.
Her next novel, published in 2000, was Prodigal Summer, set in southern Appalachia. In 2000, she was awarded the National Humanities Medal by the U.S. President Bill Clinton.
Kingsolver wrote a Los Angeles Times opinion piece following the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan in the wake of the September 11 attacks, which received widespread criticism for conflating innocent Afghans with the Taliban regime. She wrote, "I feel like I'm standing on a playground where the little boys are all screaming at each other, 'He started it!' and throwing rocks that keep taking out another eye, another tooth. I keep looking around for somebody's mother to come on the scene saying, 'Boys! Boys! Who started it cannot possibly be the issue here. People are getting hurt.'" By some accounts, she was "denounced as a traitor," but rebounded from these accusations and later wrote about them.
Starting in April 2005, Kingsolver and her family spent a year making every effort to eat food produced as locally as possible. Living on their farm in rural Virginia, they grew much of their own food and obtained most of the rest from their neighbors and other local farmers. Kingsolver, her husband, and her elder daughter chronicled their experiences of that year in the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, published in 2007. Although exceptions were made for staple ingredients not available locally, such as coffee and olive oil, the family grew vegetables, raised livestock, made cheese, and preserved much of their harvest. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle won the 2008 James Beard Foundation Award.
Kingsolver returned to novel-writing with The Lacuna, published in 2009. Kingsolver received her first Women's Prize for Fiction for the novel in 2010. The Lacuna won the 2010 Orange Prize for Fiction. Flight Behavior was published in 2012. It explores environmental themes and highlights the potential effects of global warming on the monarch butterfly.
In 2011, Kingsolver was the first ever recipient of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award. The newly named award to celebrate the U.S. diplomat who played an instrumental role in negotiating the Dayton Peace Accords in 1995. In 2014, Kingsolver was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Library of Virginia. The award recognizes outstanding and long-lasting contributions to literature by a Virginian. In 2018 the Library of Virginia named her one of the Virginia Women in History.
Unsheltered was published in 2018 and follows two families in Vineland, New Jersey with one in the 1800s and the other in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Her latest book, published in 2022, is Demon Copperhead. The novel was inspired by David Copperfield and is set in southern Appalachia, dealing with the effects of the opioid crisis on the region's families. In 2023, Demon Copperhead received the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction alongside Hernan Diaz's Trust, the first time the award was shared in its history.
Kingsolver is also a published poet and essayist. Two of her essay collections, High Tide in Tucson (1995) and Small Wonder (2003), have been published, and an anthology of her poetry was published in 1998 under the title Another America. Her essay "Where to Begin" appears in the anthology Knitting Yarns: Writers on Knitting (2013), published by W. W. Norton & Company. Her prose poetry also accompanied photographs by Annie Griffiths Belt in a 2002 work titled Last Stand: America's Virgin Lands.
Her major nonfiction works include her 1990 publication Holding the Line: Women in the Great Arizona Mine Strike of 1983 and 2007's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, a description of eating locally. She has also been published as a science journalist in periodicals such as Economic Botany on topics such as desert plants and bioresources.
== Bellwether Prize ==
In 2000, Kingsolver established the Bellwether Prize for Fiction. Named for the bellwether, the literary prize supports writers whose works support positive social change. The award is given to a U.S. citizen for a previously unpublished work of fiction that addresses issues of social justice. The Bellwether Prize is awarded in even-numbered years and includes guaranteed major publication and a cash prize of US$25,000, fully funded by Kingsolver. She has stated that she wanted to create a literary prize to "encourage writers, publishers, and readers to consider how fiction engages visions of social change and human justice".
In May 2011, the PEN American Center announced it would take over administration of the prize, to be known as the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction.
== Literary style and themes ==
Kingsolver has written novels in both the first-person and third-person narrative styles, and she frequently employs overlapping narratives.
Kingsolver often writes about places and situations with which she is familiar; many of her stories are based in places she has lived, such as Central Africa, Arizona, and Appalachia. She has stated that her novels are not autobiographical, although there are often commonalities between her life and her work. Her work is often strongly idealistic and has been called a form of activism.
Her characters are frequently written around struggles for social equality, such as the hardships faced by undocumented immigrants, the working poor, and single mothers. Other common themes in her work include the balancing of individuality with the desire to live in a community, and the interaction and conflict between humans and the ecosystems in which they live. Kingsolver has been said to use prose and engaging narratives to make historical events, such as the Congo's struggles for independence, more interesting and engaging for the average reader.
== Awards and honors ==
Note: Kingsolver's Women's Prize for Fiction win for Demon Copperhead made her the first person to win the award twice.
Other Awards
Arizona Civil Liberties Union Award
Won the National Humanities Medal in 2000.
Won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize's "Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award" in 2011.
In 2014, won the Library of Virginia's Virginia Literary Awards' Lifetime Achievement award.
In 2018, recognized & honored as "Virginia Women in History".
Inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters for Literature in 2021.
Received the National Book Foundation's 2024 Medal for Distinguished Contributions to American Letters (DCAL).
== Works ==
=== Fiction ===
The Bean Trees, 1988, 1st UK edition 1989, Limited edition (200) 1992
Homeland and Other Stories, 1989
Animal Dreams, 1990
Pigs in Heaven, 1993
The Poisonwood Bible, 1998
Prodigal Summer, 2000
The Lacuna, 2009
Flight Behavior, 2012
Unsheltered, 2018
Demon Copperhead, 2022
Partita, 2026
=== Essays ===
High Tide in Tucson: Essays from Now or Never, 1995, also: Limited edition (150) 1995
Small Wonder: Essays, 2002
=== Poetry ===
Another America, 1992
How to Fly (In Ten Thousand Easy Lessons), 2020
=== Nonfiction ===
Holding the Line: Women in the Great Arizona Mine Strike of 1983, 1989, ISBN 9780875461564
Last Stand: America's Virgin Lands, 2002 (with photographer Annie Griffiths Belt) ISBN 9780792269090
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, 2007 (with Steven L. Hopp and Camille Kingsolver) ISBN 9780062653055 |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowling_at_the_2011_Pan_American_Games_%E2%80%93_Women's_individual | Bowling at the 2011 Pan American Games – Women's individual | The women's individual competition of the bowling events at the 2011 Pan American Games will take place between the 24 and 27 of October at the Bolearmo Tapatio. The defending Pan American Games champion is Tennelle Milligan of the United States, while the defending Pan American Championship champion is Karen Marcano of Venezuela.
== Qualification round ==
In the qualification round, the bowlers are ranked according to their performance across twelve bowling games. The top sixteen bowlers advance to the knockout round.
== Playoffs == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Whitman | Walt Whitman | Walter Whitman Jr. (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist, and journalist; he also wrote two novels. He is considered one of the most influential poets in American literature and world literature. Whitman incorporated both transcendentalism and realism in his writings and is often called the father of free verse. His work was controversial in his time, particularly his 1855 poetry collection Leaves of Grass, which was described by some as obscene for its overt sensuality.
Whitman was born in Huntington on Long Island and lived in Brooklyn as a child and through much of his career. At age 11, he left formal schooling to go to work. He worked as a journalist, a teacher, and a government clerk. Whitman's major poetry collection, Leaves of Grass, first published in 1855, was financed with his own money and became well known. The work was an attempt to reach out to the common person with an American epic. Whitman continued expanding and revising Leaves of Grass until his death in 1892.
During the American Civil War, he went to Washington, D.C., and worked in hospitals caring for the wounded. His poetry often focused on both loss and healing. On the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, whom Whitman greatly admired, he authored a number of poems, including "O Captain! My Captain!" and "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd", and gave a series of lectures on Lincoln. After suffering a stroke towards the end of his life, Whitman moved to Camden, New Jersey, where his health further declined. When he died at age 72, his funeral was a public event.
Whitman's influence on poetry remains strong. Art historian Mary Berenson wrote, "You cannot really understand America without Walt Whitman, without Leaves of Grass.... He has expressed that civilization, 'up to date,' as he would say, and no student of the philosophy of history can do without him." Modernist poet Ezra Pound called Whitman "America's poet.... He is America." According to the Poetry Foundation, he is "America's world poet—a latter-day successor to Homer, Virgil, Dante, and Shakespeare."
== Life and work ==
=== Early life ===
Whitman was born on May 31, 1819, in West Hills, New York, the second of nine children of Quaker parents Walter and Louisa Van Velsor Whitman, of English and Dutch descent respectively. He was immediately nicknamed "Walt" to distinguish him from his father. At the age of four, Whitman moved with his family from Huntington to Brooklyn, living in a series of homes, in part due to bad investments. Whitman looked back on his childhood as generally restless and unhappy, given his family's difficult financial struggles. One happy moment that he later recalled was when he was lifted in the air and kissed on the cheek by the Marquis de Lafayette during a celebration of the setting of the Brooklyn Apprentices' Library's cornerstone by Lafayette in Brooklyn on July 4, 1825. Whitman later worked as a librarian at that institution.
At the age of 11, Whitman ended his formal schooling and sought employment to assist his family, which was struggling financially. He was an office boy for two lawyers and later was an apprentice and printer's devil for the weekly Long Island newspaper the Patriot, edited by Samuel E. Clements. There, Whitman learned about the printing press and typesetting. He may have written "sentimental bits" of filler material for occasional issues. Clements aroused controversy when he and two friends attempted to dig up the corpse of the Quaker minister Elias Hicks to create a plaster mold of his head. Clements left the Patriot shortly afterward, possibly as a result of the controversy.
=== Career ===
The following summer Whitman worked for another printer, Erastus Worthington, in Brooklyn. His family moved back to West Hills, New York, on Long Island in the spring, but Whitman remained and took a job at the shop of Alden Spooner, editor of the leading Whig weekly newspaper the Long-Island Star. While at the Star, Whitman became a regular patron of the local library, joined a town debating society, began attending theater performances, and anonymously published some of his earliest poetry in the New-York Mirror. At the age of 16 in May 1835, Whitman left the Star and Brooklyn. He moved to New York City to work as a compositor though, in later years, Whitman could not remember where. He attempted to find further work but had difficulty, in part due to a severe fire in the printing and publishing district, and in part due to a general collapse in the economy leading up to the Panic of 1837. In May 1836, he rejoined his family, now living in Hempstead, Long Island. Whitman taught intermittently at various schools until the spring of 1838, though he was not satisfied as a teacher.
After his teaching attempts, Whitman returned to Huntington, New York, to found his own newspaper, the Long-Islander. Whitman served as publisher, editor, pressman, and distributor and even provided home delivery. After ten months, he sold the publication to E. O. Crowell, whose first issue appeared on July 12, 1839. There are no known surviving copies of the Long-Islander published under Whitman. By the summer of 1839, he found a job as a typesetter in Jamaica, Queens, with the Long Island Democrat, edited by James J. Brenton. He left shortly thereafter, and made another attempt at teaching from the winter of 1840 to the spring of 1841. One story, possibly apocryphal, tells of Whitman's being chased away from a teaching job in Southold, New York, in 1840. After a local preacher called him a "Sodomite", Whitman was allegedly tarred and feathered. Biographer Justin Kaplan notes that the story is likely untrue, because Whitman regularly vacationed in the town thereafter. Biographer Jerome Loving calls the incident a "myth". During this time, Whitman published a series of ten editorials, called "Sun-Down Papers—From the Desk of a Schoolmaster", in three newspapers between the winter of 1840 and July 1841. In these essays, he adopted a constructed persona, a technique he would employ throughout his career.
Whitman moved to New York City in May, initially working a low-level job at the New World, working under Park Benjamin Sr. and Rufus Wilmot Griswold. He continued working for short periods of time for various newspapers; in 1842 he was editor of the Aurora and from 1846 to 1848 he was editor of the Brooklyn Eagle. While working for the latter institution, many of his publications were in the area of music criticism, and it is during this time that he became a devoted lover of Italian opera through reviewing performances of works by Bellini, Donizetti, and Verdi. This new interest had an impact on his writing in free verse. He later said, "But for the opera, I could never have written Leaves of Grass."
Throughout the 1840s, Whitman contributed freelance fiction and poetry to various periodicals, including Brother Jonathan magazine edited by John Neal. Whitman lost his position at the Brooklyn Eagle in 1848 after siding with the free-soil "Barnburner" wing of the Democratic party against the newspaper's owner, Isaac Van Anden, who belonged to the conservative, or "Hunker", wing of the party. Whitman was a delegate to the 1848 founding convention of the Free Soil Party, which was concerned about the threat slavery would pose to free white labor and northern businessmen moving into the newly colonized western territories. Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison derided the party philosophy as "white manism".
Having previously published two novellas — Franklin Evans (1842) and The Half-Breed (1846) — in 1852, he serialized another, Life and Adventures of Jack Engle, in six installments of New York's The Sunday Dispatch. In 1858, Whitman published a 47,000-word series, Manly Health and Training, under the pen name Mose Velsor. Apparently he drew the name Velsor from Van Velsor, his mother's family name. This self-help guide recommends beards, nude sunbathing, comfortable shoes, bathing daily in cold water, eating meat almost exclusively, plenty of fresh air, and getting up early each morning. Present-day writers have called Manly Health and Training "quirky", "so over the top", "a pseudoscientific tract", and "wacky".
=== Leaves of Grass ===
Whitman claimed that after years of competing for "the usual rewards", he determined to become a poet. He first experimented with a variety of popular literary genres that appealed to the cultural tastes of the period. As early as 1850, he began writing what would become Leaves of Grass, a collection of poetry that he would continue editing and revising until his death. Whitman intended to write a distinctly American epic and used free verse with a cadence based on the Bible. At the end of June 1855, Whitman surprised his brothers with the already-printed first edition of Leaves of Grass. George "didn't think it worth reading".
Whitman paid for the publication of the first edition of Leaves of Grass himself and had it printed at a local print shop during its employees' breaks from commercial jobs. A total of 795 copies were printed. No author is named; instead, facing the title page was an engraved portrait done by Samuel Hollyer, but 500 lines into the body of the text he calls himself "Walt Whitman, an American, one of the roughs, a kosmos, disorderly, fleshly, and sensual, no sentimentalist, no stander above men or women or apart from them, no more modest than immodest". The inaugural volume of poetry was preceded by a prose preface of 827 lines. The succeeding untitled twelve poems totaled 2315 lines with 1336 lines belonging to the first untitled poem, later called "Song of Myself". The book received its strongest praise from Ralph Waldo Emerson, who wrote a flattering five-page letter to Whitman and spoke highly of the book to friends. Emerson called it "the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet contributed." Emerson had called for the first truly American poet, saying that aspects of America "are yet unsung. Yet America is a poem in our eyes."
The first edition of Leaves of Grass was widely distributed and stirred up significant interest, in part due to Emerson's praise, but was occasionally criticized for the seemingly "obscene" nature of the poetry. Geologist Peter Lesley wrote to Emerson, calling the book "trashy, profane & obscene" and the author "a pretentious ass". Whitman embossed a quote from Emerson's letter, "I greet you at the beginning of a great career", in gold leaf on the spine of the second edition. Of this action, Laura Dassow Walls, professor emerita of English at the University of Notre Dame, wrote: "In one stroke, Whitman had given birth to the modern cover blurb, quite without Emerson's permission."
On July 11, 1855, a few days after Leaves of Grass was published, Whitman's father died at the age of 65. In the months following the first edition of Leaves of Grass, critical responses began focusing on what some found offensive sexual themes. Though the second edition was already printed and bound, the publisher almost did not release it. In the end, the edition went to retail, with 20 additional poems, in August 1856. Leaves of Grass was revised and re-released in 1860, again in 1867, and several more times throughout the remainder of Whitman's life. Several well-known writers admired the work enough to visit Whitman, including Amos Bronson Alcott and Henry David Thoreau.
During the first publications of Leaves of Grass, Whitman had financial difficulties and was forced to work as a journalist again, specifically with Brooklyn's Daily Times starting in May 1857. As an editor, he oversaw the paper's contents, contributed book reviews, and wrote editorials. He left the job in 1859, though it is unclear whether he was fired or chose to leave. Whitman, who typically kept detailed notebooks and journals, left very little information about himself in the late 1850s.
=== Civil War years ===
As the American Civil War was beginning, Whitman published his poem "Beat! Beat! Drums!" as a patriotic rally call for the Union. Whitman's brother George had joined the Union army in the 51st New York Infantry Regiment and began sending Whitman several vividly detailed letters of the battle front. On December 16, 1862, a listing of fallen and wounded soldiers in the New-York Tribune included "First Lieutenant G. W. Whitmore", which Whitman worried was a reference to his brother George. He made his way south immediately to find him; his wallet was stolen on the way. "Walking all day and night, unable to ride, trying to get information, trying to get access to big people", Whitman later wrote, he eventually found George alive, with only a superficial wound on his cheek. Whitman, profoundly affected by seeing the wounded soldiers and the heaps of their amputated limbs, left for Washington, D.C., on December 28, 1862, with the intention of never returning to New York.
In Washington, D.C., Whitman's friend Charley Eldridge helped him obtain part-time work in the army paymaster's office, leaving time for Whitman to volunteer as a nurse in the army hospitals. He would write of this experience in "The Great Army of the Sick", published in a New York newspaper in 1863 and, 12 years later, in a book called Memoranda During the War. He then contacted Emerson, this time to ask for help in obtaining a government post. Another friend, John Trowbridge, passed on a letter of recommendation from Emerson to Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury, hoping he would grant Whitman a position in that department. Chase, however, did not want to hire the author of such a disreputable book as Leaves of Grass.
The Whitman family had a difficult end to 1864. On September 30, 1864, Whitman's brother George was captured by Confederate forces in Virginia, and another brother, Andrew Jackson, died of tuberculosis compounded by alcoholism on December 3. That month, Whitman committed his brother Jesse to the Kings County Lunatic Asylum. Whitman's spirits were raised, however, when he finally got a better-paying government post as a low-grade clerk in the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the Department of the Interior, thanks to his friend William Douglas O'Connor. O'Connor, a poet, daguerreotypist, and an editor at The Saturday Evening Post wrote to William Tod Otto, Assistant Secretary of the Interior, on Whitman's behalf. Whitman began the new appointment on January 24, 1865, with a yearly salary of $1,200. A month later, on February 24, 1865, George was released from capture and granted a furlough because of his poor health. By May 1, Whitman received a promotion to a slightly higher clerkship and published Drum-Taps.
Effective June 30, 1865, however, Whitman was fired from his job. His dismissal came from the new Secretary of the Interior, former Iowa Senator James Harlan. Though Harlan dismissed several clerks who "were seldom at their respective desks", he may have fired Whitman on moral grounds after finding an 1860 edition of Leaves of Grass. O'Connor protested until J. Hubley Ashton had Whitman transferred to the Attorney General's office on July 1. O'Connor, though, was still upset and vindicated Whitman by publishing a biased and exaggerated biographical study, The Good Gray Poet, in January 1866. The fifty-cent pamphlet defended Whitman as a wholesome patriot, established the poet's nickname and increased his popularity. Also aiding in his popularity was the publication of "O Captain! My Captain!", a conventional poem on the death of Abraham Lincoln, the only poem to appear in anthologies during Whitman's lifetime.
Part of Whitman's role at the Attorney General's office was interviewing former Confederate soldiers for presidential pardons. "There are real characters among them", he later wrote, "and you know I have a fancy for anything out of the ordinary." In August 1866, he took a month off to prepare a new edition of Leaves of Grass which would not be published until 1867 after difficulty in finding a publisher. He hoped it would be its last edition. In February 1868, Poems of Walt Whitman was published in England thanks to the influence of William Michael Rossetti, with minor changes that Whitman reluctantly approved. The edition became popular in England, especially with endorsements from the highly respected writer Anne Gilchrist. Another edition of Leaves of Grass was issued in 1871, the same year it was mistakenly reported that its author died in a railroad accident. As Whitman's international fame increased, he remained at the attorney general's office until January 1872. He spent much of 1872 caring for his mother, who was now nearly eighty and struggling with arthritis. He also traveled and was invited to Dartmouth College to give the commencement address on June 26, 1872.
=== Health decline and death ===
After suffering a paralytic stroke in early 1873, Whitman was induced to move from Washington to the home of his brother—George Washington Whitman, an engineer—at 431 Stevens Street in Camden, New Jersey. His mother, having fallen ill, was also there and died that same year in May. Both events were difficult for Whitman and left him depressed. He remained at his brother's home until buying his own in 1884. However, before purchasing his home, he spent the greatest period of his residence in Camden at his brother's home on Stevens Street. While in residence there he was very productive, publishing three versions of Leaves of Grass among other works. He was also last fully physically active in this house, receiving both Oscar Wilde and Thomas Eakins. His other brother, Edward, an "invalid" since birth, lived in the house.
When his brother and sister-in-law were forced to move for business reasons, he bought his own house at 328 Mickle Street (now 330 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard). First taken care of by tenants, he was completely bedridden for most of his time in Mickle Street. During this time, he began socializing with Mary Oakes Davis—the widow of a sea captain. She was a neighbor, boarding with a family in Bridge Avenue just a few blocks from Mickle Street. She moved in with Whitman on February 24, 1885, to serve as his housekeeper in exchange for free rent. She brought with her a cat, a dog, two turtledoves, a canary, and other assorted animals. During this time, Whitman produced further editions of Leaves of Grass in 1876, 1881, and 1889.
While in South Jersey, Whitman spent a good portion of his time in the then quite pastoral community of Laurel Springs, between 1876 and 1884, converting one of the Stafford Farm buildings to his summer home. The restored summer home has been preserved as a museum by the local historical society. Part of his Leaves of Grass was written here, and in his Specimen Days he wrote of the spring, creek and lake. To him, Laurel Lake was "the prettiest lake in: either America or Europe".
As the end of 1891 approached, he prepared a final edition of Leaves of Grass, a version that has been nicknamed the "Deathbed Edition". He wrote, "L. of G. at last complete—after 33 y'rs of hackling at it, all times & moods of my life, fair weather & foul, all parts of the land, and peace & war, young & old." Preparing for death, Whitman commissioned a granite mausoleum shaped like a house for $4,000 and visited it often during construction. In the last week of his life, he was too weak to lift a knife or fork and wrote: "I suffer all the time: I have no relief, no escape: it is monotony—monotony—monotony—in pain."
Walt Whitman died on March 26, 1892, at his home in Camden, New Jersey at the age of 72. An autopsy revealed his lungs had diminished to one-eighth their normal breathing capacity, a result of bronchial pneumonia, and that an egg-sized abscess on his chest had eroded one of his ribs. The cause of death was officially listed as "pleurisy of the left side, consumption of the right lung, general miliary tuberculosis and parenchymatous nephritis". A public viewing of his body was held at his Camden home; more than 1,000 people visited in three hours. Whitman's oak coffin was barely visible because of all the flowers and wreaths left for him. Four days after his death, he was buried in his tomb at Harleigh Cemetery in Camden. Another public ceremony was held at the cemetery, with friends giving speeches, live music, and refreshments. Whitman's friend, the orator Robert Ingersoll, delivered the eulogy. Later, the remains of Whitman's parents and two of his brothers and their families were moved to the mausoleum. His brain was donated to the American Anthropometric Society in Philadelphia, but it was accidentally destroyed.
== Writing ==
Whitman's work broke the boundaries of poetic form and is generally prose-like. Its signature style deviates from the course set by his predecessors and includes "idiosyncratic treatment of the body and the soul as well as of the self and the other." It uses unusual images and symbols, including rotting leaves, tufts of straw, and debris. Whitman openly wrote about death and sexuality, including prostitution. He is often labeled the father of free verse, though he did not invent it.
=== Poetic theory ===
Whitman wrote in the preface to the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass: "The proof of a poet is that his country absorbs him as affectionately as he has absorbed it." He believed there was a vital, symbiotic relationship between the poet and society. He emphasized this connection especially in "Song of Myself" by using an all-powerful first-person narration. An American epic, it deviated from the historic use of an elevated hero and instead assumed the identity of the common people. Leaves of Grass also responded to the impact of rapid urbanization in the United States on the masses.
== Lifestyle and beliefs ==
=== Alcohol ===
Whitman was a vocal proponent of temperance and in his youth he rarely drank alcohol. He once stated he did not taste "strong liquor" until he was 30 and occasionally argued for prohibition. His first novel, Franklin Evans, or The Inebriate, published November 23, 1842, is a temperance novel. Whitman wrote the novel at the height of the popularity of the Washingtonian movement, a movement that was plagued with contradictions, as was Franklin Evans. Years later Whitman claimed he was embarrassed by the book and called it "damned rot". He dismissed it by saying he wrote the novel in three days solely for money while under the influence of alcohol. Even so, he wrote other pieces recommending temperance, including The Madman and a short story "Reuben's Last Wish". Later in life he was more liberal with alcohol, enjoying local wines and champagne.
=== Religion ===
Whitman was deeply influenced by deism. He denied any one faith was more important than another, and embraced all religions equally. In "Song of Myself", he gave an inventory of major religions and indicated he respected and accepted all of them—a sentiment he further emphasized in his poem "With Antecedents", affirming: "I adopt each theory, myth, god, and demi-god, / I see that the old accounts, bibles, genealogies, are true, without exception". In 1874, he was invited to write a poem about the Spiritualism movement, to which he responded: "It seems to me nearly altogether a poor, cheap, crude humbug." Whitman was a religious skeptic: though he accepted all churches, he believed in none. God, to Whitman, was both immanent and transcendent and the human soul was immortal and in a state of progressive development. American Philosophy: An Encyclopedia classes him as one of several figures who "took a more pantheist or pandeist approach by rejecting views of God as separate from the world."
According to literary critic Harold Bloom:
Walt Whitman was the crucial celebrant of what I think we yet will call the American Religion, the momentary fusion of all denominations in an amalgam of Enthusiasm and Gnosticism… Our theologians and prophets of the American Religion include Emerson, Joseph Smith, and Horace Bushnell, among others. The philosopher William James is its psychologist, and Walt Whitman forever will be its poet-prophet, who sings only songs of myself. We now have an American Jesus and an American Holy Spirit, and have largely banished Yahweh, except that he marches as Warrior God, endlessly trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored.
=== Sexuality ===
Though biographers continue to debate Whitman's sexuality, he is usually described as either homosexual or bisexual in his feelings and attractions. Whitman's sexual orientation is generally assumed on the basis of his poetry, though this assumption has been disputed. His poetry depicts love and sexuality in a more earthy, individualistic way common in American culture before the medicalization of sexuality in the late 19th century. Though Leaves of Grass was often labeled pornographic or obscene, only one critic remarked on its author's presumed sexual activity: in a November 1855 review, Rufus Wilmot Griswold suggested Whitman was guilty of "that horrible sin not to be mentioned among Christians". The manuscript of his love poem "Once I Pass'd through a Populous City", written when Whitman was 29, indicates it was originally about a man. Late in his life, when Whitman was asked outright whether his "Calamus" poems were homosexual—John Addington Symonds inquired about "athletic friendship", "the love of man for man", or "the Love of Friends"—he chose not to respond.
Whitman had intense friendships with many men and boys throughout his life. Some biographers have suggested that he did not have sexual relationships with males, while others cite letters, journal entries, and other sources that they claim as proof of the sexual nature of some of his relationships. English poet and critic John Addington Symonds spent 20 years in correspondence trying to pry the answer from him. In 1890, Symonds wrote to Whitman: "In your conception of Comradeship, do you contemplate the possible intrusion of those semi-sexual emotions and actions which no doubt do occur between men?" In reply, Whitman denied that his work had any such implication, asserting "[T]hat the calamus part has even allow'd the possibility of such construction as mention'd is terrible—I am fain to hope the pages themselves are not to be even mention'd for such gratuitous and quite at this time entirely undream'd & unreck'd possibility of morbid inferences—wh' are disavow'd by me and seem damnable", and insisting that he had conceived six illegitimate children. Some contemporary scholars are skeptical of the veracity of Whitman's denial or the existence of the children he claimed. In a letter dated August 21, 1890, Whitman claimed: "I have had six children—two are dead." This claim has never been corroborated.
Peter Doyle may be the most likely candidate for the love of Whitman's life. Doyle was a bus conductor whom Whitman met around 1866, and the two were inseparable for several years. Interviewed in 1895, Doyle said: "We were familiar at once—I put my hand on his knee—we understood. He did not get out at the end of the trip—in fact went all the way back with me." In his notebooks, Whitman disguised Doyle's initials using the code "16.4" (P.D. being the 16th and 4th letters of the alphabet). Oscar Wilde met Whitman in the United States in 1882 and later told the homosexual-rights activist George Cecil Ives "I have the kiss of Walt Whitman still on my lips." The only explicit description of Whitman's sexual activities is second hand. In 1924, Edward Carpenter told Gavin Arthur of a sexual encounter in his youth with Whitman, the details of which Arthur recorded in his journal.Another possible lover was Bill Duckett. As a teenager, he lived on the same street in Camden and moved in with Whitman, living with him a number of years and serving him in various roles. Duckett was 15 when Whitman bought his house at 328 Mickle Street. From at least 1880, Duckett and his grandmother, Lydia Watson, were boarders, subletting space from another family at 334 Mickle Street. Because of this proximity, Duckett and Whitman met as neighbors. Their relationship was close, the youth sharing Whitman's money when he had it. Whitman described their friendship as "thick". Some biographers describe Duckett as a boarder; others identify him as a lover. Their photograph together is described as "modeled on the conventions of a marriage portrait", part of a series of portraits of the poet with his young male friends, and encrypting male–male desire. Another young man with whom Whitman had an intense relationship was Harry Stafford, with whose family Whitman stayed when at Timber Creek, and whom he first met in 1876, when Stafford was 18. Whitman gave Stafford a ring, which was returned and re-given over the course of a stormy relationship lasting several years. Of that ring, Stafford wrote to Whitman: "You know when you put it on there was but one thing to part it from me, and that was death."
There is also some evidence that Whitman had sexual relationships with women. He had a romantic friendship with a New York actress, Ellen Grey, in the spring of 1862, but it is not known whether it was also sexual. He still had a photograph of her decades later, when he moved to Camden, and he called her "an old sweetheart of mine". Toward the end of his life, he often told stories of previous girlfriends and sweethearts and denied an allegation from the New York Herald that he had "never had a love affair". As Whitman biographer Jerome Loving wrote, "the discussion of Whitman's sexual orientation will probably continue in spite of whatever evidence emerges."
=== Shakespeare authorship ===
Whitman was an adherent of the Shakespeare authorship question, refusing to believe in the historical attribution of the works to William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon. In 1888, Whitman commented in November Boughs:
Conceiv'd out of the fullest heat and pulse of European feudalism—personifying in unparalleled ways the medieval aristocracy, its towering spirit of ruthless and gigantic caste, with its own peculiar air and arrogance (no mere imitation)—only one of the "wolfish earls" so plenteous in the plays themselves, or some born descendant and knower, might seem to be the true author of those amazing works—works in some respects greater than anything else in recorded literature.
=== Slavery ===
Like many in the Free Soil Party who were concerned about the threat slavery would pose to free white labor and northern businessmen exploiting the newly colonized western territories, Whitman opposed the extension of slavery in the United States and supported the Wilmot Proviso. At first he was opposed to abolitionism, believing the movement did more harm than good. In 1846, he wrote that the abolitionists had, in fact, slowed the advancement of their cause by their "ultraism and officiousness". His main concern was that their methods disrupted the democratic process, as did the refusal of the Southern states to put the interests of the nation as a whole above their own. In 1856, in his unpublished The Eighteenth Presidency, addressing the white men of the South, he wrote "you are either to abolish slavery or it will abolish you". Whitman also subscribed to the widespread opinion that even free African-Americans should not vote and was concerned at the increasing number of African-Americans in the legislature; as David Reynolds notes, Whitman wrote in prejudiced terms of these new voters and politicians, calling them "blacks, with about as much intellect and calibre (in the mass) as so many baboons." George Hutchinson and David Drews have written that "what little is known about the early development of Whitman's racial awareness suggests that he imbibed the prevailing white prejudices of his time and place, thinking of black people as servile, shiftless, ignorant, and given to stealing," but that despite his views remaining largely unchanged, "readers of the twentieth century, including black ones, imagined him as a fervent antiracist."
=== Nationalism ===
Whitman is often described as America's national poet, creating an image of the United States for itself. "Although he is often considered a champion of democracy and equality, Whitman constructs a hierarchy with himself at the head, America below, and the rest of the world in a subordinate position." In his study "The Pragmatic Whitman: Reimagining American Democracy", Stephen John Mack suggests that critics, who tend to ignore it, should look again at Whitman's nationalism: "Whitman's seemingly mawkish celebrations of the United States [...] [are] one of those problematic features of his works that teachers and critics read past or explain away" (xv–xvi). Nathanael O'Reilly in an essay on "Walt Whitman's Nationalism in the First Edition of Leaves of Grass" claims that "Whitman's imagined America is arrogant, expansionist, hierarchical, racist and exclusive; such an America is unacceptable to Native Americans, African-Americans, immigrants, the disabled, the infertile, and all those who value equal rights." Whitman's nationalism avoided mentioning the ongoing Native American genocide in the United States. As George Hutchinson and David Drews further suggest in an essay "Racial attitudes": "Clearly, Whitman could not consistently reconcile the ingrained, even foundational, racist character of the United States with its egalitarian ideals. He could not even reconcile such contradictions in his own psyche." The authors concluded their essay with:
Because of the radically democratic and egalitarian aspects of his poetry, readers generally expect, and desire for, Whitman to be among the literary heroes that transcended the racist pressures that abounded in all spheres of public discourse during the nineteenth century. He did not, at least not consistently; nonetheless his poetry has been a model for democratic poets of all nations and races, right up to our own day. How Whitman could have been so prejudiced, and yet so effective in conveying an egalitarian and antiracist sensibility in his poetry, is a puzzle yet to be adequately addressed.
In reference to the Mexican–American War, Whitman wrote in 1864 that Mexico was "the only [country] to whom we have ever really done wrong." In 1883, celebrating the 333rd anniversary of Santa Fe, Whitman argued that the indigenous and Spanish-Indian elements would supply leading traits in the "composite American identity of the future."
As to our aboriginal or Indian population—the Aztec in the South, and many a tribe in the North and West—I know it seems to be agreed that they must gradually dwindle as time rolls on, and in a few generations more leave only a reminiscence, a blank. But I am not at all clear about that. As America, from its many far-back sources and current supplies, develops, adapts, entwines, faithfully identifies its own—are we to see it cheerfully accepting and using all the contributions of foreign lands from the whole outside globe—and then rejecting the only ones distinctively its own—the autochthonic ones? As to the Spanish stock of our Southwest, it is certain to me that we do not begin to appreciate the splendor and sterling value of its race element. Who knows but that element, like the course of some subterranean river, dipping invisibly for a hundred or two years, is now to emerge in broadest flow and permanent action?
== Legacy ==
Whitman has been claimed as the first "poet of democracy" in the United States, a title meant to reflect his ability to write in a singularly American character. An American-British friend of Whitman, Mary Whitall Smith Costelloe, wrote: "You cannot really understand America without Walt Whitman, without Leaves of Grass ... He has expressed that civilization, 'up to date,' as he would say, and no student of the philosophy of history can do without him." Andrew Carnegie called him "the great poet of America so far". Whitman considered himself a messiah-like figure in poetry. Others agreed: one of his admirers, William Sloane Kennedy, speculated that "people will be celebrating the birth of Walt Whitman as they are now the birth of Christ".
Literary critic Harold Bloom wrote, as the introduction for the 150th anniversary of Leaves of Grass:
If you are American, then Walt Whitman is your imaginative father and mother, even if, like myself, you have never composed a line of verse. You can nominate a fair number of literary works as candidates for the secular Scripture of the United States. They might include Melville's Moby-Dick, Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Emerson's two series of Essays and The Conduct of Life. None of those, not even Emerson's, are as central as the first edition of Leaves of Grass, whose 150th anniversary we now mark.
In his own time, Whitman attracted an influential coterie of disciples and admirers. Among his admirers were the Eagle Street College, an informal group established in 1885 at the home of James William Wallace on Eagle Street in Bolton, England, to read and discuss the poetry of Whitman. The group subsequently became known as the Bolton Whitman Fellowship or Whitmanites. Its members held an annual "Whitman Day" celebration around the poet's birthday. Whitman's niece, Jessie Louisa Whitman, also contributed to his legacy by allowing Ralph L. Fansler to record her memories of Whitman during a series of interviews that took place between 1939 and 1943. In the interviews Jessie is noted for her faithfulness and lifelong interest in her uncle. Jessie held letters written by Whitman, which were given to the Missouri Historical Society in 1960.
=== American poets ===
Whitman is one of the most influential American poets. Modernist poet Ezra Pound called Whitman "America's poet ... He is America." His April 1913 poem, "A Pact," begins: "I make truce with you, Walt Whitman— I have detested you long enough." To poet Langston Hughes, who wrote "I, too, sing America", Whitman was a literary hero. Whitman's vagabond lifestyle was adopted by the Beat movement and its leaders such as Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac in the 1950s and 1960s, as well as anti-war poets such as Adrienne Rich, Alicia Ostriker, and Gary Snyder. Lawrence Ferlinghetti numbered himself among Whitman's "wild children", and the title of Ferlinghetti's 1961 collection Starting from San Francisco is a reference to Whitman's Starting from Paumanok. June Jordan published a pivotal essay entitled "For the Sake of People's Poetry: Walt Whitman and the Rest of Us", praising Whitman as a democratic poet whose works speak to ethnic minorities from all backgrounds. United States poet laureate Joy Harjo, who is a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, counts Whitman among her influences.
=== Latin American poets ===
Whitman's poetry influenced Latin American and Caribbean poets in the 19th and 20th centuries, starting with Cuban poet, philosopher, and nationalist leader José Martí, who published essays in Spanish on Whitman's writings in 1887. Álvaro Armando Vasseur's 1912 translations further raised Whitman's profile in Latin America. Peruvian vanguardist César Vallejo, Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, and Argentine Jorge Luis Borges acknowledged Walt Whitman's influence.
=== European authors ===
Some, like Oscar Wilde and Edward Carpenter, viewed Whitman both as a prophet of a utopian future and of same-sex desire—the passion of comrades. This aligned with their own desires for a future of brotherly socialism. Whitman also influenced Bram Stoker, author of Dracula, and was a model for the character of Dracula. Stoker said in his notes that Dracula represented the quintessential male which, to Stoker, was Whitman, with whom he corresponded until Whitman's death.
=== Film and television ===
Whitman's life and verse have been referenced in a substantial number of works of film and video. In Dead Poets Society (1989) by Peter Weir, teacher John Keating, portrayed by Robin Williams, inspires his students with the works of Whitman, Thoreau, Frost, Shakespeare and Byron.
In the movie Beautiful Dreamers (Hemdale Films, 1992) Whitman was portrayed by Rip Torn. Whitman visits an insane asylum in London, Ontario, where some of his ideas are adopted as part of an occupational therapy program.
Whitman's poem "Yonnondio" influenced both a book (Yonnondio: From the Thirties, 1974) by Tillie Olsen and a sixteen-minute film, Yonnondio (1994) by Ali Mohamed Selim.
Whitman's poem "I Sing the Body Electric" (1855) was used by Ray Bradbury as the title of a short story and a short story collection. Bradbury's story was adapted for the Twilight Zone episode of May 18, 1962, in which a bereaved family buys a made-to-order robot grandmother to forever love and serve the family.
"I Sing the Body Electric" inspired the showcase finale in the movie Fame (1980), a diverse fusion of gospel, rock, and orchestra.
=== Music and audio recordings ===
Whitman's poetry has been set to music by more than 500 composers; indeed it has been suggested that his poetry has been set to music more than that of any other American poet except for Emily Dickinson and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Those who have set his poems to music include John Adams; Ernst Bacon; Leonard Bernstein; Benjamin Britten; Harry Burleigh; Rhoda Coghill; David Conte; Ronald Corp; George Crumb; Frederick Delius; Howard Hanson; Karl Amadeus Hartmann; Hans Werner Henze; Bernard Herrmann;Jennifer Higdon; Paul Hindemith; Joel Puckett; Ned Rorem; Roger Sessions; Howard Skempton; Eva Ruth Spalding; Williametta Spencer; Charles Villiers Stanford; Robert Strassburg; Ananda Sukarlan; Ivana Marburger Themmen; Ralph Vaughan Williams; Rossini Vrionides; Kurt Weill; Helen L. Weiss; and Charles Wood. Crossing, an opera composed by Matthew Aucoin and inspired by Whitman's Civil War diaries, premiered in 2015.
In 2014, German publisher Hörbuch Hamburg issued the bilingual double-CD audio book of the Kinder Adams/Children of Adam cycle, based on translations by Kai Grehn in the 2005 Children of Adam from Leaves of Grass (Galerie Vevais), accompanying a collection of nude photography by Paul Cava. The audio release included a complete reading by Iggy Pop, as well as readings by Marianne Sägebrecht; Martin Wuttke; Birgit Minichmayr; Alexander Fehling; Lars Rudolph; Volker Bruch; Paula Beer; Josef Osterndorf; Ronald Lippok; Jule Böwe; and Robert Gwisdek. In 2014 composer John Zorn released On Leaves of Grass, an album inspired by and dedicated to Whitman.
=== Namesake recognition ===
Whitman's importance in American culture is reflected in schools, roads, rest stops, and bridges named after him. Among them are the Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Maryland and Walt Whitman High School on Long Island, Walt Whitman Elementary School in Woodbury, New York, Walt Whitman Boulevard in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and a service area on the New Jersey Turnpike in Cherry Hill, and others.
The Walt Whitman Bridge, which crosses the Delaware River between Philadelphia and Gloucester City, New Jersey near Whitman's home in Camden, New Jersey, opened on May 16, 1957. The Statue of Walt Whitman by Jo Davidson is located at the entrance to the Walt Whitman Bridge and another casting resides in the Bear Mountain State Park. The controversy that surrounded the naming of the Walt Whitman bridge has been documented in a series of letters from members of the public, which are held in the University of Pennsylvania library. The web page about this matter states: "The bridge was meant to be named after a person of note who had lived in New Jersey, but some area citizens opposed the name 'Walt Whitman Bridge'.... Many objecting to the choice of his name for the bridge saw Whitman's work as sympathizing with communist ideals and criticized him for his egalitarian view of humanity."
In 1997, the Walt Whitman Community School in Dallas opened, becoming the first private high school catering to LGBT youth. His other namesakes include the Walt Whitman Shops in Huntington Station, New York, near his birthplace, and Walt Whitman Road, which spans Huntington Station to Melville on Long Island.
Whitman was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2009, and, in 2013, he was inducted into the Legacy Walk, an outdoor public display in Chicago that celebrates LGBT history and people.
In 1948, a coed summer camp in Piermont, New Hampshire opened and is named after Whitman.
A crater on Mercury is named for him.
== Works ==
Franklin Evans; or The Inebriate: A Tale of the Times (1842)
The Half-Breed; A Tale of the Western Frontier (1846)
Life and Adventures of Jack Engle (serialized in 1852)
Leaves of Grass (1855, the first of seven editions through 1891)
Manly Health and Training (1858)
Drum-Taps (1865)
Democratic Vistas (1871)
Memoranda During the War (1876)
Specimen Days (1882)
The Wound Dresser: Letters written to his mother from the hospitals in Washington during the Civil War, edited by Richard M. Bucke (1898)
The Half-Breed and other stories by Walt Whitman (1927). The other stories in this volume are "Shirval, a Tale of Jerusalem"; "Richard Parker's Widow"; "Some Fact-Romances"; and "My Boys and Girls."
=== Works compiled by Horace Traubel ===
The following works compiled by Horace Traubel include both Traubel's own writings and observations during his time with Whitman, and materials authored by Whitman such as manuscripts, poems, letters, and Whitman's will and testament.
Traubel, Horace (1906). With Walt Whitman in Camden (March 28—July 14, 1888) (vol. 1). Boston: Small, Maynard & Company.
Traubel, Horace (1908). With Walt Whitman in Camden (vol. 2).
Traubel, Horace (1914). With Walt Whitman in Camden (1888-1889) (vol. 3, the last one published while Traubel was alive). New York: Mitchell Kennerley.
Traubel, Horace (1924). Walt Whitman on Himself: From the Camden Diary of Horace Traubel. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Traubel, Horace (1953). With Walt Whitman in Camden: January 21 to April 7, 1889 (vol. 4) Sculley Bradley, ed. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Traubel, Horace (1964). With Walt Whitman in Camden (vol. 5). Edited by Gertrude Traubel, Horace Traubel's daughter.
Traubel, Horace (1982). With Walt Whitman in Camden (vol. 6). Edited by Gertrude Traubel, Horace Traubel's daughter.
Traubel, Horace (1992). With Walt Whitman in Camden (vol. 7).
Traubel, Horace (1996). With Walt Whitman in Camden (vol. 8).
Traubel, Horace (1996). With Walt Whitman in Camden (vol. 9).
Wineapple, Brenda, ed. (2019). Walt Whitman Speaks: His Final Thoughts on Life, Writing, Spirituality, and the Promise of America as told to Horace Traubel. New York: Library of America. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami_Dade_College | Miami Dade College | Miami Dade College (MDC) is a public college located in Miami, Florida, United States. Established in 1960, MDC operates eight campuses and numerous outreach centers throughout Miami-Dade County. It is the largest institution in the Florida College System. MDC serves a significant number of minority students, particularly Hispanic students, enrolling more than any other institution in Florida.
On September 30, 2025, the state of Florida approved a plan for the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library to be built at the college.
== History ==
Founded as Dade County Junior College in 1960, MDC began on a high school farm and became desegregated in 1962, opening its doors to students of all races. Over the decades, MDC expanded by launching several campuses, including Kendall, Wolfson, and Hialeah, and established a Medical Center to support students in health programs.
In 1973, the college changed its name to Miami-Dade Community College.
During the 1980s, outreach programs were developed to assist the increasing number of Cuban exiles and other immigrants. As state education budgets declined, MDC continued to grow and relied on its foundation to support operations.
In the 1990s and 2000s, the college established its Honors College, offering rigorous academic programs across its largest campuses. In 2000, the college was sanctioned by the American Association of University Professors "for infringement of governance standards".
In 2003, the college changed its name to "Miami Dade College" and began offering four-year degree programs.
== Campuses ==
Miami Dade College operates eight campuses and two outreach centers throughout Miami-Dade County. The North Campus, established in 1960, focuses on emergency services and entertainment technology programs. Kendall Campus, opened in 1967, is home to MDC's athletic teams and offers community service programs. Wolfson Campus, in downtown Miami, hosts the Miami Book Fair and houses the Culinary Institute. The Medical Campus, opened in 1977, offers nursing and health programs with a simulation hospital. Homestead Campus, built in 1990, features an FAA-approved aviation program. Eduardo J. Padrón Campus specializes in bilingual education and community-focused programs. Hialeah Campus offers English programs and a Bachelor of Applied Science in Management. West Campus in Doral provides innovative programs like the Tesla START program and the Certified Nursing Assistant program.
== Academics ==
MDC offers a wide variety of associate and baccalaureate degrees, as well as vocational and technical certificates. The college is known for its strong programs in liberal arts, nursing, business, allied health professions, and computer information systems. Students can also pursue degrees in newer fields like cybersecurity.
The Honors College provides scholarships and specialized curricula for high-achieving students, with opportunities for transfer to prestigious universities, including a partnership with the University of Miami. Dual-enrollment and virtual learning options are available for high school and home-educated students.
== Athletics ==
MDC participates in the Southern Conference of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) and competes in five sports: men's and women's basketball, baseball, softball, and volleyball, with soccer teams being added in 2024. MDC teams have won 35 NJCAA national titles, making it a hub for talented athletes and MLB scouts. During its early history, the north campus gymnasium area also hosted the Miami Floridians (later known simply as The Floridians) ABA franchise; it hosted five playoff games (April 6, 1971, April 8, 1971, April 12, 1971, and April 4, 1972 & April 6, 1972) before the franchise folded in 1972.
== Arts and culture ==
MDC has an extensive art collection of over 1,600 works, including paintings, sculptures, and installations. The Wolfson Campus hosts the Miami Book Fair International, the largest literary festival in the U.S.
== Notable achievements ==
In 2019, MDC was recognized by the Aspen Institute for its focus on economic and social mobility, winning the Aspen Prize. The $1 million prize, awarded every two years, noted MDC's "clear path to economic and social mobility for its students" as well as its demographic diversity.
== Notable alumni ==
== Notable faculty ==
Joanna Falco-Leshin, professor of English and Humanities |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grateful_Dead#Main_career_(1967–1995) | Grateful Dead#Main career (1967–1995) | The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, folk, country, bluegrass, rock and roll, gospel, reggae, and world music with psychedelia, the band is famous for improvisation during their live performances, and for their devoted fan base, known as "Deadheads". According to the musician and writer Lenny Kaye, the music of the Grateful Dead "touches on ground that most other groups don't even know exists". For the range of their influences and the structure of their live performances, the Grateful Dead are considered "the pioneering godfathers of the jam band world".
The Grateful Dead was founded in the San Francisco Bay Area during the rise of the counterculture of the 1960s. The band's founding members were Jerry Garcia (lead guitar and vocals), Bob Weir (rhythm guitar and vocals), Phil Lesh (bass guitar and vocals), Bill Kreutzmann (drums), and Ron "Pigpen" McKernan (keyboards, harmonica, and vocals). With the exception of Pigpen, who died in 1973, the remaining founding members stayed with the band until their 1995 split, with subsequent members being Mickey Hart (drums, 1967 to 1971 and 1974 to 1995), Robert Hunter (non-performing lyricist, 1967 to 1995), Tom Constanten (keyboards, 1968 to 1970), John Perry Barlow (non-performing lyricist, 1971 to 1995), Keith Godchaux (keyboards and vocals, 1971 to 1979), Donna Godchaux (vocals, 1972 to 1979), Brent Mydland (keyboards and vocals, 1979 to his death in 1990), and Vince Welnick (keyboards and vocals, 1990 to 1995).
Following Garcia's death in August 1995, the remaining members decided to disband the Grateful Dead. Former band members, along with other musicians, toured as the Other Ones in 1998, 2000, and 2002, and as the Dead in 2003, 2004, and 2009. In 2015, Weir, Lesh, Kreutzmann, and Hart marked the band's 50th anniversary in a series of concerts in Santa Clara, California, and Chicago that were billed as their last performances together. There have also been several spin-offs featuring one or more core members, such as Dead & Company, Furthur, the Rhythm Devils, Phil Lesh and Friends, RatDog, and Billy & the Kids.
Despite having only one Top-40 single in their 30-year career, "Touch of Grey" (1987), the Grateful Dead remained among the highest-grossing American touring acts for decades. They gained a committed fanbase by word of mouth and through the free exchange of their live recordings, encouraged by the band's allowance of taping. In 2024, they broke the record for most Top-40 albums on the Billboard 200 chart. Rolling Stone ranked the Grateful Dead number 57 on its 2011 list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, and a recording of their May 8, 1977, performance at Cornell University's Barton Hall was added to the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress in 2012 for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In 2024, Weir, Lesh, Kreutzmann, and Hart were recognized as part of the Kennedy Center Honors.
== Formation (1965–1966) ==
The Grateful Dead began their career as the Warlocks, a group formed in early 1965 from the remnants of a Palo Alto, California, jug band called Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions and members of the Wildwood Boys (Jerry Garcia, Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, David Nelson, Robert Hunter, and Norm Van Maastricht). As the Wildwood Boys they played regularly at The Tangent, a folk music coffeehouse operated by Stanford Medical Center doctors Stuart "Stu" Goldstein and David "Dave" Shoenstadt on University Avenue in Palo Alto (1963). As the Warlocks, the band's first show was at Magoo's Pizza Parlor, at 639 Santa Cruz Avenue in suburban Menlo Park, on May 5, 1965, now a cocktail bar. The band continued playing bar shows, like Frenchy's Bikini-A-Go-Go in Hayward and, importantly, five sets a night, five nights a week, for six weeks, at the In Room in Belmont as the Warlocks, but quickly changed the band's name after finding out that a different band known as the Warlocks had put out a record under that name. (The Velvet Underground also had to change its name from the Warlocks.)
The name "Grateful Dead" was chosen from a dictionary. According to Lesh, Garcia "picked up an old Britannica World Language Dictionary ... [and] ... In that silvery elf-voice he said to me, 'Hey, man, how about the Grateful Dead?'" The definition there was "the soul of a dead person, or his angel, showing gratitude to someone who, as an act of charity, arranged their burial." According to Alan Trist, director of the Grateful Dead's music publisher company Ice Nine, Garcia found the name in the Funk & Wagnalls Folklore Dictionary, when his finger landed on that phrase while playing a game of Fictionary. In the Garcia biography Captain Trips, author Sandy Troy states that the band was smoking the psychedelic DMT at the time. The motif of the "grateful dead" appears in folktales from a variety of cultures.
The first show under the name Grateful Dead was in San Jose on December 4, 1965, at one of Ken Kesey's Acid Tests. Scholar Michael Kaler has written that the Dead's participation in the Acid Tests was crucial both to the development of their improvisational vocabulary and to their bonding as a band, with the group having set out to foster an intra-band musical telepathy. Kaler has further pointed out that the Dead's pursuit of a new improvisatory rock language in 1965 chronologically coincided with that same goal's adoption by Jefferson Airplane, Pink Floyd and the Velvet Underground.
Earlier demo tapes have survived, but the first of over 2,000 concerts known to have been recorded by the band's fans was a show at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco on January 8, 1966. Later that month, the Grateful Dead played at the Trips Festival, a three-day psychedelic rock weekend party and event produced by Ken Kesey, Stewart Brand, and Ramon Sender, that, in conjunction with the Merry Pranksters, brought the nascent hippie movement together for the first time.
Other supporting personnel who joined early included Rock Scully, who heard of the band from Kesey and signed on as manager after meeting them at the Big Beat Acid Test; Stewart Brand, "with his side show of taped music and slides of Indian life, a multimedia presentation" at the Big Beat and then, expanded, at the Trips Festival; and Owsley Stanley, the "Acid King" whose LSD supplied the Acid Tests and who, in early 1966, became the band's financial backer, renting them a house on the fringes of Watts, Los Angeles, and buying them sound equipment. "We were living solely off of Owsley's good graces at that time. ... [His] trip was he wanted to design equipment for us, and we were going to have to be in sort of a lab situation for him to do it", said Garcia.
== Main career (1967–1995) ==
=== Pigpen era (1967–1972) ===
One of the group's earliest major performances in 1967 was the Mantra-Rock Dance, a musical event held on January 29, 1967, at the Avalon Ballroom by the San Francisco Hare Krishna temple. The Grateful Dead performed at the event along with the Hare Krishna founder Bhaktivedanta Swami, poet Allen Ginsberg, bands Moby Grape and Big Brother and the Holding Company with Janis Joplin, donating proceeds to the temple. The band's first LP, The Grateful Dead, was released on Warner Brothers in 1967.
Classically trained trumpeter Phil Lesh performed on bass guitar. Bob Weir, the youngest original member of the group, played rhythm guitar. Ron "Pigpen" McKernan played keyboards, percussion, and harmonica until shortly before his death in 1973 at the age of 27. Garcia, Weir, and McKernan shared the lead vocal duties more or less equally; Lesh sang only a few leads, but his tenor was a key part of the band's three-part vocal harmonies. Bill Kreutzmann played drums, and in September 1967 was joined by a second drummer, New York City native Mickey Hart, who also played a wide variety of other percussion instruments.
On May 3, 1968, the band played a free concert at Columbia University during the anti–Vietnam War student protests during which students occupied several campus buildings. In order to play, the band, equipment and all, had to be "smuggled" on campus in the back of a bread delivery truck. "We were already jamming away before the security and police could stop us", said Hart.
Tom "TC" Constanten was added as a second keyboardist from 1968 to 1970, to help Pigpen keep up with an increasingly psychedelic sound, while Pigpen transitioned into playing various percussion instruments and vocals. 1970 included tour dates in New Orleans, where the band performed at The Warehouse for two nights. On January 31, 1970, the local police raided their hotel on Bourbon Street and arrested and charged 19 people with possession of various drugs. The second night's concert was performed as scheduled after bail was posted. Eventually, the charges were dismissed, except those against sound engineer Owsley Stanley, who was already facing charges in California for manufacturing LSD. This event was later memorialized in the lyrics of "Truckin'", a single from American Beauty that reached number 64 on the charts.
Hart took time off from the band in February 1971, after his father, an accountant, absconded with much of the band's money; Kreutzmann was once again the sole percussionist, until Hart rejoined the Grateful Dead for good in October 1974. After Constanten's departure, Pigpen reclaimed his position as sole keyboardist. Less than a year later, in late 1971, Pigpen was joined by another keyboardist, Keith Godchaux, who played grand piano alongside Pigpen's Hammond B-3 organ. In early 1972, Keith's wife, Donna Jean Godchaux, joined the Grateful Dead as a backing vocalist.
Following the Grateful Dead's "Europe '72" tour, Pigpen's health had deteriorated to the point that he could no longer tour with the band. His final concert appearance was June 17, 1972, at the Hollywood Bowl, in Los Angeles; he died on March 8, 1973, of complications from liver damage.
=== Godchaux era (1972–1979) ===
Pigpen's death did not slow down the Grateful Dead. With the help of manager Ron Rakow, the band soon formed its own record label, Grateful Dead Records. Later that year, it released its next studio album, the jazz-influenced Wake of the Flood, which became their biggest commercial success thus far. Meanwhile, capitalizing on the album's success, the band soon went back to the studio, and in June 1974 released another album, From the Mars Hotel. Not long after, the Dead decided to take a hiatus from live touring. The band travelled to Europe for a string of shows in September 1974, before performing a series of five concerts at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco in October 1974, and delved into various other projects. The Winterland concerts were filmed, and Garcia compiled the footage into The Grateful Dead Movie, a feature-length concert film released in 1977.
In September 1975, the Dead released their eighth studio album, Blues for Allah. The band resumed touring in June 1976, playing multiple dates in small theaters, rather than the stadium shows that had become common, and had exhausted them, in 1974. That same year, they signed with Arista Records, and the new contract produced Terrapin Station in July 1977. The band's tour in the spring of that year is held in high regard by its fans, and its concert of May 8 at Cornell University is often considered one of the best performances of its career. Their September 1977 concert at Raceway Park in Old Bridge Township, New Jersey was attended by 107,019 people and held the record for largest-ticketed concert in the United States by a single act for 47 years.
Keith and Donna Jean Godchaux left the band in February 1979, citing artistic differences.
=== Mydland/Welnick era (1979–1995) ===
Following the Godchauxs' departure, Brent Mydland joined as keyboardist and vocalist and was considered "the perfect fit". The Godchauxs then formed the Heart of Gold Band, before Keith died in a car accident in July 1980. Mydland was the keyboardist for the Grateful Dead for 11 years until his death by narcotics overdose in July 1990, becoming the third keyboardist to die.
Shortly after Mydland found his place in the early 1980s, Garcia's health began to decline. He became a frequent smoker of "Persian", a type of heroin, and he gained weight at a rapid pace. He lost his liveliness on stage, his voice was strained, and Deadheads worried for his health. After he began to curtail his opiate usage gradually in 1985, Garcia slipped into a diabetic coma for several days in July 1986, leading to the cancelation of all concerts in the fall of that year. Garcia recovered, and the band released In the Dark in July 1987, which became its best-selling studio album and produced its only top-40 single, "Touch of Grey". Also, that year, the group toured with Bob Dylan, as heard on the album Dylan & the Dead.
Mydland died in July 1990 and Vince Welnick, former keyboardist for the Tubes, joined as a band member, while Bruce Hornsby, who had a successful career with his band the Range, joined temporarily as a bridge to help Welnick learn songs. Both performed on keyboards and vocals—Welnick until the band's end, and Hornsby mainly from 1990 to 1992.
Saxophonist Branford Marsalis played five concerts with the band between 1990 and 1994.
The Grateful Dead performed its final concert on July 9, 1995, at Soldier Field in Chicago.
== Aftermath (1995–present) ==
Jerry Garcia died on August 9, 1995. A few months after Garcia's death, the remaining members of the Grateful Dead decided to disband. Since that time, there have been a number of reunions by the surviving members involving various combinations of musicians. Additionally, the former members have also begun or continued individual projects.
In 1998, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, and Mickey Hart, along with several other musicians, formed a band called the Other Ones, and performed a number of concerts that year, releasing a live album, The Strange Remain, the following year. In 2000, the Other Ones toured again, this time with Kreutzmann but without Lesh. After taking another year off, the band toured again in 2002 with Lesh. That year, the Other Ones then included all four living former Grateful Dead members who had been in the band for most or all of its history. At different times the shifting lineup of the Other Ones also included guitarists Mark Karan, Steve Kimock, and Jimmy Herring, keyboardists Bruce Hornsby, Jeff Chimenti, and Rob Barraco, saxophonist Dave Ellis, drummer John Molo, bassist Alphonso Johnson, and vocalist Susan Tedeschi.
In 2003, the Other Ones, still including Weir, Lesh, Hart, and Kreutzmann, changed their name to the Dead. The Dead toured the United States in 2003, 2004 and 2009. The band's lineups included Jimmy Herring and Warren Haynes on guitar, Jeff Chimenti and Rob Barraco on keyboards, and Joan Osborne on vocals. In 2008, members of the Dead played two concerts, called "Deadheads for Obama" and "Change Rocks".
Following the 2009 Dead tour, Lesh and Weir formed the band Furthur, which debuted in September 2009. Joining Lesh and Weir in Furthur were Chimenti (keyboards), John Kadlecik (guitar), Joe Russo (drums), Jay Lane (drums), Sunshine Becker (vocals), and Zoe Ellis (vocals). Lane and Ellis left the band in 2010, and vocalist Jeff Pehrson joined later that year. Furthur disbanded in 2014.
In 2010, Hart and Kreutzmann re-formed the Rhythm Devils, and played a summer concert tour. In the fall of 2015, Hart, Kreutzmann and Weir teamed up with Chimenti, guitarist John Mayer, and bassist Oteil Burbridge to form a band called Dead & Company. Mayer recounted that in 2011 he was listening to Pandora and happened upon the Grateful Dead song "Althea", and that soon Grateful Dead music was all he would listen to. Dead & Company toured every year (except 2020), until announcing that their summer 2023 tour, which saw Kreutzmann replaced by Lane, would be their last. However, they later clarified that it was only their last tour, and they continue to perform concerts.
Since 1995, the former members of the Grateful Dead have also pursued solo music careers. Both Bob Weir & RatDog and Phil Lesh and Friends have performed many concerts and released several albums. Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann have also each released a few albums. Hart has toured with his world music percussion ensemble Planet Drum as well as the Mickey Hart Band. Kreutzmann has led several different bands, including BK3, 7 Walkers (with Papa Mali), and Billy & the Kids. Donna Godchaux has returned to the music scene, with the Donna Jean Godchaux Band, and Tom Constanten also continues to write and perform music. All of these groups continue to play Grateful Dead music.
In May 2017, a four-hour documentary film Long Strange Trip about the band was released theatrically and on Amazon Prime. Directed by Amir Bar-Lev and produced by Martin Scorsese and Justin Kreutzmann, while David Lemieux supervised the musical selection. Importantly, Weir, Hart, Kreutzmann, and Lesh agreed to new interviews for the film.
Barlow died in 2018 and Hunter in 2019. Lesh died in 2024. Donna Jean Godchaux died in November 2025. Weir died in January 2026, leaving Kreutzmann as the last surviving member of the Grateful Dead's original lineup.
=== "Fare Thee Well" ===
In 2015, Weir, Lesh, Kreutzmann, and Hart reunited for five concerts called "Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of the Grateful Dead". The shows were performed on June 27 and 28 at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, and on July 3, 4 and 5 at Soldier Field in Chicago. The band stated that this would be the final time that Weir, Lesh, Hart, and Kreutzmann would perform together. They were joined by Trey Anastasio of Phish on guitar, Jeff Chimenti on keyboards, and Bruce Hornsby on piano. Demand for tickets was very high. The concerts were simulcast via various media. The Chicago shows have been released as a box set of CDs and DVDs.
== Musical style ==
The Grateful Dead formed during the era when bands such as the Beatles, the Beach Boys and the Rolling Stones were dominating the airwaves. "The Beatles were why we turned from a jug band into a rock 'n' roll band", said Bob Weir. "What we saw them doing was impossibly attractive. I couldn't think of anything else more worth doing." Former folk-scene star Bob Dylan had recently put out a couple of records featuring electric instrumentation. Grateful Dead members have said that it was after attending a concert by the touring New York City band the Lovin' Spoonful that they decided to "go electric" and look for a "dirtier" sound. Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir (both of whom had been immersed in the American folk music revival of the late 1950s and early 1960s), were open-minded about the use of electric guitars.
The Grateful Dead's early music (in the mid-1960s) was part of the process of establishing what "psychedelic music" was, but theirs was essentially a "street party" form of it. They developed their "psychedelic" playing as a result of meeting Ken Kesey in Palo Alto, California, and subsequently becoming the house band for the Acid Tests he staged. They did not fit their music to an established category such as pop rock, blues, folk rock, or country & western. Individual tunes within their repertoire could be identified under one of these stylistic labels, but overall their music drew on all of these genres and, more frequently, melded several of them. Bill Graham said of the Grateful Dead, "They're not the best at what they do, they're the only ones that do what they do." Academics Paul Hegarty and Martin Halliwell argued that the Grateful Dead were "not merely as precursors of prog but as essential developments of progressiveness in its early days". Often (both in performance and on recording) the Dead left room for exploratory, spacey soundscapes.
Their live shows, fed by an improvisational approach to music, were different from most touring bands. While rock and roll bands often rehearse a standard set, played with minor variations, the Grateful Dead did not prepare in this way. Garcia stated in a 1966 interview, "We don't make up our sets beforehand. We'd rather work off the tops of our heads than off a piece of paper." They maintained this approach throughout their career. For each performance, the band drew material from an active list of a hundred or so songs.
The 1969 live album Live/Dead did capture the band in-form, but commercial success did not come until Workingman's Dead and American Beauty, both released in 1970. These records largely featured the band's laid-back acoustic musicianship and more traditional song structures. With their rootsy, eclectic stylings, particularly evident on the latter two albums, the band pioneered the hybrid Americana genre.
=== Instrumentation and musicianship ===
As the band and its sound matured over thirty years of touring, playing, and recording, each member's stylistic contribution became more defined, consistent, and identifiable. Garcia's lead lines were fluid, supple and spare, owing a great deal of their character to his experience playing Scruggs style banjo, an approach which often makes use of note syncopation, accenting, arpeggios, staccato chromatic runs, and the anticipation of the downbeat.
Garcia had a distinctive sense of timing, often weaving in and out of the groove established by the rest of the band as if he were pushing the beat. His lead lines were also immensely influenced by jazz soloists: Garcia cited Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, Bill Evans, Pat Martino, George Benson, Al Di Meola, Art Tatum, Duke Ellington, and Django Reinhardt as primary influences, and frequently utilized techniques common to country and blues music in songs that called back to those traditions.
Garcia often switched scales in the midst of a solo depending upon the chord changes played underneath, though he nearly always finished phrases by landing on the chord-tones. Jerry most frequently played in the Mixolydian mode, though his solos and phrases often incorporated notes from the Dorian and major/minor pentatonic scales. Particularly in the late 1960s, Garcia occasionally incorporated melodic lines derived from Indian ragas into the band's extended, psychedelic improvisation, likely inspired by John Coltrane and other jazz artists' interest in the sitar music of Ravi Shankar.
Lesh was originally a classically trained trumpet player with an extensive background in music theory, but did not tend to play traditional blues-based bass forms. He often played more melodic, symphonic and complex lines, often sounding like a second lead guitar. In contrast to most bassists in popular music, Lesh often avoids playing the root of a chord on the downbeat, instead withholding as a means to build tension. Lesh also rarely repeats the same bassline, even from performance to performance of the same song, and often plays off of or around the other instruments with a syncopated, staccato bounce that contributes to the Dead's unique rhythmic character.
Weir, too, was not a traditional rhythm guitarist, but tended to play unique inversions at the upper end of the Dead's sound. Weir modeled his style of playing after jazz pianist McCoy Tyner and attempted to replicate the interplay between John Coltrane and Tyner in his support, and occasional subversion, of the harmonic structure of Garcia's voice leadings. This would often influence the direction the band's improvisation would take on a given night. Weir and Garcia's respective positions as rhythm and lead guitarist were not always strictly adhered to, as Weir would often incorporate short melodic phrases into his playing to support Garcia and occasionally took solos, often played with a slide. Weir's playing is characterized by a "spiky, staccato" sound.
The band's two drummers, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, developed a unique, complex interplay, balancing Kreutzmann's steady shuffle beat with Hart's interest in percussion styles outside the rock tradition. Kreutzmann has said, "I like to establish a feeling and then add radical or oblique juxtapositions to that feeling." Hart incorporated an 11-count measure to his drumming, bringing a dimension to the band's sound that became an important part of its style. He had studied tabla drumming and incorporated rhythms and instruments from world music, and later electronic music, into the band's live performances.
The Dead's live performances featured multiple types of improvisation derived from a vast array of musical traditions. Not unlike many rock bands of their time, the majority of the Dead's songs feature a designated section in which an instrumental break occurs over the chord changes. These sections typically feature solos by Garcia that often originate as variations on the song's melody, but go on to create dynamic phrases that resolve by returning to the chord-tones. Not unlike traditional improvisational jazz, they may occasionally feature several solos by multiple instruments within an undecided number of bars, such as a keyboardist, before returning to the melody. At the same time, Dead shows almost always feature a more collective, modal approach to improvisation that typically occurs during segues between songs before the band modulates to a new tonal center. Some of the Dead's more extended jam vehicles, such as "The Other One", "Dark Star", and "Playing in the Band" almost exclusively make use of modulation between modes to accompany simple two-chord progressions.
=== Lyrical themes ===
Following the songwriting renaissance that defined the band's early 1970s period, as reflected in the albums Workingman's Dead and American Beauty, Robert Hunter, Jerry Garcia's primary lyrical partner, frequently made use of motifs common to American folklore including trains, guns, elements, traditional musical instruments, gambling, murder, animals, alcohol, descriptions of American geography, and religious symbolism to illustrate themes involving love and loss, life and death, beauty and horror, and chaos and order. Following in the footsteps of several American musical traditions, these songs are often confessional and feature narration from the perspective of an antihero. Critic Robert Christgau described them as "American myths" that later gave way to "the old karma-go-round".
An extremely common feature in both Robert Hunter's lyrics, as well as the band's visual iconography, is the presence of dualistic and opposing imagery illustrating the dynamic range of the human experience (Heaven and hell, law and crime, dark and light, etc.). Hunter and Garcia's earlier, more directly psychedelic-influenced compositions often make use of surreal imagery, nonsense, and whimsey reflective of traditions in English poetry. In a retrospective, The New Yorker described Hunter's verses as "elliptical, by turns vivid and gnomic", which were often "hippie poetry about roses and bells and dew". Grateful Dead biographer Dennis McNally has described Hunter's lyrics as creating "a non-literal hyper-Americana" weaving a psychedelic, kaleidoscopic tapestry in the hopes of elucidating America's national character. At least one of Hunter and Bob Weir's collaborations, "Jack Straw", was inspired by the work of John Steinbeck.
== Influence and legacy ==
Grateful Dead have been called a "symbol of the counterculture movement of the sixties". Beginning in the early 1990s, a new generation of bands became inspired by the Grateful Dead's improvisational ethos and marketing strategy, and began to incorporate elements of the Grateful Dead's live performances into their own shows. These include the nightly alteration of setlists, frequent improvisation, the blending of genres, and the allowance of taping, which would often contribute to the development of a dedicated fanbase. Bands associated with the expansion of the "jam scene" include Phish, the String Cheese Incident, Widespread Panic, Blues Traveler, Moe, and the Disco Biscuits. Many of these groups began to look past the American roots music that the Grateful Dead drew inspiration from, and incorporated elements of progressive rock, hard rock, and electronica. At the same time, the Internet gained popularity and provided a medium for fans to discuss these bands and their performances and download MP3s. The Grateful Dead, as well as Phish, were one of the first bands to have a Usenet newsgroup.
== Merchandising and representation ==
Hal Kant was an entertainment industry attorney who specialized in representing musical groups. He spent 35 years as principal lawyer and general counsel for the Grateful Dead, a position in the group that was so strong that his business cards with the band identified his role as "Czar".
Kant brought the band millions of dollars in revenue through his management of the band's intellectual property and merchandising rights. At Kant's recommendation, the group was one of the few rock 'n roll pioneers to retain ownership of their music masters and publishing rights.
In 2006, the Grateful Dead signed a ten-year licensing agreement with Rhino Entertainment to manage the band's business interests including the release of musical recordings, merchandising, and marketing. The band retained creative control and kept ownership of its music catalog.
A Grateful Dead video game titled Grateful Dead Game – The Epic Tour was released in April 2012 and was created by Curious Sense.
In November 2022, the children's book The ABCs of The Grateful Dead was released. Authorized by the group, it was written by Howie Abrams, illustrated by Michael "Kaves" McLeer, and published by Simon & Schuster.
=== Sponsorship of 1992 Lithuanian Olympic basketball team ===
After Lithuania gained its independence from the USSR, the country announced its withdrawal from the 1992 Olympics due to the lack of any money to sponsor participants. But NBA star Šarūnas Marčiulionis, a native Lithuanian basketball star, wanted to help his native team to compete. His efforts resulted in a call from representatives of the Grateful Dead who set up a meeting with the band members. The band agreed to fund transportation costs for the team (about $5,000) along with Grateful Dead designs for the team's jerseys and shorts. The Lithuanian basketball team won the bronze medal and the Lithuanian basketball/Grateful Dead T-shirts became part of pop culture, especially in Lithuania. The incident was covered by the documentary The Other Dream Team.
== Live performances ==
The Grateful Dead toured constantly throughout their career, playing more than 2,300 concerts. They promoted a sense of community among their fans, who became known as "Deadheads", many of whom followed their tours for months or years on end. Around concert venues, an impromptu communal marketplace known as "Shakedown Street" was created by Deadheads to serve as centers of activity where fans could buy and sell anything from grilled cheese sandwiches to homemade T-shirts and recordings of Grateful Dead concerts.
In their early career, the band also dedicated their time and talents to their community, the Haight-Ashbury area of San Francisco, making available free food, lodging, music, and health care to all. It has been said that the band performed "more free concerts than any band in the history of music".
With the exception of 1975, when the band was on hiatus and played only four concerts, Grateful Dead performed many concerts every year, from their formation in April 1965, until July 9, 1995. Initially all their shows were in California, principally in the San Francisco Bay Area and in or near Los Angeles. They also performed, in 1965 and 1966, with Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, as the house band for the Acid Tests.
In 1967, they toured nationally, including their first performance in New York City. They appeared at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, the Woodstock Festival in 1969 and the Festival Express train tour across Canada in 1970. They were scheduled to appear as the final act at the infamous Altamont Free Concert on December 6, 1969, after the Rolling Stones but withdrew after security concerns. "That's the way things went at Altamont—so badly that the Grateful Dead, prime organizers and movers of the festival, didn't even get to play", staff at Rolling Stone magazine wrote in a detailed narrative on the event.
Their first UK performance was at the Hollywood Music Festival in 1970. Their largest concert audience came in 1973 when they played, along with the Allman Brothers Band and the Band, before an estimated 600,000 people at the Summer Jam at Watkins Glen. They played to an estimated total of 25 million people, more than any other band, with audiences of up to 80,000 attending a single show. Many of these concerts were preserved in the band's tape vault, and several dozen have since been released on CD and as downloads. The Dead were known for the tremendous variation in their setlists from night to night—the list of songs documented to have been played by the band exceeds 500. The band has released four concert videos under the name View from the Vault. In 1978, they played three nights at the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt.
In the 1990s, the Grateful Dead earned a total of $285 million in revenue from their concert tours, the second-highest during the 1990s, with the Rolling Stones earning the most. This figure is representative of tour revenue through 1995, as touring stopped after the death of Jerry Garcia.
In a 1991 PBS documentary, segment host Buck Henry attended an August 1991 concert at Shoreline Amphitheatre and gleaned some information from some band members about the Grateful Dead phenomenon and its success. At the time, Jerry Garcia stated, "We didn't really invent the Grateful Dead, the crowd invented the Grateful Dead, you know what I mean? We were sort of standing in line, and uh, it's gone way past our expectations, way past, so it's, we've been going along with it to see what it's gonna do next." Mickey Hart said, "This is one of the last places in America that you can really have this kind of fun, you know, considering the political climate and so forth." Hart also stated that "the transformative power of the Grateful Dead is really the essence of it; it's what it can do to your consciousness. We're more into transportation than we are into music, per se, I mean, the business of the Grateful Dead is transportation." One of the band's largest concerts took place just months before Garcia's death, at their outdoor show with Bob Dylan in Highgate, Vermont, on June 15, 1995. The crowd was estimated to be over 90,000; overnight camping was allowed and about a third of the audience got in without having purchased a ticket.
Their numerous studio albums were generally collections of new songs that they had first played in concert. The band was also famous for its extended musical improvisations, having been described as having never played the same song the same way twice. Their concert sets often blended songs, one into the next, often for more than three songs at a time.
=== Concert sound systems ===
The Wall of Sound was a large sound system designed specifically for the band. The band was never satisfied with the house system anywhere they played. After the Monterey Pop Festival, the band's crew 'borrowed' some of the other performers' sound equipment and used it to host some free shows in San Francisco. In their early days, soundman Owsley "Bear" Stanley designed a public address (PA) and monitor system for them. Stanley was the Grateful Dead's soundman for many years; he was also one of the largest suppliers of LSD.
Stanley's sound systems were delicate and finicky, and frequently brought shows to a halt with technical breakdowns. After Stanley went to jail for manufacturing LSD in 1970, the group briefly used house PAs, but found them to be even less reliable than those built by their former soundman. On February 2, 1970, the group contacted Bob Heil to use his system. In 1971, the band purchased their first solid-state sound system from Alembic Studios. Because of this, Alembic would play an integral role in the research, development, and production of the Wall of Sound. The band also welcomed Dan Healy into the fold on a permanent basis that year. Healy would mix the Grateful Dead's live sound until 1993.
Following Jerry Garcia's death and the band's breakup in 1995, their current sound system was inherited by Dave Matthews Band. Dave Matthews Band debuted the sound system April 30, 1996, at the first show of their 1996 tour in Richmond, Virginia.
=== Tapes ===
Like several other bands at the time, the Grateful Dead allowed their fans to record their shows. For many years the tapers set up their microphones wherever they could, and the eventual forest of microphones became a problem for the sound crew. Eventually, this was solved by having a dedicated taping section located behind the soundboard, which required a special "tapers" ticket. The band allowed sharing of their shows, as long as no profits were made on the sale of the tapes.
Of the approximately 2,350 shows the Grateful Dead played, almost 2,200 were taped, and most of these are available online. The band began collecting and cataloging tapes early on and Dick Latvala was their keeper. "Dick's Picks" is named after Latvala. After his death in 1999, David Lemieux gradually took the post. Concert set lists from a subset of 1,590 Grateful Dead shows were used to perform a comparative analysis between how songs were played in concert and how they are listened online by Last.fm members. In their book Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead: What Every Business Can Learn From the Most Iconic Band in History, David Meerman Scott and Brian Halligan identify the taper section as a crucial contributor to increasing the Grateful Dead's fan base.
== Iconography ==
Over the years, a number of iconic images have come to be associated with the Grateful Dead. Many of these images originated as artwork for concert posters or album covers.
Skull and Roses
The skull and roses design was composed by Alton Kelley and Stanley Mouse, who added lettering and color, respectively, to a black and white drawing by Edmund Joseph Sullivan. Sullivan's drawing was an illustration for a 1913 edition of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Earlier antecedents include the custom of exhibiting the relic skulls of Christian martyrs decorated with roses on their feast days. The rose is an attribute of Saint Valentine, who according to one legend, was martyred by decapitation. Accordingly, in Rome, at the church dedicated to him, the observance of his feast day included the display of his skull surrounded by roses. Kelley and Mouse's design originally appeared on a poster for the September 16 and 17, 1966, Dead shows at the Avalon Ballroom. Later, it was used as the cover for the album Grateful Dead (1971). The album is sometimes referred to as Skull and Roses.
Jester
Another icon of the Dead is a skeleton dressed as a jester and holding a lute. This image was an airbrush painting, created by Stanley Mouse in 1972. It was originally used for the cover of The Grateful Dead Songbook.
"Dancing" Bears
A series of stylized bears who appear to be dancing was drawn by Bob Thomas as part of the back cover for the album History of the Grateful Dead, Volume One (Bear's Choice) (1973). Thomas reported that he based the bears on a lead sort from an unknown font. The bear is a reference to Owsley "Bear" Stanley, who recorded and produced the album. Bear himself wrote, "the bears on the album cover are not really 'dancing'. I don't know why people think they are; their positions are quite obviously those of a high-stepping march."
Steal Your Face Skull
Perhaps the best-known Grateful Dead art icon is a red, white, and blue skull with a lightning bolt through it. The lightning bolt skull can be found on the cover of the album Steal Your Face (1976), and the image is sometimes known by that name. It was designed by Owsley Stanley and artist Bob Thomas, and was originally used as a logo to mark the band's equipment.
Dancing Terrapins
The two dancing terrapins first appeared on the cover of the album Terrapin Station (1977). They were drawn by Kelley and Mouse, based on a drawing by Heinrich Kley. Since then these turtles have become one of the Grateful Dead's most recognizable logos.
Uncle Sam Skeleton
The Uncle Sam skeleton was devised by Gary Gutierrez as part of the animation for The Grateful Dead Movie (1977). The image combines the Grateful Dead skeleton motif with the character of Uncle Sam, a reference to the then-recently written song "U.S. Blues", which plays during the animation.
== Deadheads ==
Fans and enthusiasts of the band are commonly referred to as Deadheads. While the origin of the term may be unclear, Dead Heads were made canon by the notice placed inside the Skull and Roses (1971) album by manager Jon McIntire:
DEAD FREAKS UNITE: Who are you? Where are you? How are you?Send us your name and address and we'll keep you informed.Dead Heads, P.O. Box 1065, San Rafael, California 94901.
As each show featured a new setlist and a great deal of improvisation, Deadheads would often follow the band from city to city, attending many shows on a given tour. Many Deadheads speak of being drawn to the culture due to the sense of community that the band's shows tended to foster. Though Deadheads came from a wide array of demographics, many attempted to reproduce the aesthetics and values of the 1960s counterculture and were often stigmatized in the media. Because of the stereotyping of Deadheads as hippies, the band's shows became a common target for officials in the DEA and arrests at shows became common.
As a group, the Deadheads were considered very mellow. "I'd rather work nine Grateful Dead concerts than one Oregon football game", Police Det. Rick Raynor said. "They don't get belligerent like they do at the games." Despite this reputation, in the mid-1990s, as the band's popularity grew, there were a series of minor scuffles occurring at shows that peaked with a large scale riot at the Deer Creek Music Center near Indianapolis in July 1995. This gate crashing incident caused the band to cancel the following night's show. Deadheads who appeared on the scene after the band's 1987 hit single "Touch of Grey", were often disparagingly referred to by older fans as "Touchheads". Beginning in the 1980s, a number of definable sects of Deadheads began to appear on the scene. These included the Wharf Rats, as well as the "spinners", named for their whirling-style of dancing and their use of the band's music to facilitate mystical experiences.
Deadheads, particularly those who collected tapes, were known for keeping close records of the band's setlists and for comparing various live versions of the band's songs, as reflected in publications such as the various editions of "Deadbase" and "The Deadhead's Taping Compendium". This practice continues into the 21st century on digital forums and websites such as the Internet Archive, which features live recordings of nearly every available Grateful Dead show and allows users to discuss and review the site's shows.
The band has a number of influential and celebrity fans, including politicians, businesspeople, journalists, and other musicians.
== Donation of archives to UC Santa Cruz ==
On April 24, 2008, members Bob Weir and Mickey Hart, along with Nion McEvoy, CEO of Chronicle Books, UC Santa Cruz chancellor George R. Blumenthal, and UC Santa Cruz librarian Virginia Steel, held a press conference announcing UCSC's McHenry Library would be the permanent home of the Grateful Dead Archive, which includes a complete archival history from 1965 to the present. The archive includes correspondence, photographs, fliers, posters, and several other forms of memorabilia and records of the band. Also included are unreleased videos of interviews and TV appearances that will be installed for visitors to view, as well as stage backdrops and other props from the band's concerts.
Blumenthal stated at the event, "The Grateful Dead Archive represents one of the most significant popular cultural collections of the 20th century; UC Santa Cruz is honored to receive this invaluable gift. The Grateful Dead and UC Santa Cruz are both highly innovative institutions—born the same year—that continue to make a major, positive impact on the world." Guitarist Bob Weir stated "We looked around, and UC Santa Cruz seems the best possible home. If you ever wrote the Grateful Dead a letter, you'll probably find it there!"
Professor of music Fredric Lieberman was the key contact between the band and the university, who let the university know about the search for a home for the archive, and who had collaborated with Mickey Hart on three books in the past, Planet Drum (1990), Drumming at the Edge of Magic (1991), and Spirit into Sound (2006).
The first large-scale exhibition of materials from the Grateful Dead Archive was mounted at the New-York Historical Society in 2010.
== Awards ==
In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked the Grateful Dead No. 57 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
On February 10, 2007, the Grateful Dead received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. The award was accepted on behalf of the band by Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann.
In 2011, a recording of the Grateful Dead's May 8, 1977, concert at Cornell University's Barton Hall was selected for induction into the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress.
Twelve members of the Grateful Dead (the eleven official performing members plus Robert Hunter) were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, and Bruce Hornsby was their presenter.
In 2024 the band was named as one of the recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors. The three living core members (Weir, Hart and Kreutzmann) received the award. As he was named a recipient prior to his death, Lesh received the award posthumously.
On December 4, 2025, the Grateful Dead was awarded a Guinness World Records title for the most Top 40 albums in Billboard 200 history with 66 Top 40 albums. The Grateful Dead previously broke the record in February 2024 with 60 Top 40 albums after having been tied with Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley for most Top 40 albums (59) in November 2023.
== Members ==
=== Former members ===
Jerry Garcia – lead and backing vocals, guitars (1965–1995; his death)
Bob Weir – lead and backing vocals, guitars (1965–1995; died 2026)
Phil Lesh – bass guitar, backing and lead vocals (1965–1995; died 2024)
Bill Kreutzmann – drums, percussion (1965–1995)
Ron "Pigpen" McKernan – lead and backing vocals, keyboards, organ, harmonica, percussion, occasional guitar (1965–1973; his death; not touring after June 17, 1972)
Mickey Hart – drums, percussion (1967–1971; 1974–1995)
Tom Constanten – keyboards (1968–1970)
Keith Godchaux – keyboards, backing vocals (1971–1979; died 1980)
Donna Jean Godchaux – backing and lead vocals (1971–1979; died 2025)
Brent Mydland – keyboards, backing and lead vocals (1979–1990; his death)
Vince Welnick – keyboards, backing and lead vocals (1990–1995; died 2006)
Robert Hunter – lyrics (1967–1995; died 2019)
John Perry Barlow – lyrics (1971–1995; died 2018)
=== Frequent collaborators ===
Ned Lagin – keyboards, synthesizers (1970–1975)
Bruce Hornsby – keyboards, vocals (1990–1992)
Lead guitarist Jerry Garcia was often viewed both by the public and the media as the leader or primary spokesperson for the Grateful Dead, but was reluctant to be perceived that way, especially since he and the other group members saw themselves as equal participants and contributors to their collective musical and creative output. Garcia, a native of San Francisco, grew up in the Excelsior District. One of his main influences was bluegrass music, and he also performed—on banjo, one of his other great instrumental loves, along with the pedal steel guitar—in bluegrass bands, notably Old & In the Way with mandolinist David Grisman.
Ned Lagin, a young MIT student and friend of the band, guested with them many times from 1970 through 1975, providing a second keyboard as well as synthesizers. Upon graduating from MIT, he began touring with the band fulltime in 1974, performing sets of electronic music with Phil Lesh, occasionally with Garcia and Kreutzmann, during the band's intermission. The "Ned and Phil" set became a regular fixture of that era, and was featured nearly every night during their Summer '74 and Europe '74 tours, as well as their five-night residency at the Winterland Ballroom during October 1974. Lagin is also featured in The Grateful Dead Movie. During 1974 and 1975, he would also occasionally play entire sets with the band, usually on Garcia's side of the stage, before ending his touring relationship with the band and focusing on his solo music projects, such as his album Seastones, which features several members of the Dead.
Bruce Hornsby never officially joined the band full-time because of his other commitments, but he did play keyboards at most Dead shows between September 1990 and March 1992, and sat in with the band over 100 times in all between 1988 and 1995. He added several Dead songs to his own live shows and Jerry Garcia referred to him as a "floating member" who could come and go as he pleased.
Robert Hunter and John Perry Barlow were the band's primary lyricists, starting in 1967 and 1971, respectively, and continuing until the band's dissolution. Hunter collaborated mostly with Garcia and Barlow mostly with Weir, though each wrote with other band members as well. Both are listed as official members at Dead.net, the band's website, alongside the performing members. Barlow was the only member not inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
=== Timeline ===
== Discography == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunedin | Dunedin | Dunedin ( dun-EE-din; Māori: Ōtepoti) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from Dùn Èideann ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland.
With an estimated population of 132,800 as of June 2025, Dunedin is New Zealand's seventh-most populous metropolitan and urban area. For cultural, geographical, and historical reasons, the city has long been considered one of New Zealand's four main centres. The urban area of Dunedin lies on the central-eastern coast of Otago, surrounding the head of Otago Harbour. The harbour and hills around Dunedin are the remnants of an extinct volcano. The city suburbs extend out into the surrounding valleys and hills, onto the isthmus of the Otago Peninsula, and along the shores of the Otago Harbour and the Pacific Ocean.
Archaeological evidence points to the beginning of a lengthy occupation of the Dunedin area by Māori between 1250 and 1300 AD, with many pā constructed during the Classical period. Migrations by Kāi Tahu in the mid-17th century were followed by the arrival of Europeans by the 1830s. A Scottish settlement was established in 1848 by the Lay Association of the Free Church of Scotland, and between 1855 and 1900 many thousands of Scots emigrated to the incorporated city. Dunedin's population and wealth boomed during the 1860s' Otago gold rush. For a brief period of time it became New Zealand's largest urban area. The Union Company, which became the biggest shipping line in the Southern Hemisphere, was founded in Dunedin in 1875. The city saw substantial migration from mainland China at the same time, predominantly from Guangdong and Guangxi. Dunedin is home to New Zealand's oldest Chinese community.
Today, Dunedin has a diverse economy which includes manufacturing, publishing, arts, tourism and technology-based industries. The mainstay of the city's economy remains centred on tertiary education, with students from the University of Otago, New Zealand's oldest university, and the Otago Polytechnic, accounting for a large proportion of the population; 21.6 per cent of the city's population was aged between 15 and 24 at the 2006 census, compared to the New Zealand average of 14.2 per cent. Dunedin is also noted for its vibrant music scene, as the 1980s birthplace of the Dunedin sound (which heavily influenced grunge, indie and modern alternative rock). In 2014, the city was designated as a UNESCO City of Literature.
== History ==
=== Māori settlements ===
Archaeological evidence shows the first human (Māori) occupation of New Zealand occurred between 1250 and 1300 AD, with the population concentrated along the southeast coast. A camp site at Kaikai Beach, near Long Beach to the north of the present-day city of Dunedin, has been dated from about that time. There are numerous archaic (moa-hunter) sites in what is now Dunedin, several of them large and permanently occupied, particularly in the 14th century. The population contracted but expanded again with the evolution of the Classical Māori culture which saw the building of several pā, fortified settlements, notably Pukekura (at Taiaroa Head), about 1650. There was a settlement in what is now central Dunedin (Ōtepoti), occupied as late as about 1785 but abandoned by 1826. There were also Māori settlements at Whareakeake (Murdering Beach), Pūrākaunui, Mapoutahi (Goat Island Peninsula) and Huriawa (Karitane Peninsula) to the north, and at Taieri Mouth and Otokia (Henley) to the south, all inside the present boundaries of Dunedin.
Māori tradition tells first of a people called Kahui Tipua living in the area, then Te Rapuwai, semi-legendary but considered to be historical. The next arrivals were Waitaha, followed by Kāti Māmoe late in the 16th century and then Kāi Tahu (Ngāi Tahu in modern standard Māori) who arrived in the mid-17th century. European accounts have often represented these successive influxes as "invasions", but modern scholarship has cast doubt on that view. They were probably migrations – like those of the Europeans – which incidentally resulted in bloodshed.
The sealer John Boultbee recorded in the late 1820s that the 'Kaika Otargo' (settlements around and near Otago Harbour) were the oldest and largest in the south.
=== Early arrivals from Europe ===
Lieutenant James Cook stood off what is now the coast of Dunedin between 25 February 1770 and 5 March 1770, naming Cape Saunders (on the Otago Peninsula) and Saddle Hill. He reported penguins and seals in the vicinity, which led Australian, American and British sealers to visit from the beginning of the 19th century. The early years of sealing saw a feud between sealers and local Māori from 1810 to 1823, the "Sealers' War" sparked by an incident on Otago Harbour. William Tucker became the first European to settle in the area – in 1815.
Permanent European occupation dates from 1831, when the Weller brothers of New South Wales founded their whaling station at Otago (present-day Otakou) on the Otago Harbour. Epidemics severely reduced the Māori population. By the late 1830s, the Harbour had become an international whaling port. Wright & Richards started a whaling station at Karitane in 1837 and Sydney-born Johnny Jones established a farming settlement and a mission station (the South Island's first) at Waikouaiti in 1840. The settlements at Karitane and Waikouaiti have endured, making modern Dunedin one of the longest-standing European-settled territories in New Zealand.
Early in 1844, the Deborah, captained by Thomas Wing and carrying (among others) his wife Lucy and a representative of the New Zealand Company, Frederick Tuckett, sailed south from Nelson to determine the location of a planned Free Church settlement. After inspecting several areas around the eastern coast of the South Island, Tuckett selected the site which would become known as Dunedin. (Tuckett rejected the site of what would become Christchurch, as he felt the ground around the Avon River / Ōtākaro was swampy.)
The Lay Association of the Free Church of Scotland, through a company called the Otago Association, founded Dunedin at the head of Otago Harbour in 1848 as the principal town
of its special settlement.
The name "Dunedin" comes from Dùn Èideann, the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Charles Kettle the city's surveyor, instructed to emulate the characteristics of Edinburgh, produced a striking, "Romantic" town-planning design. There resulted both grand and quirky streets, as the builders struggled and sometimes failed to construct his bold vision across the challenging landscape. Captain William Cargill (1784–1860), a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars, served as the secular leader of the new colony. The Reverend Thomas Burns (1796–1871), a nephew of the poet Robert Burns, provided spiritual guidance. By the end of the 1850s, around 12,000 Scots had emigrated to Dunedin, many from the industrial lowlands.
=== Gold rush era ===
In 1852, Dunedin became the capital of the Otago Province, the whole of New Zealand from the Waitaki south. In 1861, the discovery of gold at Gabriel's Gully, to the south-west, led to a rapid influx of people and saw Dunedin become New Zealand's first city by growth of population in 1865. The new arrivals included many Irish, but also Italians, Lebanese, French, Germans, Jews and Chinese. The Dunedin Southern Cemetery was established in 1858, the Dunedin Northern Cemetery in 1872. In the 1860s, Ross Creek Reservoir was created so as to serve Dunedin's need for water.
The London-owned Bank of Otago opened its doors in Dunedin in 1863, opened 12 branches throughout its region, then in 1873 merged with the new National Bank of New Zealand also based in London and also operated from Dunedin but, true to its name, it rapidly expanded throughout New Zealand. Dunedin remained the principal local source of the nation's development capital until the Second World War.
Dunedin and the region industrialised and consolidated, and the Main South Line connected the city with Christchurch in 1878 and Invercargill in 1879. Otago Boys' High School was founded in 1863. The Otago Museum opened in 1868. The University of Otago, the oldest university in New Zealand, in 1869. Otago Girls' High School was established in 1871.
By 1874, Dunedin and its suburbs had become New Zealand's largest city with a population of 29,832 displacing Auckland's 27,840 residents to second place. A major innovation for the city's rapidly expanding economy was the foundation of the Union Company, a shipping line founded by James Mills in Dunedin in 1875, with the backing of Scottish shipbuilder Peter Denny. The line became the largest in the Southern Hemisphere, and by the 1890s dominated shipping along its San Francisco-Auckland-Sydney route. Competition from the American line Matson, Inc. after the annexation of Hawaii threatened Union Company's dominance and forced them to switch the Auckland stop for Wellington-Rarotonga-Papeete.
Between 1881 and 1957, Dunedin was home to cable trams, being both one of the first and last such systems in the world. Early in the 1880s the inauguration of the frozen meat industry, with the first shipment leaving from Port Chalmers in 1882, saw the beginning of a later great national industry. The first successful commercial shipment of frozen meat from New Zealand to the United Kingdom was on the Dunedin in 1881.
After ten years of gold rushes the economy slowed but Julius Vogel's immigration and development scheme brought thousands more, especially to Dunedin and Otago, before recession set in again in the 1880s. In these first and second times of prosperity, many institutions and businesses were established, New Zealand's first daily newspaper, art school, medical school and public art gallery. The Dunedin Public Art Gallery was among these new foundations. It had been actively promulgated by artist William Mathew Hodgkins. There was also a remarkable architectural flowering producing many substantial and ornamental buildings. R. A. Lawson's First Church of Otago and Knox Church are notable examples, as are buildings by Maxwell Bury and F. W. Petre. The other visual arts also flourished under the leadership of W. M. Hodgkins. The city's landscape and burgeoning townscape were vividly portrayed by George O'Brien (1821–1888). From the mid-1890s, the economy revived. Institutions such as the Otago Settlers Museum (now renamed as Toitū Otago Settlers Museum) and the Hocken Collections—the first of their kind in New Zealand—were founded. More notable buildings such as the Railway Station and Olveston were erected. New energy in the visual arts represented by G. P. Nerli culminated in the career of Frances Hodgkins.
=== Early modern era ===
By 1900, Dunedin was no longer the country's biggest city. Influence and activity moved north to the other centres ("the drift north"), a trend which continued for much of the following century. Despite this, the university continued to expand, and a student quarter became established. At the same time, people started to notice Dunedin's mellowing, the ageing of its grand old buildings, with writers like E. H. McCormick pointing out its atmospheric charm. In 1901 the British royals, the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York toured Dunedin. Dunedin grew during the early 20th-century via annexation of surrounding municipalities — between 1904 and 1916 Dunedin annexed the boroughs of Caversham, South Dunedin, North East Valley, Maori Hill, Roslyn, and Mornington as well as the Bay Town District. In 1963 West Harbour Borough was annexed by Dunedin and in 1968 it annexed the entire Peninsula County.
In the 1930s and early 1940s a new generation of artists such as M. T. (Toss) Woollaston, Doris Lusk, Anne Hamblett, Colin McCahon and Patrick Hayman once again represented the best of the country's talent. The Second World War saw the dispersal of these painters, but not before McCahon had met a very youthful poet, James K. Baxter, in a central city studio.
Numerous large companies had been established in Dunedin, many of which became national leaders. Late among them was Fletcher Construction, founded by Sir James Fletcher in the early 20th century. Kempthorne Prosser, established in 1879 in Stafford Street, was the largest fertiliser and drug manufacturer in the country for over 100 years. G. Methven, a metalworking and tap manufacturer based in South Dunedin, was also a leading firm, as was H. E. Shacklock, an iron founder and appliance manufacturer later taken over by the Auckland concern Fisher and Paykel. The Mosgiel Woollens was another Victorian Dunedin foundation. Hallensteins was the colloquial name of a menswear manufacturer and national retail chain, while the DIC and Arthur Barnett were department stores, the former a nationwide concern. Coulls, Somerville Wilkie—later part of the Whitcoulls group—had its origins in Dunedin in the 19th century. There were also the National Mortgage and Agency Company of New Zealand, Wright Stephensons Limited, the Union Steamship Company and the National Insurance Company and the Standard Insurance Company among many others, which survived into the 20th century.
=== Post-war developments ===
After the Second World War prosperity and population growth revived, although Dunedin trailed as the fourth 'main centre'. A generation reacting against Victorianism started demolishing its buildings and many were lost, notably William Mason's Stock exchange in 1969. (Dunedin Stock Exchange building) Although the university continued to expand, the city's population contracted, notably from 1976 to 1981. This was a culturally vibrant time with the university's new privately endowed arts fellowships bringing writers including James K Baxter, Ralph Hotere, Janet Frame and Hone Tuwhare to the city.
During the 1980s Dunedin's popular music scene blossomed, with many acts, such as The Chills, The Clean, The Verlaines and Straitjacket Fits, gaining national and international recognition. The term "The Dunedin sound" was coined to describe the 1960s-influenced, guitar-led music which flourished at the time. Bands and musicians are still playing and recording in many styles.
By 1990, population decline had steadied and slow growth occurred thereafter with Dunedin re-inventing itself as a 'heritage city' with its main streets refurbished in the Victorian style. R. A. Lawson's Municipal Chambers (Dunedin Town Hall) in the Octagon were handsomely restored. The city was also recognised as a centre of excellence in tertiary education and research. The university's and polytechnic's growth accelerated. Dunedin has continued to refurbish itself, embarking on redevelopments of the art gallery, railway station and the Toitū Otago Settlers Museum. Meanwhile, the continued blossoming of local creative writing saw the city gain UNESCO City of Literature status in 2014.
Dunedin has flourishing niche industries including engineering, software engineering, biotechnology and fashion. Port Chalmers on the Otago Harbour provides Dunedin with deep-water facilities. It is served by the Port Chalmers Branch, a branch line railway which diverges from the Main South Line and runs from Christchurch by way of Dunedin to Invercargill. Dunedin is also home to MTF, the nationwide vehicle finance company.
The cityscape glitters with gems of Victorian and Edwardian architecture—the legacy of the city's gold-rush affluence. Many, including First Church, Otago Boys' High School and Larnach Castle were designed by one of New Zealand's most eminent architects R. A. Lawson. Other prominent buildings include Olveston and the Dunedin Railway Station. Other unusual or memorable buildings or constructions are Baldwin Street, claimed to be the world's steepest residential street; the Captain Cook tavern; Cadbury Chocolate Factory (Cadbury World) (In 2018, both the factory and Cadbury World closed to make way for a new NZ$1.4 billion hospital to replace the existing Dunedin Public Hospital); and the Speight's brewery.
The thriving tertiary student population has led to a vibrant youth culture (students are referred to as 'Scarfies' by people who are not students), consisting of the previously mentioned music scene, and more recently a burgeoning boutique fashion industry. A strong visual arts community also exists in Dunedin, notably in Port Chalmers and the other settlements which dot the coast of the Otago Harbour, and also in communities such as Waitati.
Sport is catered for in Dunedin by the floodlit rugby and cricket venues of Forsyth Barr Stadium and University Oval, Dunedin, respectively, the new Caledonian Ground football and athletics stadium near the university at Logan Park, the large Edgar Centre indoor sports centre, the Dunedin Ice Stadium, and numerous golf courses and parks. There is also the Wingatui horseracing course to the south of the city. St Clair Beach is a well-known surfing venue, and the harbour basin is popular with windsurfers and kitesurfers. Dunedin has four public swimming pools: Moana Pool, Port Chalmers Pool, Te Puna o Whakaehu and St Clair Salt Water Pool.
In February 2021, the East Otago towns of Waikouaiti and Karitane in New Zealand reported high lead levels in their water supplies. Local and national authorities responded by dispatching water tanks to assist local residents and providing free blood tests, fruits and vegetables. The lead poisoning scare also attracted coverage by national media. By early March 2021, the Southern District Health Board confirmed that test results indicated that long-term exposure to lead in the water supply posed little risk to the local population.
In late January 2024, the Dunedin City Council and Otago Regional Council released a joint draft strategy to expand housing development and industrial land over the next thirty years to accommodate a projected 10% population growth.
== Geography ==
The Dunedin City territorial authority has a land area of 3,314.8 km2 (1,279.9 sq mi), slightly larger than the American state of Rhode Island or the English county of Cambridgeshire, and a little smaller than Cornwall. It was the largest city in land area in New Zealand until the formation of the 5,600 km2 (2,200 sq mi) Auckland Council on 1 November 2010. The Dunedin City Council boundaries since 1989 have extended to Middlemarch in the west, Waikouaiti in the north, the Pacific Ocean in the east and south-east, and the Waipori/Taieri River and the township of Henley in the south-west.
Dunedin is situated at the head of Otago Harbour, a narrow inlet extending south-westward for some 15 miles. The harbour is a recent creation formed by the flooding of two river valleys. From the time of its foundation in 1848, the city has spread slowly over the low-lying flats and nearby hills and across the isthmus to the slopes of the Otago Peninsula.
=== Geology ===
Eastern Otago is tectonically stable, meaning that it does not experience many earthquakes. One of the few known faults near Dunedin is the Akatore Fault. The first earthquake to cause widespread damage in Dunedin since its founding was the 1974 Dunedin earthquake, which had a magnitude of 4.9 and caused about $3.5 million in damages (2024 terms).
=== Inner city ===
The central region of Dunedin is known as the Octagon. It was once a gully, filled in the mid-nineteenth century to create the present plaza. The initial settlement of the city took place to the south on the other side of Bell Hill, a large outcrop which had to be reduced to provide easy access between the two parts of the settlement. The central city stretches away from this point in a largely northeast–southwest direction, with the main streets of George Street and Princes Street meeting at The Octagon. Here they are joined by Stuart Street, which runs orthogonally to them, from the Dunedin Railway Station in the southeast, and steeply up to the suburb of Roslyn in the northwest. Many of the city's notable old buildings are located in the southern part of this area and on the inner ring of lower hills which surround the central city (most of these hills, such as Maori Hill, Pine Hill, and Maryhill, rise to some 200 metres [660 ft] above the plain). The head of the harbour includes a large area of reclaimed land ("The Southern Endowment"), much of which is used for light industry and warehousing. A large area of flat land, simply known colloquially as "The Flat" lies to the south and southwest of the city centre, and includes several larger and older suburbs, notably South Dunedin and St Kilda. These are protected from the Pacific Ocean by a long line of dunes which run east–west along the city's southern coastline and separate residential areas from Ocean Beach, which is traditionally divided into St. Clair Beach at the western end and St Kilda Beach to the east.
Dunedin is home to Baldwin Street, which, according to the Guinness Book of Records, is the steepest street in the world. Its gradient is 1 in 2.9. The long-since-abandoned Maryhill Cablecar route had a similar gradient close to its Mornington depot.
Beyond the inner range of hills lie Dunedin's outer suburbs, notably to the northwest, beyond Roslyn. This direction contains Taieri Road and Three Mile Hill, which between them formed the original road route to the Taieri Plains. The modern State Highway 1 follows a different route, passing through Caversham in the west and out past Saddle Hill. Lying between Saddle Hill and Caversham are the outer suburbs of Green Island and Abbotsford. Between Green Island and Roslyn lies the steep-sided valley of the Kaikorai Stream, which is today a residential and light industrial area. Suburban settlements—mostly regarded as separate townships—also lie along both edges of the Otago Harbour. Notable among these are Portobello and Macandrew Bay, on the Otago Peninsula coast, and Port Chalmers on the opposite side of the harbour. Port Chalmers provides Dunedin's main deep-water port, including the city's container port.
The Dunedin skyline is dominated by a ring of (traditionally seven) hills which form the remnants of a volcanic crater. Notable among them are Mount Cargill (700 m [2,300 ft]), Flagstaff (680 m [2,230 ft]), Saddle Hill (480 m [1,570 ft]), Signal Hill (390 m [1,280 ft]), and Harbour Cone (320 m [1,050 ft]).
=== Hinterland ===
Dunedin's hinterland encompasses a variety of different landforms. To the southwest lie the Taieri Plains, the broad, fertile lowland floodplains of the Taieri River and its major tributary, the Waipori. These are moderately heavily settled, and contain the towns of Mosgiel, and Allanton. They are separated from the coast by a range of low hills rising to some 300 metres (980 ft). Inland from the Taieri Plain is rough hill country. Close to the plain, much of this is forested, notably around Berwick and Lake Mahinerangi, and also around the Silverpeaks Range which lies northwest of the Dunedin urban area. Beyond this, the land becomes drier and opens out into grass and tussock-covered land. A high, broad valley, the Strath-Taieri lies in Dunedin's far northwest, containing the town of Middlemarch, one of the area's few concentrations of population.
To the north of the city's urban area is undulating hill country containing several small, mainly coastal, settlements, including Waitati, Warrington, Seacliff, and Waikouaiti. State Highway 1 winds steeply through a series of hills here, notably The Kilmog. These hills can be considered a coastal extension of the Silverpeaks Range.
=== Environment and ecotourism ===
To the east of Dunedin lies the entirety of the Otago Peninsula, a long finger of land that formed the southeastern rim of the Dunedin Volcano. The peninsula is lightly settled, almost entirely along the harbour coast, and much of it is maintained as a natural habitat by the Otago Peninsula Trust. The peninsula contains several fine beaches, and is home to a considerable number of rare species, including yellow-eyed and little penguins, seals, and shags. Taiaroa Head, on the peninsula's northeastern point, is a site of global ecological significance, as it is home to the world's only mainland breeding colony of royal albatross.
=== List of suburbs ===
Inner suburbs
(clockwise from the city centre, starting at due north)
Woodhaugh; Glenleith; Leith Valley; Dalmore; Liberton; Pine Hill; Normanby; Mt Mera; North East Valley; Opoho; Dunedin North; Ravensbourne; Highcliff; Shiel Hill; Challis; Waverley; Vauxhall; Ocean Grove (Tomahawk); Tainui; Andersons Bay; Musselburgh; South Dunedin; St Kilda; St Clair; Corstorphine; Kew; Forbury; Caversham; Concord; Maryhill; Kenmure; Mornington; Kaikorai Valley; City Rise; Belleknowes; Roslyn; Kaikorai; Wakari; Maori Hill.
Outer suburbs
(clockwise from the city centre, starting at due north)
Burkes; Saint Leonards; Deborah Bay; Careys Bay; Port Chalmers; Sawyers Bay; Roseneath; Broad Bay; Company Bay; Macandrew Bay; Portobello; Burnside; Green Island; Waldronville; Westwood; Saddle Hill; Sunnyvale; Fairfield; Abbotsford; Bradford; Brockville; Halfway Bush; Helensburgh.
==== Towns within city limits ====
(clockwise from the city centre, starting at due north)
Waitati; Waikouaiti; Karitane; Seacliff; Warrington; Pūrākaunui; Long Beach; Aramoana; Otakou; Mosgiel; Brighton; Taieri Mouth; Henley; Allanton; East Taieri; Momona; Outram; West Taieri; Waipori; Middlemarch; Hyde.
Since local council reorganisation in the late 1980s, these are suburbs, but are not commonly regarded as such.
=== Climate ===
The climate of Dunedin in general is temperate. Under the Köppen climate classification, Dunedin features an oceanic climate. This leads to mild summers and coolish winters. Winter is not particularly frosty with around 49 frosts per year, lower than most other South Island locations, but sunny. Snowfall is not particularly common and significant snowfall is uncommon (perhaps every two or three years), except in the inland hill suburbs such as Halfway Bush and Wakari, which tend to receive a few days of snowfall each year. Spring can feature "four seasons in a day" weather, but from November to April it is generally settled and mild. Temperatures during summer can reach 30 °C (86 °F). Due to its maritime influence, Dunedin's mild summers and mild winters both stand out considering its latitude.
Dunedin has relatively low rainfall in comparison to many of New Zealand's cities, with usually only between 600 and 750 millimetres (30 in) recorded per year. However, wet weather is frequent, since much of this rainfall occurs in drizzle or light rain and heavy rain is relatively rare. Dunedin is one of the cloudiest major centres in the country, recording approximately 1,850 hours of bright sunshine per annum. Prevailing wind in the city is mainly a sometimes cool southwesterly and during late spring will alternate with northeasterlies. Warmer, dry northwest winds are also characteristic Foehn winds from the northwest. The circle of hills surrounding the inner city shelters the inner city from much of the prevailing weather, while hills just to the west of the city can often push inclement weather around to the west of the city.
Inland, beyond the heart of the city and into inland Otago, the climate is sub-continental: winters are quite cold and dry, summers warm and dry. Thick freezing ground fogs are common in winter in the upper reaches of the Taieri River's course around Middlemarch, and in summer, the temperature occasionally reaches 30 °C (86 °F).
== Demographics ==
The Dunedin City territorial authority has a population of 132,800 as of June 2025. This comprises 104,000 people in the Dunedin urban area, 15,100 people in the Mosgiel urban area, 1,470 people in Brighton, 1,310 people in Waikouaiti, and 10,920 people in the surrounding settlements and rural area.
Dunedin City had a population of 128,901 in the 2023 New Zealand census, an increase of 2,646 people (2.1%) since the 2018 census, and an increase of 8,652 people (7.2%) since the 2013 census. There were 61,722 males, 66,300 females and 873 people of other genders in 49,920 dwellings. 5.8% of people identified as LGBTIQ+. The median age was 37.0 years (compared with 38.1 years nationally). There were 19,056 people (14.8%) aged under 15 years, 34,455 (26.7%) aged 15 to 29, 53,055 (41.2%) aged 30 to 64, and 22,329 (17.3%) aged 65 or older.
People could identify as more than one ethnicity. The results were 85.1% European (Pākehā); 10.8% Māori; 3.9% Pasifika; 9.3% Asian; 1.7% Middle Eastern, Latin American and African New Zealanders (MELAA); and 2.6% other, which includes people giving their ethnicity as "New Zealander". English was spoken by 97.6%, Māori language by 2.3%, Samoan by 0.8% and other languages by 12.0%. No language could be spoken by 1.6% (e.g. too young to talk). New Zealand Sign Language was known by 0.5%. The percentage of people born overseas was 21.1%, compared with 28.8% nationally.
Religious affiliations were 27.6% Christian, 1.0% Hindu, 1.2% Islam, 0.3% Māori religious beliefs, 0.7% Buddhist, 0.6% New Age, 0.1% Jewish, and 1.5% other religions. People who answered that they had no religion were 60.5%, and 6.6% of people did not answer the census question.
Of those at least 15 years old, 24,159 (22.0%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, 58,182 (53.0%) had a post-high school certificate or diploma, and 20,418 (18.6%) people exclusively held high school qualifications. The median income was $33,500, compared with $41,500 nationally. 9,825 people (8.9%) earned over $100,000 compared to 12.1% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 48,852 (44.5%) people were employed full-time, 17,673 (16.1%) were part-time, and 3,528 (3.2%) were unemployed.
=== Urban area ===
The Dunedin urban area covers 91.16 km2 (35.20 sq mi) and had an estimated population of 104,000 as of June 2025, with a population density of 1,141 people per km2.
The urban area had a population of 100,908 in the 2023 New Zealand census, an increase of 1,023 people (1.0%) since the 2018 census, and an increase of 5,007 people (5.2%) since the 2013 census. There were 48,096 males, 52,020 females and 792 people of other genders in 38,127 dwellings. 6.7% of people identified as LGBTIQ+. The median age was 34.1 years (compared with 38.1 years nationally). There were 14,475 people (14.3%) aged under 15 years, 30,684 (30.4%) aged 15 to 29, 40,515 (40.2%) aged 30 to 64, and 15,234 (15.1%) aged 65 or older.
People could identify as more than one ethnicity. The results were 83.0% European (Pākehā); 11.2% Māori; 4.5% Pasifika; 10.9% Asian; 2.0% Middle Eastern, Latin American and African New Zealanders (MELAA); and 2.5% other, which includes people giving their ethnicity as "New Zealander". English was spoken by 97.5%, Māori language by 2.5%, Samoan by 0.9% and other languages by 13.6%. No language could be spoken by 1.6% (e.g. too young to talk). New Zealand Sign Language was known by 0.5%. The percentage of people born overseas was 23.0, compared with 28.8% nationally.
Religious affiliations were 27.1% Christian, 1.2% Hindu, 1.4% Islam, 0.3% Māori religious beliefs, 0.8% Buddhist, 0.6% New Age, 0.1% Jewish, and 1.7% other religions. People who answered that they had no religion were 60.6%, and 6.4% of people did not answer the census question.
Of those at least 15 years old, 20,169 (23.3%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, 45,513 (52.7%) had a post-high school certificate or diploma, and 14,928 (17.3%) people exclusively held high school qualifications. The median income was $31,800, compared with $41,500 nationally. 7,266 people (8.4%) earned over $100,000 compared to 12.1% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 37,755 (43.7%) people were employed full-time, 14,250 (16.5%) were part-time, and 3,099 (3.6%) were unemployed.
== Culture ==
=== Literature ===
In December 2014, Dunedin was designated as a UNESCO Creative City of Literature. Mayor of Dunedin Dave Cull said at the time, "This announcement puts our city on the world map as a first-class literary city. We keep honourable company; other cities bestowed with City of Literature status include Edinburgh, Dublin, Iowa City, Melbourne, Reykjavík, Norwich and Kraków."
Dunedin's application was driven by a steering committee and an advisory board of writers, librarians and academics from a range of Dunedin institutions. The bid highlighted the quality of the city's considerable literary heritage, its diverse combination of literary events, businesses, institutions and organisations, plus its thriving community of writers, playwrights and lyricists.
UNESCO established the Creative Cities Network to develop international co-operation among cities and encourage them to drive joint development partnerships in line with UNESCO's global priorities of 'culture and development' and 'sustainable development'. Each city in the network reflects one of UNESCO's seven Creative City themes: folk art, gastronomy, literature, design, film or music. Dunedin is New Zealand's first city to be appointed to the Creative City network.
Paul Theroux described Dunedin as "cold and frugal with its shabby streets and mock-gothic university". The university students he described as "ignorant, assertive and dirty". Billy Connolly described Dunedin as "a dreary town. It's got that Scottish Presbyterian feel about it". Michael Palin in Full Circle says of Dunedin "at first glance it is a dour, damp, chilly place, its buildings heavy with ponderous Presbyterian pride...but beneath a grey and sober heart there lurks a wild heart." In 1895, Mark Twain said of the Scots who settled in Dunedin, "They stopped here on their way from home to heaven – thinking they had arrived".
=== Music ===
==== Choirs ====
Dunedin is home to many choirs. These include the following:
The 140-member City of Dunedin Choir is Dunedin's leading performer of large-scale choral works.
The Southern Consort of Voices is a smaller choir regularly performing Choral Works.
The Royal Dunedin Male Choir, conducted by Richard Madden, performs two concerts a year
The Dunedin RSA Choir regularly performs concerts and has played an important and valued role in Dunedin City's commemorative celebrations of significant historical events. ANZAC, of course, is one such occasion, and the ANZAC Revue held on the evening of every ANZAC Day, occupies a special place of honour in the choir's calendar.
The all-female Dunedin Harmony Chorus are an important part of the Dunedin culture.
The Southern Children's Choir, based at Marama Hall in the university, is Dunedin's main children's choir. Most schools in Dunedin have choirs, many having more than one.
The Southern Youth Choir is a concert-based youth choir.
The University of Otago is home to three official choirs: the two chapel choirs (Knox and Selwyn), and the travelling Cantores choir.
Several Dunedin Churches and Cathedrals hold choirs. Among these are St. Joseph's Catholic Cathedral, home to two choirs: the Cathedral Choir and the Gabrieli Singers; Knox Church's large mixed gender choir for adults and children, the Knox Church Choir; All Saints' Church, Dunedin, has choral scholars from Selwyn College, Otago, St. John's Church, Roslyn's small mixed-gender parish choir; and St. Paul's Anglican Cathedral's mixed-gender adult choir.
The Dunedin Red Cross Choir (of New Zealand Red Cross), conducted by Eleanor Moyle, is one of only three Red Cross choirs globally. Established in 1942, this choir performs regularly in Dunedin at various Rest Homes and holds an annual concert at the Kings and Queens Performing Arts Centre.
==== Instrumental classical and jazz ensembles ====
The Dunedin Symphony Orchestra is a semi-professional orchestra based in Dunedin. Other instrumental ensembles include the Rare Byrds early music ensemble, the Collegiate Orchestra, and the Dunedin Youth Orchestra. Many schools also hold school orchestras and bands. There are also three brass bands in Dunedin: St. Kilda Brass, Kaikorai Brass, and Mosgiel Brass. The Otago Symphonic Band and City of Dunedin Pipe Band are also important Dunedin musical ensembles.
==== Popular music ====
Dunedin lends its name to the Dunedin sound, a form of indie rock music which was created in the city in the 1980s. Some Dunedin bands recorded on the Flying Nun Records label, based in Christchurch. Among the bands with Dunedin connections were The Chills, The Clean, The Verlaines, The Bats, Sneaky Feelings, The Dead C and Straitjacket Fits, all of which had significant followings throughout New Zealand and on the college radio circuit in the United States and Europe.
Dunedin has been home to bands since the end of the Dunedin sound era. Six60, Nadia Reid and Julian Temple Band are Dunedin artists.
=== Sport ===
==== Major teams ====
Highlanders – Super Rugby rugby union team who are the Super Rugby champions of 2015 (represents Otago, Southland and North Otago Rugby Unions)
Otago Rugby Football Union – Mitre 10 Cup rugby union team
Otago Volts and Otago Sparks – men's and women's cricket teams
Southern Steel – ANZ Championship netball team (represents Otago & Southland Netball – Based in Invercargill)
Southern United – association football team in the New Zealand Football Championship
Otago Nuggets and Southern Hoiho – Men's and Women's basketball teams competing in the National Basketball League and Tauihi Basketball Aotearoa
Dunedin Thunder – New Zealand Ice Hockey League team
Otago Whalers – National Competition Rugby League Team
==== Grounds and stadiums ====
Caledonian Ground
Carisbrook (now defunct)
Dunedin Ice Stadium
The Edgar Centre
Forsyth Barr Stadium at University Plaza
Logan Park
Moana Pool
Tonga Park
University Oval – Notable for being the southernmost venue on the planet that hosts Test Cricket.
=== Theatre ===
The city hosts a large theatre venue, the Regent Theatre in the Octagon. Dunedin hosted the world's southernmost professional theatre company, the Fortune Theatre, based in the former Trinity Methodist Church, until it closed in 2018. Smaller theatres in Dunedin include the Globe Theatre, the Mayfair Theatre, the New Athenaeum Theatre, and the Playhouse Theatre.
=== Visual arts ===
Dunedin has a substantial public art gallery, the Dunedin Public Art Gallery, in the Octagon. The city contains numerous other galleries, including over a dozen dealer galleries, many of which are found south of the Octagon along Princes Street, Moray Place and Dowling Street. There are also several more experimental art spaces, notably the Blue Oyster in Dowling Street.
Many notable artists have strong links with Dunedin, among them Ralph Hotere, Frances Hodgkins, Grahame Sydney, and Jeffrey Harris.
=== Marae ===
Dunedin has three marae (meeting grounds) for Ngāi Tahu, each with its own wharenui (meeting house). Ārai-te-uru marae in Wakari includes the Ārai-te-uru wharenui. Ōtākou Marae in Otakou includes the Tamatea wharenui. Huirapa / Puketeraki marae in Karitāne includes the Huirapa wharenui.
=== Honours ===
Asteroid 101461 Dunedin discovered by British astronomer Ian P. Griffin in 1998, was named in honour of the city. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 8 November 2019 (M.P.C. 118220).
== Government ==
=== Local ===
The Dunedin City Council (DCC) governs the Dunedin City territorial authority. It is made up of an elected mayor (currently Sophie Barker elected 17 October 2025) and fourteen additional councillors elected across three wards, one of whom gets chosen as deputy mayor.
==== Coat of arms and flag ====
The flag of the city of Dunedin is a banner of arms in white and green and featuring the castle, lymphad, ram's head and wheat sheafs as on the coat of arms.
=== National ===
Dunedin is covered by two general electorates, Dunedin and Taieri, and one Māori electorate, Te Tai Tonga.
The city in general is a stronghold of the New Zealand Labour Party, having won the Dunedin-based electorate seats continuously since the 1978 election. As of the 2023 general election, both general electorates are held by the party, with Rachel Brooking representing Dunedin and Ingrid Leary representing Taieri. Te Tai Tonga (which covers the entire South Island and part of Wellington in the North Island) is held by Te Pāti Māori and represented by Tākuta Ferris. Scott Willis and Mark Patterson are both List MPs from the Taieri electorate.
== Media ==
The major daily newspaper is the Otago Daily Times, which is also the country's oldest daily newspaper and part of the Allied Media (formerly Allied Press) group. Weekly and bi-weekly community newspapers include The Star, and the university student magazine Critic Te Ārohi.
The city is served by all major national radio and television stations. The city's main terrestrial television and FM radio transmitter sits atop Mount Cargill, north of the city, while the city's main AM transmitter is located at Highcliff, east of the city centre on the Otago Peninsula. Local radio stations include Radio Dunedin, community station Otago Access Radio (formerly Hills AM, then Toroa Radio), and the university radio station, Radio One.
Television broadcasts began in Dunedin on 31 July 1962 with the launch of channel DNTV2, the last of the four main centres to receive television. In November 1969, DNTV2 was networked with its counterpart stations in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch to form NZBC TV. In 1975, the NZBC was broken up, with the Wellington and Dunedin studios taking over NZBC TV as Television One (now TVNZ 1) while Auckland and Christchurch studios launched Television Two (now TVNZ 2).
The city had one local television station called Channel 39, which was owned by Allied Press. It closed on Christmas 2025.
The television news broadcaster 1News along with Radio New Zealand and NZME also have bureaus in Dunedin. In May 2021, the former television news broadcaster Newshub's owner Discovery, Inc. announced that it would be closing down its Dunedin bureau as part of a restructuring process.
The city is home to several prominent media-related production companies, notably Natural History New Zealand and Taylormade Media.
The city was once home to the head offices of Radio Otago—now called RadioWorks (part of Mediaworks) and based in Auckland. It was also formerly the home to several now-defunct newspapers, prominent among which were the Otago Witness and the Evening Star.
== Education ==
=== Secondary ===
Dunedin is home to 12 secondary schools: eight state and four state-integrated. The oldest secondary school is state-run Otago Boys' High School, founded in 1863. Its sister school, Otago Girls' High School (1871) is the oldest state girls' secondary school in New Zealand, even though it preceded the state education system by six years.
Other state schools include Bayfield High School, Kaikorai Valley College and Logan Park High School. King's High School and Queen's High School are single-sex schools based in St Clair, and Taieri College in Mosgiel. The four state-integrated schools are Columba College, a Presbyterian girls' school; St. Hilda's Collegiate School, an Anglican girls' school; John McGlashan College, a Presbyterian boys' school; and Trinity Catholic College, a Catholic coeducational school.
=== Tertiary ===
University of Otago
Dunedin College of Education
Otago Polytechnic
== Infrastructure and services ==
=== Public health and hospitals ===
Dunedin Hospital is the main public hospital in Dunedin. Other hospitals include:
Mercy Hospital – a private non-profit hospital opened in 1936 and relocated to Maori Hill in 1969
Wakari Hospital
The Dunedin Hospital and the Wakari Hospital, which are closely related, are operated by Te Whatu Ora. Ambulance services are provided by St John New Zealand.
=== Utilities ===
Aurora Energy owns and operates the electricity distribution network servicing the city and the Taieri plains, while OtagoNet Joint Venture owns and operates the electricity distribution network in the rural areas north and west of the city. Electricity is primarily supplied from Transpower's national grid at two substations: Halfway Bush and South Dunedin, with part to the OtagoNet network also supplied from Transpower's Naseby substation in central Otago.
== Transport ==
=== Road ===
The Dunedin urban area is served by two state highways, with an additional two state highways and one tourist route serving other parts of the district. The main state highway in Dunedin is State Highway 1, which runs in a north to south-west direction through the middle of the city, connecting Dunedin with Invercargill to the south and Timaru and Christchurch to the north. Between The Oval and Mosgiel, State Highway 1 follows the eleven-kilometre Dunedin Southern Motorway. State Highway 88 connects central Dunedin to the city's port facilities at Port Chalmers.
Other State Highways in the city are: State Highway 86 connecting SH 1 at Allanton with Dunedin International Airport, State Highway 87 connecting SH 1 at Kinmont with SH 85 at Kyeburn via Middlemarch, serving the Dunedin city hinterland.
Dunedin is the northeastern terminus of the Southern Scenic Route, a tourist highway connecting Dunedin to Te Anau via The Catlins, Invercargill and Fiordland.
=== Bus ===
Buses in Dunedin are organised by the Otago Regional Council. A total of 64 buses operate on 17 weekday routes and 13 weeknight/weekend/holiday routes across the city. Buses are run by two operators, Ritchies Transport with three routes and Go Bus Transport with the remainder. Dunedin City Council-owned operator Citibus was a major player until 2011 when Passenger Transport (New Zealand) purchased Citibus from Dunedin City Holdings, and both companies were subsequently bought by Go Bus.
=== Rail ===
Dunedin Railway Station, located east of the Octagon, is the city's main railway station. Once the nation's busiest, the decline in rail over the years saw the withdrawal of most services. Suburban services ceased in 1982, and the last regular commercial passenger train to serve Dunedin, The Southerner, was cancelled in February 2002. The Taieri Gorge Railway now operates tourist-oriented services from the station, the most prominent of which is the Taieri Gorge Limited, which operates daily along the former Otago Central Railway through the scenic Taieri Gorge. Taieri Gorge Railway also operates to Palmerston once weekly. The station is also sometimes visited by excursions organised by other heritage railway societies, and by trains chartered by cruise ships docking at Port Chalmers.
=== Air ===
Dunedin International Airport is located 22 km (13.67 mi) southwest of the city, on the Taieri Plains at Momona. The airport operates a single terminal and 1,900-metre (6,200 ft) runway, and is the third-busiest airport in the South Island, after Christchurch and Queenstown. It is primarily used for domestic flights, with regular flights to and from Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington and charter flights to and from Queenstown, Wānaka, and Invercargill, but it also has international flights arriving from and departing to Gold Coast, Queensland year round. In recent years, a decline in international passengers can be attributed to fewer international flights operating direct to the airport.
=== Sea ===
As of 2018, a ferry operates between Port Chalmers and Portobello it started in 2018 and is the first since the early 20th century. Occasional calls have been made to revive them, and a non-profit organisation, Otago Ferries Inc., has been set up to examine the logistics of restoring one of the original ferries and again using it for this route.
In 1866, plans were made for a bridge across the Otago Harbour between Port Chalmers and Portobello, but this grand scheme for an 1140-metre structure never eventuated. Plans were also mooted during the 1870s for a canal between the Pacific coast at Tomahawk and Andersons Bay, close to the head of the harbour. This scheme also never came to fruition.
== Panoramas ==
== Events ==
=== Annual events ===
January – Whare Flat Folk Festival ends
February – New Zealand Masters Games (Biennial event)
February – Otago University Students' Association & Otago Polytechnic Orientation Weeks
February – Dunedin Summer Festival
March – Dunedin Fringe Festival
March/April – iD Dunedin Fashion Week
May – Capping week (University of Otago) including the Capping Show run by the Otago University Students' Association
May – International Rally of Otago
May – Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival
May – Regent Theatre 24-hour book sale (reputedly the southern hemisphere's largest regularly held second-hand book sale)
June – Dunedin Midwinter Carnival
June – St. Clair Polar Plunge
July – University Reorientation
July – New Zealand International Science Festival (every second year)
July – Taste Otago Dunedin Food and Wine Festival
July – Dunedin International Film Festival
September – Dunedin City Marathon
September – Dunedin Beer Festival
October – Dunedin Arts Festival – every second year (even numbered years)
October – Rhododendron Week
December – Samstock Music Festival
December – Santa Parade
December – Whare Flat Folk Festival begins
December – New Year's Eve Party Octagon
=== Past events ===
1865 – New Zealand Exhibition
1889 – New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition (1889)
1898 – Otago Jubilee Industrial Exhibition (1898)
1925 – New Zealand and South Seas International Exhibition (1925)
== Main sights ==
Dunedin Railway Station – Railway station in New ZealandPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
Dunedin Town Hall – Municipal building in Dunedin, New Zealand
Larnach Castle – Mock castle in Dunedin, New Zealand
Cargill's Castle – Castle ruins in Dunedin, New Zealand
List of historic places in Dunedin
Olveston – Historic home and museum in New Zealand
Otago Farmers Market – Weekly market in Dunedin, New Zealand
Speight's Brewery – Brewery in Dunedin, New Zealand
University of Otago Registry Building
University of Otago Clocktower complex – Historic buildings in the University of Otago campus, New Zealand
Regent Theatre – Theatre in Dunedin, New Zealand
Fortune Theatre – Former theatre company in Dunedin, New ZealandPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
Dunedin Hospital – Main hospital in Dunedin, New Zealand
The Octagon – City centre of Dunedin
Orokonui Ecosanctuary – Fenced wildlife sanctuary north of Dunedin, New Zealand
Royal Albatross Centre
St. Clair Beach – Beach in Dunedin, New ZealandPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
Forsyth Barr Stadium – Multi-purpose stadium in Dunedin
=== Museums, art galleries, and libraries ===
Otago Museum
Toitū Otago Settlers Museum – Museum in Dunedin, New Zealand
Dunedin Public Art Gallery – Art gallery in Dunedin New Zealand
Dunedin Public Libraries – Public library system in New Zealand
Hocken Collections – Research library in Dunedin, New Zealand
Port Chalmers Maritime Museum – Museum in Port Chalmers, Dunedin, New Zealand
=== Churches ===
All Saints' Church
First Church – 19th-century Presbyterian church in Dunedin, New Zealand
Hanover Street Baptist Church – now Hanover Hall
Kaikorai Presbyterian Church
Knox Church – 19th-century Presbyterian church in Dunedin, New Zealand
St. Joseph's Cathedral – Catholic cathedral in Dunedin, New ZealandPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
St Michael's Antiochian Orthodox Church – Greek Orthodox Church in Otago, New Zealand
St. Matthew's Church – Church building in Dunedin, New ZealandPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
St. Paul's Cathedral – Anglican church in Dunedin, New ZealandPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
Trinity Wesleyan Church – now the Fortune Theatre (presently not in use)
=== Parks and gardens ===
Botanic Garden – Botanical gardenPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
Dunedin Chinese Garden – Chinese garden in Dunedin, New Zealand
Woodhaugh Gardens – Public park and playground in Dunedin, New Zealand
== International relations ==
=== Sister cities ===
Dunedin is twinned with several cities throughout the world. These include:
Edinburgh, Scotland (1974)
Otaru, Shiribeshi Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan (1980)
Portsmouth, Virginia, United States of America (1962)
Shanghai, China (1994) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Fincher_filmography | David Fincher filmography | David Fincher is an American film director who has worked on feature films, television series, and music videos. Widely regarded as one of the most preeminent directors of his generation, his films have collectively grossed over $2.1 billion worldwide and received numerous accolades, including three nominations for the Academy Award for Best Director. He has also received four Primetime Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards, a BAFTA Award, and a Golden Globe.
He made his directorial debut in 1992 with the science-fiction horror film Alien 3. Since then, he has gone on to direct several films in the thriller genre, including Seven (1995), The Game (1997), Fight Club (1999), Panic Room (2002), Zodiac (2007), The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011), Gone Girl (2014) and The Killer (2023). He has also produced three television series for Netflix: House of Cards (2013–2018), Mindhunter (2017–2019), and Love, Death & Robots (2019).
Outside of feature films, Fincher has directed music videos for artists including The Rolling Stones, Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z—for which he won two Grammy Awards for Best Music Video—Nine Inch Nails, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Sting, and Rick Springfield, among others.
Fincher also made a cameo in the 2009 French animated short film Logorama.
== Film ==
Director
Alien 3 (1992)
Se7en (1995)
The Game (1997)
Fight Club (1999)
Panic Room (2002)
Zodiac (2007)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
The Social Network (2010)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
Gone Girl (2014)
Mank (2020)
The Killer (2023)
The Adventures of Cliff Booth (2026)
Executive producer
The Hire (2001)
Lords of Dogtown (2005)
Love and Other Disasters (2006)
The Girl in the Spider's Web (2018)
Interviewee
Murder by Numbers (2004)
Side by Side (2012)
Hitchcock/Truffaut (2015)
Cameo roles
Other credits
== Television ==
== Music video ==
== Frequent collaborators ==
== Reception ==
=== Critical reception ===
=== Box office performance === |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimore_Ravens | Baltimore Ravens | The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays its home games at M&T Bank Stadium and is headquartered in Owings Mills, Maryland.
The Baltimore Ravens were established in 1996 after Art Modell, then owner of the Cleveland Browns, announced plans in 1995 to move the franchise from Cleveland to Baltimore. As part of a settlement between the league and the city of Cleveland, Modell was required to leave the Browns' history, team colors, and records in Cleveland for a replacement team and replacement personnel that would resume play in 1999. In return, he was allowed to take his own personnel and team to Baltimore, where such personnel would form an expansion team. Steve Bisciotti has been the Ravens' majority owner since 2004. In 2023, the franchise was valued at $4.63 billion, the world's 28th-most valuable sports franchise.
As of the 2025 season, the Ravens have a regular season record of 276–208–1 (.570), the third-highest winning percentage among active franchises, and the fourth-highest playoff winning percentage at 18–14 (.563). The team has qualified for the NFL playoffs 16 times since 2000 with two Super Bowl titles (XXXV and XLVII), two AFC Championship titles (2000 and 2012), five AFC Championship game appearances (2000, 2008, 2011, 2012, and 2023), and eight AFC North division titles (2003, 2006, 2011, 2012, 2018, 2019, 2023, and 2024). They and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are the only teams undefeated in multiple Super Bowl appearances. The Ravens organization was led by general manager Ozzie Newsome from 1996 until he retired after the 2018 season; it has had four head coaches: Ted Marchibroda, Brian Billick, John Harbaugh and Jesse Minter. Starting with a record-breaking defensive performance in their 2000 season, the Ravens have established a reputation for strong defensive play. Former players such as middle linebacker Ray Lewis, safety Ed Reed, and offensive tackle Jonathan Ogden have been enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
== History ==
=== Team name ===
The name "Ravens" was inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's poem The Raven. Chosen in a fan contest that drew 33,288 voters, the allusion honors Poe who spent the early part of his career in Baltimore and is buried there. Other names polled included "Marauders", "Americans", and "Bombers", among others. As The Baltimore Sun reported at the time, fans also "liked the tie-in with the other birds in town, the Orioles, and found it easy to visualize a tough, menacing black bird". Edgar Allan Poe also had distant relatives who played football for the Princeton Tigers in the 1880s through the early 1900s. These brothers were famous players in the early days of American football.
Before the football team, there was the Baltimore Ravens wheelchair basketball team — the original Baltimore Ravens. In 1972, the Ravens wheelchair basketball team was founded by Ralph Smith, long-time resident of Baltimore, second Vice President of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA) and Member of the NWBA Hall of Fame. The name "Ravens" was inspired by Bob Ardinger, a member of the Ravens wheelchair basketball team. In the 1990s, the naming rights were later sold to the football team when they came to the city and the wheelchair basketball team became known as the Maryland Ravens.
=== Background ===
After the Colts moved in 1984 to Indianapolis, several attempts were made to bring an NFL team back to Baltimore. In 1993, ahead of the 1995 league expansion, the city was considered a favorite, behind only St. Louis, to be granted one of two new franchises. League officials and team owners feared litigation due to conflicts between rival bidding groups if St. Louis was awarded a franchise. In October Charlotte, North Carolina was the first city chosen. Several weeks later, Baltimore's bid for a franchise—dubbed the Baltimore Bombers, in honor of the locally produced Martin B-26 Marauder bomber—had three ownership groups in place and a state financial package which included a proposed $200 million, rent free stadium and permission to charge up to $80 million in personal seat license fees. Baltimore, however, was unexpectedly passed over in favor of Jacksonville, Florida, despite Jacksonville's minor TV market status and that the city had withdrawn from contention in the summer, only to return with former Commissioner Paul Tagliabue's urging. Although league officials denied that any city had been favored, it was reported that Tagliabue and his longtime friend Washington Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke had lobbied against Baltimore due to its proximity to Washington, DC, and that Tagliabue had used the initial committee voting system to prevent the entire league ownership from voting on Baltimore's bid. This led to public outrage and The Baltimore Sun describing Tagliabue as having an "Anybody But Baltimore" policy. Maryland governor William Donald Schaefer said afterward that Tagliabue had led him on, praising Baltimore and the proposed owners while working behind the scenes to oppose Baltimore's bid.
By May 1994, Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos had gathered a new group of investors, including author Tom Clancy, to bid on teams whose owners had expressed interest in moving. Angelos found a potential partner in Georgia Frontiere, who was open to moving the Los Angeles Rams to Baltimore. Jack Kent Cooke opposed the move, intending to build the Redskins' new stadium in Laurel, Maryland, close enough to Baltimore to cool outside interest in bringing in a new franchise. This led to heated arguments between Cooke and Angelos, who accused Cooke of being a "carpetbagger". The league eventually persuaded Rams team president John Shaw to move to St. Louis instead, leading to a leaguewide rumor that Tagliabue was again steering interest away from Baltimore, a claim that Tagliabue denied. In response to anger in Baltimore, including Governor Schaefer's threat to announce over the loudspeakers Tagliabue's exact location in Camden Yards any time he attended a Baltimore Orioles game, Tagliabue said of Baltimore's financial package, "Maybe [Baltimore] can open another museum with that money." After that, Angelos made an unsuccessful $200 million bid to bring the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to Baltimore.
Having failed to obtain a franchise via the expansion, the city, despite having "misgivings", turned to the possibility of obtaining the Cleveland Browns, whose owner Art Modell was financially struggling and at odds with the city of Cleveland over desired improvements to the team's stadium.
=== Return of American football in Baltimore ===
Enticed by Baltimore's available funds for a first-class stadium and a promised yearly operating subsidy of $25 million, Modell announced on November 6, 1995, his intention to move the team from Cleveland to Baltimore the following year. The resulting controversy ended when representatives of Cleveland and the NFL reached a settlement on February 8, 1996. Tagliabue promised the city of Cleveland that an NFL team would play in Cleveland, either through relocation or expansion, "no later than 1999". The agreement also stipulated that the Browns' name, colors, uniform design and franchise records would remain in Cleveland. The franchise history includes Browns club records and connections with Pro Football Hall of Fame players. Modell's Baltimore team, while retaining all current player contracts, would, for purposes of team history, appear as an expansion team, a new franchise. Not all players, staff or front office would make the move to Baltimore.
As the team prepared to open the 1996 season in Baltimore, Modell hired a new head coach: Ted Marchibroda, known for his work as head coach of the Baltimore Colts during the 1970s and the Indianapolis Colts during the early 1990s. Ozzie Newsome, the Browns' tight end for many seasons, joined Modell in Baltimore as director of football operations. He was later promoted to vice president/general manager.
The home stadium for the Ravens first two seasons was Baltimore's Memorial Stadium, previously home to the Baltimore Colts, the Baltimore Orioles, and the Canadian Football League's Baltimore Stallions.
=== The early years and Ted Marchibroda era (1996–1998) ===
In the 1996 NFL draft, the Ravens, with two picks in the first round, drafted offensive tackle Jonathan Ogden at No. 4 overall and linebacker Ray Lewis at No. 26 overall. Both Ogden and Lewis went on to play for the Ravens for their entire professional careers and were both inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The 1996 Ravens won their opening game against the Oakland Raiders, but finished the season 4–12 despite receiver Michael Jackson leading the league with 14 touchdown catches. The 1997 Ravens started 3–1. Peter Boulware, a rookie defender from Florida State, recorded 11.5 sacks and was named AFC Defensive Rookie of the Year. The team finished 6–9–1. On October 26, the team made its first trip to Landover, Maryland to play their new regional rivals, the Washington Redskins. The Ravens won the game 20–17. On December 14, 1997, the Ravens played the final professional sporting event at Baltimore's historic Memorial Stadium, winning 21–19 over the Tennessee Oilers.
In 1998, the Ravens moved to a brand-new stadium, next to Camden Yards: PSINet Stadium, named for after the now-defunct internet service provider which purchased the original naming rights. It is now known as M&T Bank Stadium.
Quarterback Vinny Testaverde left for the New York Jets before the season, and was replaced by former Indianapolis Colt Jim Harbaugh, and later Eric Zeier. Cornerback Rod Woodson joined the team after a successful stint with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Priest Holmes started getting the first playing time of his career and ran for 1,000 yards. The Ravens finished 1998 with a 6–10 record. On November 29, the Colts played in Baltimore for the first time in 15 years. Amid a shower of boos for the Colts, the Ravens won 38–31.
=== Brian Billick era (1999–2007) ===
Marchibroda was fired after three consecutive losing seasons. Brian Billick took over as head coach in 1999. Billick had been offensive coordinator for the record-setting Minnesota Vikings the season before. Quarterback Tony Banks came to Baltimore from the St. Louis Rams and had the best season of his career with 17 touchdown passes and an 81.2 pass rating. He was joined by receiver Qadry Ismail, who posted a 1,000-yard season. The Ravens initially struggled with a record of 4–7 but managed to finish with an 8–8 record.
Due to continual financial hardships for the organization, the NFL took an unusual move and directed Modell sell his franchise. On March 27, 2000, NFL owners approved the sale of 49% of the Ravens to Steve Bisciotti. In the deal, Bisciotti had an option to purchase the remaining 51% for $325 million in 2004 from Art Modell. On April 9, 2004, the NFL approved Steve Bisciotti's purchase of the majority stake in the club.
==== 2000: Super Bowl XXXV champions ====
Banks shared playing time in the 2000 regular season with Trent Dilfer. Both players put up decent numbers (and a 1,364-yard rushing season by rookie Jamal Lewis helped too) but the defense became the team's hallmark and bailed a struggling offense out in many instances through the season. Ray Lewis was named Defensive Player of the Year. Two of his defensive teammates, Sam Adams and Rod Woodson, made the Pro Bowl. Baltimore's season started strong with a 5–1 record. But the team struggled through midseason, at one point going five games without scoring an offensive touchdown. The team regrouped and won each of their last seven games, finishing 12–4 and making the playoffs for the first time.
During the 2000 season, the Ravens' dominating defense broke a notable NFL record. They held opposing teams to 165 total points, surpassing the 1985 Chicago Bears mark of 187 points for a 16-game season, which at that time was the current NFL record. That record still stands, and the 2000 Ravens remain in the discussion as one of the greatest NFL defenses of all time, most notably alongside the 1985 Chicago Bears defense.
Since the divisional rival Tennessee Titans had a record of 13–3, the Ravens had to play in the wild card round. They dominated the Denver Broncos 21–3 in their first game. In the divisional playoff, they went on the road to Tennessee. With the score tied 10–10 in the fourth quarter, an Al Del Greco field goal attempt was blocked and returned for a touchdown by Anthony Mitchell, and a Ray Lewis interception return for a score put the game squarely in Baltimore's favor. The 24–10 win put the Ravens in the AFC Championship against the Oakland Raiders. The game was rarely in doubt. Shannon Sharpe's 96-yard touchdown catch early in the second quarter followed by an injury to Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon were crucial as the Ravens won easily, 16–3.
Baltimore then went to Tampa for Super Bowl XXXV against the New York Giants. The Ravens' defense carried them to a win. They recorded four sacks and forced five turnovers, one of which was a Kerry Collins interception returned for a touchdown by Duane Starks. The Giants' only score was a Ron Dixon kickoff return for a touchdown; however, the Ravens immediately countered with a touchdown return on the next kickoff by Jermaine Lewis. The Ravens became champions with a 34–7 win.
==== 2001–2007 ====
In 2001, the Ravens attempted to defend their title with Elvis Grbac as their new starting quarterback, but a season-ending injury to Jamal Lewis on the first day of training camp and poor offensive performances stymied the team. After a 3–3 start, the Ravens defeated the Minnesota Vikings in the final week to clinch a wild card berth at 10–6. In the first round the Ravens showed flashes of their previous year with a 20–3 win over the Miami Dolphins, in which the team forced three turnovers and outgained the Dolphins 347 yards to 151. In the divisional playoff the Ravens played the Pittsburgh Steelers. Three interceptions by Grbac ended the Ravens' season, as they lost 27–10.
Baltimore ran into salary cap problems entering the 2002 season and was forced to part with a number of impactful players. In the NFL draft, the team selected Ed Reed with the 24th overall pick. Reed would go on to become one of the best safeties in NFL history, making nine Pro Bowls until leaving the Ravens for the Houston Texans in 2013. Despite low expectations, the Ravens stayed somewhat competitive in 2002 until a losing streak in December eliminated any chances of a postseason berth and a 7–9 finish.
In 2003, the Ravens drafted their new quarterback, Kyle Boller, but he was injured midway through the season and was replaced by Anthony Wright. Jamal Lewis ran for 2,066 yards (including a then-NFL record 295 yards in one game against the Cleveland Browns on September 14). With a 10–6 record, Baltimore won their first AFC North division title. Their first playoff game, at home against the Tennessee Titans, went back and forth, with the Ravens being held to only 54 yards total rushing. The Titans won 20–17 on a late field goal, and Baltimore's season ended early.
Ray Lewis was also named Defensive Player of the year for the second time in his career.
In April 2003, Art Modell sold 49% of the team to Steve Bisciotti, a local businessman who had made his fortune in the temporary staffing field. After the season, Art Modell sold his remaining 51% ownership to Bisciotti, ending over 40 years of tenure as an NFL franchise owner.
The Ravens did not make the playoffs in 2004 and finished the season with a record of 9–7 with Boller spending the season at QB. They did get good play from veteran corner Deion Sanders and third-year safety Ed Reed, who won the NFL Defensive Player of the Year award. They were also the only team to defeat the 15–1 Pittsburgh Steelers in the regular season.
The next off-season, the Ravens looked to augment their receiving corps (which was second-worst in the NFL in 2004) by signing Derrick Mason from the Titans and drafting Oklahoma wide receiver Mark Clayton in the first round of the 2005 NFL draft. However, the Ravens ended their season 6–10.
The 2006 Baltimore Ravens season began with the team trying to improve on their 6–10 record of 2005. The Ravens, for the first time in franchise history, started 4–0, under the leadership of former Titans quarterback Steve McNair.
In 2006, The Ravens lost two straight games midseason on offensive troubles, prompting coach Billick to drop their offensive coordinator Jim Fassel in their week seven bye. After the bye, and with Billick calling the offense, Baltimore would record a five-game win streak before losing to the Cincinnati Bengals in week 13. Still ranked second overall to first place San Diego Chargers, the Ravens continued on. They defeated the Kansas City Chiefs, and held the defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers to only one touchdown at Heinz Field, allowing the Ravens to clinch the AFC North.
The Ravens ended the regular season with a franchise-best 13–3 record. Baltimore had secured the AFC North title, the No. 2 AFC playoff seed, and clinched a 1st-round bye by season's end. The Ravens were slated to face the Indianapolis Colts in the second round of the playoffs, in the first meeting of the two teams in the playoffs. Many Baltimore and Indianapolis fans saw this historic meeting as a sort of "Judgment Day" with the new team of Baltimore facing the old team of Baltimore (the former Baltimore Colts having left Baltimore under questionable circumstances in 1984). Both Indianapolis and Baltimore were held to scoring only field goals as the two defenses slugged it out all over M&T Bank Stadium. McNair threw two costly interceptions, including one at the 1-yard line. The eventual Super Bowl champion Colts won 15–6, ending Baltimore's season.
The Ravens hoped to improve upon their 13–3 record but injuries and poor play plagued the team. The Ravens finished the 2007 season in the AFC North cellar with a disappointing 5–11 record. A humiliating 22–16 overtime loss to the previously winless Miami Dolphins on December 16 ultimately led to Billick's dismissal after the end of the regular season. He was replaced by John Harbaugh, the special teams coach of the Philadelphia Eagles and the older brother of former Ravens quarterback Jim Harbaugh (1998).
=== John Harbaugh/Joe Flacco era (2008–2018) ===
==== 2008: Arrival of Harbaugh and Flacco ====
With rookies at head coach (John Harbaugh) and quarterback (Joe Flacco), the Ravens entered the 2008 campaign with much uncertainty. Baltimore smartly recovered in 2008, winning eleven games and achieving a wild card spot in the postseason. On the strength of four interceptions, one resulting in an Ed Reed touchdown, the Ravens began its postseason run by winning a rematch over Miami 27–9 at Dolphin Stadium on January 4, 2009, in a wild-card game. Six days later, they advanced to the AFC Championship Game by avenging a Week 5 loss to the Titans 13–10 at LP Field on a Matt Stover field goal with 53 seconds left in regulation time. The Ravens fell one victory short of Super Bowl XLIII by losing to the Steelers 23–14 at Heinz Field on January 18, 2009.
==== 2009–2011 ====
In 2009, the Ravens won their first three games, then lost the next three, including a close match in Minnesota. The rest of the season was an uneven string of wins and losses, which included a home victory over Pittsburgh in overtime followed by a Monday Night loss in Green Bay. That game was notable for the number of penalties committed, costing a total of 310 yards, and almost tying with the record set by Tampa Bay and Seattle in 1976. Afterwards, the Ravens easily crushed the Lions and Bears, giving up less than ten points in both games. The next match was against the Steelers, where Baltimore lost a close one before beating the Raiders to end the season. With a record of 9–7, the team finished second in the division and gained another wild card. Moving into the playoffs, they overwhelmed the Patriots 33–14; nevertheless they did not reach the AFC Championship because they were routed 20–3 by the Colts in the Divisional Round a week later.
Baltimore managed to beat the Jets 10–9 on the 2010 opener, but then lost a poorly played game against Cincinnati the following week. The Ravens rebounded against the other two division teams, beating Cleveland 24–17 in Week 3 and then. The Ravens scored a fine win (31–17) at home against Denver in Week 5. The Ravens finished the season 12–4, second in the division due to a tiebreaker with Pittsburgh, and earning a wild card spot. Baltimore headed to Kansas City and defeated the Chiefs 30–7, but once again were knocked from the playoffs by Pittsburgh in a hard-fought game 31–24.
The Ravens hosted their arch-enemy in Week 1 of the 2011 season. On a hot, humid day in M&T Bank Stadium, crowd noise and multiple Steelers mistakes allowed Baltimore to crush them with four touchdowns 35–7. The frustrated Pittsburgh players also committed several costly penalties. Thus, the Ravens had gained their first-ever victory over the Steelers with Ben Roethlisberger playing and avenged themselves of repeated regular and postseason losses in the series.
But in Week 2, the Ravens collapsed in Tennessee and lost 26–13. They rebounded by routing the Rams in Week 3 and then overpowering the Jets 34–17 in Week 4.
Week 5, the Ravens had a bye week, following a game against the Texans. But in Week 7, Baltimore had a stunning MNF upset loss in Jacksonville as they were held to one touchdown in a 12–7 loss. Their final scoring drive failed as Joe Flacco threw an interception in the closing seconds of the game.
After beating the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 17 of the regular season, the Ravens advanced to the playoffs as the Number 2 seed in the AFC with a record of 12–4. They gained the distinction of AFC North Champions over Pittsburgh (12–4) due to a tie-breaker.
Ravens' Lee Evans was stripped of a 14-yard touchdown pass by the Patriots Sterling Moore with 22 seconds left and Ravens kicker Billy Cundiff pushed a 32-yard field goal attempt wide left on fourth down as the Patriots held on to beat the Ravens 23–20 during the AFC championship game and advance to Super Bowl XLVI.
==== 2012: Ray Lewis' final season and second Super Bowl victory ====
The Ravens' attempt to convert Joe Flacco into a pocket passer remained a work in progress as the 2012 season began. Terrell Suggs suffered a tendon injury during an off-season basketball game and was unable to play for at least several weeks. In the opener on September 10, Baltimore routed Cincinnati 44–13. After this easy win, the team headed to Philadelphia, but lost 24–23.
Returning home for a primetime rematch of the AFC Championship, another bizarre game ensued. New England picked apart the Baltimore defense (which was considerably weakened without Terrell Suggs and some other players lost over the offseason) for the first half. Trouble began early in the game when a streaker ran out onto the field and had to be tackled by security, and accelerated when, at 2:18 in the 4th quarter, the referees made a holding call on RG Marshal Yanda. Enraged fans repeatedly chanted an obscenity at this penalty. The Ravens finally drove downfield and on the last play of the game, Justin Tucker kicked a 27-yard field goal to win the game 31–30, capping off a second intense and controversially officiated game in a row for the Ravens.
The Ravens would win the AFC North with a 10–6 record, but finished 4th in the AFC playoff seeding, and thus had to play a wild card game. After defeating the Indianapolis Colts 24–9 at home (the final home game of Ray Lewis), the Ravens traveled to Denver to play against the top-seeded Broncos. In a very back-and-forth contest, the Ravens pulled out a 38–35 victory in two overtimes. They then won their 2nd AFC championship by coming back from a 13–7 halftime deficit to defeat the Patriots once again, 28–13.
The Ravens played the Super Bowl XLVII against the San Francisco 49ers. Baltimore built a 28–6 lead early in the third quarter before a partial power outage in the Superdome suspended play for 34 minutes (earning the game the added nickname of the Blackout Bowl). After play resumed, San Francisco scored 17 unanswered third-quarter points to cut the Ravens' lead, 28–23, and continued to chip away in the fourth quarter. With the Ravens leading late in the game, 34–29, the 49ers advanced to the Baltimore 7-yard line just before the two-minute warning but turned the ball over on downs. The Ravens then took an intentional safety in the waning moments of the game to preserve the victory. Baltimore quarterback Joe Flacco, who completed 22 of 33 passes for 287 yards and three touchdowns, was named Super Bowl MVP.
==== 2013–2018 ====
Coming off as the defending Super Bowl champions, this was the first year in franchise history for the team without Ray Lewis. The Ravens started out 3–2, and started the 2–0 Houston Texans 14-loss streak by shutting them 30–9 in Week 3. However, the Ravens lost their next 3 games, losing to the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers in last-minute field goals and were shut out in an attempt to tie the game against the Cleveland Browns 24–18.
After winning and losing their next game, the Ravens came out 4–6, but managed winning their next four games in dominating the Jets 19–3, a Steelers win 22–20 during Thanksgiving, a booming ending in Baltimore against the Vikings 29–26, and an 18–16 win at Detroit, including Justin Tucker's 61 yarder to win the game. The Ravens were 8–6, with the 6th seed, but after losing their next two games, and the San Diego Chargers winning their next two to clinch the 6th seed, the Ravens finished 8–8 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2007.
On January 27, 2014, the Ravens hired former Houston Texans head coach Gary Kubiak to be their new offensive coordinator after Jim Caldwell accepted the new available head coaching job with the Detroit Lions. On February 15, 2014, star running back Ray Rice and his fiancée Janay Palmer were arrested and charged with assault after a physical altercation at Revel Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Celebrity news website TMZ posted a video of Rice dragging Palmer's body out of an elevator after apparently knocking her out. For the incident, Rice was initially suspended for the first two games of the 2014 NFL season on July 25, 2014, which led to widespread criticism of the NFL.
In Week 1, on September 7, the Baltimore Ravens lost to the Cincinnati Bengals, 23–16. The next day, on September 8, 2014, TMZ released additional footage from an elevator camera showing Rice punching Palmer. The Baltimore Ravens terminated Rice's contract as a result, and was later indefinitely suspended by the NFL, although a judge later vacated this indefinite suspension. In Week 12, the Ravens traveled down for an interconference battle with the New Orleans Saints, which the Ravens won. In Week 16, the Ravens traveled to Houston to take on the Texans. In one of Flacco's worst performances, the offense sputtered against the Houston defense and Flacco threw three interceptions, falling to the Texans 25–13. With their playoff chances and season hanging in the balance, the Ravens took on the Browns in Week 17 at home. After three quarters had gone by and down 10–3, Joe Flacco led the Ravens on a comeback scoring 17 unanswered points, winning 20–10. With the win, and the Kansas City Chiefs defeating the San Diego Chargers, the Ravens clinched their sixth playoff berth in seven seasons.
In the wild card round, the Ravens won 30–17 against their divisional rivals, the Pittsburgh Steelers, at Heinz Field. In the next game in the Divisional round, the Ravens faced the New England Patriots. Despite a strong offensive effort and having a 14-point lead twice in the game, the Ravens were defeated by the Patriots 35–31, ending their season.
The 2015 season marked 20 seasons of the franchise's existence competing in the NFL, which the franchise recognized with a special badge being worn on their uniforms during the 2015 NFL season. The Ravens lost key players such as Joe Flacco, Justin Forsett, Terrell Suggs, Steve Smith Sr., and Eugene Monroe to injuries. Injuries and their inability to win close games early in the season led to the first losing season in the Harbaugh-Flacco era with a 5–11 mark. The 2016 Ravens finished 8–8, but failed to qualify the playoffs for the second straight year. They were eliminated from playoff contention after their Week 16 loss to their division rivals, the Steelers. This was the first time the Ravens missed the playoffs in consecutive seasons since 2004–2005, as well as the first in the Harbaugh/Flacco era.
During the 2017 season, the Ravens improved upon their 8–8 record from 2016 by one win, finishing the season 9–7 and missing the playoffs for the third year in a row. This marked the first time the Ravens failed to make the playoffs in three straight seasons since the team's first three years of existence (1996–1998). The Ravens suffered a loss at home to the Cincinnati Bengals in the final game of the season that prevented them from earning a playoff berth.
=== John Harbaugh/Lamar Jackson era (2018–2025) ===
The Ravens drafted quarterback Lamar Jackson with the 32nd pick in the 2018 draft. After the team started the season with a 4–5 record, Jackson took over as the starting QB in Week 11 when Joe Flacco was sidelined with a hip injury. The team won six of its next seven games, finishing the 2018 season with a 10–6 record and winning the AFC North, giving them their first playoff appearance since 2014 and their first division title since 2012. The Ravens lost to the Los Angeles Chargers in the Wild Card round with Jackson at quarterback, making him the youngest QB in NFL history to start a playoff game. At the conclusion of the season, Ozzie Newsome stepped down as the team's general manager. He was replaced by longtime assistant Eric DeCosta.
On March 13, 2019, the Ravens traded Joe Flacco to the Denver Broncos in exchange for a fourth round pick in the 2019 NFL draft. That season, Lamar Jackson led the Ravens to a franchise-best 14–2 record, including a 12-game winning streak to finish the regular season. On December 22, they clinched homefield advantage for the first time in franchise history following a win over the Cleveland Browns. On December 8, Jackson became only the second player in NFL history to rush for over 1,000 yards from the quarterback position. Four days later, Jackson broke Michael Vick's single season quarterback rushing record of 1,037 yards. Thirteen Ravens were selected to the 2019 Pro Bowl, matching the all-time NFL record.
The Ravens finished the 2019 regular season with 3,296 rushing yards, the most rushing yards by any team in NFL history during a season and they became the first team in NFL history to average at least 200 passing yards and 200 rushing yards per game in the same season.
Despite earning the number one seed in the playoffs, the Ravens were eliminated by the 6th seed Tennessee Titans in the Divisional Round of the playoffs, 28–12. Lamar Jackson was unanimously voted AP NFL MVP, becoming only the second player in NFL history to do so, after Tom Brady in 2010.
In 2020, the Ravens went 6–5 in their first 11 games, but rebounded and finished the season 11–5, taking second place in the AFC North and earning a Wild Card playoff berth with the fifth seed. They also led the NFL in rushing yards for the second year in a row during the regular season, with 3,071 yards. In the Wild Card round, they defeated the fourth-seeded Tennessee Titans in Nashville, 20–13. In the Divisional Round, they fell to the second seed Buffalo Bills, 17–3.
In 2021, the Ravens claimed the record of consecutive preseason wins with 20, overtaking Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers record. In Week 3 of the 2021 season against the Detroit Lions, Justin Tucker put his name in the NFL record books by kicking the longest field goal in the history of the National Football League, 66 yards, which also was the field goal that won the game and 5 yards longer than his previous career long of 61 yards that was also kicked in Detroit. The following week, the Ravens tied the NFL record of consecutive 100 yard rushing games by a team with 43 in a win over the Denver Broncos, equaling the 1974 to '77 Pittsburgh Steelers record. The team reached an 8–3 record by Week 12, but ended the season on a six-game losing streak to finish 8–9, missing the playoffs and coming in last in the AFC North. Jackson sustained an ankle injury during the Week 14 loss to the Browns and did not appear in any subsequent games. In the 2022 season, the Ravens finished with a 10–7 record, which finished second in the AFC North. They lost in the Wild Card Round 24–17 to the Cincinnati Bengals.
In the 2023 season, the Ravens finished with a 13–4 record, which earned them the AFC North title and the #1 overall seed for the AFC playoffs. In the Divisional Round, they defeated the Houston Texans 34–10. In the AFC Championship, they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs 17–10.
Prior to the start of the 2024 season, the Ravens acquired All-Pro running back Derrick Henry and by week 6 became the first NFL team to post six straight games with at least 150 yards and one touchdown through the air and one on the ground. In the 2024 season, the Ravens finished with a 12–5 record and won the AFC North title. The Ravens defeated the Steelers 28–14 in the Wild Card Round before falling to the Bills 27–25 in the Divisional Round.
In the 2025 season, the Ravens finished with an 8–9 record. The AFC North title came down to the last week of the season, but a missed field goal by Tyler Loop saw the Steelers capture the division title. Subsequently, Harbaugh would be fired as head coach after 18 seasons.
=== Jesse Minter/Lamar Jackson era (2026–present) ===
The Ravens hired Jesse Minter as their 4th head coach in franchise history on January 22, 2026. Minter was previously the Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator, but had served on the Ravens staff from 2017–2020 as a defensive assistant.
== Championships ==
=== Super Bowl championships ===
=== AFC championships ===
=== Division championships ===
== Rivalries ==
=== Divisional ===
==== Pittsburgh Steelers ====
By far the team's biggest rival is the Pittsburgh Steelers. Pittsburgh and Baltimore are separated by a less-than-5-hour drive along Interstate 70. Both teams are known for their hard-hitting physical style of play. They play twice a year in the AFC North, and have met five times in the playoffs. Pittsburgh leads the all-time series, 33–25, and holds a 3–2 advantage in the five matchups in the postseason. Games between these two teams usually come down to the wire as most within the last 5 years have come down to under 4 points.
The rivalry is considered one of the most significant and intense in the NFL today.
==== Cincinnati Bengals ====
The Ravens' rivalry with the Cincinnati Bengals began when the original Browns franchise moved to Baltimore to become the Ravens. Since then, the rivalry heated up when longtime Ravens defensive coordinator Marvin Lewis was hired as the head coach of the Bengals. The Ravens lead the all-time series 32–27 as of the 2024 season. The Bengals won the only playoff meeting in the 2022 AFC Wild Card round.
==== Cleveland Browns ====
The Browns–Ravens rivalry in the AFC North began when the Cleveland Browns resumed operations in 1999, after suspending operations for three seasons after the original Browns moved to Baltimore and became the Ravens. The rivalry between the Browns and Ravens was more directed at former Browns owner Art Modell, who orchestrated the move, than the team itself, and has, by most Ravens fans, been simply considered a divisional game. The rivalry has been largely one-sided, as the Ravens hold a 37–15 series lead as of the end of the 2024 season. The two teams have not met in the playoffs.
=== Conference ===
==== New England Patriots ====
The Ravens first met the New England Patriots in 1996, but the rivalry truly started in 2007 when the Ravens suffered a bitter 27–24 loss in the Patriots' quest for perfection. The rivalry began to escalate in 2009 when the Patriots beat the Ravens 27–21 in a game that involved a confrontation between Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs. Both players would go on to take verbal shots at each other through the media after the game.
As of the 2023 season, the Patriots lead the overall series, 11–5. The two teams have split four postseason meetings, 2–2. The Ravens won the 2009 Wild Card Round, 33–14, and the 2012 AFC Championship game, 28–13. The Patriots won the 2011 AFC Championship Game 23–20 and the 2014 Divisional Round, 35–31.
==== Tennessee Titans ====
Reemerging in the late 2010s, the rivalry between the Ravens and Tennessee Titans actually started in the 1990s when both teams were in the AFC Central, with both teams having tough and bitter games. The Ravens gave the Titans their first ever loss at the new Adelphia Coliseum in the 2000 season and the Ravens eliminated Tennessee during the playoffs later on that season. Fans and analysts have noted an emerging rivalry between the Ravens and the Titans of the AFC South. While there is no known animosity between the cities of Baltimore and Nashville, games between their respective teams have become heated and included fiery verbal exchanges between coaches and players. In the five postseason matchups between the two teams, the road team has won every time to date. As of the 2023 season, the Ravens lead the all-time series 14–13.
==== Buffalo Bills ====
A new rivalry emerged with the Buffalo Bills in the 2020s, as the Ravens and Bills have often squared off for conference dominance since Lamar Jackson and Bills quarterback Josh Allen were drafted in 2018. The two quarterbacks are known for their similar dual-threat styles of play, and have led their teams to similar success, in addition to combining for three NFL MVP awards. Bills and Ravens fans have also sparred over game results as well as 2024 MVP award, as Ravens supporters argued that Jackson, who finished second in voting, should have won the award instead of Allen. Jackson leads Allen in regular season games 3–2, including helping Baltimore win in Buffalo's Ralph Wilson Stadium for the first time in Ravens team history in 2019, though Allen has won both postseason matchups. Prior to this, Baltimore and Buffalo played sporadically since the Ravens joined the league in 1996, with the Ravens holding a general advantage in the early portion of the series. The series is tied at 7–7, with Baltimore leading in regular series games 7–5 and Buffalo leading in postseason games 2–0.
=== Instate ===
==== Beltway Bowl: Washington Commanders ====
Though the two teams only play each other every four years, the Ravens have a minor geographic rivalry with the Washington Commanders, whose stadium is about 40 miles away. The Commanders particularly had long blocked the return of an NFL team to Baltimore since the Colts franchise moved to Indianapolis in 1984. Former owner Jack Kent Cooke had been accused in multiple instances of orchestrating any means to prevent the city from receiving a new franchise until the Cleveland Browns moved to Baltimore in 1996, prompting Cooke to put the Redskins' then-new stadium in Landover, Maryland. The two teams play each other annually during the preseason. As of August 2024, the Ravens lead the series 4–3.
== Logo controversy ==
The team's first helmet logo, used from 1996 through the 1999 Pro Bowl, featured raven wings outspread from a shield displaying a letter B framed by the word Ravens overhead and a cross bottony underneath. The US Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a jury verdict that the logo infringed on a copyright retained by Frederick E. Bouchat, an amateur artist and security guard in Maryland, though he was not awarded a dollar amount for his claim.
Bouchat had submitted his design to the Maryland Stadium Authority by fax after learning that Baltimore was to acquire an NFL team. He was not credited for the design when the logo was announced. Bouchat sued the team, claiming to be the designer of the emblem; representatives of the team asserted that the image had been designed independently. The court ruled in favor of Bouchat, noting that team owner Modell had access to Bouchat's work. Bouchat's fax had gone to John Moag, the Maryland Stadium Authority chairman, whose office was located in the same building as Modell's. Bouchat ultimately was not awarded monetary compensation in the damages phase of the case.
The Baltimore Sun ran a poll showing three designs for new helmet logos. Fans participating in the poll expressed a preference for a raven's head in profile over other designs. Art Modell announced that he would honor this preference but still wanted a letter B to appear somewhere in the design. The new Ravens logo, introduced in 1999, featured a raven's head in profile with the letter B superimposed. The secondary logo is a shield that honors Baltimore's history of heraldry. Alternating Calvert and Crossland emblems (seen also in the flag of Maryland and the flag of Baltimore) are interlocked with stylized letters B and R.
== Uniforms ==
The design of the Ravens uniform has remained essentially unchanged since the team's inaugural season in 1996. Art Modell admitted to ESPN's Roy Firestone that the Ravens' colors, introduced in early 1996, were inspired by the Northwestern Wildcats 1995 dream season. Helmets are black with purple "talon" stripes rising from the facemask to the crown. Players normally wear purple jerseys at home and white jerseys on the road. In 1996 the team wore black pants with a single large white stripe for all games.
In 1997 the Ravens opted for a more classic NFL look with white pants sporting stripes in purple and black, along with the jerseys sporting a different font for the uniform numbers. The white pants were worn with both home and road jerseys. The road uniform (white pants with white jerseys) was worn by the Ravens in Super Bowl XXXV, at the end of the 2000 NFL season. This all-white combination was originally worn with black socks, but starting in 2021, the Ravens began wearing white hosiery with the all-white uniform.
In the 2002 season the Ravens began the practice of wearing white jerseys for the home opener that has a 1:00 kickoff. In recent seasons, the practice has come when the home game is played in week one. Since John Harbaugh became the head coach in 2008, the Ravens have also worn their white jerseys at home for preseason games.
In November 2004 the team introduced an alternate uniform design featuring black jerseys and solid black pants with black socks. The all-black uniform was first worn for a home game against the Cleveland Browns, entitled "Pitch Black" night, that resulted in a Ravens win. The uniform has since been worn for select prime time national game broadcasts and other games of significance.
The Ravens began wearing black pants again with the white jersey in 2008. On December 7, 2008, during a Sunday Night Football game against the Washington Redskins, the Ravens introduced a new combination of black jersey with white pants. It was believed to be due to the fact that John Harbaugh doesn't like the "blackout" look. However, on December 19, 2010, the Ravens wore their black jerseys and black pants in a 30–24 victory over the New Orleans Saints.
Since 2010, the Ravens have worn their black jerseys at least twice each season. From 2011 to 2013 and again in 2015, they wore the all blacks once and the black on white once. In 2014 and 2016, they wore all black both times they wore alternate uniforms. In 2017, they wore all black twice and black on white once (although the league is supposed to limit teams to wearing alternate jerseys a maximum of two times a season).
On December 5, 2010, the Ravens reverted to the black pants with the purple jerseys versus the Pittsburgh Steelers during NBC's Sunday Night Football telecast. The Ravens lost to the Steelers 13–10. They wore the same look again for their game against the Cleveland Browns on December 24, 2011, and they won, 20–14. They wore this combination a third time against the Houston Texans on January 15, 2012, in the AFC Divisional playoff. They won 20–13. They would again wear this combination on January 6, 2013, during the AFC Wild Card playoff and what turned out to be Ray Lewis' final home game, where they defeated the Indianapolis Colts 24–9.
From their inaugural season until 2006, the Ravens wore white cleats with their uniforms; they switched to black cleats in 2007. From the mid-2010s onward, the NFL relaxed its rules regarding primary cleat colors, and Ravens players began wearing customized cleats in either purple, black, gold or white.
On December 20, 2015, the team unexpectedly debuted gold pants for the first time, wearing them with their regular purple jerseys against the Kansas City Chiefs. Although gold is an official accent color of the Ravens, the pants got an overwhelmingly negative response on social media by both Ravens fans and fans of other NFL teams, with some comparisons being made to the rival Pittsburgh Steelers' pants, and mustard.
During the 2015 season, the NFL announced a jersey promotion called Color Rush in which teams would wear uniforms typically of one color head-to-toe during select primetime games. The promotion was used three times that season; all the games that featured them were on Thursday Night and had both teams wear them in each. The following season, the league released uniforms for all 32 teams and announced they would be worn during all Thursday Night games that year, as well as on Christmas. The Ravens had one Thursday Night game in 2016; they wore their all-purple Color Rush uniforms and won 28–7 over the division rival Cleveland Browns. They had one other Thursday night game the following season, in which they again wore the jerseys and won 40–0 over the Miami Dolphins. In their Christmas 2016 game against the Steelers, the Ravens wore their regular all-white uniforms while their rivals wore their Color Rush uniforms. Starting in 2024, the Ravens would wear alternate purple helmets with the Color Rush uniform, featuring a new front-facing Ravens logo as the helmet decals. The full set was rebranded as the "Purple Rising" uniforms.
On September 13, 2018, the Ravens debuted a new combination in a road game against the Cincinnati Bengals, wearing white jerseys with purple pants. The purple pants are similar to the ones used for Color Rush except that it has side stripes of black and white; the Color Rush purple pants have gold and white stripes. Then on October 21 against the New Orleans Saints, the Ravens paired their new purple pants with their regular purple uniforms. Black socks were originally worn with this combination, but on January 2, 2022, the Ravens wore purple socks with the regular all-purple combination against the Los Angeles Rams, essentially replicating their Color Rush uniforms but with minimal gold elements.
For the regular season finale against the Browns on December 30, the Ravens wore their black uniforms with purple pants. The Ravens wore this combination again October 11, 2021, against the Indianapolis Colts on Monday Night Football in a 31–25 overtime win.
== Marching band ==
The team marching band is called Baltimore's Marching Ravens. They began as the Colts' marching band and have operated continuously from September 7, 1947, to the present. They helped campaign for football to return to Baltimore after the Colts moved. Because they stayed in Baltimore after the Colts left, the band is nicknamed "the band that would not die" and were the subject of an episode of ESPN's 30 for 30. The Washington Commanders are the only other NFL team that currently has a marching band.
== Players of note ==
=== Current roster ===
=== Pro Football Hall of Fame ===
Note: The following lists inductees of the Hall of Fame who spent portions of their careers with the Ravens. Bold number indicates player inducted primarily for their contributions to the franchise. For other Hall of Famers, players whose numbers were retired, and players who played for the Baltimore Colts, see Indianapolis Colts. For Cleveland Browns players, including those in the Hall of Fame and those whose numbers were retired, see Cleveland Browns.
=== Retired numbers ===
The Ravens do not have officially retired numbers. However, the number 19 is not issued out of respect for Baltimore Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas, except for quarterback Scott Mitchell in his lone season in Baltimore in 1999 with Unitas' permission. In addition, numbers 75, 52, 20, 55, and 73 in honor of Jonathan Ogden, Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Terrell Suggs, and Marshal Yanda respectively, have not been issued since those players' retirements from football.
=== Ring of Honor ===
The Ravens have a "Ring of Honor" which is on permanent display encircling the field of M&T Bank Stadium. The ring currently honors 20 members, including eight former members of the Baltimore Colts.
Key/Legend
== First-round draft picks ==
The team's first draft was the 1996 NFL draft, where they selected UCLA offensive tackle Jonathan Ogden 4th overall and University of Miami linebacker Ray Lewis 24th overall. Both players won a Super Bowl with the team, earned numerous Pro Bowl and All-Pro selections, and are members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Along with their pick in the next year's draft, this was the highest first round draft pick that the Ravens have had. In 1996, 2000, 2003, 2018, 2021 and 2022, the Ravens had two first round draft picks. In 2004, 2010, and 2012, they had none. Two of their first round picks have made at least ten Pro Bowls.
== Statistics ==
=== Season-by-season record ===
=== Team records ===
== Staff ==
=== Head coaches ===
Ted Marchibroda (1996–1998)
Brian Billick (1999–2007)
John Harbaugh (2008–2025)
Jesse Minter (2026–present)
=== Current staff ===
== Broadcast media == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Kingsley | Ben Kingsley | Sir Ben Kingsley (born Krishna Pandit Bhanji; 31 December 1943) is an English-Indian actor. He has received various accolades throughout his career spanning seven decades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Grammy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards as well as nominations for four Primetime Emmy Awards and two Laurence Olivier Awards. Kingsley was appointed Knight Bachelor in 2002 for services to the British film industry. He was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2010 and received the Britannia Award in 2014.
Born to an English mother and an Indian Gujarati father with roots in Jamnagar, Kingsley began his career in theatre, joining the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1967 and spending the next 15 years appearing mainly on stage. His starring roles included productions of As You Like It (his West End debut for the company at the Aldwych Theatre in 1967), Much Ado About Nothing, Richard III, The Tempest, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hamlet and The Merry Wives of Windsor. Also known for his television roles, he received four Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his performances in Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story (1989), Joseph (1995), Anne Frank: The Whole Story (2001), and Mrs. Harris (2006).
In film, Kingsley is principally known for his starring role as Mahatma Gandhi in Richard Attenborough's Gandhi (1982), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor and BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. For his portrayal of Itzhak Stern in Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List (1993), he received a BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role nomination. He was Oscar-nominated for Bugsy (1990), Sexy Beast (2000), and House of Sand and Fog (2003). His other notable films include Maurice (1987), Sneakers (1992), Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993), Death and the Maiden (1994), Twelfth Night (1996), Tuck Everlasting (2002), Lucky Number Slevin (2006), Elegy (2008), Shutter Island (2010), and Hugo (2011).
Kingsley has played the character of Trevor Slattery in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for over a decade, appearing in the films Iron Man 3 (2013) and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), the short film All Hail the King (2014), and the Disney+ series Wonder Man (2026). He also acted in the blockbusters Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010), and Ender's Game (2013). Kingsley provided his voice in the films The Boxtrolls (2014) and The Jungle Book (2016).
== Early life, education and ancestry ==
Kingsley was born Krishna Pandit Bhanji on 31 December 1943, in Snainton, North Riding of Yorkshire. His mother, Anna Lyna Mary (née Goodman) (1914–2010), was an English actress and model, and she later gave birth to a second son named Sadrudin Bhanji, who later practised as a psychiatrist in Devon. She was born out of wedlock and "was loath to speak of her background". His father, Rahimtulla Harji Bhanji (1914–1968), was born in Zanzibar (now part of Tanzania) to a family originating from the Indian city of Jamnagar, of Khoja Gujarati descent.
Kingsley grew up in Pendlebury, Lancashire. Although his father was a Gujarati Khoja who practised Isma'ili Shia Islam, Kingsley was not raised in his father's faith; he is a Quaker. He was educated at Manchester Grammar School, where one of his classmates was actor Robert Powell. Kingsley went on to study at De La Salle College in Salford, which later became home to The Ben Kingsley Theatre. While at college, he became involved in amateur dramatics in Manchester, making his professional stage debut on graduation, aged 23.
Kingsley's paternal grandfather, Harji Bhanji, was a successful spice trader who had moved from India to the Sultanate of Zanzibar, where Kingsley's father lived until moving to the United Kingdom at the age of 14. Kingsley's maternal grandfather was believed by the family to have been of Russian or German-Jewish descent, while his maternal grandmother was English and worked in the garment district of London's East End. Kingsley stated in 1994, "I'm not Jewish, and though there might be some Russian-Jewish heritage way back on my mother's side, the thread is so fine there's no real evidence."
== Career ==
=== 1967–1981: Stage work and early career ===
After graduating, in 1966, Kingsley was approached by music producer and manager Dick James. James, who was the publisher of The Beatles, offered to mould Kingsley into a pop star. Kingsley declined James' offer, and instead chose to join the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) in 1967 after an audition before Trevor Nunn. Devoting himself almost exclusively to stage work for the next 15 years, he made his West End debut for the company at the Aldwych Theatre in 1967 in a production of As You Like It. Further productions for the RSC included Much Ado About Nothing, Richard III, The Tempest, A Midsummer Night's Dream (starring in Peter Brook's acclaimed 1970 RSC production as Demetrius), Hamlet and The Merry Wives of Windsor.
In the 1960s, Kingsley changed his name to Ben Kingsley, fearing that a foreign name would hamper his career. He told the Radio Times, "As soon as I changed my name, I got the jobs. I had one audition as Krishna Bhanji and they said, 'Beautiful audition but we don't quite know how to place you in our forthcoming season.' I changed my name, crossed the road, and they said when can you start?" In 1971 Kingsley made his Broadway debut playing Demetrius in the revival of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream acting with Patrick Stewart, Frances de la Tour and Martin Best. He played Mosca in Peter Hall's 1977 production of Ben Jonson's Volpone for the Royal National Theatre. In 1981 he returned to Broadway playing the title role in the Raymond Fitzsimmons play Edmund Kean (1983). He played Willy Loman in a 1982 Sydney production of the Arthur Miller play Death of a Salesman opposite Mel Gibson.
Kingsley began his transition to film roles early on, making his feature film debut playing a supporting role in the British action thriller Fear Is the Key in 1972. Kingsley continued to play small roles in both film and television, including a role as Ron Jenkins on the soap opera Coronation Street from 1966 to 1967 and regular appearances as a defence counsel in the long-running British legal programme Crown Court. In 1974 he played Thidias in a taped performance of the William Shakespeare play Antony and Cleopatra with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He acted alongside Patrick Stewart and Tim Pigott-Smith. In 1975, he starred as Dante Gabriel Rossetti in the historical drama The Love School and appeared in the TV miniseries Dickens of London the following year.
=== 1982–1998: Transition to film and television ===
A turning point in Kingsley's career came with the historical biographical epic drama film Gandhi (1982), directed by Richard Attenborough, in which Kingsley played the titular role of the anti-colonialist activist and peacemaker Mahatma Gandhi. The film was a critical and financial success with film critic Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times praising the casting of Kingsley in the lead role writing, "makes the role so completely his own that there is a genuine feeling that the spirit of Gandhi is on the screen. Kingsley's performance is powerful without being loud or histrionic; he is almost always quiet, observant, and soft-spoken on the screen, and yet his performance comes across with such might that we realize, afterward, that the sheer moral force of Gandhi must have been behind the words." Kingsley went on to win numerous accolades for his performance including the Academy Award for Best Actor, the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama for his performance.
Following the success of the film Gandhi, Kingsley appeared in a variety of films, including the 1983 British drama film Betrayal, which was an adaptation of the 1978 play of the same title by Harold Pinter and also features actors, Jeremy Irons and Patricia Hodge. For this performance, Kingsley won the Evening Standard British Film Awards.
In 1985, Kingsley appeared in the John Irvin directed British drama Turtle Diary, which co-starred Glenda Jackson. This film was based on the 1975 novel of the same title and was adapted for the screen by Harold Pinter. Sheila Benson of The Los Angeles Times praised their performances writing, "No filmic cliches, no swelling musical score; these are no "littul peeple" who melt into each other's arms, but blessedly real people, who get exhausted and don't talk all the time." During that same year, he appeared in the BBC adaptation of Silas Marner as the titular character.
In 1987, Kingsley acted in the Merchant-Ivory costume drama Maurice. This film was adapted from the 1971 novel of the same title by E. M. Forster and it also features the actors Hugh Grant, Rupert Graves, Simon Callow, and Denholm Elliott. The following year, Kingsley played multiple roles including the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich in Testimony, Basil Pascali in Pascali's Island and Dr. John Watson in Without a Clue.
In 1991, Kingsley was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of the organised crime figure Meyer Lansky in Bugsy. Shortly thereafter, he played the supporting character of Cosmo in the thriller film Sneakers (1992), Vice-President Gary Nance in Dave (1993) and the chess teacher Bruce Pandolfini in Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993).
In 1993, Kingsley portrayed the Holocaust survivor Itzhak Stern alongside Liam Neeson as Oskar Schindler in Steven Spielberg's historical drama film, Schindler's List. The film was a critical and commercial success, and Kingsley received a nomination for BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote of his performance, "Kingsley must act within much more rigid constraints as his trusted accountant Stern, a man who feels he must never make a misstep. Role is reminiscent of Alec Guinness' deluded Col. Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai; in his compulsion to do a perfect job for Schindler, he often seems to forget that he's working for the enemy."
In 1994, Kingsley starred alongside Sigourney Weaver in Roman Polanski's Death and the Maiden, having previously acted with her in Dave. Two years later, Kingsley portrayed Feste in Twelfth Night, a film adaptation of the William Shakespeare play, which also features the actors Helena Bonham Carter, Nigel Hawthorne, and Richard E. Grant. In a mixed review, Todd McCarthy of Variety noted his performance as a highlight writing, "Ben Kingsley brings some nice readings to his rather mysterious role of Feste, the commentator on the convoluted proceedings."
In 1997, Kingsley provided a voice in the video game Ceremony of Innocence. The following year, he was the head of the jury at the 48th Berlin International Film Festival and starred in the family film Spooky House, saying he had chosen a role in a lighter film after acting in roles that left him feeling traumatised.
=== 1999–present: Further success ===
Kingsley took on the role of Don Logan, a violent psychopath and recruiter for London's underworld, in Jonathan Glazer's Sexy Beast (2000), a psychological black comedy crime film acting with Ray Winstone and Ian McShane. Critic Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian praised his performance writing, "The role of Don Logan is perfectly suited to Ben Kingsley's gifts for control and stillness. There is something a little baroque and stylised about his approach – it is arguably a little actorly and unlike the behaviour of any real villain. But it is a very funny, intelligent performance nonetheless, beautifully scripted and acted, and Kingsley tops it off with a bravura show of pure sociopathic cunning". Kingsley's role as Logan earned him another Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. A year later, he won a Crystal Globe award for having an outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. In 2003 he portrayed Colonel Massoud Amir Behrani in the Vadim Perelman directed House of Sand and Fog acting opposite Jennifer Connelly and Shohreh Aghdashloo. Critic Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly wrote of his performance, "Kingsley, carrying his body like armor, sculpting each line into a bitter dart of pride, plays fierceness with a powerful tug of sorrow." For his role he earned nominations for the Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Independent Spirit Award for Best Actor. The following year he played a supporting role as Benjamin O'Ryan in the psychological thriller Suspect Zero (2004). Although the film received negative reviews from critics, reservations were made for Kingsley's performance.
In July 2006, Kingsley received an Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie nomination for his performance in the HBO television film Mrs. Harris (2005), in which he played famed cardiologist Herman Tarnower, who was murdered by his jilted lover, Jean Harris played by Annette Bening. Later that year, he made a cameo appearance in an episode of The Sopranos titled "Luxury Lounge". Kingsley plays himself in the episode as Chris and Little Carmine pitch him the role of a mob boss in the film Cleaver, which he turns down. In 2007, Kingsley appeared as a Polish American mobster in the Mafia comedy You Kill Me, and a hitman in War, Inc. The following year he acted in the romantic drama Elegy (2008) directed by Isabel Coixet. He starred alongside Penélope Cruz, Peter Sarsgaard, Patricia Clarkson, and Dennis Hopper. Critic Roger Ebert wrote of the film and his performance, "Ben Kingsley, who can play just about any role, seems to be especially effective playing slimy intellectuals. "Elegy" is a film that could have been made for him, although by the time it's over, Penélope Cruz has slipped away with it, and transformed Kingsley's character in the process. It's nicely done." Kingsley received a nomination for the London Film Critics Circle Award for Best British Actor of the Year.
The years 2010 and 2011 contained several big roles for Kingsley. In 2010, he worked voicing a character named Sabine in the Lionhead Studios game Fable III and starred alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in Shutter Island (2010), directed by Martin Scorsese. That same year, Kingsley made his Bollywood debut in the thriller Teen Patti (2010). The following year he appeared in Scorsese's next film, the children's adventure film Hugo (2011), playing the French illusionist Georges Méliès. Kingsley's portrayal of Méliès also earned him a Saturn Award for Best Actor. Kingsley also signed on to the sci-fi romance feature Broken Dream. The feature, by Neil Jordan and John Boorman, was later scrapped.
In 2013, Kingsley appeared as the villain Trevor Slattery in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Iron Man 3 with Robert Downey Jr., and as the hero Mazer Rackham in the science-fiction action adventure film Ender's Game with Harrison Ford and Asa Butterfield. A year later he played the Hebrew slave Nun in Ridley Scott's Exodus: Gods and Kings and Merenkahre, a simulacrum of an Egyptian pharaoh and father of Ahkmenrah, in Shawn Levy's Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb with Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Owen Wilson, Rami Malek and Dan Stevens. That same year, Kingsley would also reprise his role as Slattery in the direct-to-video short film All Hail the King.
In 2015, Kingsley portrayed a Sikh driving instructor in the film Learning to Drive. He voiced Bagheera in the live-action adaptation of Jon Favreau's The Jungle Book (2016), a remake of the original 1967 film shared cast with Bill Murray, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong'o, Scarlett Johansson and Christopher Walken. Kingsley also recorded Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi in book-on-tape format. In 2018, he narrated Amazon Prime's documentary All or Nothing: Manchester City which followed Manchester City's record breaking 2017–18 Premier League campaign. and served as the voice of General Woundwort in the BBC adaptation of Watership Down.
In 2021, Kingsley reprised his role as Trevor Slattery in the film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Two years later, he also acted in Wes Anderson's The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, a film adaptation of a short story by Roald Dahl, and starred opposite Ralph Fiennes, Dev Patel and Benedict Cumberbatch. This film went on to win the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. In 2025, Kingsley played Ibrahim Arif in a film adaptation of Richard Osman's multi-award-winning Thursday Murder Club series.
Kingsley reprised his role of Trevor Slattery in Wonder Man, releasing on 27 January 2026. He will next star as Robert Dinwiddie in Young Washington, Terrence Malick's epic biblical drama The Way of the Wind, Renny Harlin's disaster horror film Deep Water, and Simon West's historical spy action-adventure film Fortitude.
== Personal life ==
=== Marriage and family ===
Kingsley has been married four times and has four children: Thomas Bhanji and artist Jasmin Bhanji, with his first wife, actress Angela Morant, and Edmund Kingsley and Ferdinand Kingsley, both of whom became actors, with his second wife, theatrical director Alison Sutcliffe. He divorced his third wife Alexandra Christmann in 2005, having been "deeply, deeply shocked" after pictures of her kissing another man surfaced on the internet. On 3 September 2007, Kingsley married Brazilian actress Daniela Lavender at Eynsham Hall in North Leigh, Oxfordshire.
=== Charity ===
Kingsley appeared in a production of The Children's Monologues in 2010 on stage in London alongside Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hiddleston, Gemma Arterton, and Eddie Redmayne. It was performed on behalf of Dramatic Need, a charity that sends international arts professionals (such as musicians, artists, and actors) to host workshops in underprivileged and rural communities in Africa.
== Acting credits and accolades ==
Kingsley won an Academy Award in the Best Actor category for Gandhi, and has been nominated three more times: Best Supporting Actor for Bugsy and Sexy Beast, and Best Actor for House of Sand and Fog (2003). In 1984, Kingsley won a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word or Nonmusical Recording for The Words of Gandhi, received an honorary degree from the University of Salford, and was awarded the Indian civilian honour Padma Shri.
He was made a Knight Bachelor in the 2002 New Year Honours for services to the British film industry. The award was announced on 31 December 2001, which happened to be Kingsley's 58th birthday. After being knighted by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace, Kingsley stated:I told the Queen that winning an Oscar pales into insignificance—this is insurmountable. I'm fascinated by the ancient, by mythology, by these islands and their tradition of story telling. I feel that I am a story teller and to receive a knighthood is really recognition of that.
His demand to be called 'Sir' in film and TV show credits was documented by the BBC, to some criticism. Co-star Penélope Cruz was reportedly unsure what to call him during the filming of Elegy as someone had told her she needed to refer to him as "Sir Ben". One day it slipped out as such, and she called him that for the remainder of the shoot. Kingsley has denied accusations that he prefers to be referred to by his title, saying, "If I've ever insisted on being called 'Sir' by colleagues on a film set then I am profoundly sorry. I don't remember ever doing that and I tend not to forget."
In May 2010, Kingsley was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In April 2013, Kingsley was honoured with the Fellowship Award at The Asian Awards in London. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erin_Darke | Erin Darke | Erin Constance-Maja Darke (born September 10, 1984) is an American actress. She is known for her role as Cindy Reston in the TV series Good Girls Revolt. She also played Mary in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Leeta in the AMC series Dietland. She has appeared in the films Love & Mercy (2014), Beside Still Waters (2014), Still Alice (2014), and Don't Think Twice (2016).
== Early life ==
Erin Constance-Maja Darke was born September 10, 1984, in Flint, Michigan to Kristina Strand and Ian Darke.
At the age of 16, Darke enrolled in the University of Michigan-Flint, where in 2005 she earned a bachelor's degree of fine arts in theater performance. As Darke told her alma mater, "[The teachers at the school] were patient and kind, but also constantly pushed me to challenge myself, explore, and work hard. These are all things that are essential to a career in this industry and I'm grateful to have learned them early."
== Career ==
Shortly after graduating, Darke moved to New York City and starred in several plays before getting a job at a casting office. This was her full time job until she decided that "my heart was still in acting" and went on to star in Obelisk Road, a 2009 short film, and procured minor roles in the 2011 films We Need to Talk About Kevin and Young Adult. In 2012, Darke had a minor role in Disconnect. Darke played a small role in the 2013 thriller Kill Your Darlings. She met British actor Daniel Radcliffe on set in 2012, and they began a relationship. Along with Kill Your Darlings, Darke played a lead role in Beside Still Waters. In 2014, Darke acted in Still Alice and Hunter&Game, along with several other films.
In 2015, she landed a lead role in the television series Good Girls Revolt, which follows several young female news reporters who sue their male bosses for showing them sexism. Darke starred in the 2016 film Delinquent. In 2017, Darke played Mary in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Darke acted in the 2018 TV series Dietland. Together with Radcliffe, Darke starred in Miracle Workers in 2019. In 2023, Darke played an AI in Molli and Max in the Future.
== Personal life ==
Darke has been in a relationship with English actor Daniel Radcliffe since 2012, having met on the set of the film Kill Your Darlings. They have a son, who was born in April 2023.
== Filmography ==
=== Film ===
=== Television === |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fullmetal_Alchemist | Fullmetal Alchemist | Fullmetal Alchemist (Japanese: 鋼の錬金術師, Hepburn: Hagane no Renkinjutsushi; lit. 'Alchemist of Steel') is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiromu Arakawa. It was serialized in Square Enix's shōnen manga anthology magazine Monthly Shōnen Gangan between July 2001 and June 2010; the publisher later collected the individual chapters in 27 tankōbon volumes. Set in a fictional universe in which alchemy is a widely practiced science, the series follows the journey of two alchemist brothers, Edward and Alphonse Elric, as they search for the philosopher's stone to restore their bodies after a failed attempt to bring their mother back to life via alchemy. The steampunk world of Fullmetal Alchemist is primarily styled after the European Industrial Revolution.
Fullmetal Alchemist has been adapted into various anime—two television series, released in 2003 and 2009, and two films, released in 2005 and 2011, all animated by Bones—as well as light novels. The series also includes original video animations (OVAs), video games, supplementary books, a collectible card game, and a variety of action figures and other merchandise. A live-action film based on the series was released in 2017, with two sequels in 2022. In North America, the manga was localized and published in English by Viz Media. Yen Press has owned the rights for the digital release of the volumes since 2014.
Fullmetal Alchemist has received widespread acclaim from critics and audiences alike and is considered one of the greatest manga series of all time. It has sold over 80 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling manga series of all time. It received the 49th Shogakukan Manga Award for the shōnen category in 2004, the UK's Eagle Award for favorite manga in 2010 and 2011, and the Seiun Award for best science fiction comic in 2011.
== Synopsis ==
=== Setting ===
Fullmetal Alchemist takes place in the fictional country of Amestris (アメストリス, Amesutorisu), in which the physical setting and political system is largely inspired by general European society at the turn of the 20th century. In this world, alchemy is one of the most-practiced sciences, and can largely be contexualized as magic which follows the rules of science. By drawing patterns called Transmutation Circles, alchemists have the ability to create or form almost anything from physical substances that already exist. Alchemists who are skilled enough to be recruited by the government are known as State Alchemists (国家錬金術師, Kokka Renkinjutsushi) and are given code names as an identifier based on their unique area of expertise. As per the rules of science, transmutation cannot be successful if used to attempt to create something without all parts present, which is a natural law called Law of Equivalent Exchange. The one taboo in alchemy is Human Transmutation, which is the attempt to create a human from the substances found in the human body. Under natural circumstances, human transmutation will always fail as there is no natural physical substance that equals a human soul. Any resulting transmutation is botched, and results in an incomplete human form that dies immediately after creation. Those who attempt human transmutation are confronted by Truth (真理, Shinri), a pantheistic and semi-cerebral godlike being who appears as a reflection of the alchemist themselves, and is a divine entity that regulates all alchemy use. In order to rectify the attempted non-eqivalent exchange, Truth often takes a part of the alchemist's own physical body as punishment for attempting to create something from nothing. The flesh parts in which Truth takes are often symbolic to what the alchemist values most in their life, or what they attempted to acquire through the botched transmutation.
Truth also shows these alchemists the Gate of Truth (真理の扉, Shinri no Tobira), where they are shown all the information in the universe simultaneously. This experience often drives the alchemists mad, but those who survive with their minds in tact gain the knowledge to transmute without a circle. All living things possess their own Gate of Truth, and per the Gaea hypothesis, heavenly bodies like planets also have their own Gates of Truth. There is only one possible way to bypass the Law of Equivalent Exchange for human transmutation, and that's by using a Philosopher's Stone in place of a soul. A Philosopher's Stone is a substance that has been made by trapping thousands of human souls through alchemy. This substance can then be used to transmute fully functional artificial humans called Homunculi. Most Homunculi have numerous superhuman abilities like regeneration which is accomplished through them using the trapped souls inside their Philosopher's Stones as fuel for this ability. They typically do not age and can only be killed by destroying or exhausting the power of their Philosopher's Stone.
There are several cities throughout Amestris. The main setting is the capital of Central City (セントラルシティ, Sentoraru Shiti), along with other military cities such as the northern city of Briggs (ブリッグズ, Burigguzu). Towns featured include Resembool (リゼンブール, Rizenbūru), the rural hometown of the Elrics; Liore (リオール, Riōru), a city deceived into following a cult; Rush Valley (ラッシュバレー, Rasshu Barē), a town that specializes in automail manufacturing—a procedure that provides prosthetic mechanical limbs; and Ishbal, a conservative, religious region that was annexed by Amestris and rejects alchemy. Ishbal suffered near-destruction in the Ishbalan Civil War, a genocide instigated after an Amestrian soldier shot and killed an Ishbalan child. Outside of Amestris, there are few named countries, and none are seen in the main story. The primary foreign country is Xing. Heavily reminiscent of China, Xing has a complex system of clans and emperors, as opposed to Amestris's government-controlled election of a Führer. It also has its own system of alchemy, called alkahestry (錬丹術, rentanjutsu), which is more medical and can be bi-located using kunai; in turn, it is implied that all countries have different forms of alchemy.
=== Plot ===
Edward and Alphonse Elric lived in the small village of Resembool with their mother Trisha and father Van Hohenheim. For unknown reasons, Hohenheim abandoned them, and Trisha soon died from an illness. After finishing their alchemy training under Izumi Curtis, the Elrics attempted the forbidden alchemical practice of human transmutation to resurrect their mother. However, the transmutation backfired, and Edward lost his left leg while Alphonse lost his entire body. Edward sacrificed his right arm to retrieve Alphonse's soul, binding it to a suit of armor. Edward was invited by colonel Roy Mustang to become a State Alchemist and research a way to restore their bodies, undergoing a painful automail procedure. Edward became a State Alchemist, acquiring the title of "Fullmetal Alchemist". The Elrics spend the next three years searching for the Philosopher's Stone to restore their bodies.
The Elrics are eventually attacked by an Ishbalan serial killer known as Scar, who targets State Alchemists in revenge for his people's genocide in the Ishbalan Civil War. Returning to Resembool to have Edward's limbs repaired by their childhood friend and mechanic, Winry Rockbell, the Elrics meet Dr. Marcoh, who provides them with information revealing Philosopher's Stones are created from human souls. They investigate a laboratory in which the Stones were created, but are hindered by the Homunculi. The Elrics decide to visit Izumi, hoping to improve their alchemy. Mustang's friend Maes Hughes continues the Elrics' research and discovers government conspiracy, but is killed by the homunculus Envy. The Elrics learn that Izumi also performed human transmutation, having attempted to use alchemy to revive her stillborn child. Alphonse is captured by the homunculus Greed, but is rescued by Amestris' leader King Bradley. Bradley is revealed to be the homunculus Wrath and brings the captured Greed to the Homunculi's creator, Father. When Greed refuses to rejoin his fellow Homunculi, he is reabsorbed by Father.
After meeting the Xingese prince Lin Yao, who seeks a Philosopher's Stone to cement his position as heir to his country's throne, the Elrics return to Central City, where they learn of Hughes's murder. Lieutenant Maria Ross is framed for Hughes' murder, so Mustang fakes Ross's death and smuggles her out of the country. In encounters with the Homunculi, Mustang kills Lust. Lin captures Gluttony, who swallows Lin, Edward, and Envy into his void-like stomach. They escape from Gluttony's stomach after he takes Alphonse to meet Father, who makes Lin the vessel of Greed. Mustang tries to expose Bradley to the government but finds that the higher officials are complicit in Father's plans. The Elrics and Mustang are released, but warned not to oppose Father, who seeks to use them as "human sacrifices". Meanwhile, Scar heads north with the Xingese princess May Chang, former corrupt official Yoki, and a kidnapped Dr. Marcoh.
The Elrics head north as well, and reach Fort Briggs, commanded by General Olivier Armstrong. They confront the homunculus Sloth and learn that Father founded Amestris to amass a population large enough to create a massive Philosopher's Stone. With it, he plans to achieve godhood by absorbing the being beyond the Gate of Truth on the "Promised Day". Forced to work with Solf J. Kimblee, a murderous former State Alchemist and ally of the Homunculi, the Elrics turn on him and split up, joined by a reformed Scar, his group, Kimblee's chimera subordinates, and later Lin/Greed. Riza Hawkeye discovers that King Bradley's son Selim is the homunculus Pride. Hohenheim reveals that he was made an immortal when Father arranged the fall of Cselkcess (クセルクセス, Kuserukusesu) four centuries ago and had been working since then to stop Father.
The Promised Day arrives, with Father planning to use a solar eclipse and 'human sacrifices'— alchemists who have performed human transmutation — to trigger his own transmutation. Wrath and Pride force Mustang to perform a human transmutation, and he is blinded as a result. The Elrics and their comrades battle Father's minions, resulting in Pride being defeated by Edward and being reduced to a defenseless infant form, and Greed sacrificing himself to save Lin. However, Father manages to activate the nationwide transmutation circle and absorbs the superior being. Hohenheim and Scar activate countermeasures, draining much of Father's absorbed souls, and rendering him unstable. The Elrics and their comrades face Father, who nearly destroys Alphonse's armor. Alphonse sacrifices his soul to restore Edward's right arm. Edward defeats Father, who is dragged into the Gate of Truth. Edward sacrifices his ability to perform alchemy to fully restore Alphonse, while Lin receives a Philosopher's Stone. Hohenheim goes to visit Trisha's grave, where he dies peacefully. The Elrics return home and then go their separate ways two years later to further research alchemy. Years later, Edward and Winry marry and have two children.
== Production ==
=== Development ===
After reading about the concept of the philosopher's stone, Arakawa became interested to the idea of characters using alchemy in her manga. She began reading books about alchemy, which she found complicated because some books contradicted others. Arakawa was more interested with the philosophical aspects of alchemy than the practical ones. For the concept of Equivalent Exchange (等価交換, Tōka Kōkan), she was inspired by the work of her parents, who had a farm in Hokkaido and worked hard to earn money to eat.
Arakawa wanted to integrate social issues into the story. Her research involved watching television news programs and talking to refugees, war veterans and former yakuza. Several plot elements, such as Pinako Rockbell caring for the Elric brothers after their mother dies, and the brothers helping people to understand the meaning of family, expand on these themes. When creating the fictional world of Fullmetal Alchemist, Arakawa was inspired after reading about the Industrial Revolution in Europe; she was amazed at the differences in culture, architecture, and clothes of the era from those of her own culture. She was especially interested in England during this period and incorporated these influences into the manga, leading to the series having a steampunk setting. The Ishbal region bears similarities to the Middle East, with the plot developments in Ishbal being influenced by invasions from Western powers that occurred in the region during the 20th century.
When the manga began serialization, Arakawa was considering several major plot points, including the ending. She wanted the Elric brothers to recover their bodies—at least partly. As the plot continued, she thought that some characters were maturing and decided to change some scenes. Arakawa cited manga authors Suihō Tagawa and Hiroyuki Eto as her main inspirations for her character designs; she described her artwork as a mix of both of their styles. Arakawa found that the easiest of the series's characters to draw were Alex Louis Armstrong, and the little animals. Arakawa liked dogs, so she included several of them in the story. She also made comedy central to the story because she viewed manga as being intended for entertainment, and she tried to minimize sad scenes.
=== Conclusion ===
When around forty manga chapters had been published, Arakawa said that as the series was nearing its end and she would try to increase the pace of the narrative. To avoid making some chapters less entertaining than others, unnecessary details from each of them were removed and a climax was developed. The removal of minor details was also necessary because Arakawa had too few pages in Monthly Shōnen Gangan to include all the story content she wanted to add. Some characters' appearances were limited in some chapters. At first, Arakawa thought the series would make up 21 volumes, but the number increased to 27. Serialization finished after nine years, and Arakawa was satisfied with her work because she had told everything she desired to tell with the manga.
During the development of the original anime, Arakawa allowed the anime staff to work independently from her and requested a different ending from that of the manga. She said that she would not like to repeat the same ending in both media, and wanted to make the manga longer so she could develop the characters. When watching the ending of the anime, she was amazed about how different the homunculi were from her original work and enjoyed how the staff speculated about the origins of the villains. Because Arakawa helped the Bones staff in the making of the series, she was kept from focusing on the manga's cover illustrations and had little time to draw them.
== Themes and analysis ==
Fullmetal Alchemist explores social issues such as discrimination, scientific progress, political greed, brotherhood, family, and war. Scar's backstory and his hatred for the State Military appear to reference the Ainu people, whose land was seized by outsiders. The series also examines the consequences of guerrilla warfare and the potential for unchecked militarization. Some of those who displaced the Ainu were originally Ainu themselves—an irony reflected in Scar's use of alchemy, forbidden by his religion, to kill alchemists. The Elric brothers' orphanhood and adoption by Pinako Rockbell highlight societal responsibilities toward orphans, while the characters' dedication to their work underscores the necessity of labor for survival. The series also delves into the principle of equivalent exchange—the idea that obtaining something requires sacrificing something of equal value. This concept governs alchemical transmutation and serves as a philosophical tenet for the Elric brothers.
== Media ==
=== Manga ===
Written and illustrated by Hiromu Arakawa, Fullmetal Alchemist was serialized in Square Enix's monthly manga magazine Monthly Shōnen Gangan. Its first installment was published in the magazine's August 2001 issue on July 12, 2001. The series concluded with the 108th installment in the July 2010 issue of Monthly Shōnen Gangan, published on June 11, 2010. A side-story was published in the same magazine on September 11, 2010. In the July 2011 issue, the prototype version of the manga was published. Square Enix compiled the chapters in 27 tankōbon volumes, released from January 22, 2002, to November 22, 2010. A few chapters were re-released in Japan in two "Extra number" magazines and Fullmetal Alchemist, The First Attack, which features the first nine chapters of the manga and other side stories. Square Enix republished the series in 18 kanzenban volumes from June 22, 2011, to September 22, 2012.
In North America, Viz Media licensed the series for an English language release in North America and published the 27 volumes between May 3, 2005, and December 20, 2011. From June 7, 2011, to November 11, 2014, Viz Media published the series in an omnibus format, featuring three volumes in one. In April 2014, Yen Press announced the rights for the digital release of the volumes in North America, and on December 12, 2016, released the series on the ComiXology website. Viz Media published the 18-volume kanzenban edition, as Fullmetal Alchemist: Fullmetal Edition, from May 8, 2018, to August 23, 2022.
Other English localizations were done by Madman Entertainment in Australasia and Chuang Yi in Singapore. A full-color Webtoon version, reformatted for the platform's vertical-scroll format, launched on May 7, 2025, with new chapters released twice a week.
The series has been also localized in Polish, French, Portuguese, Italian, and Korean.
=== Anime series ===
Fullmetal Alchemist has been adapted into two separate anime television series: a loose anime adaptation with a mostly original story, titled Fullmetal Alchemist, aired from 2003 to 2004, and the second adaptation, which faithfully adapts the original story of the manga, titled Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, aired from 2009 to 2010.
=== Theatrical films ===
==== Animated ====
Two feature-length anime films were produced; Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa, a sequel and conclusion to the 2003 series, and Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos, featuring an original story set during the time period of Brotherhood.
==== Live-action ====
A live-action film based on the manga, Fullmetal Alchemist, was released on November 19, 2017. Directed by Fumihiko Sori, the film stars Ryosuke Yamada as Edward Elric, Tsubasa Honda as Winry Rockbell and Dean Fujioka as Roy Mustang.
The sequels Fullmetal Alchemist: The Revenge of Scar (鋼の錬金術師 完結編 復讐者スカー, Hagane no Renkinjutsushi Kanketsu-hen Fukushūsha Sukā) and Fullmetal Alchemist: The Last Transmutation (鋼の錬金術師 完結編 最後の錬成, Hagane no Renkinjutsushi Kanketsu-hen Saigo no Rensei) were released on May 20 and June 24, 2022, respectively. They became available on Netflix on August 20 and September 24, 2022, respectively.
=== Light novels ===
Square Enix has published a series of six Fullmetal Alchemist Japanese light novels, written by Makoto Inoue and illustrations—including covers and frontispieces—by Arakawa. The novels were licensed for an English-language release by Viz Media in North America, with translations of the first five by Alexander O. Smith. The novels are spin-offs of the manga series and follow the Elric brothers on their continued quest for the philosopher's stone. The first novel, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Land of Sand, was animated as episodes eleven and twelve of the original anime series. The fourth novel contains an extra story about the military called "Roy's Holiday". Novelizations of the PlayStation 2 games Fullmetal Alchemist and the Broken Angel, Curse of the Crimson Elixir, and The Girl Who Succeeds God have also been written, the first by Makoto Inoue and the rest by Jun Eishima. Two Wii games, Prince of the Dawn and Daughter of the Dusk, were also novelized in one volume by Sōji Machida.
=== Audio dramas ===
There have been two series of Fullmetal Alchemist audio dramas. The first volume of the first series, Fullmetal Alchemist Vol. 1: The Land of Sand (砂礫の大地, Sareki no Daichi), was released before the anime and tells a similar story to the first novel. The Tringham brothers reprised their anime roles. Fullmetal Alchemist Vol. 2: False Light, Truth's Shadow (偽りの光 真実の影, Itsuwari no Hikari, Shinjitsu no Kage) and Fullmetal Alchemist Vol. 3: Criminals' Scar (咎人たちの傷跡, Togabitotachi no Kizuato) are stories based on different manga chapters; their State Military characters are different from those in the anime. The second series of audio dramas, available only with purchases of Shōnen Gangan, consists of two stories in this series, each with two parts. The first, Fullmetal Alchemist: Ogutāre of the Fog (霧のオグターレ, Kiri no Ogutāre), was included in Shōnen Gangan's April and May 2004 issues; the second story, Fullmetal Alchemist: Crown of Heaven (天上の宝冠, Tenjō no Hōkan), was issued in the November and December 2004 issues.
=== Video games ===
Video games based on Fullmetal Alchemist have been released. The storylines of the games often diverge from those of the anime and manga, and feature original characters. Square Enix has released three role-playing games (RPG)—Fullmetal Alchemist and the Broken Angel, Curse of the Crimson Elixir, and Kami o Tsugu Shōjo. Bandai has released two RPG titles, Fullmetal Alchemist: Stray Rondo (鋼の錬金術師 迷走の輪舞曲, Hagane no Renkinjutsushi Meisō no Rondo) and Fullmetal Alchemist: Sonata of Memory (鋼の錬金術師 想い出の奏鳴曲, Hagane no Renkinjutsushi Omoide no Sonata), for the Game Boy Advance on March 25 and July 22, 2004, respectively, and one, Dual Sympathy, for the Nintendo DS. They also released an action game, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (鋼の錬金術師 背中を託せし者, Hagane no Renkinjutsushi: Senaka o Takuseshimono; lit. Fullmetal Alchemist: The Person Entrusted with his Back) for the PlayStation Portable in Japan on October 15, 2009, and in Australia and Europe on June 17 and July 1, 2010, respectively. In Japan, Bandai released an RPG Fullmetal Alchemist: To the Promised Day (鋼の錬金術師 Fullmetal Alchemist 約束の日へ, Hagane no Renkinjutsushi Fullmetal Alchemist Yakusoku no Hi e) for the PlayStation Portable on May 20, 2010. Bandai also released a fighting game, Dream Carnival, for the PlayStation 2. For the Wii, Akatsuki no Ōji (暁の王子, lit. Fullmetal Alchemist: Prince of the Dawn) was released in Japan on August 13, 2009. A direct sequel of the game, Tasogare no Shōjo (黄昏の少女, lit. Fullmetal Alchemist: Daughter of the Dusk), was released by Square Enix on December 10, 2009, for the same console. For the 20th Anniversary of the series, Square Enix released Fullmetal Alchemist Mobile for iOS and Android devices on August 4, 2022; the game ended service on March 29, 2024. Of the twelve games made in Japan, Broken Angel, Curse of the Crimson Elixir, Dual Sympathy, and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood have seen international releases.
Arakawa oversaw the story and designed the characters for the RPG games, while Bones—the studio responsible for the anime series—produced several animation sequences. The developers looked at other titles—specifically Square Enix's action role-playing game Kingdom Hearts and other games based on manga series, such as Dragon Ball, Naruto or One Piece games—for inspiration. The biggest challenge was to make a "full-fledged" game rather than a simple character-based one. Tomoya Asano, the assistant producer for the games, said that development took more than a year, unlike most character-based games.
Funimation licensed the franchise to create a new series of Fullmetal Alchemist-related video games to be published by Destineer in the United States. Destineer released its first Fullmetal Alchemist game for the Nintendo DS, a translation of Bandai's Dual Sympathy, on December 15, 2006, and said that they plan to release further titles. On February 19, 2007, Destineer announced the second game in its Fullmetal Alchemist series, Fullmetal Alchemist: Trading Card Game, based on the trading card game of the series, which was released on October 15 of that same year for the Nintendo DS, in North America only.
The MMO video game MapleStory received special in-game items based on Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood in 2010.
=== Art and guidebooks ===
Fullmetal Alchemist has received several artbooks. Three artbooks called The Art of Fullmetal Alchemist (イラスト集 FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST, Irasuto Shū Fullmetal Alchemist) were released by Square Enix; two of them were released in the US by Viz Media. The first artbook contains illustrations made between May 2001 to April 2003, spanning the first six manga volumes, while the second has illustrations from September 2003 to October 2005, spanning the next six volumes. The last one includes illustrations from the remaining volumes.
The manga also has three guidebooks; each of them contains timelines, guides to the Elric brothers' journey, and gaiden chapters that were never released in manga volumes. Only the first guidebook was released by Viz Media, titled Fullmetal Alchemist Profiles. A guidebook titled Fullmetal Alchemist Chronicle (鋼の錬金術師 CHRONICLE), which contains post-manga story information, was released in Japan on July 29, 2011.
=== Merchandise ===
Action figures, busts, and statues from the Fullmetal Alchemist anime and manga have been produced by toy companies, including Medicom and Southern Island. Medicom has created high end deluxe vinyl figures of the characters from the anime, which were exclusively distributed in the United States and UK by Southern Island. Southern Island released its own action figures of the main characters in 2007, and a 12" statuette was scheduled for release the same year. Southern Island has since gone bankrupt, and the statuette was not released. A trading card game was first published in 2005 in the United States by Joyride Entertainment. Six expansions were released before the card game was withdrawn on July 11, 2007. Destineer released a Nintendo DS adaptation of the game on October 15, 2007.
== Reception ==
=== Popularity ===
In a survey from Oricon in 2009, Fullmetal Alchemist ranked ninth among the manga that fans wanted to see adapted into live-action films. The series is also popular with amateur writers who produce jadōjinshi (fan fiction) that borrows characters from the series. In the Japanese market Super Comic City, there have been over 1,100 dōjinshi based on Fullmetal Alchemist, some of which focused on romantic interactions between Edward Elric and Roy Mustang. Anime News Network said the series had the same impact at Comiket 2004, as several female fans were seen there writing dōjinshi. On TV Asahi's Manga Sōsenkyo 2021 poll, in which 150,000 people voted for their top 100 manga series, Fullmetal Alchemist ranked ninth.
=== Sales ===
The series has become one of Square Enix's best-selling properties, along with Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. By the time the final volume was released, the manga had sold over 50 million copies in Japan. By January 10, 2010, every volume of the manga had sold over a million copies each in the country. Square Enix reported that the series had sold 70.3 million copies worldwide by April 25, 2018, with 16.4 million of those being outside Japan. By July 2021, the manga had 80 million copies in circulation worldwide. The series is also one of Viz Media's best sellers, appearing in "BookScan's Top 20 Graphic Novels" list and the "USA Today Booklist". It was featured in the Diamond Comic Distributors' polls of graphic novels and The New York Times Best Seller Manga list. The English release of the manga's first volume was the top-selling graphic novel of 2005.
In 2008, volumes 19 and 20 sold over a million copies, ranking as the tenth and eleventh best-selling manga volumes in Japan respectively. In the first half of 2009, it ranked as the seventh best-seller in Japan, having sold over 3 million copies. Volume 21 ranked fourth, with more than a million copies sold and volume 22 ranked sixth with a similar number of sold copies. Producer Kouji Taguchi of Square Enix said that the initial sales of the first volume were 150,000 copies; this grew to 1.5 million copies after the original anime aired. Prior to Brotherhood's premiere, each volume sold about 1.9 million copies, then increasing to 2.1 million copies.
=== Critical response ===
Fullmetal Alchemist has been met with widespread acclaim from both critics and audiences. Though the first volumes were thought to be formulaic, critics have said that the series grows in complexity as it progresses. Jason Thompson named Arakawa one of the best at creating action scenes and praised the series for having great female characters despite being a boys'-targeted manga. He also noted how the story becomes dark by incorporating real-world issues such as government corruption, war and genocide. Thompson finished by stating that Fullmetal Alchemist "will be remembered as one of the classic shonen manga series of the 2000s." Melissa Harper of Anime News Network praised Arakawa for keeping all of her character designs unique and distinguishable, despite many of them wearing the same basic uniforms. IGN's Hilary Goldstein wrote that the characterization of Edward balances between being a "typical clever kid" and a "stubborn kid", allowing him to float between the comical moments and the underlying drama without seeming false. Holly Ellingwood of Active Anime praised the development of the characters in the manga and their beliefs changing during the story, forcing them to mature. Mania Entertainment's Jarred Pine said that the manga can be enjoyed by anybody who has watched the original anime, despite the similarities in the first chapters. Like other reviewers, Pine praised the dark mood of the series and the way it balanced humor and action scenes. Pine also praised the development of characters who have few appearances in the original anime. In a review of the fourteenth volume, Sakura Eries—also of Mania Entertainment—liked the revelations, despite the need to resolve several story arcs. She also praised the development of the homunculi, such as the return of Greed, as well as their fights.
=== Awards and accolades ===
Fullmetal Alchemist was one of the Manga Division's Jury Recommended Works at the 8th and 11th installments of the Japan Media Arts Festival in 2004 and 2007, respectively. Along with Yakitate!! Japan, the series won the 49th Shogakukan Manga Award for the shōnen category in 2004. It won Eagle Award's public poll for "Favourite Manga" in 2010 and 2011. The series won the "Shonen Tournament 2009" by the editorial staff of the French website manga-news. It was nominated for the 10th Sense of Gender Award's Grand Prize in 2010. It also received the 42nd Seiun Award for best science fiction comic in 2011. The series earned Arakawa the New Artist Prize at the fifteenth Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2011. Fullmetal Alchemist ranked third on the first annual Tsutaya Comic Awards' All-Time Best Section in 2017. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niagara_(1953_film) | Niagara (1953 film) | Niagara is a 1953 American noir thriller film directed by Henry Hathaway and produced by Charles Brackett. Brackett also wrote the screenplay alongside Walter Reisch and Richard Breen. Among the top-billed stars are Marilyn Monroe, Joseph Cotten, and Jean Peters. Denis O'Dea, and Max Showalter (credited as Casey Adams) are among other stars appearing in the film. Set in Niagara Falls, the film tells the story of two couples: one, a pair of newlyweds on their honeymoon, and the other, a husband and wife whose turbulent marriage is wracked by jealousy and deceit.
Unlike other films noir of the time, which were typically black-and-white, Niagara was shot in "three-strip" Technicolor (one of the last films to be made at 20th Century Fox in that format, as a few months later the studio began converting to CinemaScope, which had compatibility problems with three-strip but not with Eastmancolor).
Niagara was a box office success and received positive reviews from film critics. It was one of 20th Century Fox's biggest box office hits that year. Monroe was given top billing in Niagara, which elevated her to movie star status. Monroe's next two films, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How to Marry a Millionaire (both 1953), were even bigger successes commercially.
== Plot ==
Ray and Polly Cutler, a couple on a delayed honeymoon, arrive at Niagara Falls. Ray goes to call his boss, Mr. Kettering, whom he expected to find waiting for him. However, it appears that Mr. Kettering and his wife have not arrived yet. Meanwhile, Polly finds their reserved cabin occupied by another couple, George and Rose Loomis. When Mr. Qua, the cabin owner, asks Rose to check out, Rose tells them that George is asleep and had been recently discharged from an Army mental hospital after his service in the Korean War and that she doesn't want to wake him, as he is not quite himself. The Cutlers politely accept another cabin without a view of the Falls, and the two couples become acquainted.
George and Rose have a troubled and volatile marriage. She is younger and seductively attractive. He is jealous, depressed and irritable. While touring the Falls the following day, Polly sees Rose passionately kissing another man, her lover Ted Patrick.
That evening, Rose joins an impromptu outdoor party and requests that a record of her favorite song, "Kiss", be played. George storms out of their cabin and breaks the record, suspecting the song has a secret meaning for Rose. Seeing that George has cut his hand with the record, Polly visits his room to apply mercurochrome and bandages. George confides that he was a sheep rancher whose luck turned for the worse after he married Rose, whom he met when she was a barmaid.
The next day, Rose lures George into following her to the dark tourist tunnel underneath the Falls, where Ted is waiting to kill him. To let Rose know that George is dead, Ted will request the Rainbow Tower Carillon play "Kiss". When she hears the song being played on the carillon bells, Rose assumes that George is dead. However, it is George who has killed Ted, thrown his body into the Falls, and collected Ted's shoes at the exit instead of his own. This leads the police to believe that George is the victim. The body is retrieved and the police bring Rose to identify George's body. When the cover is lifted from the face and she recognizes the dead man, she passes out before saying anything and is admitted to the hospital.
Mr. Qua moves the Cutlers' belongings to the Loomises' cabin. George comes to the cabin seeking revenge on Rose but finds Polly sleeping there instead. She wakes and sees him before he runs away. She tells the police, who launch a dragnet. During the Cutlers' second visit to the Falls, George finds Polly alone for a moment. Trying to escape, she slips, but he saves her from falling over the edge into the waterfall torrent. He explains to her that he killed Ted in self-defense and begs her to "let me stay dead". Polly leaves without answering. Later that day, she tells the police detective that she believes George is alive. George has the carillon play "Kiss" again to panic Rose, who flees the hospital, intending to cross the border back to the United States. Finding George waiting at the border for her, she flees and tries to hide in the carillon bell tower. In a fit of anger, George catches her and strangles her beneath the silent bells. He tries to flee but realizes that he is locked in the building. Realizing what he has done, he sits down next to Rose's body and remorsefully tells her that he loved her. After a trash man unlocks the door, George flees the tower and heads for the Falls.
The Cutlers go fishing with the Ketterings in a launch on a section of the Niagara River above the Falls. When the speedboat moors in Chippawa for gasoline and other supplies, George steals it to try and cross the Canada–United States border, but Polly returns to the boat before he can depart. Seeing George's hat on the table, Polly realizes he is on board. She tries to stop him from leaving, but he shoves her away, and she falls to the ground. Before George can remove Polly from the boat, the boatman sees him on board, so George has no choice but to depart with Polly on board. Polly tells him to give himself up to the police as he killed Ted in self-defense, but he tells her he cannot because he has killed Rose. Polly is horrified. After the boatman reports the stolen boat, the police set out in pursuit.
However, the boat runs out of gas and drifts towards the Falls. The police are unable to help as the boat is too close to the edge. As they near the edge, George scuttles the boat to try and ground it, to no avail. However, this slows it down enough for him to get Polly onto a large rock before he goes over the Falls to his death. A devastated Polly is rescued from the rock by a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter. She and Ray are reunited and leave the Falls together.
== Cast ==
== Production ==
Walter Reisch said producer Charles Brackett wanted to make a film set around Niagara Falls and Reisch suggested it be a murder mystery. Reisch said, "Anybody hearing the name Niagara thinks of honeymoon couples and of some sentimental story of a girl walking out on her husband on their wedding night and their getting together again. It would be foolish to start up with Sonja Henie tricks here or Esther Williams-type swimming extravaganzas. I would like to make it a mystery story, with a real murder in it."
Reisch said he came up with the story but wrote the script with Richard Breen and Brackett.
Head of Fox Darryl F. Zanuck wanted to cast Monroe in the film. According to Reisch, "we thought that was a nice idea, until there came a second telephone call that he wanted her to be the villainess, not the girl... My God! Here was the prettiest girl in the whole United States of America! But he insisted it was a great idea, so we finally did it. We didn't know whether she would like it, but she had no objection, whatsoever—on the contrary."
Peters replaced Anne Baxter in the role of Polly. Shooting of Niagara took place from early June to mid-July 1952. Peters' character was initially the leading role, but the film eventually became a vehicle for Monroe, who was by that time more successful.
Reisch says there are "major sequences missing" from the final film. "After he'd seen it, Zanuck simply couldn't accept the fact that the police at Niagara Falls were of Canadian extraction. We had British actors playing Canadian police commissioners and detectives and various cops, and he just abhorred it. He wouldn't let us go back to the stages to finish it or to repair it—no, he just took it out! The American audience, he said, does not know, does not understand, that the Niagara Falls are bisected by the border . . . and we should have used Americans. And [director Henry] Hathaway, who didn't like the idea either, sided with him. So there are big holes in the story."
Henry Hathaway said the film would have been better had his original choice James Mason played the lead male role. He says Mason was going to play the role but his daughter was sick of seeing him die in movies so the actor turned the role down. "Cotten's a good actor but doesn't have the smouldering edge that Mason has; he's a little flat," said Hathaway.
"Kiss" was composed by Lionel Newman, with lyrics by Haven Gillespie—both of whom are uncredited—and performed by Monroe.
== Critical reception ==
Upon the film's release, A. W. of The New York Times praised the film, if not the acting, writing, Obviously ignoring the idea that there are Seven Wonders of the World, Twentieth Century-Fox has discovered two more and enhanced them with Technicolor in Niagara... For the producers are making full use of both the grandeur of the Falls and its adjacent areas as well as the grandeur that is Marilyn Monroe... Perhaps Miss Monroe is not the perfect actress at this point. But neither the director nor the gentlemen who handled the cameras appeared to be concerned with this. They have caught every possible curve both in the intimacy of the boudoir and in equally revealing tight dresses. And they have illustrated pretty concretely that she can be seductive—even when she walks. As has been noted, Niagara may not be the place to visit under these circumstances but the falls and Miss Monroe are something to see.
Also in 1953, a reviewer at Variety wrote, Niagara is a morbid, clichéd expedition into lust and murder. The atmosphere throughout is strained and taxes the nerves with a feeling of impending disaster. Focal point of all this is Marilyn Monroe, who's vacationing at the Falls with hubby Joseph Cotten.... The camera lingers on Monroe's sensuous lips, roves over her slip-clad figure and accurately etches the outlines of her derrière as she weaves down a street to a rendezvous with her lover. As a contrast to the beauty of the female form is another kind of nature's beauty—that of the Falls. The natural phenomena have been magnificently photographed on location.
Later critics have also praised the film. In 2001, Robert Weston wrote, Niagara is a good movie for noir fans who crave something a little different. Be warned, the film was shot in glorious Technicolor, not black and white, but still boasts an ample share of shadows and style.... Undoubtedly, the best reason to see Niagara is just as trailer promised: for the scenery. There's some terrific location work that showcases the breathtaking aspects of the Falls before the city evolved into a tawdry Canadian answer to Atlantic City; and of course, there's a gal named Marilyn Monroe, burgeoning at her humble beginnings.
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 78% based on 23 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 70 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
== Noir themes ==
A major theme is that of sex and its destructiveness. Rose is a femme fatale, seductively dressed in tight clothes revealing her sensual figure. Her relationship (combining the sexual, hypocritical, and scornful) with George is contrasted with the more normal relationship of the Cutlers, which also has sexual elements hinted at by the film. Ray Cutler does not fail to notice Rose's sexual charms, but his and Polly's reactions to their interactions with George and Rose demonstrate the conventionality of their attitudes.
== Legacy ==
In the weeks after Monroe's death in August 1962, Andy Warhol used a publicity photo from Niagara as the basis for his silkscreen painting Marilyn Diptych. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar_(franchise) | Avatar (franchise) | Avatar is an American epic science fiction media franchise created by James Cameron, which began with the 2009 film Avatar. Produced by Lightstorm Entertainment and distributed by 20th Century Studios, it consists of associated merchandise, video games, and theme park attractions.
== Premise ==
The films of the Avatar franchise are set in the mid-22nd century on Pandora, a lush habitable moon of a gas giant in the Alpha Centauri star system. Their central conflict is between the indigenous Na'vi led by Jake Sully and Neytiri, and humans led by Colonel Miles Quaritch from the Resources Development Administration (RDA), a megacorp that has arrived on Pandora to colonize and pillage it for its natural resources. The title of the series refers to a genetically engineered Na'vi body remotely operated by humans via brain–computer interface to interact with the Na'vi on Pandora.
The first installment, Avatar, was released on December 18, 2009, and is the highest grossing motion picture of all time when ticket price inflation is not considered. The planned sequel series was announced by 20th Century Fox on December 11, 2009, one week before Avatar was released to theaters. 20th Century Fox confirmed the series on January 15, 2010.
The second installment, The Way of Water, was released on December 16, 2022.
The third installment, Fire and Ash, was released on December 19, 2025.
Like the original film, the four planned sequels (Way of Water, Fire and Ash, 4, and 5) have "fully encapsulated" stand-alone plots that "come to their own conclusions". The four films have an overarching meta-narrative story arc that connects them to create a large interconnected saga. Cameron described the sequels as "a natural extension of all the themes, and the characters, and the spiritual undercurrents" of the first film.
The Avatar franchise is one of the most expensive franchises undertaken, with the combined budget of the first film and its four sequels estimated at $1 billion. The franchise has grossed more than $6.7 billion worldwide; it is the 12th-highest-grossing film series of all time. The first two films received largely positive critical reviews, while the third film received mixed-to-positive reviews.
== Films ==
=== Avatar (2009) ===
Avatar was written and directed by James Cameron. The cast includes Sam Worthington, Zoë Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez, Stephen Lang, Joel David Moore, Giovanni Ribisi, CCH Pounder, Dileep Rao, Matt Gerald, Laz Alonso, and Wes Studi, and is set in the year 2154.
The story focuses on an epic conflict on Pandora, an inhabited Earth-sized moon of Polyphemus, one of three gas giants orbiting Alpha Centauri A. On Pandora, human colonists and the sentient humanoid indigenous inhabitants of Pandora, the Na'vi, engage in a war over the planet's resources (such as unobtanium) and the latter's continued existence. The film's title refers to the remotely controlled, genetically engineered human-Na'vi bodies used by the film's human characters to interact with the locals. The protagonist, Jake Sully, is a paraplegic young man who travels to Pandora from Earth. Assisting the corporate monolith known as the Resources Development Administration (RDA), he is given an avatar which he uses to interact with the story's heroine, Neytiri, as well as her clan known as the Omatikaya.
=== Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) ===
Avatar: The Way of Water was written and directed by James Cameron, The cast includes Sam Worthington, Zoë Saldaña, Joel David Moore, Sigourney Weaver, CCH Pounder, Stephen Lang, Giovanni Ribisi, Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Trinity Bliss, Jamie Flatters, Britain Dalton, and Jack Champion, and is set 16 years after the first film in the year 2170.
The Way of Water focuses on the return of the RDA, which prompts Jake's family to seek refuge in the water regions of Pandora to keep one another safe. Cameron said in an interview that while the first film was about the "awe and wonder", the sequel focuses more on the characters. The film was originally planned for a December 2014 release, but was delayed several times and released on December 16, 2022. Production began in August 2017. It wrapped in September 2020.
=== Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025) ===
Avatar: Fire and Ash was written and directed by James Cameron, The cast includes Sam Worthington, Zoë Saldaña, Joel David Moore, Sigourney Weaver, CCH Pounder, Stephen Lang, Giovanni Ribisi, Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Trinity Bliss, Britain Dalton, Jack Champion, David Thewlis, and Oona Chaplin, and is set shortly after the second film.
Fire and Ash focuses on the continuing conflict between the Na'vi and the RDA with Jake's family struggling to prevent more casualties in the conflict with the RDA being aided by Mangkwan clan who live in the volcanic regions of Pandora.
Interviews in mid-2010 suggested that the third film would explore more of the Alpha Centauri system, but the script was not completed until late 2015. Fire and Ash started shooting simultaneously with The Way of Water in New Zealand on September 25, 2017; filming was completed in late December 2020. The film introduced a new aggressive Na'vi clan known as 'Ash People' who reside near volcanoes. Cameron announced the film's title in 2024. Like its predecessor, the film was delayed several times, initially being scheduled for a December 2015 release. It was released on December 19, 2025.
=== Avatar 4 (2029) ===
A fourth film is planned for release on December 21, 2029. Jon Landau said that, due to a six-year time skip in the first act, a third of Avatar 4 has already been filmed to account for the aging of the child actors, and Cameron revealed that principal photography had officially begun for Avatar 4. However, he said that he would not continue filming the remainder of Avatar 4 until after the release of Avatar: Fire and Ash.
In November 2025, Cameron stated that the last two sequels would not go ahead if Fire and Ash was unsuccessful at the box office, but that he "will write a book" instead to resolve the "one open thread" the third installment leaves open.
=== Avatar 5 (2031) ===
A fifth film has been announced and is scheduled for December 19, 2031. Jon Landau stated that part of Avatar 5 will take place on Earth, with Neytiri visiting the planet. Cameron stated that Avatar: The Quest for Eywa is being considered as a possible title for the fifth film.
=== Future ===
Cameron has said that he would consider sixth and seventh films in the franchise based on any continuing demand for further sequels. Cameron has acknowledged that he might not be able to see those through to production, however, since he would already be 77 years old by the time the fifth film was released, but that he hopes to train a successor to take over the franchise if necessary.
== Cast and characters ==
== Production details ==
== Reception ==
=== Box office performance ===
The first film grossed $2.92 billion worldwide and is the highest-grossing film in history. The second film, The Way of Water, has grossed $2.34 billion worldwide and currently ranks as the third highest-grossing film in history. In 2017, the fourth and fifth films in the series were expected to have a budget of $250 million each.
=== Critical and public response ===
=== Accolades ===
== Music ==
Avatar (Music from the Motion Picture) was scored by James Horner and released on December 15, 2009, by Atlantic Records and Fox Music.
Avatar: The Way of Water (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) was scored by Simon Franglen and released on December 15, 2022, by Hollywood Records.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (Original Game Soundtrack) was scored by Pinar Toprak and released on December 8, 2023, by Lakeshore Records.
Avatar: Fire and Ash (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) was scored by Simon Franglen and released on December 5, 2025, by Hollywood Records.
=== Singles ===
"I See You (Theme from Avatar)"
"Nothing Is Lost (You Give Me Strength)"
"Dream as One"
== Other media ==
=== Video games ===
=== Novels ===
Following the release of Avatar, Cameron initially planned to write a novel based on the film: "...telling the story of the movie, but [going] into much more depth about all the stories that we didn't have time to deal with."
In 2013, this plan was superseded by the announcement of four new novels set within the "Avatar expanded universe", to be written by Steven Gould. The books were due to be published by Penguin Random House, but there has been no update on the planned book series since 2017.
In July 2022, the first graphic novel based on the Avatar franchise was announced.
=== Books ===
The Art of Avatar is a film production art book released on November 30, 2009, by Abrams Books.
The World of Avatar: A Visual Exploration is a book that celebrates, explores, and explains the spectacular world of Pandora. The book was released on May 31, 2022, by DK Books.
The Art of Avatar The Way of Water takes an exclusive look at behind-the-scenes on the production and creative process of James Cameron's Avatar: The Way of Water. It was released on December 16, 2022, by DK Books.
Avatar The Way of Water The Visual Dictionary is a visual guide that showcases characters, vehicles, weapons, locations, and more from the movie, as well as many stunning exclusive details. This book was released on December 16, 2022, by DK Books.
The Making of Avatar: Avatar, Avatar: The Way of Water, Avatar: Fire and Ash is a book that explores the production of all three films. The book was released on December 19, 2025, by DK Books.
Avatar: Fire and Ash: The Visual Dictionary is a visual guide that showcases characters, vehicles, weapons, locations, and more from the movie, as well as many stunning exclusive details. This book was released on December 19, 2025, by DK Books.
=== Comic books ===
In October 2015, Dark Horse Comics signed a 10-year partnership to publish Avatar comics.
On May 6, 2017, Dark Horse Comics published a Free Comic Book Day one-shot entitled FCBD 2017: James Cameron's Avatar / Briggs Land, which included a short story set in the world of Avatar entitled "Brothers".
From January to August 2019, Dark Horse published a six-issue miniseries called Avatar: Tsu'tey's Path.
Tsu'tey's Path was collected in trade paperback format on November 27, 2019, with "Brothers" included as supplementary material.
==== Collected editions ====
=== Na'vi language ===
The Na'vi language is a constructed language developed by linguist Paul Frommer for the Avatar franchise. It features a phonology inspired by Polynesian languages, with unique grammar elements such as verb serialization and a vigesimal (base-20) number system. The vocabulary includes over 2,000 words, created for dialogue and lore in the films and expanded media. It has been used in the films, video games like Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, and fan resources. Official learning materials, including dictionaries and phrasebooks, are available through community sites.
=== Live show ===
Toruk – The First Flight is an original stage production by the Montreal-based Cirque du Soleil which ran between December 2015 and June 2019. Inspired by Avatar, the story is set in Pandora's past, involving a prophecy concerning a threat to the Tree of Souls and a quest for totems from different tribes. Audience members could download an app in order to participate in show effects. On January 18, 2016, it was announced via the Toruk Facebook page that filming for a DVD release had been completed and was undergoing editing.
=== Exhibition ===
Avatar The Exhibition is a touring exhibition based on the first film. It opened in Chengdu, China on May 1, 2021, and closed on December 31, 2021. It is currently touring Asia with future stops planned around the globe.
=== Theme park attractions ===
==== Pandora: World of Avatar ====
In 2011, Cameron, Lightstorm, and Fox entered an exclusive licensing agreement with the Walt Disney Company to feature Avatar-themed attractions at Disney Experiences worldwide, including a themed land for Disney's Animal Kingdom in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The area, known as Pandora – The World of Avatar, opened on May 27, 2017. The themed land is set generations after the events of the films and features two attractions: Avatar Flight of Passage, a flying simulator attraction, and Na'vi River Journey, a boat dark ride.
==== Avatar Land ====
In February 2023, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced that a new attraction based on the Avatar films, that he referred to as "Avatar Experience", would open at Disneyland. In August 2024, it was announced that the Avatar land will be built at Disney California Adventure. The land will be inspired by The Way of Water (2022), Fire and Ash (2025) and future Avatar films.
== Cultural impact ==
=== Psychological impact ===
A phenomenon known as "post-Avatar depression syndrome" (PADS) or "Avatar blues" has been reported among some viewers of the films, characterized by feelings of sadness, disconnection from reality, and longing for the fictional world of Pandora. It is not a recognized medical condition. Symptoms reportedly include depression, meaninglessness, and dissatisfaction with the real world, alongside concerns about Earth's future and issues like climate change. One report mentioned suicidal ideation linked to a desire to reincarnate on Pandora.
The condition is attributed to a yearning for Pandora's utopian society and its harmony with nature, contrasting with Earth's perceived flaws. Affected viewers reportedly express wishes to inhabit Pandora or escape via virtual reality. Estimates from fan forums suggest 10–20% of participants reported similar feelings.
=== Consideration of indigenous people ===
Some indigenous groups, including Native Americans, have called for a boycott of the franchise over "tone-deaf" handling of indigenous cultures and cultural appropriation. Both Avatar films have drawn criticism for casting several white and other non-indigenous actors in the roles of the alien native people. Cameron said he tried to move away from a white savior narrative. The film series was criticized for "romanticization of colonization" and putting forward a monolithic portrayal of Indigenous people.
Cameron faced criticism for comments made after the release of the first film. In 2010, Cameron and Avatar actors supported the Xingu peoples in opposing the construction of the Belo Monte Dam.
In 2012, Cameron said Avatar is a fictional retelling of the history of North and South America in the early Colonial period, "with all its conflict and bloodshed between the military aggressors from Europe and the indigenous peoples".
=== Avatar in Concert ===
In 2025, the franchise's cultural footprint expanded through live events like "Avatar Live in Concert", which began touring Europe in April, featuring orchestral performances of the films' scores synchronized with film footage. The tour, produced by Avex Classics International, highlighted the series' musical legacy and drew fans to venues such as the Zénith de Paris and Royal Albert Hall. These concerts, alongside the release of the Fire and Ash trailer in August 2025, reignited debates on the franchise's enduring cultural impact. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbie_(film) | Barbie (film) | Barbie is a 2023 American satirical fantasy comedy film directed by Greta Gerwig from a screenplay she wrote with her husband, Noah Baumbach. Based on the fashion dolls by Mattel, it is the first live-action Barbie film after numerous animated films and specials. Starring Margot Robbie as the title character and Ryan Gosling as Ken, the film follows them on a journey of self-discovery through Barbieland and the real world following an existential crisis. The supporting cast includes America Ferrera, Michael Cera, Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae, Rhea Perlman, and Will Ferrell.
A live-action Barbie film was announced in September 2009 by Universal Pictures with Laurence Mark producing. Development began in April 2014, when Sony Pictures acquired the film rights. Following multiple writer and director changes and the casting of Amy Schumer and later Anne Hathaway as Barbie, the rights were transferred to Warner Bros. Pictures in October 2018. Robbie was cast in 2019, after Gal Gadot turned down the role due to scheduling conflicts, and Gerwig was announced as director and co-writer with Baumbach in 2020. The rest of the cast was announced in early 2022. Principal photography occurred primarily at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden, England, and at the Venice Beach Skatepark in Los Angeles from March to July 2022.
Barbie premiered at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on July 9, 2023, and was released in the United States on July 21. Its concurrent release with Universal Pictures' Oppenheimer was the catalyst of the "Barbenheimer" phenomenon, encouraging audiences to see both films as a double feature. The film grossed $1.448 billion and achieved several milestones, becoming the highest-grossing film of 2023 and the 14th highest-grossing film of all time at the time of its release.
Named one of the top ten films of 2023 by the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute, Barbie received critical acclaim and other accolades, including eight Academy Award nominations (among them Best Picture), winning Best Original Song for "What Was I Made For?"; the song also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song while the film received the inaugural Golden Globe Award for Cinematic and Box Office Achievement.
== Plot ==
A "stereotypical" Barbie and fellow dolls reside in Barbieland, a matriarchal society populated by different versions of Barbie, Ken, and a group of discontinued models who are treated like outcasts due to their unconventional traits. While the Kens spend their days playing at the beach, considering it their profession, the Barbies hold prestigious jobs in law, science, politics, and so on. Ken ("Beach Ken") is only happy when he is with Barbie, and he seeks a closer relationship with her, but she rebuffs him in favor of other activities and female friendships.
One evening at a dance party, Barbie is suddenly stricken with worries about mortality. Overnight, she develops bad breath, cellulite, and flat feet, disrupting her routines and impairing the aura of classic perfection experienced by the Barbies. Weird Barbie, a disfigured doll, tells Barbie to find the child playing with her in the real world to cure her afflictions. Barbie follows the advice and she travels to the real world, with Beach Ken joining her by stowing away in her convertible.
After arriving in Venice Beach, Barbie punches a man for groping her, and is briefly arrested, and then she and Ken are both arrested after not paying for new clothes. Alarmed by the dolls' presence in the real world and remembering the "Skipper incident", the CEO of Mattel orders their recapture. Barbie tracks down her owner, a teenage girl named Sasha, who criticizes Barbie for encouraging unrealistic beauty standards. Distraught, Barbie discovers that Gloria, a Mattel employee and Sasha's mother, inadvertently caused Barbie's existential crisis after starting to play with Sasha's old Barbie dolls and drawing Barbie dolls with dark emotions and thoughts. Mattel finds Barbie and attempts to put her in a toy box for remanufacturing, but she escapes with the help of a mysterious elderly woman named Ruth. Gloria and Sasha arrive just in time to rescue Barbie from Mattel's executives, and the three travel to Barbieland with the executives in pursuit. Meanwhile, Ken learns about patriarchy and feels respected for the first time. He returns to Barbieland to persuade the other Kens to take it over. The Kens begin to indoctrinate the Barbies into submissive roles, such as agreeable girlfriends, housewives, and maids. Barbie arrives and attempts to convince the Barbies to be independent again, but becomes depressed when she fails. Gloria expresses her frustration with the conflicting standards that women are forced to follow in the real world, and her speech restores Barbie's confidence.
With the assistance of Sasha, Weird Barbie, Allan, Writer Barbie and the discontinued dolls, Gloria uses her knowledge from the real world to deprogram the Barbies from their indoctrination. The Barbies then manipulate the Kens into fighting among themselves, which distracts them from enshrining male superiority into Barbieland's constitution, allowing the Barbies to regain power. Having now experienced systemic oppression for themselves, the Barbies resolve to rectify the faults of their previous society, emphasizing better treatment of the Kens and all outcasts. Barbie and Ken make amends, acknowledging their past mistakes. When Ken bemoans his lack of purpose without Barbie, she encourages him to find an autonomous identity. Barbie, who remains unsure of her own identity, meets with the ghost of Ruth Handler, Mattel co-founder and creator of the Barbie doll, who explains that Barbie's story has no set ending and her ever-evolving history surpasses her roots.
After bidding goodbye to the other dolls and Mattel executives, Barbie decides to become human again and return to the real world. Sometime later, Gloria, her husband, and Sasha take Barbie, now going by the name "Barbara Handler", to her first gynecologist appointment.
== Cast ==
Tanner, a discontinued toy dog known for his defecating feature, makes a non-speaking appearance as one of the discontinued characters living with Weird Barbie.
== Production ==
=== Development ===
The concept of a live-action Barbie film was in development at Cannon Films in the mid-1980s. Renewed development on a film based on the Barbie toy line began in September 2009, when it was announced that Mattel had signed a partnership with Universal Pictures and producer Laurence Mark, but nothing came to fruition. In April 2014, Mattel teamed with Sony Pictures to produce the film, which would have Jenny Bicks writing the screenplay and Laurie MacDonald and Walter F. Parkes producing through their Parkes+MacDonald Image Nation banner. Filming was anticipated to begin by the end of the year. In March 2015, Diablo Cody was brought onto the project to rewrite the screenplay, and Amy Pascal joined the producing team. Sony ordered further rewrites by Lindsey Beer, Bert V. Royal and Hillary Winston, who submitted separate drafts.
In December 2016, Amy Schumer entered negotiations for the title role with Winston's screenplay. She helped rewrite the script with her sister, Kim Caramele. In March 2017, she exited negotiations, initially saying it was due to scheduling conflicts with the planned June 2017 filming; she revealed in 2023 that she left due to creative differences with the film's producers. That July, Anne Hathaway was considered for the title role; Sony hired Olivia Milch to rewrite the screenplay and approached Alethea Jones to direct as a means of interesting Hathaway in signing. Jones was attached to direct by March 2018.
In August 2018, Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz hired film executive Robbie Brenner, who was later appointed head of Mattel Films. Sony's option on the project expired in October 2018, and film rights were transferred to Warner Bros. Pictures, causing Hathaway, Jones, Macdonald, Parkes and Pascal to leave the project. Margot Robbie entered early talks for the role, and Patty Jenkins was briefly considered as director. Kreiz was determined to cast Robbie after meeting with her; both he and Brenner felt that Robbie's appearance resembled that of a conventional Barbie doll and were impressed by her ideas. Initial meetings occurred at the Polo Lounge located in The Beverly Hills Hotel. Brenner eventually partnered with Robbie's production company, LuckyChap Entertainment, and Robbie's husband Tom Ackerley and Josey McNamara were enlisted as producers. Robbie's casting was confirmed in July 2019.
In her capacity as a producer, Robbie pitched Barbie to Warner Bros. herself. During the green-light meeting, she compared the film to Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park (1993) and also jokingly suggested that it would gross over $1 billion. Later on, she approached Greta Gerwig—whose previous films, particularly Little Women (2019), Robbie enjoyed—to screenwrite. Gerwig was in post-production for another film, and took the assignment on the condition that her husband, Noah Baumbach, also write the script. Gerwig would sign on to also direct the film in July 2021. Robbie said the film aimed at subverting expectations and giving audiences "the thing you didn't know you wanted". In August 2023, Variety revealed that she would earn "roughly $50 million in salary and box office bonuses" as star and producer.
=== Writing ===
As writers, Gerwig and Baumbach were given full creative freedom. They worked on the screenplay during the 2020–2021 COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns at their house in Long Island. Baumbach felt he understood the film's purpose once Gerwig had shown him the first scene, identifying the "element" as "embracing mortality and sadness and sickness and everything that it means to be human". Gerwig was also inspired by the real-life story of Barbie creator Ruth Handler. Gerwig's film treatment consisted of an abstract poem on Barbie influenced by the Apostles' Creed. For the narrative arc, she was partially inspired by the non-fiction book Reviving Ophelia (1994) by Mary Pipher, which accounts the effects of societal pressures on American teenage girls. She also found inspiration in classic Technicolor musicals such as The Red Shoes (1948) and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964), and said: "They have such a high level of what we came to call authentic artificiality. You have a painted sky in a soundstage. Which is an illusion, but it's also really there. The painted backdrop is really there. The tangibility of the artifice is something that we kept going back to." The script also contains candid criticism of Mattel, which created skepticism among Mattel officials when they received the first version. However, Kreiz decided to trust Gerwig. Brenner noted that "being safe in this world doesn't work" as she interpreted Barbie to be a "bold" and "trailblazer" figure. As a result, Will Ferrell's portrayal as the Mattel CEO was meant to be an allegory for corporate America. Kreiz praised Ferrell and said that while Mattel officials took their brands seriously, they did not take themselves seriously. Gerwig and Robbie had felt the film was "most certainly a feminist film", but Mattel officials rejected the description because of the inherent sexism and misandry. Gerwig and Robbie informed the studio that they would explore the controversies and problematic parts of Barbie, but also convinced the studio that they would respect the product.
Gerwig was also influenced by her childhood experiences with Barbie. Her mother discouraged her from purchasing such dolls, but eventually allowed her to. Opting to acknowledge the controversial nature of the Barbie doll, Gerwig chose to create a film where she would be both "doing the thing and subverting the thing", in the sense that she would be celebrating the feminism behind Barbie while also noting the controversial beauty standards associated with it. She was also fascinated by the idea that humans created dolls, which in turn imitate humans, feeling that "we're in constant conversation with inanimate objects" while also conveying an affirmative message to the audience to "just be yourself and know that that's enough". The film deliberately juxtaposed contradictory messaging, such as critiquing consumerism yet glamorizing plastic products; and in the film's ending, where Barbie desires to be more than just a plastic doll. Gerwig made the film as an "earnest attempt to make amends" between affirming women's worth and conveying the impossibility of perfection, which some perceived to be standards associated with Barbie.
Reflecting upon the maximalism of Barbie, Gerwig said the "ontology of Barbie" was similar to what she perceived as William Shakespeare's maximalism, which she enjoyed in his works. She grounded the film in what she described as a "heightened theatricality that allows you to deal with big ideas in the midst of anarchic play". She also described the film as being anarchic, unhinged, and humanist. She felt the film originated from the "deep isolation of the pandemic", opining that the line in which Barbie says "Do you guys ever think about dying?" exemplifies the film's anarchic nature. She also found the idea of Barbie being "constrained in multitudes" as "all of these women are Barbie and Barbie is all of these women" to be "trippy" and felt as a result, Barbie did not need to have her own personal life, as she was attuned to her environment. She also described the story as mirroring a girl's journey from childhood to adolescence, though she did not deem it to be a coming of age film and felt that the film ultimately "ends up, really, about being human".
Primarily, she began her writing by interpreting Barbie as living in a utopia and eventually experiencing reality, where she would have to "confront all the things that were shielded from them in this place [Barbieland]". She also drew parallels to the story of Adam and Eve and taking inspiration from John Milton's Paradise Lost, particularly being inspired by the concept that there is "no poetry without pain". To underscore the tragic elements of Barbie and Ken facing the real world, she focused on elements of dissonance. As such, she chose to keep a scene featuring Robbie's Barbie telling an older woman that she is beautiful after being requested to remove it, as she felt that the scene epitomized "the heart of the movie". She also desired to provide a "counterargument" to Barbie by featuring a scene in which Barbie learns that some women do not like her, and felt it gave the film "real intellectual and emotional power". As such, a scene is featured in which Barbie is being stared at inappropriately on the Venice Beach, which Gerwig chose to feature as she felt it was a universal experience, being especially relevant for actors. She was inspired by an audition she did in which she wore overalls and felt that she did not perform well in.
The ending of the film features Barbie saying the line "I'm here to see my gynecologist", with Gerwig describing it as a "mic drop kind of joke". She had chosen to include the line as she had wanted to instill confidence in younger girls, as she had been embarrassed about her body when she was younger. Barbie also explores the negative consequences of hierarchical power structures, with Gerwig saying that she extrapolated that "Barbies rule and Kens are an underclass" and felt it was similar to the Planet of the Apes. Ken has low self-esteem and seeks approval from Barbie, which Gerwig identified as a good source for a story. Gosling compared Gerwig's vision to Milton Glaser's I Love New York logo, as he felt Gerwig created the film's characters as a way of understanding the contemporary world. Ken has the only power ballad in the film, and Gerwig had identified it as the moment in which she felt the film transcended what a Barbie film traditionally should have been.
=== Casting ===
Gerwig and Robbie searched for actresses with "Barbie energy", a trait they described as "a certain ineffable combination of beauty and exuberance". In October 2021, Ryan Gosling entered final negotiations to play Ken in the film. America Ferrera, Simu Liu and Kate McKinnon were cast in February 2022. Liu auditioned for the film after his agent raved about the script being one of the best they had ever read. In March 2022, Ariana Greenblatt, Alexandra Shipp, and Emma Mackey were revealed to be in the cast. Will Ferrell joined the cast in April, along with Issa Rae, Michael Cera, Hari Nef, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Rhea Perlman, Ncuti Gatwa, Emerald Fennell, Sharon Rooney, Scott Evans, Ana Cruz Kayne, Connor Swindells, Ritu Arya and Jamie Demetriou. In April 2023, a trailer revealed that John Cena had joined the cast. It was later reported that Cena had spontaneously been offered a part in the film after paying for Robbie's meal in London during production. Helen Mirren narrated the film's trailer and the film itself. Robbie and Gosling were each paid $12.5 million for their participation as actors.
Olivia Colman filmed a cameo but it was cut from the film. Robbie wanted Gal Gadot to play a Barbie in the film, but Gadot was unavailable due to scheduling conflicts. Gerwig wanted her frequent collaborators Timothée Chalamet and Saoirse Ronan to make cameo appearances, but neither was available; Gerwig later revealed that during a visit to the set, Chalamet said he should have been in the film. Additionally, Bowen Yang, Dan Levy and Ben Platt were considered to play Kens. Jonathan Groff was the first choice for Allan, played by Cera, but turned it down. Matt Bomer auditioned and was offered a role but ultimately turned it down due to the production schedule. Ben Affleck was initially set to cameo during the beach fight sequence but scheduling conflicts with Air (2023) resulted in him having to back out and his role in the film was rewritten for Cera.
=== Set design ===
Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer were the set designer and decorator, respectively, for Barbie. For the Barbie Dreamhouse, they drew inspiration from mid-century modernist architecture found in Palm Springs, including the 1946 Kaufmann Desert House by Richard Neutra, and the photography of Slim Aarons. Gerwig wanted to capture "what was so ridiculously fun about the Dreamhouses", alluding to its previous models, and referenced Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985), the paintings of Wayne Thiebaud, and the apartment of Gene Kelly's character in the Technicolor musical An American in Paris (1951). "Everything needed to be tactile, because toys are, above all, things you touch", Gerwig said of the use of practical effects instead of computer-generated imagery (CGI) to capture the sky and the San Jacinto Mountains. The set design is also noted for its extensive use of a specific shade of pink, Pantone 219. Rosco Laboratories, the film's paint supplier, faced international shortages due to COVID-19-related supply-chain issues, as well as freezing temperatures that damaged stock; the film's sets required the company's entire remaining stock of pink. Because Gerwig also wanted to use practical builds, and had to film sequences in miniature models, then composite the footage onto the actual image. She began discussing the production design with cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto, Greenwood, and costume designer Jacqueline Durran a year in advance of filming. She also called director Peter Weir for inspiration on Barbieland, with the idea of creating it as an "interior soundstage world".
=== Costumes, hair, and makeup ===
Costume designer Jacqueline Durran, who previously collaborated with Gerwig on Little Women (2019), employed a practical approach to create Barbie's wardrobe: "The defining characteristic of what she wears is where she's going and what she's doing, [i]t's about being completely dressed for your job or task." To match the film's Barbieland setting, Durran and her team created costumes made of roughly fifteen color combinations "that riffed off the idea of a French Riviera beach in the early 1960s" and drew inspiration from actress Brigitte Bardot. For Ken's outfits, Durran zeroed in a look composed of colorful sportswear from the 1980s, while actor Ryan Gosling suggested a Ken-branded underwear for the character. Durran closely adapted outfits from past iterations of Barbie dolls, such as the 1993 "Western Stampin'" dolls and the 1994 "Hot Skatin'" dolls. She noted the Barbie dolls as "a very useful way to look at different ideas of femininity: what that means, who owns it, and who it's aimed at" and reflected this idea in how she dressed the characters. While the majority of the clothing featured in the film were sourced by Durran and her team, they also pulled pieces from the fashion archives of Chanel. Ivana Primorac was the lead hair and makeup artist for the film. In 2024, Primorac and Marie Larkin and Clare Corsick jointly won the Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild Award for Best Period and/or Character Hair Styling in a Feature-Length Motion Picture for Barbie.
=== Filming ===
Principal photography began on March 22, 2022, at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden in England and wrapped on July 21. Among the notable locations was the Venice Beach Skatepark in Los Angeles, California. Rodrigo Prieto served as cinematographer. Prior to filming, Gerwig organized a sleepover with the female cast members for them to establish positive relationships, also feeling that it "would be the most fun way to kick everything off". She opted to use filming techniques from the 1950s (as Barbie had been a popular toy since 1959) to create a period-accurate look. She also watched Powell and Pressburger's A Matter of Life and Death (1946) to understand how pre-digital visual effects were used to create theatricality. To highlight the tragic nature of Barbie and Ken facing the difficulties of the real world, she directed Robbie and Gosling to act as if they were in a drama.
=== Post-production ===
Editor Nick Huoy returned to collaborate with Greta Gerwig, having also cut Lady Bird and Little Women. Finding the tone of the film was a playful experiment working collaboratively with Gerwig and VFX supervisor Glen Pratt and VFX producer Nick King. Pratt focused on blending the practical with the digital. Practical miniatures were built, scanned and captured with photogrammetry inspiring the creation of hundreds of digital miniatures to populate Barbieland vistas, set extensions, backdrops and full CGI shots. Pratt worked with visual effects studios Framestore on Barbieland scenes and UPP on the invisible effects deployed in the real world and a car pursuit sequence.
The palette chosen for the scenes in Barbieland was inspired by the classic three-strip Technicolor look, and was named TechnoBarbie. This required the creation of a software called PPL, a color correcting program which separates the image into the three basic components of blue, green, and red, which can then be manipulated individually.
== Music ==
Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt scored the film. The score was released by WaterTower Music on August 4, 2023.
Ronson was also tasked with curating a compilation soundtrack that matched Gerwig's vision for Barbie. As the film was being edited, Ronson and Gerwig showed some of its scenes to artists they wanted on the soundtrack. The soundtrack, Barbie the Album, was released on July 21, 2023, and features music by Ava Max, Charli XCX, Dominic Fike, Fifty Fifty, Gayle, Haim, Ice Spice, Kali, Karol G, Khalid, Sam Smith, Lizzo, Nicki Minaj, Billie Eilish, PinkPantheress, Tame Impala, the Kid Laroi, and cast members Ryan Gosling and Dua Lipa. "Dance the Night" by Dua Lipa was released as the album's lead single on May 26, 2023. It was followed by "Watati" by Karol G on June 2, 2023. "Angel" by Pink Pantheress was released on June 9, 2023, as the first promotional single. "Barbie World" by Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice was released as the album's third single on June 23, 2023. The album's second promotional single, "Speed Drive" by Charli XCX was released on June 30, 2023. On July 6, 2023, the album's third and final promotional single, "Barbie Dreams" by Fifty Fifty and Kaliii was released. On July 10, 2023, Warner Bros. released a preview clip of Ryan Gosling singing "I'm Just Ken". The album's fourth single, "What Was I Made For?" by Billie Eilish, was released on July 13, 2023.
Despite fan expectations for the 1997 song "Barbie Girl" by the pop band Aqua to feature in the film, Ulrich Møller-Jørgensen, manager for Aqua lead singer Lene Nystrøm, said that it was not used; Variety speculated that it was due to bad relations between Mattel and MCA Records, the song's American publisher, who engaged in a series of lawsuits over it from 1997 to 2002. "Barbie World", a rework of the song, was instead used in the film. It samples "Barbie Girl"; Aqua is credited as a performer and co-writer on the track.
The film features multiple renditions of the 1989 song "Closer to Fine" by the Indigo Girls and the 1997 song "Push" by Matchbox Twenty, the latter of which Ken adopts as his favorite song after visiting the real world, which becomes "a tongue-in-cheek anthem of patriarchal dominance" in the fictional Barbieland. While many reviews of the film interpreted this as a critique of the song, director Greta Gerwig said that she was a fan of Matchbox Twenty and "I never put anything in a movie I don't love." "Spice Up Your Life" by Spice Girls plays in a flashback scene showing a little girl's rough play creating "Weird Barbie".
== Marketing ==
Barbie received an extensive marketing campaign. In the months leading up to its release, Mattel entered into several Barbie-themed promotional partnerships and collaborations with various brands, including Airbnb, Aldo Group, Bloomingdale's, Burger King Brazil, Chi Haircare, Forever 21, Gap Inc., Hot Topic, Krispy Kreme Philippines, MINISO, Primark, Progressive Insurance, Spirit Halloween, Ulta, and Xbox. Studio parent company Warner Bros. Discovery also engaged in cross-promotion through its TV channels, most prominently with an HGTV renovation reality competition series, Barbie Dreamhouse Challenge, coproduced by Mattel Television, which premiered shortly before the film's release. Trade publication Variety reported that Warner Bros. spent $150 million promoting Barbie—more than the $145 million budget used to produce the film itself.
A first-look image of the film was revealed during a Warner Bros. presentation at CinemaCon in April 2022. Released to the public on April 27, 2022, it showed Margot Robbie as Barbie, behind the wheel of her iconic pink 1956 Chevrolet Corvette. Collider commented: "This photo is just further proof that Robbie was made to play this role. She just looks like a Barbie doll come to life—it's almost uncanny." On June 15, 2022, a second still featuring Ryan Gosling as Ken was released. Despite noting similarities between his look in the image and his previous roles, The Guardian asserted that "there is a very strong chance that this will be [Gosling's] defining role".
A Barbie booth was opened at the 2022 CCXP event in São Paulo, Brazil. The film's first teaser trailer debuted during preview screenings of Avatar: The Way of Water in December 2022. It featured a parody of the opening "Dawn of Man" sequence in Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, where Robbie (clad in Barbie's original 1959 outfit) imitates an alien monolith whose influence on the history of dolls is narrated by Helen Mirren. Along with a theatrical poster, the teaser trailer was released to the public on December 16, 2022. Rolling Stone praised the 2001 homage and the trailer's vibrant colors, and remarked on its vague hints of the plot: "One has to wonder when, or better yet how, it will all get shaken up."
At the 2023 Academy Awards, Robbie co-presented a tribute to Warner Bros with Morgan Freeman. During the montage, they reflected on the roles and projects they had shared with the company, and Freeman eventually referred to Robbie as 'Barbie'. On April 4, 2023, 24 character posters of the several Barbies and Kens featured in the film, tagged with brief descriptions, were shared on Barbie's social media accounts. Empire remarked: "You might have thought that Multiverse fever would be constrained generally to comic book films and never-would-have-called-it Oscar winners [Everything Everywhere All at Once]. But... it seems Greta Gerwig's Barbie movie will also be flooding the screen with variants, this time of plastic dolls Barbie and Ken." A second teaser trailer was unveiled shortly after the posters' release, featuring a rendition of the Beach Boys' 1964 surf rock song "Fun, Fun, Fun". The Washington Post noted that the "visually striking" and "polysemic" teaser captivated multiple demographics because of its humor, color palette, and the Barbie doll's cross-generational appeal. An official trailer for the film was released on May 25, 2023. Critics noted its existential tone set against upbeat music. Ben Travis of Empire said: "There's much to discuss here—not least, that it looks visually impeccable" and speculated Academy Awards attention for its production and costume design. A float promoting the film was featured in the 2023 WeHo Pride Parade in Los Angeles; two of its LGBTQ+ cast members, Alexandra Shipp and Scott Evans, were present.
In June 2023, a French Barbie poster went viral for including the tagline "Elle peut tout faire. Lui, c'est juste Ken" ("She can do everything. He's just Ken"). Ken is the verlan slang term for "fuck" in French—i.e. the phonological inversion of nique, while c'est ("he is") is a homophone for sait ("he knows how")—so the tagline could also be read as "She can do everything. He just knows how to fuck." Analysts concluded that the pun was most likely intentional, as the slang term is common knowledge among French speakers; Warner Bros. would neither confirm nor deny this.
Leading up to the release, pink billboards, blank apart from the film's release date, appeared worldwide, and a real-world "Barbie Dreamhouse" in Malibu, California became available to rent through Airbnb. On July 14, 2023, SAG-AFTRA, an American labor union of film, television and voice actors, declared a strike action, effectively halting any promotional event that involved the guild's members. Robbie showed her support for the action. SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher later claimed that the studios "duped" the guild into accepting a 12-day extension for negotiations to continue promoting summer films like Barbie. On July 21, 2023, Mattel and Miniso Group Holding Limited opened the Barbiecore flagship store in Changsha, China, coinciding with the film's theatrical release. Coinciding with the film's release, a stop motion crossover trailer with the animated film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem from Paramount Pictures, produced by Seth Rogen, was released on July 20, 2023.
== Release ==
=== Theatrical ===
Barbie had its world premiere at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on July 9, 2023, followed by the European premiere at Cineworld Leicester Square in London on July 12, 2023. It was released theatrically in the United States and the United Kingdom on July 21, 2023, taking over the original release date of Coyote vs. Acme. Previous iterations of the project were set for June 2, 2017; May 12, 2017; June 29, 2018; August 8, 2018; and May 8, 2020.
In August 2023, it was announced that the film would be re-released in IMAX theaters on September 22, 2023, for one week only, along with a new post-credit scene. The IMAX edition starts with an onscreen introduction by Greta Gerwig, who notes the advantages of the IMAX format. The post-credits scene includes an intro of Margot Robbie's Barbie, in her 1959 Barbie bathing suit, taking a human-sized Ken doll on camera, which transforms into Ryan Gosling's Ken; it is followed by humorous outtakes, e.g., whether Barbie should marry Barney the Dinosaur, and a voiceover by Robbie hoping people enjoyed the experience. Too, as Sarah Little notes on Screen Rant, "The meta post-credits scene features [narrator Helen] Mirren as herself walking in on Midge, played by Emerald Fennell, giving birth." The film also received a Spanish language release in the United States and Puerto Rico on the TheaterEars app.
=== Barbenheimer ===
Barbie was released on the same day as Oppenheimer, a biographical film about J. Robert Oppenheimer written and directed by Christopher Nolan based on the 2005 book American Prometheus, and distributed by Universal Pictures. Due to the tonal and genre contrast between the two films, many social media users created memes and ironic posts about how the two films appealed to different audiences, and how they should be viewed as a double feature. The concept was named "Barbenheimer". In an interview with La Vanguardia, Oppenheimer star Cillian Murphy endorsed the phenomenon, saying, "My advice would be for people to go see both, on the same day. If they are good films, then that's cinema's gain." The phenomenon was widely credited with boosting interest in the film, with a total of 79% of tickets sold over the weekend (52% for Barbie) being for the two films, a total of 18.5 million people.
=== Home media ===
Barbie was released on digital download on September 12, 2023, and was released on Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD on October 17, 2023, by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. The film was available for streaming exclusively on Max on December 15, 2023, including an American Sign Language version.
=== Censorship ===
==== Nine-dash line controversy ====
The controversy over the alleged appearance of the nine-dash line (a depiction of the South China Sea from Chinese perspective) in the film began when Vietnam's film censorship authority banned the film for allegedly displaying such lines. In contrast, the counterpart from the Philippines requested that the lines in question be blurred. Both countries have banned the films Abominable (2019) and Uncharted (2022) for featuring the actual nine-dash line. The nine-dash line is controversial due to maritime border disputes between China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei, and the Philippines.
===== Vietnam =====
On July 3, 2023, Vietnamese newspaper Tuổi Trẻ quoted Vi Kiến Thành, head of the Department of Cinema, as announcing that Barbie would be banned in Vietnam because it contained "the offending image of the nine-dash line". The Tiền Phong newspaper reported that the nine-dash line "appears multiple times in the film". The film was originally scheduled to be released in Vietnam on July 21.
Speaking to Voice of America, Trịnh Hữu Long (founder of the research group Legal Initiatives for Vietnam) said, "The censors will even be praised for overreacting to the unclear map, by both their superiors and the public, because anti-China sentiment runs deep into the country's political culture", and that "the government is surely using legitimate nationalist reasoning to strengthen its entire censorship system", while Michael Caster at the free expression group Article 19 said, "Maps are political, and borders often bear historical wounds, but rather than ensuring free and open discussion, the knee jerk response to censor seldom supports historical or transitional justice".
Speaking to Vox, University of California, Berkeley professor Peter Zinoman said, "To the Chinese, the nine-dash line signifies their legitimate claims to the South China Sea", and "to the Vietnamese, it symbolizes a brazen act of imperialist bullying that elevates Chinese national interest over an older shared set of interests of socialist brotherhood". Harvard University professor Huệ-Tâm Hồ Tài said since the producers of the film were aiming for the mainland Chinese market in the hopes that it would be a blockbuster, "they are ready to accept [mainland China's] view of geography. Disinformation works by repetition". New York University professor Kevin Li said, "In my view, banning [Barbie] was a no-brainer." In response to Vietnam's ban, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning stated at a press briefing on July 4 that the "South China Sea issue" should not be linked with "normal cultural exchange".
===== Philippines =====
When news of Vietnam's ban reached the Philippines, Senator Francis Tolentino, vice chairman of the Philippine Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, told CNN Philippines that Barbie may also be banned in the country because it "denigrates" Filipino sovereignty. Senator Jinggoy Estrada called the film to be banned over the alleged inclusion of the nine-dash line; opposition senator Risa Hontiveros quipped "the movie is fiction, and so is the nine-dash line", and suggested adding a disclaimer to the film instead of banning its release. Senator Robin Padilla, chairman of the Senate mass media committee, suggested that the film producers must edit out references to the nine-dash line or risk the film being banned.
On July 11, the Philippines' Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) came to the conclusion that there was "no basis" to banning the film as the map was simply "cartoonish" and that there was no clear nor outright depiction of the nine-dash line, as the line in the film was "not U-Shaped" and had "eight dots or dashes" instead of nine. The board gave the film a PG rating, as well as allowing it to be screened in the country, however they requested Warner Bros. to "blur the controversial lines in order to avoid further misinterpretations". Senator Tolentino said that he respected the MTRCB's decision, but expressed his dismay at it emerging a day before the seventh anniversary of Philippines' victory in an arbitration over the nine-dash line on July 12, 2016. The film was released in the Philippines on July 19, 2023.
===== World map drawing and Warner Bros.' statement =====
With the rising concerns over the alleged appearance of the nine-dash line, several media outlets pointed to a drawing of a world map which appears in a trailer for the film. The Los Angeles Times described the particular image as a "map of 'the real world' [which] looks as if it's been drawn in crayon by a child" with a line of dashes "alongside the coast of what should be China". On July 6, 2023, Warner Bros. issued a statement explaining that the map in the concerned image is a "child-like crayon drawing", with the dashed lines depicting Barbie's journey from Barbieland to the real world and was "not intended to make any type of statement". Jordan Richard Schoenherr from Concordia University said that while the map might seem innocuous, the repeated presentation of images that supported the goals of the Chinese government risks increasing their acceptance by international publics and is therefore a cause for concern. In the world map drawing, dashed lines can be seen near Asia, the United States, Greenland, Brazil and Africa.
==== Religious interpretation and LGBTQ+ themes ====
In some Muslim-majority countries, there were attempts to ban the film on moral grounds or for allegedly showing LGBTQ+ themes. Some of them were successful.
===== Pakistan =====
In Pakistan, the film was released nationwide on July 21, 2023. The Punjab Film Censor Board (which handles the censorship in the Punjab province) and other regional equivalents cleared the film for screening. But on July 22, Punjab province's caretaker Minister of Information and Culture Amir Mir used his authority to halt the screenings of the film in the province, alleging that it "[shows] homosexuality". Punjab's Information Secretary Ali Nawaz Malik told Dawn that the film "has been sent to Dubai for a censorship review". On August 1, the final approval was given for the film to be shown in the province.
===== Middle East =====
In the Middle East, the film was initially scheduled to be released on July 19, 2023, before being delayed to August 31. Later, Vox Cinemas, the distributor of Warner Bros. films in the region, announced that the film would be released in the region on August 10. Although the film censorship authorities in the region initially did not specify any reason, it was suggested that the inclusion of a transgender actress in one of the Barbie roles, and the narrations and dialogs related to LGBTQ+ matters might have been the issues with the film.
On August 9, 2023, Lebanon's Minister of Culture Mohammad Mortada, who is backed by Hezbollah, proposed that the film be banned in the country for "[promoting] homosexuality and sexual transformation" and "[contradicting] values of faith and morality" by "diminishing the importance of the family unit". Following Mortada's proposal, the Minister of Interior and Municipalities Bassam Mawlawi asked the relevant authority (which is under the scope of Interior Ministry's General Security) to review the film and give its recommendation. On August 11, it was reported that the Lebanese authority, comprising the representatives from the General Security and the Ministry of Economy and Trade, found no reason to ban the film in the country. On September 1, the film was formally approved for screening in Lebanon for audiences aged 13 and above. Barbie was released in Lebanese theaters on September 7.
Also on August 9, 2023, the Kuwaiti authority formally announced the ban of both Barbie and Australian horror film Talk to Me (which stars a non-binary and transgender actor), with the head of the authority Lafi Al-Subaie accusing the former of "carrying ideas that encourage unacceptable behavior and distort society's values".
===== Algeria =====
On August 13, 2023, just three weeks after its release on July 19, the screenings of Barbie were halted in film theaters in Algeria. According to Reuters, the official source was quoted as saying that the film "promotes homosexuality and other Western deviances" and that it "does not comply with Algeria's religious and cultural beliefs".
== Reception ==
=== Box office ===
Barbie grossed $637.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $810.8 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $1.448 billion. This was described by Warner Bros. as "reaching a Barbillion". Deadline Hollywood calculated the film's net profit as $421 million, accounting for production budgets, marketing, talent participations, and other costs; box office grosses, television and streaming, and home media revenues placed it second on their list of 2023's "Most Valuable Blockbusters".
It was described as a "record-breaking" box office success during its opening weekend, and set the record for any film that was not a sequel, remake, or superhero property. Barbie became the highest-grossing live-action comedy film of all time, smashing the domestic record formerly held by Home Alone (1990) and the worldwide record formerly held by The Hangover Part II (2011) simultaneously. It has also become Gerwig's highest-grossing film, overtaking its predecessor Little Women (2019). The film crossed the $1 billion mark worldwide on August 6, 2023, making it the only film by a solo female director to do so. This was also the fastest Warner Bros. film to reach $1 billion, beating Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011). In late August, Barbie surpassed that same film again, becoming Warner Bros.'s highest-grossing film, not adjusted for inflation. By September 2, the film surpassed $1.365 billion at the global box office, replacing The Super Mario Bros. Movie as the highest-grossing film of the year. Additionally, it became the highest-grossing film by a solo female director, surpassing the previous record held by Jia Ling for Hi, Mom (2021).
==== United States and Canada ====
In the United States and Canada, Barbie was released alongside Oppenheimer, and was originally projected to gross $90–125 million from 4,243 theaters in its opening weekend, with Warner Bros. predicting a $75 million debut. The week of their release, AMC Theatres announced that over 40,000 AMC Stubs members had pre-booked tickets to both films on the same day. It earned $70.5 million on its opening day, which included $22.3 million from Wednesday and Thursday night previews, both of which were the best of 2023. Barbie's opening weekend gross of $162 million marked the largest opening since Black Panther: Wakanda Forever ($181.3 million in November 2022). It was also the biggest opening ever for a film helmed by a female director, besting Captain Marvel (2019), and surpassed Suicide Squad (2016) to have Robbie's highest opening weekend, as well as Blade Runner 2049 (2017) to have Gosling's largest opening weekend. It scored the third-highest July opening weekend at the time, behind The Lion King (2019) and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2. This also marked the third-highest opening weekend for a Warner Bros. film, after the latter film and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016). Barbie also scored the biggest opening for a film based on a toy, surpassing Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009). Furthermore, it dethroned The Secret Life of Pets (2016) to achieve the biggest non-sequel July opening weekend. Upon opening, Barbie reached the number one spot at the box office, defeating Oppenheimer, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One and Sound of Freedom.
Following its opening weekend, Barbie surpassed The Dark Knight (2008) as the highest Monday gross ever for a Warner Bros. film, collecting a total of $26.1 million. It also quickly beat La La Land (2016) to become Gosling's highest-grossing film of all time. In its second weekend, the film earned $92 million, dropping by 43%, which was the largest sophomore weekend ever for a Warner Bros. film and the seventh-largest ever. The film remained in first place with $53 million in its third weekend, and $33.7 million in its fourth weekend. On August 16, 2023, Barbie once again surpassed The Dark Knight, this time as the highest-grossing domestic release in Warner Bros. history, having earned $537.5 million. The film was dethroned in its fifth weekend by newcomer Blue Beetle ($25 million), though it continued to hold well with a gross of $21.5 million. On August 24, 2023, Barbie surpassed The Super Mario Bros. Movie ($574 million) to become the highest-grossing film of the year in North America. Barbie finished in second place again in its sixth weekend, this time behind newcomer Gran Turismo.
==== Other territories ====
Outside of the United States and Canada, Barbie earned $194.3 million from 69 offshore markets in its opening weekend. Of the 69 markets, it was the number one film for the weekend in 58, scored the largest opening weekend for a Warner Bros. film in 26 and marked the largest opening for a 2023 film in 24. In the United Kingdom, the film opened with $24.2 million, which was the year's largest opening. In France, it opened with $10.2 million, marking the largest debut for a Warner Bros. film since Joker (2019). The following weekend, Barbie earned $127 million, dropping by just 31%. It remained the number one film of the weekend in 57 markets. Within its sophomore weekend, it became the highest-grossing film of 2023 in Brazil, as well as the highest-grossing Warner Bros. release ever. In Australia, the film scored the largest second week ever, for a running total of $30.6 million after two weekends. In the UK, Barbie began outpacing the ten-day total of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, Warner Bros.' highest-grossing film in the country, in its second weekend. In its third weekend, Barbie grossed $74 million from 69 markets for a drop of 41%. The highest-grossing overseas markets were the United Kingdom ($120.8 million), Germany ($56.5 million), Australia ($55.6 million), Mexico ($54.3 million), and France ($47.6 million). In Ireland, Barbie became the highest-grossing film in history with $9.57 million, surpassing Avatar (2009).
By contrast, in South Korea (where the film opened on July 19, 2023), Barbie underperformed at the box office. During the period between July 28 and 30, 2023, the film recorded around 81,000 admissions (earning $667,000) and finished in the fifth place in the South Korean box office, falling behind Smugglers (around 1.17 million admissions; $9.31 million), Elemental (around 360,000 admissions; $2.85 million), Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (around 300,000 admissions; $2.43 million) and Detective Conan: Black Iron Submarine (around 89,000 admissions; $703,000). It was suggested that the animosity against feminist messages in the film, the lack of popularity of Barbie dolls in South Korea, and cultural differences between United States and South Korea have contributed to the film's under-performance there. Film critic Youn Sung-Eun told Yonhap News Agency that 'in [South] Korea, where the recognition of feminism is not good, [people] don't want to accept that an amusement like film has a message [about social issues]', and that 'the film uses its later half to preach [about sexual discrimination], which might be hard to accept [to South Koreans]'. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Kang Hye-jung, the producer of Smugglers, said "I couldn't understand why Hollywood went so wild about Barbie, perhaps because it has never been our [toy]." Writing for The Korea Times, professor emeritus Mark Peterson at Brigham Young University opined that the film under-performed in South Korea because "it was one fully-loaded package of American culture of the last 50 years, which didn't convey much meaning to [South] Korean audiences".
In Japan, Barbie ranked at no. 16. Prior to the release date, public opinion of Barbie had soured after the official Twitter account for the Barbie film had responded positively to several Barbenheimer memes, all of which depicted atomic bombing mushroom clouds comically. This was seen as an endorsement of such jokes, and, in turn, was met with disapproval from the Japanese public, who criticized their ignorance, particularly due to their negligence towards the history of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Mitsuki Takahata, who provided Barbie's voice in the Japanese dub of the film, stated on her Instagram account that she was disappointed and had considered dropping out of one of the film's promotional events.
In China, Barbie earned more than $32 million as of August 2023.
=== Critical response ===
Barbie attained critical acclaim. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 88% of 506 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8/10. The website's consensus reads: "Barbie is a visually dazzling comedy whose meta humor is smartly complemented by subversive storytelling." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 80 out of 100, based on 67 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while those polled by PostTrak gave it an 89% overall positive score, with 79% saying they would definitely recommend the film.
In his review for the Chicago Tribune, Michael Phillips called Barbie "a lovely, eccentrically imaginative example of brand extension and raw, untrammeled commercialism", applauded the production design, and summed: "The crucial partnership here is the one between director and performer, Gerwig and Robbie; anything Gerwig and Baumbach's verbally dexterous script requires, from Barbie's first teardrop to the final punchline, Robbie handles with unerring precision." Richard Brody of The New Yorker called it "brilliant, beautiful and fun as hell", claiming the "giddily stylized vision of a doll coming to life makes a serious case for the art of adapting even the most sanitized I.P." and commended the "free and wild" direction as well as the "profuse and exquisite" visual aesthetics. Charlotte O'Sullivan of the Evening Standard hailed the film as "easily the comedy of the year" with a large amount of fun, where "star and producer Margot Robbie, and writer-director Greta Gerwig, have done themselves proud" with a "breezily outrageous" film "about a woman's right to be 'weird, dark and crazy'". Eileen Jones of Jacobin said that the film "manages to overcome cumbersome plotting and feminist pieties to provide a delightful spectacle of funny moments that add up to something pretty good".
In The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw awarded Barbie a three out of five stars, describing it as "beamingly affectionate and deliriously pink-themed" but "perhaps a giant two-hour commercial for a product" and highlighted Gosling as a scene-stealer, being given "all the best lines".
Lovia Gyarke of The Hollywood Reporter called the film a "tricky balancing act of corporate fealty and subversion" lauding Gerwig's direction, the set design, costumes, soundtrack and lead performances, but criticizing the "muddled politics and flat emotional landing". Variety critic Peter Debruge praised the humor for giving "permission to challenge what Barbie represents" and lauded Gosling's physical performance, but concluded that the film is "an intellectual experience, not an emotional one, grounded largely in audience nostalgia". In the Vulture component of New York, Alison Willmore commended the lead performances, particularly that of Robbie, whom she characterized "as capable of heartbreaking earnestness as humor, and who sometimes effortlessly achieved both at once", but lamented the themes of the film, opining that it "doesn't ultimately want to do much more than talk itself in circles about these themes". On a similar note, Stephanie Zacharek of Time praised Robbie's "buoyant, charming performance", Gosling's "go-for-broke" effort, and the "inventive production design", but criticized the "self aware" nature of the film especially following the first half-hour, concluding that it is a feminist film "only in the most scattershot way", and that it is not "subversive". A mixed review in Le Monde also expressed doubts about the treatment of the topical issue and found that the "doll drowned herself in kitsch derision" while GQ-France, regretting that the film did not prove as radical as might have been expected, found it was somehow a continuation of Little Women.
Camilla Long of The Times wrote that the film featured Mattel's "pink, squealing, corporate grasping", trying to be "ahead of the sexism curve", but "ended up feeling sexist itself" for its portrayal that "men are stupid, go to the gym, run everything and don't care about women, while women are sensible, striving but ultimately conflicted victims". In the review by Kyle Smith in The Wall Street Journal, he stated: "As bubbly as the film appears, its script is like a grumpier-than-average women's studies seminar", exemplified by the Mattel employee character's "long monologue on how miserable it is to be female". MovieWeb ranked it number 1 on its list of the "Best Comedy Movies of the 2020s (So Far)", writing that "Gerwig's ode to the Barbie girl and her Barbie world ... is as surprisingly modern and introspective as audiences have come to expect from her work. Scrunching 60 plus years of history into a two-hour time frame aside, this film gets straight at the heart of what it's like being a woman today while providing more than a laugh or two in the process." Chinese film critic Li Jingfei (李竞菲) praised the film's humor and criticism of patriarchy, qualifying that its themes were too often advanced by slogans rather than the experiences of its characters.
Filmmakers such as Allison Anders, Joe Dante, Drew Goddard, Chad Hartigan, Rachel Morrison and Paul Schrader also cited the film as among their favorites of 2023.
In June 2025, IndieWire ranked the film at number 46 on its list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 2020s (So Far)." In July 2025, it ranked number 84 on the "Readers' Choice" edition of The New York Times' list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century."
=== Accolades ===
The National Board of Review and the American Film Institute named Barbie one of the top-ten films of 2023. The film's soundtrack album and score received 12 nominations at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards. Barbie tied with Cabaret (1972) for the second-most nominations in Golden Globe Awards history, earning a leading nine at the 81st edition. It would ultimately win two awards at the ceremony, including Best Original Song (for "What Was I Made For") and the inaugural Golden Globe for Cinematic and Box Office Achievement.
Earning 18 nominations at its 29th ceremony, the film received the most nominations in Critics' Choice Movie Awards history. Longlisted in 15 categories at the 77th British Academy Film Awards, Barbie (along with Oppenheimer and Killers of the Flower Moon) equaled the BAFTA longlist record for most nominations set by Edward Berger's German anti-war film All Quiet on the Western Front (2022). It also received eight nominations at the 96th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Gosling), Best Supporting Actress (Ferrera) and two nominations for Best Original Song (for "I'm Just Ken" and "What Was I Made For"). It eventually won Best Original Song (for "What Was I Made For").
== Themes and analysis ==
As with the doll itself, feminism and related themes in the film were the subject of discussion. Some reviews for the film saw it as satirizing capitalism, while others perceived it as being a satire utilizing capitalist themes.
=== Philosophy ===
Barbie has been characterized as exploring themes of existentialism. Lucy Ford of GQ wrote that the film "ruminates on the very idea of what makes us human, the idea of 'the other', whether there's truly such a thing as autonomy or if we're all simply pawns to be picked up and disposed of when we are no longer useful". Ford observed that, in the film, Barbie and Ken go on "opposite but equal" journeys of self-discovery, after venturing out into the real world and learning that it is an oppressive patriarchal society as opposed to the matriarchal utopia that is Barbieland, and get "caught in the crosshairs of being both sentient and someone else's idea, battling with free will and the omnipresent predetermined rules about where to go and how to act". In Clark University, Professor of Philosophy Wiebke Deimling compared a scene in the film, in which Barbie has to make a choice between going back to her perfect life in Barbieland or learning the truth about her existence in the real world, to the experience machine, a thought experiment by American philosopher Robert Nozick. Diemling also observed that gender in Barbieland is performative, noting how the Kens behave before and after a patriarchy is established. Alissa Wilkinson of Vox compared Barbieland to the biblical Garden of Eden, with Barbie and Ken as inverted parallels of Adam and Eve. She saw Barbie and Ken's first impression "that they're suddenly self-conscious and aware of being looked at" in the real world as the film's version of the Fall. Chinese film critic Li Jingfei (李竞菲) compared Barbie's sudden awareness of death to the moment when Siddhārtha Gautama left the palace of his birth and first learned of suffering and death, which eventually led to his enlightenment.
=== Feminism ===
Katie Pickles of The Conversation said that Barbie shows how the matriarchy can be "as bad" as the patriarchy, with the Kens being the objectified and excluded sex in Barbieland. Pickles further comments that the true heroes were outcasts such as Weird Barbie and Allan, who deprogrammed the Barbies from tolerating the status quo. She believes that this aligns with Gerwig's conception of feminism, where "everyone stands in the sunshine".
Jack Butler of National Review rejected the perception of the film as a "shallow, man-hating, and repulsive screed" and argued that the film is instead a "post-feminist satire of what feminists imagine a perfect world looking like and of what they imagine male dominance is like", noted that in the real world, "Ken is rebuffed in all of his attempts to join the male hierarchy that purportedly dominates the world. He must return to Barbie land to institute it; what he institutes there is so shallow that it collapses almost as quickly as it is set up. Meanwhile, though Robbie's Barbie restores female dominance in Barbieland, she chooses not to stay there, electing instead to become fully human."
Ross Douthat writing in The New York Times argued that the film "is a movie with a feminist default, but also [has] complicated and sometimes muddled feelings about what the sexual revolution has done and where feminism ought to go". Douthat comments that the female-centric nature of Barbieland is dystopian, where men are nothing more than "arm-candy", and where pregnant women and children are marginalized. He describes the film as "against the resilient patriarchy, but wary of the girlboss alternative. It wants womanhood and motherhood, but it doesn't want the Kens back in charge, and it doesn't really know what purpose men should serve".
Many journalists coupled Barbie with the Eras Tour by Taylor Swift for the concurrent representation of recontextualized mainstream femininity. Michelle Goldberg of The New York Times described the launch of the film and the tour, their rave public reception, and the associated critical discourses as the biggest cultural phenomena of 2023 summer, explaining that "beneath their slick, exuberant pop surfaces, [both the film and the tour] tell female coming-of-age stories marked by existential crises and bitter confrontations with sexism". Ben Sisario considered both the works as critiques of patriarchy, while Talia Lakritz of Business Insider said both of them "reclaim girlhood without rescinding power". Similarly, Chris Willman stated that both use patriarchy as a subject of irony "while being utterly friendly to and welcoming of men as much as anybody", eventually becoming a billion-dollar-earning phenomenon.
=== Masculinity ===
In the Los Angeles Times, Jean Guerrero presented a subtext to the film's feminist exterior, in which "a world that disregards men and their feelings is an inverted form of patriarchy and also cruel", and added: "The film is a rare product of mainstream culture that invites men to reimagine masculinity for their own sake. It acknowledges the identity crisis and loss of hope, economic promise and life purpose among American men. These struggles are often ignored by progressives, but conveniently and poisonously exploited by right-wing manfluencers from Andrew Tate to Josh Hawley ... The film's reception has focused on its messages of women's empowerment, but what makes it a radical story is that it also invites women to reimagine feminism so that it doesn't ignore male struggles."
Nicholas Balaisis contended in Psychology Today that Barbie provides a "relatively nuanced portrayal of masculinity" in two cases that resonated with issues and concerns frequent in clinical psychology and therapy: In the first case, which concerns the "over-valuation of a woman's gaze and attention on male sense of self-esteem, and even an existential sense of identity", Ken turns to patriarchal expression and masculine dominance "over other men, women or objects" because he does not receive the "sense of attractiveness, worth, and general self-value" he wants from Barbie's gaze and attention. In the second case, which concerns "the relationship to shame or existential solitude and the conversion to sex-as-soothing", when Barbie approaches Ken in the third act of the film for consolation, he interprets it as a sexual advance and tries to kiss her, which Dr. Balaisis likened to "the same way that shame can quickly morph into resentment and anger, here we see loneliness and existential angst being converted into a sexual plea — for sex to solve and resolve these bad feelings."
Megan Garber of The Atlantic found that Ken and his journey of self-discovery "mimics adolescence", writing: "Like any teenager, Ken is figuring out who he is, and trying the world's possibilities on for size. But his immaturity is not contained, and this is its problem. His adolescent approach to the world, instead, inflicts itself on everyone else." Garber concluded that Ken embodies a "core idea" in the film "that patriarchy is a profound form of immaturity". Eliana Dockterman of Time noted that Ken's radicalization resembles the men's rights movement, particularly in his "feelings of emasculation", male fragility and evangelization of the patriarchy.
== Future ==
On July 25, 2023, following Barbie's premiere, Gerwig stated she had no plans for a sequel. On August 4, it was reported that Gerwig, co-writer Baumbach, and stars Robbie and Gosling had been contracted for only one film. On December 13, 2024, The Hollywood Reporter reported that a sequel had entered early development, with Gerwig and Baumbach set to return. Representatives for Warner Bros., Gerwig, and Baumbach denied the claim.
In July 2025, it was reported that Illumination and Mattel Studios finalized a deal to develop a theatrical animated Barbie film with Universal Pictures set to distribute. However, the project is not intended to be connected to the live-action film. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leirion_Gaylor_Baird | Leirion Gaylor Baird | Leirion Gaylor Baird (born June 18, 1971) is an American politician who has served as the 52nd mayor of Lincoln, Nebraska, since 2019.
== Early life and education ==
Gaylor Baird grew up in Portland, Oregon; her parents were public school teachers. She completed a Bachelor of Arts in history from Yale College in 1993. She earned a Master of Science in comparative social policy from University of Oxford in 1997.
== Career ==
Baird began her career as a management consultant, working also as a city budget and policy analyst. She was the director of an after-school and summer program in San Francisco. Upon moving to Lincoln, Nebraska, she was appointed to the Lincoln/Lancaster County Planning Commission and helped develop its 2040 Comprehensive Plan. She was elected to the Lincoln City Council as a city-wide representative in May 2013 and was, at the time, its only female member. She won reelection in 2017.
Following the ratification of a term limit amendment by referendum, Baird announced her intention to succeed incumbent three-term Mayor Chris Beutler. Affiliated with the Democratic Party, she officially ran as a nonpartisan candidate due to municipal election law. She won the election for mayor on May 7, 2019, against Republican-affiliated Cyndi Lamm. She was sworn in on May 20, 2019, alongside the new city council.
== Political positions and mayoralty ==
During her campaign for the mayoralty, Baird campaigned on additional road funding for the city, environmental preservation, and community land trusts for housing. During her time as a city councilwoman, she introduced legislation to ban bump stocks in the city.
A recall against Baird was organized in October 2020. LNK Recall objected to the suspension of city charter rules that allowed Pat Lopez to be designated as health director. Organizers needed at least 21,652 signatures by December 23, 2020, to trigger a recall election; they were unable to do so. Baird responded by saying she continued to work as mayor.
Baird was reelected in the 2023 mayoral election. Her two opponents in the primary were Republican state senator Suzanne Geist and Republican Stan Parker.
== Election results ==
=== 2019 ===
=== 2023 === |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Softball | Softball | Softball is a variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches permitted; where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, the Olympic level and the professional level. The game was created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hancock.
There are two rule sets for softball generally: slow-pitch softball and fastpitch. Slow-pitch softball is commonly played recreationally, while women's fastpitch softball was a Summer Olympic sport and can be played professionally. Softball was not included in the 2024 Summer Olympics but will return for the 2028 Summer Olympics.
Depending on the variety being played and the age and gender of the players, the particulars of the field and equipment will also vary. While distances between bases of 60 feet (18 m) are standard across varieties, the pitcher's plate ranges from 35 to 43 feet (10.7 to 13.1 m) away from home plate, and the home run fence can be 220 to 300 feet (67 to 91 m) away from home plate. The ball itself is typically 11 or 12 inches (28 or 30 centimetres) in circumference, though this also depends on specifics of the competition; if you are competing in a younger age category, the ball will be smaller, it only goes up to about 12in at a college level. Softball rules vary in certain aspects from those of baseball. The game moves at a faster pace than traditional baseball due to the field being smaller and the bases and the fielders being closer to home plate. Softball is pitched underhand from flat ground, whereas baseball is pitched overhand from a raised pitcher's mound.
== History ==
=== Early history ===
The earliest known softball game was played in Chicago, Illinois, on Thanksgiving Day, 1887. It took place at the Farragut Boat Club at a gathering to hear the outcome of the Yale University and Harvard University football game. When the score was announced and bets were settled, a Yale alumnus threw a boxing glove at a Harvard supporter. The Harvard fan grabbed a stick and swung at the rolled-up glove. George Hancock, a reporter there, called out "Play ball!" and the game began, with the boxing glove tightened into a ball, a broom handle serving as a bat. This first contest ended with a score of 41–40. The ball, being soft, was fielded barehanded.
Hancock is credited as the game's inventor for his development of a 17-inch ball and an undersized bat in the next week. The Farragut Club soon set rules for the game, which spread quickly to outsiders. Envisioned as a way for baseball players to maintain their skills during the winter, the sport was called "Indoor Baseball". Under the name of "Indoor-Outdoor," the game moved outside in the next year, and the first rules were published in 1889.
In 1895, Lewis Rober Sr. of Minneapolis organized outdoor games as exercise for firefighters; this game was originally known as kitten ball. Rober's version of the game used a ball 12 inches (30 cm) in circumference, rather than the 16-inch (41 cm) ball used by the Farragut club, and eventually the Minneapolis ball prevailed, although the dimensions of the Minneapolis diamond were passed over in favor of the dimensions of the Chicago one. Rober may not have been familiar with the Farragut Club rules. Fire Station No. 19 in Minneapolis, Rober's post from 1896 to 1906, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in part for its association with the sport's development. The first softball league outside the United States was organized in Toronto, Ontario, in 1897.
The name "softball" dates back to 1926. The name was coined by Walter Hakanson of the YMCA at a meeting of the National Recreation Congress. (In addition to "indoor baseball", "kitten ball", and "diamond ball", names for the game included "mush ball", and "pumpkin ball".) The name softball had spread across the United States by 1930. By the 1930s, similar sports with different rules and names were being played all over the United States and Canada. A tournament held in 1933 at the Chicago World's Fair spurred interest in the game. By 1936, the Joint Rules Committee on Softball had standardized the rules and naming throughout the United States. In this decade, American women transitioned from playing feminized versions of baseball to mainly playing softball.
Sixteen-inch softball, also sometimes referred to as "mush ball" or "super-slow pitch" and is a direct descendant of Hancock's original game. Defensive players are not allowed to wear fielding gloves. Sixteen-inch softball is played extensively in Chicago, where devotees such as newspaper columnist Mike Royko consider it the "real" game, and New Orleans. In New Orleans, sixteen-inch softball is called "Cabbage Ball" or "batter ball" and is a popular team sport in area elementary and high schools.
The first cork-centered softball was created in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, by Emil "Pops" Kenesky.
=== Contemporary era ===
By the 1940s, fast pitch began to dominate the game. Although slow pitch was present at the 1933 World's Fair, the main course of action taken was to lengthen the pitching distance. Slow pitch achieved formal recognition in 1953 when it was added to the program of the Amateur Softball Association, and within a decade had surpassed fast pitch in popularity.
The first British women's softball league was established in 1953.
The National Softball Hall of Fame and Museum was opened in Oklahoma City, United States, in 1957.
In 1991, women's fast pitch softball was selected to debut at the 1996 Summer Olympics. The 1996 Olympics also marked a key era in the introduction of technology in softball. The IOC funded a landmark bio-mechanical study on pitching during the games.
In 2002, sixteen-inch slow pitch was written out of the International Softball Federation (ISF) official rules, although it is still played extensively in the United States under The Amateur Softball Association of America, or ASA rules.
The 117th meeting of the International Olympic Committee, held in Singapore in July 2005, voted to drop softball and baseball as Olympic sports for the 2012 Summer Olympics. They were reinstated for the 2020 Summer Olympics held in 2021.
The highest governing body for the sport is the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC). Other sanctioning bodies are USA Softball, NCAA, NFHS, AAU, NSA, PONY, Babe Ruth League, ISC, USSSA and Triple Crown.
== Overview ==
=== Field ===
Fastpitch softball is played between two teams on a large field, with nine players (in 10u and above; 8u and below is usually played with ten players on a field at once) from one team on the field at a time. Slow-pitch softball is played with ten fielders but can be played with nine if needed.
The softball field is usually composed of a dirt or brick dust infield that contains the shape and running areas of a diamond and a grass outfield. However, the field can consist of other solid and dry surfaces such as artificial turf or asphalt. There are four bases on the infield: First base, second base, third base, and home plate. The bases are arranged in a square and are typically 60 feet (18 m) apart. Near the center of this square is the pitcher's circle, and within the circle is the "rubber" or "plate", a flat, flush-mounted, rectangular rubber plate 6 inches (150 mm) in width and 24 inches (610 mm) in length. The rubber distance from the plate in fastpitch can be as short as 35 feet (11 m) for 10u players up to 43 feet (13 m) for ages 14 and older. In slow pitch softball, the rubber distance can be 43, 46 or 50 feet (13, 14 or 15 m) depending on age level and the league one is playing in.
=== Game structure ===
The object of the game is to score more runs (points) than the other team by batting (hitting) a ball into play and running around the bases, touching each one in succession. The ball is a sphere of light material, covered with leather or synthetic material. It is 11 to 12 inches (28–30 cm) (or, rarely, 16 in or 41 cm) in circumference. The game is officiated by one or more neutral umpires. Players and umpires are generally free to ask for a brief stoppage at any time when the ball is not in play (called a time out), or immediately following a play once its outcome is clear.
The game is played in usually seven innings. Each inning is divided into a top half, in which the away team bats and tries to score runs, while the home team occupies the field and tries to record three outs; then a bottom half, when the teams' roles are reversed. Some leagues play with a reduced number of innings or with a time limit, rather than the traditional seven innings.
=== Batting and pitching ===
To start play, the offense sends a batter to home plate. The batting order must be fixed at the start of the game, and players may not bat out of turn. The defense's pitcher stands atop the rubber and pitches the ball towards home plate using an underhand motion. In fast pitch, the pitcher is allowed to take one step back prior to releasing the ball during the forward movement. The batter attempts to hit the pitched ball with a bat, a long, round, smooth stick made of wood, metal or composite. The pitcher will use all types of pitches when on the mound to try and strike out the batter. A list of different pitches one might throw consists of a fastball, changeup, riseball, dropball, curveball and skrewball. If the pitcher throws three strikes against a batter, then the batter is out and the next batter in the order comes up to bat. A strike is recorded any time a batter swings at and misses a pitch or when a batter hits a ball foul (out of play). A strike is also recorded any time the batter does not swing at a pitch that crosses home plate within an area known as the strike zone. In fast pitch, to be within the strike zone, the pitch must cross over home plate, and as it crosses it must be above the knees and slightly below the shoulders (roughly the armpit or the shirt logo). The strike zone therefore varies from batter to batter. In slow pitch, the ball must land on a carpet or marked area behind the plate, therefore standardizing the strike zone. A pitch outside the strike zone is a ball. If the batter reaches four balls, the batter is awarded the first base in what is known as a "walk". The umpire behind home plate is the sole arbiter of balls and strikes. A foul ball may or may not result in a strikeout dependent upon what association and local league rules. However, bunting a foul ball does result in a strikeout. In some associations and leagues, bunting is not allowed and results in an out. Also, if a player has two strikes, swinging and partially hitting the ball can result in an out if the catcher manages to catch the tipped ball.
=== Ball in play ===
The batter attempts to swing the bat and hit the ball fair (into the field of play). After a successful hit the batter becomes a base runner (or runner) and must run to first base. The defense attempts to field the ball and may throw the ball freely between players, so one player can field the ball while another moves to a position to put out the runner. The defense can tag the runner, by touching the runner with the ball while the runner is not on a base. The defense can also touch first base while in possession of the ball; in this case it is sufficient to beat the batter to first base and an actual tag of the batter is unnecessary. A runner is said to be "thrown out" when the play involves two or more defensive players. Runners generally cannot be put out when touching a base, but only one runner may occupy a base at any time and runners may not pass each other. When a ball is batted into play, runners generally must attempt to advance if there are no open bases behind them; for example, a runner on first base must run to second base if the batter puts the ball in play. In such a situation, the defense can throw to the base that the lead runner is attempting to take (a force out), and the defense can then also throw to the previous base. This can result in a multiple-out play: a double play is two outs, while a triple play, a very rare occurrence, is three outs. Runners with an open base behind them are not forced to advance and do so at their own risk; the defense must tag such runners directly to put them out rather than tagging the base.
A ball hit in the air and caught before hitting the ground, in fair or foul territory, puts the batter out. A fly ball is a ball hit high and deep, a pop fly is a ball hit high but short, and a line drive is a ball hit close to the horizontal. After the catch, runners must return to their original bases; if the defense throws the ball to that base before the runner returns, the runner is out as well, resulting in a double play. A runner who remains on the base until the ball is touched, or returns to the base (tags up) after the catch, may try to advance to the next base, at the risk of being tagged out between bases. As in baseball, the infield fly rule applies in some game situations to prevent the defense from recording multiple force outs by deliberately dropping an easy catch.
Offensive strategy is mostly just to hit the ball skillfully to let the batter reach base and advance other runners around the bases to score runs. The count of balls and strikes indicates how aggressive the batter should be. The offense may try to sacrifice, with the batter deliberately making an out in order to advance runners. Defensive strategy is more complex, as particular situations (number of outs and positions of base-runners) and particular batters call for different positioning of fielders and different tactical decisions. The defense may decide to allow a run if it can achieve one or multiple outs.
== Playing field ==
The playing field is divided into fair territory and foul territory. Fair territory is further divided into the infield, and the outfield.
The field is defined by foul lines that meet at a right angle at home plate. The minimum length of the baselines varies classification of play (see below for official measurements). A fence running between the baselines defines the limits of the field; distance from home plate to the fence varies by field. The widest part of the field is the distance between the foul poles, which are erected where the foul lines meet the fence and are about 310 to 420 feet (94 to 128 m) apart depending on the length of the foul lines.
Home plate is one corner of a diamond with bases at each corner. The bases are cushions 15 inches (38 cm) square, of canvas or a similar material, and not more than 5 inches (13 cm) thick. The bases are usually securely fastened to the ground. The bases are numbered counterclockwise as first base, second base, and third base. Often, but not always, outside first base (that is, in foul territory) and adjacent and connected to it, there is a contrast-colored "double base" or "safety base" intended to prevent collisions between the first baseman and the runner. The runner runs for the foul portion of the double base after hitting the ball while the fielding team tries to throw the ball to the fair portion before the runner reaches the safety base. However, not all softball diamonds have these safety bases and they are much more common in women's softball than in men's. The double base is required in the U-18 Women's Softball World Cup.
The infield consists of the diamond and the adjacent space in which the infielders (see below) normally play. The outfield is the remaining space between the baselines and between the outfield fence and the infield. The infield is usually "skinned" (dirt), while the outfield has grass in regulation competitions.
Near the center of the diamond is the pitching plate, or colloquially "rubber". In fastpitch, a circle 16 feet (4.9 meters) in diameter known as the pitching circle is marked around the pitching plate.
A field is officially required to have a warning track between 15 and 12 feet (4.6 and 3.7 meters) from the outfield fence. However, if the game is being played on a field larger than required, no warning track is required before the temporary outfield fencing.
Located in foul territory outside both baselines are two coach's boxes. Each box is behind a line 15 feet (4.6 meters) long located 12 feet (3.7 meters) from each baseline.
=== Official baseline dimensions ===
=== Pitching distances ===
== Equipment ==
Equipment required in softball includes a ball, a bat (composite, metal or wooden), gloves, uniforms and protective gear. For example, helmets for the offensive team and a helmet, shin guards, and chest protector for the defensive catcher. Also cleats, sliding shorts, face masks and knee sliders may be worn for softball.
=== Ball ===
Despite the sport's name, the ball is not actually soft, though it does have a lower density and greater coefficient of restitution than a baseball.
The size of the ball varies according to the variety played and age of the participants. The circumference for fastpitch for adults is 12±0.125 in (30.5±0.3 cm), with a mass between 6.25 and 7.0 oz (177 and 198 g), while children under 12 use a ball with a circumference of 11±0.125 in (27.9±0.3 cm) with a mass between 5.875 and 6.125 oz (166.6 and 173.6 g). A 12-inch circumference ball is generally used in slow pitch. (For comparison, a baseball is 9 to 9+1⁄4 inches (229–235 mm) in circumference and has a mass between 5 and 5+1⁄4 ounces (142–149 g).)
The ball is covered in two pieces of leather or similar synthetic covering that are roughly the shape of a figure-8 and sewn together along a continuous seam. The core of the ball may be made of long fiber kapok, a mixture of cork and rubber, a polyurethane mixture, or another approved material.
Before 1993, white balls were standard at all levels of play. In that year, a new, fluorescent optic yellow colored ball was first used in college softball. Yellow softballs have become the standard for all levels of play; white balls are also still allowed but are very uncommon today.
In Chicago, where softball was invented, it remains traditional to play a variant of slow-pitch with a ball 16 inches (41 centimeters) in circumference. The fielders do not wear gloves or mitts. A 16-inch softball when new is rough and hard, with hand and finger injuries to fielders frequent if they do not "give" when receiving a ball, but the ball "breaks in" slightly during a game and continues to soften over time with continued play. A well-broken-in ball is called a mush ball and is favored for informal "pick-up" games and when playing in limited space, such as a city street (because the ball does not go as far). A 16-inch ball is also used for wheelchair softball.
=== Bat ===
The bat used by the batter can be made of wood, aluminum, or composite materials such as carbon fiber. Sizes may vary but they may be no more than 34 inches (86 cm) long, 2.25 inches (5.7 cm) in diameter, or 38 ounces (1.1 kg) in mass. The standard barrel diameter for both slow pitch and fast pitch softball bats is 2+1⁄4 inches. Many players prefer a smaller barrel, which reduces mass and allows higher swing speed.
Although there are a variety of bats used, there are several that are banned due to performance enhancement. For example, with a thinner wall, the ball recoils faster off the bat, allowing it to travel further. Many bats may be "doctored" or "juiced" by being end loaded, shaved, or painted. End loading of a cap refers to the addition of weight manually placed at the end of the barrel to distribute more weight at the tip. Shaving bats require machine use in order to remove the inner walls of the bat to improve elasticity. Lastly, illegal bats may be painted to resemble legal ones.
=== Gloves ===
All defensive players wear fielding gloves, made of leather or similar material. Gloves have webbing between the thumb and forefinger, known as the "pocket". Gloves used in softball are typically larger than the ones used in baseball to account for the larger ball. No glove larger than 14 in (36 cm) can be used in ASA (American Softball Association) sanctioned play.
While extremely rare in recreational play, there are sometimes different size gloves for different positions on the field. Catchers and first baseman have what is called a mitt, whose pockets are larger than other gloves. These are more padded. An outfielder's glove is smaller than the catcher's, typically 12 inches to 13 inches for fast pitch softball or 12 to 15 inches for slow pitch. An infielder's glove is the smallest, typically from 11.5 inches to 13 inches. A pitcher's glove is typically 11.5 to 12.5 inches for fast pitch or 11.5 to 13 inches for slow pitch.
No part of the glove is allowed to be the same color as that of the ball, including that of its seams. Pitchers are also not allowed to have any white on their gloves including the seams. The umpire has discretion to determine whether any coloring on the glove interferes with or hinders the batter from seeing the ball clearly.
=== Uniform ===
Each team wears a distinctive uniform. The uniform may include a cap, a shirt displaying team colors and the players' number, sliding undershorts/compression shorts (optional), socks, and pants/athletic shorts. The team is required to have all of its members wear the same uniform.
Caps, visors, and headbands are optional for female players, and have to be the same color. Caps are mandatory for male players. A fielder who chooses to wear a helmet or face mask is not required to wear a cap.
Many players use "sliding shorts", otherwise known as compression shorts in other sports. These can be outfitted with a pouch for fitting a protective cup for male players. These shorts also help to protect the upper thigh when sliding into a base. "Sliders" may also be worn for similar protection. These are somewhat padded shin guards that extend usually from the ankle to the knee of the wearer and wrap all the way around the leg(s). They protect the shin, calf, etc. from getting bruised or damaged while sliding into home plate and make it much more comfortable to slide into the plate. Some male players use long, baseball-style pants. However, some female players now wear a shorter version of baseball pants.
At the back of the uniform, an Arabic numeral from numbers 0 through 99 must be visible. Numbers such as 02 and 2 are considered identical. Also, on the back of the uniform's players' names are optional.
All players are required to wear shoes. They may have cleats or spikes. The spikes must extend less than 0.75 in (19 mm) away from the sole. Rounded metal spikes are illegal, as are ones made from hard plastic or other synthetic materials. High school athletes are sometimes permitted to wear metal cleats, such as in Ohio. Most of the time players wear metal when playing at higher levels. This can be due to the better stability and grip they provide.
Many recreational leagues prohibit the use of metal cleats or spikes to reduce the possible severity of injuries when a runner slides feet-first into a fielder. At all youth (under 15) levels, in co-ed (the official terminology for mixed teams) slow pitch, and in modified pitch, metal spikes are usually not allowed.
=== Protective equipment ===
Batters and runners wear batting helmets. In NCAA fastpitch softball, players have the option to wear a helmet with or without a face mask. Most female travel ball teams for fastpitch softball require the batter to wear a helmet with a face mask. In male fastpitch masks are generally only used for medical reasons.
In fastpitch, the catcher wears a protective helmet with a face mask and throat protector, shin guards, and chest protector. Shin guards also protect the kneecap. In youth level slow pitch, the catcher must wear a helmet, chest protector, and mask. At adult levels, there is no formal requirement for the catcher to wear a mask, although the official rules recommend it. A catcher may optionally wear a body protector in adult slow pitch. Catchers can also wear knee-savers, however, the higher you go up in age the less likely you will be to see them. Whether or not to use knee-savers is a big contriversy. Many believe that they can cause harm to the knee by creating space between the tibia and femur, while there is no concrete evidence of this. Whether or not a catcher decides to use knee-savers is mostly just preference.
While mandatory for the pitcher in some slow pitch leagues, there is an option to wear a face mask on the field. It is recommended in lower age groups. This is intended to prevent facial injuries.
== Umpires ==
Decisions about plays are made by umpires. The number of umpires on a given game can range from a minimum of one to a maximum of seven. There is never more than one "plate umpire"; there can be up to three "base umpires", and up to a further three umpires positioned in the outfield. Most fastpitch games use a crew of two umpires (one plate umpire, one base umpire).
Official umpires are often nicknamed "blue", because of their uniforms – in many jurisdictions, most significantly ISF, NCAA and USA Softball games, umpires wear navy blue slacks, a light powder blue shirt, and a navy baseball cap. Some umpires wear a variant of the uniform: some umpires in USA Softball wear heather gray slacks and may also wear a navy blue or powder blue shirt; umpires from the USSSA wear red shirts with grey slacks; National Softball Association (NSA) umpires wear an official NSA white-colored umpire shirt with black pants or black shorts; NSA fastpitch umpires wear the white NSA umpires shirt and heather gray slacks.
Decisions are usually indicated by both the use of hand signals, and by vocalizing the call. Safe calls are made by signaling with flat hands facing down moving away from each other, and a verbal call of "safe". Out calls are made by raising the right hand in a clenched fist, with a verbal call of "out". Strikes are called by the plate umpire, who uses the same motion as the out call with a verbal call of "strike". Balls are only called verbally, with no hand gesture. The umpire also has the option of not saying anything on a ball. It is understood that when he stands up, the pitch was not a strike. Foul balls are called by extending both arms up in the air with a verbal call of "foul ball", while fair balls are indicated only by pointing towards fair territory with no verbal call. No signal is given for balls that are obviously foul; for closer calls that are not borderline a signal is given.
All decisions made by the umpire(s) are considered to be final. Only decisions where a rule might have been misinterpreted are considered to be protestable. At some tournaments there might be a rules interpreter or Tournament Chief Umpire (TCU) (also known as the Umpire In Chief, or UIC) available to pass judgment on such protests, but it is usually up to the league or association involved to decide if the protest would be upheld. Protests are never allowed on what are considered "judgment calls" – balls, strikes, and fouls. As of the 2021–22 academic year, a coach of an NCAA team is allowed to protest a call made by the umpire through what is called "video review" during the game. The opposing team only has until the next pitch to initiate the protest, and they are only allowed two a game.
== Gameplay ==
A softball game can last anywhere from 3 to 7 innings, or 1–2 hours depending on the league, rules, and type of softball. The teams take turns batting. Officially, which team bats first is decided by a coin toss, although a league may decide otherwise at its discretion. The most common rule is that the home team bats second. Batting second is also called "last at-bat". Many softball players prefer to bat second because they feel they have more control in the last inning, since they have the last at-bat.
In the event of a tie, extra innings are usually played until the tie is broken except in certain tournaments and championships. If the home team is leading and the road team has just finished its half of the seventh inning, the game ends because it is not necessary for the home team to bat again. In all forms of softball, the defensive team is the fielding team; the offensive team is at bat or batting and is trying to score runs.
=== Pitching ===
Play often, but not always, begins with the umpire saying, "play ball". After the batter is ready and all fielders (except the catcher) are in fair territory at their respective positions, the pitcher stands at the pitching plate and attempts to throw the ball past the batter to the catcher behind home plate. The throw, or pitch, must be made with an underhand motion.
The pitcher throws the ball in or around the "strike zone". However, in advanced play pitcher and catcher play a psychological game trying to get the batter to guess where the next pitch is going and if it will be a strike. In other instances, such as when an extremely powerful hitter comes up to bat and they are followed by a weaker hitter, a pitcher may deliberately walk the first batter based on the calculation that the next batter will be an easy out. The strike zone is slightly different in different forms of softball. A pitch that passes through that zone is a "strike". A pitch at which the batter swings is also a strike, as is any hit ball that lands in foul territory that is not caught out.
A pitch that is not a strike and at which the batter does not swing is known as a "ball". The number of balls and strikes is called the "count". The number of balls is always given first, as 2 and 1, 2 and 2, and so on. A count of 3 and 2 is a "full count" since the next ball or strike will end the batter's turn at the plate unless the ball goes foul.
==== Slow pitch ====
In most versions of slow pitch (including 16-inch) the pitch is lobbed so that the ball rises above the batter's head and lands on a small rectangular area on the ground behind the plate called "the well". Umpires will make calls based on where the ball lands behind the plate; a pitch landing in the well is a strike. These restrictions make it much easier to put the ball into play and extremely difficult to use pitching as a defensive strategy, as the physics of projectile motion limit how fast a ball can be thrown under such conditions and still be called a strike. In other varieties of slow pitch (sometimes known as "modified"), the only restriction is that the windmill cannot be used; thus the pitching arm cannot be raised above the shoulder and both the wind-up and the release must be underhand, still allowing for moderate speed and control in pitching.
==== Fastpitch ====
For fastpitch softball, the traditional pitching style is a "windmill" motion, extending the arm above the body and releasing the ball at about hip level at maximum speeds. Strength acquired in the underhand windmill motion is based on the open-to-close hip motion.
Pitches may reach high speeds. In women's fastpitch, depending on the age group, pitchers can throw from 30 to 65 mph (48 to 105 km/h) or more. The fastest pitch ever recorded was at 79.4 mph (127.8 km/h) by Karlyn Pickens in May 2025 at the 2025 NCAA Division I softball tournament. At the 1996 Summer Olympics one pitch reached 73.3 mph (118.0 km/h). Male pitching can reach speeds around 85 mph (137 km/h). To compare, MLB players average around 90 mph (140 km/h) but can reach speeds up to 100 mph (160 km/h). Although slower than baseball pitches, the shorter pitching distance in fastpitch results in batters having a comparable time to react to a pitch as in baseball.
Throwing fastballs for speed is not always the most important factor in fastpitch softball. Pitchers can throw breaking balls that move late in their flight, fooling batters into swinging at pitches outside the strike zone or, conversely, not swinging at pitches that pass through the strike zone. These include balls that break inwards (screwball) and outwards (curveball) on right-handed batters, starting off the plate and moving into the strike zone or starting towards the strike zone and moving off the plate. There are also rise balls that break upwards, frequently starting in the strike zone and ending above it, and drop balls that break downward. Another common pitch is the change-up, an intentionally slow pitch that initially appears to be a fastball, causing the batter to swing too early and miss or foul off the pitch. Rarer is the knuckleball, which moves slowly and erratically. Pitchers use deception as a primary tactic for getting batters out as the reaction times are approximately half a second or less. At higher levels of play, pitchers aim for the inner and outer corners of the plate when throwing fastballs and breaking pitches. Pitchers also vary the location of the pitch by height to make hitting the ball even harder for the batter. Pitchers also throw knuckleballs which are generally slower and move erratically.
A "crow hop" is an illegal pitch that occurs when the pitcher pushes with the pivot foot from somewhere other than the pitching plate. This often involves jumping from the pitching plate and replanting somewhere in front of the pitching plate. For an illegal pitch, the umpire extends his left arm straight out to the side and clenches his fist. This results in a ball being awarded to the batter, and any runners on base advancing to the next base. If the batter swings at the pitch that is deemed illegal and puts the ball in play, the offense is given the option to accept the results of the play or accept the penalty listed previously (exception: if the play results in the batter and any runners all advancing at least one base, the play stands and no option is given). The image to the right demonstrates a legal pitch as the push-off foot has not left the ground. The ball must be released simultaneously with the lead leg step.
=== Batters ===
The offensive team sends one "batter" at a time to home plate to use the bat to try to hit the pitch forward into fair territory. The order the players bat in, known as the "batting order", must stay the same throughout the game. Substitutes and replacements must bat in the same position as the player they are replacing. In co-ed, male and female batters must alternate.
The batter stands facing the pitcher inside a "batter's box" (there is one on each side of the plate to compensate for either right- or left-handed batters). The bat is held with both hands, over the shoulder, and away from the pitcher (90-degree angle). The ball is usually hit with a full swinging motion in which the bat may move through more than 360 degrees. The batter usually steps forward with the front foot, the body weight shifts forward, as the batter simultaneously swings the bat. A bunt is another form of batting. There are different types, including a sacrifice bunt, or slap bunt. There is also regular slapping in which a batter takes position on the left side of the plate and usually stands in the back of the box, but it is possible form anywhere. The batter takes a step back with their leading foot as the pitcher is in the middle of the windup, crosses over with their back foot and runs toward first base while they swing. There are many different types of slapping and they all vary depending on the batter and their strengths. There are half swing slaps, fake slaps, and full swing slaps. Each type of slap has a different purpose or goal. No matter what way the batter hits the ball, they must be inside the batter's box when the bat makes contact with the ball. If the batter steps out of the box while swinging, the batter is out.
Once the ball is hit into fair territory, the runner must try to advance to first base or beyond. While running to first base, the batter is a "batter-runner". When she safely reaches first (see below) she becomes a "base-runner" or "runner".
A batted ball hit high in the air is a "fly ball". A fly ball hit upward at an angle greater than 45 degrees is a "pop fly". A batted ball driven in the air through the infield at a height at which an infielder could play it if in the right position is a "line drive". A batted ball which hits the ground within the diamond is a "ground ball". If a batted ball hits a player or a base, it is considered to have hit the ground.
A batter can also advance to first if hit by the pitch. If a batter is hit by the pitch it is a dead ball and she is rewarded first base. The batter must make an attempt to get out of the way and it is the umpire's judgmental call whether the batter attempted to move. If the umpire feels the batter could have moved and avoided getting hit, the pitch will be recorded as a ball and the batter will not be awarded first base.
=== Getting the batter out ===
The batter is out if: the batter accrues three strikes (a "strikeout"); a ball hit by the batter is caught before touching the ground (a "flyout"); the batter goes to a base that is already tagged ("tagged" or "tag play"); a fielder holding the ball touches a base which is the only base towards which the batter may run before the batter arrives there (a "force out" or "force play"); or in certain special circumstances. There is also a not so common occurrence when the batter has two strikes and swings at strike three. If the catcher does not catch the ball, the batter has the chance to run to first base and the catcher can throw the batter out at first base.
=== Advancing around the bases ===
If the player hits the ball and advances to a base without a fielding error or an out being recorded, then that is called a "base hit". The bases must be reached in order counterclockwise, starting with first base. After hitting the ball the batter may advance as many bases as possible. An advance to first base on the one hit is a "single", to second base is a "double", to third base is a "triple", and to home plate is a "home run". Home runs are usually scored by hitting the ball over the outfield fence, but may be scored on a hit which does not go over the fence. A home run includes any ball that bounces off a fielder and goes over the fence in fair-territory (depending upon association and local league rules) or that hits the foul pole. If a batted ball bounces off a fielder (in fair territory) and goes over the fence in foul territory, or if it goes over the fence at a location that is closer than the official distance, the batter is awarded a double instead.
If a runner becomes entitled to the base where another runner is standing, the latter runner must advance to the next base. For example, if a player hits the ball and there is a runner on first, the runner on first must try to advance to second because the batter-runner is entitled to first base. If the batter reaches first base without being put out, then that player can then be forced to run towards second base the next time a ball is driven into fair territory. That is because the player must vacate first base to allow the next batter to reach it, and consequently can only go to second base, where a force out may be recorded.
Runners may advance at risk to be put out: on a hit by another player; after a fly ball has been caught, provided the player was touching a base at the time the ball was first touched or after; or (in fastpitch) automatically, when a pitch is delivered illegally.
Runners advance without liability to be put out: when a walk advances another player to the runner's current base; or automatically in certain special circumstances described below.
In the recent years, the NCAA rules changed when concerning the batters feet while in the box. The rule now states that as long as any part of the batter's foot is in the box the ball will stay live. It is not until the batter's entire foot is out of the box, that the play will be declared dead and the batter called out. The SEC (college ball), however, claims that if any part of the batter's foot is out of the box when she makes contact, she is out and the play is dead.
==== Special circumstances ====
If there is a "wild throw" (or "overthrow") in which the ball goes out of the designated play area, each runner is awarded two bases from the last base touched at the time of the throw. Retreating past a made base, negates the advance to that base. If a fielder intentionally carries a ball out of play, two bases are awarded from the time the ball leaves the field of play. If this is unintentional (fielder's momentum), the award is one base. If on a tag play, the fielder loses control (after establishing control) of the ball and it leaves the field of play, one base is awarded.
If there is a "wild pitch" in which the ball goes out of the designated play area, each runner is awarded one base from the base occupied at the time of the pitch.
In fastpitch, runners may try to steal bases by running to the next base on the pitch and reaching it before being tagged with the ball. The point at which a runner can steal a base varies. In fastpitch, the runner is allowed to begin stealing a base when the ball is released from the "windmill" pitching motion, but until recently, stealing was forbidden in slow pitch because a runner has the opportunity to get a larger head start while the slow pitch is making its way to the batter. As a result of rule changes initiated by the Independent Softball Association which later made its way to the Amateur Softball Association and the International Softball Federation in the 21st century, most levels of slow pitch permit stealing bases, provided the runner starts when the ball either touches the ground or crosses the plate. This rule encourages pitchers to be more responsible with the pitch and catchers to play defense, as balls which miss the catcher are now grounds to have stolen bases.
No matter what level of play, all baserunners must keep one foot on a base until the pitcher throws the ball or until the ball crosses the front edge of home plate (depends on association).
In fastpitch, if the catcher drops strike three (a "passed ball") with no less than two outs, the batter can attempt to run to first base if first base is unoccupied. The catcher must then attempt to throw the ball to first base ahead of the runner, or the runner is safe. With two outs, the batter can attempt to run to first whether or not it is already occupied.
Depending on the league in slow pitch only a foul ball with two strikes on the batter means the batter is out. Stealing in 16-inch softball is severely restricted, as a runner may only steal the base in front of them if it is open, and if they are thrown at, à la pickoff move or snap throw. This results in many inexperienced players being thrown or doubled off when they attempt to advance on a wild pickoff at another baserunner.
=== Scoring runs ===
A "run" is scored when a player has touched all four bases in order, proceeding counterclockwise around them. They need not be touched on the same play; a batter may remain safely on a base while play proceeds and attempt to advance on a later play.
A run is not scored if the last out is a force out or occurs during the same play that the runner crosses home plate.
=== Ending the game ===
The team with the most runs after seven innings wins the game. The last (bottom) half of the seventh inning or any remaining part of the seventh inning is not played if the team batting second is leading.
If the game is tied, play usually continues until a decision is reached, by using the international tie-breaker rules. Starting in the top of first extra inning, the batting team starts with a baserunner on second base, which is the player who is the last available to bat (in other words, the batter who last took their position in the batter's box; regardless whether they were the last out or another runner was put out).
In games where one team leads by a large margin, the run ahead rule may come into play in order to reduce any potential embarrassment of weaker teams. In fastpitch and modified pitch, a margin of 15 runs after 3 innings, 10 after 4, or 7 after 5 is sufficient for the leading team to be declared the winner. In slow pitch, the margin is 20 runs after 4 innings or 15 after 5 innings. In the NCAA, the required margin after 5 innings is 8 runs. The mercy rule takes effect at the end of an inning. Thus, if the team batting first is ahead by enough runs for the rule to come into effect, the team batting second has their half of the inning to narrow the margin.
A game may be lost due to a "forfeit". A score of 7–0 for the team not at fault is recorded (generally one run is awarded for each inning that would have been played). A forfeit may be called due to any of these circumstances: if a team does not show up to play; if one side refuses to continue play; if a team fails to resume play after a suspension of play ends; if a team uses tactics intended to unfairly delay or hasten the game; if a player removed from the game does not leave within one minute of being instructed to do so; if a player that cannot play enters the game and one pitch has been thrown; if a team does not have, for whatever reason, enough players to continue; or if after warning by the umpire, a player continues to intentionally break the rules of the game. This last rule is rarely enforced as players who break rules after being warned are usually removed.
The plate umpire may suspend play because of darkness or anything that puts players or spectators in danger. If four innings have been played and a team is in the lead, the game is recorded as it stands. If fewer than four innings have been played, the game is not considered a "regulation" game. Games that are not regulation or are tied when suspended are resumed from the point of suspension. If it is a championship game, it is replayed from the beginning. Team rosters may be changed.
== Positions ==
There are nine players out on the field at one time in fastpitch softball and ten players in slow-pitch softball. Although the pitcher and catcher have the ball the most, each person has a specific job. In the infield there is the pitcher, catcher, first baseman, second baseman, shortstop, and third baseman. In the outfield there is a left fielder, center fielder, and right fielder. In slow-pitch softball there is an extra outfielder in the outfield, who is specified as a roamer or rover. Normally, the defensive team will play with four outfielders, meaning there is a left fielder, left-center fielder, right-center fielder, and right fielder. The recent trend with tournament and league slow pitch softball play is to field five infielders instead of four outfielders. The extra infielder is commonly placed behind the pitcher on either side of second base.
=== Pitcher ===
The pitcher is the individual who throws the ball from the middle of the diamond. As in baseball, fastpitch softball has a rubber used to control the pitcher's delivery. A pitcher must have both feet on the rubber at the start of their delivery but neither foot is on the rubber when the ball is released. In baseball, the rubber is on a mound of dirt as gravity is used to generate speed. In softball, the pitchers throw from within a circle and the rubber in the circle is not elevated. The circle is also used to control base runners. When the pitcher is in possession of the ball in the circle, a runner who has passed a base must either advance or return to the base. They cannot "bait" the pitcher to throw or they will be called out. The pitcher tries to throw the ball in the strike zone. In order to do that, they start while having the ball in their glove, they throw their arms behind their hips, they shoot forwards with their leg, which is on the same side as their glove, and leave their glove hand there and the other arm goes around the shoulder, bends the elbow, and turns their wrist toward the third baseman, and brings their arm through at the end, flicks their wrist, (which affects the ball's speed, spin and subsequent motion), and brings the arm up, with the hand by their shoulder. They follow through with their legs turning their pitching stance into a fielding stance. They try to release the ball when they go past their hips. In softball, the pitcher uses an underarm motion to pitch the ball towards the strike zone. As soon as the pitcher makes a throw, the fielders are ready to field balls that are hit in the middle of the diamond. Pitchers usually tend to be tall, very flexible and have good upper body strength. Pitchers can be righthanded or lefthanded. The softball pitcher makes a windmill motion while throwing underhand, unlike baseball pitchers who throw overhand.
=== Catcher ===
The catcher is normally behind home plate in a squatted position (some plays may require the catcher to stand at an angle for intentional walks). A catcher can also get in a position called "on a knee". This means that the catcher places one knee on the ground while the other is still up. This is done to offer the catcher a little rest while no one is on base, or can be used to offer a better angle for the umpire to see the pitch coming in. At the plate the catcher is responsible for catching pitches, keeping mis pitched balls in front of the plate, calling pitches that are normally done through hand signals, picking off runners, and they are considered the leaders of the field. Catchers must know how many outs there are, the number of strikes and balls on the batter so they can relay that to their teammates. They must also know how many runners are on base and where the ball should be thrown next in the following play. Catchers are strong, need to be smart and quick on their feet, and have accurate throws so they can pick runners off at each base. Catchers should be able to have strong and muscular legs to squat for a long period of time. Catchers must be quick thinkers and know the game better than most of their teammates.The gear worn by a catcher protects them from balls thrown in the dirt or wild pitches. The catcher is allowed to take off his/her mask to catch a pop fly or to watch the play.
=== First baseman ===
The first baseman is the position to the left side of the diamond when facing home plate. The major role of the first baseman is to receive throws from other defensive players in order to get a force play at first base. Another role they play is to make fielding plays on all balls hit towards first base. The first baseman is usually involved in every play that occurs on the field. Individuals at first base have quick hands and good reach and are always on the lookout to catch the player off base. They are also generally taller and left-handed throwing, which gives them an extended reach. First basemen, however, can be both left- and right-handed. Just like the catcher, first basemen may wear specific first base mitts, usually having a longer web allowing them to reach the taller throws over their head.
=== Second baseman ===
The second baseman plays in between the first baseman and second base itself, usually closer to second base. If the ball is hit to the left side of the field, the second baseman covers second base. If the ball is hit to right field or center field, they become the cut-off for the center fielder or the right fielder depending on who the ball was hit to. If the ball is hit to the first baseman, the second baseman then is responsible for covering first. If the ball is hit to the second baseman, they either throw the ball to second if there was already a player on first, or they throw to first if there was nobody on. If there is a runner on first and the person up to bat hits the ball to the shortstop or the third baseman, the second baseman is in charge of covering second to receive the throw from the shortstop or third baseman. Then, depending on where the runner is between home and first, the second baseman makes the decision to throw the ball to first or to hold the ball. Also, in the case of a bunt, the second baseman must cover first as the first baseman runs to get the ball from the bunt, then it is often thrown back to first base.
=== Shortstop ===
The shortstop fields all balls hit to the infield between the second and third bases. This individual also helps cover second and third bases, is frequently involved in force plays and double plays, and often throws the ball to the catcher to throw out runners at home plate. On steals to second base (when the runner from first is advancing to second on the pitch) the shortstop usually covers. The shortstop does not cover second base only when a right-handed batter is up. In this case, the second baseman covers the steal. Most shortstops are very quick, agile and think fast. Shortstops may play in a restricted zone but are faced with many types of hits and interact closely with the second base, third base and home plate. Often double plays are due to quick thinking/reaction by the shortstop. When a ball is hit up the middle and the shortstop catches it, they will flip the ball to the second baseman for the best result. Shortstop also takes the cut off for the left field when the play is at second base. When the ball is hit to the right side of the outfield, the shortstop then covers second base. If there is a runner on first base and there is a hit down the line or in the gap to right field, the shortstop will then go for the cut to third. Meaning the runner that is going from first to second will most likely be advancing to third, and in that case, the shortstop will be the cut off for the throw from right field to third base. Shortstop can be one of the most difficult positions to play due to the number of balls being hit in that direction.
=== Third baseman ===
The third baseman is the position on the right side of the diamond when you are facing home plate. They are responsible for fielding all balls hit their way including bunts. In fact, the third baseman fields more bunts than a pitcher and first baseman do. Third base is also called the "Hot Corner" because the ball can pop off the bat at the fielder very fast. Third baseman must have great reflexes and be very quick on their feet because not only to they need to be quick to field a bunt but also if they are unable to predict whether the batter will bunt or hit, a ball that is hit may be a line drive to the face. It also helps if they can run fast but it is not a requirement. A third baseman must have a very strong arm so that they can throw a runner out from across the diamond. Any ball that the third baseman can get, they should. They will have more momentum towards first base when fielding the ball than a shortstop. They are also closer to first base when they cut off a slower ground ball towards shortstop. Third baseman are responsible for covering third base at all times unless the ball is hit to them. In that instance, the shortstop is responsible for third base. Third baseman must be smart, have great reflexes, have a strong accurate arm, and be quick with their hands.
=== Outfielders ===
The outfielders are players that cover the grassy area behind the infield. Outfielders are named for their positions in the field relative to home plate. Traditional outfield positions include a left fielder, a center fielder, and a right fielder. Each player has a specific job as being an outfielder.
==== Right fielder ====
The right fielder's position is on the right side of the field, in the opening between the first and second basemen, when looking at the field from behind home plate. The right fielder is part of a group of two other fielders that make up the outfield. The right fielder has a multitude of jobs over the course of a softball game. Generally, outfielders act as a back-up to the infielders when they make plays or if the ball is hit past the infield. Right field has a particular job of covering the area behind first base if the ball is to be thrown in that area. Right field is meant to cover this area if the ball gets past the first baseman. This will prevent base-runners from advancing to unwanted bases. Traditionally in the game of softball, the right fielder will have the strongest arm out of the two other outfielders. The right fielder must have the strongest arm because they have the furthest possibility to throw the ball. A right fielder will throw the ball to each base more than the other outfielders will because of their position in respect to the bases.
==== Center fielder ====
The center fielder's position is in the middle of the outfield directly behind second base when looking at the field from behind home plate. The center fielder is part of a group of two other fielders that make up the outfield. Center fielders technically serve as the "captains" of the outfield. They are and should be the most vocal in effectively communicating with their outfielders. Since the outfielders are further apart from each other, it can be hard to hear each other. The center fielder covers the area behind second base if the ball is going to be thrown in that direction. By covering this area, if the ball does get past the infielder, the center fielder can prevent baserunners from advancing to unwanted bases. Within the game of softball, the center fielder is traditionally the fastest of the three outfielders. The center fielder needs to be the quickest because of the large area of field they must cover. Besides being a quick player, the center fielder must have a strong throwing arm because of the distance between the player and home plate.
==== Left fielder ====
The left fielder's position is on the left side of the outfield behind the third baseman when looking at the field from behind home plate. The left fielder is part of a group of two other fielders that make up the outfield. Generally, outfielders act as a back-up to the infielders when they make plays or if the ball is hit past the infield. The left fielder must field their position, but also cover the area behind third base if a ball is thrown or hit in that direction. The left fielder covers this area in the case that the ball will pass the infielders. The left fielder can then prevent the base runner from advancing to unwanted bases. Besides covering certain areas of the field, the left fielder must be the smartest of the outfielders. In the left field position, the player has full view of the field, the players, the baserunners, and the batter. The left fielder must constantly be aware of the situation on the field and know what must be done in different circumstances. More advanced levels require the left fielder to be able to field the ball during "slap hit" situations by playing shallow. Left fielders must also play a role in any run-down situation between third base and home plate or back up any plays that happen at third base in case of an overthrow.
=== Designated player ===
In fastpitch softball, it is common for teams to use a designated player in the lineup; this player, which functions like the designated hitter in baseball, hits in place of one of the position players but does not play defense.
Unlike a designated hitter, a designated player can also become a temporary defensive substitute, and the player substituted by the designated player can return to their original position at a later point in the game. However, the only player that can be substituted as an offensive replacement (pinch runner or pinch hitter) is the defensive player the designated player originally replaced, known as the "flex".
At any time, the designated player can be substituted back into the lineup in the place of the flex player, but once taken out, the designated player cannot take the place of any other player in the lineup.
==== Short fielder ====
In some leagues and organizations, four outfield players are utilized by each team. The extra outfielder is sometimes called the short fielder and plays somewhere behind second base, adjusting position based on the handedness or other characteristics of the batter, while the regular center fielder plays a considerably deeper position. The short fielder used as such can take away a batting strategy in softball, which is to hit soft liners over the pitcher.
However, some teams prefer to use the fourth outfielder like the others, with the center field position being shared between two players known as the left-center fielder and the right-center fielder. In this case the four outfielders are spaced equidistantly and play at roughly the same depth.
== Pitch ==
In softball, a pitch is the act of throwing a softball toward home plate to start a play. All pitches are thrown from below the waist in an underhand motion. The phases of throwing include the grip, stance, windup, stride, release and follow through.
Pitchers throw a variety of pitches, each of which has a slightly different velocity, trajectory, movement, hand position, wrist position and/or arm angle. These variations are introduced to confuse the batter in various ways, and ultimately aid the defensive team in getting the batter or baserunners out. To obtain variety, and therefore enhance defensive baseball strategy, the pitcher manipulates the grip on the ball at the point of release. Variations in the grip cause the seams to "catch" the air differently, thereby changing the trajectory of the ball, making it harder for the batter to hit.
The selection of which pitch to use can depend on a wide variety of factors including the type of hitter who is being faced; whether there are any base runners; how many outs have been made in the inning; and the current score.
=== Signaling ===
The responsibility for selecting the type of pitch is traditionally made by the catcher by relaying hand signals to the pitcher with the fingers. In more advanced play, coaches may give signs to batters and/or runners to initiate special plays in certain situations. A catcher may signal to a position player that they will be trying to throw the runner out. A runner on base may see the pitch sign given by the catcher and hint it to the batter using hand or body motions.
=== Pitching styles ===
The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) recognizes three pitching styles:
fastpitch
"modified" fastpitch
slow-pitch
==== Fastpitch style ====
The pitching distance can range between 35 feet for younger players and 43 feet for older players. Collegiate and international level pitchers pitch from 43 feet. Pitches can travel at speeds of more than 65 mph (105 km/h).
Windmill or "Full-windmill"
- The pitcher begins with her arm at the hip. Then she brings the ball in a circular motion over the head, completes the circle back down at the hip, and snaps the hand.
Figure 8
- The ball is not brought over the head at all but down and behind the body and back in one smooth motion tracing out a figure eight.
Illegal forms of pitching
"crow-hopping"
"leaping"
==== "Modified" fastpitch style ====
"Modified" windmill
- A "modified" fastpitch is identical to a "windmill" pitch except the arm is not brought over the head in a full windmill motion, but instead is brought behind the body (restricted back swing) and is then thrust directly forward for the release.
==== Slow-pitch style ====
The pitching distance is 50 feet. The pitch must be lofted in such a way that it falls onto the plate in order for it to be a called strike (the ball falls into the strike-zone instead of flying through). Strikeouts are rare in slow-pitch. Pitchers strategize to pitch the ball with a high enough arc that the batter cannot hit a line-drive. The speed of the pitches ranges from 25 to 35 mph (40 to 56 km/h), resulting in plenty of reaction time.
half windmill
- High-arc pitching technique
- The pitch must be thrown with an arc between 6-12 feet high. If the arc is not high enough, the umpire will call the pitch illegal.
=== Types of pitches ===
==== Fastballs ====
The fastball is typically the first type of pitch a player will learn.
Two-seam fastball
Four-seam fastball
==== Breaking balls ====
Drop ball
Riseball
Curveball
Screwball
Drop-curve
Rise-curve
Backdoor curve (the pitch starts out of the strike zone and curves back over the plate. Often, this pitch is thrown at a batters hip or hands with the intention of either moving them off the plate or inducing a foul ball)
Drop screw
Backdoor screw (the same as a backdoor curve except the ball spins in the opposite direction of a curveball)
Drop curve
==== Changeups ====
The changeup is the staple off-speed pitch, usually thrown to look like a fastball but arriving much slower to the plate. Its reduced speed coupled with its deceptive delivery is meant to confuse the batter's timing. There are a variety of grips and techniques a pitcher may use to deliver a change up such as:
Flip (or "Back-hand flip") release
Stiff wrist release
Circle grip changeup
Knuckle grip changeup
===== Other off-speed pitches =====
Knuckle curveball
Floater
- This is a pitch used by pitchers in the slow-pitch game. To throw the floater accurately, pitcher holds the ball with just his or her fingertips and does not let them touch the laces. Then comes straight up with her hand and lets the ball go up to the 12-foot mark and come down.
Knuckleball
== Recreational play ==
=== Types of leagues ===
It is estimated that 14.62 million Americans played at least one game of softball during the spring of 2015. It is played by men and women both recreationally and competitively.
Softball is especially popular as a recreational activity for adults. Leagues for such play are often characterized as either "fun leagues", in which the outdoor exercise and player camaraderie is more important than the final result, or "serious leagues". The distinction is not absolute and there can be gradations within each. Softball teams are often organized around groups of employees who play in the early evening after work in the summer. In many US cities, adult softball teams are organized by bars and clubs, hence the popular term "beer league" softball. The teams can be men's, women's or co-ed, and skill levels can range from novice to elite, with league composition reflecting that. These leagues are typically either slow-pitch or modified.
Co-ed recreational leagues, where men and women play on the same team, generally have provisions to keep men from dominating the game. League rules may stipulate that there must be an equal number of men and women on the team, or that batting order alternate male and female batters. Some leagues only require three women to play but they must be present on the field at all times. Others will allow a game to proceed when a team does not have the requisite number of women available but charge the batting team with an automatic out whenever the missing woman's place in the batting order comes up.
=== Modification of rules ===
One reason for the popularity of softball is the ease of modification of its rules, thereby allowing the game to be adapted to a variety of skill levels. For example, in some slow pitch softball leagues a batter starts at bat with a count of one ball one strike. In some leagues, the number of home runs that can be hit by a team are limited. In other leagues, stealing of bases is prohibited. Some groups allow for a more defensive game by making home plate a force out for first base. This reduces scoring evenly on both sides, and allows for some margin of error.
Co-ed leagues sometimes adopt live-play rules intended to reduce gender inequality, under the assumption that men will be generally more powerful. In most co-ed or mixed gender leagues there is something called an encroachment line. This requires the outfielders to stay behind a line till the ball is hit. If an outfielder passes in front of this line before the female batter hits a fair ball, the batter will receive a single base or the result of the play, and the base runners will advance accordingly. The line will be 180 feet from home plate. One possible rule requires male batters to "switch hit". Some leagues even use different balls for male and female batters. While these modified rules are common, there are questions as to their place in modern adult sports.
Some leagues require teams to use limited flight softballs. These softballs, when hit, will not go as far as regular softballs. Other leagues limit the number of runs which can be scored in an inning. Five is a common limit.
By allowing these and other modifications, softball can be enjoyed by children, teenagers, and adults. Senior leagues with players over the age of 60 are not uncommon.
An example of a rule modification is the "offensive pitcher" (or "self pitch") often found in informal games where the emphasis is on the social rather than the competitive aspects of the game. The pitcher aids the batter by attempting to give the easiest pitch to hit. There are no walks, and a batter is normally given a fixed number of pitches to attempt to hit (usually 3 or 4). The batter is considered to strike out if the batter fails to hit the ball into fair territory after the given number of pitches. The pitcher does not act as a fielder, and a rule is often made that if a batted ball touches the pitcher, the batter is out.
In some leagues the number of pitches to walk or strikeout can be reduced. For instance, one strike is an out, and two balls is a walk. This is common in leagues where doubleheaders are played, or in late season leagues when reduced daylight is an issue. It results in shorter games, as players are more apt to swing, even at marginal pitches, rather than risk striking out on one pitch.
Many leagues also include a second first base immediately adjacent to the main one. This is usually orange and the batter running through first base is supposed to run straight through it. This minimizes the chances of a collision. By the same token some leagues have an alternate home plate and rule that plays at home are always force plays. In these cases there is typically a white line drawn approximately 1/3 of the way down the baseline that is considered a point of no return. This is designed to reduce the "Pickle" which can put a great strain on the ankles and knees of older baserunners.
=== Indoor play ===
Despite the fact that it was originally intended to be played indoors, softball is usually played outdoors. The indoor form is sometimes called Arena Softball. Indoor softball has generally the same rules as outdoor softball. Only the wall behind the batter is considered foul territory. The other walls are considered fair. Usually, there is a small area on one of the walls in the outfield that results in a home run being awarded if the batted ball hits it. Pitching is generally a little slower because of the indoor turf, or pitched through a pitching machine at younger levels. There is no limit to the number of batters a team may have available, although only so many can bat in one inning.
Some indoor facilities do not allow the use of metal cleats on the field, which are what players at the age of 14 and up generally use. Also, some tournaments may require a time limit for games.
== Professional leagues ==
Women's Professional Fastpitch (WPF) is a professional women's softball league in the United States and was formerly the National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) and then the Women's Pro Softball League (WPSL). The WPF league launched in June 2022. In 2024, a new professional league called the Association of Fastpitch Professionals launched with 4 teams.
The late 1970s to early 1980s marked a brief era for men's professional softball in the United States.
== International competition ==
Softball is played in over a hundred countries around the world. The highest governing body for the sport, the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), has 190 member countries (excluding dependent territories). The WBSC holds world championships in several categories.
USA Softball is the National Governing Body of Softball for the United States pursuant to the 1976 Amateur Sports Act. Due to the popularity of the sport, there are a multitude of governing bodies such as the United States Specialty Sports Association, International Softball Congress and the National Softball Association.
The WBSC holds the Women's Softball World Cup tournaments in several categories. The tournament in each category is held every four years—two years from 2010. The most recent tournament was XII Women's World Championship in June, 2010. All World Championships use a Page playoff system and are in fastpitch. There are also several World Cups held at 4-year intervals in different categories.
New Zealand became the Men's World Champions winning the world title in 2013. Prior to that, Australia won the World Championship in 2009 and New Zealand had won the previous three tournaments before that.
In the Junior Men's World Champions in 2012, Team Argentina won the world title.
=== Summer Olympics ===
In the Women's Softball World Cup the United States is the most dominant team, having won three of the past four Olympic tournaments and the past seven World Championships. The current Junior Women's World Champion is the United States.
Women's softball debuted at the 1996 Summer Olympics and was removed from the program following the 2008 Summer Olympics. Softball and Baseball were unable to have their sport included in the program at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics. In 2012 the heads of the International Softball and Baseball Federations announced their united effort to be included in the program in 2020. "The proposal calls for men's baseball and women's softball to be played at a single venue during 7 to 10 days. Each tournament would feature eight teams. Baseball and softball would be two disciplines under a single sports banner. The proposal awaits formal endorsement from the congress of both federations. Other sports which sought to be included in the 2020 program, when only one spot is up for filling, were: karate, roller sports, squash, sports climbing, wakeboard and wushu. The IOC executive board were to decide at their May meeting which sport to recommend for inclusion. The final decision was made in a vote of the full IOC in Buenos Aires in September 2013. Softball and Baseball were re-included in the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020, which was held in 2021. The American team had entered the gold medal match with an undefeated record, facing Japan. United States was defeated 2–0 by Japan, naming Japan the Tokyo 2020 Softball Olympic Gold Medalists.
Softball was not included in the 2024 Summer Olympics but is expected to return for the 2028 Summer Olympics.
Even though the 2028 Summer Olympics will be held in LA, the softball and baseball events will be held in Oklahoma.
=== Participating countries and areas ===
==== New Zealand ====
New Zealand is the most successful nation at men's world championship softball, having won their eighth title in 2019. The New Zealand women's team have also won a number of World Championship titles in the past. The game is widely played in New Zealand and is the second most popular summer sport behind cricket.
==== Australia ====
Softball is played in all states and territories in Australia and at all levels of academic education. The game is promoted to maintain fitness, health, personal achievements and pleasure.
Australia has produced several of the world's great men's softball players, including Adam Folkard and Andrew Kirkpatrick, widely considered all-time greats in men's softball.
==== Japan ====
Japan has had a long tradition of softball which is played at all levels in the country. Many high schools and colleges have sports programs which include softball. Like baseball, softball in Japan is intensely competitive. Japan's win over the United States at the 2008 Olympics reflects the advanced level of play in Japan.
==== China ====
Since the silver medal at the Atlanta Olympics, the Chinese have now made softball a priority at all levels.
==== Europe ====
Softball is played in almost every country in Europe, mainly fastpitch. Every two years an open women's European fastpitch championship is held with over twenty nationals teams. Italy and Netherlands are the best nations, and both have an almost professional championship where athletes from the US, Australia and China play. In the men's division eight to ten national teams compete for the European championship, with the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Denmark leading the way.
==== United States ====
In America, there are more than 1,500 college softball teams spanning five different levels: NCAA Division 1, Division 2, Division 3, NAIA, and NJCAA. There are 5 professional softball teams: the Aussie Peppers, the Chicago Bandits, the Cleveland Comets, the California Commotion, and the Canadian Wild.
Competitive fastpitch softball for girls is growing increasingly popular. All over the US, there are thousands of teams that compete year-round at tournaments. During most of these tournaments the biggest goal is not winning the tournament, but attempting to get as many college coaches as possible to observe (a) particular player or players. Competitive teams are now beginning around eight years old, if not younger. Depending on the team they can travel all over the United States or even out of the country such as to Canada, the summer and fall for many weeks and days at a time.
The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) regulates rules of play in more than 110 countries, including the United States and Canada; before the WBSC was formed in 2013, the International Softball Federation (ISF) filled this role. Its affiliated US Softball (founded in 1933 as Amateur Softball Association) is known as the national governing body of softball in the United States, one of the largest governing bodies for the game in that country with over 240,000 teams, and sponsors annual sectional and World Series championships. The United States also has a competitive women's softball team that competes in international tournaments. They represented the US each time at the Olympics until softball was removed from the Olympics. The USA Softball Men's Fast Pitch National Team has won five World Championships (1966, 1968, 1976, 1980 and 1988) and three other medals. In the Pan-American Games, Team USA has made the finals in all seven appearances at the Games when Men's Fast Pitch was played.
Other national and regional sanctioning bodies also exist, including: NCAA, NFHS, USSSA, ISA, NSA, WSL, USFA, Triple Crown and SASL just to name a few. The USSSA, founded in 1968 as the United States Slo-Pitch Softball Association, but renamed in 1997 to the United States Specialty Sports Association, is the only association that still has a men's major slow-pitch program alive. Currently, the USSSA program is run out of Viera, FL. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemesis_(Resident_Evil) | Nemesis (Resident Evil) | The Nemesis, also called Nemesis-T Type, or the Pursuer (Japanese: 追跡者, Hepburn: Tsuisekisha) in Japan, is a character in the Resident Evil survival horror video game series created by Capcom. Although smaller than other Tyrant models, the creature dwarfs a typical human, and possesses vastly superior intelligence and physical dexterity to its undead peers. It is featured in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (1999) as a titular main villain before later emerging in other titles and cameo roles. It is also featured on various merchandise and was portrayed by Matthew G. Taylor in the 2004 film Resident Evil: Apocalypse. The character is voiced by Tony Rosato in the original game and Gregg Berger in Operation Raccoon City (2012). In the 2020 remake of Resident Evil 3, the character is voiced by David Cockman, with Neil Newbon providing the motion capture performance. Nemesis has also been featured in several other game franchises, including as a playable character in Marvel vs. Capcom and Dead by Daylight.
Taking inspiration from the T-1000 from Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Nemesis was conceived by Shinji Mikami and Kazuhiro Aoyama as an enemy that would stalk the player throughout the game and invoke a persistent sense of paranoia. Written by Yashuhisa Kawamura to be a weapon of revenge by the Umbrella Corporation, Nemesis's design was drawn by artist Yoshinori Matsushita, who was instructed to create "a rough guy who attacks with weapons and has an intimidating build" in order to heighten the fear of being pursued. Since his introduction, Nemesis has received a positive response and become one of the franchise's most popular figures. Various publications have praised him as an intimidating villain and critics have highlighted him as one of their favorite and most terrifying monsters in video games. However, his role in the Resident Evil 3 remake was met with mixed reception.
== Conception and creation ==
Introduced in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, producer Shinji Mikami and director Kazuhiro Aoyama wanted to implement a stalker-enemy into the game early on that would chase the player, according to Mikami intended to "introduce a new kind of fear into the game, a persistent feeling of paranoia." Taking inspiration from the T-1000 villain from the film Terminator 2: Judgment Day, the character was initially meant to be a slime creature that could bypass obstacles such as doors by liquifying past them or melting through them. However, due to the undistinguished nature of the creature, he felt the stalker aspect was lost on the player as there was no recognizable sense of cohesion. They decided to start over, focusing on the early Tyrant enemy introduced in the original Resident Evil as a base. The character was designed under the concept of a "huge, overpowering monster that could use weapons and intelligently track you anywhere", partly inspired by the movie Day of the Dead, where scientists attempt to train zombies, only to be shot by them at the end of the film.
The character's backstory and biology was created by writer Yashuhisa Kawamura, who felt the horror aspect of Resident Evil was "stuck in a rut" at that time and wanted to explore new ways to bring horror through Nemesis. Kawamura conceived the character as the result of infecting a T-103 model Tyrant—a humanoid bio organic weapon (BOW) created to be the ultimate lifeform by the Umbrella Corporation—with the Nemesis Alpha parasite (or "NE-α") designed to increase its intelligence. Upon infection, the parasite takes control of the Tyrant's nervous system, forming its own brain and enabling it to follow precise instructions and make decisions without needing constant direction. Upon spotting its target, it says the target's name out loud and attacks. In this backstory, the European branch of Umbrella intended to not only demonstrate their superiority in the company with their creation, but also seek revenge against the "S.T.A.R.S." police group that had destroyed their original Tyrant creation, codenaming their new creature "Nemesis" after the Greek mythology Goddess of Vengeance.
=== Design ===
Nemesis' appearance was designed by Yoshinori Matsushita, with Aoyama instructing him to create "a rough guy who attacks with weapons and has an intimidating build" in order to heighten the fear of being pursued. Although some elements remained consistent among them, the early designs featured several different degrees of surface damage as well as various options for clothing, such as a protective vest instead of a coat, or a nude design similar to the original Tyrant. Clothed in black trousers, an overcoat, boots, and gloves, the Nemesis is armed with a rocket launcher mounted on its left arm. A parasite was added to help further characterize it. To emphasize its design as a prototype, the game developers left exposed muscles on its body and added stitches to cover its right eye. It lacks lips and a nose, with the underneath facial muscles and teeth completely exposed. As Nemesis is damaged, its appearance does not change as drastically as previous Tyrants, due to Matsushita wanting to keep him visually different from Resident Evil 2's William Birkin.
The secretions from the parasite give the Nemesis massively heightened regenerative abilities, which result in the creature being almost impervious to damage. Although it can be put down with enough fire from small arms, it will eventually repair itself and resume the pursuit of its targets. However, this resulted in unexpected side effects, including damage to the skin and the emergence of additional tentacles, as well as unpredictable mutations caused by further attacks. In Resident Evil 3, the creature's survival instincts eventually override Nemesis' programming, causing the host's body to reject the parasite and transform into a giant digestive organ. Featuring large central bone protrusions and elongated tentacles, it crawls looking for prey, yet continues trying to complete its mission despite its now diminished intelligence. This design proved to be the most difficult for Matsushita, as he worked to try to make it appear as unique as possible. To this end he designed it to be a quadrupedal creature facing upwards, with the fang-like protrustions from the body being Nemesis's exposed ribs.
In the 2020 remake of Resident Evil 3, the producer indicated that the reinvention of Nemesis was influenced by Mr. X from Resident Evil 2. According to producer Peter Fabiano, "During development, our director saw what the team did with Tyrant in last year's RE2 and was determined to surpass that with Nemesis." He also goes on to say that the team intends to transform Nemesis into its own brand of terror, "a relentless pursuer with its own arsenal of weapons." The parasite's origins are partially retconned in the 2020 remake to be a genetically engineered copy of the Las Plagas parasite, introduced in Resident Evil 4. Since Nemesis is a prototype and not a completed model, its body is covered in haphazard restrictive gear from head to toe consisting of thick black plastic and various warning labels over the body. A large metal device on its chest regulates the parasite, and also keeps it from going out of control. It now retains both eyes and the Tyrant's original nose, but with the skin stretched drastically on the face resulting in a broken crooked nose. The aim was to contrast between Nemesis and Mr. X, with the latter having the more completed look. As with the original, the remake Nemesis also mutates after suffering heavy damage. However, the development team chose to give it a more animalistic, quadrupedal body with diminished intelligence, the in-universe reasoning being that the parasite could no longer maintain a humanoid form. Dubbed "Type 2", it was designed so the player could not evade it as easily as the original, but that its movements could be better anticipated.
== Appearances ==
=== In video games ===
Nemesis first appears in the 1999 PlayStation game Resident Evil 3: Nemesis as the title character and primary antagonist. The product of years of research, the prototype is deployed by the Umbrella Corporation as a field test to hunt and kill the STARS police team before they can expose Umbrella's activity in the Arklay mountains. The protagonist, Jill Valentine, first encounters the Nemesis outside Raccoon City's police station where it kills Brad Vickers and then pursues her, uttering "STARS..." on sight. The Nemesis continues to stalk Valentine throughout the game, attacking with physical blows and grabs, and later, armed with a rocket launcher. After losing its overcoat as a result of heavy damage, the Nemesis mutates, and gains the ability to attack with long, extendable tentacles. Despite later being doused in acid, the Nemesis continues its pursuit, and mutates into a much larger, tentacled monster after absorbing a dead Tyrant, gaining the ability to spew poison. Jill finally defeats the Nemesis using a rail cannon, and then depending on the choice of the player, she either kills it once and for all by unloading her weapons into it, or leaves it to die in the nuclear explosion that destroys Raccoon City.
After its initial appearance, it shows up in other Resident Evil titles such as Resident Evil Survivor 2 – Code: Veronica, in which it will chase the player if they fail to complete a level before the time limit expires and kill them instantly if it hits them. It can also be fought as a secret boss armed with a rocket launcher if the player has met the proper conditions upon finishing the game. The Nemesis returns for the Resident Evil 3 chapter of Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, in which it pursues Jill in the same manner as the original game and mutates into its secondary form as a boss. The Nemesis also appears in Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, in which its programming is damaged and Umbrella dispatches a task force to find a NE-Alpha parasite to repair it. Once the parasite is found, they defeat Nemesis and inject it with the parasite. In the game, it uses a gatling gun for the fight and is mainly based on its film counterpart. However, once the task force completes their mission, the Nemesis awakens to find its rocket launcher and proceeds to hunt after the STARS police team. In the 2020 remake of Resident Evil 3, Nemesis returns as the game's first boss fight, wielding a flamethrower. Nemesis also appeared as a playable character in Resident Evil: Resistance and in Resident Evil Re:Verse, a companion game to Resident Evil Village.
The character has been featured in other games outside of the Resident Evil franchise as well, such as in the Capcom title Under the Skin alongside Jill, and serves as a boss the player must steal coins from in a Raccoon City-inspired level. In an interview, Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds producer Ryouta Niitsuma stated a desire to use the Nemesis in the title as a "monster-type" character from the Resident Evil series, but was dropped after considering it too "grotesque and disgusting" and in consideration of ESRB ratings. The character would instead appear briefly in the game's ending sequence for the Hulk. However, despite the initial concerns about its inclusion, the Nemesis appears as a playable character in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, an updated version of Marvel vs. Capcom 3. The Nemesis returns as a playable character in Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite. In the story, following the Convergence, it is captured by A.I.M.brella leader M.O.D.O.K. and reprogrammed as his enforcer; it later battles and is defeated by Chris Redfield and Mike Haggar. In the tactical role-playing game Project X Zone, Nemesis appears as a rival unit. He reappeared as a recurring rival unit in Project X Zone 2 as well. Nemesis appeared in an online multiplayer battle royale game Knives Out as a costume from July 29 to August 12, 2021. Nemesis, along with Leon S. Kennedy and Jill Valentine, appeared in Dead by Daylight as playable characters.
Cards based on Nemesis appear in the SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters series. He was also included in the 2012 mobile games Minna to BIOHAZARD Clan Master in both its regular and damaged states from Resident Evil 3. In the 2019 game TEPPEN, a card for the character was added in its "Day of Nightmares" expansion, and later another in its "A Dark Agenda" expansion, this one modeled after its appearance in the Resident Evil 3 remake. His outfit also appears in Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster (2024) for Frank West. In printed trading card media, he appears in the Bandai produced game Resident Evil: The Deck Building Game.
=== In film ===
The Nemesis is featured in the 2004 film, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, portrayed by Matthew G. Taylor. The character's design is mostly unchanged, brandishing a rocket launcher and similar attire, but with the addition of a forearm-mounted rail gun, modeled after a heavily modified minigun. Writer and producer Paul W. S. Anderson noted that the gun's addition was inspired by the idea of the Nemesis "walking around with a gigantic, powerful weapon in each hand and almost indecisive as to which one to use". The costume for Nemesis was created by Kropserkel Inc. and PJFX Studios, and stands roughly 7 feet 3 inches (2.21 m) tall, weighing nearly 100 pounds (45 kg). After production of Apocalypse was completed, the costume was restored and put on display at Kropserkel's offices.
While The Nemesis' design remained similar, the character itself was expanded upon, now portrayed as a tragic villain. Formerly Matt Addison (portrayed by Eric Mabius), a survivor of the events of the first film, was infected with the T-virus after being scratched by a Licker and later captured and experimented upon by the Umbrella Corporation. Transformed into the Nemesis, he is sent to kill the surviving members of STARS, but remembers his humanity after fighting Alice, and fights alongside the protagonists towards the film's conclusion. The Nemesis is eventually crushed beneath a crashing helicopter, and is later killed by the nuclear explosion that destroys Raccoon City.
=== In printed adaptations ===
The Nemesis appears in a 1999 Hong Kong manhua adaptation of Resident Evil 3 by Lee Chung Hing, Biohazard 3: Last Escape, which is named after the game's Japanese title. The 27-issue series adds to the Nemesis' backstory, detailing its origin by showing the infection and transformation of the original Tyrant by the Nemesis parasite. Some elements are changed for its design, such as the Nemesis retaining both eyes initially, and then losing the right eye and gaining cranial staples only after an encounter with Jill. The comic also introduces characters from Resident Evil 2 into the storyline, which results in several face-offs between the Nemesis and the mutated William Birkin throughout the series. During these fights, Nemesis remembers before being experimented on his life as a boxer whose family had been infected and killed by a sadistic Umbrella executive. Encountering the man after defeating Birkin, Nemesis bites his head clean off in a fit of rage.
In 2000, Simon & Schuster published a novelization of Resident Evil 3, written by S. D. Perry. Though left unchanged for the most part, the Nemesis is immediately recognized as a modified Tyrant in the novel, which Jill Valentine dubs the "Nemesis" after thinking about why it hunts her. Instead of mutating due to having taken damage, the Nemesis transforms voluntarily towards the conclusion of the story in its pursuit of Jill, with its second form from the game being its actual appearance beneath the coat.
A novelization of Apocalypse was released in 2004, written by Keith R. A. DeCandido. In the book, Matt and the Nemesis act as separate personalities in the same body, both aware, but with the Nemesis dominant. Matt eventually regains control after his body is impaled on a metal shard while fighting Alice, by showing the Nemesis his memories of Umbrella's experimentation upon "them". The Nemesis is later mentioned in the 2007 novelization of Resident Evil: Extinction, in which antagonist Doctor Isaacs considers the Nemesis both his greatest success and his greatest failure, hating mention of it and blaming its defection and destruction upon Umbrella's desire to immediately field test it.
== Promotion and reception ==
Nemesis appears on the cover of every version of Resident Evil 3, and is mentioned prominently on flyers for Resident Evil: Survivor 2. Capcom has also released commercial products based on the character, such as a silver ring modeled after Nemesis's head available for purchase through their Japanese online store. Palisades Toys used its likeness to make a posable action figure (packaged with a base and equipable rocket launcher) and a mini bust, which were released alongside several other Resident Evil-based merchandise. Moby Dick released its own line of Resident Evil action figures bundled in pairs of a playable character and enemy. Included in the series were Nemesis's first and second form, with the first form featuring an alternate head and equipable rocket launcher. Each set additionally includes a part of an action figure of Nemesis's third form, which measures 24 inches (60 cm) long when completed. In 2019, a minted icon 9-inch plush depicting Nemesis was also made. In 2022, Numskull made a 10.9" collectible figurine of Nemesis, based on his appearance in the remake. In 2024, the character was featured in Resident Evil-themed attractions at Universal Studios Japan.
Following the game's debut in 1999, the Nemesis became one of the most recognizable and popular characters in the Resident Evil series. G4's Filter named the Nemesis one of the top ten video game villains of all time as selected by viewers, placing fifth on the list. 1UP.com named the battle against the Nemesis one of the "25 of the Most Badass Boss Fights of All Time", saying "There are plenty of bosses worth mentioning from the Resident Evil series... but the one that to this day most people point to as the biggest badass of the bunch is Nemesis [sic]". GameSpot featured Nemesis in a "Reader's Choice" edition of their "Top 10 Video Game Villains" article and noting the character's high popularity among fans when compared to the Tyrant. Dave Meikleham of GamesRadar described Nemesis as the "deadliest villain in the history of survival horror", comparing him to another fictional character the terminator and adding "Resident Evil 3 is undoubtedly defined by its iconic villain". Patrick Gill of Polygon said Nemesis moves in a menacing manner, but the worst part is to watch his "nasty trash face". He also stated he's frightening and defended how you lose him while catching up to you. Aaron Potter of Den of Geek named Nemesis as second of their "Best Resident Evil Bosses and Monsters", stating that "He becomes more deformed the longer Resident Evil 3’s campaign progresses, too, making each fight feel scarier than the last." In 2021, Alex Aniel in the book Itchy, Tasty: An Unofficial History of Resident Evil described Nemesis as an icon fondly remembered for his aggressiveness and terrifying personality, and further noted him as a popular subject for fandom convention cosplay.
While IGN described Nemesis as one of the best Resident Evil bosses and one of their favorite video game monsters of all time, they noted disdain for his film counterpart, stating "little of what made us love Nemesis made it through to his film incarnation. As it runs out, a man in a rubber suit isn't half as scary as a well-crafted collection of polygons." Michael Kennedy of Screen Rant shared similar sentiments, describing him as the "coolest of the bunch" in terms of game series adversaries, but added that the film ruined the character and "Making Nemesis a good guy was an absolutely terrible decision, and understandably elicited a collective groan from fans of the Resident Evil games." While Trace Thurman of Bloody Disgusting noted Nemesis "looks awesome and is a total badass" in the film, he shared similar disdain for the character's heroic turn in the finale, exclaiming "Why would you take the biggest and baddest Resident Evil villain and neuter him?"
On the other hand, Nemesis in the Resident Evil 3 remake has received mixed reception from critics. Hirun Cryer of Eurogamer criticized and described Nemesis's "large fangs and smooshed nose" as "cartoonish". Ben Tyrer of GamesRadar downplayed Nemesis's appearance and stated that "Resident Evil 3's main villain has lost his fear factor," while Andy Kelly of PC Gamer described Nemesis as "giant and terrifying stalker in town". Kirk McKeand of VG247 explained that Nemesis is only active in a small portion of the game, and he is mainly featured in scripted sequences or boss fights. This led some critics to believe that he was underused and most of his potential was wasted, with Electronic Gaming Monthly's Mollie Patterson stating "[if] you were hoping for him to dial up the danger, you may feel some disappointment." Red Bull called Nemesis in the remake one of the scariest video game villains of all time, stating "You cannot kill him, you cannot stop him. At best you can run away and even that isn't always effective", and noting this aspect was enhanced by his increased mobility options in the remake. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/95th_Academy_Awards#Awards | 95th Academy Awards#Awards | The 95th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on March 12, 2023, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. During the gala, the AMPAS presented Academy Awards (commonly referred to as Oscars) in 23 categories honoring films released in 2022. The ceremony, televised in the United States by ABC, was produced by Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner, with Weiss also serving as director. Comedian Jimmy Kimmel hosted the show for the third time, following the 89th ceremony in 2017 and the 90th ceremony in 2018.
In related events, the Academy held its 13th annual Governors Awards ceremony at the Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel in Century City, California, on November 19, 2022. The Academy Scientific and Technical Awards were presented by host Simu Liu on February 24, 2023, in a ceremony at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles.
Everything Everywhere All at Once won seven awards, including Best Picture. Other winners included All Quiet on the Western Front with four awards, The Whale with two, and Avatar: The Way of Water, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, The Elephant Whisperers, Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, An Irish Goodbye, Navalny, RRR, Top Gun: Maverick, and Women Talking with one. The telecast drew 18.75 million viewers in the United States.
== Winners and nominees ==
The nominees for the 95th Academy Awards were announced on January 24, 2023, at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, by actors Riz Ahmed and Allison Williams. Everything Everywhere All at Once led all nominees with eleven nominations; All Quiet on the Western Front and The Banshees of Inisherin tied for second with nine nominations each.
The winners were announced during the awards ceremony on March 12, 2023. Everything Everywhere All at Once became the first science fiction film to win Best Picture, and became the third film, alongside A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) and Network (1976), to win three acting awards. Best Director winners Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert became the third pair of directors to win for the same film. For the first time since the 7th ceremony in 1935, all five Best Actor nominees were first-time nominees. Michelle Yeoh became the first Asian winner for Best Actress and the second woman of color overall after Halle Berry, who won for her performance in Monster's Ball (2001). Furthermore, she became the first woman to identify as Asian to be nominated in that category. Ke Huy Quan became the first Vietnamese person to win an Oscar and the second Asian winner for Best Supporting Actor after Haing S. Ngor, who won for his role in The Killing Fields (1984).
The 42-year span between Judd Hirsch's first nomination, for his supporting role in Ordinary People (1980), and his second, for The Fabelmans, set the record for the longest gap between Oscar nominations. At age 90, Best Original Score nominee John Williams became the oldest person nominated competitively in Oscars history. Best Costume Design winner Ruth E. Carter became the first Black woman to win two Oscars.
=== Awards ===
Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface, and indicated with a double dagger (‡).
=== Governors Awards ===
The Academy held its 13th annual Governors Awards ceremony on November 19, 2022, during which the following awards were presented:
==== Honorary Awards ====
To Euzhan Palcy, a masterful filmmaker who broke ground for Black women directors and inspired storytellers of all kinds across the globe.
To Diane Warren, for her genius, generosity and passionate commitment to the power of song in film.
To Peter Weir, a fearless and consummate filmmaker who has illuminated the human experience with his unique and expansive body of work.
==== Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award ====
Michael J. Fox – "For his tireless advocacy of research on Parkinson's disease alongside his boundless optimism exemplifies the impact of one person in changing the future for millions."
=== Films with multiple nominations and awards ===
== Presenters and performers ==
The following individuals, listed in order of appearance, presented awards or performed musical numbers:
== Ceremony information ==
In September 2022, the Academy hired television producers Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner to oversee production of the 2023 ceremony. AMPAS president Janet Yang and CEO Bill Kramer remarked that they looked "to deliver an exciting and energized show" with Weiss and Kirshner. Two months later, comedian and talk show host Jimmy Kimmel was announced as host of the gala. "Being invited to host the Oscars for a third time is either a great honor or a trap," Kimmel stated in a press release regarding his selection. "Either way, I am grateful to the Academy for asking me so quickly after everyone good said no", he concluded. Furthermore, AMPAS announced that all 23 categories would be presented live during the gala. The announcement came in response to an internal survey which indicated negative feedback regarding the previous year's decision to present eight below-the-line categories prior to the live portion of last year's gala.
In light of the Chris Rock–Will Smith slapping incident during the previous year's telecast, AMPAS announced that the organization hired a "crisis team" in the event a similar altercation or if an unexpected fiasco arose. In an interview published by Time magazine, Kramer explained: "We have a whole crisis team, something we've never had before, and many plans in place. We've run many scenarios. So it is our hope that we will be prepared for anything that we may not anticipate right now but that we're planning for just in case it does happen."
Several others participated in the production of the ceremony and related events. Rickey Minor served as musical director for the ceremony. Production designers Misty Buckley and Alana Billingsley, who were the first women-led design team for an Oscars telecast, designed a new stage for the show. According to Buckley and Billingsley, the stage was designed to resemble Art Deco movie palaces from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Additionally, the set utilized several LED panels that were used to display the category names, winners' names, or images from the nominated films. Notably, the arrivals area along Hollywood Boulevard outside the Dolby Theatre was lined with a champagne-colored carpet, marking the first time since the 32nd ceremony in 1960 that a non-red colored carpet was utilized for the gala. According to red carpet consultant Lisa Love, the production team chose a lighter shade of carpet color in order to not clash with a sienna-colored tent erected to shield attendees from the sun or potential rain. She also added that the shades of color for both the carpet and tent were inspired by "watching the sunset on a white-sand beach at the 'golden hour' with a glass of champagne in hand, evoking calm and peacefulness".
Lady Gaga was initially not scheduled to perform her nominated song "Hold My Hand" from Top Gun: Maverick due to prior commitments involving her role in Joker: Folie à Deux. On the morning of the ceremony, however, it was reported that Gaga would perform at the ceremony. Meanwhile, actress Glenn Close, who was originally scheduled as a presenter during the gala, canceled her appearance due to a positive COVID-19 test.
=== Box office performance of Best Picture nominees ===
When the nominations were announced, nine of the ten films nominated for Best Picture had earned a combined gross of $1.57 billion at the American and Canadian box offices at the time. Top Gun: Maverick was the highest-grossing film among the Best Picture nominees with $718.7 million in domestic box office receipts. Avatar: The Way of Water came in second with $598.4 million; this was followed by Elvis ($151 million), Everything Everywhere All at Once ($70 million), The Fabelmans ($15 million), The Banshees of Inisherin ($9 million), Tar ($5.6 million), Triangle of Sadness ($4.2 million), and Women Talking ($1.1 million). The box office figures for All Quiet on the Western Front were unavailable due to their distributor Netflix's policy of refusing to release such figures. Furthermore, by virtue of Avatar: The Way of Water and Top Gun: Maverick's Best Picture nominations, it marked the first time since the 55th ceremony in 1983 that the two highest grossing films of the year were both nominated in the aforementioned category.
=== Andrea Riseborough's nomination and controversy ===
Andrea Riseborough's Best Actress nomination for To Leslie was controversial amongst critics and pundits, as Momentum Pictures, the film's distributor, did not fund a conventional advertising-driven awards campaign for the film. Instead, director Michael Morris and his wife, actress Mary McCormack, organized a "celeb-backed campaign" to get Riseborough nominated. They contacted friends and colleagues in the entertainment industry, asking them to view the film and share it with others if they enjoyed it. Morris and Riseborough also hired publicists to coordinate the efforts. While not initially regarded as a serious contender, the campaign raised Riseborough's profile; dozens of celebrities praised her performance on social media, and some hosted screenings of the film during voting for the Academy Award nominations in January 2023. Riseborough's nomination was announced on January 24, which the Los Angeles Times called "one of the most shocking nominations in Oscar history".
After her nomination was announced, speculation arose that the tactics might have violated AMPAS rules against directly lobbying voters. A post on the film's Instagram account was noted by several AMPAS members for possibly violating a rule prohibiting "[singling] out 'the competition' by name" by featuring a quote from film critic Richard Roeper, who praised Riseborough's performance as better than Cate Blanchett's in Tár, a fellow nominee for Best Actress. On January 27, the Academy announced a review of the year's campaigns "to ensure that no guidelines were violated, and to inform us whether changes to the guidelines may be needed in a new era of social media and digital communication".
The Academy has rescinded nominations for nominees who participated in unsanctioned campaigning. However, there were no reports that Riseborough had been involved in such, or that any Academy members had lodged formal complaints about the campaign's behavior. On January 31, the Academy concluded its review by pledging to address "social media and outreach campaigning tactics" which they said caused "concern", but confirming that Riseborough's nomination would be retained. Following the controversy, the Academy introduced new campaigning rules and clarifications in May 2023.
=== Critical reviews ===
Variety columnist Owen Gleiberman wrote: "It didn't rock the boat, it didn't overstay its welcome, and it left you feeling that the world's preeminent awards show, all doom-saying punditry to the contrary, is still, on balance, a very good thing." He also added that the wins received by Everything Everywhere All at Once "lent the evening a rare emotional unity". Television critic Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter similarly praised the show's emotional beats and found its flaws "were mitigated more gracefully than just about any Oscars telecast" he could recall. Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle commended Kimmel's stint as host stating: "He was establishing that 2023 would not be a repeat of 2022 — and it wasn't. It was such a relief to see something, anything, actually get better."
Mike Hale of The New York Times remarked on "the ordinariness and sameness of the ABC broadcast" compared to the prior year, while USA Today's Kelly Lawler criticized it as "terribly fake" and felt that Kimmel's role "felt phoned in, or at least maybe monitored by corporate overlords looking to avoid controversy" despite some of his jokes tackling controversial subjects such as the January 6 United States Capitol attack and Tom Cruise's Scientology advocacy. Hale added that "the modern Oscars have become something more to be endured than enjoyed".
=== Ratings and reception ===
The American telecast on ABC drew in an average of 18.75 million people over its length, which was a 13% increase from the previous year's ceremony and marked the first time that the Academy Awards experienced consecutive years of viewership increase since the 86th Academy Awards in 2014. The show also earned higher Nielsen ratings compared to the previous ceremony with 9.9% of households watching the ceremony. In addition, it garnered a higher 18–49 demo rating with a 4.03 rating among viewers in that demographic. It was the most-watched prime time entertainment broadcast of 2023 in the United States. In July 2023, the broadcast was nominated for three awards at the 75th Primetime Creative Arts Emmys but failed to win in any of the categories for which it was nominated.
== "In Memoriam" ==
The annual "In Memoriam" segment was introduced by John Travolta. Singer Lenny Kravitz performed his song "Calling All Angels" during the tribute. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Snow# | John Snow# | John Snow (15 March 1813 – 16 June 1858) was an English physician and a leader in the development of anaesthesia and medical hygiene. He is considered one of the founders of modern epidemiology and early germ theory, in part because of his work in tracing the source of a cholera outbreak in London's Soho, which he identified as a particular public water pump. Snow's findings inspired fundamental changes in the water and waste systems of London, which led to similar changes in other cities, and a significant improvement in general public health around the world.
== Early life and education ==
Snow was born on 15 March 1813 in York, England, the first of nine children born to William and Frances Snow in their North Street home, and was baptised at All Saints' Church, North Street, York. His father was a labourer who worked at a local coal yard, by the Ouse, constantly replenished from the Yorkshire coalfield by barges, but later was a farmer in a small village to the north of York.
The neighbourhood was one of the poorest in the city, and was frequently in danger of flooding because of its proximity to the River Ouse. Growing up, Snow experienced unsanitary conditions and contamination in his hometown. Most of the streets were unsanitary and the river was contaminated by runoff water from market squares, cemeteries and sewage.
From a young age, Snow demonstrated an aptitude for mathematics. In 1827, when he was 14, he obtained a medical apprenticeship with William Hardcastle in the area of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. In 1832, during his time as a surgeon-apothecary apprentice, he encountered a cholera epidemic for the first time in Killingworth, a coal-mining village. Snow treated many victims of the disease and thus gained experience. Eventually he adjusted to teetotalism and led a life characterized by abstinence, signing an abstinence pledge in 1835. Snow was also a vegetarian and tried to only drink distilled water that was "pure". Between 1832 and 1835 Snow worked as an assistant to a colliery surgeon, first in Burnopfield, County Durham, and then in Pateley Bridge, West Riding of Yorkshire. In October 1836 he enrolled at the Hunterian school of medicine on Great Windmill Street, London.
== Career ==
In the 1830s, Snow's colleague at the Newcastle Infirmary was surgeon Thomas Michael Greenhow. The surgeons worked together conducting research on England's cholera epidemics, both continuing to do so for many years.
In 1837, Snow began working at the Westminster Hospital. Admitted as a member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England on 2 May 1838, he graduated from the University of London in December 1844 and was admitted to the Royal College of Physicians in 1850. Snow was a founding member of the Epidemiological Society of London which was formed in May 1850 in response to the cholera outbreak of 1849. By 1856, Snow and Greenhow's nephew, Dr. E.H. Greenhow were some of a handful of esteemed medical men of the society who held discussions on this "dreadful scourge, the cholera".
After finishing his medical studies in the University of London, he earned his MD in 1844. Snow set up his practice at 54 Frith Street in Soho as a surgeon and general practitioner. John Snow contributed to a wide range of medical concerns including anaesthesiology. He was a member of the Westminster Medical Society, an organisation dedicated to clinical and scientific demonstrations. Snow gained prestige and recognition all the while being able to experiment and pursue many of his scientific ideas. He was a speaker multiple times at the society's meetings and he also wrote and published articles. He was especially interested in patients with respiratory diseases and tested his hypothesis through animal studies. In 1841, he wrote, On Asphyxiation, and on the Resuscitation of Still-Born Children, which is an article that discusses his discoveries on the physiology of neonatal respiration, oxygen consumption and the effects of body temperature change.
In 1857, Snow made an early and often overlooked contribution to epidemiology in a pamphlet, On the adulteration of bread as a cause of rickets.
=== Anaesthesia ===
Snow's interest in anaesthesia and breathing was evident from 1841 and beginning in 1843, he experimented with ether to see its effects on respiration. Only a year after ether was introduced to Britain, in 1847, he published a short work titled, On the Inhalation of the Vapor of Ether, which served as a guide for its use. At the same time, he worked on various papers that reported his clinical experience with anaesthesia, noting reactions, procedures and experiments. Within two years of ether being introduced, Snow was the most accomplished anaesthetist in Britain. London's principal surgeons suddenly wanted his assistance.
As well as ether, John Snow studied chloroform, which was introduced in 1847 by James Young Simpson, a Scottish obstetrician. He realised that chloroform was much more potent and required more attention and precision when administering it. Snow first realised this with Hannah Greener, a 15-year-old patient who died on 28 January 1848 after a surgical procedure that required the cutting of her toenail. She was administered chloroform by covering her face with a cloth dipped in the substance. However, she quickly lost pulse and died. After investigating her death and a couple of deaths that followed, he realized that chloroform had to be administered carefully and published his findings in a letter to The Lancet.
John Snow was one of the first physicians to study and calculate dosages for the use of ether and chloroform as surgical anaesthetics, allowing patients to undergo surgical and obstetric procedures without the distress and pain they would otherwise experience. He designed the apparatus to safely administer ether to the patients and also designed a mask to administer chloroform. Snow published an article on ether in 1847 entitled On the Inhalation of the Vapor of Ether. A longer version entitled On Chloroform and Other Anaesthetics and Their Action and Administration was published posthumously in 1858.
Although he thoroughly worked with ether as an anaesthetic, he never attempted to patent it; instead, he continued to work and publish written works on his observations and research.
=== Obstetric anaesthesia ===
Snow's work and findings were related to both anaesthesia and the practice of childbirth. His experience with obstetric patients was extensive and used different substances including ether, amylene and chloroform to treat his patients. However, chloroform was the easiest drug to administer. He treated 77 obstetric patients with chloroform. He would apply the chloroform at the second stage of labour and controlled the amount without completely putting the patients to sleep. Once the patient was delivering the baby, they would only feel the first half of the contraction and be on the border of unconsciousness, but not fully there. Regarding administration of the anaesthetic, Snow believed that it would be safer if another person that was not the surgeon applied it.
The use of chloroform as an anaesthetic for childbirth was seen as unethical by many physicians and even the Church of England. However, on 7 April 1853, Queen Victoria asked John Snow to administer chloroform during the delivery of her eighth child, Leopold. He then repeated the procedure for the delivery of her daughter Beatrice in 1857. This led to wider acceptance of obstetrical anaesthesia.
=== Cholera ===
Snow was a skeptic of the then-dominant miasma theory that stated that diseases such as cholera and bubonic plague were caused by pollution or a noxious form of "bad air". The germ theory of disease had not yet been developed, so Snow did not understand the mechanism by which the disease was transmitted. His observation of the evidence led him to discount the theory of foul air. He first published his theory in an 1849 essay, On the Mode of Communication of Cholera, followed by a more detailed treatise in 1855 incorporating the results of his investigation of the role of the water supply in the Soho epidemic of 1854.
By talking to local residents (with the help of Henry Whitehead), he identified the source of the outbreak as the public water pump on Broad Street (now Broadwick Street). Although Snow's chemical and microscope examination of a water sample from the Broad Street pump did not conclusively prove its danger, his studies of the pattern of the disease were convincing enough to persuade the local council to disable the well pump by removing its handle (force rod). This action has been commonly credited as ending the outbreak, but Snow observed that the epidemic may have already been in rapid decline:
There is no doubt that the mortality was much diminished, as I said before, by the flight of the population, which commenced soon after the outbreak; but the attacks had so far diminished before the use of the water was stopped, that it is impossible to decide whether the well still contained the cholera poison in an active state, or whether, from some cause, the water had become free from it.
Snow later used a dot map to illustrate the cluster of cholera cases around the pump. He also used statistics to illustrate the connection between the quality of the water source and cholera cases. He showed that homes supplied by the Southwark and Vauxhall Waterworks Company, which was taking water from sewage-polluted sections of the Thames, had a cholera rate fourteen times that of those supplied by Lambeth Waterworks Company, which obtained water from the upriver, cleaner Seething Wells. Snow's study was a major event in the history of public health and geography. It is regarded as the founding event of the science of epidemiology.
Snow wrote:
On proceeding to the spot, I found that nearly all the deaths had taken place within a short distance of the [Broad Street] pump. There were only ten deaths in houses situated decidedly nearer to another street-pump. In five of these cases the families of the deceased persons informed me that they always sent to the pump in Broad Street, as they preferred the water to that of the pumps which were nearer. In three other cases, the deceased were children who went to school near the pump in Broad Street...
With regard to the deaths occurring in the locality belonging to the pump, there were 61 instances in which I was informed that the deceased persons used to drink the pump water from Broad Street, either constantly or occasionally...
The result of the inquiry, then, is, that there has been no particular outbreak or prevalence of cholera in this part of London except among the persons who were in the habit of drinking the water of the above-mentioned pump well.
I had an interview with the Board of Guardians of St James's parish, on the evening of the 7th inst [7 September], and represented the above circumstances to them. In consequence of what I said, the handle of the pump was removed on the following day.
Researchers later discovered that this public well had been dug only 3 feet (0.9 m) from an old cesspit, which had begun to leak faecal bacteria. The cloth nappy of a baby, who had contracted cholera from another source, had been washed into this cesspit. Its opening was originally under a nearby house, which had been rebuilt farther away after a fire. The city had widened the street and the cesspit was lost. It was common at the time to have a cesspit under most homes. Most families tried to have their raw sewage collected and dumped in the Thames to prevent their cesspit from filling faster than the sewage could decompose into the soil.
Thomas Shapter had conducted similar studies and used a point-based map for the study of cholera in Exeter, seven years before John Snow, although this did not identify the water supply problem that was later held responsible.
==== Political controversy ====
After the cholera epidemic had subsided, government officials replaced the Broad Street pump handle. They had responded only to the urgent threat posed to the population, and afterward they rejected Snow's theory. To accept his proposal would have meant indirectly accepting the fecal-oral route of disease transmission, which was too unpleasant for most of the public to contemplate.
It was not until 1866 that William Farr, one of Snow's chief opponents, realised the validity of his diagnosis when investigating another outbreak of cholera at Bromley by Bow and issued immediate orders that unboiled water was not to be drunk.
Farr denied Snow's explanation of how exactly the contaminated water spread cholera, although he did accept that water had a role in the spread of the illness. In fact, some of the statistical data that Farr collected helped promote John Snow's views.
Public health officials recognise the political struggles in which reformers have often become entangled. During the annual Pumphandle Lecture in England, members of the John Snow Society remove and replace a pump handle to symbolise the continuing challenges for advances in public health.
== Personal life ==
Snow was known to swim as a hobby for exercise. He became a vegetarian at the age of 17 and was a teetotaller. He embraced a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet by supplementing his vegetables with dairy products and eggs for eight years. Whilst in his thirties he became a vegan. His health deteriorated and he suffered a renal disorder which he attributed to his vegan diet so he took up meat-eating and drinking wine. He continued drinking pure water (via boiling) throughout his adult life. He never married.
In 1830, Snow became a member of the temperance movement. In 1845, he became a member of York Temperance Society. After his health declined it was only about 1845 that he consumed a little wine to aid digestion.
Snow lived at 18 Sackville Street, London, from 1852 to his death in 1858.
Snow suffered a stroke while working in his London office on 10 June 1858. He was 45 years old at the time. He never recovered, dying six days later on 16 June 1858. He was buried in Brompton Cemetery.
It has been speculated that his premature death may have been related to his frequent exposure and experimentation with anesthetic gases, which is now known to have numerous adverse health effects. Snow administered and experimented with ether, chloroform, ethyl nitrate, carbon disulfide, benzene, bromoform, ethyl bromide and dichloroethane during his lifetime.
== Legacy and honours ==
A plaque commemorates Snow and his 1854 study in the place of the water pump on Broad Street (now Broadwick Street). It shows a water pump with its handle removed. The spot where the pump stood is covered with red granite.
A public house nearby was named the "John Snow" in his honour.
The John Snow Society is named in his honour, and the society regularly meets at The John Snow pub. An annual Pumphandle Lecture is delivered each September by a leading authority in contemporary public health.
His grave in Brompton Cemetery, London, is marked by a funerary monument.
In York a blue plaque on the west end of the Park Inn, a hotel in North Street, commemorates John Snow.
Together with fellow pioneer of anaesthesia Joseph Thomas Clover, Snow is one of the heraldic supporters of the Royal College of Anaesthetists.
The Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland awards The John Snow Award, a bursary for undergraduate medical students undertaking research in the field of anaesthesia.
Despite reports that Snow was awarded a prize by the Institut de France for his 1849 essay on cholera, a 1950 letter from the Institut indicates that he received only a nomination for it.
In 1978 a public health research and consulting firm, John Snow, Inc, was founded.
In 2001 the John Snow College was founded on the University of Durham's Queen's Campus in Stockton-on-Tees.
In 2003 John Snow was voted by readers in the United Kingdom of 'Hospital Doctor' magazine as 'the greatest doctor of all time'.
In 2009, the John Snow lecture theatre was opened by Anne, Princess Royal, at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
In 2013 The Lancet printed a correction of its brief obituary of Snow, originally published in 1858: "The journal accepts that some readers may wrongly have inferred that The Lancet failed to recognise Dr Snow's remarkable achievements in the field of epidemiology and, in particular, his visionary work in deducing the mode of transmission of epidemic cholera."
In 2016, Katherine Tansley published a fictionalised account based on Snow's activities, in her historical novel The Doctor of Broad Street (Troubadour Books).
In 2017 York Civic Trust erected a memorial to John Snow in the form of a pump with its handle removed, a blue plaque and an interpretation board, in North Street Gardens, York, close to his birthplace. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1974_World_Series | 1974 World Series | The 1974 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1974 season. The 71st edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion (and two-time defending World Series champion) Oakland Athletics and the National League (NL) champion Los Angeles Dodgers in an all-California matchup. The Athletics won the series, four games to one; after splitting the first two in Los Angeles, Oakland swept their three home games to close it out.
Rollie Fingers pitched in three of the four Oakland victories, posting a win and two saves, and was honored with the World Series Most Valuable Player Award. Oakland became the first team to win three consecutive Series since the New York Yankees won five straight (1949–1953); the win secured the Athletics' status as one of the truly dominant teams of the 1970s. (The other "team of the decade," the Cincinnati Reds, won consecutive World Series in 1975 and 1976, after falling short in 1970 and 1972.) Since 1974, only the Yankees have won three consecutive titles, having done so in 1998, '99, and 2000.
This was the first all-California World Series and the first with an official World Series logo; these two teams met again fourteen years later, but with a different result with the underdog Dodgers defeating the heavily favored Athletics in five games.
== Background ==
The 1974 Los Angeles Dodgers were the second (after the runner-up 1962 squad) Dodgers team to win at least 100 games since moving west from Brooklyn; they won the National League West division after a season long battle by four games over the Cincinnati Reds, then defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates three games to one in the National League Championship Series. The Oakland Athletics won the American League West division by five games over the Texas Rangers, then defeated the Baltimore Orioles three games to one in the American League Championship Series.
=== Oakland Athletics ===
The Oakland Athletics, at the height of their dynasty as the "Swingin' A's", had consistently matched their on-field heroics with locker-room meltdowns and intra-squad theatrics for the American League. After yet another banner year (Catfish Hunter won 25 games, Reggie Jackson knocked in 105 runs, and Billy North stole 54 bases), the team seemed to be winning more attention for its dysfunctional communication patterns than for its superior lineup. Hunter was threatening to file for free agency in 1975 if owner Charles O. Finley didn't come through with back pay Hunter claimed he had coming. Traumatized former second baseman Mike Andrews was considering legal action for the shabby treatment he received in the previous year's World Series. Teammates Rollie Fingers and Blue Moon Odom had gotten into a fistfight. And the Series-winning manager of the previous year, Dick Williams was long gone, having had one personality clash too many with the Athletics front office. Despite all the melodrama, the Athletics won the pennant for the third straight year, the first time a team had done so since the 1960-64 New York Yankees. They had dispatched the Baltimore Orioles in a four-game ALCS. Notwithstanding the off-field troubles, between the lines they were fundamentally sound, had strong pitching, and combined speed and power.
=== Los Angeles Dodgers ===
Los Angeles won 102 games, boasted the best team ERA (2.97) in the National League, and led their league in runs scored (798). Steve Garvey hit .312, Jimmy Wynn knocked in 108 runs, Bill Buckner hit .314 in one of the best years of his career, Davey Lopes stole 59 bases, Andy Messersmith won twenty games, and Don Sutton won nineteen games. Walter Alston was in his 21st year as manager of the club.
== Summary ==
AL Oakland Athletics (4) vs. NL Los Angeles Dodgers (1)
== Matchups ==
=== Game 1 ===
Reggie Jackson put the A's on the board first with a homer in the top of the second off 20-game winner Andy Messersmith. The A's added another run in the fifth when starting pitcher Ken Holtzman, batting for the first time all season because of the designated hitter rule, doubled to left, went to third on a Messersmith wild pitch, and scored on a Bert Campaneris suicide squeeze bunt.
The Dodgers crept back with a run in their half of the fifth when Davey Lopes reached first on an error by Campaneris. Bill Buckner then bounced a single to right that Jackson misplayed, allowing Lopes to score.
The A's scored their final run in the eighth when Campaneris singled to shallow center, was sacrificed to second by Bill North, and scored when Dodger third baseman Ron Cey threw wildly to first on a grounder hit by Sal Bando. Bando reached third on the error, and attempted to score on a flyout to right by Jackson, but right fielder Joe Ferguson gunned him down at the plate.
In the bottom of the ninth, with Rollie Fingers on the mound, Jimmy Wynn hit a homer that just escaped the reach of Joe Rudi and North in left center. Following a single by Steve Garvey, Catfish Hunter relieved Fingers and made the final out by striking out Ferguson. Fingers got the win with 4+1⁄3 innings of relief, having relieved Holtzman in the fifth inning
.
=== Game 2 ===
Don Sutton pitched superbly, shutting out the A's on four hits through eight innings. The Dodgers scored first in the second off Vida Blue when Ron Cey walked, Bill Russell singled, and Steve Yeager singled home Cey. Joe Ferguson slammed a two-run homer off Blue in the sixth inning to make it 3–0.
The A's threatened in the eighth when pinch hitters Jim Holt and Claudell Washington hit back-to-back singles with one out. Bert Campaneris reached on an infield error to load the bases. The rally was squelched when Bill North hit into a double play in which first baseman Steve Garvey made an exceptional pickup of a low throw by Russell.
In the ninth inning the A's finally got on the board when Sal Bando led off with being hit by a pitch, Reggie Jackson followed with a double, and Joe Rudi singled both runners home. Mike Marshall then relieved Sutton and struck out Gene Tenace. Herb Washington was sent in to pinch-run for Rudi, and Marshall picked him off. Herb Washington was the only "designated runner" to appear in a World Series. Washington was a track star with no baseball experience whom the A's Charles Finley signed solely to appear as a pinch runner in late game situations. His stats for 1974 were 92 games, zero at bats, 29 runs scored, 29 stolen bases, but he was caught stealing 16 times. Sure enough, with the A's trailing 3–2 in the ninth inning of Game 2, Washington pinch ran. Just after announcer Vin Scully said that Washington better be careful because pitcher Mike Marshall has a good pickoff move, he was promptly picked off first base. Marshall then retired Ángel Mangual for the final out.
=== Game 3 ===
With the Series shifting back to Oakland, it was A's ace Catfish Hunter's turn to be brilliant. Hunter shut out the Dodgers on four hits through seven innings, and his teammates provided him with two runs in the third when Bill North scored on an error by catcher Joe Ferguson and an RBI single by Joe Rudi. The A's added another run in the fourth on Bert Campaneris' RBI single.
The Dodgers got their only runs on homers by Bill Buckner in the eighth and Willie Crawford in the ninth.
Rollie Fingers was not awarded the save because in 1974, tougher criteria were adopted for saves where the tying run had to be on base or at the plate when the reliever entered to qualify for a save.
=== Game 4 ===
The A's struck first on a solo homer by the surprising Ken Holtzman in the third. The Dodgers came right back in their half of the fourth on a two-run triple by Bill Russell. Holtzman settled into a groove after that, surrendering no runs before yielding to Rollie Fingers in the eighth.
The A's took control of the game with four runs in the sixth off Andy Messersmith. Bill North led off with a walk and went to second on a wild pickoff throw by Messersmith. Sal Bando singled home North to tie it. After a Reggie Jackson walk, a Joe Rudi sacrifice bunt, and an intentional walk to Claudell Washington, Jim Holt pinch-hit for Ray Fosse and singled in two runs. An RBI groundout by Dick Green capped off the rally. Fingers pitched the final 1+2⁄3 innings for his first save of the series.
=== Game 5 ===
The A's staked Vida Blue to a 2–0 lead with single runs in the first and second innings on a sacrifice fly by Sal Bando and a homer by Ray Fosse. The Dodgers tied it in the sixth with two runs on a sacrifice fly by Jimmy Wynn and an RBI single by Steve Garvey.
Joe Rudi got what would turn out to be the game-winning RBI when he tagged Dodger ace reliever Mike Marshall with a homer in the bottom of the seventh. The half-inning was delayed when Bill Buckner complained of A's fans throwing debris onto the field.
Marshall, who always pitched in short sleeves, disdained his allowance of eight warm up pitches after coming in from the bullpen even after the delay. Rudi then proceeded to deposit Marshall's first pitch over the left field wall.
In the Dodgers half of the eighth, Buckner led off with a base hit to center that got past center fielder Bill North. Buckner had an easy double, but tried to stretch it to a triple and Reggie Jackson, backing up North, fired a perfect throw to Dick Green, who relayed to Sal Bando at third to nail Buckner and squelch the last Dodger threat. Rollie Fingers got his second save and was named Series MVP.
== Aftermath ==
Four of the five games had the score of 3–2. Mike Marshall of the Los Angeles Dodgers was the only pitcher to appear in all five games of a five-game World Series, as of 2014.
The Dodgers got six more hits than the A's but scored five fewer runs, showing their lack of timely hitting. They also made six errors in five games, in addition to a number of mental errors.
The champion A's batted only .211 in the Series, the lowest in a five-game Series since the Baltimore Orioles hit .146 and lost in 1969.
As of 2021, the A's are the only team besides the Yankees to win three consecutive World Series.
This was the first World Series to end at night. While it opened with traditional day games (1 pm PDT) on the weekend in Los Angeles, the three weeknight games in Oakland (5:30 pm PDT) were all in prime-time (for the Eastern and Central time zones).
As World Series champions, the A's earned a postseason bonus of $22,219 each; the Dodger shares were $15,704 each, while the Orioles and Pirates took about $7,400 each.
This was the last major league championship for a Bay Area team won in its home stadium or arena until the Golden State Warriors won the 2017 NBA Finals in Oakland, ending a streak of 13 Bay Area championships won in an opponent or neutral stadium or arena. Also, with the Warriors winning the 1975 NBA Finals, Oakland (and the Bay Area in particular) won both the World Series and NBA championship in a span of a season or calendar year, a distinction previously earned by New York when the Mets and Knicks won their league championships within a year's span. This was followed by the Los Angeles metropolitan area in 1981–82 (Dodgers and Lakers), 1988 (Dodgers and Lakers), 2002 (Angels and Lakers) and 2020 (Lakers and Dodgers), Boston in 2007–08 (Red Sox and Celtics), and the San Francisco Bay Area in 2014–15 (Giants and Warriors).
== Composite box ==
1974 World Series (4–1): Oakland Athletics (A.L.) over Los Angeles Dodgers (N.L.)
At the time, the winning margin of five runs tied for second-lowest for a five-game series (with 1933 and 1942); the 1915 margin was two runs, and three runs in 2000. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordanne_Whiley | Jordanne Whiley | Jordanne Joyce Whiley MBE (born 11 June 1992) is a British retired wheelchair tennis player. Aged 14, she became Britain's youngest ever national women's singles champion in wheelchair tennis. She has osteogenesis imperfecta as does her father, Keith, who was also a Paralympian and won a bronze medal in 1984 in New York. As well as the 2015 US Open in wheelchair singles, Whiley has won 9 Grand Slam doubles titles, and she & Japanese Yui Kamiji are the fourth team in women's wheelchair doubles (as well as the most recent players) to complete the Calendar Year Grand Slam.
Whiley was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2015 Queens Birthday Honours list for services to wheelchair tennis.
== Career ==
=== Junior ===
In 2006 at the age of 14 Whiley claimed her first senior main draw titles when she won the singles and doubles at the Cardiff Wheelchair Tennis tournament, also winning the girls title. At the end of 2006 Whiley had moved up from 112 to 48 in the rankings and had won junior titles in Poland and the Netherlands. Whiley won two awards at the British Wheelchair Tennis Association awards: Most improved female player and players' player of the year. Whiley created history in 2007 when she defeated Katharine Kruger in Tarbes. She became the first Briton to claim the Cruyff Foundation Wheelchair Juniors Masters title, Whiley also claimed the doubles title with Louise Hunt. Following on from the Masters success Whiley won her second senior title at the North West Challenge. Whiley followed this up by becoming the youngest national British Champion and winning the doubles title as well. Whiley then successfully defended her Cardiff wheelchair tennis tournament titles. In 2008 Whiley successfully defended her Masters titles; defeating Emmy Kaiser in the singles before partnering Hunt to back to back doubles titles. The following week Whiley claimed her first international title the Sion Indoor. Whiley then successfully defended both titles at the North West Challenge. She was named in the team for the 2008 Paralympic Games.
=== Senior ===
In 2012, she reached the finals of Women's wheelchair doubles at Wimbledon. She competed for Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Paralympics where she shared a bronze with Lucy Shuker in women's doubles. Whiley and Shuker won another bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Paralympics, where Whiley was eliminated in the women's singles quarterfinals.
Whiley and her partner Yui Kamiji of Japan achieved a calendar Grand Slam by winning the wheelchair doubles at the Australian Open (beating the Dutch pair Marjolein Buis and Jiske Griffioen), the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open (overcoming Griffioen and fellow Dutchwoman Aniek van Koot in all three finals). They finished the year by adding the Masters crown after defeating Louise Hunt and Katharina Kruger in the final. However, despite the absence of van Koot and Griffioen the pair did not go undefeated throughout the tournament as they lost to Marjolein Buis and Michaela Spaanstra during the round robin group stage.
Whiley and Kamiji are four times doubles champions at Wimbledon, and Whiley was 11 weeks pregnant when they won their 4th title, in 2017. Whiley did not participate at the Championships in 2018, after giving birth to her son, earlier that year. She planned a comeback in late 2018. In the 2020 season, she won the Australian Open and US Open doubles titles.
In June 2021 she and Lucy Shuker were among six tennis players named to represent the UK at the postponed 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo. Shuker and Whiley won the silver medal in the women's doubles, with Whiley winning bronze in the women's singles.
== Grand Slam performance timelines ==
=== Wheelchair singles ===
=== Wheelchair doubles === |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Gabriel | Peter Gabriel | Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and human rights activist. He came to prominence as the original frontman of the rock band Genesis. He left the band in 1975 and launched his solo career with a hit debut single entitled "Solsbury Hill". After Gabriel released four successful studio albums (all entitled Peter Gabriel), his fifth studio album, So (1986), became his best-selling release; it is certified triple platinum in the UK and five times platinum in the US. The album's most successful single, "Sledgehammer", won a record nine MTV Awards at the 1987 MTV Video Music Awards. A 2011 Time report said "Sledgehammer" was the most played music video of all time on MTV.
Gabriel released Us (1992), OVO (2000), and Up (2002), the latter marking his last solo album for 21 years. Gabriel recorded the song "Down to Earth" for the Pixar film WALL-E (2008), recorded the cover album of other artists' songs Scratch My Back (2009), and developed the cover album of his own works by other artists And I'll Scratch Yours (2013). He embarked on the Back to Front Tour (2012–14), and the Rock Paper Scissors Tour with Sting (2016). Gabriel eventually released his solo album I/O (2023) by the lunar cycle, and supported it with I/O The Tour that year. Gabriel has been releasing songs to the lunar cycle for the follow-up album O\I (2026).
A supporter of world music for much of his career, Gabriel co-founded the World of Music, Arts and Dance (WOMAD) festival in 1982. He has also produced and promoted world music through his Real World Records label. He has pioneered digital distribution methods for music by co-founding OD2, one of the first online music download services. He has also been involved in numerous humanitarian efforts. In 1980, he released the anti-apartheid single "Biko". He has participated in several human rights benefit concerts, including Amnesty International's Human Rights Now! tour in 1988, and co-founded the human rights organisation Witness in 1992. He developed the idea for The Elders, an organisation of public figures noted as peace activists, alongside Nelson Mandela and Richard Branson in 2007.
Gabriel has won three Brit Awards, six Grammy Awards, 13 MTV Video Music Awards, the first Pioneer Award at the BT Digital Music Awards, the Q Lifetime Achievement, the Ivor Novello Award for Lifetime Achievement, and the Polar Music Prize. He was named a BMI Icon at the 57th annual BMI London Awards for his "influence on generations of music makers". In recognition of his human rights activism, he received the Man of Peace award from the Nobel Peace Prize laureates in 2006, and Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2008. AllMusic described him as "one of rock's most ambitious, innovative musicians, as well as one of its most political". He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Genesis in 2010, and as a solo artist in 2014. In recognition of his musical achievements, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of South Australia in 2015.
== Early life ==
Gabriel was born in Chobham on 13 February 1950, the son of Edith Irene (née Allen, 1921–2016) and Ralph Parton Gabriel (1912–2012). His maternal grandfather was Colonel Edward Allen, chairman of the Civil Service Department Store on London's Strand, and his paternal grandfather was Christopher Burton Gabriel (1876–1947). His mother came from a musical family, while his father was an electrical engineer and dairy farm owner from a long-established family of London timber importers and merchants. He was raised at Deep Pool Farm, a Victorian manor near Chobham. His great-great-great-uncle, Sir Thomas Gabriel, 1st Baronet, was Lord Mayor of London from 1866 to 1877, who in turn was the grandson of Cornish Plane maker Christopher Gabriel. Gabriel attended the private primary school Cable House in Woking and St Andrews Preparatory School for Boys in Horsell. During his time at the latter, his teachers noticed his singing talent, but he instead opted for piano lessons from his mother and developed an interest in drumming. At age 10, he purchased a floor tom-tom.
Gabriel later remarked of his early influences, "Hymns played quite a large part. They were the closest I came to soul music before I discovered soul music. There are certain hymns that you can scream your lungs out on, and I used to love that. It was great when you used to get the old shivers down the back." He wrote his first song, "Sammy the Slug", at age 12. An aunt gave him money for professional singing lessons around this time, but he used it to buy the Beatles' debut album Please Please Me, which had just been released. In September 1963, he started at the public Charterhouse School in Godalming. There, he was a drummer and vocalist for his first band, the trad jazz outfit the Milords (or M'Lords). This was followed by a holiday band called the Spoken Word, which recorded an acetate in 1966. Gabriel played drums in both these bands, with Mike Rutherford later commenting, "Pete was—and still is, I think—a frustrated drummer."
== Career ==
=== 1965–1975: Early career and Genesis ===
In 1965, while still at Charterhouse, Gabriel formed the band Garden Wall with his schoolmates Tony Banks on piano, Johnny Trapman on trumpet, and Chris Stewart on drums. Banks had started at Charterhouse at the same time as Gabriel, and the two were uninterested in school activities but bonded over music and started to write songs. At their final concert before they broke up, Gabriel wore a kaftan and beads and showered the audience with petals he had picked from neighbouring gardens. Garden Wall disbanded in 1967; Gabriel and Banks were invited by their Charterhouse schoolmates Anthony Phillips and Mike Rutherford, who were in their own band at the school called Anon until it split up the previous year, to work on a demo tape of songs together. Gabriel and Banks contributed "She Is Beautiful", the first song they wrote together. The tape was sent to Charterhouse alumnus, musician Jonathan King, who was immediately enthusiastic largely due to Gabriel's vocals. He signed the group and suggested that their name be Gabriel's Angels, but this was unpopular with the other members, and they soon settled on his other suggestion of Genesis.
After King suggested they stick to more straightforward pop, Gabriel and Banks wrote "The Silent Sun" as a pastiche of the Bee Gees, one of King's favourite bands. It became Genesis' first single, released in 1968, and was included on their debut studio album From Genesis to Revelation (1968). Following the commercial failure of From Genesis to Revelation, the band went their separate ways, and Gabriel continued his studies at Charterhouse. In September 1969, Gabriel, Banks, Rutherford, and Phillips decided to drop their plans and make Genesis a full-time band. In early 1970, Gabriel played the flute on Mona Bone Jakon by Cat Stevens. The second studio album by Genesis, Trespass (1970), marked Gabriel expanding his musical output with the flute, accordion, tambourine, and bass drum, and incorporating his soul music influences. Gabriel explained that he was driven to play these instruments because he was uncomfortable with doing nothing during instrumental sections. He would have preferred to play keyboard instruments, but said, "[Banks] was extraordinarily possessive about the keyboards. I'd done a bit of flute at school, I always liked the sound, and a little bit of oboe (I was an even worse oboe player, but it made a couple of good noises now and again). Then the bass drum was something physical, visual, that I could kick hard and occasionally it was in time!" The album sold few copies, with Gabriel at one point securing a place to study at the London School of Film Technique because the band "seemed to be dying".
Genesis soon recruited guitarist Steve Hackett and drummer Phil Collins. Gabriel began growing in confidence as a frontman; during an encore performance of "The Knife" on 19 June 1971, he took a running jump into the audience and expected them to catch him, only for them to instead move out of the way and leave him to land on the floor and break his ankle. He consequently had to perform Genesis' next several shows with a wheelchair and crutches. Also during the Trespass tour, he started to recite stories to introduce songs as a way to cover the silence while the band tuned their instruments or technical faults were being fixed. These stories were all improvised on the spot, and evolved as the tour went along. The opener of their next studio album, Nursery Cryme (1971), "The Musical Box", was their first song in which Gabriel incorporated a story and characters into the lyrics, as the lyrics to previous story-based Genesis songs such as "White Mountain" and "One-Eyed Hound" were all written by other members of the group. Gabriel was the primary writer of "Harold the Barrel", another story song on Nursery Cryme, with Collins helping him on the lyrics.
The shows featuring Foxtrot (1972) marked a key development in Gabriel's stage performance. During a show in Dublin in September 1972, he disappeared from the set during the instrumental section of "The Musical Box" and reappeared in his wife's red dress and a fox's head, mimicking the album's cover. The idea of the fox costume had been suggested to him by Paul Conroy and Glen Colson, employees of Genesis's record label, Charisma Records. Gabriel said he consulted the rest of Genesis about the fox costume but grew tired of arguing about it, but the other members all maintained that nothing was said about it beforehand and that when Gabriel came out in costume they initially mistook him for a fan invading the stage. The incident received front-page coverage in Melody Maker, giving them national exposure which allowed the group to double their performance fee. One of Gabriel's stories was printed on the liner notes of their live album, Genesis Live (1973). By late 1973, following the success of Selling England by the Pound (1973), which centred on English themes and literary and materialistic references, a typical Genesis show had Gabriel wear fluorescent make-up, a cape, and bat wings for "Watcher of the Skies", a helmet, chest plate, and a shield for "Dancing with the Moonlit Knight", a crown of thorns and a flower mask for "Supper's Ready", and an old man mask for "The Musical Box".
Gabriel continued to fight for involvement with Genesis's keyboards throughout his time with the group, and following a lengthy argument with Banks, he was allowed to play a minor keyboard part on "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)", only for this part to be left out of the mix. "I Know What I Like" became Genesis's first hit single, reaching number 21 in the UK Singles Chart.
The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974) was Gabriel's final studio album with Genesis. He devised its story of the spiritual journey of Rael, a Puerto Rican youth living in New York City, and insisted upon writing all the lyrics himself, whereas on previous albums the lyrics had been divided among all the members of Genesis. Tensions increased during this period, and Gabriel split with the band to pursue a film project with William Friedkin, only to rejoin a week later. Matters were complicated further with the difficult birth of Gabriel's first daughter, resulting in periods of time away from the band. The other members complained that Gabriel was showing a lack of commitment to the band. Gabriel saw this as a "really unsympathetic handling of my dealing with a family crisis" and said it caused a breakdown in his relationships with the rest of Genesis; Rutherford later admitted that they had been overly fixated on their music and were very unhelpful in what must have been a difficult time for Gabriel. Gabriel was late to deliver the lyrics, but has denied that he was too busy to write much music for the album and relied on contributions from Banks and Rutherford. Banks corroborated that Gabriel was the primary composer of the Lamb songs "The Carpet Crawlers" and "The Chamber of 32 Doors" and the sole composer of "Counting Out Time".
During a stop in Cleveland, Ohio, early into the album's tour, Gabriel informed the band of his intention to leave at its conclusion. Rutherford recalled that they all "could see it coming". Music critics often focused their reviews on Gabriel's theatrics and took the band's musical performance as secondary, which irritated the rest of the band. The tour ended in May 1975, after which Gabriel wrote a piece for the press on 15 August, entitled "Out, Angels Out", about his departure, his disillusion with the business, and his desire to spend time with his family. The news stunned fans of the group and left commentators wondering if the band could survive without him. His exit resulted in drummer Phil Collins reluctantly taking over on lead vocals after 400 singers were fruitlessly auditioned.
=== 1975–1985: Solo debut with four self-titled albums ===
Gabriel described his break from the music business as his "learning period", during which he took piano and music lessons. He had recorded demos by the end of 1975, the fruits of a period of writing around 20 songs with his friend Martin Hall. In 1977, Gabriel released his solo debut, Peter Gabriel, which was recorded in Toronto with Bob Ezrin serving as the album's producer. Gabriel did not title his first four studio albums. All were labelled Peter Gabriel, using the same typeface, with designs by Hipgnosis. "The idea is to do it like a magazine, which will only come out once a year," he remarked in 1978. "So it's the same title, the same lettering in the same place; only the photo is different."
Peter Gabriel (a.k.a. Peter Gabriel 1: Car) was released in February 1977 and reached No. 7 in the UK and No. 38 in the US. Its lead single, "Solsbury Hill", is an autobiographical song about a spiritual experience on top of Solsbury Hill in Somerset. "It's about being prepared to lose what you have for what you might get ..." said Gabriel. "It's about letting go." Gabriel toured the album with an 80-date tour from March to November 1977 with a band that included guitarist Robert Fripp of King Crimson often playing off stage and introduced as "Dusty Rhodes".
In late 1977, Gabriel started recording the second Peter Gabriel studio album (a.k.a. Peter Gabriel 2: Scratch) in the Netherlands, with Fripp as producer. Its "Mother of Violence" was written by Gabriel and his first wife Jill. Released in June 1978, the album went to No. 10 in the UK and No. 45 in the US. Gabriel's tour for the album lasted from August to December 1978. On this tour, Gabriel and his band shaved their heads.
Gabriel recorded the third Peter Gabriel studio album (a.k.a. Peter Gabriel 3: Melt) in England in 1979. He developed an interest in African music and drum machines and later hailed the record as his artistic breakthrough. Gabriel banned the use of cymbals on the album in order to grant more sonic space for instruments like keyboards and synths. This resulted in the creation of the distinctive gated reverb, a noise processing technique which came about while recording drums on "Intruder", one of the tracks featuring Phil Collins. Collins implemented the reverb to great effect on his debut solo single "In the Air Tonight" and it has since became a signature sound of the 1980s and beyond.
Upon completion Atlantic Records, Gabriel's US distributor who had released his first two albums, refused to put out Peter Gabriel 3: Melt as they thought it was not commercial enough. Gabriel signed a recording contract with Mercury Records. Released in May 1980, the album went to No. 1 in the UK for three weeks. In the US, it peaked at No. 22. The single "Games Without Frontiers" went to No. 4 and "Biko" went to No. 36 in the UK. After a handful of shows in 1979, Gabriel toured the album from February to October 1980. The tour marked Gabriel's first successful instance of crowd surfing (following his failed June 1971 attempt when touring with Genesis) when he fell back into the audience in a crucifix position. The stunt became a staple of his live shows.
On Peter Gabriel four (a.k.a. Peter Gabriel 4: Security), Gabriel took on greater responsibility over the production than before. He recorded it in 1981 and 1982, solely on digital tape, with a mobile studio parked at his home, Ashcombe House, in Somerset. Gabriel utilized a Fairlight CMI digital sampling synthesizer and incorporated electronic instrumentation with sampling world beat percussion. "Over the course of the last two albums," he observed, "I've got back into a rhythm consciousness. And the writing—particularly with the invention of these drum machines—is fantastic. You can store in their memories rhythms that interest you and excite you. And then the groove will carry on without you, and the groove will be exactly what you want it to be, rather than what a drummer thinks is appropriate for what you're doing."
The fourth Peter Gabriel, released in September 1982, hit No. 6 in the UK and No. 28 in the US. The second single, "Shock the Monkey", became Gabriel's first top 40 hit in the US, reaching No. 29. To handle American distribution, Gabriel signed with Geffen Records, which—initially unbeknown to Gabriel—titled the album Security to differentiate it from the first three. Gabriel's 1982 tour lasted a year and became his first to make a profit. Recordings from the tour were released on Gabriel's debut live release, Plays Live (1983).
Gabriel produced versions of the third and fourth Peter Gabriel albums with German lyrics. The third consisted of the studio recordings, overdubbed with new vocals. The fourth was remixed, with several tracks extended or altered.
In 1983, Gabriel developed the soundtrack for Alan Parker's drama film Birdy (1984), co-produced with Daniel Lanois. This consisted of new material, without lyrics, as well as remixed instrumentals from his previous studio album.
=== 1985–1997: So and Us ===
After finishing the soundtrack to Birdy, Gabriel shifted his musical focus from rhythm and texture, as heard on Peter Gabriel four and Birdy, towards more straightforward songs. In 1985, he recorded his fifth studio album, So (also co-produced with Lanois). So was released in May 1986 and reached No. 1 in the UK and No. 2 in the US. It remains Gabriel's best-selling album with over five million copies sold in the US alone. It produced one of Gabriel's signature songs, that has become a concert staple: "In Your Eyes", with a distinctive vocal appearance by Youssou N'Dour, and three UK top 20 singles: "Sledgehammer", "Big Time", and "Don't Give Up", a duet with Kate Bush.
The first went to No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100, Gabriel's only single of his career to do so. It knocked "Invisible Touch" by Genesis, his former band, out of the top spot, which was also their only US number one hit. In the UK, the single went to No. 4. In 1990, Rolling Stone ranked So at No. 14 on its list of "Top 100 Albums of the Eighties".
"Sledgehammer" was particularly successful, dealing with sex and sexual relations through lyrical innuendos. Its famed music video was a collaboration between director Stephen R. Johnson, Aardman Animations, and the Brothers Quay and won a record nine MTV Video Music Awards in 1987. In 1998, it was named MTV's number one animated video of all time. So earned Gabriel two wins at the 1987 Brit Awards for Best British Male Solo Artist and Best British Video (for "Sledgehammer"). He was nominated for four Grammy Awards: Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, Song of the Year, and Record of the Year for "Sledgehammer", and Album of the Year for So. Gabriel toured worldwide to support So with the This Way Up Tour, from November 1986 to October 1987.
In 1988, Gabriel became involved as composer for Martin Scorsese's film The Last Temptation of Christ (1988). Scorsese had contacted Gabriel about the project since 1983 and wished, according to Gabriel, to present "the struggle between the humanity and divinity of Christ in a powerful and original way". Gabriel used musicians from WOMAD to perform instrumental pieces with focus on rhythm and African, Middle Eastern and European textures, using the National Sound Archive in London for additional inspiration. The initial plan had dedicated ten weeks for recording before it was cut to three, leaving Gabriel unable to finish all the pieces he originally wanted to record. When the film was finished, Gabriel worked on the soundtrack for an additional four months to develop more of his unfinished ideas. Its soundtrack was released as Passion in June 1989. It won Gabriel a Grammy Award for Best New Age Performance and a nomination for a Golden Globe for Best Original Score – Motion Picture. In 1990, Gabriel put out his first compilation album, Shaking the Tree: Sixteen Golden Greats, which sold 2 million copies in the US.
Up until 1989, Gabriel was managed by Gail Colson. From 1989 to 1992, Gabriel recorded his follow-up to So, titled Us. The album saw Gabriel address personal themes, including his failed first marriage, psychotherapy, and the growing distance between him and his eldest daughter at the time.
Gabriel's introspection within the context of the album Us can be seen in the first single release "Digging in the Dirt" directed by John Downer. Accompanied by a video featuring Gabriel covered in snails and various foliage, this song made reference to the psychotherapy which had taken up much of Gabriel's time since the previous studio album. Gabriel describes his struggle to get through to his daughter in "Come Talk to Me" directed by Matt Mahurin, which featured backing vocals by Sinéad O'Connor. O'Connor also lent vocals to "Blood of Eden", directed by Nichola Bruce and Michael Coulson, the third single to be released from the album, and once again dealing with relationship struggles, this time going right back to Adam's rib for inspiration.
The album is one of Gabriel's most personal. It met with less success than So, reaching No. 2 in the album chart on both sides of the Atlantic, and making modest chart impact with the singles "Digging in the Dirt" and the funkier "Steam", which evoked memories of "Sledgehammer". Gabriel followed the release of the album with the Secret World Tour, first using touring keyboardist Joy Askew to sing O'Connor's part, then O'Connor herself for a few months. O'Connor quit the tour, and was replaced by Paula Cole, the latter appearing on the tour recordings: a double album Secret World Live, and a concert video also called Secret World Live, both released in 1994. The film received the 1996 Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video, naming director Francois Girard and producer Robert Warr.
Gabriel employed an innovative approach in the marketing of the Us album. Not wishing to feature only images of himself, he asked artist filmmakers Nichola Bruce and Michael Coulson to co-ordinate a marketing campaign using contemporary artists. Artists such as Helen Chadwick, Rebecca Horn, Nils-Udo, Andy Goldsworthy, David Mach and Yayoi Kusama collaborated to create original artworks for each song on the multi-million-selling CD. Coulson and Bruce documented the process on Hi-8 video. Bruce left Real World and Coulson continued with the campaign, using the documentary background material as the basis for a promotional EPK, the long-form video All About Us and the interactive CD-ROM Xplora1: Peter Gabriel's Secret World.
Gabriel won three more Grammy Awards, all in the Music Video category. He won the Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video in 1993 and 1994 for the videos to "Digging in the Dirt" and "Steam", respectively. Gabriel also won the 1996 Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video for his Secret World Live video.
=== 1997–2009: OVO and Up ===
In 1997, Gabriel was invited to participate in the direction and soundtrack of the Millennium Dome Show, a live multimedia performance staged in the Millennium Dome in London throughout 2000. Gabriel said the team were given free rein, which contributed to the various problems they encountered with it, such as a lack of proper budgeting. He also felt that management, while succeeding to get the building finished on time, failed to understand the artistic side of the show and its content. Gabriel's soundtrack was released as OVO in June 2000. The Story of OVO was released in the CD-booklet-shaped comic book which was part of the CD edition with the title "OVO The Millennium Show". As part of Record Store Day 2025, OVO celebrated its 25th anniversary and was released on vinyl for the first time in limited quantity.
Around that same time, the Genesis greatest hits album, Turn It On Again: The Hits (1999), featured Gabriel sharing vocals with Phil Collins on a new version of "The Carpet Crawlers" entitled "The Carpet Crawlers 1999", produced by Trevor Horn.
In 2002 he stuck with soundtrack work for his next project, scoring for the Australian film Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002) with worldbeat music. Released in June 2002, Long Walk Home: Music from the Rabbit-Proof Fence received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Original Score – Motion Picture.
Later in 2002, Up, Gabriel's first full-length studio album in a decade, was released in September 2002. He started work on it in 1995 before production halted three years later to focus time on other projects and collaborations. Work resumed in 2000, by which time Gabriel had 130 potential songs for the album, and spent almost two years on it before management at Virgin Records pushed Gabriel to complete it. Up reached No. 9 in the US and No. 11 in the UK, and supported with a world tour with a band that included Gabriel's daughter Melanie on backing vocals. The tour was documented with two live DVDs: Growing Up Live (2003) and Still Growing Up: Live & Unwrapped (2005).
In 2004, Gabriel met with his former Genesis bandmates to discuss the possibility of staging The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974) as a reunion tour. He ultimately dismissed the idea, paving the way for Banks, Rutherford and Collins to organise the Turn It On Again: The Tour. Gabriel produced and performed at the Eden Project Live 8 concert in July 2005. He joined Cat Stevens on stage to perform "Wild World" during Nelson Mandela's 46664 concert. In 2005, FIFA asked Gabriel and Brian Eno to organise an opening ceremony for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, but FIFA cancelled the idea in January 2006. At the opening ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Gabriel performed John Lennon's "Imagine".
In November 2006, the Seventh World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Rome presented Gabriel with the Man of Peace award. The award, presented by former General Secretary of the USSR and Nobel Peace Prize winner Mikhail Gorbachev and Walter Veltroni, Mayor of Rome, was an acknowledgement of Gabriel's extensive contribution and work on behalf of human rights and peace. The award was presented in the Giulio Cesare Hall of the Campidoglio in Rome. At the end of the year, he was awarded the Q magazine Lifetime Achievement Award, presented to him by American musician Moby. In an interview published in the magazine to accompany the award, Gabriel's contribution to music was described as "vast and enduring".
Gabriel took on a project with the BBC World Service's competition "The Next Big Thing" to find the world's best young band. Gabriel judged the final six young artists with William Orbit, Geoff Travis and Angélique Kidjo.
In June 2008, Gabriel released Big Blue Ball, an album of various artists collaborating with each other at his Real World Studios across three summers in the 1990s. He planned its release in the US without assistance from a label; he raised £2 million towards the recording and distribution of the album with Ingenious Media with the worldwide release handled through Warner Bros. Records. Gabriel appeared on a nationwide tour for the album in 2009.
Gabriel was a judge for the 6th and 8th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists.
Gabriel contributed to the Pixar film WALL-E soundtrack in 2008 with Thomas Newman, including the film's closing song, "Down to Earth", for which they received the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. The song was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and an Academy Award for Best Original Song. In February 2009, Gabriel announced that he would not be performing on the 2008 Academy Awards telecast because producers of the show were limiting his performance of "Down to Earth" from WALL-E to 90 seconds. According to Gabriel, his window was reduced to 65 seconds. John Legend and the Soweto Gospel Choir performed the song in his stead.
Gabriel's 2009 tour appearances included Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Peru and Venezuela. His first ever performance in Peru was held in Lima on 20 March 2009, during his second visit to the country.
On 25 July 2009, he played at WOMAD Charlton Park, his only European performance of the year, to promote Witness. The show included two tracks from the then-forthcoming Scratch My Back: Paul Simon's "The Boy in the Bubble" and the Magnetic Fields' "The Book of Love".
=== 2009–2019: Scratch My Back, New Blood and further side projects ===
In 2009, Gabriel recorded Scratch My Back, an album of cover songs by various artists including David Bowie, Lou Reed, Arcade Fire, Radiohead, Regina Spektor and Neil Young. The original concept was for Gabriel to cover an artists' song if they, in turn, covered one of his for an album simultaneously released as I'll Scratch Yours, but several participants later declined or were late to deliver and it was placed on hold. Gabriel avoided using drums and guitar in favour of orchestral arrangements, and altered his usual songwriting method by finishing the vocals first and then the song, for which he collaborated with John Metcalfe. Released in February 2010, Scratch My Back reached No. 12 in the UK. Gabriel toured worldwide with the New Blood Tour from March 2010 to July 2012 with a 54-piece orchestra and his daughter Melanie and Norwegian singer-songwriter Ane Brun on backing vocals. The follow-up, And I'll Scratch Yours, was released in September 2013.
During the New Blood Tour, Gabriel decided to expand on the Scratch My Back concept and, with Metcalfe's assistance, re-record a collection of his own songs with an orchestra. The result, New Blood, was released in October 2011.
In September 2012, Gabriel kicked off his Back to Front Tour which featured So (1986) performed in its entirety with the original musicians who played on the album, to mark its 25th anniversary. When the opening leg finished a month later, Gabriel took one year off to travel the world with his children. The tour resumed with a European leg from September 2013 to December 2014.
In 2014, Gabriel was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist by Coldplay frontman Chris Martin. They performed Gabriel's "Washing of the Water" together. Gabriel performed "'Heroes'" by David Bowie with an orchestra at a concert in Berlin to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 2014.
In 2016, he was featured on the song "A.I." by American pop rock band OneRepublic from their fourth studio album Oh My My.
In June 2016, Gabriel released the single "I'm Amazing". The song was written several years prior, in part as a tribute to boxer Muhammad Ali. That month, he embarked on a joint tour with Sting titled The Rock Paper Scissors North American Tour.
Gabriel re-emerged in 2019 with the release of Rated PG, a compilation of songs that were created for film soundtracks throughout his career. The song selection spans over 30 years and includes tracks that had never been released on an official Gabriel album previously, including "Down to Earth" (from WALL-E) and "That'll Do" (from Babe: Pig in the City), an Oscar-nominated collaboration with Randy Newman. Initially only released on vinyl for Record Store Day on 13 April, the album was eventually released on digital streaming services later that month. Later that same year, Gabriel issued another digital release on 13 September titled Flotsam and Jetsam, a collection of B-sides, remixes and rarities that span Gabriel's entire solo career from 1976 to 2016, including his first solo recording, a cover of the Beatles' song "Strawberry Fields Forever".
=== 2022–present: I/O and O\I ===
By 2002, Gabriel had been continually working on what he had given the tentative title of I/O, his tenth studio album, which he had begun work on as early as 1995. It was originally set to be released 18 months after Up, but touring pushed the release far away. He did an interview with Rolling Stone in 2005 stating that he had 150 songs in various stages. From 2013 to 2016, he posted regularly on social media about recording the new album. In 2019, he spoke on BBC Radio 6 about how he had taken a hiatus from making music due to his wife being sick, but he had begun to return to it now that she had recovered. In 2021, he was interviewed multiple times about his new album, and revealed that he had been recording with Manu Katché, Tony Levin and David Rhodes on 17 new songs. He posted multiple photos to his Facebook and Instagram of these sessions. In June 2022, Katché told the French magazine L'Illustré that the album was nearly complete and would be released later that year, pending an official announcement.
In November 2022, Gabriel announced his upcoming I/O The Tour for the spring of 2023 across several European cities, with later dates to be confirmed for the North America leg of the tour for the late summer/fall of 2023. This announcement also confirmed the name of the upcoming album to be stylised as I/O. The first single from the album, "Panopticom", was released digitally on 6 January 2023. A new piece from the album was released on the date of each full moon in 2023, as well as a different mix of the song on each new moon in 2023, starting with the Dark Side Mix of "Panopticom". On 5 February, Gabriel released "The Court", the second single from the album. On 7 March, Gabriel released the third single, "Playing for Time". A basic arrangement of the song featuring only Gabriel on piano and Levin on bass had already opened the shows on the Back to Front Tour, by the name of "Daddy Long Legs". The title track "I/O" was the fourth single released on 6 April. On 5 May, Peter Gabriel released the fifth single from the album, "Four Kinds of Horses", a track which is a collaboration with Brian Eno and Richard Russell. The sixth single, "Road to Joy", was released on 4 June. Six more singles were released, separately, within the next six months—"So Much", "Olive Tree", "Love Can Heal", "This Is Home", "And Still" and "Live and Let Live"—before I/O was finally released on 1 December 2023.
One day prior to I/O's release, Gabriel told The New York Times that he did not expect a follow-up album (which he described as his "brain project") to take another 21 years, saying that "there's a lot of stuff in the can" but added that the material was not yet finished.
Additionally, Gabriel stated in his November 2023 Full Moon update video that the track "What Lies Ahead" will be on "the next record". He performed "What Lies Ahead" several times in 2023 and it was a contender for I/O. In February 2025, Gabriel revealed to Mojo that he was working on the follow-up to I/O: "It will be called O/I [...] that's I/O backwards." The first song from O\I, "Been Undone", was released on streaming platforms on 3 January 2026. Gabriel will continue releasing songs from the project on days that correlate to the full moon.
== Artistry ==
Stylistically, Gabriel's music has been alternately described by music writers as progressive rock, art rock, art pop, worldbeat, post-progressive and progressive soul. According to Rolling Stone journalist Ryan Reed, Gabriel has developed in all as an "art-rock innovator, soul-pop craftsman, [and] 'world music' ambassador" over the course of his career, while music scholar Gregg Akkermann argues that, despite his progressive rock origins, he has "managed to attract fans from across the spectrum: prog rock, alternative rock, world beat, blue-eyed soul, dance music, the college crowd, the teens, Americans and Europeans". More broadly, AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine says Gabriel emerged during the 1980s as "one of rock's most ambitious, innovative musicians", as well as "an international pop star".
Gabriel has worked with a relatively stable crew of musicians and recording engineers throughout his solo career. Bass and Stick player Tony Levin has performed on every Gabriel studio album and every live tour except for Scratch My Back (2010), the soundtracks Passion (1989) and Long Walk Home (2002), and the New Blood Tour. Guitarist David Rhodes has been Gabriel's guitarist of choice since 1979. Prior to So (1986), Jerry Marotta was Gabriel's preferred drummer, both in the studio and on the road. (For the So and Us albums and tours Marotta was replaced by Manu Katché, who was then replaced by Ged Lynch on parts of the Up album and all of the subsequent tour). Gabriel is known for choosing top-flight collaborators, from co-producers such as Ezrin, Fripp, Lillywhite and Lanois to musicians such as Natalie Merchant, Elizabeth Fraser, L. Shankar, Trent Reznor, Youssou N'Dour, Larry Fast, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Sinéad O'Connor, Kate Bush, Ane Brun, Paula Cole, John Giblin, Dave Gregory, Peter Hammill, Papa Wemba, Manu Katché, Bayete, Milton Nascimento, Phil Collins, Stewart Copeland and OneRepublic.
Over the years, Gabriel has collaborated with singer Kate Bush several times; Bush provided backing vocals for Gabriel's "Games Without Frontiers" and "No Self Control" in 1980, and female lead vocal for "Don't Give Up" (a top 10 hit in the UK) in 1986, and Gabriel appeared on her television special. Their duet of Roy Harper's "Another Day" was discussed for release as a single, but never appeared.
He also collaborated with avant-garde artist Laurie Anderson on two versions of her composition "Excellent Birds"—one for her second album Mister Heartbreak (1984), and another version called "This is the Picture (Excellent Birds)", which appeared on original cassette and CD versions, and all versions past 2002, of So.
Gabriel sang (along with Jim Kerr of Simple Minds) on "Everywhere I Go", from the Call's 1986 studio album, Reconciled. On Toni Childs' 1994 studio album, The Woman's Boat, Gabriel sang on the track, "I Met a Man".
In 1998, Gabriel appeared on the soundtrack of Babe: Pig in the City as the lead vocalist of the song "That'll Do", written by Randy Newman. The song was nominated for an Academy Award, and Gabriel and Newman performed it at the following year's Oscar telecast. He performed a similar soundtrack appearance for the 2004 film Shall We Dance?, singing a cover version of "The Book of Love" by the Magnetic Fields.
In 1987, Gabriel appeared on Robbie Robertson's self-titled solo studio album, singing on "Fallen Angel"; co-wrote two Tom Robinson singles; and appeared on Joni Mitchell's 1988 studio album Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm, on the opening track "My Secret Place".
In 2001, Gabriel contributed lead vocals to the song "When You're Falling" on Afro Celt Sound System's Volume 3: Further in Time. In the summer of 2003, Gabriel performed in Ohio with a guest performance by Uzbek singer Sevara Nazarkhan.
Gabriel collaborated on tracks with electronic musician BT, who also worked on the OVO soundtrack with him. The tracks were never released, as the computers they were contained on were stolen from BT's home in California. He also sang the lyrics for Deep Forest on their theme song for the movie Strange Days (1995). In addition, Gabriel has appeared on Angelique Kidjo's 2007 studio album Djin Djin, singing on the song "Salala".
Gabriel has recorded a cover of the Vampire Weekend single "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" with Hot Chip, where his name is mentioned several times in the chorus. He substitutes the original line "But this feels so unnatural / Peter Gabriel too / This feels so unnatural/ Peter Gabriel too" with "It feels so unnatural / Peter Gabriel too / and it feels so unnatural / to sing your own name."
Gabriel collaborated with Arcade Fire on their 2022 studio album, We. He sang backing vocals on the track "Unconditional II (Race and Religion)".
== WOMAD and other projects ==
Gabriel's interest in world music was first apparent on his third solo studio album. According to Spencer Kornhaber in The Atlantic in 2019: "When Peter Gabriel moved toward 'world music' four decades ago, he not only evangelized sounds that were novel to Western pop. He also set a radio template: majestic, with flourishes meant to read as 'exotic,' and lyrics meant to change lives." This influence has increased over time, and he co-founded the World of Music, Arts and Dance (WOMAD) festival in 1982. Gabriel said:
The first time I really got into music from another culture was as a result of the shifting of Radio 4, which I used to wake up to. I'd lost it on medium wave and was groping around in the morning on the dial, trying to find something that I could listen to, and came across a Dutch radio station who were playing the soundtrack from some obscure Stanley Baker movie called Dingaka. That had quite a lot of stuff from—I think it was—Ghana. I can't remember now, but it really moved me. One of the songs I heard on that was a thing called 'Shosholoza', which I recorded on the b-side of the 'Biko' single.
Gabriel created the Real World Studios and record label to facilitate the creation and distribution of such music by various artists, and he has worked to educate Western culture about such musicians as Yungchen Lhamo, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Youssou N'dour.
In the 1990s, with Steve Nelson of Brilliant Media and director Michael Coulson, he developed advanced multimedia CD-ROM-based entertainment projects, creating Xplora (the world's largest-selling music CD-ROM), and subsequently the EVE CD-ROM. EVE was a music and art adventure game directed by Michael Coulson and co-produced by the Starwave Corporation in Seattle; it won the Milia d'Or award Grand Prize at the Cannes in 1996.
In 1990, Gabriel lent his backing vocals to Ugandan political exile Geoffrey Oryema's "Land of Anaka", appearing on Oryema's first studio album Exile, released on Gabriel's Real World label.
In 1994, Gabriel starred in Breck Eisner's short film Recon as a detective who enters the minds of murder victims to find their killer's identity.
Gabriel helped pioneer a new realm of musical interaction in 2001, visiting Georgia State University's Language Research Center to participate in keyboard jam sessions with bonobo apes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (This experience inspired the song "Animal Nation", which was performed on Gabriel's 2002 "Growing Up" tour and was featured on the Growing Up Live DVD and The Wild Thornberrys Movie soundtrack.) Gabriel's desire to bring attention to the intelligence of primates also took the form of ApeNet, a project that aimed to link great apes through the internet, enabling the first interspecies internet communication.
Gabriel was one of the founders of on Demand Distribution (OD2), one of the first online music download services. Prior to its closure in 2009, its technology had been used by over 100 music download sites including MSN Music UK, MyCokeMusic, Planet Internet (KPN), Wanadoo and CD WOW!. OD2 was bought by US company Loudeye in June 2004 and subsequently by Finnish mobile giant Nokia in October 2006 for $60 million.
Gabriel is co-founder (with Brian Eno) of a musicians union called Mudda, short for "magnificent union of digitally downloading artists".
In 2000, Gabriel collaborated with Zucchero, Anggun and others in a charity for kids with AIDS. Erick Benzi wrote words and music and Patrick Bruel, Stephan Eicher, Faudel, Lokua Kanza, Laam, Nourith, Axelle Red have accepted to sing it.
In 2003, Gabriel contributed a song for the video game Uru: Ages Beyond Myst. In 2004, Gabriel contributed another song ("Curtains") and contributed voice work on another game in the Myst franchise, Myst IV: Revelation.
In June 2005, Gabriel and broadcast industry entrepreneur David Engelke purchased Solid State Logic, a manufacturer of mixing consoles and digital audio workstations. In 2017, the company was sold to the Audiotonix Group.
In May 2008, Gabriel's Real World Studios, in partnership with Bowers & Wilkins, started the Bowers & Wilkins Music Club—later known as Society of Sound—a subscription-based music retail site. Albums are currently available in either Apple Lossless or FLAC format.
Gabriel is one of the founding supporters of the annual global event Asteroid Day.
== Activist for humanitarian causes ==
In 1986, Gabriel started what has become a longstanding association with Amnesty International, becoming a pioneering participant in all 28 of Amnesty's Human rights concerts—a series of music events and tours staged by the US Section of Amnesty International between 1986 and 1998. He performed during the six-concert A Conspiracy of Hope US tour in June 1986; the twenty-concert Human Rights Now! world tour in 1988; the Chile: Embrace of Hope Concert in 1990 and at The Paris Concert for Amnesty International in 1998. He also performed in Amnesty's Secret Policeman's Ball benefit shows in collaboration with other artists and friends such as Lou Reed, David Gilmour of Pink Floyd and Youssou N'Dour; Gabriel closed those concerts performing his anti-apartheid anthem "Biko".
He spoke of his support for Amnesty on NBC's Today Show in 1986.
Gabriel has a longstanding interest in human rights and launched Witness, a charity that trains human rights activists to use video and online technologies to expose human rights abuses. In 2006, his work with Witness and his long-standing support of peace and human rights causes was recognised by the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates with the Man of Peace award. In November 2007, Witness launched The Hub, a participatory media site for human rights.
In 1995, Gabriel and Cape Verdean human rights activist Vera Duarte were awarded the North–South Prize in its inaugural year.
In the late 1990s, Gabriel and entrepreneur Richard Branson discussed with Nelson Mandela their idea of a small, dedicated group of leaders, working objectively and without any vested personal interest to solve difficult global conflicts. On 18 July 2007, in Johannesburg, South Africa, Nelson Mandela announced the formation of a new group, The Elders, in a speech he delivered on the occasion of his 89th birthday. Kofi Annan served as Chair of the Elders and Gro Harlem Brundtland as deputy chair. The other members of the group are Martti Ahtisaari, Ela Bhatt, Lakhdar Brahimi, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Jimmy Carter, Hina Jilani, Graça Machel, Mary Robinson and Ernesto Zedillo. Desmond Tutu was an Honorary Elder, as was Nelson Mandela. The Elders is independently funded by a group of donors, including Branson and Gabriel, and use their collective skills to catalyse peaceful resolutions to long-standing conflicts, articulate new approaches to global issues that are causing or may later cause immense human suffering, and share wisdom by helping to connect voices all over the world. They work together to consider carefully which specific issues to approach.
In September 2008, Gabriel was named as the recipient of Amnesty International's 2008 Ambassador of Conscience Award. In the same month, he received Quadriga United We Care award of Werkstatt Deutschland along with Boris Tadić, Eckart Höfling and Wikipedia. The award was presented to him by Queen Silvia of Sweden.
In 2010, Gabriel lent his support to the campaign to release Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, an Iranian Azeri woman who was sentenced to death by stoning after being convicted of committing adultery.
In December 2013, Gabriel posted a video message in tribute to the deceased former South African president and anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela. Gabriel was quoted:
To come out of 27 years in jail and to immediately set about building a Rainbow Nation with your sworn enemy is a unique and extraordinary example of courage and forgiveness. In this case, Mandela had seen many of his people beaten, imprisoned and murdered, yet he was still willing to trust the humanity and idealism of those who had been the oppressors, without whom he knew he could not achieve an almost peaceful transition of power. There is no other example of such inspirational leadership in my lifetime.
Gabriel has criticised Air France for their continued transport of monkeys to laboratories. In a letter to the airline, Gabriel wrote that in laboratories, "primates are violently force-fed chemicals, inflicted with brain damage, crippled, addicted to cocaine or alcohol, deprived of food and water, or psychologically tormented and ultimately killed."
In March 2014, Gabriel publicly supported #withsyria, a campaign to rally support for victims of the Syrian Civil War.
In November 2014, Gabriel, along with Pussy Riot and Iron & Wine supported Hong Kong protesters at Hong Kong's Lennon Wall in their efforts.
In March 2015, Gabriel was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of South Australia in recognition of his commitment to creativity and its transformational power in building peace and understanding.
He composed the song "The Veil" for Oliver Stone's film Snowden (2016).
== Political views ==
Gabriel has been described as one of rock's most political musicians by AllMusic. In 1992, on the 20th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday massacre, Gabriel joined Peter Hain, Jeremy Corbyn, Tony Benn, Ken Loach, John Pilger and Adrian Mitchell in voicing his support for a demonstration in London calling for British withdrawal from Northern Ireland.
At the 1997 general election, he declared his support for the Labour Party, which won that election by a landslide after 18 years out of power, led by Tony Blair. In 1998, he was named in a list of the biggest private financial donors to Labour. He subsequently distanced himself from the Labour government following Blair's support for George W. Bush and Britain's involvement in the Iraq War, which he strongly opposed. Gabriel later explained his decision for funding Labour, saying, "after all those years of Thatcher, that was the only time I've put money into a political party because I wanted to help get rid of the Tory government of that time."
At the 2005 general election, Gabriel gave a Green Party of England and Wales candidate special permission to record a cover of his song "Don't Give Up" for his campaign. In 2010, The Guardian described Gabriel as "a staunch advocate of proportional representation". In 2013, he stated that he had become more interested in online petitioning organisations to effect change than traditional party politics.
In 2012, Gabriel condemned the use of his music by the American conservative talk radio personality Rush Limbaugh during a controversial segment in which Limbaugh vilified Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke. A statement on behalf of Gabriel read: "Peter was appalled to learn that his music was linked to Rush Limbaugh's extraordinary attack on Sandra Fluke. It is obvious from anyone that knows Peter's work that he would never approve such a use. He has asked his representatives to make sure his music is withdrawn and especially from these unfair, aggressive and ignorant comments."
In 2016, Gabriel supported the UK's continued membership of the European Union in the referendum on the issue.
Gabriel has declared his support for the two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. In 2014, he contributed songs to a new compilation album to raise funds for humanitarian organisations aiding Palestinian Arabs in Gaza. Gabriel was quoted: "I am certain that Israelis and Palestinians will both benefit from a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders. We have watched Palestinians suffer for too long, especially in Gaza. I am not, and never was, anti-Israeli or anti-Semitic, but I oppose the policy of the Israeli government, oppose injustice and oppose the occupation ... I am proud to be one of the voices asking the Israeli government: 'Where is the two-state solution that you wanted so much?' and clearly say that enough is enough." In 2019, Gabriel was among 50 artists who urged the BBC to ask for the Eurovision Song Contest to be moved out of Israel, citing human rights concerns. In 2023, Gabriel signed the Artists4Ceasefire open letter to President Joe Biden calling for a ceasefire during the Gaza war.
Gabriel has been in support of the Armenian genocide recognition. In October 2020, he posted a message on social media in support of Armenia and Artsakh in regards to the Nagorno-Karabakh war. He said, "The fighting that has now broken out between Azerbaijan and Armenia is really horrific and we need to lobby whoever we can to encourage a ceasefire, but hearing reports that President Erdoğan has now lined up 80,000 Turkish troops on the Armenian border is a terrifying prospect, full of the dark echoes of history."
== Personal life ==
Gabriel has married twice and has four children. In 1971, at age 21, he married Jill Moore, daughter of Baron Philip Moore. They had two daughters, one of whom, Anna-Marie, is a filmmaker who filmed and directed Gabriel's live DVDs Growing Up on Tour: A Family Portrait (2003), Still Growing Up: Live & Unwrapped (2005) and some of his music videos. Melanie is a musician who had been a backing vocalist in her father's band in 2002–2011. Both daughters appear in the final sequence of the video for their father's song "Sledgehammer".
Gabriel's marriage became increasingly strained, culminating in Moore's affair with David Lord, the co-producer of Gabriel's fourth studio album. After the couple divorced in 1987, Gabriel fell into a period of depression and attended therapy sessions for six years.
For a time after his divorce, Gabriel lived with American actress Rosanna Arquette. In 2021, Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor said that she maintained an on-and-off relationship with Gabriel in the wake of his divorce. She ended the relationship because of her frustration with his lack of commitment, which inspired her single "Thank You for Hearing Me".
Gabriel married Meabh Flynn in 2002, with whom he has two sons.
Gabriel has resided in Wiltshire for many years and runs Real World Studios from Box, Wiltshire. He previously lived in the Woolley Valley near Bath, Somerset. In 2010, he joined a campaign to stop agricultural development in the valley, which had also inspired his first solo single, "Solsbury Hill", in 1977.
== Discography ==
Studio albums
Peter Gabriel (1977; known as Peter Gabriel 1 and Car)
Peter Gabriel (1978; known as Peter Gabriel 2 and Scratch)
Peter Gabriel (1980; known as Peter Gabriel 3 and Melt)
Peter Gabriel (1982; known as Peter Gabriel 4 and Security)
So (1986)
Us (1992)
Up (2002)
Scratch My Back (2010)
New Blood (2011)
I/O (2023)
O\I (2026)
Soundtracks
Birdy (1985)
Passion (1989)
OVO (2000)
Long Walk Home (2002)
== Awards and nominations == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1936_Winter_Olympics | 1936 Winter Olympics | The 1936 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IV Olympic Winter Games (German: IV. Olympische Winterspiele) and commonly known as Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936, were a winter multi-sport event held from 6 to 16 February 1936 in the market town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Later that year, the country also hosted the 1936 Summer Olympics, which were held in Berlin. It was the last year in which the Summer and Winter Games both took place in the same country (the cancelled 1940 Olympics would have been held in Japan, with Tokyo hosting the Summer Games and Sapporo hosting the Winter Games).
The 1936 Winter Games were organized on behalf of the German League of the Reich for Physical Exercise (DRL) by Karl Ritter von Halt, who had been named president of the committee for the organization of the Fourth Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen by Reichssportführer Hans von Tschammer und Osten.
== Organization and politics ==
While the 1936 Summer Olympics held in Berlin months later have attracted extensive examination for the Nazi Party's spectacles and the accompanying racial controversies, including the exclusion of most Jewish athletes and Jesse Owens's achievements, the Winter Games took place five months earlier and saw some of the same efforts by Adolf Hitler's propaganda machine.
Winter sports were only accepted by the Nazi Party because the Italian dictator Mussolini promoted skiing. The middle class was encouraged to visit ski resorts. In 1936 more than 550,000 winter sports tourists visited Italy. Stylish skiing with Aryan looks was graphic designed by the propaganda artist Ludwig Hohlwein. Globally, there had been efforts to initiate boycotts from different countries, and a number of Jewish athletes faced pressure not to participate in an event held in a nation ruled by a blatantly antisemitic regime.
The Nazis took steps to soften the appearance of their harsher policies before visitors from other nations arrived, such as removing antisemitic signage that was common in Germany, and – under pressure from a potential American boycott and Olympic officials – allowing the Jewish athlete Rudi Ball to play on Germany's ice hockey team. German troops moved back into the demilitarized Rhineland for the Winter Games. A few weeks before the Games began, William L. Shirer, the Berlin correspondent for the Universal wire service, wrote a series of articles describing preparations for the competition. He concluded, "that the Nazis at Garmisch had pulled down all the signs saying that Jews are unwanted (they're all over Germany) and that the Olympic visitors would thus be spared any signs of the kind of treatment meted out to Jews in this country."
None of the member nations boycotted the Winter Games, and 49 in all participated, the greatest number at that time. The Games were completed with a minimum of political controversy, although the Canadian skiing team raised their arms in what appeared to be a Nazi salute as they entered the opening ceremonies. The German crowd erupted in applause at the salute, which was later explained as the "Olympic Salute" that was identical to the Nazi version but with the arm extended laterally instead of forward.
However, even Shirer was impressed by the effectiveness of the Nazis' efforts, writing:
Twelve days after the Games closed, Hitler sent German troops to remilitarize the Rhineland, his first territorial violation of the Treaty of Versailles and a critical test of European resolve to resist Germany's military expansion.
== Highlights ==
German skier Willy Bogner took the Olympic oath during the opening ceremonies.
Alpine skiing made its first appearance in the Winter Olympics as the combined, which added a skier's results in both the downhill and slalom. German athletes Franz Pfnür and Christl Cranz won the men's and women's alpine events, respectively.
Ivar Ballangrud won three out of the four speed skating races.
Sonja Henie won her third consecutive gold medal in woman's figure skating.
Switzerland won the four-man bobsled competition with a time of 5:19.85.
Great Britain upset 1932 gold medalists Canada in ice hockey when Edgar Brenchley scored the winning goal within the last 90 seconds.
Norway won the overall games with a total of seven gold medals, five silver medals and three bronze medals.
The 1936 Winter Olympics presented the largest and heaviest medals ever awarded to athletes: 100 mm (3.9 in) diameter, 4 mm (0.16 in) thick and weighing 324 g (11.4 oz).
== Sports ==
Medals were awarded in 17 events contested in four sports (eight disciplines).
Bobsleigh (2) ()
Ice hockey (1) ()
Skating
Figure skating (3) ()
Speed skating (4) ()
Skiing
Alpine skiing (2) ()
Nordic skiing ()
Cross-country skiing (3) ()
Nordic combined (1) ()
Ski jumping (1) ()
=== Demonstration sports ===
Military patrol
Ice stock sport
== Venues ==
Große Olympiaschanze – Cross-country skiing, Nordic combined, Opening and Closing Ceremonies, and Ski Jumping.
Gudiberg – Alpine skiing (combined – slalom)
Kreuzjoch – Alpine skiing (combined – downhill)
Kreuzeck – Alpine skiing (downhill finish line)
Olympia-Kunsteisstadion – Figure skating and Ice hockey
Riessersee and surrounding areas – Bobsleigh, Ice hockey, and Speed skating
== Participating nations ==
A total of 28 nations sent athletes to compete in Germany. Australia, Bulgaria, Greece, Liechtenstein, Spain and Turkey all made their Winter Olympics debut, and Estonia, Latvia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Yugoslavia returned after having missed the 1932 Winter Olympics.
=== Number of athletes by National Olympic Committee (from highest to lowest) ===
== Medal count ==
* Host nation (Germany)
=== Podium sweeps === |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonar_Law | Bonar Law | Andrew Bonar Law (; 16 September 1858 – 30 October 1923) was a British statesman and politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from October 1922 to May 1923.
Law was born in the British colony of New Brunswick (now a Canadian province). He was of Scottish and Ulster Scots descent and moved to Scotland in 1870. He left school aged sixteen to work in the iron industry, becoming a wealthy man by the age of thirty. He entered the House of Commons at the 1900 general election, relatively late in life for a front-rank politician; he was made a junior minister, Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade, in 1902. Law joined the Shadow Cabinet in opposition after the 1906 general election. In 1911, he was appointed a Privy Councillor, before standing for the vacant party leadership. Despite never having served in the Cabinet and trailing third after Walter Long and Austen Chamberlain, Law became leader when the two front-runners withdrew rather than risk a draw splitting the party.
As Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition, Law focused his attentions in favour of tariff reform and against Irish Home Rule. His campaigning helped turn Liberal attempts to pass the Third Home Rule Bill into a three-year struggle eventually halted by the start of World War I, with much argument over the status of the six counties in Ulster which would later become Northern Ireland, four of which were predominantly Protestant.
Law first held Cabinet office as Secretary of State for the Colonies in H. H. Asquith's Coalition Government (May 1915 – December 1916). Upon Asquith's fall from power he declined to form a government, instead becoming Chancellor of the Exchequer in David Lloyd George's Coalition Government. He resigned on grounds of ill health early in 1921. In October 1922, with Lloyd George's Coalition having become unpopular with the Conservatives, he wrote a letter to the press giving only lukewarm support to the Government's actions over Chanak. After Conservative MPs voted to end the Coalition, he again became party leader and, this time, prime minister. Bonar Law won a clear majority at the 1922 general election, and his brief premiership saw negotiation with the United States over Britain's war loans. Seriously ill with throat cancer, Law resigned in May 1923, and died later that year. He was the fourth shortest-serving prime minister of the United Kingdom (211 days in office).
== Early life and education ==
Andrew Bonar Law was born on 16 September 1858 in Kingston (now Five Rivers), New Brunswick, to the Reverend James Law, a minister of the Free Church of Scotland, and his wife Eliza Kidston Law. He was of Scottish and Irish (mainly Ulster Scots) ancestry. At the time of his birth, New Brunswick was still a separate colony, as the Canadian Confederation was not formed until 1867.
His mother originally wanted to name him after Robert Murray M'Cheyne, a preacher she greatly admired, but as his older brother was already called Robert, he was instead named after Andrew Bonar, a biographer of M'Cheyne. Throughout his life he was always called Bonar by his family and close friends, never Andrew. He originally signed his name as A. B. Law, changing to A. Bonar Law in his thirties. He was referred to as Bonar Law by the public.
James Law was the minister for several isolated townships, and had to travel between them by horse, boat and on foot. To supplement the family income, he bought a small farm on the Richibucto River, which Bonar helped tend along with his brothers Robert, William and John, and his sister Mary. Studying at the local village school, Law did well at his studies, and it is here that he was first noted for his excellent memory. After Eliza Law died in 1861, her sister Janet travelled to New Brunswick from her home in Scotland to look after the Law children. When James Law remarried in 1870, his new wife took over Janet's duties, and Janet decided to return home to Scotland. She suggested that Bonar Law should go with her, as the Kidston family were wealthier and better connected than the Laws, and Bonar would have a more privileged upbringing. Both James and Bonar accepted this, Bonar's father then accompanied him on his move to his aunt's. Bonar would never return to Kingston.
Law went to live at Janet's house in Helensburgh, near Glasgow. Her brothers Charles, Richard and William were partners in the family merchant bank Kidston & Sons, and as only one of them had married (and produced no heir) it was generally accepted that Law would inherit the firm, or at least play a role in its management when he was older. Immediately upon arriving from Kingston, Law began attending Gilbertfield House School, a preparatory school in Hamilton. In 1873, aged fourteen, he transferred to the High School of Glasgow, where with his good memory he showed a talent for languages, excelling in Greek, German and French. During this period, he first began to play chess – he would carry a board on the train between Helensburgh and Glasgow, challenging other commuters to matches. He eventually became a very good amateur player, and competed with internationally renowned chess masters. Despite his good academic record, it became obvious at Glasgow that he was better suited to business than to university, and when he was sixteen, Law left school to become a clerk at Kidston & Sons.
== Business career ==
At Kidston & Sons, Law received a nominal salary, on the understanding that he would gain a "commercial education" from working there that would serve him well as a businessman. In 1885 the Kidston brothers decided to retire, and agreed to merge the firm with the Clydesdale Bank.
The merger would have left Law without a job and with poor career-prospects, but the retiring brothers found him a job with William Jacks, an iron merchant who had started pursuing a parliamentary career. The Kidston brothers lent Law the money to buy a partnership in Jacks' firm, and with Jacks himself no longer playing an active part in the company, Law effectively became the managing partner. Working long hours (and insisting that his employees did likewise), Law turned the firm into one of the most profitable iron merchants in the Glaswegian and Scottish markets.
During this period Law became a "self-improver"; despite his lack of formal university education, Law sought to test his intellect, attending lectures given at Glasgow University and joining the Glasgow Parliamentary Debating Association, which adhered as closely as possible to the layout of the real Parliament of the United Kingdom. This helped Law hone the skills that served him so well in the political arena.
By the time he was thirty, Law had established himself as a successful businessman. He had time to devote to more leisurely pursuits. He remained an avid chess player, whom Andrew Harley called "a strong player, touching first-class amateur level, which he had attained by practice at the Glasgow Club in earlier days". Law also worked with the Parliamentary Debating Association, and took up golf, tennis and walking. In 1888 he moved out of the Kidston household and set up his own home at Seabank, with his sister Mary (who had earlier come over from Canada) acting as the housekeeper.
In 1890, Law met Annie Pitcairn Robley, the 24-year-old daughter of a Glaswegian merchant, Harrington Robley. They quickly fell in love, and married on 24 March 1891. Little is known of Law's wife, as most of her letters have been lost. It is known that she was much liked in both Glasgow and London, and that her death in 1909 hit Law hard; despite his relatively young age and prosperous career, he never remarried. The couple had six children: James Kidston (1893–1917), Isabel Harrington (1895–1969), Charles John (1897–1917), Harrington (1899–1958), Richard Kidston (1901–1980), and Catherine Edith (1905–1992).
Law's second son, Charlie, a lieutenant in the King's Own Scottish Borderers, was killed at the Second Battle of Gaza in April 1917. His eldest son, James, a captain in the Royal Fusiliers, was shot down and killed on 21 September 1917. The deaths made Law even more melancholy and depressed than before. The youngest son, Richard, later served as a Conservative MP and minister. Isabel married Sir Frederick Sykes (in the early years of World War I, she had been engaged for a time to the Australian war correspondent Keith Murdoch) and Catherine married, firstly, Kent Colwell and, much later, in 1961, The 1st Baron Archibald.
== Entry into politics ==
In 1897, Law was asked to become the Conservative Party candidate for the parliamentary seat of Glasgow Bridgeton. Soon after he was offered another seat, this one in Glasgow Blackfriars and Hutchesontown, which he took instead of Glasgow Bridgeton. Blackfriars was not a seat with high prospects attached; a working-class area, it had returned Liberal Party MPs since it was created in 1884, and the incumbent, Andrew Provand, was highly popular. Although the election was not due until 1902, the events of the Second Boer War forced the Conservative government to call a general election in 1900, later known as the khaki election. The campaign was unpleasant for both sides, with anti- and pro-war campaigners fighting vociferously, but Law distinguished himself with his oratory and wit. When the results came in on 4 October, Law was returned to Parliament with a majority of 1,000, overturning Provand's majority of 381. He immediately ended his active work at Jacks and Company (although he retained his directorship) and moved to London.
Law initially became frustrated with the slow speed of Parliament compared to the rapid pace of the Glasgow iron market, and Austen Chamberlain recalled him saying to Chamberlain that "it was very well for men who, like myself had been able to enter the House of Commons young to adapt to a Parliamentary career, but if he had known what the House of Commons was he would never had entered at this stage". He soon learnt to be patient, however, and on 18 February 1901 made his maiden speech. Replying to anti-Boer War MPs, including David Lloyd George, Law used his excellent memory to quote sections of Hansard back to the opposition. These sections contained their previous speeches which supported and commended the policies which they now denounced. Although lasting only fifteen minutes and not a crowd- or press-pleaser (like the maiden speeches of F. E. Smith or Winston Churchill), his speech attracted the attention of the Conservative Party leaders.
== Tariff reform ==
Law's chance to make his mark came with the issue of tariff reform. To cover the costs of the Second Boer War, Lord Salisbury's Chancellor of the Exchequer (Michael Hicks Beach) suggested introducing import taxes or tariffs on foreign metal, flour and grain coming into Britain. Such tariffs had previously existed in Britain, but the last of these had been abolished in the 1870s because of the free trade movement. A duty was now introduced on imported corn. The issue became "explosive", dividing the British political world, and continued even after Salisbury retired and was replaced as prime minister by his nephew, Arthur Balfour.
Law took advantage of this, making his first major speech on 22 April 1902, in which he argued that while he felt a general tariff was unnecessary, an imperial customs union (which would put tariffs on items from outside the British Empire, instead of on every nation but Britain) was a good idea, particularly since other nations such as (Germany) and the United States had increasingly high tariffs. Using his business experience, he made a "plausible case" that there was no proof that tariffs led to increases in the cost of living, as the Liberals had argued. Again his memory came into good use – when William Harcourt accused Law of misquoting him, Law was able to precisely give the place in Hansard where Harcourt's speech was to be found.
As a result of Law's proven experience in business matters and his skill as an economic spokesman for the government, Balfour offered him the position of Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade when he formed his government, which Law accepted, and he was formally appointed on 11 August 1902.
As Parliamentary Secretary his job was to assist the President of the Board of Trade, Gerald Balfour. At the time the tariff reform controversy was brewing, led by the Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain, an ardent tariff reformer who "declared war" on free trade, and who persuaded the Cabinet that the Empire should be exempted from the new corn duty. After returning from a speaking tour of South Africa in 1903, Chamberlain found that the new Chancellor of the Exchequer (C. T. Ritchie) had instead abolished Hicks Beach's corn duty altogether in his budget. Angered by this, Chamberlain spoke at the Birmingham Town Hall on 15 May without the government's permission, arguing for an Empire-wide system of tariffs which would protect Imperial economies, forge the British Empire into one political entity and allow them to compete with other world powers.
The speech and its ideas split the Conservative Party and its coalition ally the Liberal Unionist Party into two wings – the Free Fooders, who supported free trade, and the Tariff Reformers, who supported Chamberlain's tariff reforms. Law was a dedicated Tariff Reformer, but whereas Chamberlain dreamed of a new golden age for Britain, Law focused on more mundane and practical goals, such as a reduction in unemployment. L. S. Amery said that to Law, the tariff reform programme was "a question of trade figures and not national and Imperial policy of expansion and consolidation of which trade was merely the economic factor". Keith Laybourn attributes Law's interest in tariff reform not only to the sound business practice that it represented but also that because of his place of birth "he was attracted by the Imperial tariff preference arrangements advocated by Joseph Chamberlain". Law's constituents in Blackfriars were not overly enthusiastic about tariff reform – Glasgow was a poor area at the time that had benefited from free trade.
In parliament, Law worked exceedingly hard at pushing for tariff reform, regularly speaking in the House of Commons and defeating legendary debaters such as Winston Churchill, Charles Dilke and H. H. Asquith, former home secretary and later prime minister. His speeches at the time were known for their clarity and common sense; Sir Ian Malcolm said that he made "the involved seem intelligible", and L. S. Amery said his arguments were "like the hammering of a skilled riveter, every blow hitting the nail on the head". Despite Law's efforts to forge consensus within the Conservatives, Balfour was unable to hold the two sides of his party together, and resigned as prime minister in December 1905, allowing the Liberals to form a government.
=== In opposition ===
The new prime minister, the Liberal Henry Campbell-Bannerman, immediately dissolved Parliament. Despite strong campaigning and a visit by Arthur Balfour, Law lost his seat in the ensuing general election. In total the Conservative Party and Liberal Unionists lost 245 seats, leaving them with only 157 members of parliament, the majority of them tariff reformers. Despite his loss, Law was at this stage such an asset to the Conservatives that an immediate effort was made to get him back into Parliament. The retirement of Frederick Rutherfoord Harris, MP for the safe Conservative seat of Dulwich, offered him a chance. Law was returned to Parliament in the ensuing by-election, increasing the Conservative majority to 1,279.
The party was struck a blow in July 1906, when two days after a celebration of his seventieth birthday, Joseph Chamberlain suffered a stroke and was forced to retire from public life. He was succeeded as leader of the tariff reformers by his son Austen Chamberlain, who despite previous experience as Chancellor of the Exchequer and enthusiasm for tariff reform was not as skilled a speaker as Law. As a result, Law joined Balfour's Shadow Cabinet as the principal spokesman for tariff reform. The death of Law's wife on 31 October 1909 led him to work even harder, treating his political career not only as a job but as a coping strategy for his loneliness.
==== The People's Budget and the House of Lords ====
Campbell-Bannerman resigned as prime minister in April 1908 and was replaced by H. H. Asquith. In 1909, he and his Chancellor of the Exchequer David Lloyd George introduced the People's Budget, which sought through increased direct and indirect taxes to redistribute wealth and fund social reform programmes. By parliamentary convention, financial and budget bills are not challenged by the House of Lords. But in this case, the predominantly Conservative and Liberal Unionist Lords rejected the bill on 30 April, setting off a constitutional crisis.
The Liberals called a general election for January 1910, and Law spent most of the preceding months campaigning up and down the country for other Unionist candidates and MPs, sure that his Dulwich seat was safe. He obtained an increased majority of 2,418. The overall result was more confused: the Conservatives gained 116 seats, bringing their total to 273, but this was still less than the Liberal caucus, and produced a hung parliament, as neither had a majority of the seats (the Irish Parliamentary Party, the Labour Party and the All-for-Ireland League took more than 120 seats in total). The Liberals remained in office with the support of the Irish Parliamentary Party. The Budget passed through the House of Commons a second time, and – as it now had an electoral mandate – was then approved by the House of Lords without a division.
However, the crisis over the Budget had highlighted a long-standing constitutional question: should the House of Lords be able to overturn bills passed by the House of Commons? The Liberal government introduced a bill in February 1910 which would prevent the House of Lords vetoing finance bills, and would force them to pass any bill which had been passed by the Commons in three sessions of Parliament.
This was immediately opposed by the Unionists, and both parties spent the next several months in a running battle over the bill. The Conservatives were led by Arthur Balfour and Lord Lansdowne, who headed the Conservatives in the House of Lords, while Law spent the time concentrating on the continuing problem of tariff reform. The lack of progress had convinced some senior Unionists that it would be a good idea to scrap tariff reform altogether. Law disagreed, successfully arguing that tariff reform "was the first constructive work of the [Conservative Party]" and that to scrap it would "split the Party from top to bottom".
With this success, Law returned to the constitutional crisis surrounding the House of Lords. The death of King Edward VII on 6 May 1910 prompted the leaders of the major political parties to meet secretly in a "Truce of God" to discuss the Lords. The meetings were kept almost entirely secret: apart from the party representatives, the only people aware were F. E. Smith, J. L. Garvin, Edward Carson and Law. The group met about twenty times at Buckingham Palace between June and November 1910, with the Unionists represented by Arthur Balfour, Lord Cawdor, Lord Lansdowne and Austen Chamberlain. The proposal presented at the conference by David Lloyd George was a coalition government with members of both major parties in the Cabinet and a programme involving Home Rule, Poor Law reforms, imperial reorganisation and possibly tariff reforms. The Home Rule proposal would have made the United Kingdom a federation, with "Home Rule All Round" for Scotland, Ireland, and England and Wales. In the end the plans fell through: Balfour told Lloyd George on 2 November that the proposal would not work, and the conference was dissolved a few days later.
==== December 1910 general election ====
With the failure to establish a political consensus after the January 1910 general election, the Liberals called a second general election in December. The Conservative leadership decided that a good test of the popularity of the tariff reform programme would be to have a prominent tariff reformer stand for election in a disputed seat. They considered Law a prime candidate, and after debating it for a month he guardedly agreed, enthusiastic about the idea but worried about the effect of a defeat on the Party. Law was selected as the candidate for Manchester North West, and became drawn into party debates about how strong a tariff reform policy should be put in their manifesto. Law personally felt that duties on foodstuffs should be excluded, something agreed to by Alexander Acland-Hood, Edward Carson and others at a meeting of the Constitutional Club on 8 November 1910, but they failed to reach a consensus and the idea of including or excluding food duties continued to be something that divided the party.
During the constitutional talks the Conservatives had demanded that, if the Lords' veto were removed, Irish Home Rule should only be permitted if approved by a UK-wide referendum. In response Lord Crewe, Liberal Leader in the Lords, had suggested sarcastically that tariff reform – a policy of questionable popularity because of the likelihood of increased prices on imported food – should also be submitted to a referendum. Arthur Balfour now announced to a crowd of 10,000 at the Royal Albert Hall that after the coming election, a Conservative Government would indeed submit tariff reform to a referendum, something he described as "Bonar Law's proposal" or the "Referendum Pledge". The suggestion was no more Law's than it was any of the dozens of Conservatives who had suggested this to Balfour, and his comment was simply an attempt to "pass the buck" and avoid the anger of Austen Chamberlain, who was furious that such an announcement had been made without consulting him or the party. While Law had written a letter to Balfour suggesting that a referendum would attract wealthy Conservatives, he said that "declaration would do no good with [the working class] and might damp enthusiasm of best workers".
Parliament was dissolved on 28 November, with the election to take place and polling to end by 19 December. The Conservative and Liberal parties were equal in strength, and with the continued support of the Irish Nationalists the Liberal Party remained in government. Law called his campaign in Manchester North West the hardest of his career; his opponent, George Kemp, was a war hero who had fought in the Second Boer War and a former Conservative who had joined the Liberal party because of his disagreement with tariff reform.
In the end, Law narrowly lost, with 5,114 votes to Kemp's 5,559, but the election turned him into a "genuine [Conservative] hero", and he later said that the defeat did "more for him in the party than a hundred victories". In 1911, with the Conservative Party unable to afford him being out of Parliament, Law was elected in a March 1911 by-election for the safe Conservative seat of Bootle. The Liberal attempt to curb the veto power of the House of Lords was now backed by a threat, if necessary, to create hundreds of Liberal peers. Law favoured surrender on pragmatic grounds, as a Unionist-dominated House of Lords would retain some ability to delay Liberal attempts to introduce Irish Home Rule, Welsh Disestablishment or electoral reforms gerrymandered to help the Liberal Party. In August 1911 enough Unionist peers abstained or voted in favour of the Liberal bill for it to pass as the Parliament Act 1911, ending that particular dispute.
== Leader of the Conservative Party ==
On the coronation of George V on 22 June 1911, Law was appointed as a Privy Councillor on the recommendation of the Prime Minister H. H. Asquith and Arthur Balfour. This was evidence of his seniority and importance within the Conservative Party. Balfour had become increasingly unpopular as Leader of the Conservative Party since the 1906 general election; tariff reformers saw his leadership as the reason for their electoral losses, and the "free fooders" had been alienated by Balfour's attempts to tame the zeal of the tariff reform faction. Balfour refused all suggestions of party reorganisation, until a meeting of senior Conservatives led by Lord Salisbury after the December 1910 electoral defeat issued an ultimatum demanding a review of party structure.
The defeat on the House of Lords issue turned a wing of the Conservative Party led by Henry Page Croft and his Reveille Movement, against Balfour. Leo Maxse began a Balfour Must Go campaign in his newspaper, the National Review, and by July 1911 Balfour was contemplating resignation. Law himself had no problem with Balfour's leadership, and along with Edward Carson attempted to regain support for him. By November 1911 it was accepted that Balfour was likely to resign, with the main competitors for the leadership being Law, Carson, Walter Long and Austen Chamberlain. When the elections began, Long and Chamberlain were the frontrunners; Chamberlain commanded the support of many tariff reformers, and Long that of the Irish Unionists. Carson immediately announced that he would not stand, and Law eventually announced that he would run for Leader, the day before Balfour resigned on 7 November.
At the beginning of the election Law held the support of no more than 40 of the 270 members of parliament; the remaining 230 were divided between Long and Chamberlain. Although Long believed he had the most MPs, his support was largely amongst backbenchers, and most of the whips and frontbenchers preferred Chamberlain.
With Long and Chamberlain almost neck-and-neck they called a meeting on 9 November to discuss the possibility of a deadlock. Chamberlain suggested that he would withdraw if this became a strong possibility, assuming Long did the same. Long, now concerned that his weak health would not allow him to survive the stress of party leadership, agreed. Both withdrew on 10 November, and on 13 November 232 MPs assembled at the Carlton Club, and Law was nominated as leader by Long and Chamberlain. With the unanimous support of the MPs, Law became Leader of the Conservative Party despite never having sat in Cabinet. Law's biographer, Robert Blake, wrote that he was an unusual choice to lead the Conservatives as a Presbyterian Canadian-Scots businessman had just become the leader of "the Party of Old England, the Party of the Anglican Church and the country squire, the party of broad acres and hereditary titles".
As leader, Law first "rejuvenated the party machine", selecting newer, younger and more popular whips and secretaries, elevating F. E. Smith and Lord Robert Cecil to the Shadow Cabinet and using his business acumen to reorganise the party, resulting in better relations with the press and local branches, along with the raising of a £671,000 "war chest" for the next general election: almost double that available at the previous one.
On 12 February 1912, he finally unified the two Unionist parties (Conservatives and Liberal Unionists) into the awkwardly named National Unionist Association of Conservative and Liberal-Unionist Organisations. From then on all were referred to as "Unionists" until the ratification of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1922, after which they became Conservatives again (though the name "Unionist" continued in use in Scotland and Northern Ireland).
In Parliament, Law introduced the so-called "new style" of speaking, with harsh, accusatory rhetoric, which dominates British politics to this day. This was as a counter to Arthur Balfour, known for his "masterly witticisms", because the party felt they needed a warrior-like figure. Law did not particularly enjoy his tougher manner, and at the State Opening of Parliament in February 1912 apologised directly to Asquith for his coming speech, saying, "I am afraid I shall have to show myself very vicious, Mr Asquith, this session. I hope you will understand." Law's "warrior king" figure helped unify the divided Conservatives into a single body, with him as the leader.
=== Social policy ===
During his early time as Conservative leader, the party's social policy was the most complicated and difficult to agree. In his opening speech as leader he said that the party would be one of principle, and would not be reactionary, instead sticking to their guns and holding firm policies. Despite this he left women's suffrage alone, leaving the party unwhipped and saying that "the less part we take in this question the better". In terms of social reform (legislation to improve the conditions of the poor and working classes) Law was similarly unenthusiastic, believing that the area was a Liberal one, in which they could not successfully compete. His response to a request by Lord Balcarres for a social programme was simply "As the [Liberal Party] refuse to formulate their policy in advance we should be equally absolved". His refusal to get drawn in may have actually strengthened his hold over Conservative MPs, many of whom were similarly uninterested in social reform.
In his first public speech as leader at the Royal Albert Hall on 26 January 1912 he listed his three biggest concerns: an attack on the Liberal government for failing to submit Home Rule to a referendum; tariff reform; and the Conservative refusal to let the Ulster Unionists be "trampled upon" by an unfair Home Rule bill. Both tariff reform and Ulster dominated his political work, with Austen Chamberlain saying that Law "once said to me that he cared intensely for only two things: Tariff Reform and Ulster; all the rest was only part of the game".
=== More tariff reform ===
After further review with members of his party, Law changed his initial beliefs on tariff reform and accepted the full package, including duties on foodstuffs. On 29 February 1912 the entire Conservative parliamentary body (i.e. both MPs and peers) met at Lansdowne House, with Lord Lansdowne chairing. Lansdowne argued that although the electorate might prefer the Conservative Party if they dropped food duties from their tariff reform plan, it would open them to accusations of bad faith and "poltroonery". Law endorsed Lansdowne's argument, pointing out that any attempt to avoid food duties would cause an internal party struggle and could only aid the Liberals, and that Canada, the most economically important colony and a major exporter of foodstuffs, would never agree to tariffs without British support of food duties.
Lord Salisbury, who opposed food duties, wrote to Law several weeks later suggesting they separate foodstuffs from tariff reform for the referendum. If the electorate liked food duties, they would vote for the entire package; if not, they did not have to. Law replied arguing that it would be impossible to do so effectively, and that with the increasing costs of defence and social programmes it would be impossible to raise the necessary capital except by comprehensive tariff reform. He argued that a failure to offer the entire tariff reform package would split the Conservative Party down the middle, offending the tariff reform faction, and that if such a split took place "I could not possibly continue as leader".
Law postponed withdrawing the tariff reform "Referendum Pledge" because of the visit of Robert Borden, the newly elected Conservative prime minister of Canada, to London planned for July 1912. Meeting with Borden on his arrival, Law got him to agree to make a statement about the necessity of Imperial tariff reform, promising reciprocal agreements and saying that failure by London to agree tariff reform would result in an "irresistible pressure" for Canada to make a treaty with another nation, most obviously the United States.
Law decided that the November party conference was the perfect time to announce the withdrawal of the Referendum Pledge, and that Lord Lansdowne should do it, because he had been leader in the House of Lords when the pledge was made and because of his relatively low profile during the original tariff reform dispute. When the conference opened the British political world was febrile; on 12 November the opposition had narrowly defeated the government on an amendment to the Home Rule Bill, and the next evening, amidst hysterical shouting from the opposition, Asquith attempted to introduce a motion reversing the previous vote. As the MPs filed out at the end of the day, Winston Churchill began taunting the opposition, and in his anger Ronald McNeil hurled a copy of Standing Orders of the House at Churchill, hitting him on the head. Law refused to condemn the events, and it seems apparent that while he had played no part in organising them, they had been planned by the party whips. As party leader, he was most likely aware of the plans even if he did not actively participate.
The conference was opened on 14 November 1912 by Lord Farquhar, who immediately introduced Lord Lansdowne. Lansdowne revoked the Referendum Pledge, saying that as the government had failed to submit Home Rule to a referendum, the offer that tariff reform would also be submitted was null and void. Lansdowne promised that when the Unionists took office they would "do so with a free hand to deal with tariffs as they saw fit". Law then rose to speak, and in line with his agreement to let Lansdowne speak for tariff reform mentioned it only briefly when he said "I concur in every word which has fallen from Lord Lansdowne". He instead promised a reversal of several Liberal policies when the Unionists came to power, including the disestablishment of the Welsh Church, land taxes, and Irish Home Rule. The crowd "cheered themselves hoarse" at Law's speech.
However, the reaction from the party outside the conference hall was not a positive one. Law had not consulted the local constituency branches about his plan, and several important constituency leaders led by Archibald Salvidge and Lord Derby planned for a meeting of the Lancashire party, the centre of discontent, on 21 December. Law was preoccupied with the problem of Irish Home Rule and was unable to give the discontent his full attention. He continued to believe that his approach to the problem of tariff reform was the correct one, and wrote to John Strachey on 16 November saying that "it was a case of a choice of two evils, and all that one could do was to take the lesser of the two, and that I am sure we have done". Speaking to Edward Carson, F.E. Smith, Austen Chamberlain and Lord Balcarres in December after two weeks of receiving negative letters from party members about the change, Law outlined that he would not be averse to a return to the previous policy considering the negative feelings from the party, but felt that this would require the resignation of both himself and Lansdowne.
Law again wrote to Strachey saying that he continued to feel this policy was the correct one, and only regretted that the issue was splitting the party at a time when unity was needed to fight the Home Rule problem. At the meeting of the Lancashire party the group under Derby condemned Law's actions and called for a three-week party recess before deciding what to do about the repeal of the Referendum Pledge. This was an obvious ultimatum to Law, giving him a three-week period to change his mind. Law believed that Derby was "unprincipled and treacherous", particularly since he then circulated a questionnaire among Lancashire party members with leading questions such as "do you think the abandonment of the referendum will do harm?" Law met the Lancashire party on 2 January 1913 and ordered that they must replace any food tariff based resolutions with a vote of confidence in him as a leader, and that any alternative would result in his resignation.
After a chance meeting at which Edward Carson learnt of Law and Lansdowne's acceptance of possible resignation, he was spurred to ask Edward Goulding to beg Law and Lansdowne to compromise over the policy and remain as leaders. The compromise, known as the January Memorial, was agreed by Carson, James Craig, Law and Lansdowne at Law's house between 6–8 January 1913, affirming the support of the signatories for Law and his policies, and noting that his resignation was not wanted.
Within two days 231 of the 280 Conservative MPs had signed it; 27 frontbenchers had not been invited, neither had five who were not in London, seven who were ill, the Speaker and a few others who could not be found – only eight MPs actively refused to sign. Law's official response took the form of an open letter published on 13 January 1913, in which Law offered a compromise that food duties would not be placed before Parliament to vote on until after a second, approving election took place.
=== Irish Home Rule ===
The January and December elections in 1910 destroyed the large Liberal majority, meaning they relied on the Irish Nationalists to maintain a government. As a result, they were forced to consider Home Rule, and with the passing of the Parliament Act 1911 which replaced the Lords' veto with a two-year power of delay on most issues, the Conservative Party became aware that unless they could dissolve Parliament or sabotage the Home Rule Bill, introduced in 1912, it would most likely become law by 1914.
As the child of an Ulster family who had spent much time in the area (his father had moved back there several years after Law moved to Scotland), Law believed the gap between Ulster Unionism and Irish Nationalism could never be crossed. Despite this he said little about Home Rule until the passing of the Parliament Act in 1911, calling it the "Home Rule in Disguise Act" and saying it was an attempt to change parliamentary procedures so as to allow Home Rule "through the back door".
After the act's passage, he made a speech in the Commons saying if the Liberals wished to pass a Home Rule Bill they should submit it to the electorate by calling a general election. His elevation to the leadership of the Conservative Party allowed him a platform to voice his opinion to the public, and his speeches (culminating with the January 1912 speech at the Royal Albert Hall) were centred on Home Rule as much as they were around tariff reform. In contrast to Balfour's "milk and water" opposition to Home Rule, Law presented a "fire and blood" opposition to Home Rule that at times seemed to suggest that he was willing to contemplate a civil war to stop Home Rule. Law stated he would not stop "from any action ... we think necessary to defeat one of the most ignoble conspiracies ... ever formed against the liberties of free-born men." As the Conservative Party was badly divided by the tariff issue, Law had decided to make opposition for Home Rule his signature issue as the best way of unifying the Conservative Party. Right form the start, Law presented his anti-Home Rule stance more in terms of protecting Protestant majority Ulster from being ruled by a Parliament in Dublin that would be dominated by Catholics than in terms of preserving the Union, much to the chagrin of many Unionists.
Law was supported by Sir Edward Carson, leader of the Ulster Unionists. Although Law sympathised with the Ulster Unionists politically he did not agree with the religious intolerance shown to Catholics. The passions unleashed by the Home Rule debate frequently threatened to get out of hand. In January 1912, when Winston Churchill planned to deliver a speech in favour of Home Rule in at the Ulster Hall in Belfast, the Ulster Unionist Council (UUC) threatened to use violence if necessary to stop Churchill from speaking. The legal scholar A. V. Dicey, himself an opponent of Home Rule, wrote in a letter to Law that the threats of violence were "the worst mistake" that undermined "the whole moral strength" of the Unionist movement. But as Carson admitted in a letter to Law, the situation in Belfast was beyond his control as many UUC members were also members of the Orange Order, and the prospect of Churchill's visit to Belfast had angered so many of his followers that he felt he had to threaten violence as the best possible way of stopping the planned speech instead of leaving it to his followers who might otherwise riot. As it was, Churchill agreed to cancel his speech in response to warnings that the police would not be able to guarantee his security. Besides for his concerns about the violence, Dicey was also worried about the way in which Law was more interested about stopping Home Rule from being imposed on Ulster, instead of all of Ireland, which seemed to imply he was willing to accept the partition of Ireland. Many Irish Unionists outside of Ulster felt abandoned by Law, who seemed to care only about Ulster.
==== Third Home Rule Bill ====
The 1912 session of Parliament opened on 14 February with a stated intent by the Liberal Party in the King's Speech to introduce a new Home Rule Bill. The bill was to be introduced on 11 April, and four days before that Law travelled to Ulster for a tour of the area. The pinnacle of this was a meeting on 9 April in the grounds of the Royal Agricultural Society near Balmoral (an area of Belfast), attended by seventy Unionist MPs and the Primate of All Ireland, and topped by "perhaps the largest Union Jack ever made" – 48 feet by 25 feet on a flagpole 90 feet high.
At the meeting both Law and Carson swore to the crowd that "never under any circumstances will we submit to Home Rule". However, the Parliament Act and the government majority made such a victory against the Bill unlikely unless the government could be brought down or Parliament dissolved. A second problem was that not all Unionists opposed Home Rule to the same degree; some hardcore Unionists would oppose any attempt at Home Rule, others thought it inevitable that the Bill would pass and were simply trying to get the best deal possible for Ulster. The spectre of civil war was also raised – the Ulstermen began to form paramilitary groups such as the Ulster Volunteers, and there was a strong possibility that if it came to fighting the British Army would have to be sent in to support the underfunded and understaffed Royal Irish Constabulary.
The argument of Law and the Unionists between 1912 and 1914 was based on three complaints. Firstly, Ulster would never accept forced Home Rule, and made up a quarter of Ireland; if the Liberals wanted to force this issue, military force would be the only way. Law thundered that "Do you plan to hurl the full majesty and power of the law, supported on the bayonets of the British Army, against a million Ulstermen marching under the Union Flag and singing 'God Save The King'? Would the Army hold? Would the British people – would the Crown – stand for such a slaughter?" A second complaint was that the government had so far refused to submit it to a general election, as Law had been suggesting since 1910. Law warned that "you will not carry this Bill without submitting it to the people of this country, and, if you make the attempt, you will succeed only in breaking our Parliamentary machine". The third complaint was that the Liberals had still not honoured the preamble of the Parliament Act 1911, which promised "to substitute for the House of Lords as it at present exists a Second Chamber constituted on a popular instead of a hereditary basis". The Unionist argument was that the Liberals were trying to make a massive constitutional change while the constitution was suspended. In May 1912, Law was told by the Conservative whip Lord Balcarres that outside of Ireland "the electors are apathetic" about Home Rule, suggesting that he should de-emphasis the topic.
In July 1912, Asquith travelled to Dublin (the first sitting prime minister to do so in over a century) to make a speech, ridiculing Unionist demands for a referendum on the issue via an election and calling their campaign "purely destructive in its objects, anarchic and chaotic in its methods". In response the Unionists had a meeting on 27 July at Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Winston Churchill, one of Asquith's ministers. More than 13,000 people attended, including over 40 peers. In Law's speech he said "I said so to [the Liberals] and I say so now, with the full sense of the responsibility which attaches to my position, that if the attempt be made under present conditions, I can imagine no length of resistance to which Ulster will go, in which I shall not be ready to support them, and in which they will not be supported by the overwhelming majority of the British people". Law added that if Asquith continued with the Home Rule bill, the government would be "lighting the fires of civil war". This speech was more known and criticised than any others; it implied both he and the British people would support the Ulstermen in anything, including armed rebellion.
Despite the conflict and fierce resistance, the Bill continued its passage through Parliament. It moved to its second reading on 9 June, and the Committee stage on 11 June, where it became fraught in controversy after a young Liberal named Thomas Agar-Robartes proposed an amendment excluding four of the Ulster counties (Londonderry, Down, Antrim, and Armagh) from the Irish Parliament. This put Law in a delicate situation, since he had previously said that he would support a system allowing each county to remain "outside the Irish Parliament", at the same time saying that he would not support any amendment that did not have Ulster's full co-operation. If he accepted the amendment, he would be seen as abandoning the Irish Unionists, but on the other hand if the amendment was carried it might disrupt the government by causing a split between the Liberals and Irish Nationalists, bringing down the government and thus forcing an election.
If Unionists wished to win the ensuing election they would have to show they were willing to compromise. In the end the amendment failed, but with the Liberal majority reduced by 40, and when a compromise amendment was proposed by another Liberal MP the government Whips were forced to trawl for votes. Law saw this as a victory, as it highlighted the split in the government. Edward Carson tabled another amendment on 1 January 1913 which would exclude all nine Ulster counties, more to test government resolve than anything else. While it failed, it allowed the Unionists to portray themselves as the party of compromise and the Liberals as stubborn and recalcitrant.
The Unionists in Ulster were committed to independence from any Irish Home Rule. They secretly authorised a Commission of Five to write a constitution for "a provisional Government of Ulster ... to come into operation on the day of the passage of any Home Rule Bill, to remain in force until Ulster shall again resume unimpaired citizenship in the United Kingdom".
On 28 September 1912, Carson led 237,638 of his followers in signing a Solemn League and Covenant saying that Ulster would refuse to recognise the authority of any Parliament of Ireland arising from Home Rule. The "Ulster Covenant", as the Solemn League and Covenant was popularly called, recalled the National Covenant signed by the Scots in 1638 to resist King Charles I who was viewed by Scots Presbyterians as a crypto-Catholic, and was widely seen as a sectarian document that promoted a "Protestant crusade". The Conservative MP Alfred Cripps wrote in a letter to Law that English Catholics like himself were opposed to Home Rule, but he was troubled by the way that Law seemed to be using the issue as "an occasion to attack their religion". In his reply of 7 October 1912, Law wrote he was opposed to religious bigotry and claimed that, as far he could tell, no "responsible" Unionist leader in Ireland had attacked the Roman Catholic Church. In fact, the Conservative MP Lord Hugh Cecil had in the summer of 1912 given anti-Home Rule speeches in Ireland where he shouted "To Hell with the Pope!", and was not censured by Law. When Parliament resumed in October after the summer recess, the Home Rule Bill was passed by the Commons. As expected, the House of Lords rejected it 326 to 69, and under the provisions of the Parliament Act it could only be passed if it was passed twice more by the Commons in successive Parliaments. In December 1912, the chairmen of the Conservative Party, Arthur Steel-Maitland, wrote to Law that the Home Rule issue did not command much attention in England, and asked that he move away from the topic which he asserted was damaging the image of the Conservatives.
==== Second passage ====
The end of 1912 saw the end of a year of political struggle for Law. As well as the problem of Home Rule, there were internal party struggles; supporters of the Church of England or military reform lambasted Law for not paying attention to their causes, and tariff reformers argued with him over his previous compromise on food duties. Despite this, most Conservatives realised that as a fighting leader, Law could not be bettered. The results of by-elections throughout 1913 continued to favour them, but progress on the Home Rule Bill was less encouraging; on 7 July it was again passed by the Commons, and again rejected by the Lords on 15 July. In response, the UUC created a paramilitary group, the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), to fight against the British government if necessary to stop Home Rule. The Conservative politician Lord Hythe, wrote to Law to suggest the Conservatives needed to present a constructive alternative to Home Rule and he had the "duty to tell these Ulstermen" that there was no need for the UVF. Another Tory peer, Lord Sailsbury, wrote to Law that as much as he was opposed to Home Rule that: "I cannot support political lawlessness and I shall either disenfranchise myself or vote Liberal ... rather than encourage armed resistance in Ulster." Lord Balcarres wrote to Law that much of the Conservative caucus were "deeply confused and uncertain" and the "policies of reckless defiance" were unpopular with the party membership in England. Balcarres wrote he was "much alarmed lest some sporadic outbreak by Orangemen should ... alienate English sympathies". Lord Lansdowne advised Law to be "extremely careful in our relations with Carson and his friends" and find a way of stopping F. E. Smith's "habit of expressing rather violent sentiments in the guise of messages from the Unionist party". Balfour wrote to Law that he had "much misgiving upon the general loosening of the ordinary ties of social obligation ... I do most strongly feel that nothing can be more demoralising to a society than that some of its ... most loyal members should deliberately organise themselves for the purpose of offering ... armed resistance to persons ... representing lawful authority."
During the debate on the Home Rule bill, Carson submitted an amendment that would exclude the 9 counties of Ulster from the jurisdiction of the proposed Parliament that would govern from Dublin, which was defeated by the Liberal MPs. However, Carson's amendment which would lead to the partition of Ireland caused much alarm with Irish Unionists outside of Ulster and led many to write letters from Law seeking assurances that he would not abandon them for the sake of saving Ulster from Home Rule. Carson told Law that he favoured a compromise under which Home Rule would be granted to southern Ireland, but not Ulster, and at the same time some sort of home rule be granted to Wales and Scotland as well. Law himself in a letter to a friend stated that the British public was "so sick of the whole Irish question" that the majority would probably agree to a compromise of a Home Rule for Ireland sans Ulster.
Parliament rose for the summer recess on 15 August, and Law and the Unionists spent the summer trying to convince the King to voice an opinion on the issue. Their first suggestion was that he should withhold the royal assent on it, something that horrified Law's constitutional law adviser A. V. Dicey. The second was more reasonable – they argued that the Liberals had put the King in an impossible position by asking him to ratify a bill that would infuriate half of the population. His only option was to write a memo to Asquith saying this and requesting that the problem of home rule be put to the electorate via a general election. After thinking on this, the King agreed, and handed a note to Asquith on 11 August requesting either an election or an all-party conference.
Asquith responded with two notes, the first countering the Unionist claim that it would be acceptable for the King to dismiss Parliament or withhold assent of the Bill to force an election, and the second arguing that a Home Rule election would not prove anything, since a Unionist victory would only be due to other problems and scandals and would not assure supporters of the current government that Home Rule was truly opposed.
King George pressed for a compromise, summoning various political leaders to Balmoral Castle individually for talks. Law arrived on 13 September, and again pointed out to the King his belief that if the Government continued to refuse an election fought over Home Rule and instead forced it on Ulster, the Ulstermen would not accept it and any attempts to enforce it would not be obeyed by the British Army.
By early October, the King was pressuring the British political world for an all-party conference. Fending this off, Law instead met with senior party members to discuss developments. Law, Balfour, Smith and Long discussed the matter, all except Long favouring a compromise with the Liberals. Long represented the anti-Home Rule elements in Southern Ireland, and from this moment onwards Southern and Northern attitudes towards Home Rule began to diverge. Law then met with Edward Carson, and afterwards expressed the opinion that "the men of Ulster do desire a settlement on the basis of leaving Ulster out, and Carson thinks such an arrangement could be carried out without any serious attack from the Unionists in the South".
On 8 October, Asquith wrote to Law suggesting an informal meeting of the two party leaders, which Law accepted. The two met at Cherkley Court, the home of Law's ally Sir Max Aitken MP (later Lord Beaverbrook), on 14 October. The meeting lasted an hour, and Law told Asquith that he would continue to try to have Parliament dissolved, and that in any ensuing election the Unionists would accept the result even if it went against them. Law later expressed his fear to Lansdowne that Asquith would persuade the Irish Nationalists to accept Home Rule with the exclusion of four Ulster counties with Protestant/unionist majorities. Carson would not accept this, requiring six of nine ulster counties to be excluded (i.e., four with unionist majorities plus two majority nationalist, leaving the three Ulster counties with large nationalist majorities, leading to an overall unionist majority in the six); such a move might split the Unionists. Law knew that Asquith was unlikely to consent to a general election, since he would almost certainly lose it, and that any attempt to pass the Home Rule Bill "without reference to the electorate" would lead to civil disturbance. As such, Asquith was stuck "between a rock and a hard place" and was sure to negotiate.
Asquith and Law met for a second private meeting on 6 November, at which Asquith raised three possibilities. The first, suggested by Sir Edward Grey, consisted of "Home Rule within Home Rule" – Home Rule covering Ulster, but with partial autonomy for Ulster. The second was that Ulster would be excluded from Home Rule for a number of years before becoming part of it, and the third was that Ulster would be excluded from Home Rule for as long as it liked, with the opportunity of joining when it wished. Law made it clear to Asquith that the first two options were unacceptable, but the third might be accepted in some circles.
The leaders then discussed the geographical definition of the area to be excluded from Home Rule; Ulster formally consists of nine counties, of which only four had a clear unionist majority, three a clear nationalist majority and two a small nationalist majority – however, overall a practical problem was that the nine counties of Ulster were majority nationalist. Carson always referred to nine counties of Ulster, but Law told Asquith that if an appropriate settlement could be made with a smaller number, Carson "would see his people and probably, though I could not give any promise to that effect, try to induce them to accept it".
The third meeting was on 10 December and Law, raging because Asquith had not yet presented a concrete way to exclude Ulster, made little progress. Law brushed aside Asquith's suggestions and insisted that only the exclusion of Ulster was worth considering. He later wrote that "My feeling, however, is that Asquith has no hope whatsoever of making such an arrangement and that his present idea is simply to let things drift in the meantime ... I do not understand why he took the trouble of seeing me at all. The only explanation I can give is that I think he is in a funk about the whole position and thought that meeting me might keep the thing open at least".
With the failure of these talks, Law accepted that a compromise was unlikely, and from January 1914 he returned to the position that the Unionists were "opposed utterly to Home Rule". The campaign was sufficient to bring the noted organiser Lord Milner back into politics to support the Unionists, and he immediately asked L. S. Amery to write a British Covenant saying that the signers would, if the Home Rule Bill passed, "feel justified in taking or supporting any action that may be effective to prevent it being put into operation, and more particularly to prevent the armed forces of the Crown being used to deprive the people of Ulster of their rights as citizens of the United Kingdom". The Covenant was announced at a massive rally in Hyde Park on 4 April 1914, with hundreds of thousands assembling to hear Milner, Long and Carson speak. By the middle of the summer Long claimed more than 2,000,000 people had signed the Covenant.
Law's critics, including George Dangerfield, condemned his actions in assuring the Ulster Unionists of Conservative Party support in their armed resistance to Home Rule, as unconstitutional, verging on promoting a civil war. Law's supporters argued that he was acting constitutionally by forcing the Liberal government into calling the election it had been avoiding, to obtain a mandate for their reforms.
==== Army (Annual) Act ====
Law was not directly involved in the British Covenant campaign as he was focusing on a practical way to defeat the Home Rule Bill. His first attempt was via the Army (Annual) Act, something that "violated a basic and ancient principle of the constitution". Every year since the Glorious Revolution, the Act had fixed the maximum number of soldiers in the British Army; rejecting it would technically make the British Army an illegal institution.
Lord Selborne had written to Law in 1912 to point out that vetoing or significantly amending the Act in the House of Lords would force the government to resign, and such a course of action was also suggested by others in 1913–14. Law believed that subjecting Ulstermen to a Dublin-based government they did not recognise was itself constitutionally damaging, and that amending the Army (Annual) Act to prevent the use of force in Ulster (he never suggested vetoing it) would not violate the constitution any more than the actions the government had already undertaken.
By 12 March he had established that, should the Home Rule Bill be passed under the Parliament Act 1911, the Army (Annual) Act should be amended in the Lords to stipulate that the Army could not "be used in Ulster to prevent or interfere with any step which may thereafter be taken in Ulster to organise resistance to the enforcement of the Home Rule Act in Ulster nor to suppress any such resistance until and unless the present Parliament has been dissolved and a period of three months shall have lapsed after the meeting of a new Parliament". The Shadow Cabinet consulted legal experts, who agreed wholeheartedly with Law's suggestion. Although several members expressed dissent, the Shadow Cabinet decided "provisionally to agree to amendment of army act. but to leave details and decisions as to the moment of acting to Lansdowne and Law". In the end no amendment to the Army Act was offered, though; many backbenchers and party loyalists became agitated by the scheme and wrote to him that it was unacceptable – Ian Malcolm, a fanatical Ulster supporter, told Law that amending the Army Act would drive him out of the Party.
== World War I ==
On 30 July 1914, on the eve of World War I, Law met with Asquith and agreed to temporarily suspend the issue of Home Rule to avoid domestic discontent during wartime. By the following day both leaders had convinced their parties to agree to this move. On 3 August, Law promised openly in Commons that his Conservative Party would give "unhesitating support" to the government's war policy. On 4 August, Germany rejected British demands for a withdrawal from Belgium, and Britain declared war.
Over the coming months, the Liberal, Labour and Conservative whips worked out a truce suspending confrontational politics until either 1 January 1915 or until the end of the War. On 4 August, both Asquith and Law made speeches together at the Middlesex Guildhall, and uncomfortably socialised with each other's parties. On 6 August, the Conservatives learnt that Asquith planned to put the Home Rule Bill on the statute books; Law wrote an angry letter to Asquith, the response of which was that Asquith could either pass the bill immediately, suspending it for the duration of the conflict, or make it law with a six-month delay and with a three-year exclusion for Ulster. Law responded with a speech in the Commons, saying that "the Government have treated us abominably ... but we are in the middle of a great struggle. Until that struggle [is] over, so far as we are concerned, in everything connected with it there would be no parties, there would openly be a nation. In regard to this debate I have made protest as well as I could, but when I have finished we shall take no further part in the discussion". The entire Party then left the Commons silently, and although a strong protest (Asquith later admitted that "it was unique in my or I think anybody's experience") the bill was still passed, although with a suspension for the duration of the War.
The Conservatives soon began to get annoyed that they were unable to criticise the Government, and took this into Parliament; rather than criticising policy, they would attack individual ministers, including the Lord Chancellor (who they considered "far too enamoured of German culture") and the Home Secretary, who was "too tender to aliens". By Christmas 1914 they were anxious about the war; it was not, in their opinion, going well, and yet they were restricted to serving on committees and making recruitment speeches. At about the same time, Law and David Lloyd George met to discuss the possibility of a coalition government. Law was supportive of the idea in some ways, seeing it as a probability that "a coalition government would come in time".
=== Coalition government ===
==== Background and information ====
The crisis which forced a coalition was twofold; first the Shell Crisis of 1915, and then the resignation of Lord Fisher, the First Sea Lord. The Shell Crisis was a shortage of artillery shells on the Western Front. It indicated a failure to fully organise British industry. Asquith tried to ward off the criticism the day before the debate, praising his government's efforts and saying that "I do not believe that any army has ever either entered upon a campaign or been maintained during a campaign with better or more adequate equipment". The Conservatives, whose sources of information included officers such as Sir John French, were not put off, and instead became furious.
Over the next few days, the Conservative backbenchers threatened to break the truce and mount an attack on the government over the munitions situation. Law forced them to back down on 12 May, but on the 14th an article appeared in The Times blaming the British failure at the Battle of Aubers Ridge on the lack of munitions. This again stirred up the backbenchers, who were only just kept in line. The Shadow Cabinet took a similar line; things could not go on as they were. The crisis was only halted with the resignation of Lord Fisher. Fisher had opposed Winston Churchill over the Gallipoli Campaign, and felt that he could not continue in government if the two would be in conflict. Law knew that this would push the Conservative back bench over the edge, and met with David Lloyd George on 17 May to discuss Fisher's resignation. Lloyd George decided that "the only way to preserve a united front was to arrange for more complete cooperation between parties in the direction of the War". Lloyd George reported the meeting to Asquith, who agreed that a coalition was inescapable. He and Law agreed to form a coalition government.
Law's next job, therefore, was to assist the Liberal Party in creating a new government. In their discussions on 17 May, both Law and Lloyd George had agreed that Lord Kitchener should not remain in the War Office, and removing him became top priority. Unfortunately the press began a campaign supporting Kitchener on 21 May, and the popular feeling that this raised convinced Law, Lloyd George and Asquith that Kitchener could not be removed. To keep him and at the same time remove the munitions supply from his grasp to prevent a repeat of the "shells crisis" the Ministry of Munitions was created, with Lloyd George becoming Minister of Munitions.
Law eventually accepted the post of Colonial Secretary, an unimportant post in wartime; Asquith had made it clear that he would not allow a Conservative minister to head the Exchequer, and that with Kitchener (whom he considered a Conservative) in the War Office, he would not allow another Conservative to hold a similarly important position. Fearing for the integrity of the coalition, Law accepted this position. Outside of Law's position, other Conservatives also gained positions in the new administration; Arthur Balfour became First Lord of the Admiralty, Austen Chamberlain became Secretary of State for India and Edward Carson became Attorney General.
==== Colonial Secretary ====
During Law's time as Colonial Secretary, the three main issues were the question of manpower for the British Army, the crisis in Ireland and the Dardanelles Campaign. Dardanelles took priority, as seen by Asquith's restructuring of his War Council into a Dardanelles Committee. Members included Kitchener, Law, Churchill, Lloyd George and Lansdowne, with the make-up divided between political parties to defuse tension and provide criticism of policy. The main discussion was on the possibility of reinforcing the forces already landed, something Law disagreed with. With Asquith and the Army in support, however, he felt that he was ill-equipped to combat the proposal. Five more divisions were landed, but faced heavy casualties for little gain. As a result, Law led a strong resistance to the idea at the next Committee meeting on 18 August. The idea only avoided being scrapped thanks to the French promise to send forces in early September, and the arguing became an immense strain on the government.
Law entered the coalition government as Colonial Secretary in May 1915, his first Cabinet post, and, following the resignation of Prime Minister and Liberal Party Leader Asquith in December 1916, was invited by King George V to form a government, but he deferred to Lloyd George, Secretary of State for War and former Minister of Munitions, who he believed was better placed to lead a coalition ministry. He served in Lloyd George's War Cabinet, first as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons.
While chancellor, he raised the stamp duty on cheques from one penny to twopence in 1918. His promotion reflected the great mutual trust between the two leaders and made for a well co-ordinated political partnership; their coalition was re-elected by a landslide following the Armistice. Law's two eldest sons were both killed whilst fighting in the war. In the 1918 general election, Law returned to Glasgow and was elected as member for Glasgow Central.
== Post-war and prime minister ==
At war's end, Law gave up the Exchequer for the less demanding sinecure office of Lord Privy Seal but remained Leader of the Commons. Concerning the violence occurring in Ireland Law felt the continued, strong military efforts (coercion) should be the governments only policy. In January 1921 he stated that 10 years of quiet was the most that could be hoped for in Ireland and that "the Irish were an inferior race." In 1921, ill health forced his resignation as Conservative leader and Leader of the Commons in favour of Austen Chamberlain. His departure weakened the hardliners in the cabinet who were opposed to negotiating with the Irish Republican Army, and the Anglo-Irish War ended in the summer.
By 1921–22, the coalition had become embroiled in an air of moral and financial corruption (e.g. the sale of honours). Besides the recent Irish Treaty and Edwin Montagu's moves towards greater self-government for India, both of which dismayed rank-and-file Conservative opinion, the government's willingness to intervene against the Bolshevik regime in Russia also seemed out of step with the new and more pacifist mood. A sharp slump in 1921 and a wave of strikes in the coal and railway industries also added to the government's unpopularity, as did the apparent failure of the Genoa Conference, which ended in an apparent rapprochement between Germany and Soviet Russia. In other words, it was no longer the case that Lloyd George was an electoral asset to the Conservative Party.
Lloyd George, Birkenhead and Winston Churchill (still distrusted by many Conservatives) wished to use armed force against Turkey (the Chanak Crisis), but had to back down when offered support only by New Zealand and Newfoundland, and not Canada, Australia or the Union of South Africa; Law wrote to The Times in support of the government, but stating that Britain could not "act as the policeman for the world".
At a meeting at the Carlton Club, Conservative backbenchers, led by the President of the Board of Trade Stanley Baldwin and influenced by the recent Newport by-election, which was won from the Liberals by a Conservative, voted to end the Lloyd George Coalition and fight the next election as an independent party. Austen Chamberlain resigned as Party Leader, Lloyd George resigned as prime minister and Law took both jobs on 23 October 1922.
Many leading Conservatives (e.g. Birkenhead, Arthur Balfour, Austen Chamberlain, Robert Horne) were not members of the new Cabinet, which Birkenhead contemptuously referred to as "the Second Eleven". Although the Coalition Conservatives numbered no more than thirty, they hoped to dominate any future Coalition government in the same way that the similarly sized Peelite group had dominated the Coalition Government of 1852–1855 – an analogy much used at the time.
Parliament was immediately dissolved, and a General Election ensued. Besides the two Conservative factions, the Labour Party were fighting as a major national party for the first time and indeed became the main Opposition after the election; the Liberals were still split into Asquith and Lloyd George factions, with many Lloyd George Liberals still unopposed by Conservative candidates (including Churchill, who was defeated at Dundee nonetheless). Despite the confused political arena the Conservatives were re-elected with a comfortable majority.
Questions were raised about whether the elderly Conservative Party Treasurer, Lord Farquhar, had passed on to Lloyd George (who during his premiership had amassed a large fund, largely from the sale of honours) any money intended for the Conservative Party. The Coalition Conservatives also hoped to obtain Conservative Party money from Farquhar. Bonar Law found Farquhar too "gaga" to properly explain what had happened, and dismissed him.
One of the questions which taxed Law's brief government was that of inter-Allied war debts. Britain owed money to the US, and in turn was owed four times as much money by France, Italy and the other Allied powers, although under the Lloyd George government Balfour had promised that Britain would collect no more money from other Allies than she was required to repay the United States; the debt was hard to repay as trade (exports were needed to earn foreign currency) had not returned to prewar levels.
On a trip to the United States, Stanley Baldwin, the inexperienced Chancellor of the Exchequer, agreed to repay £40 million per annum to the United States rather than the £25 million which the British government had thought feasible, and on his return announced the deal to the press when his ship docked at Southampton, before the Cabinet had had a chance to consider it. Law contemplated resignation, and after being talked out of it by senior ministers vented his feelings in an anonymous letter to The Times.
== Resignation and death ==
Law was soon diagnosed with terminal throat cancer and, no longer physically able to speak in Parliament, resigned on 20 May 1923. King George V sent for Baldwin, whom Law is rumoured to have favoured over Lord Curzon. However Law did not offer any advice to the King. Law died later that same year in London at the age of 65.
His funeral was held at Westminster Abbey where later his ashes were interred. He was the first British prime minister to be cremated. His estate was probated at £35,736 (approximately £1,800,000 as of 2023).
Bonar Law was the shortest-serving prime minister of the 20th century. He is often referred to as "the unknown prime minister", not least because of a biography of that title by Robert Blake; the name comes from a remark by Asquith at Law's funeral, that they were burying the Unknown Prime Minister next to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
A tiny hamlet in the municipality of Stirling-Rawdon, Ontario, Canada, is named Bonarlaw after the British prime minister. It had been known as "Big Springs" and then "Bellview". The Bonar Law Memorial High School in Bonar Law's birthplace, Five Rivers, New Brunswick, Canada, is also named in his honour. Additionally, the Bonar Law-Bennett Building, a former University of New Brunswick campus library which now houses the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, was named after both Law and R. B. Bennett.
== Bonar Law's government, October 1922 – May 1923 ==
Bonar Law – Prime Minister and Leader of the House of Commons
Lord Cave – Lord Chancellor
Lord Salisbury – Lord President of the Council and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Stanley Baldwin – Chancellor of the Exchequer
William Clive Bridgeman – Secretary of State for the Home Department
Lord Curzon of Kedleston – Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Leader of the House of Lords
The Duke of Devonshire – Secretary of State for the Colonies
Lord Derby – Secretary of State for War
Lord Peel – Secretary of State for India
Lord Novar – Secretary for Scotland
Leo Amery – First Lord of the Admiralty
Sir Philip Lloyd-Greame – President of the Board of Trade
Sir Robert Sanders – Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries
Edward Wood – President of the Board of Education
Sir Montague Barlow – Minister of Labour
Sir Arthur Griffith-Boscawen – Minister of Health
=== Changes ===
April 1923 – Griffith-Boscawen resigned as Minister of Health after losing his seat and was replaced by Neville Chamberlain.
== Cultural depictions == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Single_Man | A Single Man | A Single Man is a 2009 American period romantic drama film based on the 1964 novel by Christopher Isherwood. The directorial debut of fashion designer Tom Ford, the film stars Colin Firth, who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of George Falconer, a depressed gay British university professor living in Southern California in 1962.
The film premiered on September 11, 2009, at the 66th Venice International Film Festival, where Firth won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor, and went on the film festival circuit. After it screened at the 34th Toronto International Film Festival, The Weinstein Company picked it up for distribution in the United States and Germany. An initial limited run in the United States commenced on December 11, 2009, to qualify it for the 82nd Academy Awards with a wider release in early 2010.
== Plot ==
On November 30, 1962, a month after the Cuban Missile Crisis, George Falconer is a middle-aged English college professor living in Los Angeles. George dreams that he encounters the body of his longtime partner, Jim, at the scene of the car accident that took Jim's life eight months earlier. He bends down to kiss his dead lover. After awakening, George delivers a voiceover discussing the pain and depression he has endured since Jim's death and his intention to end his life that evening.
George receives a phone call from his dearest friend, Charley, who projects lightheartedness despite also being miserable. George goes about his day putting his affairs in order and focusing on the beauty of isolated events, believing he is seeing things for the last time. At times, he recalls his sixteen-year-long relationship with Jim.
During the school day, George comes into contact with a student, Kenny Potter, who shows interest in George and disregards conventional boundaries of student–professor discussion. George also forms an unexpected connection with a Spanish male prostitute, Carlos. That evening, George meets Charley for dinner. Though they initially reminisce and amuse themselves by dancing, Charley's desire for a deeper relationship with George and her failure to understand his relationship with Jim angers George.
George goes to a bar and discovers that Kenny has followed him. They get a round of drinks, go skinny dipping, and then return to George's house and continue drinking. George passes out and wakes up in bed with Kenny asleep in another room. While watching Kenny, George discovers that he has fallen asleep holding George's gun to keep George from killing himself. George locks the gun away, burns his suicide notes and in a voiceover explains that he has rediscovered the ability "to feel, rather than think". As he makes peace with his grief, George suffers a heart attack and dies, while envisioning Jim appearing and kissing him.
== Cast ==
Jon Hamm has an uncredited voice cameo as Jim's cousin Harold Ackerly, who calls George to tell him of Jim's death and that the funeral is "just for family."
== Production ==
Fashion designer Tom Ford, as a first-time director, financed the film himself. The film places emphasis on the culture of the 1960s; the production design is by the same team that designed AMC television's Mad Men, which is set in the same era. The actual house where the character George lives in the film was designed in 1948 by John Lautner, his first house after leaving Frank Lloyd Wright. The film was shot in 21 days (from 3 November to 5 December 2008), according to "The Making of A Single Man", a featurette included on the DVD release of the film.
== Marketing controversy ==
An early theatrical poster for A Single Man featured a close-up shot of Colin Firth and Julianne Moore lying side by side, their arms and shoulders touching. This led to speculation that the work's gay content and themes were being deleted or diminished in its marketing materials to improve its chances of success with a wider audience. A new poster with Moore relocated to the background was issued. The film's original trailer placed more emphasis on the relationship between George and Jim but a re-cut trailer omitted a shot of George and Jim kissing while retaining a kiss between George and Charley. Also deleted were shots of George meeting hustler Carlos outside a liquor store, George and Kenny running nude into the ocean, and a shot of George staring into a male student's eyes, while keeping a shot of George staring into the eyes of a female student.
Speaking of the controversy, Moore said that director Tom Ford expressed concern that the original poster made the film appear to be a romantic comedy and that he ordered that the poster be changed. However Ford, noting he does not see the film in terms of gay or straight, said, "I don't think the movie's been de-gayed. I have to say that we live in a society that's pretty weird. For example, you can have full-frontal male nudity on HBO, yet in cinema, you can't have naked male buttocks. You can't have men kissing each other without it being considered adult content. So, in order to cut a trailer that can go into broad distribution in theaters, certain things had to be edited out. But it wasn't an intentional attempt to remove the gayness of the movie." Conversely, Colin Firth said, "[The marketing] is deceptive. I don't think they should do that because there's nothing to sanitize. It's a beautiful story of love between two men and I see no point in hiding that. People should see it for what it is." Harvey Weinstein would only say, when asked about marketing a gay romance, "Brokeback Mountain did pretty well. Midnight Cowboy did pretty well. If you know how to market, you can market. There's an audience for it." When pressed about the poster, Weinstein cut off the interview, saying, "I'm good. You got enough. Thank you." Peter Knegt of IndieWire suggested that The Weinstein Company "de-gayed" the trailer to better the film's chances of receiving Academy Award nominations.
== Reception ==
=== Critical response ===
A Single Man has received an overall positive reception from critics, with most reviews singling out Colin Firth's performance. It currently holds an 86% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 192 reviews, and an average rating of 7.4/10, with the site's consensus being: "Though the costumes are beautiful and the art direction impeccable, what stands out most from this debut by fashion designer Tom Ford is the leading performance by Colin Firth." Metacritic has compiled an average score of 77 (generally favorable reviews) from 35 critic reviews.
Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune wrote: "Some films aren't revelations, exactly, but they burrow so deeply into old truths about love and loss and the mess and thrill of life, they seem new anyway". Bob Mondello of NPR commented: "An exquisite, almost sensual grief suffuses every frame of A Single Man." Marc Savlov of The Austin Chronicle wrote: "Everything fits perfectly, from titles to fin, but most of all Colin Firth, who dons the role of George like a fine bespoke suit."
Critics who liked the film include The A.V. Club film critic Nathan Rabin, who gave the film an A− score, arguing: "A Single Man is a film of tremendous style wedded to real substance, and rooted in Firth's affecting lead performance as a man trying to keep it together for one last day after his world has fallen apart." Critic Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times also praised Firth, saying that he "plays George superbly, as a man who prepares a face to meet the faces that he meets. He betrays very little emotion, and certainly his thoughts cannot be read in his eyes."
The Times newspaper of London called the film "a thing of heart-stopping beauty . . . There will be critics who will be unable to get past the director's background, but rest assured: Tom Ford is the real deal." Variety's verdict: "Luminous and treasurable, despite its imperfections. An impressive helming debut for fashion designer Tom Ford."
== Accolades ==
The film was nominated for the Golden Lion at the 66th Venice International Film Festival and won the festival's third annual Queer Lion; Colin Firth was awarded the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the film festival for his performance in the film. He also received the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Additionally, Firth received nominations at the Golden Globe Awards, the Screen Actors Guild Awards, and the Academy Awards. For her performance, Julianne Moore was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture.
Abel Korzeniowski was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score. Arianne Phillips was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Costume Design.
The film received the Grand Prix from the Belgian Syndicate of Cinema Critics. It also won the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Film – Wide Release and was named the AFI's Film of the Year.
== Soundtrack ==
The official soundtrack was released by Silva Screen Records on December 22, 2009. The tracklist consisted of original music composed by Abel Korzeniowski, operatic arias by Shigeru Umebayashi, as well as songs featured in the film. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_NFL_draft | 2020 NFL draft | The 2020 NFL draft was the 85th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2020 NFL season. The first round was held on April 23, followed by the second and third rounds on April 24. The draft concluded with rounds 4–7 on April 25. The NFL originally planned to hold the event live in Paradise, Nevada, before all public events related to it were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, all team selections took place via videoconferencing with league commissioner Roger Goodell announcing picks from his home.
The Washington Redskins retired their name two months after the 2020 draft, making it the final draft where players were selected under the Redskins branding. The draft is noteworthy for producing five playoff starters at the quarterback position: Joe Burrow, Tua Tagovailoa, Justin Herbert, Jordan Love, and Jalen Hurts. Burrow became the first to reach a Super Bowl in Super Bowl LVI, while Hurts became the first Super Bowl–winner of the group in Super Bowl LIX.
== Format ==
The host city was chosen among finalists Denver, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Nashville, and Cleveland/Canton in May 2018 during the NFL Spring League Meeting, when Nashville was chosen to host the 2019 draft. However, the host city for 2020 was deferred. After Denver withdrew, citing scheduling conflicts, Las Vegas was chosen as the original host on December 12, 2018, coinciding with the Las Vegas Raiders' arrival in the city. Plans were announced for a main stage near the Caesars Forum convention center and a "red carpet" stage for arrivals on a floating platform in front of the Bellagio resort, with players being transported to and from the stage by boat. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NFL announced on March 16 that it had canceled all public festivities associated with the event.
Instead, the draft was held remotely, with team coaches and GMs convening via Microsoft Teams due to all team facilities also being closed. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced the picks for rounds 1–3 from his home in Bronxville, New York, with the rest of the rounds being announced by Dave Gardi. During the event Goodell announced that Las Vegas would host the 2022 NFL draft.
== Player selections ==
The following is the breakdown of the 255 players selected by position:
== Notable undrafted players ==
== Trades within the draft ==
(PD) indicates trades completed prior to the start of the draft (i.e. Pre-Draft), while (D) denotes trades which took place during the 2020 draft.
Round one
Round two
Round three
Round four
Round five
Round six
Round seven
== Forfeited picks == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madeline_Pumariega | Madeline Pumariega | Madeline Pumeriega is the fifth president of Miami Dade College in Miami, Florida. She is the first woman to hold the post.
== Biography ==
Pumariega attended Hialeah High School in Hialeah, Florida. She attended Miami Dade College and University of Central Florida as an undergraduate and received a bachelor's degree from St. Thomas University.
Pumariega began her career at Miami Dade College in 1992 as the Dean of Students Services and later was Dean of Student and Administration Services. In 2011 Pumariega became President of MDC's Wolfson Campus in downtown Miami and held the position for nearly two years. In 2013, Pumariega became the President and Chief Executive Officer of Take Stock in Children, a non-profit.
In 2015, Florida Department of Education Commissioner Pam Stewart announced the appointment of Pumariega as Chancellor of the Florida College System. She was the first woman and first Hispanic FCS Chancellor.
In 2019, Pumariega was named executive vice president and provost of Tallahassee Community College. She also served as Affiliate Professor of Leadership at the NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development.
On November 17, 2020, Pumariega was appointed the fifth president of Miami Dade College.
== Controversies ==
In 2025, Miami Dade College (MDC) approved the transfer of a 2.63-acre college-owned parcel in downtown Miami to the State of Florida for use as the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library. The land had been purchased by MDC in 2004 for $24.8 million and was transferred without compensation or conditions."Miami Dade College trustees approve land transfer for Trump presidential library after legal challenge". Miami Herald. 2025.
The decision drew public scrutiny after critics alleged that the MDC Board of Trustees did not provide sufficient notice of the meeting at which the initial approval was granted. The publicly posted agenda referenced “potential real estate transactions” but did not specifically identify the presidential library proposal."Miami Dade College president answers questions about activist dispute with Trump presidential library land". Local 10 News. 2025.
In response to questions about the process, MDC President Madeline Pumariega stated that the item had been “posted seven days in advance” and that the board had followed legal notice requirements.
A circuit court judge temporarily halted the transfer, citing inadequate public notice. The board later reconvened with expanded public comment and approved the transfer again, allowing the project to proceed. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggstock_(Uri_Alps) | Eggstock (Uri Alps) | The Eggstock (3,554 m), is a minor prominence of the Uri Alps, forming the northern pillar of the Dammastock on the border between the cantons of Valais and Uri. The tripoint between the cantons of Bern, Valais and Uri (3,500 m) is located 600 m west of the summit. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Lesotho | Flag of Lesotho | The current national flag of Lesotho, adopted on the 40th anniversary of Lesotho's independence on 4 October 2006, features a horizontal blue, white, and green tricolour with a black mokorotlo (a Basotho hat) in the center. The design is intended to reflect a state that is both at peace internally and with its only neighbour South Africa, replacing the old flag design that featured a military emblem of a shield, spear and knobkerrie.
== Colours ==
The symbolism of the colours is as such:
== Construction sheet ==
== History ==
=== 1966–1987 ===
The first flag of Lesotho was introduced on 4 October 1966, the day of Lesotho's full independence from the United Kingdom. It featured a prominent white mokorotlo. The blue stood for sky and rain, the white for peace, the green for land, and the red for faith.
=== 1987–2006 ===
A new flag, designed by Sergeant Retšelisitsoe Matete, was adopted on 20 January 1987, following a military coup which ousted the Basotho National Party after 20 years in power. A light brown traditional Basotho shield along with an assegai (lance) and knobkierrie (club) replaced the mokorotlo as the primary emblem. The colour scheme and pattern changed as well, with a triangular white field standing for peace. The bottom diagonal contained a blue strip for rain and a green triangle for prosperity.
=== 2006–present ===
In 2006, a new flag was chosen from four proposed designs; all of these designs included a brown Basotho hat instead of the shield. This was subsequently changed to a black Basotho hat in order to represent Lesotho as a black nation. The bill changing the flag was approved by the National Assembly on 18 September 2006, with 84 members of parliament voting in favour of it, 18 against it, and two abstaining. It was subsequently approved by the Senate as well.
== Gallery ==
=== Historical flags === |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Joyce | James Joyce | James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (born James Augusta Joyce; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist movement and is regarded among the most influential and important writers of the 20th century. Joyce's novel Ulysses (1922) is a landmark in which the episodes of Homer's Odyssey are paralleled in a variety of literary styles, particularly stream of consciousness. Other well-known works are the short-story collection Dubliners (1914) and the novels A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) and Finnegans Wake (1939). His other writings include two books of poetry, a play, correspondence, and occasional journalism.
Born in Dublin into a middle-class family, Joyce attended the Jesuit Clongowes Wood College in County Kildare, then, briefly, the Christian Brothers–run O'Connell School. Despite the chaotic family life imposed by his father's unpredictable finances, he excelled at the Jesuit Belvedere College and graduated from University College Dublin in 1902. In 1904, he met his future wife, Nora Barnacle, and they moved to mainland Europe. He briefly worked in Pola (now in Croatia) and then moved to Trieste in Austria-Hungary, working as an English instructor. Except for an eight-month stay in Rome working as a correspondence clerk and three visits to Dublin, Joyce lived there until 1915. In Trieste, he published his book of poems Chamber Music and his short-story collection Dubliners, and began serially publishing A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man in the English magazine The Egoist. During most of World War I, Joyce lived in Zurich, Switzerland, and worked on Ulysses. After the war, he briefly returned to Trieste and in 1920 moved to Paris, which was his primary residence until 1940.
Ulysses was first published in Paris in 1922, but its publication in the United Kingdom and the United States was prohibited owing to its perceived obscenity. Copies were smuggled into both countries and pirated versions were printed until the mid-1930s, when publication became legal. Ulysses frequently ranks high in lists of the greatest books, and academic literature analysing Joyce's work is extensive and ongoing. Many writers, film-makers, and other artists have been influenced by his stylistic innovations, such as his meticulous attention to detail, use of interior monologue, wordplay, and the radical transformation of traditional plot and character development.
Though most of his adult life was spent abroad, his fictional universe centres on Dublin and is largely populated by characters who closely resemble family members, enemies and friends from his time there. Ulysses is set in the city's streets and alleyways. Joyce said: "For myself, I always write about Dublin, because if I can get to the heart of Dublin I can get to the heart of all the cities of the world. In the particular is contained the universal."
In 1923, Joyce started his next major work, Finnegans Wake. It was published in 1939. Between these years, he travelled widely. He and Nora were married in a civil ceremony in London in 1931. He made several trips to Switzerland, frequently seeking treatment for his increasingly severe eye problems and psychological help for his daughter, Lucia. When Germany occupied France during World War II, Joyce moved back to Zurich in 1940. He died there in 1941 after surgery for a perforated ulcer at age 58.
== Early life ==
Joyce was born on 2 February 1882 at 41 Brighton Square, Rathgar, Dublin, Ireland, to John Stanislaus and Mary Jane "May" (née Murray) Joyce. He was the eldest of ten surviving siblings. He was baptised Catholic as James Augustine Joyce in the nearby St Joseph's Church in Terenure on 5 February 1882 by Father John O'Mulloy. His godparents were Philip and Ellen McCann. The Joyce family came from Fermoy in County Cork, where they owned a small salt and lime works. Joyce's paternal grandfather, James Augustine, married Ellen O'Connell, daughter of John O'Connell, a Cork alderman who owned a drapery business and other properties in Cork City. Her family claimed kinship with the political leader Daniel O'Connell, who had helped secure Catholic emancipation for the Irish in 1829.
John Joyce was appointed rate collector by Dublin Corporation in 1887. The family moved to the fashionable small town of Bray, 19 kilometres (12 mi) from Dublin. Joyce was attacked by a dog around this time, causing a lifelong fear of dogs. He later developed a astraphobia from a superstitious aunt who had called thunderstorms a sign of God's wrath.
In 1891, the nine-year-old Joyce wrote "Et Tu, Healy", a poem on the death of Charles Stewart Parnell that his father printed on broadsides and distributed to friends. It expressed the sentiments of the elder Joyce, who was angry at Parnell's apparent betrayal by the Irish Catholic Church, the Irish Parliamentary Party, and the British Liberal Party that resulted in a collaborative failure to secure Irish Home Rule in the British Parliament. This sense of betrayal, particularly by the Church, left lasting impressions that Joyce expressed in his life and art.
That year, his family began to slide into poverty, worsened by his father's drinking and financial mismanagement. John Joyce's name was published in Stubbs' Gazette, a blacklist of debtors and bankrupts, in November 1891, and he was temporarily suspended from work. In January 1893, he was dismissed with a reduced pension.
Joyce began his education in 1888 at Clongowes Wood College, a Jesuit boarding school near Clane, County Kildare, but had to leave in 1891 when his father could no longer pay the fees. He studied at home and briefly attended the Christian Brothers O'Connell School on North Richmond Street, Dublin. Joyce's father then had a chance meeting with the Jesuit priest John Conmee, who knew the family. Conmee arranged for Joyce and his brother Stanislaus to attend the Jesuits' Dublin school, Belvedere College, without fees starting in 1893. In 1895, Joyce, now 13, was elected by his peers to join the Sodality of Our Lady. Joyce spent five years at Belvedere, his intellectual formation guided by the principles of Jesuit education laid down in the Ratio Studiorum (Plan of Studies). He won first place for English composition in his final two years before graduating in 1898.
== University years ==
Joyce enrolled at University College in 1898 to study English, French and Italian. While there, he was exposed to the scholasticism of Thomas Aquinas, which had a strong influence on his thought for the rest of his life. He participated in many of Dublin's theatrical and literary circles. His closest colleagues included leading Irish figures of his generation, such as George Clancy, Tom Kettle and Francis Sheehy-Skeffington. Many of the acquaintances he made at this time appeared in his work. His first publication—a laudatory review of Henrik Ibsen's When We Dead Awaken—was printed in The Fortnightly Review in 1900. Inspired by Ibsen's works, Joyce sent him a fan letter in Norwegian and wrote a play, A Brilliant Career, which he later destroyed.
In 1901 the National Census of Ireland listed Joyce as a 19-year-old unmarried Irish- and English-speaking student living with his parents, six sisters and three brothers at Royal Terrace (now Inverness Road) in Clontarf, Dublin. During this year he became friends with Oliver St. John Gogarty, the model for Buck Mulligan in Ulysses. In November, Joyce wrote an article, The Day of the Rabblement, criticising the Irish Literary Theatre for its unwillingness to produce the works of playwrights like Ibsen, Leo Tolstoy, and Gerhart Hauptmann. He protested against nostalgic Irish populism and argued for an outward-looking, cosmopolitan literature. Because he mentioned Gabriele D'Annunzio's novel Il fuoco (The Flame), which was on the Catholic list of prohibited books, his college magazine refused to print it. Joyce and Sheehy-Skeffington—who had also had an article rejected—had their essays jointly printed and distributed. Arthur Griffith decried the censorship of Joyce's work in his newspaper United Irishman.
Joyce graduated from the Royal University of Ireland in October 1902. He considered studying medicine and began attending lectures at the Catholic University Medical School in Dublin. When the school refused to provide a tutoring position to help finance his education, he left Dublin to study medicine in Paris, where he received permission to attend the course for a certificate in physics, chemistry, and biology at the École de Médecine. By the end of January 1903 he had given up plans to study medicine, but he stayed in Paris, often reading late in the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève. He frequently wrote home claiming ill health due to the water, the cold weather, and his change of diet, appealing for money his family could ill afford.
== Post-university years in Dublin ==
In April 1903, Joyce learned his mother was dying and immediately returned to Ireland. He tended to her, reading aloud from drafts that were eventually worked into his unfinished novel Stephen Hero. During her final days, she unsuccessfully tried to get him to make his confession and to take communion. She died on 13 August. Afterwards, Joyce and Stanislaus refused to kneel with other members of the family praying at her bedside. John Joyce's drinking and abusiveness increased in the months following her death, and the family began to fall apart. Joyce spent much of his time carousing with Gogarty and his medical school colleagues, and tried to scrape together a living by reviewing books.
Joyce's life began to change when he met Nora Barnacle on 10 June 1904. She was a 20-year-old woman from Galway city who was working in Dublin as a chambermaid. They had their first outing together on 16 June 1904, walking through the Dublin suburb of Ringsend, where Nora masturbated him. This event was commemorated as the date for the action of Ulysses, known in popular culture as "Bloomsday" in honour of the novel's main character Leopold Bloom. This began a relationship that continued for 37 years, until Joyce died. Soon after this outing, Joyce, who had been out with his colleagues, approached a young woman in St Stephen's Green and was beaten up by her companion. He was picked up and dusted off by an acquaintance of his father's, Alfred H. Hunter, who took him into his home to tend to his injuries. Hunter, who was rumoured to be a Jew and to have an unfaithful wife, became one of the models for Leopold Bloom, the protagonist of Ulysses.
Joyce was a talented tenor and explored becoming a musical performer. On 8 May 1904, he was a contestant in the Feis Ceoil, an Irish music competition for promising composers, instrumentalists and singers. In the months before the contest, Joyce took singing lessons with two voice instructors, Benedetto Palmieri and Vincent O'Brien. He paid the entry fee by pawning some of his books. For the contest, Joyce had to sing three songs. He did well with the first two, but when he was told he had to sight read the third, he refused. Joyce won the third-place medal anyway. After the contest, Palmieri wrote to Joyce that Luigi Denza, the composer of the popular song "Funiculì, Funiculà" who was the judge for the contest, spoke highly of his voice and would have given him first place but for the sight-reading and lack of sufficient training. Palmieri offered to give Joyce free singing lessons. Joyce refused the lessons, but kept singing in Dublin concerts that year. His performance at a concert given on 27 August may have solidified Nora's devotion to him. Although Joyce did not pursue a singing career, he included thousands of musical allusions in his literary works.
Throughout 1904, Joyce sought to develop his literary reputation. On 7 January he attempted to publish a prose work examining aesthetics called A Portrait of the Artist, but it was rejected by the intellectual journal Dana. He then reworked it into a fictional novel of his youth, Stephen Hero, that he laboured over for years but eventually abandoned. He wrote a satirical poem, "The Holy Office", that parodied W. B. Yeats's poem "To Ireland in the Coming Times" and once more mocked the Irish Literary Revival. It too was rejected for publication, this time for being "unholy". He wrote the collection of poems Chamber Music at this time; which was also rejected. He did publish three poems, one in Dana and two in The Speaker, and George William Russell published three of Joyce's short stories in the Irish Homestead. These stories—"The Sisters", "Eveline", and "After the Race"—were the beginnings of Dubliners.
In September 1904, Joyce was having difficulties finding a place to live and moved into a Martello tower near Dublin, which Gogarty was renting. Within a week, Joyce left when Gogarty and another housemate, Dermot Chenevix Trench, fired a pistol in the middle of the night at some pans hanging directly over Joyce's bed. With the help of funds from Lady Gregory and a few other acquaintances, Joyce and Nora left Ireland less than a month later.
== 1904–1906: Zurich, Pola and Trieste ==
=== Zurich and Pola ===
In October 1904, Joyce and Nora went into self-imposed exile. They briefly stopped in London and Paris to secure funds before heading on to Zurich.
Joyce had been informed through an agent in England that there was a vacancy at the Berlitz Language School, but when he arrived there was no position. The couple stayed in Zurich for a little over a week. The director of the school sent Joyce on to Trieste, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until the First World War. There was no vacancy there either. The director of the school in Trieste, Almidano Artifoni, secured a position for him in Pola, then Austria-Hungary's major naval base, where he mainly taught English to naval officers. Less than one month after the couple had left Ireland, Nora had become pregnant. Joyce soon became close friends with Alessandro Francini Bruni, the director of the school at Pola, and his wife Clothilde. By the beginning of 1905, the two families were living together. Joyce kept writing when he could. He completed a short story for Dubliners, "Clay", and worked on his novel Stephen Hero. He disliked Pola, calling it a "back-of-God-speed place—a naval Siberia", and as soon as a job became available, he went to Trieste.
=== First stay in Trieste ===
Joyce moved to Trieste in March 1905 aged 23. He taught English at the Berlitz school. That June he published the satirical poem "The Holy Office".
After Nora gave birth to their first child, Giorgio, on 27 July 1905, he convinced Stanislaus to move to Trieste and obtained a position for him at the Berlitz school. Stanislaus moved in with Joyce as soon as he arrived that October, although most of his salary went directly to supporting Joyce's family. In February 1906, the Joyce household once more shared an apartment with the Francini Brunis.
During this period Joyce completed 24 chapters of Stephen Hero and all but the final story of Dubliners, but was unable to get Dubliners published. Although the London publisher Grant Richards had a contract with Joyce, the printers were unwilling to print passages they found controversial; English law could not protect them if brought to court for circulating indecent language. Richards and Joyce tried to find a solution where the book could avoid legal liability while preserving Joyce's artistic integrity. As they negotiated, Richards began to scrutinise the stories more carefully. He became concerned that the book might damage his publishing house's reputation and eventually backed down from his agreement.
Trieste was Joyce's main residence until 1920; he stayed temporarily in Rome, travelled to Dublin, and emigrated to Zurich during World War I, but Trieste became a second Dublin for him and played an important role in his development as a writer. He completed Dubliners, reworked Stephen Hero into A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, wrote his only published play Exiles and decided to make Ulysses a full-length novel as he worked through his notes and jottings, working out the characters of Leopold and Molly Bloom in Trieste.
Many of the novel's details were taken from Joyce's observation of the city and its people, and some of its stylistic innovations appear to have been influenced by Futurism. There are even words of the Triestine dialect in Finnegans Wake. Joyce was introduced to the Greek Orthodox liturgy in Trieste. Under its influence, he rewrote his first short story and later drew on it in creating the liturgical parodies in Ulysses.
== 1906–1915: Rome, Trieste, and sojourns to Dublin ==
=== Rome ===
In late May 1906, the head of the Berlitz school ran away after embezzling its funds. Artifoni took over the school but let Joyce know that he could afford to keep only one brother on. Tired of Trieste and discouraged that he could not get a publisher for Dubliners, Joyce found an advertisement for a correspondence clerk in a Roman bank that paid twice his current salary. He was hired for the position and went to Rome at the end of July.
Joyce felt he accomplished very little during his brief stay in Rome, but it had a large impact on his writing. Though his new job took up most of his time, he revised Dubliners and worked on Stephen Hero. Rome was the birthplace of the idea for "The Dead", which became the final story of Dubliners, and for Ulysses, which was originally conceived as a short story. His stay in the city was one of his inspirations for Exiles. While there, he read the socialist historian Guglielmo Ferrero in depth. Ferrero's anti-heroic interpretations of history, arguments against militarism, and conflicted attitudes toward Jews found their way into Ulysses, particularly in the character of Leopold Bloom. In London, Elkin Mathews published Chamber Music on the recommendation of the British poet Arthur Symons. Nonetheless, Joyce was dissatisfied with his job, had exhausted his finances, and realised he would need additional support when he learned Nora was pregnant again. He left Rome after seven months.
=== Second stay in Trieste ===
Joyce returned to Trieste in March 1907, but was unable to find full-time work. He went back to being an English teacher, working part-time for Berlitz and giving private lessons. The author Ettore Schmitz, better known by pen name Italo Svevo, was one of his students. Svevo was a Catholic of Jewish origin who became one of the models for Leopold Bloom. Joyce learned much of what he knew about Judaism from him. The two became lasting friends and mutual critics. Svevo supported Joyce's identity as an author, helping him work through his writer's block with A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Roberto Prezioso, editor of the Italian newspaper Piccolo della Sera, was another of Joyce's students. He helped Joyce financially by commissioning him to write for the newspaper. Joyce quickly produced three articles aimed toward the Italian irredentists in Trieste. He indirectly paralleled their desire for independence from Austria-Hungary with the struggle against British rule in Ireland. Joyce earned additional money by giving a series of lectures at
Trieste's Università Popolare on Ireland and the arts, as well as on William Shakespeare's play Hamlet.
In May, Joyce was struck by an attack of rheumatic fever, which left him incapacitated for weeks. The illness exacerbated eye problems that plagued him for the rest of his life. While Joyce was still recovering from the attack, Lucia was born on 26 July 1907. During his convalescence, he was able to finish "The Dead", the last story of Dubliners.
Although a heavy drinker, Joyce gave up alcohol for a period in 1908. He reworked Stephen Hero as the more concise and interior A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. He completed the third chapter by April and translated John Millington Synge's Riders to the Sea into Italian with the help of Nicolò Vidacovich. He even took singing lessons again. Joyce had been looking for an English publisher for Dubliners but was unable to find one, so he submitted it to a Dublin publisher, Maunsel and Company, owned by George Roberts.
==== Visits to Dublin ====
In July 1909, Joyce received a year's advance payment from one of his students and returned to Ireland to introduce Giorgio to both sides of the family, his own in Dublin and Nora's in Galway. He unsuccessfully applied for the position of Chair of Italian at his alma mater, which had become University College Dublin. He met with Roberts, who seemed positive about publishing Dubliners. He returned to Trieste in September with his sister Eva, who helped Nora run the home. Joyce stayed in Trieste for only a month, as he almost immediately came upon the idea of starting a cinema in Dublin, which unlike Trieste had none. He quickly got the backing of some Triestine businessmen and returned to Dublin in October, launching Ireland's first cinema, the Volta Cinematograph. It was initially well-received, but fell apart after Joyce left. He returned to Trieste in January 1910 with another sister, Eileen.
From 1910 to 1912, Joyce still lacked a reliable income. This brought his conflicts with Stanislaus, who was frustrated with lending him money, to their peak. In 1912, Prezioso arranged for him to lecture on Hamlet for the Minerva Society between November 1912 and February 1913. Joyce once more lectured at the Università Popolare on various topics in English literature and applied for a teaching diploma in English at the University of Padua. He performed very well on the qualification tests, but was denied because Italy did not recognise his degree from an Irish university. In mid-1912, Joyce and his family returned to Dublin briefly. While there, his three-year struggle with Roberts over the publication of Dubliners ended as Roberts refused to publish it due to concerns of libel. Roberts had the printed sheets destroyed, but Joyce obtained a copy of the proof sheets. When Joyce returned to Trieste, he wrote an invective against Roberts, "Gas from a Burner". He never went to Dublin again.
==== Publication of Dubliners and A Portrait ====
Joyce's fortunes changed for the better in 1913 when Richards agreed to publish Dubliners. It was issued on 15 June 1914, eight and a half years since Joyce had first submitted it to him. Around the same time, he found an unexpected advocate in Ezra Pound, who was living in London. On Yeats's advice, Pound wrote to Joyce asking if he could include a poem from Chamber Music, "I Hear an Army Charging upon the Land", in the journal Des Imagistes. They began a correspondence that lasted until the late 1930s. Pound became Joyce's promoter, helping ensure that Joyce's works were published and publicised.
After Pound persuaded Dora Marsden to serially publish A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man in the London literary magazine The Egoist, Joyce's pace of writing increased. He completed A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by 1914; resumed Exiles, completing it in 1915; started the novelette Giacomo Joyce, which he eventually abandoned; and began drafting Ulysses.
In August 1914, World War I broke out. Although Joyce and Stanislaus were subjects of the United Kingdom, which was now at war with Austria-Hungary, they remained in Trieste. Even when Stanislaus, who had publicly expressed his sympathy for the Triestine irredentists, was interned at the beginning of January 1915, Joyce chose to stay. In May 1915, Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary, and less than a month later Joyce took his family to Zurich in neutral Switzerland.
== 1915–1920: Zurich and Trieste ==
=== Zurich ===
Joyce arrived in Zurich as a double exile: he was an Irishman with a British passport and a Triestine on parole from Austria-Hungary. To get to Switzerland, he had to promise the Austro-Hungarian officials that he would not help the Allies during the war, and he and his family had to leave almost all of their possessions in Trieste. During the war, both the British and Austro-Hungarian secret services kept Joyce under surveillance.
Joyce's first concern was earning a living. One of Nora's relatives sent them a small sum to cover the first few months. Pound and Yeats worked with the British government to provide a stipend from the Royal Literary Fund in 1915 and a grant from the British civil list the following year. Eventually, Joyce received large regular sums from the editor Harriet Shaw Weaver, who operated The Egoist, and the psychotherapist Edith Rockefeller McCormick, who lived in Zurich, studying under Carl Jung. Weaver financially supported Joyce for the rest of his life and even paid for his funeral. Between 1917 and the beginning of 1919, Joyce was financially secure and lived quite well; the family sometimes stayed in Locarno in Switzerland's Italian-speaking region. But Joyce's health problems persisted. During their time in Zurich, he and Nora both suffered illnesses diagnosed as "nervous breakdowns", and he underwent many eye surgeries.
==== Writing Ulysses ====
During the war, Zurich was the centre of a vibrant expatriate community. Joyce's spent evenings in the Cafe Pfauen, where he got to know some of the artists living in the city, including the sculptor August Suter and the painter Frank Budgen. He often used the time spent with them as material for Ulysses. He met the writer Stefan Zweig, who organised the premiere of Exiles in Munich in August 1919. He became aware of Dada, which was coming into its own at the Cabaret Voltaire. He may have met the Marxist theoretician and revolutionary Vladimir Lenin at the Cafe Odeon, a place they both frequented.
Joyce kept up his interest in music. He met Ferruccio Busoni, staged music with Otto Luening, and learned music theory from Philipp Jarnach. Much of what Joyce learned about musical notation and counterpoint found its way into Ulysses, particularly the "Sirens" section.
Joyce avoided public discussion of the war and maintained strict neutrality. He made few comments about the 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland; although he was sympathetic to the Irish independence movement, he disagreed with its violence. He stayed intently focused on Ulysses and the struggle to get his work published. Some of the serial instalments of "The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" in The Egoist had been censored by the printers, but the entire novel was published by B. W. Huebsch in 1916. In 1918, Pound got a commitment from Margaret Caroline Anderson, the owner and editor of the New York-based literary magazine The Little Review, to publish Ulysses serially.
==== The English Players ====
Joyce co-founded an acting company, the English Players, and became its business manager. The company was pitched to the British government as a contribution to the war effort, and mainly staged works by Irish playwrights, such as Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, and John Millington Synge. For Synge's Riders to the Sea, Nora played a principal role and Joyce sang offstage, which he did again when Robert Browning's In a Balcony was staged. He hoped the company would eventually stage his play, Exiles, but his participation in the English Players declined in the wake of the influenza epidemic of 1918, though the company continued until 1920.
Joyce's work with the English Players involved him in a lawsuit. Henry Wilfred Carr, a wounded war veteran and British consul, accused Joyce of underpaying him for his role in The Importance of Being Earnest. Carr sued for compensation; Joyce countersued for libel. The cases were resolved in 1919, with Joyce winning the compensation case but losing the one for libel. The incident created acrimony between the British consulate and Joyce for the rest of his time in Zurich.
=== Third stay in Trieste ===
By 1919, Joyce was in financial difficulty again. McCormick stopped paying her stipend, partly because he refused to be psychoanalysed by Jung, and Zurich had become expensive to live in after the war. He was also becoming isolated as the city's emigres returned home. In October 1919, Joyce's family moved back to Trieste, but it had changed. The Austro-Hungarian empire had ceased to exist, and Trieste was now an Italian city in postwar recovery. Eight months after his return, Joyce went to Sirmione, Italy, to meet Pound, who made arrangements for him to move to Paris. Joyce and his family packed their belongings and headed for Paris in June 1920.
== 1920–1941: Paris and Zurich ==
=== Paris ===
When Joyce and his family arrived in Paris in July 1920, their visit was intended to be a layover on their way to London. For the first four months, he stayed with Ludmila Savitzky and met Sylvia Beach, who ran the Rive Gauche bookshop, Shakespeare and Company. Beach quickly became an important person in Joyce's life, providing financial support and becoming one of his publishers. Through Beach and Pound, Joyce quickly joined the intellectual circle of Paris and was integrated into the international modernist artist community. He met Valery Larbaud, who championed Joyce's works to the French and supervised the French translation of Ulysses. Paris became the Joyces' regular residence for 20 years, though they never settled at a single location for long.
==== Publication of Ulysses ====
Joyce finished writing Ulysses near the end of 1921, but had difficulties getting it published. With financial backing from the lawyer John Quinn, Margaret Anderson and her co-editor Jane Heap had begun serially publishing it in The Little Review in March 1918, but in January and May 1919, two instalments were suppressed as obscene and potentially subversive. In September 1920, an unsolicited instalment of the "Nausicaa" episode was sent to the daughter of a New York attorney associated with the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, leading to an official complaint. The trial proceedings continued until February 1921, when Anderson and Heap, defended by Quinn, were fined $50 each for publishing obscenity and ordered to cease publishing Ulysses. Huebsch, who had expressed interest in publishing the novel in the United States, decided against it after the trial. Weaver was unable to find an English printer, and the novel was banned for obscenity in the United Kingdom in 1922, where it was blacklisted until 1936.
Almost immediately after Anderson and Heap were ordered to stop printing Ulysses, Beach agreed to publish it through her bookshop. She had books mailed to people in Paris and the United States who had subscribed to get a copy; Weaver sent books from Beach's plates to subscribers in England. Soon, the postal officials of both countries began confiscating the books. They were then smuggled into both countries. Because the work had no copyright in the United States at this time, "bootleg" versions appeared, including pirate versions from publisher Samuel Roth, who ceased his actions only in 1928, when a court enjoined publication. Ulysses was not legally published in the United States until 1934, when Judge John M. Woolsey ruled in United States v. One Book Called Ulysses that the book is not obscene.
==== Writing Finnegans Wake ====
In 1923, Joyce began his next work, an experimental novel that became Finnegans Wake. It took 16 years to complete. At first, Joyce called it Work in Progress, which was the name Ford Madox Ford used in April 1924 when he published its "Mamalujo" episode in his magazine, The Transatlantic Review. In 1926, Eugene and Maria Jolas serialised the novel in their magazine, transition. When parts of the novel first came out, some of Joyce's supporters—like Stanislaus, Pound, and Weaver— wrote unfavourably about it, and it was criticised by writers like Seán Ó Faoláin, Wyndham Lewis, and Rebecca West. In response, Joyce and the Jolases organised the publication of a collection of favourable essays, Our Exagmination Round His Factification for Incamination of Work in Progress, to which Samuel Beckett and William Carlos Williams contributed. An additional purpose of publishing these essays was to market Work in Progress to a larger audience. Joyce publicly revealed the novel's title as Finnegans Wake in 1939, the year he completed it. It was published in London by Faber and Faber with the assistance of T. S. Eliot.
Joyce's health problems afflicted him throughout his Paris years. He had over a dozen eye operations, but his vision severely declined. By 1930, he was practically blind in the left eye, and his right eye functioned poorly. He had all his teeth removed because of infection. At one point, Joyce became worried that he could not finish Finnegans Wake, asking the Irish author James Stephens to complete it if he became unable.
Joyce's financial problems continued. Although he was now earning a good income from his investments and royalties, his spending habits often left him without available money. Still, he published Pomes Penyeach in 1927, a collection of 13 poems that he wrote in Trieste, Zurich and Paris.
==== Marriage in London ====
In 1930, Joyce began thinking of establishing a residence in London once more, primarily to ensure that Giorgio, who had just married Helen Fleischmann, would have his inheritance secured under British law. Joyce moved to London, obtained a long-term lease on a flat, registered on the electoral roll, and became liable for jury service. After having lived together for 27 years, Joyce and Nora married at the Register Office in Kensington on 4 July 1931. Joyce stayed in London for at least six months to establish his residency, but abandoned his flat and returned to Paris later in the year when Lucia showed signs of mental illness. He planned to return, but never did, and later became disaffected with England.
In later years, Joyce lived in Paris but frequently travelled to Switzerland for eye surgery or for treatment for Lucia, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Lucia was analysed by Jung, who had previously written that Ulysses was similar to schizophrenic writing. Jung suggested that she and her father were two people going into a river, with Joyce diving and Lucia falling. Despite Joyce's attempts to help Lucia, she remained permanently institutionalised after his death.
=== Final return to Zurich ===
In the late 1930s, Joyce became increasingly concerned about the rise of fascism and antisemitism. In 1938, he helped Jews escape Nazi persecution. After the fall of France in 1940, Joyce and his family fled from Nazi occupation, returning to Zurich a final time.
== Death ==
On 11 January 1941, Joyce underwent surgery in Zurich for a perforated duodenal ulcer. He fell into a coma the next day. He awoke at 2 am on 13 January 1941, and asked a nurse to call his wife and son. They were en route when he died 15 minutes later, at age 58.
His body was buried in the Fluntern Cemetery in Zurich. Swiss tenor Max Meili sang "Addio terra, addio cielo" from Monteverdi's L'Orfeo at the burial service. Joyce had been a subject of the United Kingdom all of his life, and although two senior Irish diplomats were in Switzerland at the time, only the British consul attended the funeral. When Frank Cremins, chargé d'affaires at Bern, informed Joseph Walshe, secretary at the Department of External Affairs in Dublin, of Joyce's death, Walshe responded: "Please wire details of Joyce's death. If possible find out did he die a Catholic? Express sympathy with Mrs Joyce and explain inability to attend funeral." Buried originally in an ordinary grave, Joyce was moved in 1966 to a more prominent "honour grave", with a seated portrait statue by American artist Milton Hebald nearby. Nora survived him by 10 years. She is buried by his side, as is their son Giorgio, who died in 1976.
After Joyce's death, the Irish government declined Nora's request to permit the repatriation of his remains, despite being persistently lobbied by the American diplomat John J. Slocum. In October 2019, a motion was put to Dublin City Council to plan and budget for the costs of the exhumations and reburials of Joyce and his family somewhere in Dublin, subject to his family's wishes. The proposal immediately became controversial, with the Irish Times commenting: "it is hard not to suspect that there is a calculating, even mercantile, aspect to contemporary Ireland's relationship to its great writers, whom we are often more keen to 'celebrate', and if possible monetise, than read".
== Political views ==
Throughout his life, Joyce maintained an active interest in Irish politics and the country's relationship to the British Empire. He studied socialism and anarchism. He attended socialist meetings and expressed an individualist anarchist view influenced by Benjamin Tucker's philosophy and Oscar Wilde's essay "The Soul of Man Under Socialism". He described his opinions as "those of a socialist artist". Joyce's direct engagement in politics was strongest during his time in Trieste, when he submitted newspaper articles, gave lectures, and wrote letters advocating for Ireland's independence from British rule. After leaving Trieste, Joyce's direct involvement in politics waned, but his later works still reflect his commitment. He remained sympathetic to individualist anarchism and critical of coercive ideologies such as nationalism. His novels address socialist, anarchist, and Irish nationalist issues. Ulysses has been read as a critique of the effect of British rule on the Irish people. Finnegans Wake has been read as an investigation of the divisive issues of Irish politics, the interrelationship between colonialism and race, and the coercive oppression of nationalism and fascism.
Joyce wrote critically of British rule in Ireland and was sympathetic to attempts to establish an independent Irish republic. In 1907, he expressed his support for the early Sinn Féin movement before the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. But Joyce refused to exchange his British passport for an Irish one. When he had a choice, he renewed his British passport in 1935 instead of obtaining one from the Irish Free State, and chose to keep it in 1940 when accepting an Irish passport could have helped him to leave Vichy France more easily. His refusal to change his passport was partly due to the advantages a British passport gave him internationally, his being out of sympathy with the violence of Irish politics, and his dismay over the Irish Free State's political alignment with the Catholic Church.
== Religious views ==
Joyce had a complex relationship with religion. Joyce lapsed from the Church early in life, and firsthand statements by him and Stanislaus attest that he did not consider himself a Catholic, though his work is deeply influenced by Catholicism. In particular, his intellectual foundations were grounded in his early Jesuit education. Even after he left Ireland, he sometimes went to church. When living in Trieste, he woke up early to attend Mass on Holy Thursday and Good Friday and occasionally attended Eastern Orthodox services, saying he liked the ceremonies better.
Joyce's wife Nora refused to allow a Catholic service when he died. His works frequently critique, ridicule, and blaspheme Catholicism, and he appropriates Catholic rituals and concepts for his own artistic purposes. Some critics have therefore argued that Joyce firmly rejected Catholicism, but Catholic critics have argued that Joyce never fully abandoned his faith, wrestling with it in his writings and becoming increasingly reconciled to it. They regard Ulysses and Finnegans Wake as expressions of a Catholic sensibility, insisting that the critical views of religion the characters in his novels express are not those of the author.
Other critics have suggested that Joyce's apparent apostasy was less a denial of faith than a transmutation, a criticism of the Church's adverse effect on spiritual life, politics, and personal development. His attitude toward Catholicism has been described as an enigma in which there are two Joyces: a modern one who resisted the power of Catholicism and another who maintained his allegiance to its traditions. He has been compared to the medieval episcopi vagantes (wandering bishops), who left their discipline but not their cultural heritage of thought.
Joyce's responses to questions about his faith were often ambiguous. For example, during an interview after the completion of Ulysses, Joyce was asked, "When did you leave the Catholic Church?" He answered, "That's for the Church to say."
== Major works ==
=== Dubliners ===
Dubliners, first published in 1914, is a collection of 15 short stories that form a naturalistic depiction of Irish middle-class life in and around the city in the early 20th century. The tales were written when Irish nationalism and the search for national identity was at its peak. Joyce holds up a mirror to that identity as a first step in the spiritual liberation of Ireland. The stories centre on Joyce's idea of an epiphany: a moment when a character experiences a life-changing self-understanding or illumination. Many of the characters in Dubliners later appear in minor roles in Joyce's novel Ulysses. The initial stories are narrated by child protagonists. Later stories deal with the lives and concerns of progressively older people. This aligns with Joyce's tripartite division of the collection into childhood, adolescence, and maturity.
=== A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man ===
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, published in 1916, is a shortened rewrite of the novel Stephen Hero, which was abandoned in 1905. It is a Künstlerroman, a kind of coming-of-age novel depicting the childhood and adolescence of the protagonist Stephen Dedalus and his gradual growth into artistic self-consciousness. It functions both as an autobiographical fiction of the author and a biography of the fictional protagonist. Some hints of the techniques Joyce frequently employed in later works, such as stream of consciousness, interior monologue, and references to a character's psychic reality rather than to his external surroundings, are evident in this novel.
=== Exiles and poetry ===
Despite early interest in the theatre, Joyce published only one play, Exiles, begun shortly after the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 and published in 1918. A study of a husband-and-wife relationship, the play looks back to "The Dead" (the final story in Dubliners) and forward to Ulysses, which Joyce began around the time of the play's composition.
He published three books of poetry. The first full-length collection was Chamber Music (1907), which consisted of 36 short lyrics. It led to his inclusion in the Imagist Anthology, edited by Ezra Pound, a champion of Joyce's work. Other poetry Joyce published in his lifetime includes "Gas from a Burner" (1912), Pomes Penyeach (1927), and "Ecce Puer" (written in 1932 to mark the birth of his grandson and the recent death of his father). These were published by the Black Sun Press in Collected Poems (1936).
=== Ulysses ===
The action of Ulysses starts on 16 June 1904 at 8 am and ends sometime after 2 am the next morning. Much of it occurs inside the minds of the characters, who are portrayed through techniques such as interior monologue, dialogue, and soliloquy. The novel has 18 episodes, each covering roughly one hour of the day in a unique literary style. Each chapter refers to an episode in Homer's Odyssey, as well as a specific colour, a particular art or science, and a bodily organ. Ulysses sets the characters and incidents of the Odyssey in 1904 Dublin, representing Odysseus (Ulysses), Penelope, and Telemachus in the characters of Leopold Bloom, his wife Molly Bloom, and Stephen Dedalus. It uses humour, including parody, satire and comedy, to contrast the novel's characters with their Homeric models. Joyce played down the mythic correspondences by eliminating the chapter titles so the work could be read independently of its Homeric structure.
Ulysses can be read as a study of Dublin in 1904, exploring various aspects of the city's life, dwelling on its squalor and monotony. Joyce claimed that if Dublin was destroyed in some catastrophe, it could be rebuilt using his work as a model. To achieve this sense of detail, he relied on his memory, what he heard other people remember, and his readings, to create a sense of fastidious detail. Joyce regularly used the 1904 edition of Thom's Directory—a work that listed the owners and tenants of every residential and commercial property in the city—to ensure his descriptions were accurate. This combination of kaleidoscopic writing, reliance on a formal schema to structure the narrative, and exquisite attention to detail represents one of the book's major contributions to the development of 20th-century modernist literature.
=== Finnegans Wake ===
Finnegans Wake is an experimental novel that pushes stream of consciousness and literary allusion to their extremes. It can be read from beginning to end, but Joyce's writing transforms traditional ideas of plot and character development through his wordplay, allowing the book to be read non-linearly. Much of the wordplay stems from peculiar and obscure English, based mainly on complex multilevel puns. This approach is similar to, but far more extensive than, Lewis Carroll's in Jabberwocky and draws on a wide range of languages. The associative nature of its language has led to its being interpreted as the story of a dream.
The metaphysics of Giordano Bruno of Nola, whom Joyce read in his youth, plays an important role in Finnegans Wake, as it provides the framework for how the characters' identities interplay and are transformed. Giambattista Vico's cyclical view of history—in which civilisation rises from chaos, passes through theocratic, aristocratic, and democratic phases, and then lapses back into chaos—structures the text's narrative, as evidenced by the book's opening and closing words: Finnegans Wake opens, "riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs", and ends, "A way a lone a last a loved a long the". Thus the book ends with the beginning of a sentence and begins with the end of that sentence, turning the narrative into one great cycle.
== Legacy ==
Joyce's work still has a profound influence on contemporary culture. Ulysses is a model for fiction writers, particularly its explorations into the power of language. Its emphasis on the details of everyday life has opened up new possibilities of expression for authors, painters and film-makers. It retains its prestige among readers, often ranking high on 'Great Book' lists. Joyce's innovations extend beyond English literature: his writing has been an inspiration for Latin American writers, and Finnegans Wake has become one of the key texts for French post-structuralism.
The open-ended form of Joyce's novels keeps them open to constant reinterpretation. They inspire an increasingly global community of literary critics. Joyce's studies—based on a relatively small canon of three novels, a small short story collection, one play, and two small books of poems—have generated over 15,000 articles, monographs, theses, translations, and editions.
In popular culture, the work and life of Joyce is celebrated annually on 16 June, known as Bloomsday, in Dublin and in an increasing number of cities worldwide.
=== Collections, museums, and study centres ===
==== Ireland ====
The National Library of Ireland has a large collection of Joycean material, including manuscripts and notebooks, much of it available online. A joint venture between the library and University College Dublin, the Museum of Literature Ireland, the majority of whose exhibits are about Joyce and his work, has a small permanent Joyce-related collection and borrows from its parent institutions; its displays include "Copy No. 1" of Ulysses. Dedicated centres in Dublin include the James Joyce Centre in North Great George's Street, the James Joyce Tower and Museum in Sandycove at the Martello tower where Joyce briefly lived and where he set the opening scene in Ulysses, and the Dublin Writers Museum.
==== United Kingdom ====
University College London (UCL) holds the United Kingdom's only major research collection of Joyce's work, including first editions of all his major works, many other editions and translations, and critical and background literature. UCL also has an archive collection of Joyce-related material that includes letters to Jane Lidderdale and Harriet Shaw Weaver and papers relating to and by Joyce's daughter Lucia.
==== United States ====
The University at Buffalo's James Joyce Collection has more than 10,000 pages of Joyce's working papers, notebooks, manuscripts, photographs, correspondence and other materials, and Joyce's private library. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Sarichef_Light | Cape Sarichef Light | Cape Sarichef Light is a lighthouse located on the northwest tip of Unimak Island, approximately 630 miles (1,010 km) southwest of Anchorage, Alaska. The most westerly and most isolated lighthouse in North America, Cape Sarichef Light marks the northwest end of Unimak Pass, the main passage through the Aleutian Islands between the Bering Sea and the Pacific Ocean. When it was first lit on July 1, 1904, it was Alaska's second coastal lighthouse (after Scotch Cap Light), and the only staffed U.S. lighthouse on the Bering Sea. Today, the lighthouse is automated, and the beacon is mounted on a skeleton tower.
Cape Sarichef was named in 1816 by Russian explorer Otto von Kotzebue after Admiral Gavril Sarychev of the Imperial Russian Navy.
== History ==
The original lighthouse was a wood tower on an octagonal wood building, 45 feet (14 m) in height. The light was 126 feet (38 m) above the sea.
The lighthouse was known for its extreme isolation, which precluded regular resupply. From August 1912 to June 1913, the lighthouse received no supplies at all; the nearest neighbor was a trapper some 10 miles (16 km) away.
Although living quarters were originally provided for keepers' families, the Lighthouse Board prohibited civilian keepers from bringing their families because of the site's isolation. Mail and supplies were not received for months at a time. The station shut down from December 1 through March 1 because the Bering Sea was frozen. Due to the privations they endured, civilian keepers got one full year off every 4 years of service. Circa 1933, one of the assistant keepers suffered a breakdown after two years at the lonely station.
Following the disastrous tsunami in 1946 that destroyed Scotch Cap Light and killed its 5-man crew, the Coast Guard razed and rebuilt Cape Sarichef Light in 1950. The upgrade included a LORAN radiobeacon to help ships and aircraft obtain an accurate position. A crew of 21 men each served a one-year tour of duty at the station. Approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) from the station was an Air Force DEW (Distant Early Warning) Line radar station crewed by 25 men. Relations between the two services were reportedly very good, with a lot of swapping of everything from food to vehicle parts.
The station was automated in 1979. The new light was erected on a steel skeleton next to the old tower. The old light, fog horn and radiobeacon were turned off. The Coast Guard turned the property over to the Fish and Wildlife Service. The old tower and buildings were demolished in 1999.
== Climate == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacArthur_Fellows_Program# | MacArthur Fellows Program# | The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and colloquially called the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to typically between 20 and 30 individuals working in any field who have shown "extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction" and are citizens or residents of the United States.
According to the foundation's website, "the fellowship is not a reward for past accomplishments but rather an investment in a person's originality, insight, and potential", but it also says such potential is "based on a track record of significant accomplishments". The amount of the prize is $800,000 paid over five years in quarterly installments. Previously, it was $625,000. This figure was increased from $500,000 in 2013 upon the release of a review of the MacArthur Fellows Program. The award has been called "one of the most significant awards that is truly 'no strings attached'".
The program does not accept applications. Anonymous and confidential nominations are invited by the foundation and reviewed by an anonymous and confidential selection committee of about a dozen people. The committee reviews all nominees and recommends recipients to the president and board of directors. Most new fellows learn of their nomination and award upon receiving a congratulatory phone call. MacArthur Fellow Jim Collins described this experience in an editorial column of The New York Times.
== Recipients ==
As of 2025, since the award's inception in 1981, 1,175 people have been named MacArthur Fellows, ranging in age from 18 to 82.
In the five broad categories defined by the foundation, the breakdown for recipient focus is as follows: Arts 336; Humanities 170; Public Issues 257; STEM 335; and Social Sciences 120.
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Of the 965 terminal degrees earned by 928 fellows during the period 1981 through 2018, 540 (56%) are doctorates, with the Ph.D. accounting for 514 (53.3%). Ivy league schools awarded 306 (31.7%) degrees to 300 (32.3%) fellows.
The award is made to individuals of varying educational background but among the 1131 fellowship awards through the class of 2023, the following ten institutions have the most alumni fellows (a comparatively smaller school, California Institute of Technology had the most per capita, whereas the large Harvard University had the most overall.) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic | Titanic | RMS Titanic was a British ocean liner that sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912 as a result of striking an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United States. Of the estimated 2,224 passengers and crew aboard, approximately 1,500 died (estimates vary), making the incident one of the deadliest peacetime sinkings of a single ship. Titanic, operated by White Star Line, carried some of the wealthiest people in the world, as well as hundreds of emigrants from the British Isles, Scandinavia, and elsewhere in Europe who were seeking a new life in the United States and Canada. The disaster drew public attention, spurred major changes in maritime safety regulations, and inspired a lasting legacy in popular culture. It was the second time White Star Line had lost a ship on her maiden voyage, the first being RMS Tayleur in 1854.
Titanic was the largest ship afloat upon entering service and the second of three Olympic-class ocean liners built for White Star Line. The ship was built by the Harland and Wolff shipbuilding company in Belfast. Thomas Andrews Jr., the chief naval architect of the shipyard, died in the disaster. Titanic was under the command of Captain Edward John Smith, who went down with the ship. White Star Line's chairman, J. Bruce Ismay, survived in a lifeboat.
The first-class accommodations were designed to be the pinnacle of comfort and luxury. They included a gymnasium, swimming pool, smoking rooms, fine restaurants and cafes, a Victorian-style Turkish bath, and hundreds of opulent cabins. A high-powered radiotelegraph transmitter was available for passenger use. Titanic had advanced safety features, such as watertight compartments and remotely activated watertight doors, which contributed to the ship's reputation as "unsinkable".
Titanic was equipped with sixteen lifeboat davits, each capable of lowering three lifeboats, for a total capacity of 48 boats. Despite this capacity, the ship was equipped with twenty lifeboats. Fourteen of these were regular lifeboats, two were cutter lifeboats, and four were collapsible boats that proved difficult to prepare for launch while the ship was sinking. Together, these lifeboats could have held 1,178 people – roughly half the number of passengers on board, and a third of the number that the ship could have carried at full capacity (a number consistent with the maritime safety regulations of the era). The British Board of Trade's regulations required fourteen lifeboats for a ship of 10,000 tonnes. Titanic carried six more than that, room for 338 more people than the standard. When the ship sank, the lifeboats that had been lowered were carrying an average of 60% of their rated capacity.
== Background ==
The name Titanic derives from the Titans of Greek mythology. Built in Belfast, Ireland, in what was then the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, RMS Titanic was the second of the three Olympic-class ocean liners—the lead vessel was RMS Olympic and the final ship in the class was HMHS Britannic. They were by far the largest vessels of the British shipping company White Star Line's fleet, which comprised 29 steamers and tenders in 1912. The three ships had their genesis in a discussion in mid-1907 between the White Star Line's chairman, J. Bruce Ismay, and the American financier J. P. Morgan, who controlled the White Star Line's parent corporation, the International Mercantile Marine Co. (IMM).
White Star faced an increasing challenge from its main rivals, Cunard Line—which, with the aid of the Admiralty, had recently launched the twin sister ships Lusitania and Mauretania, the fastest passenger ships then in service—and the German lines Hamburg America and Norddeutscher Lloyd. Ismay preferred to compete on size rather than speed and proposed to commission a new class of liners larger than anything that had come before, which would be the last word in comfort and luxury. The new ships would have sufficient speed to maintain a weekly service with only three ships instead of the original four. Olympic and Titanic would replace RMS Teutonic of 1889, RMS Majestic of 1890 and RMS Adriatic of 1907. RMS Oceanic first departed from a new home port in June 1907 along with the Teutonic, Majestic, and the new Adriatic on the Southampton-New York run.
The ships were constructed by the Belfast shipbuilder Harland & Wolff, which had a long-established relationship with the White Star Line dating back to 1867. Harland and Wolff were given a great deal of latitude in designing ships for the White Star Line; the usual approach was for Wilhelm Wolff to sketch a general concept, which Edward James Harland would turn into a ship design. Cost considerations were a relatively low priority; Harland & Wolff were authorised to spend what it needed on the ships, plus a five per cent profit margin. In the case of the Olympic-class ships, a cost of £3 million (£369 million today) for the first two ships was agreed, plus "extras to contract" and the usual five per cent fee.
Harland and Wolff put their leading designers to work designing Olympic-class vessels. The design was overseen by Lord Pirrie, a director of both Harland and Wolff and the White Star Line; naval architect Thomas Andrews, the managing director of Harland and Wolff's design department; Edward Wilding, Andrews's deputy and responsible for calculating the ship's design, stability and trim; and Alexander Carlisle, the shipyard's chief draughtsman and general manager. Carlisle's responsibilities included the decorations, equipment, and all general arrangements, including the implementation of an efficient lifeboat davit design.
On 29 July 1908, Harland and Wolff presented the drawings to J. Bruce Ismay and other White Star Line executives. Ismay approved the design and signed three "letters of agreement" two days later, authorising the start of construction. At this point, the first ship—which was later to become Olympic—had no name but was referred to simply as "Number 400", as it was Harland and Wolff's 400th hull. Titanic was based on a revised version of the same design and was given the number 401.
== Dimensions and layout ==
Titanic was 882 feet 9 inches (269.06 m) long with a maximum breadth of 92 feet 6 inches (28.19 m).
The ship's total height, measured from the base of the keel to the top of the bridge, was 104 feet (32 m). Titanic measured 46,329 GRT and 21,831 NRT and with a draught of 34 feet 7 inches (10.54 m) and displaced 52,310 tonnes.
All three of the Olympic-class ships had ten decks (excluding the top of the officers' quarters), eight of which were for passenger use. From top to bottom, the decks were:
The boat deck, on which the lifeboats were housed. It was from here during the early hours of 15 April 1912 that Titanic's lifeboats were lowered into the North Atlantic. The bridge and wheelhouse were at the forward end, in front of the captain's and officers' quarters. The bridge stood 8 feet (2.4 m) above the deck, extending out to either side so that the ship could be controlled while docking. The wheelhouse stood within the bridge. The entrance to the First Class Grand Staircase and gymnasium was located midships along with the raised roof of the First Class lounge, while at the rear of the deck were the roof of the First Class smoke room and the Second Class entrance. Just forward of the Second Class entrance sat the kennels, where the First Class passengers' dogs would stay. The wood-covered deck was divided into four segregated promenades: for officers, First Class passengers, engineers, and Second Class passengers respectively. Lifeboats lined the side of the deck except in the First Class area, where there was a gap so that the view would not be spoiled.
A Deck, also called the promenade deck, extended along the entire 546 feet (166 m) length of the superstructure. It was reserved exclusively for First Class passengers and contained First Class cabins, the First Class reading and writing room, lounge, smoke room, and Palm Court.
B Deck, the bridge deck, was the top weight-bearing deck and the uppermost level of the hull. More First Class passenger accommodations were located here with six palatial staterooms (cabins) featuring their own private promenades. On Titanic, the à la carte restaurant and the Café Parisien provided luxury dining facilities to First Class passengers. Both were run by subcontracted chefs and their staff; all were lost in the disaster. The Second Class smoking room and entrance hall were both located on this deck. The raised forecastle of the ship was forward of the bridge deck, accommodating Number 1 hatch (the main hatch through to the cargo holds), numerous pieces of machinery and the anchor housings. Aft of the bridge deck was the raised poop deck, 106 feet (32 m) long, used as a promenade by Third Class passengers. It was where many of Titanic's passengers and crew made their last stand as the ship sank. The forecastle and poop deck were separated from the bridge deck by well decks.
C Deck, the shelter deck, was the highest deck to run uninterrupted from stem to stern. It included both well decks; the aft one served as part of the Third-Class promenade. Crew cabins were housed below the forecastle and Third-Class public rooms were housed below the poop deck. In between were the majority of First Class cabins and the Second-Class library.
D Deck, the saloon deck, was dominated by three public rooms—the First-Class reception room, the First-Class dining saloon and the Second-Class dining saloon. The first- and second-class galleys were also located on this deck. An open space was provided for Third Class passengers. First, Second- and Third-Class passengers had cabins on this deck, with berths for firemen located in the bow. It was the highest level reached by the ship's watertight bulkheads (though only by eight of the fifteen bulkheads).
E Deck, the upper deck, was predominantly used for passenger accommodation for all three classes plus berths for cooks, seamen, stewards and trimmers. Along its length ran a long passageway nicknamed 'Scotland Road', in reference to a famous street in Liverpool. Scotland Road was used by Third Class passengers and crew members.
F Deck, the middle deck, mainly accommodated Second- and Third-Class passengers and several departments of the crew. The Third Class dining saloon was located here, as was the First Class bath complex, containing the swimming pool and the Turkish bath.
G Deck, the lower deck, had the lowest portholes, just above the waterline. The first-class squash court was located here along with the travelling post office where letters and parcels were sorted ready for delivery when the ship docked. Food was also stored here. The deck was interrupted at several points by orlop (partial) decks over the boiler, engine and turbine rooms.
The orlop deck, and the tank top below that, named because of the water tanks and ballast tanks stored in the ships double bottom,were on the lowest level of the ship, below the waterline. The orlop decks were used as cargo spaces, while the tank top—the inner bottom of the ship's hull—provided the platform on which the ship's boilers, engines, turbines and electrical generators were housed. This area of the ship was occupied by the engine and boiler rooms, areas which passengers would have been prohibited from seeing. They were connected with higher levels of the ship by two flights of stairs in the fireman's passage; twin spiral stairways near the bow provided access up to D Deck. Ladders in the boiler, turbine, and engine rooms provided access to higher decks in those compartments.
== Features ==
=== Power ===
Titanic propulsion was supplied by three main engines—two reciprocating four-cylinder, triple-expansion steam engines and one centrally placed low-pressure Parsons turbine—each driving a propeller. The two reciprocating engines had a combined output of 30,000 horsepower (22,000 kW). The output of the steam turbine was 16,000 horsepower (12,000 kW). The White Star Line had used the same combination of engines on an earlier liner, Laurentic, where it had been a great success. It provided a good combination of performance and speed; reciprocating engines by themselves were not powerful enough to propel an Olympic-class liner at the desired speeds, while turbines were sufficiently powerful but caused uncomfortable vibrations, a problem that affected the all-turbine Cunard liners Lusitania and Mauretania. By combining reciprocating engines with a turbine, fuel usage could be reduced and motive power increased, while using the same amount of steam.
The two reciprocating engines were each 63 feet (19 m) long and weighed 720 tonnes, with their bedplates contributing a further 195 tonnes. They were powered by steam produced in 29 boilers, 24 of which were double-ended and five single-ended, which contained a total of 159 furnaces. The boilers were 15 feet 9 inches (4.80 m) in diameter and 20 feet (6.1 m) long, each weighing 91.5 tonnes and capable of holding 48.5 tonnes of water.
They were fuelled by burning coal, 6,611 tonnes of which could be carried in Titanic's bunkers, with a further 1,092 tonnes in Hold 3. The furnaces required over 600 tonnes of coal a day to be shovelled into them by hand, requiring the services of 176 firemen working around the clock. 100 tonnes of ash a day had to be disposed of by ejecting it into the sea. The work was relentless, dirty and dangerous, and although firemen were paid relatively well, there was a high suicide rate among those who worked in that capacity.
Exhaust steam leaving the reciprocating engines was fed into the turbine, which was situated aft. From there it passed into a surface condenser, to increase the efficiency of the turbine and so that the steam could be condensed back into water and reused. The engines were attached directly to long shafts which drove the propellers. There were three, one for each engine; the outer (or wing) propellers were the largest, each carrying three blades of manganese-bronze alloy with a total diameter of 23.5 feet (7.2 m). The middle propeller was slightly smaller at 17 feet (5.2 m) in diameter, and could be stopped but not reversed.
Titanic's electrical plant was capable of producing more power than an average city power station of the time. Immediately aft of the turbine engine were four 400 kW steam-driven electric generators, used to provide electrical power to the ship, plus two 30 kW auxiliary generators for emergency use. Their location in the stern of the ship meant they remained operational until the last few minutes before the ship sank.
Titanic lacked a searchlight, in accordance with the ban on the use of searchlights in the merchant navy.
=== Technology ===
==== Compartments and funnels ====
The interiors of the Olympic-class ships were subdivided into 16 primary compartments divided by 15 bulkheads that extended above the waterline. The eleven vertically closing watertight doors on the orlop deck could be closed automatically via a switch on the bridge, by a lever next to the door itself, or by an automatic buoyancy mechanism that would activate in the event water reached six feet high in the compartment. There were also several other horizontally closing watertight doors along Scotland Road, and various crew and third class passenger spaces on the G, F, and E decks. These doors required a small key to be placed into a slot on the deck above. Once the key was turned, the watertight door would close. The ship's exposed decking was made of pine and teak, while interior ceilings were covered in painted granulated cork to combat condensation. Standing above the decks were four funnels, each painted in the White Star buff with black tops; only three were functional—the aftmost one was a dummy, installed primarily for aesthetic purposes but also used to provide ventilation to the kitchen and for the First and Second Class smoking rooms. Two masts, each 155 ft (47 m) high, supported derricks for working cargo.
==== Rudder and steering engines ====
Titanic's rudder was 78 feet 8 inches (23.98 m) high and 15 feet 3 inches (4.65 m) long, weighing over 100 tonnes. Its size was such that it required steering engines to move it. Two steam-powered steering engines were installed, though only one was used at any given time, with the other one kept in reserve. They were connected to the short tiller through stiff springs, to isolate the steering engines from any shocks in heavy seas or during fast changes of direction. As a last resort, the tiller could be moved by ropes connected to two steam capstans. The capstans were also used to raise and lower the ship's five anchors (one port, one starboard, one in the centreline and two kedging anchors).
==== Water, ventilation and heating ====
The ship was equipped with waterworks capable of heating and pumping water to all parts of the vessel via a complex network of pipes and valves. The main water supply was taken aboard while Titanic was in port, but in an emergency, the ship could also distil fresh water from seawater. However, this was not a straightforward process as the distillation plant could quickly become clogged by salt deposits. A network of insulated ducts conveyed warm air around the ship with electric fans and First-Class cabins were fitted with additional electric heaters. The "Sirocco Fan" a centrifugal fan was used after a deal with H&W took place with Davidson and Co, Sirocco Works.
==== Radio communications ====
Titanic's radiotelegraph equipment (then known as wireless telegraphy) was leased to the White Star Line by the Marconi International Marine Communication Company, which also supplied two of its employees, Jack Phillips and Harold Bride, as operators. The service maintained a 24-hour schedule, primarily sending and receiving passenger telegrams ("marconigrams"), but also handling navigation messages including weather reports and ice warnings.
The radio room was located on the Boat Deck, in the officers' quarters. A soundproofed "Silent Room", next to the operating room, housed loud equipment, including the transmitter and a motor-generator used for producing alternating currents. The operators' living quarters were adjacent to the working office. The ship was equipped with a 'state of the art' 5-kilowatt rotary spark-gap transmitter, with the wireless telegraph call sign MGY, and communication was in Morse code. This transmitter was one of the first Marconi installations to use a rotary spark-gap, which gave Titanic a distinctive musical tone that could be readily distinguished from other signals. The transmitter was one of the most powerful in the world and guaranteed to broadcast over a radius of 350 miles (304 nmi; 563 km). An elevated T-antenna that spanned the length of the ship was used for transmitting and receiving. The normal operating frequency was 500 kHz (600 m wavelength); however, the equipment could also operate on the "short" wavelength of 1,000 kHz (300 m wavelength) that was employed by smaller vessels with shorter antennas.
=== Passenger facilities ===
The passenger facilities aboard Titanic aimed to meet the highest standards of luxury. According to Titanic's general arrangement plans, the ship could accommodate 833 First Class Passengers, 614 in Second Class and 1,006 in Third Class, for a total passenger capacity of 2,453. In addition, Titanic's capacity for crew members exceeded 900, as most documents of the original configuration have stated that the full carrying capacity for passengers and crew was approximately 3,547. The ship's interior design was a departure from that of other passenger liners, which had typically been decorated in the style of a manor house or an English country house.
Titanic was laid out in a much lighter style similar to that of contemporary high-class hotels—the Ritz Hotel was a reference point—with First Class cabins finished in the Empire style. A variety of other decorative styles, ranging from the Renaissance to Louis XV, were used to decorate cabins and public rooms in First and Second Class areas of the ship. The aim was to convey an impression that the passengers were in a floating hotel rather than a ship. As one passenger recalled, on entering the ship's interior a passenger would "at once lose the feeling that we are on board ship, and seem instead to be entering the hall of some great house on shore". Cabins in First Class also contained buttons that, when pressed, would signal for a steward to come to the cabin.
Among the more novel features available to first-class passengers was a 7 ft (2.1 m) deep saltwater swimming pool, a gymnasium, a squash court, and a Victorian-style Turkish bath which comprised hot room, warm (temperate) room, cooling-room, and two shampooing (massage) rooms. Complementing the Turkish bath, and within the same area, was a steam room and an electric bath. First-class common rooms were impressive in scope and lavishly decorated. They included a lounge in the style of the Palace of Versailles, an enormous reception room, a men's smoking room, and a reading and writing room. There was an à la carte restaurant in the style of the Ritz Hotel which was run as a concession by the famous Italian restaurateur Gaspare Gatti. A Café Parisien decorated in the style of a French pavement café, complete with ivy-covered trellises and wicker furniture, was run as an annex to the restaurant. For an extra cost, first-class passengers could enjoy the finest French haute cuisine in the most luxurious of surroundings. There was also a Verandah Café where tea and light refreshments were served that offered grand views of the ocean. At 114 ft (35 m) long by 92 ft (28 m) wide, the dining saloon on D Deck, designed by Charles Fitzroy Doll, was the largest room afloat and could seat almost 600 passengers at a time.
Third Class (commonly referred to as steerage) accommodations aboard Titanic were not as luxurious as First or Second Class but were better than on many other ships of the time, where Third Class accommodations consisted of little more than open dormitories in which hundreds of people were confined, often without adequate food or toilet facilities. The White Star Line had long since broken that mould. As seen aboard Titanic, all White Star Line passenger ships divided their Third Class accommodations into two sections, always at opposite ends of the vessel from one another. The established arrangement was that single men were quartered in the forward areas, while single women, married couples and families were quartered aft. In addition, while other ships provided only open berth sleeping arrangements, White Star Line vessels provided their Third-Class passengers with private, small but comfortable cabins capable of accommodating two, four, six, eight and ten passengers. Third Class accommodations also included their own dining rooms, as well as public gathering areas including adequate open deck space. This was supplemented by the addition of a smoking room for men and a general room on C Deck which women could use for reading and writing.
Leisure facilities were provided for all three classes to pass the time. As well as making use of the indoor amenities such as the library, smoking rooms, and gymnasium, it was also customary for passengers to socialise on the open deck, promenading or relaxing in hired deck chairs or wooden benches. A passenger list was published before the sailing to inform the public which members of the great and good were on board, and it was not uncommon for ambitious mothers to use the list to identify rich bachelors to whom they could introduce their marriageable daughters during the voyage.
One of Titanic's most distinctive features was the First Class staircase, known as the Grand Staircase or Grand Stairway. Built of solid English oak with a sweeping curve, the staircase descended through seven decks of the ship, between the boat deck to E deck, before terminating in a simplified single flight on F Deck. It was capped with a dome of wrought iron and glass that admitted natural light to the stairwell. Each landing off the staircase gave access to ornate entrance halls panelled in the William & Mary style and lit by ormolu and crystal light fixtures.
At the uppermost landing was a large carved wooden panel containing a clock, with figures of "Honour and Glory Crowning Time" flanking the clock face. The Grand Staircase was destroyed during the sinking and is now just a void in the ship which modern explorers have used to access the lower decks. During the filming of James Cameron's Titanic in 1997, his replica of the Grand Staircase was ripped from its foundations by the force of the inrushing water on the set. It has been suggested that during the real event, the entire Grand Staircase was ejected upwards through the dome.
=== Mail and cargo ===
Although Titanic was primarily a passenger liner, the ship also carried a substantial amount of cargo. Under the designation of Royal Mail Ship (RMS), Titanic carried mail under contract with the Royal Mail (and also for the United States Post Office Department). For the storage of letters, parcels and specie (bullion, coins and other valuables), 26,800 cubic feet (760 m3) of space was allocated. The Sea Post Office on G Deck was manned by five postal clerks (three Americans and two Britons), who worked 13 hours a day, seven days a week, sorting up to 60,000 items daily.
The ship's passengers brought with them a huge amount of baggage; another 19,455 cubic feet (550.9 m3) was taken up by first- and second-class baggage. In addition, there was a considerable quantity of regular cargo, ranging from furniture to foodstuffs, and a 1912 Renault Type CE Coupe de Ville motor car. Despite later myths, the cargo on Titanic's maiden voyage was fairly mundane; there were no large quantities of gold bars, exotic minerals or diamonds. The so-called Unlucky Mummy being on board is also false.
One of the more famous items lost in the shipwreck, a jewelled copy of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, was valued at £405 (£38,300 today). According to the claims for compensation filed with Commissioner Gilchrist, following the conclusion of the Senate Inquiry, the single most highly valued item of luggage or cargo was a large neoclassical oil painting entitled La Circassienne au Bain by French artist Merry-Joseph Blondel. The painting's owner, first-class passenger Mauritz Håkan Björnström-Steffansson, filed a claim for $100,000 (equivalent to $3.3 million in 2025) in compensation for the loss of the artwork. Other intriguing items in the manifest included twelve cases of ostrich feathers, seventy-six cases of dragon's blood resin, and sixteen cases of calabashes.
Titanic was equipped with eight electric cranes, four electric winches and three steam winches to lift cargo and baggage in and out of the holds. It is estimated that the ship used some 415 tonnes of coal whilst in Southampton, simply generating steam to operate the cargo winches and provide heat and light.
=== Lifeboats ===
Like Olympic, Titanic carried a total of 20 lifeboats: 14 standard wooden Harland and Wolff lifeboats with a capacity of 65 people each and four Engelhardt "collapsible" (wooden bottom, collapsible canvas sides) lifeboats (identified as A to D) with a capacity of 47 people each. In addition, Titanic had two emergency cutters with a capacity of 40 people each. Olympic carried at least two collapsible boats on either side of the number one funnel. All of the lifeboats were stowed securely on the boat deck and, except for collapsible lifeboats A and B, connected to davits by ropes. Those on the starboard side were odd-numbered 1–15 from bow to stern, while those on the port side were even-numbered 2–16 from bow to stern.
Both cutters were kept swung out, hanging from the davits, ready for immediate use, while collapsible lifeboats C and D were stowed on the boat deck (connected to davits) immediately inboard of boats 1 and 2 respectively. A and B were stored on the roof of the officers' quarters, on either side of number 1 funnel. There were no davits to lower them and their weight would make them difficult to launch by hand. Each boat carried (among other things) food, water, blankets, and a spare life belt. Lifeline ropes on the boats' sides enabled them to save additional people from the water if necessary.
Titanic had 16 sets of davits, each able to handle three lifeboats, as Carlisle had hoped. This gave Titanic the ability to carry up to 48 wooden lifeboats. However, the White Star Line decided that only 16 wooden lifeboats and four collapsibles would be carried, which could accommodate 1,178 people, only one-third of Titanic's total capacity. At the time, the Board of Trade's regulations required British vessels over 10,000 tonnes to carry only 16 lifeboats with a capacity of 990 occupants.
Therefore, the White Star Line actually provided more lifeboat accommodation than was legally required. At the time, lifeboats were intended to ferry survivors from a sinking ship to a rescuing ship—not keep afloat the whole population or power them to shore. Had SS Californian responded to Titanic's distress calls, the lifeboats might have been able to ferry all passengers to safety as planned.
== Building and preparing the ship ==
=== Construction, launch and fitting-out ===
The sheer size of the Olympic class vessels posed a major engineering challenge for Harland and Wolff; no shipbuilder had ever before attempted to construct vessels this size. The ships were constructed on Queen's Island, now known as the Titanic Quarter, in Belfast Harbour. Harland and Wolff had to demolish three existing slipways and build two new ones, the largest ever constructed up to that time, to accommodate both ships. Their construction was facilitated by an enormous gantry built by Sir William Arrol & Co., a Scottish firm responsible for the building of the Forth Bridge and London's Tower Bridge. The Arrol Gantry stood 228 feet (69 m) high, was 270 feet (82 m) wide and 840 feet (260 m) long and weighed more than 6,000 tonnes. It accommodated a number of mobile cranes. A separate floating crane, capable of lifting 200 tonnes, was brought in from Germany.
The construction of Olympic and Titanic took place virtually in parallel, with Olympic's keel laid down first on 16 December 1908 and Titanic's on 22 March 1909. Both ships took about 26 months to build and followed much the same construction process. They were designed essentially as an enormous floating box girder, with the keel acting as a backbone and the frames of the hull forming the ribs. At the base of the ships, a double bottom 5 feet 3 inches (1.60 m) deep supported 300 frames, each between 24 and 36 inches (61 and 91 cm) apart and measuring up to about 66 feet (20 m) long. They terminated at the bridge deck (B Deck) and were covered with steel plates which formed the outer skin of the ships.
The 2,000 hull plates were single pieces of rolled steel plate, mostly up to 6 feet (1.8 m) wide and 30 feet (9.1 m) long and weighing between 2.5 and 3 tonnes. Their thickness varied from 1 to 1.5 inches (2.5 to 3.8 cm). The plates were laid in a clinkered (overlapping) fashion from the keel to the bilge. Above that point they were laid in the "in and out" fashion, where strake plating was applied in bands (the "in strakes") with the gaps covered by the "out strakes", overlapping on the edges. Commercial oxy-fuel and electric arc welding methods, ubiquitous in fabrication today, were still in their infancy. Like most other iron and steel structures of the era, the hull was held together with over three million iron and steel rivets, which by themselves weighed over 1,200 tonnes. They were fitted using hydraulic machines or were hammered in by hand. In the 1990s, material scientists concluded that the steel plate used for the ship was subject to being especially brittle when cold, and that this brittleness exacerbated the impact damage and hastened the sinking. It is believed that, by the standards of the time, the steel plate's quality was good, not faulty, but that it was inferior to what would be used for shipbuilding purposes in later decades, owing to advances in the metallurgy of steelmaking. As for the rivets, considerable emphasis has also been placed on their quality and strength.
Two side anchors and a centre anchor were among the last items to be fitted on Titanic before it launched. The anchors were a challenge to make; the centre anchor was the largest ever forged by hand. The head weighed nearly 16 tonnes and the shank another 8. Twenty Clydesdale draught horses were needed to haul the centre anchor by wagon from the Noah Hingley & Sons Ltd forge shop in Netherton, near Dudley, United Kingdom to the Dudley railway station two miles away. It was then shipped by rail to Fleetwood in Lancashire before boarding a ship to Belfast.
Constructing the ships was difficult and dangerous. Safety precautions were rudimentary at best for the 15,000 men who worked at Harland and Wolff at the time. Much of the work was carried out without safety equipment like hard hats or hand guards on machinery. 246 injuries were recorded during Titanic's construction, including 28 severe injuries, such as arms severed by machines or legs crushed under falling pieces of steel. Six people died on the ship during construction and fitting out, and another two died in the shipyard workshops and sheds. Just before the launch, a worker was killed when a piece of wood fell on him.
Titanic was launched at 12:15 pm on 31 May 1911 in the presence of Lord Pirrie, J. Pierpont Morgan, J. Bruce Ismay and 100,000 onlookers. Twenty-two tonnes of soap and tallow were spread on the slipway to lubricate the ship's passage into the River Lagan. In keeping with the White Star Line's traditional policy, the ship was not formally named or christened with champagne. The ship was towed to a fitting-out berth where, over the course of the next year, the engines, funnels and superstructure were installed and interior was fitted out.
Although Titanic was virtually identical to the class's lead ship Olympic, a few changes were made to distinguish both ships. The most noticeable exterior difference was that Titanic (and the third vessel in class, Britannic) had a steel screen with sliding windows installed along the forward half of the A Deck promenade. This was installed as a last-minute change at the personal request of Bruce Ismay and was intended to provide additional shelter to First Class passengers. Extensive changes were made to B Deck on Titanic as the promenade space in this deck, which had proven unpopular on Olympic, was converted into additional First-Class cabins, including two opulent parlour suites with their own private promenade spaces. The À la Carte restaurant was also enlarged and the Café Parisien, an entirely new feature which did not exist on Olympic, was added. These changes made Titanic slightly heavier than Olympic and allowed claim to be the largest ship afloat. The work took longer than expected due to design changes requested by Ismay and a temporary pause in work occasioned by the need to repair Olympic, which had been in a collision in September 1911. Had Titanic been finished earlier, the ship might well have missed colliding with an iceberg.
On 3 February 1912, Titanic was pulled into Thompson Graving Dock. It was the largest dry dock of the world and had been built with an eye to building ships of the size of the Olympic class. Here, Titanic would receive its propellers and final red hull coating. However, on 6 March 1912, Titanic was moved out again to allow Olympic in, which had lost a propeller blade.
=== Sea trials ===
Titanic's sea trials began at 6 am on Tuesday, 2 April 1912, just two days after the fitting out was finished and eight days before departure from Southampton on the maiden voyage. The trials were delayed for a day due to bad weather, but by Monday morning it was clear and fair. Aboard were 78 stokers, greasers and firemen, and 41 members of crew. No domestic staff appear to have been aboard. Representatives of various companies travelled on Titanic's sea trials: Thomas Andrews and Edward Wilding of Harland and Wolff, and Harold A. Sanderson of IMM. Bruce Ismay and Lord Pirrie were too ill to attend. Jack Phillips and Harold Bride served as radio operators and performed fine-tuning of the Marconi equipment. Francis Carruthers, a surveyor from the Board of Trade, was also present to see that everything worked and that the ship was fit to carry passengers.
The sea trials consisted of a number of tests of handling characteristics, carried out first in Belfast Lough and then in the open waters of the Irish Sea. Over the course of about 12 hours, Titanic was driven at different speeds, turning ability was tested, and a "crash stop" was performed in which the engines were reversed full ahead to full astern, bringing the ship to a stop in 850 yd (777 m) or 3 minutes and 15 seconds. Titanic covered a distance of about 80 nautical miles (92 mi; 150 km), averaging 18 knots (21 mph; 33 km/h) and reaching a maximum speed of just under 21 knots (24 mph; 39 km/h).
On returning to Belfast at about 7 pm, the surveyor signed an "Agreement and Account of Voyages and Crew", valid for 12 months, which declared the ship seaworthy. An hour later, Titanic departed Belfast to head to Southampton, a voyage of about 570 nautical miles (660 mi; 1,060 km). After a journey lasting about 28 hours, Titanic arrived about midnight on 4 April and was towed to the port's Berth 44, ready for the arrival of passengers and the remainder of the crew.
== Maiden voyage ==
Both Olympic and Titanic registered Liverpool as their home port. The offices of the White Star Line, as well as Cunard, were in Liverpool, and up until the introduction of the Olympic, most British ocean liners for both Cunard and White Star, such as Lusitania and Mauretania, sailed from Liverpool followed by a port of call in Queenstown, Ireland. Since the company's founding in 1845, a vast majority of their operations had taken place from Liverpool. However, in 1907 White Star Line established another service from Southampton on England's south coast, which became known as White Star's "Express Service". Southampton had many advantages over Liverpool, the first being its proximity to London.
In addition, Southampton, being on the south coast, allowed ships to easily cross the English Channel and make a port of call on the northern coast of France, usually at Cherbourg. This allowed British ships to pick up clientele from continental Europe before recrossing the channel and picking up passengers at Queenstown. The Southampton-Cherbourg-New York run would become so popular that most British ocean liners began using the port after World War I. Out of respect for Liverpool, ships continued to be registered there until the early 1960s. Queen Elizabeth 2 was one of the first ships registered in Southampton when introduced into service by Cunard in 1969.
Titanic's maiden voyage was intended to be the first of many trans-Atlantic crossings between Southampton and New York via Cherbourg and Queenstown on westbound runs, returning via Plymouth in England while eastbound. The entire schedule of voyages through to December 1912 still exists. When the route was established, four ships were assigned to the service. In addition to Teutonic and Majestic, RMS Oceanic and the brand new RMS Adriatic sailed the route. When the Olympic entered service in June 1911, the ship replaced Teutonic, which after completing a last run on the service in late April was transferred to the Dominion Line's Canadian service. The following August, Adriatic was transferred to White Star Line's main Liverpool-New York service, and in November, Majestic was withdrawn from service pending the arrival of Titanic in the coming months and was mothballed as a reserve ship.
White Star Line's initial plans for Olympic and Titanic on the Southampton run followed the same routine as their predecessors had done before them. Each would sail once every three weeks from Southampton and New York, usually leaving at noon each Wednesday from Southampton and each Saturday from New York, thus enabling the White Star Line to offer weekly sailings in each direction. Special trains were scheduled from London and Paris to convey passengers to Southampton and Cherbourg respectively. The deep-water dock at Southampton, then known as the "White Star Dock", had been specially constructed to accommodate the new Olympic-class liners, and had opened in 1911.
=== Crew ===
Titanic had about 885 crew members on board for the maiden voyage. Like other vessels of the time, Titanic did not have a permanent crew, and the vast majority of crew members were casual workers who only came aboard the ship a few hours before sailing from Southampton. The process of signing up recruits began on 23 March and some were sent to Belfast, where they served as a skeleton crew on Titanic's sea trials and passage to England in early April.
Captain Edward John Smith, the most senior of the White Star Line's captains, was transferred from Olympic to take command of Titanic. Henry Tingle Wilde also came across from Olympic to take the post of chief mate. Titanic's previously designated chief mate and first officer, William McMaster Murdoch and Charles Lightoller, were downgraded to the ranks of first and second officer respectively, and the original second officer, David Blair, was dropped altogether. The third officer, Herbert Pitman, was the only deck officer not a member of the Royal Naval Reserve. Pitman was the second-to-last surviving officer.
Titanic's crew were divided into three principal departments: Deck, with 66 crew; Engine, with 325; and Victualling, with 494. The vast majority of the crew were thus not seamen but were either engineers, firemen, or stokers, responsible for looking after the engines, or stewards and galley staff, responsible for the passengers. Of these, over 97% were male; just 23 of the crew were female, mainly stewardesses. The rest represented a variety of professions—bakers, chefs, butchers, fishmongers, dishwashers, stewards, gymnasium instructors, laundrymen, waiters, bed-makers, cleaners, and even a printer, who produced a daily newspaper for passengers called the Atlantic Daily Bulletin with the latest news received by the ship's wireless operators.
Most of the crew signed on in Southampton on 6 April; in all, 699 of the crew came from there, and 40% were natives of the town. A few specialist staff were self-employed or subcontractors, including: five postal clerks who worked for the Royal Mail and the United States Post Office Department, the staff of the First Class À La Carte Restaurant and the Café Parisien, the radio operators (who were employed by Marconi) and the eight musicians, who were employed by an agency and travelled as second-class passengers. Crew pay varied greatly, from Captain Smith's £105 a month (equivalent to £9,900 today) to the £3 10s (£330 today) that stewardesses earned. The lower-paid victualling staff could, however, supplement their wages substantially through tips from passengers.
=== Passengers ===
Titanic's passengers numbered approximately 1,317 people: 324 in First Class, 284 in Second Class, and 709 in Third Class. Of these, 869 (66%) were male and 447 (34%) female. There were 107 children aboard, the largest number of whom were in Third Class. The ship was considerably under-capacity for the maiden voyage and could have accommodated 2,453 passengers—833 First Class, 614 Second Class, and 1,006 Third Class.
Usually, a high-prestige vessel like Titanic could expect to be fully booked on a maiden voyage. However, a national coal strike in the UK had caused considerable disruption to shipping schedules in the spring of 1912, causing many crossings to be cancelled. Many would-be passengers chose to postpone their travel plans until the strike was over. The strike had finished a few days before Titanic sailed; however, that was too late to have much of an effect. Titanic was able to sail on the scheduled date only because coal was transferred from other vessels which were tied up at Southampton, such as SS City of New York and RMS Oceanic, as well as coal that Olympic had brought back from a previous voyage to New York, which had been stored at the White Star Dock.
Some of the most prominent people of the day booked a passage aboard Titanic, travelling in First Class. Among them (with those who perished marked with a dagger†) were the American millionaire John Jacob Astor IV† and his wife, Madeleine Force Astor (with John Jacob Astor VI in utero); industrialist Benjamin Guggenheim†; painter and sculptor Francis Davis Millet†; Macy's owner Isidor Straus† and his wife, Ida†; millionaire Margaret "Molly" Brown; officer Archibald Butt†, aide to two U.S. presidents (Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft, neither aboard ship); Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon and his wife, Lucy (Lady Duff-Gordon); Lieut. Col. Arthur Peuchen; writer and historian Archibald Gracie; cricketer and businessman John B. Thayer† with his wife, Marian, and son Jack; George Dunton Widener† with his wife, Eleanor, and son Harry†; Noël Leslie, Countess of Rothes; Mr.† and Mrs. Charles M. Hays; Mr. and Mrs. Henry S. Harper; Mr.† and Mrs. Walter D. Douglas; Mr.† and Mrs. George D. Wick; Mr.† and Mrs. Henry B. Harris; Mr.† and Mrs. Arthur L. Ryerson; Mr.† and Mrs.† Hudson J. C. Allison; Mr. and Mrs. Dickinson Bishop; noted architect Edward Austin Kent†; brewery heir Harry Molson†; tennis players Karl Behr and Dick Williams; author and socialite Helen Churchill Candee; future lawyer and suffragette Elsie Bowerman and her mother Edith; journalist and social reformer William Thomas Stead†; journalist and fashion buyer Edith Rosenbaum; socialite Edith Corse Evans†; wealthy divorcée Charlotte Drake Cardeza; French sculptor Paul Chevré; author Jacques Futrelle† with his wife May; silent film actress Dorothy Gibson with her mother Pauline; President of the Swiss Bankverein, Col. Alfons Simonius-Blumer; James A. Hughes's daughter Eloise; banker Robert Williams Daniel; the chairman of the Holland America Line, Johan Reuchlin; Arthur Wellington Ross's son John H. Ross; Washington Roebling's nephew Washington A. Roebling II†; Andrew Saks's daughter Leila Saks Meyer with her husband Edgar Joseph Meyer† (son of Marc Eugene Meyer); William A. Clark's nephew Walter M. Clark with his wife, Virginia; a great-great-grandson of soap manufacturer Andrew Pears, Thomas C. Pears, with wife; John S. Pillsbury's grandson John P. Snyder and wife Nelle; and Dorothy Parker's uncle Martin Rothschild with his wife, Elizabeth.
Titanic's owner J. P. Morgan was scheduled to travel on the maiden voyage but cancelled at the last minute. Also aboard the ship were the White Star Line's managing director J. Bruce Ismay and Titanic's designer Thomas Andrews†, who was on board to observe any problems and assess the general performance of the new ship.
The exact number of people aboard is not known, as not all of those who had booked tickets made it to the ship; about 50 people cancelled for various reasons, and not all of those who boarded stayed aboard for the entire journey. Fares varied depending on class and season. Third Class fares from London, Southampton, or Queenstown cost £7 5s (equivalent to £700 today) while the cheapest First Class fares cost £23 (£2,200 today). The most expensive First Class suites were to have cost up to £870 in high season (£82,000 today).
=== Collecting passengers ===
Titanic's maiden voyage began on Wednesday, 10 April 1912. Following the embarkation of the crew, the passengers began arriving at 9:30 am, when the London and South Western Railway's boat train from London Waterloo station reached Southampton Terminus railway station on the quayside, alongside Titanic's berth. The large number of Third Class passengers meant they were the first to board, with First and Second Class passengers following up to an hour before departure. Stewards showed them to their cabins, and First Class passengers were personally greeted by Captain Smith. Third Class passengers were inspected for ailments and physical impairments that might lead to their being refused entry to the United States – a prospect the White Star Line wished to avoid, as it would have to carry anyone who failed the examination back across the Atlantic. In all, 920 passengers boarded Titanic at Southampton – 179 First Class, 247 Second Class, and 494 Third Class. Additional passengers were to be picked up at Cherbourg and Queenstown.
The maiden voyage began at noon, as scheduled. An accident was narrowly averted only a few minutes later, as Titanic passed the moored liners SS City of New York of the American Line and Oceanic of the White Star Line, the latter of which would have been a running mate on the service from Southampton. The ship's displacement caused both of the smaller ships to be lifted by a bulge of water and dropped into a trough. New York's mooring cables could not take the sudden strain and snapped, swinging around stern-first towards Titanic. A nearby tugboat, Vulcan, came to the rescue by taking New York under tow, and Captain Smith ordered Titanic's engines to be put "full astern". The two ships avoided a collision by a distance of about 4 feet (1.2 m). The incident delayed Titanic's departure for about an hour, while the drifting New York was brought under control.
After making it safely through the complex tides and channels of Southampton Water and the Solent, Titanic disembarked the Southampton pilot at the Nab Lightship and headed out into the English Channel. The ship headed for the French port of Cherbourg, a journey of 77 nautical miles (89 mi; 143 km). The weather was windy, very fine but cold and overcast. Because Cherbourg lacked docking facilities for a ship the size of Titanic, tenders had to be used to transfer passengers from shore to ship. The White Star Line operated two tenders at Cherbourg: SS Traffic and SS Nomadic (Nomadic is the only surviving White Star Line ship). Both had been designed specifically as tenders for the Olympic-class liners and launched shortly after Titanic. Four hours after leaving Southampton, Titanic arrived at Cherbourg and was met by the tenders where 274 additional passengers were taken aboard (142 First Class, 30 Second Class, and 102 Third Class). Twenty-four passengers had booked a cross-Channel passage only and were left aboard the tenders to be conveyed to shore, a process completed within 90 minutes. At 8 pm, Titanic weighed anchor and left for Queenstown with the weather remaining cold and windy.
At 11:30 am on Thursday 11 April, Titanic arrived at Cork Harbour on the south coast of Ireland. It was a partly cloudy but relatively warm day, with a brisk wind. Again, the dock facilities were not suitable for a ship of Titanic's size, and the tenders America and Ireland were used to bring passengers aboard. In all, 123 passengers boarded Titanic at Queenstown – three First Class, seven Second Class and 113 Third Class. In addition to the 24 cross-Channel passengers who had disembarked at Cherbourg, another seven passengers had booked an overnight passage from Southampton to Queenstown. Among the seven was Francis Browne, a Jesuit trainee who was a keen photographer and took many photographs aboard Titanic, including one of the last known photographs of the ship. The very last one was taken by another cross-channel passenger, Kate Odell. A decidedly unofficial departure was that of a crew member, stoker John Coffey, a Queenstown native who sneaked off the ship by hiding under mail bags being transported to shore. Titanic weighed anchor for the last time at 1:30 pm and departed on the westward journey across the Atlantic.
=== Atlantic crossing ===
Titanic was planned to arrive at New York Pier 59 on the morning of 17 April. After leaving Queenstown, Titanic followed the Irish coast as far as Fastnet Rock, a distance of some 55 nautical miles (63 mi; 102 km). From there the voyage of 1,620 nautical miles (1,860 mi; 3,000 km) along a Great Circle route across the North Atlantic, reached a spot in the ocean known as "the corner", southeast of Newfoundland, where westbound steamers carried out a change of course. Titanic sailed only a few hours past the corner on a rhumb line leg of 1,023 nautical miles (1,177 mi; 1,895 km) to Nantucket Shoals Light when making fatal contact with an iceberg. The final leg of the journey would have been 193 nautical miles (222 mi; 357 km) to Ambrose Light and finally to New York Harbor.
From 11 April to local apparent noon the next day, Titanic covered 484 nautical miles (557 mi; 896 km); the following day, 519 nautical miles (597 mi; 961 km); and by noon on the final day of the voyage, 546 nautical miles (628 mi; 1,011 km). From then until the time of sinking, the ship travelled another 258 nautical miles (297 mi; 478 km), averaging about 21 knots (24 mph; 39 km/h).
The weather cleared as Titanic left Ireland under cloudy skies with a headwind. Temperatures remained fairly mild on Saturday 13 April, but the following day Titanic crossed a cold weather front with strong winds and waves of up to 8 feet (2.4 m). These died down as the day progressed until, by the evening of Sunday 14 April, it became clear, calm, and very cold.
The first three days of the voyage from Queenstown had passed without apparent incident. A fire had begun in Titanic's forward most coal bunker (that supplied coal to boiler rooms six and five) approximately 10 days prior to the ship's departure, and continued to burn for several days into its voyage, but passengers were unaware of this situation. Fires occurred frequently on board steamships at the time, due to spontaneous combustion of the coal. The fires had to be extinguished with fire hoses by moving the coal on top to another bunker and by removing the burning coal and feeding it into the furnace. The fire was finally extinguished on 14 April. There has been some speculation and discussion as to whether this fire and attempts to extinguish it may have made the ship more vulnerable to sinking.
Titanic received a series of warnings from other ships of drifting ice in the area of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, but Captain Smith ignored them. One of the ships to warn Titanic was the Atlantic Line's Mesaba. Nevertheless, Titanic continued to steam at full speed, which was standard practice at the time. Although not trying to set a speed record, timekeeping was a priority, and under prevailing maritime practices, ships were often operated at close to full speed; ice warnings were seen as advisories, and reliance was placed upon lookouts and the watch on the bridge. It was generally believed that ice posed little danger to large vessels. Close calls with ice were not uncommon, and even head-on collisions had not been disastrous. In 1907, SS Kronprinz Wilhelm, a German liner, had rammed an iceberg but still completed the voyage, and Captain Smith said in 1907 that he "could not imagine any condition which would cause a ship to founder. Modern shipbuilding has gone beyond that."
=== Sinking ===
At 11:40 pm (ship's time) on 14 April, lookout Frederick Fleet spotted an iceberg immediately ahead of Titanic and alerted the bridge. First Officer William Murdoch ordered the ship to be steered around the iceberg and the engines to be reversed, but it was too late. The starboard side of Titanic struck the iceberg, creating a series of holes below the waterline. The hull was not punctured, but rather dented such that the steel plates of the hull buckled and separated, allowing water to rush in. Five of the sixteen watertight compartments were heavily breached and a sixth was slightly compromised. It soon became clear that Titanic would sink, as the ship could not remain afloat with more than four compartments flooded. Titanic began sinking bow-first, with water spilling from compartment to compartment over the top of each watertight bulkhead as the ship's angle in the water became steeper.
Those aboard Titanic were ill-prepared for such an emergency. In accordance with accepted practices of the time, as ships were seen as largely unsinkable and lifeboats were intended to transfer passengers to nearby rescue vessels, Titanic only had enough lifeboats to carry about half of those on board; if the ship had carried the full complement of about 3,339 passengers and crew, only about a third could have been accommodated in the lifeboats. The crew had not been trained adequately in carrying out an evacuation. The officers did not know how many they could safely put aboard the lifeboats and launched many of them barely half-full. Third-class passengers were largely left to fend for themselves, causing many of them to become trapped below decks as the ship filled with water. The "women and children first" protocol was generally followed when loading the lifeboats, and most of the male passengers and crew were left aboard. Women and children survived at rates of about 75 per cent and 50 per cent, while only 20 per cent of men survived.
Between 2:10 and 2:15 am, a little over two and a half hours after Titanic struck the iceberg, the rate of sinking suddenly increased as the boat deck dipped underwater, and the sea poured in through open hatches and grates, following which the electrical power supply on board stopped after the circuit breakers tripped and the lights flickered and went out. As the ship's unsupported stern rose out of the water, exposing the propellers, the ship broke in two main pieces between the second and third funnels, due to the immense forces on the keel. With the bow underwater, and air trapped in the stern, the stern remained afloat and buoyant for a few minutes longer, rising to a nearly vertical angle with hundreds of people still clinging to it, before foundering at 2:20 am. It was believed that Titanic sank in one piece, but the 1985 discovery of the wreck revealed that the ship had broken in two. All remaining passengers and crew were immersed in water at a temperature of −2 °C (28 °F). Only five who were in the water were helped into the lifeboats, though the lifeboats had room for almost 500 more people.
Distress signals were sent by wireless, rockets, and lamp, but none of the ships that responded were near enough to reach Titanic before sinking. A radio operator on board SS Birma, for instance, estimated that it would be 6 am before the liner could arrive at the scene. Meanwhile, SS Californian, which was the last to have been in contact before the collision, saw Titanic's flares but failed to assist. Around 4 am, RMS Carpathia arrived on the scene in response to Titanic's earlier distress calls.
When the ship sank, the lifeboats that had been lowered were only filled up to an average of 60%. The number of survivors have been variously reported as between 705 and 708. While estimates, both official and otherwise, vary, it is generally accepted that approximately 1,500 persons died in the disaster.
== Aftermath of sinking ==
=== Immediate aftermath ===
RMS Carpathia took three days to reach New York after leaving the scene of the disaster with a journey slowed by pack ice, fog, thunderstorms and rough seas. Carpathia was, however, able to pass news to the outside world by wireless about what had happened. The initial reports were confusing, leading the American press to report erroneously on 15 April that Titanic was being towed to port by SS Virginian. Late on the night of 15 April White Star reported a message was received saying Titanic had sunk, but all passengers and crew had been transferred to another vessel. Later that day, confirmation came through that Titanic had been lost and that most of the passengers and crew had died. The news attracted crowds of people to the White Star Line's offices in London, New York, Montreal, Southampton, Liverpool and Belfast. It hit hardest in Southampton, whose people suffered the greatest losses from the sinking; four out of every five crew members came from this town.
Carpathia docked at 9:30 pm on 18 April at New York's Pier 54 and was greeted by some 40,000 people waiting at the quayside in heavy rain. Immediate relief in the form of clothing and transportation to shelters was provided by the Women's Relief Committee, the Travelers Aid Society of New York, and the Council of Jewish Women, among other organisations. Many of Titanic's surviving passengers did not linger in New York but headed onwards immediately to relatives' homes. Some of the wealthier survivors chartered private trains to take them home, and the Pennsylvania Railroad laid on a special train free of charge to take survivors to Philadelphia. Titanic's 214 surviving crew members were taken to the Red Star Line's steamer SS Lapland, where they were accommodated in passenger cabins.
Carpathia was hurriedly restocked with food and provisions before resuming the journey to Fiume, Austria-Hungary. The crew were given a bonus of a month's wages by Cunard as a reward for their actions, and some of Titanic's passengers joined to give them an additional bonus of nearly £900 (£85,000 today), divided among the crew members.
The ship's arrival in New York led to a frenzy of press interest, with newspapers competing to be the first to report the survivors' stories. Some reporters bribed their way aboard the pilot boat New York, which guided Carpathia into harbour, and one even managed to get onto Carpathia before docking. Crowds gathered outside newspaper offices to see the latest reports being posted in the windows or on billboards. It took another four days for a complete list of casualties to be compiled and released, adding to the agony of relatives waiting for news of those who had been aboard Titanic.
=== Insurance, aid for survivors and lawsuits ===
In January 1912, the hulls and equipment of Titanic and Olympic had been insured through Lloyd's of London and London Marine Insurance. The total coverage was £1 million (£123 million today) per ship. The policy was to be "free from all average" under £150,000, meaning that the insurers would only pay for damage in excess of that sum. The premium, negotiated by brokers Willis Faber & Company (now Willis Group), was 15 s (75 p) per £100, or £7,500 (£710,000 today) for the term of one year. Lloyd's paid the White Star Line the full sum owed to them within 30 days.
Many charities were set up to help the survivors and their families, many of whom lost their sole wage earner, or, in the case of many Third-Class survivors, everything they owned. In New York City, for example, a joint committee of the American Red Cross and Charity Organization Society formed to disburse financial aid to survivors and dependents of those who died. On 29 April, opera stars Enrico Caruso and Mary Garden and members of the Metropolitan Opera raised $12,000 ($400,000 today) in benefits for victims of the disaster by giving special concerts in which versions of "Autumn" and "Nearer My God To Thee" were part of the programme. In Britain, relief funds were organised for the families of Titanic's lost crew members, raising nearly £450,000 (£43 million today). One such fund was still in operation as late as the 1960s.
In the United States and Britain, more than 60 survivors combined to sue the White Star Line for damages connected to loss of life and baggage. The claims totalled $16,804,112 (equivalent to $560,619,943 in 2025), which was far in excess of what White Star argued it was responsible for as a limited liability company under American law. Because the bulk of the litigants were in the United States, White Star petitioned the United States Supreme Court in 1914, which ruled in its favour that it qualified as an LLC and found that the causes of the ship's sinking were largely unforeseeable, rather than due to negligence. This sharply limited the scope of damages survivors and family members were entitled to, prompting them to reduce their claims to some $2.5 million ($83 million today). White Star only settled for $664,000 ($22 million today), about 27% of the original total sought by survivors. The settlement was agreed to by 44 of the claimants in December 1915, with $500,000 ($17 million today) set aside for the American claimants, $50,000 ($2 million today) for the British, and $114,000 ($4 million today) to go towards interest and legal expenses.
=== Investigations into the disaster ===
Even before the survivors arrived in New York, investigations were being planned to discover what had happened, and what could be done to prevent a recurrence. Inquiries were held in both the United States and the United Kingdom, the former more robustly critical of traditions and practices, and scathing of the failures involved, and the latter broadly more technical and expert-orientated.
The US Senate's inquiry into the disaster was initiated on 19 April, a day after Carpathia arrived in New York. The chairman, Senator William Alden Smith, wanted to gather accounts from passengers and crew while the events were still fresh in their minds. Smith also needed to subpoena all surviving British passengers and crew while they were still on American soil, which prevented them from returning to the UK before the American inquiry was completed on 25 May. The British press condemned Smith as an opportunist, insensitively forcing an inquiry as a means of gaining political prestige and seizing "his moment to stand on the world stage". Smith, however, already had a reputation as a campaigner for safety on US railroads, and wanted to investigate any possible malpractices by railroad tycoon J. P. Morgan, Titanic's ultimate owner.
The British Board of Trade's inquiry into the disaster was headed by Lord Mersey, and took place between 2 May and 3 July. Being run by the Board of Trade, who had previously approved the ship, it was seen by some as having little interest in its own or White Star's conduct being found negligent.
Each inquiry took testimony from both passengers and crew of Titanic, crew members of Leyland Line's Californian, Captain Arthur Rostron of Carpathia and other experts. The British inquiry also took far greater expert testimony, making it the longest and most detailed court of inquiry in British history up to that time. The two inquiries reached broadly similar conclusions: the regulations on the number of lifeboats that ships had to carry were out of date and inadequate, Captain Smith had failed to take proper heed of ice warnings, the lifeboats had not been properly filled or crewed, and the collision was the direct result of steaming into a dangerous area at too high a speed.
Neither inquiry's findings listed negligence by IMM or the White Star Line as a factor. The American inquiry concluded that since those involved had followed standard practice, the disaster was an act of God. The British inquiry concluded that Smith had followed long-standing practice that had not previously been shown to be unsafe, noting that British ships alone had carried 3.5 million passengers over the previous decade with the loss of just 10 lives, and concluded that Smith had done "only that which other skilled men would have done in the same position". Lord Mersey did, however, find fault with the "extremely high speed (twenty-two knots) which was maintained" following numerous ice warnings, noting that "what was a mistake in the case of the Titanic would without doubt be negligence in any similar case in the future".
The recommendations included strong suggestions for major changes in maritime regulations to implement new safety measures, such as ensuring that more lifeboats were provided, that lifeboat drills were properly carried out and that wireless equipment on passenger ships was manned around the clock. An International Ice Patrol was set up to monitor the presence of icebergs in the North Atlantic, and maritime safety regulations were harmonised internationally through the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea; both measures are still in force today.
On 18 June 1912, Guglielmo Marconi gave evidence to the Court of Inquiry regarding the telegraphy. Its final report recommended that all liners carry the system and that sufficient operators maintain a constant service.
The way the Titanic sank brought to light serious design issues with the Olympic-class. As a result, the Olympic went through a major refit and design changes for the construction of the Britannic.
In August 1912, the liner Corsican struck an iceberg in the Atlantic, severely damaging the bow. However, because the weather was hazy at the time, speed had been reduced to 'dead slow', which limited further damage. While the lifeboats had been deployed, they were not boarded.
==== Role of SS Californian ====
One of the most controversial issues examined by the inquiries was the role played by SS Californian, which had been only a few miles from Titanic but had not picked up distress calls or responded to signal rockets. Californian had stopped for the night because of icy conditions and its wireless operator, Cyril Furmstone Evans, informed Titanic by radio: "Hey old man, we're stopped for the night and surrounded by ice." He was told to stop transmitting by Titanic's senior wireless operator, Jack Phillips, who was busy clearing a backlog of messages with Cape Race, whose signals were faint.
Testimony before the British inquiry revealed that at 10:10 pm, Californian observed the lights of a ship to the south; it was later agreed between Captain Stanley Lord and Third Officer C.V. Groves (who had relieved Lord of duty at 11:10 pm) that this was a passenger liner. At 11:50 pm, the officer watched that ship's lights flash out, as if shutting down or turning sharply, and noted that the port light was visible. Morse light signals to the ship, upon Lord's order, were made between 11:30 pm and 1:00 am, but were not acknowledged. If Titanic was as far from the Californian as Lord claimed Morse signals would not have been visible. A reasonable and prudent course of action would have been to awaken the wireless operator and to instruct him to attempt to contact Titanic by that method. Had Lord done so, it is possible he could have reached Titanic in time to save additional lives.
Captain Lord had gone to the chart room at 11:00 pm. Second Officer Herbert Stone, now on duty, notified Lord at 1:10 am that the ship had fired five rockets. Lord wanted to know if they were company signals, that is, coloured flares used for identification. Stone said that he did not know and that the rockets were all white. Captain Lord instructed the crew to continue to signal the other vessel with the Morse lamp, and went back to sleep. Three more rockets were observed at 1:50 am and Stone noted that the ship looked strange in the water, as if the ship were listing. At 2:15 am, Lord was notified that the ship could no longer be seen. Lord asked again if the lights had had any colours in them, and he was informed that they were all white.
Californian eventually responded. At around 5:30 am, Chief Officer George Stewart awakened wireless operator Cyril Furmstone Evans, informed him that rockets had been seen during the night, and asked that he try to communicate with any ship. He got news of Titanic's loss, Captain Lord was notified, and the ship set out to render assistance, arriving well after Carpathia had already picked up all the survivors.
The inquiries found that the ship seen by Californian was in fact Titanic and that it would have been possible for Californian to aid rescue; therefore, Captain Lord had acted improperly in failing to do so.
=== Survivors and victims ===
The number of casualties of the sinking is unclear, because of a number of factors. These include confusion over the passenger list, which included some names of people who cancelled their trip at the last minute, and the fact that several passengers travelled under aliases for various reasons and were therefore double-counted on the casualty lists. The death toll has been put at between 1,490 and 1,635 people. The tables below use figures from the British Board of Trade report on the disaster. While the use of the Marconi wireless system did not achieve the result of bringing a rescue ship to Titanic before it sank, the use of wireless did bring Carpathia in time to rescue some of the survivors who otherwise would have perished due to exposure.
The water temperature was well below normal in the area where Titanic sank. It also contributed to the rapid death of many passengers during the sinking. Water temperature readings taken around the time of the accident were reported to be −2 °C (28 °F). Typical water temperatures were normally around 7 °C (45 °F) during mid-April. The coldness of the water was a critical factor, often causing death within minutes for many of those in the water.
Fewer than a third of those aboard Titanic survived the disaster. Some survivors died shortly afterwards; injuries and the effects of exposure caused the deaths of several of those brought aboard Carpathia. The figures show stark differences in the survival rates of the different classes aboard Titanic. Although only 3% of first-class women were lost, 54% of those in third-class died. Similarly, five of six first-class and all second-class children survived, but 52 of the 79 in third-class perished. The differences by gender were even bigger: nearly all female crew members, first- and second-class passengers were saved. Men from the First Class died at a higher rate than women from the Third Class. In total, 50% of the children survived, 20% of the men and 75% of the women.
Thomas Andrews, the chief naval architect of the shipyard, died in the disaster.
The last living survivor, Millvina Dean from England, who, at only nine weeks old, was the youngest passenger on board, died aged 97 on 31 May 2009. Two special survivors were the stewardess Violet Jessop and the stoker Arthur John Priest, who survived the sinkings of both Titanic and HMHS Britannic and were aboard RMS Olympic when the ship was rammed in 1911. Aforementioned tennis player Richard N. Williams survived as a first class male passenger by swimming to a life boat. He almost had his legs amputated from frostbite but managed to keep them and continue his sports career. His father however, who was beside him in the water, was killed by a funnel.
=== Retrieval and burial of the dead ===
Once the massive loss of life became known, White Star Line chartered the cable ship CS Mackay-Bennett from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, to retrieve bodies. Three other Canadian ships followed in the search: the cable ship CS Minia, lighthouse supply ship Montmagny and sealing vessel Algerine. Each ship left with embalming supplies, undertakers, and clergy. Of the 333 victims who were eventually recovered, 328 were retrieved by the Canadian ships and five more by passing North Atlantic steamships.
The first ship to reach the site of the sinking, the CS Mackay-Bennett, found so many bodies that the embalming supplies aboard were quickly exhausted. Health regulations required that only embalmed bodies could be returned to port. Captain Larnder of the Mackay-Bennett and undertakers aboard decided to preserve only the bodies of first-class passengers, justifying their decision by the need to visually identify wealthy men to resolve any disputes over large estates. As a result, many third-class passengers and crew were buried at sea. Larnder identified many of those buried at sea as crew members by their clothing, and stated that as a mariner, he himself would be content to be buried at sea.
Bodies of passengers of the Titanic were numbered as they were brought aboard. Physical characteristics, clothing, identifying marks, and personal effects were all documented. Personal effects were stored separately, labelled with the same body number, and valuables were locked up by the purser. Without enough material or space to handle bodies and their belongings, the crew had to triage.
Bodies recovered were preserved for transport to Halifax, the closest city to the sinking with direct rail and steamship connections. The Halifax Registrar of Vital Statistics, John Henry Barnstead, developed a detailed system to identify bodies and safeguard personal possessions. Relatives from across North America came to identify and claim bodies. A large temporary morgue was set up in the curling rink of the Mayflower Curling Club and undertakers were called in from all across eastern Canada to assist. Some bodies were shipped to be buried in their home towns across North America and Europe. About two-thirds of the bodies were identified. Unidentified victims were buried with simple numbers based on the order in which their bodies were discovered. The majority of recovered victims, 150 bodies, were buried in three Halifax cemeteries, the largest being Fairview Lawn Cemetery (121 bodies), followed by the nearby Mount Olivet Cemetery (19 bodies) and the Jewish Baron de Hirsch Cemetery (10 bodies).
In mid-May 1912, RMS Oceanic recovered three bodies over 200 miles (320 km) from the site of the sinking who were among the original occupants of Collapsible A. When Fifth Officer Harold Lowe and six crewmen returned to the wreck site sometime after the sinking in a lifeboat to pick up survivors, they rescued a dozen men and one woman from Collapsible A, but left the dead bodies of three of its occupants. After their retrieval from Collapsible A by Oceanic, the bodies were buried at sea.
The last Titanic body recovered was steward James McGrady, Body No. 330, found by the chartered Newfoundland sealing vessel Algerine on 22 May and buried at Fairview Lawn Cemetery in Halifax on 12 June.
333 bodies of Titanic victims were recovered, which amounted to one in five of the over 1,500 victims. Some bodies sank with the ship while currents quickly dispersed bodies and wreckage across hundreds of miles, making them difficult to recover. By June, one of the last search ships reported that life jackets supporting bodies were coming apart and releasing bodies to sink.
== Wreck ==
Titanic was long thought to have sunk in one piece and, over the years, many schemes were put forward for raising the wreck. None came to fruition. The fundamental problem was the sheer difficulty of finding and reaching a wreck that lies over 12,000 feet (3,700 m) below the surface, where the water pressure is over 5,300 pounds per square inch (37 megapascals), about 370 standard atmospheres. A number of expeditions were mounted to find Titanic but it was not until 1 September 1985 that a Franco-American expedition led by Jean-Louis Michel and Robert Ballard succeeded.
The team discovered that Titanic had in fact split apart, probably near or at the surface, before sinking to the seabed. The separated bow and stern sections lie about a one-third of a mile (0.54 km) apart in Titanic Canyon off the coast of Newfoundland. They are located 13.2 miles (21.2 km) from the inaccurate coordinates given by Titanic's radio operators on the night of the ship's sinking, and approximately 715 miles (1,151 km) from Halifax and 1,250 miles (2,012 km) from New York.
Both sections struck the seabed at considerable speed, causing the bow to crumple and the stern to collapse entirely. The bow is by far the more intact section and still contains some surprisingly intact interiors. In contrast, the stern is completely wrecked; its decks have pancaked down on top of each other and much of the hull plating was torn off and lies scattered across the sea floor. The much greater level of damage to the stern is probably due to structural damage incurred during the sinking. Thus weakened, the remainder of the stern was flattened by the impact with the sea bed.
The two sections are surrounded by a debris field measuring approximately 5 by 3 miles (8 km × 5 km). It contains hundreds of thousands of items, such as pieces of the ship, furniture, dinnerware and personal items, which fell from the ship while sinking or ejected when the bow and stern impacted on the sea floor. The debris field was also the last resting place of a number of Titanic's victims. Most of the bodies and clothes were consumed by sea creatures and bacteria, leaving pairs of shoes and boots—which have proved to be inedible—as the only sign that bodies once lay there.
Since its initial discovery, the wreck of Titanic has been revisited on numerous occasions by explorers, scientists, filmmakers, tourists and salvagers, who have recovered thousands of items from the debris field for conservation and public display. The ship's condition has deteriorated significantly over the years, particularly from accidental damage by submersibles but mostly because of an accelerating rate of growth of iron-eating bacteria on the hull. In 2006, it was estimated that within 50 years the hull and structure of Titanic would eventually collapse entirely, leaving only the more durable interior fittings of the ship intermingled with a pile of rust on the sea floor.
Many artefacts from Titanic have been recovered from the seabed by RMS Titanic Inc., which exhibits them in touring exhibitions around the world and in a permanent exhibition at the Luxor Las Vegas hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. A number of other museums exhibit artefacts either donated by survivors or retrieved from the floating bodies of victims of the disaster.
On 16 April 2012, the day after the 100th anniversary of the sinking, photos were released showing possible human remains resting on the ocean floor. The photos, taken by Robert Ballard during an expedition led by NOAA in 2004, show a boot and a coat close to Titanic's stern which experts called "compelling evidence" that it is the spot where somebody came to rest, and that human remains could be buried in the sediment beneath them. The wreck of the Titanic falls under the scope of the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. This means that all states party to the convention will prohibit the pillaging, commercial exploitation, sale and dispersion of the wreck and its artefacts. Because of the location of the wreck in international waters and the lack of any exclusive jurisdiction over the wreckage area, the convention provides a state co-operation system, by which states inform each other of any potential activity concerning ancient shipwreck sites, like the Titanic, and co-operate to prevent unscientific or unethical interventions.
Submersible dives in 2019 have found further deterioration of the wreck, including loss of the captain's bathtub. Between 29 July and 4 August 2019, a two-person submersible vehicle that was conducting research and filming a documentary crashed into the wreck. EYOS Expeditions executed the dives. It reported that the strong currents pushed the submersible into the wreck, leaving a red rust stain on the submersible's side. The report did not mention if the Titanic sustained damage.
In May 2023, Magellan Ltd., a deep-water seabed-mapping company, announced that they had created a "digital twin" of the Titanic, showing the wreckage in a level of detail that had never been captured before. The company created the model from some 715,000 3D images, captured over the course of a six-week expedition in the summer of 2022, using two submersibles, named Romeo and Juliet. They mapped "every millimetre" of the wreckage as well as the entire three-nautical-mile (5.6 km) debris field. Creating the model took about eight months.
On 18 June 2023, the submersible Titan, operated by OceanGate Expeditions, imploded in the North Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Newfoundland. The submersible was carrying an expedition of tourists to view the wreckage of the Titanic.
On 15 July 2024, RMS Titanic Inc. held their first expedition to the wreck in 14 years, with the objective of examining its status in high-resolution photography for future scientific studies, likewise with identifying and searching for on-site artefacts. The event received coverage from the BBC, who interviewed numerous figures involved, such as co-leader David Gallo, who said "We want to see the wreck with a clarity and precision that's never before been achieved". A magnetometer was utilised to produce metal detection – whether visible or not – for the first time in the history of Titanic expeditions.
== Legacy ==
=== Safety ===
After the disaster, recommendations were made by both the British and American Boards of Inquiry stating that ships should carry enough lifeboats for all aboard, mandatory lifeboat drills would be implemented, lifeboat inspections would be conducted, etc. Many of these recommendations were incorporated into the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea passed in 1914. The convention has been updated by periodic amendments, with a completely new version adopted in 1974. Signatories to the Convention followed up with national legislation to implement the new standards. For example, in Britain, new "Rules for Life Saving Appliances" were passed by the Board of Trade on 8 May 1914 and then applied at a meeting of British steamship companies in Liverpool in June 1914.
Further, the United States government passed the Radio Act of 1912. This Act, along with the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, stated that radio communications on passenger ships would be operated 24 hours a day, along with a secondary power supply, so as not to miss distress calls. Also, the Radio Act of 1912 required ships to maintain contact with vessels in their vicinity as well as coastal onshore radio stations. In addition, it was agreed in the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea that the firing of red rockets from a ship must be interpreted as a sign of need for help. Once the Radio Act of 1912 was passed, it was agreed that rockets at sea would be interpreted as distress signals only, thus removing any possible misinterpretation from other ships. In the same year, the Board of Trade chartered the barque Scotia to act as a weather ship in the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, keeping a look-out for icebergs. A Marconi wireless telegraph was installed to enable her to communicate with stations on the coast of Labrador and Newfoundland.
Finally, the disaster led to the formation and international funding of the International Ice Patrol, an agency of the U.S. Coast Guard that to the present day monitors and reports on the location of North Atlantic Ocean icebergs that could pose a threat to transatlantic sea traffic. Coast Guard aircraft conduct the primary reconnaissance. In addition, information is collected from ships operating in or passing through the ice area. Except for the years of the two World Wars, the International Ice Patrol has worked each season since 1913. During the period, there has not been a single reported loss of life or property due to collision with an iceberg in the patrol area.
=== Cultural legacy ===
The story of Titanic has been remembered in history as a tragedy and cautionary tale, particularly because the ship had been considered unsinkable. Titanic has inspired fiction, been the subject of documentaries, and commemorated in monuments for the dead and museum exhibitions. Shortly after sinking, memorial postcards sold in huge numbers together with memorabilia ranging from tin candy boxes to plates, whiskey jiggers, and even mourning teddy bears. The sinking inspired ballads such as "The Titanic". Several survivors wrote books about their experiences, but it was not until 1955 that the first historically accurate book – A Night to Remember – was published.
The first film about the disaster, Saved from the Titanic, was released only 29 days after the ship sank and had an actual survivor as its star—the silent film actress Dorothy Gibson. This film is considered lost. The British film A Night to Remember (1958) is still widely regarded as the most historically accurate movie portrayal of the sinking. The most financially successful by far has been James Cameron's Titanic (1997), which became the highest-grossing film in history up to that time, as well as the winner of 11 Oscars at the 70th Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for Cameron.
The Titanic disaster was commemorated through a variety of memorials and monuments to the victims, erected in several English-speaking countries and in particular in cities that had suffered notable losses. These included Southampton and Liverpool in England; New York and Washington, D.C. in the United States; and Belfast and Cobh (formerly Queenstown) in Ireland. A number of museums around the world have displays on Titanic; the most prominent is in Belfast, the ship's birthplace (see below).
RMS Titanic Inc., which is authorised to salvage the wreck site, has a permanent Titanic exhibition at the Luxor Las Vegas hotel and casino in Nevada which features a 22-tonne slab of the ship's hull. It also runs an exhibition which travels around the world. In Nova Scotia, Halifax's Maritime Museum of the Atlantic displays items that were recovered from the sea a few days after the disaster. They include pieces of woodwork such as panelling from the ship's First Class Lounge and an original deckchair, as well as objects removed from the victims. In 2012 the centenary was marked by plays, radio programmes, parades, exhibitions and special trips to the site of the sinking together with commemorative stamps and coins. Royal Mail (whose mail was carried by RMS (Royal Mail Ship) Titanic) issued ten 1st class UK postage stamps, each with the "crown seal", to mark the centenary of the disaster.
In a frequently commented-on literary coincidence, in 1898 Morgan Robertson authored a novel called Futility about a fictional British passenger liner. The plot bears a number of similarities to the Titanic disaster. In the novel, the ship is the SS Titan, a four-stacked liner that is the largest in the world and is considered unsinkable; like the Titanic, it sinks in April after hitting an iceberg and does not have enough lifeboats.
==== In Northern Ireland ====
It took many decades before the significance of Titanic was promoted in Northern Ireland, where it had been built by Harland and Wolff in Belfast. While the rest of the world embraced the glory and tragedy of Titanic, it remained a taboo subject throughout the 20th century in its birth city. The sinking brought tremendous grief and was a blow to Belfast's pride. Its shipyard was also a place many Catholics regarded as hostile. In the latter half of the century, during a 30-year sectarian conflict, Titanic was a reminder of the lack of civil rights that in part contributed towards the Troubles. While the fate of Titanic remained a well-known story within local households throughout the 20th century, commercial investment in projects recalling RMS Titanic's legacy was modest because of these issues.
After the Troubles and Good Friday Agreement, the number of overseas tourists visiting Northern Ireland increased. It was subsequently identified in the Northern Ireland Tourism Board's Strategic Framework for Action 2004–2007 that the significance of and interest in Titanic globally (partly due to the 1997 film Titanic) was not being fully exploited as a tourist attraction. Thus, Titanic Belfast was spearheaded, along with some smaller projects, such as a Titanic memorial.
In 2012 on the ship's centenary, the Titanic Belfast visitor attraction was opened on the site of the shipyard where Titanic was built. It was Northern Ireland's second most visited tourist attraction with almost 700,000 visitors in 2016.
Despite over 1,600 ships being built by Harland and Wolff in Belfast Harbour, Queen's Island became renamed after its most famous ship, Titanic Quarter in 1995. Once a sensitive story, Titanic is now considered one of Northern Ireland's most revered and uniting symbols.
In late August 2018, several groups were vying for the right to purchase the 5,500 Titanic relics that were an asset of the bankrupt Premier Exhibitions. Eventually, Titanic Belfast, Titanic Foundation Limited and the National Museums Northern Ireland joined with the National Maritime Museum as a consortium that was raising money to purchase the 5,500 artefacts. The group intended to keep all of the items together as a single exhibit. Oceanographer Robert Ballard said he favoured this bid since it would ensure that the memorabilia would be permanently displayed in Belfast (where Titanic was built) and in Greenwich. The museums were critical of the bid process set by the Bankruptcy court in Jacksonville, Florida. The minimum bid for the 11 October 2018 auction was set at US$21.5 million (£16.5m) and the consortium did not have enough funding to meet that amount. On 17 October 2018, The New York Times reported that a consortium of three hedge funds—Apollo Global Management, Alta Fundamental Advisers, and PacBridge Capital Partners—had paid US$19.5 million for the collection. At the time of the purchase, the consortium agreed to continued oversight by the court concerning new exploration or salvage expedition must receive approval from NOAA and the court. Further, the purchase price gives Premier's unsecured creditors an 80% recovery.
== Diagrams and timeline ==
== Replicas ==
There have been several proposals and studies for a project to build a replica ship based on the Titanic.
A Chinese shipbuilding company known as Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry Group Co., Ltd commenced construction in November 2016 to build a replica ship of the Titanic for use in a resort. The vessel was to house many features of the original, such as a ballroom, dining hall, theatre, first-class cabins, economy cabins and swimming pool. Tourists were to be able to reside inside the Titanic during their time at the resort. It was to be permanently docked at the resort and feature an audiovisual simulation of the sinking, which has caused some criticism. As of 2022, however, it was reportedly only 25% complete, and its website and Twitter account are offline. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jakob_Schubert | Jakob Schubert | Jakob Schubert (born December 31, 1990) is an Austrian professional rock climber, specializing in competition climbing (lead and boulder), sport climbing, and bouldering. He is a four-time World Champion (2012, 2018, 2021, 2023) and three-time World Cup winner (2011, 2014, 2018) in lead climbing. He is a two-time Olympic bronze medalist in the combined event (2020 and 2024).
As of 2023, Schubert had won the most men's IFSC gold medals of any male competition climber in history.
In addition to competition climbing, Schubert was the first climber in the world to have both redpointed a 9c (5.15d) graded sport climbing route and climbed a 9A (V17) graded bouldering problem.
== Climbing career ==
=== Competition climbing ===
Schubert started competition climbing in 2003 when he was twelve years old. In 2004, he participated in the European Youth Cup and World Youth Championships. Since 2007, he regularly participates in World Cup competitions for lead climbing. For seven World Cup seasons out of ten, from 2007 to 2016, he also competed in bouldering.
In 2011, he won the Lead World Cup and the silver medal at the Lead World Championships in Arco. The World Cup was outstandingly obtained by winning seven consecutive competitions in that season. Previously, no climber was ever able to win as many World Cup competitions in a single season (in 2002, Alexandre Chabot had won six).
In 2012, he won the Lead Climbing World Championships in Paris.
In 2014, he won the Lead World Cup for the second time.
In 2018, when he was 27 years old, he became World Champion again, in his own birthplace and hometown, Innsbruck. He earned the title by reaching in the final event the same score as Adam Ondra (36+), but a higher score in the semifinal, where he ranked second after Domen Škofic. A few days later, in the same competition, he also conquered the Combined title by ranking second in Speed, first in Bouldering, and second in Lead. In the same year, he was awarded his third World Cup.
Schubert's performance at the 2019 IFSC Climbing World Championships qualified him for a place at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, where he won the bronze medal in the combined event.
Schubert won the lead event at the 2023 IFSC Climbing World Championships, becoming the oldest world champion in the sport. He followed that up by winning the combined event, which qualified him to compete in the combined event at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
He won a second consecutive bronze medal in the combined event at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
=== Rock climbing ===
In 2023, Schubert became the only person in the world to have climbed the top grade in both bouldering and sport climbing.
== Rankings ==
=== Climbing World Cup ===
=== Climbing World Championships ===
Youth
Adult
=== Climbing European Championships ===
== Number of medals in the Climbing European Youth Cup ==
=== Lead ===
== Number of medals in the Climbing World Cup ==
=== Lead ===
=== Bouldering ===
== Number of medals in the Olympics ==
=== Combined ===
== Notable ascents ==
=== Redpointed routes ===
9c (5.15d):
B.I.G. – Flatanger (Norway) – September 20, 2023 – First ascent and third-ever proposed at 9c.
9b+ (5.15c):
Perfecto Mundo – Margalef (ESP) – November 9, 2019 – Third ascent (first by Alexander Megos).
9b (5.15b):
The Flame - Austria (AUT) – 2023 – First ascent
Erebor – Arco (ITA) – 2022 – Repeat ascent of Stefano Ghisolfi's route.
King Capella – Siurana (ESP) – 2021 – Third ascent of William Bosi's route.
Neanderthal – Santa Linya (ESP) – December 28, 2018 – Second ascent after Chris Sharma.
El Bon Combat – Cova de I'Ocell (ESP) – December 1, 2018 – Second ascent after Chris Sharma.
Stoking the Fire – Santa Linya (ESP) – January 5, 2018 – Third ascent (first by Chris Sharma, 2013).
La Planta da Shiva – Villanueva del Rosario (ESP) – January 4, 2016 – Second ascent after Adam Ondra.
Fight or flight – Oliana (ESP) – December 31, 2014 – Third ascent (first by Chris Sharma, 2011).
9a+ (5.15a)
Qui – Tyrol (AUT) – October 2, 2023
Clash of the Titans – Tyrol (AUT) – October 3, 2022
La Furia de Jabali – Siurana (ESP) – December 15, 2021
La Capella – Siurana (ESP) – December 11, 2021
Es Pontàs – Mallorca (ESP) – October, 2021 – Fourth ascent of Chris Sharma's 2006 route.
Catxasa – Santa Linya (ESP) – January 9, 2018 – Second ascent after Chris Sharma
Seleccio Anal – Oliana (ESP) – January 8, 2017
Pachamama – Oliana (ESP) – January 2, 2017 – Third ascent (first by Chris Sharma, 2009)
Joe Mama – Oliana (ESP) – December 27, 2016 – Second ascent after Chris Sharma
Kangroo Limb – Flatanger (NOR) – May 29, 2016 – Second ascent after Adam Ondra
Companion of Change – Zillertal (AUT) – November 18, 2015 – First ascent
Papichulo – Oliana (ESP) – April 27, 2011 – Sixth ascent (first by Chris Sharma, 2008)
9a (5.14d):
Kein Licht Kein Schatten – Ötztal (AUT) – November 8, 2016 – First ascent
Kraftplatzl – Berglsteiner See (AUT) – October 15, 2016 – Second Ascent after David Lama
Direct open your mind – Santa Linya (ESP) – January 3, 2013
Fuck the System – Santa Linya (ESP)- January 2, 2013
Analogica Natural – Santa Linya (ESP) – January 2, 2013
Seleccio Natural – Santa Linya (ESP) – December 28, 2012
Ciudad de Dios – Santa Linya (ESP) – December 24, 2012
Martin Krpan – Misja Pec (SVN) – November 21, 2011
Hades – Nassereith, Götterwand (AUT) – May 30, 2010 – First ascent by Andreas Bindhammer, 2008
Underground – Massone, Arco (ITA) – March 30, 2010 – First ascent by Manfred Stuffer, 1998
=== Onsighted routes ===
8c (5.14b):
Valkyries – Flatanger (NOR) – September, 2023
Nordic Flower – Flatanger (NOR) – May, 2016
Aitzol – Margalef (ESP) – April 23, 2011
=== Boulder problems ===
9A (V17)
Shaolin – Red Rock Canyon (USA) – February, 2026
Mount Doom – Maltatal (AUT) – November 17, 2025
Alphane – Chironico (CHE) – December 21, 2023
8C+ (V16)
Ephyra – Chironico (CHE) – February 2026
Vecchio Leone SDS – Brione (CHE) – January 12, 2025
The Story of Three Worlds – Cresciano (CHE) – January 12, 2025
Return of the Dreamtime – Cresciano (CHE) – December 28, 2024
8C (V15)
Emotional Landscapes – Maltatal (AUT) – March 5, 2026
The Nest – Red Rock Canyon (USA) – January, 2026
The Lion's Share – Brione (CHE) – January 12, 2025
Primitivo – Ticino (CHE) – March 16, 2021
La Force Tranquille Direct – Magic Wood (CHE) – November 14, 2020 – First Ascent
Sierra Madre – Zillertal (AUT) – November 20, 2018
8B+ (V14)
Mithril Sit – Cresciano (CHE) – January 11, 2026
The Innocent Man – Brione (CHE) – December, 2025
Big Paw – Chironico (CHE) – December 27, 2024
Anam Cara – Silvapark (AUT) – August 23, 2021 – flashed
Ill Thrill – Magic Wood (CHE) – July 28, 2020
The Never Ending Story – Magic Wood (CHE) – June, 2020 – flashed
Off the Wagon - Val Bavona (CHE) January 10, 2020
Witness the fitness – Cova de Ocell (ESP) – January 13, 2019 – flashed
Hide and Sick – Maltatal (AUT) – March 25, 2018 |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merneptah | Merneptah | Merneptah () or Merenptah (reigned 1213–1203 BCE) was the fourth pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Ancient Egypt. According to contemporary historical records, he ruled Egypt for almost ten years, from 13 August 1213 until his death on 2 May 1203. He was the first royal-born pharaoh since Tutankhamun of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt.
Merneptah was the thirteenth son of Ramesses II, only coming to power because all of his older brothers had died, including his full brother Khaemweset.
He was around fifty years old when he ascended to the throne. He is arguably best known for the Merneptah Stele, featuring the first known mention of the name Israel. His throne name was Ba-en-re Mery-netjeru, which means "Soul of Ra, Beloved of the Gods".
== Early years ==
=== Family ===
Merneptah was likely the fourth child born to Isetnofret and Ramesses II, and his thirteenth son. He was the first royal-born pharaoh since Tutankhamun. He married Isetnofret II, who was likely his full sister or niece, who would become Great Royal Wife when he was named pharaoh. They had at least two sons, Merenptah, named after his father, and Seti II. When Seti II became pharaoh, Tausret became his Great Royal Wife. She became pharaoh in her own right after the death of pharaoh Siptah.
Takhat, the mother of Amenmesse, may have been a secondary queen of Merneptah, though scholars are yet to confirm this.
=== King's Son ===
Ramesses II lived well into his nineties and was one of the oldest pharaohs in Egyptian history. He outlived many of his heirs; eventually, Merneptah would be the son to succeed him. Merneptah would have been prepared to be pharaoh through the responsibility of his government roles.
Merneptah is depicted as a prince in Aswan on a royal family stela dating to Year 30 of Ramesses II, and on a family stela from the Speos of Horemheb at Silsila dating to Years 33/34 of Ramesses II, On these stelae he is accompanied by his parents and arranged by age alongside his sister Bintanath and his brothers Ramesses and Khaemwaset.
However, other than that, we know virtually nothing else about Merneptah before Year 40 of Ramesses II, when he became Overseer of the Army (General).
=== Crown Prince ===
In Year 55 of Ramesses II, he was officially proclaimed crown prince. At that point, he gained additional responsibilities by serving as Prince Regent for the last twelve years of Ramesses II's life.
== Reign ==
=== Chronology ===
According to one reading of contemporary historical records, Merneptah ruled Egypt for almost ten years, from late July or early August 1213 BC until his death on 2 May 1203 BC.
=== New capital ===
Merneptah moved Egypt's administrative center from Pi-Ramesses, his father's capital, back to Memphis, where he constructed a royal palace next to the temple of Ptah. The Penn Museum, led by Clarence Stanley Fisher, excavated this palace in 1915.
=== Campaigns ===
Merneptah had to carry out several military campaigns during his reign. In the fifth year of his rule, he fought against the Libyans, who—with the assistance of the Sea Peoples—were threatening Egypt from the west. Merneptah led a victorious six-hour battle against a combined Libyan and Sea People force at the city of Perire, probably located on the western edge of the Nile Delta. His account of this campaign against the Sea Peoples and Libu is described in prose on a wall beside the sixth pylon at Karnak, which states:
[Beginning of the victory that his majesty achieved in the land of Libya] -I, Ekwesh, Teresh, Lukka, Sherden, Shekelesh, Northerners coming from all lands.
Later in the inscription, Merneptah receives news of the attack:
... the third season, saying: 'The wretched, fallen chief of Libya, Meryre, son of Ded, has fallen upon the country of Tehenu with his bowmen—Sherden, Shekelesh, Ekwesh, Lukka, Teresh, Taking the best of every warrior and every man of war of his country. He has brought his wife and his children—leaders of the camp, and he has reached the western boundary in the fields of Perire.'
An inscription on the Athribis Stele, now in the garden of Cairo Museum, declares "His majesty was enraged at their report, like a lion", assembled his court, and gave a rousing speech. Later he dreamed that he saw Ptah handing him a sword and saying "Take thou (it) and banish thou the fearful heart from thee." When the bowmen went forth, says the inscription, "Amun was with them as a shield." After six hours the surviving Nine Bows threw down their weapons, abandoned their baggage and dependents, and ran for their lives. Merneptah states that he defeated the invasion, killing 6,000 soldiers and taking 9,000 prisoners. To be sure of the numbers, among other things, he took the penises of all uncircumcised enemy dead and the hands of all the circumcised, from which history learns that the Ekwesh were circumcised, a fact causing some to doubt that they were Greek people.
There is also an account of the same events in the form of a poem from the Merneptah Stele, also known as the Israel Stele, which mentions the suppression of revolts in Canaan and makes reference to the supposed utter destruction of Israel in a campaign prior to his fifth year, in Canaan: "Israel has been wiped out ... its seed is no more." This is the first recognised ancient Egyptian record of the existence of Israel—"not as a country or city, but as a tribe" or people. A newly discovered massive layer of fiery destruction confirms Merneptah's boast about his Canaanite campaign.
=== Inscriptions ===
At Karnak, the Great Karnak Inscription of Merneptah (KIU 4246) provides information on the king's military exploits.
At Karnak, the Merneptah Stele (JE 31408) is famous for its mention of "Israel/Yisrael".
At Amada, the Fourth Year Text of Merneptah.
== Death ==
As soon as Merneptah died the succession apparently had become a problem, he was put in his tomb KV 8 but later removed, and his mummy has survived.
=== Succession ===
Mummy studies show that Merneptah died at around sixty years of age. It is inferred that he was born between the 10th and 17th years of Ramesses II’s reign, and by the time he ascended the throne, he was likely already over fifty.
Merneptah's successor, Seti II, was a son of Queen Isetnofret. However, Seti II's accession to the throne was not unchallenged: a rival king named Amenmesse, who was either another son of Merneptah by Takhat or, much less likely, of Ramesses II, seized control of Upper Egypt and Kush during the middle of the reign of Seti II. Only after he overcame Amenmesse, was Seti able to reassert his authority over Thebes in his fifth year. It is possible that before seizing Upper Egypt, Amenmesse had been known as Messuy and had been viceroy of Kush.
=== Tomb ===
At Thebes, the Tomb of Merneptah (KV8) was in the Valley of the Kings.
=== Mummy ===
Merneptah suffered from arthritis and atherosclerosis and died as an old man after a reign that lasted for nearly a decade. He was originally buried within tomb KV8 in the Valley of the Kings, but his mummy was not found there, having been moved in ancient times. In 1898, it was located along with eighteen other mummies in the mummy cache found in the tomb of Amenhotep II (KV35) by Victor Loret. His mummy was taken to Cairo and eventually unwrapped by G. Elliott Smith on July 8, 1907. Smith notes that:
The body is that of an old man and is 1 meter 714 millimeters [5'6"] in height. Merneptah was almost completely bald, only a narrow fringe of white hair (now cut so close as to be seen only with difficulty) remaining on the temples and occiput. A few short (about 2 mill) black hairs were found on the upper lip and scattered, closely clipped hairs on the cheeks and chin. The general aspect of the face recalls that of Ramesses II, but the form of the cranium and the measurements of the face much more nearly agree with those of his [grand]father, Seti the Great.
In April 2021 his mummy was moved from the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization along with those of 17 other kings and 4 queens in an event termed the Pharaohs' Golden Parade.
Examination of the mummy revealed that the king was a corpulent man, perhaps even obese. It also showed that Merneptah was tall, measuring 1.71 m, though slightly shorter than his father, who measured 1.73 m.
== Family ==
Merenptah's Great Royal Wife was Isetnofret II, who was his full sister or her niece as daughter of his full brother Khaemwaset.
They had at least four children:
Seti Merenptah, who assume the throne as Seti II;
Merenptah, King's son, Executive at the Head of the Two Lands, and Generalissimo;
Khaemwaset, King's son, depicted in Karnak Temple;
Isetnofret, King's daughter, depicted in the Leiden ship log.
Another his possible consort was Takhat. If so, Merenptah would be the father of her son Amenmesse, Seti II's rival for the throne.
== Gallery == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania_VIII#Results | WrestleMania VIII#Results | WrestleMania VIII was a 1992 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It was the eighth annual WrestleMania and took place on April 5, 1992, at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis. Nine matches were shown during the live broadcast, with one dark match occurring before the event.
Matches held at WrestleMania VIII included WWF Intercontinental Champion Roddy Piper defending his title against former champion Bret Hart, WWF Champion Ric Flair defending his title against Randy Savage, and Hulk Hogan facing Sid Justice.
== Production ==
=== Background ===
WrestleMania is considered the World Wrestling Federation's (WWF, now WWE) flagship professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event, having first been held in 1985. It is held annually between mid-March to mid-April. It was the first of the WWF's original four pay-per-views, which includes Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, which were eventually dubbed the "Big Four". WrestleMania VIII was scheduled to be held on April 5, 1992, at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis, Indiana.
=== Storylines ===
The original plan for the main event was the long-awaited bout between Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan for the WWF Championship, the meeting between the two legends was even promoted on television in a mock press conference where WWF President Jack Tunney had announced Hogan as the number one contender to Flair's WWF Championship. Both Flair and Hogan had wrestled against each other in several house show matches and a televised tag match, but not in a televised main event singles match. WrestleMania VIII was changed to a double main event with Hogan wrestling Sid Justice, while Flair wrestled Randy Savage. For storyline purposes, Sid Justice lobbied to wrestle Hulk Hogan due to tensions starting between the two at that year's Royal Rumble, where Hogan was eliminated by Sid Justice. This maneuver on Sid's part led Hogan to helping rival Ric Flair eliminate Justice and then win not only the Royal Rumble match but the WWF Championship in the process. This would make Ric Flair only the second man to win both the WWF and NWA World Heavyweight Championship, the first being the original "Nature Boy", Buddy Rogers.
== Event ==
A scheduled match between the British Bulldog and The Berzerker was cut due to time constraints.
The opening bout was a tag team match pitting the Beverly Brothers against the Bushwhackers. The Bushwhackers won the match by pinfall. This was a dark match that did not air on the pay-per-view broadcast.
The pay-per-view broadcast opened with country music singer Reba McEntire performing "The Star-Spangled Banner".
The second bout, and the first bout to air on the pay-per-view broadcast, was a Singles match between Shawn Michaels and Tito Santana. Michaels won the match by pinfall after reversing a body slam attempt into a body press.
Following the second bout, The Legion of Doom and their manager Paul Ellering were interviewed by Gene Okerlund. The Legion of Doom were originally supposed to challenge Money Inc for the WWF Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania VIII but due to Hawk being under suspension until after WrestleMania they were replaced in the match by the Natural Disasters.
The third bout was a singles match between Jake "The Snake" Roberts and the Undertaker. The Undertaker won the match by pinfall after giving Roberts a Tombstone Piledriver outside of the ring.
The fourth bout was a singles match in which WWF Intercontinental Champion Roddy Piper defended his title against Bret Hart. Hart defeated Piper by pinfall after reversing Piper's sleeper hold into a pin, thus winning the WWF Intercontinental Championship.
Following the fourth bout, a pre-recorded interview with Lex Luger aired in which he promoted the World Bodybuilding Federation.
The fifth bout was an eight-man tag team match pitting Big Boss Man, Jim Duggan, Sgt. Slaughter, and Virgil against The Mountie, The Nasty Boys, and Repo Man. Family Feud host Ray Combs was a guest ring announcer for the eight-man tag match. Big Boss Man, Duggan, Slaughter, and Virgil won the match by pinfall when Jerry Sags accidentally punched Brian Knobbs, enabling Virgil to pin Knobbs.
The sixth bout was a singles match in which WWF Champion Ric Flair defended his title against Randy Savage. Savage defeated Flair by pinfall using a roll-up to win the title. At the time the company had a "no blood" policy. Nonetheless, Ric Flair was caught blading directly on camera and was fined several thousand dollars. In one of his first appearances in the WWF, Shane McMahon was one of the backstage officials who attempted to keep Miss Elizabeth away from ringside during the Flair/Savage match. He then restrained Savage in the ensuing brawl after the contest.
The seventh bout was a singles match between Rick Martel and Tatanka. Tatanka won the match by pinfall using a cross body block.
The eighth bout was a tag team match in which WWF Tag Team Champions Money Inc. defended their titles against the Natural Disasters. The Natural Disasters won the bout by countout after Money Inc abandoned the match.
The ninth bout was a singles match between Owen Hart and Skinner. Hart won the match by pinfall using a roll-up.
The main event bout was a singles match between Hulk Hogan and Sid Justice. Hogan won the match by disqualification after Justice's manager Harvey Whippleman interfered. The finish to the Justice-Hogan match actually did not occur as planned - the original plan was for Hogan to hit the leg drop on Justice and for Papa Shango to do a run in and break up the pin causing a disqualification; however, Gorilla Monsoon was late in cuing Papa Shango to head down to the ring, causing Justice to have to improvise by kicking out of the leg drop. Following the match, Justice and Shango attacked Hogan until the Ultimate Warrior made a surprise return, helping Hogan drive Justice and Shango away.
== Reception ==
Critics praised the Intercontinental Championship match between Piper and Hart. Thomas Golianopoulos of Complex Sports ranked it at number 15 in his list of the 50 Greatest Matches in WrestleMania History, describing it as "A stiff match that veers from amateur wrestling to all-out street fight with a great finish." Golianopoulos also ranked the Flair vs. Savage match at number 19 on the same list, praising the in-ring psychology despite an abrupt finish. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter gave the Hogan/Justice main event negative two stars, citing their lackluster performance and the late entry of Papa Shango, which necessitated a hastily rewritten ending. The main event was also ranked by YouTube wrestling channel Cultaholic as the worst WrestleMania main event of all time in their 2019 ranking of every WrestleMania Main Event, while saying that the WWF Championship Match between Flair and Savage should've been the main event in their 2020 list of 10 WrestleMania Matches That Should Have Closed The Show.
== Aftermath ==
Savage's primary opponent during the spring and summer of 1992 was Ric Flair, with the storyline over Flair's alleged past relationship with Elizabeth continuing to play a major factor. It was revealed later in WWF Magazine that the photos that Flair had shown of himself with Elizabeth were fakes, and that they were actually of Savage and Elizabeth. In real life, Savage and Elizabeth were about to separate, and did, with Elizabeth making her final WWF appearance on April 19, 1992, at the UK Rampage pay-per-view. WrestleMania VIII marked Elizabeth's last major pay-per-view appearance in the United States for the WWF.
Although Savage and Flair continued feuding, the Elizabeth aspect was dropped from the storyline, and the former couple's divorce was finalized in September 1992. Savage briefly addressed the divorce in an issue of WWF Magazine, but it was otherwise not mentioned in kayfabe.
Shawn Michaels began receiving his first major push as a main-event singles competitor, as he would challenge Randy Savage for the WWF Championship in Europe, while challenging Bret Hart for the WWF Intercontinental Championship in the United States, while occasionally teaming with Ric Flair in tag team matches against Hart and Savage. Michaels eventually won the WWF Intercontinental Championship from The British Bulldog (who had won the title from Hart at the SummerSlam event in London, England in August) in October.
The Hulk Hogan-Sid Justice match was billed as Hogan's "last match", when in actuality, Hogan took a hiatus, due to the steroid scandal which was beginning to emerge in the news media. Piper also took a hiatus from the ring following WrestleMania VIII. Roberts left the company and would return four years later, using a "born-again Christian" gimmick. Sid Justice was largely unsuccessful in post-WrestleMania matches against the Ultimate Warrior and The Undertaker and eventually left the company, returning in 1995.
== Results == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blink-182#Tours | Blink-182#Tours | Blink-182 is an American rock band formed in Poway, California, in 1992. Its current and most widely recognized line-up consists of bassist and vocalist Mark Hoppus, guitarist and vocalist Tom DeLonge, and drummer Travis Barker. Though its sound has diversified throughout their career, its musical style, described as pop-punk, blends catchy pop melodies with fast-paced punk rock. Its lyrics primarily focus on relationships, adolescent frustration, and maturity, or lack thereof. The group emerged from a suburban, Southern California skate punk scene and first gained notoriety for high-energy live shows and irreverent humor.
The band's debut, Cheshire Cat, and second studio album, Dude Ranch, were released in 1995 and 1997 respectively, through independent imprint Grilled Cheese, a subdivision of Cargo Records. These releases helped the band gain moderate success around the local San Diego punk scene and abroad (namely Australia), which brought attention from major labels amid the punk rock resurgence on a mainstream scale post-Dookie. After years of independent recording and touring, including stints on the Warped Tour, the group signed to MCA Records. Its third and fourth albums—Enema of the State (1999) and Take Off Your Pants and Jacket (2001)—had the greatest commercial success while the singles "All the Small Things", "Dammit", and "What's My Age Again?" became hit songs and MTV staples. Later efforts, including an untitled album (2003), Neighborhoods (2011), and an EP Dogs Eating Dogs (2012), marked stylistic shifts. Hoppus is the only member to remain in the band throughout its history. DeLonge left the group twice, a decade apart, before returning again. Founding drummer Scott Raynor recorded and toured with the group before being dismissed in 1998 and replaced by Barker. During DeLonge's absence from 2015 to 2022, the band included Alkaline Trio singer and guitarist Matt Skiba, with whom it recorded two albums, California (2016), and Nine (2019), and toured in support of both. Following DeLonge’s return to the band in 2022, their ninth album, One More Time..., was released on October 20, 2023.
Blink-182's straightforward approach and simple arrangements, which helped initiate pop-punk's second mainstream rise, made it popular among generations of audiences. The group has sold 50 million albums worldwide and 15.3 million in the U.S.
== History ==
=== Formation and initial years (1992–1994) ===
Blink-182 was formed in August 1992 in Poway, California, a northern suburb of San Diego County. Guitarist Tom DeLonge was expelled from Poway High School for being drunk at a basketball game and was forced to attend another school, Rancho Bernardo High School, for one semester. There, he performed at a Battle of the Bands competition, where he was introduced to drummer Scott Raynor. He also befriended Kerry Key, who was also interested in punk rock music. Key was dating Anne Hoppus, sister of bassist Mark Hoppus, who had recently moved from Ridgecrest, California, to work at a record store and attend college. Both Hoppus and DeLonge grew up listening to punk rock music, with both particularly enamored by bands like Screeching Weasel and the Descendents. Southern California had a large punk population in the early 1990s, aided by an active surfing, skating, and snowboarding scene. In contrast to East Coast punk music, the West Coast wave of groups typically introduced more melodic aspects. "New York is gloomy, dark and cold. It makes different music. The Californian middle-class suburbs have nothing to be that bummed about", said DeLonge.
Anne introduced her brother to DeLonge on August 2, 1992. The pair instantly connected and played for hours in DeLonge's garage, exchanging lyrics and co-writing songs—one of which became fan favorite "Carousel". Hoppus, hoping to impress DeLonge, fell from a lamppost in front of DeLonge's home and cracked his ankles, putting him on crutches for three weeks. The trio began to practice together in Raynor's bedroom, spending time writing music, seeing movies and punk concerts, and playing practical jokes. The trio first operated under a variety of names, including Duck Tape and Figure 8, until DeLonge rechristened the band "Blink". Hoppus' girlfriend of the time was annoyed by his constant attention to the band, and demanded he make a choice between the band and her, which resulted in Hoppus leaving the band not long after its formation. Shortly thereafter, DeLonge and Raynor borrowed a four-track recorder from friend and collaborator Cam Jones and were preparing to record a demo tape, with Jones on bass. Hoppus promptly broke up with his girlfriend and returned to the band. Flyswatter—a combination of original songs and punk covers—was recorded in Raynor's bedroom in May 1993.
The band began booking shows, and were on stage nearly every weekend, even at Elks Lodges and YMCA centers. DeLonge constantly called clubs in San Diego asking for a spot to play, as well as local high schools, convincing them that Blink was a "motivational band with a strong antidrug message" in hopes to play at an assembly or lunch. San Diego at this time was "hardly a hotbed of [musical] activity", according to journalist Joe Shooman and the band's popularity grew as did punk rock concurrently in the mainstream. They quickly became part of a circuit that also included bands such as Ten Foot Pole and Unwritten Law, and Blink soon found its way onto the bill as the opening band for acts performing at Soma, a local all-ages venue. "The biggest dreams we ever had when we started was to [headline] a show at Soma", Hoppus said later. Meanwhile, Hoppus' manager at the record store, Patrick Secor, fronted the group money to properly record another demo at a local studio Doubletime. The result was Buddha (1994), which the members of the band viewed as the band's first legitimate release. That year, however, Raynor's family relocated to Reno, Nevada, and he was briefly replaced by musician Mike Krull. The band saved money and began flying Raynor out to shows, and he eventually moved back and in with Hoppus in mid-1995. During that time, the band would record its first album, first music video, and develop a larger following.
=== Early releases and touring (1995–1998) ===
The heart of the local independent music scene was Cargo Records, which offered to sign the band on a "trial basis", with help from O, guitarist for local punk band Fluf, and Brahm Goodis, a friend of the band whose father was president of the label. Hoppus was the only member to sign the contract, as DeLonge was at work at the time and Raynor was still a minor. The band recorded their debut album—Cheshire Cat, released in February 1995—in three days at Westbeach Recorders in Los Angeles, fueled by both new songs and re-recordings of songs from previous demos. "M+M's", the band's first single, garnered local radio airplay from 91X, and Cargo offered the band a small budget to film a music video for it. Meanwhile, the record also drew the attention of Irish band Blink. Unwilling to engage in a legal battle, the band agreed to change their name. Cargo gave the band a week, but the trio put off the decision for more than two afterward. Eventually, Cargo called the trio, demanding that they "change the name or [we'll] change it for you", after which the band decided on a random number, 182.
The band soon hired a manager, Rick DeVoe, who had worked with larger bands such as NOFX, Pennywise and the Offspring. In addition, the group drew the attention of Rick and Jean Bonde of the Tahoe booking agency, who were responsible for "spreading the name of the band far and wide". In late 1995, the trio embarked on their first national tour, promoting the surf video Good Times with Unwritten Law, Sprung Monkey and 7 Seconds. Good Times was directed by filmmaker Taylor Steele, who was a friend of DeVoe. In preparation for the trek, the band members purchased their own tour van, which they nicknamed the Millennium Falcon. The Good Times tour extended outside the States with a leg in Australia; the trio were financially unable to go, but Pennywise's members paid for their plane tickets. Fletcher Dragge, guitarist of Pennywise, believed in the band strongly. He demanded that Kevin Lyman, founder of the traveling rock-based Warped Tour, sign the band for its 1996 iteration, predicting they would become "gigantic". That year, the band toured heavily, with several domestic shows on and off the Warped Tour, trips to Canada and Japan, and more Australian dates. Australia was particularly receptive to the band and their humorous stage antics, which gained the band a reputation, but also made them ostracized and considered a joke.
By March 1996, the trio began to accumulate a genuine buzz among major labels, resulting in a bidding war between Interscope, MCA and Epitaph. MCA promised the group complete artistic freedom and ultimately signed the band, but Raynor held a great affinity for Epitaph and began to feel half-invested in the band when they chose MCA. The group, discouraged by Cargo's lack of distribution and faith in the group, held no qualms about signing to a major label but were fiercely criticized in the punk community. After nonstop touring, the trio began recording their follow-up LP, Dude Ranch, over the period of a month in late 1996 with producer Mark Trombino. The record was released the following June, and the band headed out on the 1997 Warped Tour. "Dammit", the album's second single, received heavy airplay on modern rock stations. Dude Ranch shipped gold by 1998, but an exhaustive touring schedule brought tensions among the trio. Raynor had been drinking heavily to offset personal issues, and he was fired by DeLonge and Hoppus in mid-1998 despite agreeing to attend rehab and quit drinking. Although Hoppus claimed in his memoir that Raynor had chosen to quit voluntarily. Travis Barker, drummer for tour-mate the Aquabats, filled in for Raynor, learning the 20-song setlist in 45 minutes before the first show. By July, he joined the band full-time and later that year, the band entered the studio with producer Jerry Finn to begin work on their third album.
=== Mainstream breakthrough and continued success (1999–2004) ===
At the onset of the millennium, the band became one of the biggest international rock acts with the release of their third album, the fast-paced, melodic Enema of the State (1999). It became an enormous worldwide success, moving over fifteen million copies. Singles "What's My Age Again?", "All the Small Things", and "Adam's Song" became radio staples, with their music videos and relationship with MTV cementing their stardom. It marked the beginning of their friendship with producer Jerry Finn, a key architect of their "polished" pop-punk rhythm; according to journalist James Montgomery, writing for MTV News, the veteran engineer "served as an invaluable member of the Blink team: part adviser, part impartial observer, he helped smooth out tensions and hone their multiplatinum sound." This style and sound made for an extensive impact on pop punk, igniting a new wave of the genre.
It became a transitionary time for the group, adjusting to larger venues than before, including amphitheaters, arenas, and stadiums. At the beginning of the album's promotional cycle, the trio were driving from show to show in a van with a trailer attached for merchandise and equipment; by its end, they were flying on private jets. Hoppus recalled that "we had gone from playing small clubs and sleeping on people's floors to headlining amphitheaters and staying in five-star hotels." In the public eye, Blink became known for their juvenile antics, including running around nude; the band made a cameo appearance in the similarly bawdy comedy American Pie (1999). This goofy branding, encompassing video documentaries and merchandise, "made fans feel like members of their extended social circle", according to music critic Kelefa Sanneh. While grateful for their success—which the trio parlayed into various business ventures, like Famous Stars and Straps, Atticus Clothing and Macbeth Footwear—they gradually became unhappy with their public image. In one instance, the European arm of UMG had taken photos shot lampooning boy bands and distributed them at face value, making their basis for parody appear thin.
In response, a conscious effort was made to make the trio appear more authentic with their next album—the comically titled Take Off Your Pants and Jacket (2001). It became the first punk rock album to reach number one in the U.S., and spawned the singles "The Rock Show", "First Date", and "Stay Together for the Kids". The band supported the LP with the Pop Disaster Tour, a series of co-headlining dates with Green Day. The relentless pace began to wear on the group: they felt rushed into making a follow-up album, with record executives reportedly penalizing the group if they did not "make their quarterly revenue statements." Meanwhile, with time off from touring, DeLonge felt a desire to broaden his musical palette. He channeled his chronic back pain and resulting frustration into Box Car Racer (2002), a project emulating post-hardcore influences. Finn naturally returned to produce and DeLonge invited Barker to record drums, leaving Hoppus the odd man out. It marked a major rift in their friendship: while DeLonge claimed that the omission was not intentional, Hoppus nonetheless felt betrayed. With A&R representatives from MCA eager to market a new band by the guitarist, Box Car Racer quickly evolved into a full-fledged side project, launching two national tours throughout 2002. In the meantime, Barker also extended his love of hip-hop into the rap rock outfit Transplants, a collaboration with Rancid's Tim Armstrong.
The band regrouped in 2003 to record a fifth studio album. Inspired by lifestyle changes—all three band members became fathers before the album was released—the band infused experimental elements into its usual pop-punk sound. Its front cover emblazoned with a new "smiley face" logo for the band, the new untitled album—was released in November 2003 through Geffen Records, which absorbed sister label MCA earlier that year. Critics generally complimented the new, more emo direction taken for the album, and lead singles "Feeling This" and "I Miss You" were well received. The global touring schedule, which saw the band travel to Japan and Australia, also found the three performing for troops stationed in the Persian Gulf during the first year of the Iraq War. The band came to regard this period as a "huge turning point" in their career, marking a change in the way they write and record music, as well as view themselves. As the aughts wore on however, unresolved tensions within the trio—stemming from the gruelling schedule, Box Car Racer, and DeLonge's desire to spend more time with his family—became evident.
=== Hiatus, side projects, and Barker's plane crash (2005–2008) ===
In February 2005, a press statement announced the band's "indefinite hiatus"; the band had broken up after members' arguments regarding their future and recording process. DeLonge felt increasingly conflicted both about his creative freedom within the group and the toll touring was taking on his family life. He expressed his desire to take a half-year respite from touring; Hoppus and Barker felt that was overly long. Rehearsals for a benefit concert grew contentious, rooted in the trio's increasing bitterness toward one another; DeLonge considered his bandmates' priorities incompatible, coming to the conclusion that they had simply grown apart. Instead, DeLonge quit the band and founded Angels & Airwaves, both a band and "multimedia project" composed of albums, films, and interactive services. Hoppus and Barker made one album with their next outfit, +44. Barker remained particularly famous; his rocky relationship with former Miss USA Shanna Moakler, chronicled in his MTV reality series Meet the Barkers, made them tabloid favorites.
DeLonge and Hoppus did not speak from the band's breakup until 2008. That August, former producer and mentor Jerry Finn suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and died. The following month, Barker and collaborator Adam Goldstein were involved in a plane crash that killed four people, leaving them the only two survivors. Barker sustained second and third degree burns and developed post-traumatic stress disorder, and the accident resulted in sixteen surgeries and multiple blood transfusions. Goldstein's injuries were less severe, but less than a year later, he died from a drug overdose. Barker's brush with death prompted him, DeLonge and Hoppus to meet that October, laying the grounds for the band's reunion. The three opened up, discussing the events of the hiatus and their break-up, and DeLonge was the first to approach the subject of reuniting. Hoppus remembered: "I remember [Tom] said, 'So, what do you guys think? Where are your heads at?' And I said, 'I think we should continue with what we've been doing for the past 17 years. I think we should get back on the road and back in the studio and do what we love doing.'"
=== Reunion (2009–2014) ===
After five years apart, the band appeared on stage together as presenters at the February 2009 Grammy Awards to announce their reunion. The trio embarked on a successful reunion tour of North America from July to October 2009, with a European trek following from August to September 2010. Barker, suffering from a fear of flying after his accident, travelled via bus domestically and in Canada, and by an ocean liner for overseas dates. The recording process for Neighborhoods (2011), the band's sixth studio album, was stalled by its studio autonomy, tours, managers, and personal projects. DeLonge recorded at his studio in San Diego while Hoppus and Barker recorded in Los Angeles—an extension of their strained communication. The self-produced album—their first without Jerry Finn since Dude Ranch—was released in September 2011 and peaked at number two on the Billboard 200; its singles, "Up All Night" and "After Midnight", only attracted modest chart success. Pop punk was in a period of diminished commercial relevance, and label Interscope—now their home after a series of corporate mergers—was reportedly disappointed with album sales.
The band continued to tour in the early 2010s, "despite growing evidence of remaining friction" between the members, according to AllMusic biographer John Bush. They headlined the 10th Annual Honda Civic Tour in North America in 2011 with My Chemical Romance, and launched a 20th Anniversary Tour the next year. For that tour, the band played in Europe twice, North America, and Australia; drummer Brooks Wackerman filled-in for Barker, as he was not yet ready to fly. Additionally, the trio pursued a tenth anniversary celebration of the untitled album with a series of shows, and played the Reading and Leeds Festivals; it was the band's fourth appearance at the festival and second headlining slot. The band also parted ways with long-time label UMG, self-releasing their next project, Dogs Eating Dogs, an EP. DeLonge's final performance with the group was at the Wine Amplified Festival in Las Vegas, Nevada, on October 11, 2014.
This initial reunion of the band has been characterized as dysfunctional by both Barker and DeLonge. Hoppus commented on this era of the band in a later interview: "Everything was always very contentious. There was always just a strange vibe. [...] I knew there was something wrong." In his memoir, Can I Say, Barker claims DeLonge's behavior on tour was "introverted" until "money started coming in," after which "he'd get excited about Blink." He states DeLonge abruptly quit sometime in mid-2014, and re-joined the following day.
=== DeLonge's second exit and Matt Skiba era (2015–2020) ===
The group planned to begin writing their seventh album in January 2015, which had continually seen delays. "I'd do interviews and I just felt awful for fans because they were promised albums for years and we couldn't do it", Barker later said. A record deal with independent service BMG was finalized and sessions were booked before DeLonge's manager informed the band he intended to spend more time on "non-musical activities" and indefinitely depart from the group. In his own statement, DeLonge remarked that he "Never planned on quitting, [I] just find it hard as hell to commit." For the rest of the 2010s, DeLonge focused on his company To the Stars... Academy of Arts & Sciences full-time, devoted to investigating UFOs.
Hoppus and Barker decided to continue on without DeLonge, and enlisted Alkaline Trio vocalist/guitarist Matt Skiba to "fill in" for three shows in March 2015. Hoppus and Skiba had been wanting to work together musically for several years, so he was the first and only person considered for the role. After legal battles with DeLonge were worked out, Skiba joined Blink-182 as an official member and began preparations for new music. The resulting album, California, was produced by John Feldmann, the group's first new producer since long-time collaborator Jerry Finn. Upon its July 2016 release though BMG, California became the band's second number-one album on the Billboard 200, and first in 15 years; it also topped the charts for the first time in the United Kingdom. Its lead single, "Bored to Death", became their biggest hit in years, marking their third domestic chart-topper on the Alternative Songs chart. Both the single and album became their first gold-certified releases in over a decade, with the LP earning the band their first Grammy Award nomination. The band supported the album with a large headlining tour across North America between July and October 2016, and a European leg in June and July 2017. A double-disc deluxe edition of California was issued in 2017.
During these years, the band was active in collaborating with a variety of outside artists, sometimes without Skiba's involvement; the group jointly issued singles with XXXTentacion, Lil Wayne, Goody Grace, Steve Aoki, Powfu, Oliver Tree, and the Chainsmokers. In 2018, after the tour supporting California, Hoppus formed the spin-off project Simple Creatures with All Time Low frontman Alex Gaskarth. Blink-182 moved back to a major label, Columbia, for their eighth studio effort, Nine (2019). While Nine builds upon their partnership with Feldmann, it also utilizes additional outside producers and songwriters. Musically, the LP augments the band's pop punk sound with hip hop-inspired programming, as well as electronics. The promotional cycle for NINE was stunted by the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic in 2020; a planned tour with the Used was shelved, with live concerts considered unsafe. The band responded with the release of "Quarantine", though the track—credited only to Barker, Hoppus, and other songwriters—raised questions about Skiba's continued involvement in the band. A partially completed EP did not see release, and the band's last performance with Skiba, a pre-pandemic gig at iHeartRadio's 2020 ALTer EGO, took place in Los Angeles on January 18, 2020.
=== Hoppus' cancer battle and DeLonge's second return (2021–present) ===
On June 23, 2021, Hoppus confirmed that he had been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and had been receiving treatment in secret for the last three months. After his cancer diagnosis, it was reported by sources that Hoppus had met with DeLonge and Barker together at his home to discuss old problems, personal issues, and Hoppus' cancer diagnosis. Hoppus was declared cancer-free later that year, but would continue screening every six months. Soon after, the three decided that the time was right for DeLonge to make his return to the band.
Public speculation around DeLonge's return to the band peaked in October 2022 when the band deleted all of its prior social media posts and began posting cryptic messages. On October 11, 2022, the band announced DeLonge's official return, a forthcoming album, and a world tour that would last two years. Skiba's departure was effectively confirmed, as he was absent in the promotional material. Following his return, DeLonge messaged Skiba on Instagram to thank him for his time with the band, and later shared the post publicly on his account. Skiba had known an announcement was going to happen, but was unaware that it was regarding DeLonge's return. In the months prior, he had also begun to question his status in the band when a fan asked him if he was still a part of recording. When the announcement was made, Skiba congratulated the other members and thanked fans for his time with the band.
The announcement of DeLonge's return was also accompanied by a new single, "Edging" later that week. The song performed well in the US, becoming their fourth and longest-running number one hit on Billboard's Alternative Airplay chart, and their highest-charting single on the Hot 100 in eighteen years. The following year, the band's ninth studio album, One More Time..., was released on October 20, 2023. The album proved successful both commercially and critically, becoming their third number-one album on the Billboard 200 in the U.S., and critics celebrating the band's back-to-basics approach. Many of the singles and other songs also saw similar success, such as the title track becoming the band's longest-running number one single on the Alternative Airplay chart domestically. A year later, the band released a deluxe edition of the album called One More Time... Part-2 on September 6, 2024.
In August 2024, DeLonge stated that while they intended to take a break once the tour concluded, the band will "be the priority forever [...] Honestly, I think this is a whole new beginning for the band. With what we’re planning on doing, who we’ve become, and how we’re doing it now I think it’s really, really exciting."
On February 13, 2025, during a Los Angeles wildfire benefit show at the Los Angeles' Hollywood Palladium, Skiba joined the band on stage to perform "Bored to Death." Skiba would later join the band on stage occasionally during the Missionary Impossible tour. In March and April 2025, both DeLonge and Hoppus stated that the band was working on new material for an upcoming album. The band co-headlined Riot Fest in September 2025 Chicago along with "Weird Al" Yankovic, Green Day, Jack White, Weezer, and Idles.
== Artistry ==
=== Musical style and influences ===
Blink-182's musical style is mainly considered pop-punk, a genre that combines influences of pop music with traditional punk rock. Throughout the band's career, though their sound has diversified, a large component of the band's music favors fast tempos, catchy melodies, prominent electric guitar with distortion, and power chord changes. Earlier albums by the band have also been considered as skate punk and punk rock, owing to the genre's most representative bands which they were influenced by and toured with. In addition, the band has also been classified under the umbrella of alternative rock as a whole. The band have claimed punk rock group the Descendents to be their greatest influence on a number of occasions. They have also named the Beatles, Ned's Atomic Dustbin, the Ramones, the Beach Boys, the Cure, Depeche Mode, U2, Stiff Little Fingers, All, Dinosaur Jr., NOFX, Bad Religion, Refused, Fugazi, Green Day, Screeching Weasel, the Vandals, and the Queers.
Blink-182 were considered more radio-friendly than their predecessors. Jon Caramanica of The New York Times writes that the band "[took] punk's already playful core and [gave] it a shiny, accessible polish." Luke Lewis, writing for Total Guitar in 2003, summarized it aptly: "They wrote catchy songs, radio stations played them." The band's biggest hit, "All the Small Things", was written partially because DeLonge figured the label might want a song for radio. "It was obvious from the beginning it would fit that format," he told Lewis. "There's nothing wrong with that. We don't want obstacles between us and our audience." DeLonge commented on the band's mainstream appeal in an interview in 2014:
Punk rock was becoming polished. NOFX [was] a punk band we grew up listening to, and they had a record called Punk in Drublic, and it was awesome. It was game-changing; it sounded good. We wanted to take it to the next level. [...] There had never been a pop punk band that sounded like nursery rhymes on steroids, on the mainstream level at least. And that's what I used to have daydreams of. I used to think the radio could use that, could use a band that was really powerful and catchy and fast and youthful and angsty.
=== Instrumentation ===
Tom DeLonge's guitar style, which trades solos for riffs, is often down-stroked and power chord heavy, with large amounts of palm muting. His later guitar work heavily delves into effects, exploring ambience and delay prominently. Many Blink songs centre on the I–V–vi–IV progression. As a bassist, Hoppus is known for his well-defined midrange tone. Since the band is a trio, he approaches his role as a combination of being a rhythm guitarist and bassist. Early albums, such as Cheshire Cat (1995) and Dude Ranch (1997), were recorded with original drummer Scott Raynor, and consist of fast-paced, double-time songs. Drummer Travis Barker diversified the band's sound rhythmically when he joined in 1998. Throughout their discography, Barker's drumming references myriad musical genres, including Afro-Cuban music, bossa nova, reggae, and hip hop. Barker grew up playing in marching band, and it still influences his drum fills and kit setup.
=== Lyrical themes ===
Common lyrical themes for the band involve relationships, suburbia, toilet humor, and teen angst. Hoppus and DeLonge, and later Skiba, split songwriting duty, and much of their lyrics tend toward autobiography. According to Nitsuh Abebe, of New York, the band's biggest recurring topic is maturity—"more specifically, their lack of it, their attitude toward their lack of it, or their eventual wide-eyed exploration of it". One of the band's biggest singles, "What's My Age Again?", specifically addresses the Peter Pan syndrome, while "Dammit", the band's first mainstream hit single, contains the hook "Well, I guess this is growing up." Albums such as Take Off Your Pants and Jacket near-exclusively deal in toilet humor and teen-cantered lyrics, leading Rolling Stone to dub it a concept album chronicling adolescence. For Hoppus, these themes were not exclusively adolescent: "The things that happen to you in high school are the same things that happen your entire life. You can fall in love at sixty; you can get rejected at eighty." Mid-career albums, such as Neighborhoods (2011), explore darker territory, such as depression and loss. More recent efforts, like California (2016), aim for universality but also focus on miscommunication and loss of identity.
== Public image ==
Over the band's career, the public image of Blink-182 has evolved with their sound. Whereas other punk acts emerged from sometimes dangerous urban environments, Blink-182 professed a love for their upbringing in the suburbs—"beige little boxes in a row", Hoppus extolled in one song. "They weren't selling out; they were buying in," observed Pitchfork critic Jeremy Gordon. "Part of that was Hoppus and Delonge's exurban SoCal upbringing, which encouraged a sunny prankishness at odds with urban despair." The band attracted criticism for their simplified arrangements and clean sound. British publication NME was particularly critical, with reviewer Steven Wells comparing them to "that sanitized, castrated, shrink-wrapped 'new wave' crap that the major US record companies pumped out circa 1981 in their belated attempt to jump on the 'punk' bandwagon." A 2001 Federal Trade Commission report condemned the entertainment industry for marketing lewd lyrics to American youth, specifically naming Blink-182 as among the most explicit acts. Their goofy public image and juvenilia also found detractors. Original punk veterans like John Lydon dismissed them as a "comedy act", and forebears like Green Day openly critiqued their stage presence. NOFX, progenitors of this clownish camaraderie, felt they had copied their act; Fat Mike, its frontman, was known to jokingly sing "fuck fans of Blink-182" at shows. NOFX also stated in their autobiography, that while they were irritated how Blink-182 seemed to copy their humorous stage presence, they did not dislike the band members personally (they did however refuse a seven figure offer to open for them in the early 2000s).
The band's conventional appeal, as well as partnerships with MTV, boardsport companies, and clothing brands, led to accusations that they were betraying the independent spirit of punk rock. The band were considered sellouts from the underground punk scene as early as 1996, when they first partnered with music conglomerate UMG. A segment of the scene decried their fixation on female fans flashing them at concerts, in addition to lyrics considered sexist or misogynistic. Some writers have called their stage banter—juvenile, occasionally homophobic or sexist for shock value—an accurate reflection of millennial male conversation in its era. Others have considered them among the least offensive of the aughts pop-punk wave and its common disdain for women. "Many of Blink's best songs endure because they turn inward: the lovelorn boy has sense enough to wonder what's wrong with him," observed Kelefa Sanneh. To this end, the band has also been examined through a homosocial lens, with the band's internal drama and the friendship between DeLonge and Hoppus scrutinized in this light: "A queer reading of Blink-182 may almost be too obvious to make," admitted Spencer Kornhaber of The Atlantic, "but playing with and panicking at the idea of being gay was actually vital to the band's identity [...] the guys' [brotherhood] is part of what inspires "shipping" blogs and slash fanfiction."
== Legacy ==
Blink-182 was one of the most popular rock bands at the turn of the millennium, and spearheaded the second wave of pop-punk and its journey into the mainstream. Richard Blenkinsop of Reverb.com wrote that "no discussion of pop punk can take place without mention of blink-182."
The band's glossy production instantly set them apart from the other crossover punk acts of the era, such as Green Day. Its third LP Enema of the State catapulted the band to stardom, creating what New York's Abebe described as a "blanket immersion among America's twenty-some million teenagers." At the band's commercial peak, albums such as Take Off Your Pants and Jacket and Enema sold over 14 and 15 million copies worldwide, respectively. According to Kelefa Sanneh of The New Yorker, Blink-182 "spawned more imitators than any American rock band since Nirvana. Their seeming ordinariness convinced a generation of goofy punks that maybe they, too, could turn out deceptively simple songs as well constructed as anything on the pop chart." Most Blink-182 songs are considered straightforward and easy to play on guitar, making them a popular choice of practice for beginner musicians. Lewis of Total Guitar notes that this was key in influencing a generation of kids to "pick up the guitar and form bands of their own." Cameron Hurley of We Are the In Crowd was quoted saying: "For many, ["Dammit"] was the introduction to pop punk guitar playing. It's not the most advanced riff to play, but you just had to learn it.
Despite this, the band never received particularly glowing reviews, with many reviewers dismissing them as a joke. Nevertheless, subsequent reviews of the band's discography have been more positive. Andy Greenwald of Blender wrote, "the quick transformation from nudists to near geniuses is down-right astonishing." James Montgomery of MTV said that "despite their maturation, Blink never took themselves particularly seriously, which was another reason they were so accessible." A new generation of rock fans found the Blink sound "hugely influential," according to Nicole Frehsée of Rolling Stone. Sanneh concurred: in his 2021 book Major Labels, he calls the band a "generational touchstone", arguing their sound and humor aged gracefully.
In 2011, Jon Caramanica of The New York Times asserted that "no punk band of the 1990s has been more influential than Blink-182," stating that even as the band receded after their initial 2005 split, "its sound and style could be heard in the muscular pop punk of Fall Out Boy or in the current wave of high-gloss Warped Tour punk bands, like All Time Low and the Maine." Montgomery agrees: "...without them, there'd be no Fall Out Boy, no Paramore, or no Fueled by Ramen Records." Maria Sherman of The Village Voice took this a step further, writing "Apart from the sound, Blink's ideology has been popularized [...] their presence is everywhere." "When it comes to having inestimable influence, blink-182 might well be contemporary punk's version of the Beatles", wrote Scott Heisel in a 2009 Alternative Press cover story on the band. The same magazine later ranked Blink the fourth of the "30 Most Influential Bands of the Past 30 Years," just behind Radiohead, Fugazi, and Nirvana. Bands such as Panic! at the Disco and All Time Low originated covering Blink-182 songs, while You Me at Six and 5 Seconds of Summer have also named the band as influences. "Anyone in our genre would be lying if they said they weren't influenced by Blink-182," said Joel Madden of Good Charlotte. The band's influence extends beyond punk and pop-punk groups as well: the band has been cited as an influence by Avril Lavigne, Best Coast, Juice Wrld, Lil Peep, DIIV, FIDLAR, Grimes, Male Bonding, Neck Deep, Mumford & Sons, A Day to Remember, Machine Gun Kelly, Owl City, Charly Bliss, Tucker Beathard, Joyce Manor, Wavves, Taylor Swift and the Chainsmokers; the latter even mentioned the band in the lyrics of their number-one hit song "Closer". "Everybody in the pop-punk scene at the time wanted to sound like Enema of the State, by Blink-182. That album flipped the scene on its head. That's all we wanted to do" said Pierre Bouvier, Simple Plan frontman.
Angelica Leicht of Houston Press was more critical of the band's impact on popular culture in 2013 when she them ninth on her list of "The 10 Suckiest Bands of the '00s". Despite praising Baker's drumming ability, she wrote: "Blink helped further that whole pop-punk craze during the ’00s, and are therefore responsible for the birth of bands like Simple Plan and Panic! at the Disco, which makes this entire decade of music suck just a little bit harder than it did before. We can’t have them training a whole new legion of horrible pop-punk bands, can we?"
In 2019, Blink-182's song "All the Small Things" became the theme song of the National Hockey League's Colorado Avalanche.
== Band members ==
=== Timeline ===
== Discography ==
Studio albums
Cheshire Cat (1995)
Dude Ranch (1997)
Enema of the State (1999)
Take Off Your Pants and Jacket (2001)
Blink-182 (2003)
Neighborhoods (2011)
California (2016)
Nine (2019)
One More Time... (2023)
== Tours ==
Headlining
Co-headlining
== Awards and nominations == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Pierre_Vieillot | Louis Pierre Vieillot | Louis Pierre Vieillot (French pronunciation: [lwi pjɛʁ vjɛjo]; 10 May 1748 in Yvetot – 24 August 1830 in Sotteville-lès-Rouen) was a French ornithologist.
Vieillot is the author of the first scientific descriptions and Linnaean names of a number of birds, including species he collected himself in the West Indies, as well as North American and South American species discovered but not formally named by Félix de Azara and his translator Sonnini de Manoncourt. He was among the first ornithologists to study changes in plumage and one of the first to study live birds. At least 88 of the genera erected by Vieillot are still in use.
== Biography ==
Vieillot was born in Yvetot. He represented his family's business interests in Saint-Domingue (Haiti) on Hispaniola, but fled to the United States during the Haitian rebellions that followed the French Revolution. On Buffon's advice, he collected material for the Histoire naturelle des oiseaux de l'Amérique Septentrionale, the first two volumes of which were published in France beginning in 1807.
Vieillot returned to France for the last time in 1798, where the position created for him at the Bulletin des Lois left him sufficient leisure to continue his natural history studies. Following the death of Jean Baptiste Audebert, Vieillot saw the two parts of the "Oiseaux dorés" through to completion in 1802; his own Histoire naturelle des plus beaux oiseaux chanteurs de la zone torride appeared in 1806.
Vieillot's Analyse d'une nouvelle Ornithologie Elémentaire (1816) set out a new system of ornithological classification, which he applied with slight modifications in his contributions to the Nouveau dictionnaire d'histoire naturelle (1816–1819). Bitter rivalries existed between the leading ornithologists, and the classification introduced by Vieillot was strongly criticized by Coenraad Temminck in a pamphlet published in 1817. In 1820, Vieillot undertook the continuation of the Tableau encyclopédique et méthodique, commenced by Pierre Joseph Bonnaterre in 1790. He also published an Ornithologie française (1823–1830).
Toward the end of his life, Vieillot became blind. He was granted a government pension in his final year, but died in relative poverty.
Vieillot is now considered to be the authority for the scientific names of 88 genera and 402 species. Only Carl Linnaeus, Philip Sclater, and John Gould are considered to be the authority for more species. Viellot is commemorated in the scientific names of three birds: Lybius vieilloti (Vieillot's barbet), Coccyzus vieilloti (Puerto Rican lizard cuckoo), and Sphecotheres vieilloti (Australasian figbird).
Some believe that Leach's storm petrel should be named "Vieillot's storm petrel" since he was the first to obtain a specimen of the species and to describe it. He did this in the New Dictionary of Natural History, published in 1817. He described the type location as the shores of Picardy, "se tient sur l"Ocean." |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Guardians | New Guardians | The New Guardians are a DC Comics superhero team featured in the short-lived eponymous series The New Guardians. It was a spin-off from the Millennium event and ran for twelve issues, from 1988 through 1989, before being canceled. The characters first appeared in Millennium #1, (January 1988), written by Steve Engelhart and drawn by Joe Staton. The series has since gained infamy among comic fans due to its poor writing and second issue, which features "Snowflame", a supervillain who gained powers from the use of cocaine.
== History ==
The New Guardians, who were also initially known as the Chosen, were a group of people selected by a Guardian of the Universe named Herupa Hando Hu and a Zamaron named Nadia Safir in the DC Comics crossover Millennium. These "Chosen" were then given powers by their selectors.
Members of the Chosen were selected from several nationalities to form a superhero group representative of the entire human race.
=== Original members ===
Betty Clawman - Formerly an Australian woman, now a disembodied cosmic force with ill-defined abilities, residing in the aboriginal Dreamtime.
Extraño - Peruvian male, the team's resident magician was also one of the first obviously homosexual characters in comics (due to the publication standards of the time, the character's homosexuality could only be implied), and was one of the first to reveal that he was HIV-positive.
Floronic Man - Formerly American male, who became a plant-human creature with a variety of nature-related powers. The character has since been seen in the pages of the Son of Vulcan mini-series where he returned to acting as a villain.
Gloss - A Chinese woman who channels the mystic Dragon Lines of the Earth, and thus sports an array of Earth-related powers. She later joined the Global Guardians, where she remained a member until she was killed by Prometheus.
Harbinger - Agent of the Monitor in Crisis on Infinite Earths, she possessed the powers of flight, self-replication and energy blasts. Keeper of the histories of the multiverse, Harbinger died in the pages of Superman/Batman. Donna Troy has since taken up her mantle.
Jet - An English girl who could manipulate electromagnetic fields to a variety of effects. She was infected with HIV after being bitten by The Hemogoblin, a vampire with AIDS. After apparently giving her life to fend off an alien invasion, Jet is now alive again and leading the Global Guardians.
Ram - Formerly a Japanese man, now a being of silicon and electronics, Ram was physically durable and also had the ability to communicate with electrical equipment over great distances (such as satellites in orbit). He was reportedly killed during a battle in Roulette's casino.
Thomas Kalmaku - An Inuk friend of Hal Jordan's, Tom originally turned down the Guardian's offer of advancement, but later developed the super power to "bring out the best in people". He subsequently left the team and has shown no further signs of possessing such powers.
== Green Lantern: New Guardians ==
Green Lantern: New Guardians is an American comic book series written by Tony Bedard with art by Tyler Kirkham and Batt and published by DC Comics.
The team is made up of a representative of each of the Corps that tap into a particular portion of the emotional spectrum; its members are Kyle Rayner (Green Lantern Corps), Arkillo (Sinestro Corps), Bleez (Red Lantern Corps), Glomulus (Orange Lantern Corps), Munk (Indigo Tribe), Saint Walker (Blue Lantern Corps), and Fatality (Star Sapphires).
An earlier version of the team, consisting of Hal Jordan, Carol Ferris, Sinestro, Atrocitus, Larfleeze, Saint Walker, and Indigo-1, was seen during the Brightest Day story arc in Green Lantern. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luther_Burbank_Home_and_Gardens | Luther Burbank Home and Gardens | Luther Burbank Home and Gardens is a city park containing the former home, greenhouse, gardens, and grave of noted American horticulturist Luther Burbank (1849–1926). It is located at the intersection of Santa Rosa Avenue and Sonoma Avenue in Santa Rosa, California, in the United States. The park is open daily without charge; a fee is charged for guided tours. It is designated as a National Historic Landmark as well as a California Historical Landmark (#234).
== History ==
Burbank lived in Santa Rosa for more than 50 years, and performed the bulk of his life's work at this location. From 1884 to 1906 he lived in this park's Greek Revival house; he then moved across Tupper street to a house that no longer exists. After Burbank's death in 1926, his widow Elizabeth moved back to the house, where she remained until her death in 1977.
Burbank, a native of Massachusetts, was a nationally known figure who was responsible for creating many new varieties of plants. He is credited with introducing more than 250 new varieties of fruit, including a large number of plum varieties that are widely used in agriculture. A portion of the property was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1964. The site is included in the Santa Rosa historic landmarks and the Sonoma County Historical Society list of landmarks.
== Gardens ==
The gardens include many of Burbank's horticultural introductions, with collections of cactus, fruit trees, ornamental grasses, medicinal herbs, roses, and walnuts. Most plants are labeled with botanic and common names. The garden's greenhouse was designed and built by Burbank in 1889; Burbank's grave is nearby, underneath a Cedar of Lebanon. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bachelor_(American_TV_series)_season_14 | The Bachelor (American TV series) season 14 | The Bachelor: On the Wings of Love is the fourteenth season of ABC reality television series The Bachelor. The season premiere aired on January 4, 2010. The show features 31-year-old Jake Pavelka, a pilot from Dallas, Texas, courting 25 women.
Pavelka finished in seventh place on season 5 of The Bachelorette featuring Jillian Harris. It is the first season of The Bachelor to be broadcast in high definition. The season concluded on March 1, 2010, with Pavelka choosing to propose to 23-year-old marketing rep Vienna Girardi. The couple ended their engagement in June 2010.
== Contestants ==
Biographical information according to ABC official series site, plus footnoted additions
=== Future appearances ===
==== Dancing with the Stars ====
Jake Pavelka competed in the tenth season of Dancing with the Stars. He partnered with Chelsie Hightower and finished in 7th place.
==== The Bachelorette ====
Ali Fedotowsky was chosen as the bachelorette for the sixth season of The Bachelorette.
==== Bachelor Pad ====
Runner-up Tenley Molzahn, along with contestants Gia Allemand, Ashley Elmore, Elizabeth Kitt, Michelle Kujawa and Jessie Sulidis, returned for the inaugural season of Bachelor Pad. Michelle was eliminated in week 1, Jessie in week 2, Gia in week 3, and Ashley in week 5. Elizabeth and her partner, Jesse Kovacs, were eliminated at the beginning of week 6, finishing in 3rd place. Tenley and her partner, Kiptyn Locke, were eliminated at the end of week 6, finishing as the runners-up.
Jake, Gia, Vienna Girardi, and Ella Nolan, returned for the second season of Bachelor Pad. Gia quit in week 2, and Jake was eliminated in week 3. Ella and her partner, Kirk DeWindt, were eliminated at the beginning of week 6, finishing in 4th place. Vienna and her partner, Kasey Kahl, were eliminated at the end of week 6, finishing in 3rd place.
==== Bachelor in Paradise ====
Season 1
Michelle returned for the inaugural season of Bachelor in Paradise. She quit in week 1.
Season 2
Tenley returned for the second season of Paradise. She broke up with Joshua Albers in week 6.
==== Other appearances ====
Outside of the Bachelor Nation franchise, Tenley and Michelle appeared as contestants in the Bachelors vs. Bachelorettes special on the season 7 of Wipeout.
== Call-out order ==
The contestant received the first impression rose
The contestant received a rose during the date
The contestant was eliminated
The contestant was eliminated during the date
The contestant quit the competition
The contestant received a rose during the date but disqualified from the competition
The contestant moved on to the next week by default
The previously eliminated contestant asked for a chance to return the competition but denied
The contestant won the competition
== Episodes ==
== Post-show ==
=== After the Final Rose ===
This is the special episode that airs after every finale. In season 14's segment, Jake told Chris Harrison about Bachelor Pad, Ali was chosen as the next bachelorette in the sixth season of The Bachelorette. Jake and Vienna were seen in a public appearance as a couple. Jeffrey Osborne sang "On the Wings of Love" at the closing of the show.
In June 2010, several months after their engagement, it was announced that Jake and Vienna Girardi had split.
=== Deaths ===
==== Gia Allemand ====
On August 14, 2013, third-place contestant Gia Allemand died after a reported suicide attempt. Several contestants and Pavelka expressed their condolences via Twitter, with Pavelka saying, "I am in complete shock and devastated to hear the news about Gia. She was one of the sweetest people I have ever known. And a very dear friend. My heart goes out to her family during this very difficult time. We have lost an angel today. I miss you Gia...".
==== Alexa McAllister ====
On 16 February 2016, Alexa (Lex) McAllister died after an apparent suicide attempt in Columbus, Ohio, as reported by TMZ. Per E! News, the local police said that on 13 February, they'd received a call in which it was claimed that McAllister had overdosed on prescription drugs. While McAllister was in a stable condition on her way to Grant Medical Center, E! News got access to a police report, which stated that she had taken "a lot" of pills. Her family took her off life support after her health began to deteriorate. McAllister was 31. Pavelka tweeted his condolences on Twitter, "I'm so sad to hear about Alexa. Such a beautiful girl. My heart breaks for her family. Covering them in prayer during this rough time".
== Jake Pavelka ==
Jake Pavelka grew up in Denton, Texas, and attended University of North Texas and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. In his free time, he takes dancing lessons, woodworking, and has fun flying acrobatic planes and he is also a former child actor. Pavelka is an airline pilot, and took his first flying lessons at 12 years old. He also became a certified flight instructor when he was 23 years old.
Pavelka became a member of an ABC reality show for the third time when he appeared as a celebrity contestant on the tenth season of Dancing with the Stars. Partnered with Chelsie Hightower, he was the fifth competitor eliminated on April 27, 2010. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliament_of_Finland | Parliament of Finland | The Parliament of Finland (Finnish: Suomen eduskunta [ˈsuo̯men ˈeduskuntɑ]; Swedish: Finlands riksdag [ˈfinlɑnds ˈriksdɑː(ɡ)]) is the unicameral and supreme legislature of Finland, founded on 9 May 1906. In accordance with the Constitution of Finland, sovereignty belongs to the people, and that power is vested in the Parliament. The Parliament consists of 200 members, 199 of whom are elected every four years from 13 multi-member districts electing 6 to 37 members using the proportional D'Hondt method. In addition, there is one member from Åland.
Legislation may be initiated by either the Government or one of the members of Parliament. The Parliament passes legislation, decides on the state budget, approves international treaties, and supervises the activities of the government. It may bring about the resignation of the Finnish Government, override presidential vetoes, and alter the constitution. To make changes to the constitution, amendments must be approved by two successive parliaments, with an election cycle in between. The first parliament requires a 1/2 majority to approve it and the second a 2/3 majority. If the matter is urgent and can not wait for an election, the amendment can be declared urgent by a 5/6 majority. An urgent amendment can then be passed by a 2/3 majority. Most MPs work in parliamentary groups which correspond with the political parties. The Parliament currently comprises nine parliamentary groups. Since the establishment of the Parliament in 1905, the parliamentary majority has been held once by a single party: the Social Democrats in the 1916 election. Thus, for the government to gain a majority in the Parliament, coalition governments are favored. These are generally formed by at least two of the three historically major parties: the Social Democrats, Centre, and National Coalition. Ministers are often but not necessarily MPs. The Parliament meets in the Parliament House (Finnish: Eduskuntatalo, Swedish: Riksdagshuset), which is located in central Helsinki.
The most recent parliamentary election took place on 2 April 2023. After the 2023 election the Orpo Cabinet was formed by the National Coalition, Finns and Swedish People's parties as well as the Christian Democrats.
== Name ==
=== Finnish ===
The Parliament's Finnish name is eduskunta, uncapitalized. The word was created in 1906 when the unicameral Parliament was established, with the approximate meaning of an 'Assembly of Representatives'. This word is used mostly to refer to Finland's legislature but can also be used as a general term for legislatures in any country.
=== Swedish ===
In Swedish, the Parliament's name is riksdag, uncapitalized. This is also the general term for the Swedish legislature. Riksdag derives from the genitive of rike ('realm') referring to the independent state of Finland, and dag, meaning diet or conference.
Before independence, until the Constitution Act of 1919, the Parliament was known, in Swedish, as lantdagen (cognate of landtag, having the sense of "subnational assembly") which was the old term for the Diet of Finland.
== History ==
The Parliament of Finland was preceded by the Diet of Finland (Swedish: lantdagen; Finnish: maapäivät, modern Finnish: valtiopäivät), which had succeeded the Riksdag of the Estates in 1809. When the unicameral Parliament of Finland was established by the Parliament Act in 1906, Finland was an autonomous grand duchy and principality under the Imperial Russian Tsar, who ruled as the Grand Duke, rather than as an absolute monarch. Universal suffrage and eligibility was implemented, making Finland the second country in the world to adopt universal suffrage. Women could both vote and run for office as equals, and this applied also to landless people, with no excluded minorities. The first election to the Parliament was arranged in 1907. The first Parliament had 19 female representatives, an unprecedented number at the time, which grew to 21 by 1913.
The first years of the new Parliament were difficult. Between 1908 and 1916 the power of the Finnish Parliament was almost completely neutralized by the Russian Tsar Nicholas II and the so-called "sabre senate" of Finland, a bureaucratic government formed by Imperial Russian Army officers during the second period of "Russification". The Parliament was dissolved and new elections were held almost every year.
The Finnish Parliament received true political power for the first time after the February Revolution (First Revolution) of 1917 in Russia. Finland declared its full independence on 6 December 1917, and in the winter and spring of 1918 endured a civil war in which the forces of the Senate, known as the White Guard, defeated the socialist Red Guard.
After the war, monarchists and republicans struggled over the country's form of government. The monarchists seemed to gain a victory when the Parliament elected a German prince as King of Finland in the fall of 1918. This decision was made on the basis of the other Nordic countries also having monarchs. However, the king-elect abdicated the throne after Imperial Germany was defeated in World War I, on 11 November 1918. In the parliamentary election of 1919, the republican parties won three-quarters of the seats, extinguishing the monarchists' ambitions. Finland became a republic with a parliamentary system, but in order to appease the monarchist parties, which favoured a strong head of state, extensive powers were granted to the president of Finland.
When the Soviet Union attacked Finland in the Winter War, in early December 1939 Parliament was evacuated and the legislature temporarily relocated to Kauhajoki, a town in western Finland far away from the frontline. The parliament held 34 plenary sessions in Kauhajoki, with the last on 12 February 1940. Another temporary relocation was seen during the renovation of the Parliament House in 2015–2017 when the Parliament convened in the neighbouring Sibelius Academy.
The Constitution of 1919, which instituted a parliamentary system, did not undergo any major changes for 70 years. Although the government was responsible to the Parliament, the president wielded considerable authority, which was used to its full extent by long-standing President Urho Kekkonen. As the Constitution implemented very strong protections for political minorities, most changes in legislation and state finances could be blocked by a qualified minority of one third. This, in conjunction with the inability of some of the parties to enter into coalition governments, led to weak, short-lived cabinets.
During President Mauno Koivisto's tenure in the 1980s, cabinets sitting for the whole parliamentary term became the norm. At the same time, the ability of qualified minorities to block legislation was gradually removed and the powers of the Parliament were greatly increased in the constitutional reform of 1991.
The revised 2000 draft of the Finnish constitution removed almost all domestic powers of the president, strengthening the position of the cabinet and the Parliament. It also included the methods for the discussion of EU legislation under preparation in the Parliament.
=== Dissolutions of Parliament ===
The Parliament of Finland has been dissolved before the end of its term fourteen times during its existence. The most recent instance was on 4 June 1975.
== Elections ==
The Parliament's 200 representatives are elected directly by ballot on the basis of proportional representation. A standard electoral period is four years. Elections have previously taken two days, but as early voting has become more popular, they are now conducted during one day; the third Sunday of April of an election year.
Every Finnish citizen who is at least 18 years of age on the election date is entitled to vote in general elections. There is normally no need to register as a voter, and citizens receive an invitation by mail. With certain exceptions, such as military personnel on active duty, high judicial officials, the President of the Republic, and persons under guardianship, any voter may also stand as a candidate for the Parliament. All registered parties are entitled to nominate candidates; individual citizens and independent electoral organizations must be endorsed by a sufficient number of voters through the form of supporter cards to apply.
In parliamentary elections, Finland is divided into 13 electoral districts. The number of representatives granted to each district is proportional to its population, except for Åland, which always elects one representative. The provincial state offices appoint an election board in each electoral district to prepare lists of candidates and to approve the election results. The Ministry of Justice has the ultimate responsibility for holding elections.
The president of Finland can call for an early election. As per the version of the constitution currently in use, the president can do this only upon proposal by the prime minister and after consultations with the parliamentary groups while the Parliament is in session. In prior versions of the constitution, the president had the power to do this unilaterally.
There is no hard and fast election threshold to get a seat in Parliament. This results in a large number of parties being represented. In 2019, for instance, nine parties won seats, with six winning at least 15 seats. With so many parties and the lack of a threshold, it is nearly impossible for one party to win an outright majority. During the history of the Parliament, only one party has ever won an outright majority–when the Social Democrats won 103 seats in the election of 1916. Since independence in 1917, no party has ever won the 101 seats needed for a majority. Instead, most Finnish governments have been coalitions formed by three or more parties. Many of them have been grand coalitions between parties with varying ideological backgrounds, as the socialist and non-socialist blocs usually do not win enough seats between them to govern on their own.
The seats for each electoral district are assigned according to the D'Hondt method. Electoral districts were originally based on the historical lääni division of 1634, but there have been several subsequent changes. Although there is no set election threshold, many electoral districts have become smaller in terms of population in recent decades, and some now elect as few as six representatives. This makes it harder for small parties to win MPs in these districts.
== Parliamentary groups ==
MPs work in parliamentary groups (eduskuntaryhmä). The parliamentary groups generally correspond to political parties, although occasionally dissidents can be removed from the party group and form their own. As of September 2019 there are nine groups, one of which is a one-man group. A group generally tries to reach a unanimous decision on a common position, but failing to do so may take a vote. This position then defines voting in the parliamentary session proper according to party discipline. Exceptions to this principle are made on matters on which no party line or government policy exists. Parliamentary groups make their decisions independently of their party leadership, and group leaders of major parties accordingly rank alongside government ministers and party leaders as influential political leaders.
Each parliamentary group receives funding for its operations and may have staff of its own.
== Formation of government ==
The president of Finland consults the speaker of Parliament and representatives of parliamentary groups about the formation of a new Finnish Government. According to the Constitution of Finland, the Parliament elects the prime minister, who is appointed to office by the president. The prime minister is, in practice, the most powerful politician in the country. Other ministers are appointed by the president on the prime minister's proposal. While individual ministers are not appointed by the Parliament, they may be individually removed by a motion of no confidence. The government, as a whole, must also have the confidence of the Parliament and must resign on a motion of no confidence. The government has collective ministerial responsibility.
Before the prime minister is elected, the parliamentary groups (which correspond to their respective political parties) negotiate on the government platform and on the composition of the government. On the basis of the outcome of these negotiations, and after having consulted the speaker of the house and the parliamentary groups, the president informs the Parliament of the nominee for prime minister. The parliament votes on the proposal, and if successful, the nominee is elected prime minister. Although Finland essentially always has multi-party coalition governments, the process is made smoother by party discipline: coalition MPs vote together to ensure a majority.
== Sessions ==
The annual session of parliament generally begins in February and consists of two terms, the first from January to June, the second from September to December. At the start of an annual session, the nation's political leaders and their guests attend a special worship service at Helsinki Cathedral before the ceremonies continue at the Parliament House, where the president formally opens the session.
On the first day of each annual session, the Parliament selects a speaker and two deputy speakers from its members. This election is chaired by the oldest MP in office. The three members who are elected to serve as speaker and first deputy speaker and second deputy speaker respectively take the following solemn oath before the Parliament;"I, [name of the MP], affirm that in my office as Speaker I will to the best of my ability defend the rights of the people, Parliament and the government of Finland according to the Constitution."During each annual session of Parliament, Finland's delegations to the Nordic Council and the Council of Europe are assigned. The Parliament also elects five of its members to the bench of the High Court of Impeachment for the duration of the parliamentary term.
== Committees ==
The Parliament has 17 committees. Most committees have 17 permanent members, except for the Grand Committee, which has 25; the Finance Committee, which has 21; and the Audit and Intelligence Oversight Committees, which have 11 each. In addition to these permanent members, each of the committees has a number of substitute members. On average, each member of the Parliament is also a member of two committees.
Most of the committees are special committees, while the Grand Committee deals with EU affairs, but also has a wider range of tasks. As Finland does not have a constitutional court, the role of the Constitutional Law Committee is to oversee constitutional affairs. The Committee for the Future is also noteworthy, as it does not usually deal with bills, but instead assesses factors relating to future developments and gives statements to other committees on issues relating to the future outlooks of their respective fields of speciality. The newest committee is the Intelligence Oversight Committee which was created in 2019.
== Proceedings ==
=== Domestic legislation ===
Most of the bills discussed in the parliament originate within the Council of State. However, any member or group of members may introduce a bill, but usually these will not pass the committee phase. A third way to propose legislation was introduced in 2012: citizens may deliver an initiative for the parliament's consideration, if the initiative gains 50,000 endorsements from eligible voters within a period of six months. When delivered to the parliament, the initiative is dealt with in the same way as any other bill. Any bill introduced will initially be discussed by the members of the Parliament, prior to being sent to the committee to which it belongs. If the bill concerns several areas of legislation, the Grand Committee will first ask the other committees for opinions. If there is any concern about the constitutionality of the bill, the opinion of the Constitutional Committee is demanded. The Constitutional Committee works in non-partisan manner and uses the most distinguished legal scholars as experts. If the committee considers the bill to have unconstitutional elements, the bill must either be passed as a constitutional change or changed to be in concordance with the constitution. In most cases, the latter route is chosen.
The bills receive their final form in the parliamentary committees. The committees work behind closed doors but their proceedings are publicized afterwards. Usually the committees hear experts from special interest groups and various authorities after which they formulate the necessary changes to the bill in question. If the committee does not agree, the members in minority may submit their own version of the bill.
The committee statement is discussed by the parliament in two consecutive sessions. In the first session, the parliament discusses the bill and prepares its final form. In the first part of handling, a general discussion of the bill is undertaken. After this, the parliament discusses individual points of the bill and chooses between the bill proposed by the committee, minority opinions and the eventual other forms the members submit during the discussion. If the parliament wishes to do so, it may during the general discussion of the first handling submit the bill to the Grand Committee for further formulation. The bill is also always treated by the Grand Committee if the parliament decides to adopt any other form than the final opinion of the committee. The committee then formulates its own version of the bill and submits this to the parliament which then adopts either its former version or the version of the Grand Committee. The committee statements are influential documents in that they often used by the courts as indicative of the legislator's intent.
In the second session, the final formulation of the bill is either passed or dismissed. If the bill entails a change in constitution, the second session takes place only after the next election unless the parliament decides to declare the matter to be urgent by a majority of five-sixths. In constitutional matters, the bills are passed by a majority of two-thirds. In other cases, the simple majority of votes given is enough.
International treaties requiring changes to legislation are accepted by a simple majority in a single session. Treaties requiring changes to the constitution or changing the borders of Finland require a qualified majority of two-thirds.
=== EU legislation ===
The matters relating to the jurisdiction of the European Union are decided by the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament. However, as changes to European legislation are being prepared, the Parliament participates actively in formulating the government's position on these changes.
As the proceedings of the committees are public, European Union matters handled by the Parliament tend to become public after committee meetings. However, the government may ask the Parliament for a secret handling of an EU matter. This can be the case if the government does not want to reveal its position to foreign nations before the beginning of negotiations.
European Union legislation under preparation is brought to the Grand Committee by the Finnish government when they have received notice of the proposal from the European Commission. The Grand Committee discusses the matter behind closed doors, and if appropriate, requests opinions from the committees of the Parliament. Both the Grand Committee and the specialized committees hear expert opinions while preparing their opinions. Finally, the Grand Committee formulates its opinion of the proposal. However, in matters concerning the external relations of the European Union, the Finnish stance is formulated by the Committee for Foreign and Security Policy, rather than the Grand Committee.
The Finnish government is obligated by law to follow the parliamentary opinion when discussing the matter with the European Commission and other member states. The government may change the Finnish stance, but it is required to report such changes to the Parliament immediately.
After the European Union has made a legislative decision that is to be implemented by the Parliament, the matter is brought back to the parliament as with usual legislation. At this stage, the Finnish state is committed to passing a bill fulfilling the requirements demanded by the EU, and the Parliament must vote accordingly.
=== Other matters ===
Every member of parliament has the right to ask the government written questions. The questions are answered in writing within 21 days by a minister responsible for the matter and do not cause any further discussion. Furthermore, the parliament has a questioning session from time to time. In these, the members are allowed to ask short verbal questions, which are answered by the responsible ministers and then discussed by the parliament.
Any group of twenty members may interpellate. The motion of censure may be for the whole government or any particular minister. The motion takes the form of a question that is replied to by the responsible minister. If the parliament decides to approve the motion of censure, the committee responsible for the matter in question formulates the motion, which is then passed by the parliament.
The government may decide to make a report to the parliament in any matter. After discussion the parliament may either accept the report or pass a motion of censure. A passed motion of censure will cause the government to fall.
Any group of 10 members may raise the question of the legality of the minister's official acts. If such question is raised, the Constitutional Committee will investigate the matter, using all the powers of police. After the final report of the committee, the parliament decides whether to charge the minister in the High Court of Impeachment. The criminal investigation of the Constitutional Committee may also be initiated by the chancellor of Justice, Parliamentary Ombudsman or by any parliamentary committee. Similar proceedings may also be initiated against the chancellor of justice, Parliamentary Ombudsman or the judges of the supreme courts. The president of Finland may be also the target of a criminal investigation of the Constitutional Committee, but the parliament must accept the indictment by a majority of three-fourths and the charge must be treason, high treason or a crime against humanity.
== Members of the Parliament ==
Members of the Parliament are not employees and cannot voluntarily resign or be laid off. They can be granted leave or dismissal only with the consent of the Parliament. Members of the Parliament enjoy parliamentary immunity. Without the parliament's approval, members may not be prosecuted for anything they say in session or otherwise do in the course of parliamentary proceedings. MPs may not be prevented from carrying out their work as members of parliament. They may be charged with crimes they have committed in office only if the parliament gives a permission to that end with a majority of five-sixths of given votes. For other crimes, they may be arrested or imprisoned only for crimes which carry a minimum punishment of six months in prison, unless the parliament gives permission to arrest the member.
The members receive a monthly taxable remuneration (palkkio) of 7,137 €, which is raised to 7,494 € after four years of service and to 7,993 € after twelve years. It is legally a salary, with the exception that the remuneration is not subject to the unemployment insurance fee—as they not covered by the unemployment benefit system that is funded by the fees. In addition, all MPs automatically receive a tax-free compensation of expenses between 987 € and 1,809 € depending on the location of ones home. MPs from districts far from Helsinki can thus receive compensation for a second apartment in Helsinki. MPs may travel for free within the country by train, bus, or plane for purposes related to legislative work. Within the Helsinki metropolitan area, they may freely use taxis. Eduskunta is responsible for its own finances and the minister of finance is obliged to include their proposal to the state budget as is regardless of their own opinion.
MPs are aided in their work by personal assistants, although there are fewer assistants than MPs and not every MP has one. Assistants are formally employed by the Parliamentary Office, but can be selected and directed by the MP.
A member who is elected to the European Parliament must choose between the two parliaments because a double mandate is not permissible. On the other hand, the members may have any municipal positions of trust, and it is common for them to have a position in a municipal council. If MPs leave the parliament or die in office, they are replaced by candidates from the same list they were elected from in the previous election, in order of their electoral score (the D'Hondt quotient). Those so selected are from a substitute list, the substitutes being named at the same time as the electoral results are announced. Finland does not have a by-election system.
The members have an unlimited right to discuss the matters at hand. However, they must behave in a "solemn and dignified manner" and refrain from personal insults. If the member breaks against this rule in the session of parliament, they may be interrupted by the speaker. Grave breaches of order may be punished by two weeks' suspension from office by the decision of the Parliament. If a member is convicted of an intentional crime for a term in prison or of an electoral crime to any punishment, the parliament may decide to dismiss the member if two-thirds of the votes given are for dismissal.
The median age of MPs was 50 as of 2022, the oldest MP being 76 years (Erkki Tuomioja) and youngest 28 years (Iiris Suomela). 94 women were elected as MPs in the 2019 election (47%), though due to midterm replacements the number of female MPs dropped to 91 (45.5%). 8% of the population is born abroad, however there are only 4 current foreign-born MPs (2%), Bella Forsgrén (born in Ethiopia), Hussein al-Taee (born in Iraq), Suldaan Said Ahmed (born in Somalia) and Aki Lindén (born in Denmark). 7% of MPs are Swedish-speakers, slightly higher than their proportion of the population (5.2%).
== Parliament House ==
Before the construction of the Parliament House, the Parliament met in various different locations. The Diet of Finland, the predecessor of the Parliament, was tetracameral and did not regularly meet together. The Diet of Porvoo (1809) met in various buildings in Porvoo, with Borgå gymnasium as the main hall, the noble and burgher estates meeting in the town hall and the peasants' estate in chief judge Orraeus' house. However, the Diet assembled only once and did not reconvene until 1863. In 1863, the Diet began regular meetings again, reconvening in the House of Nobility (Ritarikatu 1). This building still stands, but is no longer in governmental use. Whereas nobility continued to meet there, in 1891 a new House of the Estates was inaugurated for the other estates (clergy, burghers and peasants). This building is today owned by the state and occasionally used by the Government of Finland. When the modern 200-member Parliament was founded in 1906, they first met in the local voluntary fire brigade house (Keskuskatu 7), because there was not enough space for them in the House of Estates. The fire brigade house was demolished in 1967 and replaced by the Helsinki World Trade Center building. In 1911, the Heimola House, a building designed by Onni Tarjanne, was inaugurated at Yliopistonkatu 5. This building was demolished in 1969 and replaced by a 9-story office building.
In 1923 a competition was held to choose a site for a new Parliament House. Arkadianmäki, a hill beside what is now Mannerheimintie, was chosen as the best site. An architectural competition was held in 1924, and it was won by the firm Borg–Sirén–Åberg with their proposal, Oratoribus. Johan Sigfrid Sirén (1889–1961), who was mainly responsible for preparing the proposal, was tasked with designing the Parliament House. The building was constructed 1926–1931 and was officially inaugurated on 7 March 1931. Ever since then, and especially during the Winter War and Continuation War, it has been the scene of many key moments in the nation's political life.
Parliament House was designed in the classic style of the 1920s. The exterior is reddish Kalvola granite. The façade is lined by fourteen columns with Corinthian capitals. The first floor contains the main lobby, the speaker's reception rooms, the newspaper room, the Information Service, the Documents Office, the messenger centre, the copying room, and the restaurant and separate function rooms. At both ends of the lobby are marble staircases leading up to the fifth floor.
The second or main floor is centered around the Chamber. Its galleries have seats for the public, the media and diplomats. Also located on this floor are the Hall of State, the Speaker's Corridor, the Government's Corridor, the cafeteria and adjacent function rooms.
The third floor includes facilities for the Information Unit and the media and provides direct access to the press gallery overlooking the Session Hall. The Minutes Office and a number of committee rooms are also located here.
The fourth floor is reserved for committees. Its largest rooms are the Grand Committee Room and the Finance Committee Room. The fifth floor contains meeting rooms and offices for the parliamentary groups. Additional offices for the parliamentary groups are located on the sixth floor, along with facilities for the media.
Notable later additions to the building include the library annex, completed in 1978, and a separate office block, called Pikkuparlamentti, completed in 2004.
The building underwent extensive renovations in the years 2007–2017 as part of the preparation for Finland's centennial independence celebration.
== Election results ==
=== 2023 ===
Result of the election held on 2 April 2023: |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moana_(2016_film) | Moana (2016 film) | Moana is a 2016 American animated musical adventure film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and directed by John Musker and Ron Clements from a screenplay by Jared Bush. It stars Dwayne Johnson and Auliʻi Cravalho in her film debut. It features songs written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Opetaia Foaʻi, and Mark Mancina, and an original score also composed by Mancina. The film is set in ancient Polynesia and tells the story of Moana, the strong-willed daughter of a chief of a coastal village, who is chosen by the ocean itself to reunite a mystical relic with the goddess Te Fiti. When a blight strikes her island, Moana sets sail in search of Maui, a legendary demigod, in hopes of returning the relic to Te Fiti and saving her people. The screenplay takes inspiration from Polynesian myths.
Moana premiered during the AFI Fest at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on November 14, 2016, and was released theatrically in the United States on November 23. The film received positive reviews from critics and was a commercial success, grossing $687 million worldwide. At the 89th Academy Awards, the film received two nominations for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song ("How Far I'll Go"). Available on Disney+, Moana was the most-streamed film in the United States from 2020 to 2024, leading The Wall Street Journal to describe it as "the No.1 movie in streaming history." A sequel, Moana 2, was released in 2024, while a live-action remake is scheduled for release in 2026.
== Plot ==
On the Polynesian island of Motunui, the inhabitants worship the goddess of nature, Te Fiti; a living island who, long ago, brought life to the ocean using a pounamu stone as her heart and the source of her power. One day, Maui, the shape-shifting demigod of the wind and sea and master of wayfinding, stole Te Fiti's heart to give humanity the power of creation. This caused Te Fiti to disintegrate, and Maui was attacked by Te Kā, a volcanic demon. Maui lost both the heart and his magic fish hook to the depths of the sea.
A thousand years later, the ocean chooses Moana, the daughter of Motunui's chief Tui, to return the heart to Te Fiti. Tui and Sina, Moana's parents, try to keep her away from the ocean to prepare her to become the island's chief. Sixteen years later, blight strikes the island, killing vegetation and shrinking the fish catch. Moana suggests going beyond the island's reef with her pet pig, Pua, to find more fish and discover what is happening, but Tui forbids it.
Moana tries conquering the reef, but is overpowered by the tides and shipwrecked. That afternoon, Moana's grandmother Tala shows her a secret cavern of ships and reveals Motunui's people were voyagers until Maui stole Te Fiti's heart; the ocean was no longer safe without it. Tala explains Te Kā's darkness is destroying the island, but can be cured if Moana finds Maui and has him restore the heart of Te Fiti. Having been given the heart by the ocean, Tala gives it to Moana. Tala later becomes gravely ill and tells Moana to find Maui.
Moana sets sail on a camakau from the cavern along with her dimwitted pet rooster, Heihei, who stowed away on it. They are caught in a typhoon and shipwrecked on an island, where she finds Maui, who boasts about his achievements. She demands Maui return the heart, but he refuses and traps her in a cave before leaving on her boat. She escapes and confronts Maui, who reluctantly lets her on the camakau. They are attacked by Kakamora, coconut pirates who seek the heart, but Moana and Maui outwit them.
Moana realizes Maui is no longer a hero since he stole the heart and cursed the world, and convinces him to redeem himself by returning the heart. However, Maui first needs to retrieve his fishhook in Lalotai, the Realm of Monsters, from Tamatoa, a giant coconut crab. While Moana distracts Tamatoa, Maui retrieves his hook, only to find himself unable to control his shape-shifting. He is overpowered by Tamatoa, but Moana's quick thinking allows them to escape with the hook. Maui reveals his first tattoo was earned when his human parents abandoned him as an infant, and the gods, taking pity on him, granted him his powers. After reassurance from Moana, Maui teaches her the art of way-finding, regaining control of his powers, and the two grow closer.
They arrive at Te Fiti's island, only to be attacked by Te Kā. Moana refuses to turn back, resulting in Maui's hook being badly damaged. Unwilling to lose his hook again, Maui abandons Moana, who loses hope and tearfully asks the ocean to find someone else to restore the heart. The ocean obliges and takes the heart, but Tala's spirit appears, inspiring Moana to find her true calling. Moana retrieves the heart and sails back to confront Te Kā. Maui returns, having had a change of heart, and buys Moana time to reach Te Fiti by fighting Te Kā, destroying his hook in the process. Upon being unable to find Te Fiti, Moana realizes Te Kā is Te Fiti, but corrupted without her heart. The ocean clears a path for Moana, allowing her to return the heart to Te Fiti, who heals the ocean and islands of blight. Maui apologizes to Te Fiti, who fixes his hook as well as Moana's boat before falling into a deep sleep and becoming an island.
Moana bids farewell to Maui and Te Fiti, returning home and reuniting with her parents. After placing a shell on top of the stack of stones placed by all previous chiefs, Moana takes up her role as chieftess and wayfinder, leading her people as they resume voyaging, accompanied by Maui.
== Voice cast ==
Auliʻi Cravalho as Moana, the curious daughter of village chief Tui and his wife Sina, who is chosen by the ocean to restore the heart of Te Fiti
Cravalho reprised her role in the film's Hawaiian-language version
Louise Bush as young Moana
Dwayne Johnson as Maui, a legendary and strong-willed, yet egotistical shapeshifting demigod who sets off with Moana on her journey
Rachel House as Tala, Tui's mother and Moana's paternal grandmother. Like Moana, Tala shares a passion for the ocean and the two have a very deep bond
House reprised her role in the film's Māori-language dub
Temuera Morrison as Tui, Moana's overprotective father, Sina's husband, and Tala's son. He is chief of Motunui Island
Morrison reprised his role in the film's Māori-language dub
Christopher Jackson as Tui's singing voice
Jemaine Clement as Tamatoa, a giant, villainous, treasure-hoarding coconut crab from Lalotai, the Realm of Monsters, and Maui's nemesis
Clement reprised his role in the film's Māori-language dub
Nicole Scherzinger as Sina, Moana's mother, Tui's wife, and Chieftess of Motunui
Scherzinger also reprised her role in the film's Hawaiian-language dub
Alan Tudyk as Heihei, Moana's pet rooster
Tudyk also voices Villager No. 3, an old man who suggests cooking Heihei
Oscar Kightley as a fisherman
Troy Polamalu as Villager No. 1
Puanani Cravalho (Auli'i Cravalho's mother) as Villager No. 2
== Production ==
=== Development ===
After directing The Princess and the Frog (2009), Clements and Musker started working on an adaptation of Terry Pratchett's Mort, but problems with acquiring the necessary film rights prevented them from continuing with that project. To avoid a recurrence of that issue, they pitched three original ideas. The genesis of one of those ideas (the one that was ultimately green-lit) occurred in 2011, when Musker began reading up on Polynesian mythology, and learned of the heroic exploits of the demigod Māui. Intrigued with the rich culture of Polynesia, he felt it would be a suitable subject for an animated film. Shortly thereafter, Musker and Clements wrote a treatment and pitched it to John Lasseter, who recommended that both of them should go on research trips. Accordingly, in 2012, Clements and Musker went on research trips to Fiji, Samoa, and Tahiti to meet the people of the South Pacific Ocean and learn about their culture. At first, they had planned to make the film entirely about Maui, but their initial research trips inspired Clements to pitch a new idea focused on the young daughter of a chief.
Clements and Musker were fascinated to learn during their research that the people of Polynesia abruptly stopped making long-distance voyages about three thousand years ago. Polynesian navigational traditions had long predated those of European explorers, beginning around 300 CE. Native people of the Pacific possessed knowledge of the world and their place in it prior to the incursion of foreigners. For example, Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) were well aware of the existence of far away islands, had names for these places, and were interested in exploring them to benefit their societies. This voyaging heritage was made possible by a geographical knowledge system based on individual perspective rather than the European cardinal direction system. The reasons for the halt of this voyaging tradition remain unknown, but scholars have offered climate change and resulting shifts in ocean currents and wind patterns as one possible explanation. Native peoples of the Pacific resumed voyaging again a thousand years later. Clements and Musker set the film at that point in time, about two thousand years ago, on a fictional island in the central Pacific Ocean, which drew inspiration from elements of the real-life island nations of Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga.
Over the five years it took to develop and produce the film, Clements and Musker recruited experts from across the South Pacific to form an Oceanic Story Trust, who consulted on the film's cultural accuracy and sensitivity as the story evolved through nine versions. The Trust responded negatively, for example, to a depiction of Maui as bald, and to a proposed scene in which Moana threw a tantrum by throwing coconuts. In response, Maui was reworked with long hair and the coconut scene was scrapped.
During the 2015 D23 Expo's panel for Disney's slate of upcoming animated films, Moana's last name was given as "Waialiki", but that name was not retained in the final film.
=== Writing ===
The first draft of the screenplay was written by Taika Waititi. Waititi left his position with Disney and went home to New Zealand in 2012 to focus on his newborn first child and What We Do in the Shadows. Years later, Waititi joked that all that was left of his original draft was "EXT: OCEAN – DAY". The first draft focused on Moana as the sole daughter in a family with "five or six brothers", in which gender played into the story. However, the brothers and gender-based theme were deleted from the story, as the directors thought Moana's journey should be about finding herself. A subsequent draft presented Moana's father as the one who wanted to resume navigation, but it was rewritten to have him oppose navigation so he would not overshadow Moana. Instead, Pamela Ribon came up with the idea of a grandmother character for the film, who would serve as a mentor linking Moana to ancient traditions. Another version focused on Moana rescuing her father, who had been lost at sea. The film's story changed drastically during the development phase (which happens with most Disney films), and that idea ultimately survived only as a subtle element of the father's backstory.
Te Kā was referred to in early drafts of the film as Te Pō, a reference to the Māori goddess Hine-nui-te-pō, who was originally the life-giving goddess Hine-tītama, but became the goddess of death upon discovering that her husband, the god Tāne, was also her father. Māui was killed in his failed attempt to bring immortality to humans.
Aaron and Jordan Kandell joined the project during a critical period to help deepen the emotional story architecture of the film. They are credited with developing the core relationship between Moana and Maui, the prologue, the Cave of the Wayfinders, the Kakamora, and the collector crab Tamatoa (played by Jemaine Clement). Jared Bush received sole credit as the writer of the final version of the screenplay.
Several major story problems were identified in 2015 after the film had already transitioned from development into production, but computer-generated films tend to have much shorter production schedules and much larger animation teams (in this case, about 90 animators) than traditionally animated films. Since Clements and Musker were already working 12-hour days (and Saturdays) directing such a large team of animators, Don Hall and Chris Williams (who had just finished directing Big Hero 6) came on board as co-directors to help fix the film's story issues. The scene in which Maui and Moana encounter the Kakamora is an intentional homage to Mad Max: Fury Road.
=== Casting ===
After the filmmakers sat through auditions of hundreds of candidates from across the Pacific, 14-year-old high school freshman Auliʻi Cravalho was cast as the lead character Moana. At that point in time, the design of Moana's face and personality was already complete, and Cravalho's obvious physical resemblance to her character was simply a coincidence. During animation production, Disney animators were able to integrate some of Cravalho's mannerisms into Moana's behavior as depicted onscreen.
The majority of the film's cast members are of Polynesian descent: Auliʻi Cravalho (Moana) and Nicole Scherzinger (Sina, Moana's mother) were born in Hawaii and are of Native Hawaiian heritage; Dwayne Johnson (Maui), Oscar Kightley (Fisherman), and Troy Polamalu (Villager No. 1) are of Samoan heritage; and New Zealand-born Rachel House (Tala, Moana's grandmother), Temuera Morrison (Tui, Moana's father), and Jemaine Clement (Tamatoa) are of Māori heritage.
=== Animation ===
Moana is Clements and Musker's first fully computer-animated film. One of the reasons for using computer animation was that the environment, including the ocean, benefited much more from the use of CGI as opposed to traditional animation. The filmmakers have also suggested that three-dimensional computer animation is well-suited to the "beautiful sculpturing" of the faces of the people of the South Pacific. Eric Goldberg worked on the hand-drawn animation used to depict Maui's sentient tattoos. During early development, the filmmakers considered the possibility of making the film with hand-drawn traditional animation, but only a few early animation tests were made in that style. In the final cut, only Maui's tattoos are hand-drawn. The animation crew consulted with the Polynesian Voyaging Society over references of material culture like ship parts so their textures would be rendered realistically in the final animation.
Moana was produced in makeshift quarters in a giant warehouse in North Hollywood (together with Zootopia), while Disney Animation's headquarters building in Burbank was being renovated. Musker observed that Moana was similar in that respect to The Little Mermaid, which was produced in a warehouse in Glendale. Production wrapped on October 20, 2016.
=== Music and soundtrack ===
The film's soundtrack was released by Walt Disney Records on November 18, 2016. The songs were written by Opetaia Foa'i; Mark Mancina, in his third collaboration with Walt Disney Animation Studios after Tarzan and Brother Bear; and Lin-Manuel Miranda, while the score was written by Mancina. The lyrics are in English, Samoan, and the Tokelauan language. The soundtrack peaked at number two on the Billboard 200.
A song from the soundtrack, "How Far I'll Go" with words/lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, was nominated for Best Original Song at the 89th Academy Awards.
The song "How Far I'll Go" earned several high-profile nominations, including the Academy Award for Best Original Song (89th Oscars) and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song (74th Golden Globes). It also secured the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards.
=== Localization ===
In many European countries, the name of the titular character, Moana, was changed to Vaiana due to a trademark conflict. The film was released in those countries to bear the alternative name in the title. In Italy, the film was released with the title Oceania; media outlets speculated that the name change was to avoid confusion with Italian pornographic actress Moana Pozzi, and Disney Italy's head of theatrical marketing, Davide Romani, acknowledged they were "thinking about the issue" at a meeting of Italian exhibitors in 2015.
Following the success brought by international productions of Disney's Frozen, which led to the release of a complete set album which included all the official versions of "Let It Go" released at the time, Disney decided to produce a special Tahitian dubbing for the film. On October 25, 2016, at a press conference in Papeete, it was announced that the film will be the first motion picture to be fully dubbed in the Tahitian language. This marks the second time Disney has released a special dubbing dedicated to the culture which inspired the film: the first case was The Lion King (1994), for which the directors travelled to South Africa to cast voice actors for a Zulu-dubbed version. The Tahitian dubbing was made available in schools and institutions, but never for the public to purchase.
In June 2017, a Māori-language dubbing of the film produced by Matewa Media was announced, premiering in Auckland on September 11, with 30 theatres screening it for free as part of Māori Language Week. Rachel House, Jemaine Clement, Temuera Morrison, and Oscar Kightley reprised their respective roles in this version, directed by Rachel House herself. In contrast to the Tahitian dubbing, the Māori version was made available for purchase in Australia and New Zealand, and the soundtrack was uploaded on Disney's official Vevo channel.
In November 2017, a Hawaiian-language (ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi) dubbing was announced to be under way, with Auliʻi Cravalho reprising her role as Moana and Nicole Scherzinger reprising the role of Sina. The film premiered on June 10, 2018, and like the Tahitian dubbing, was later distributed for free to schools in Hawaii. It was never released for sale in home media form.
== Release ==
On October 20, 2014, Walt Disney Pictures announced that it would be releasing the film in late 2016, and hinted that it might be the November 23, 2016, release window previously announced by the studio in March 2014 for a then-untitled film. In November 2014, Disney confirmed that it would be releasing the film on November 23, 2016. The film is accompanied by the short film Inner Workings. The film's world premiere was held on the grand opening of the AFI Fest Celebration at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on November 14, 2016.
On January 27, 2017, a sing-along version of Moana was released in more than 2,000 theaters in the United States, featuring on-screen lyrics.
As part of Disney's 100th anniversary, Moana was re-released between October 13 to 26, 2023 in the United States, on October 14 in Helios theaters across Poland, and between October 26 to November 1 in Latin America opposite Coco. This re-release included the short Once Upon a Studio, which was shown before the film.
=== Marketing ===
Prior to the film's first trailer, a Moana DVD appears in the 2016 film Zootopia, alongside Frozen 2 and the unproduced film Gigantic. On October 15, 2016, Hawaiian Airlines unveiled their Moana-themed livery for three of their Airbus A330-200 fleet. Disney initiating a partnership with Hawaiian Airlines to promote the film has been perceived as having the motive of fetishizing Polynesian island nations as exotic vacation spots, the people and culture of which exist only to entertain foreign audiences, as well as Auliʻi Cravalho speaking with The New York Times in an interview sharing travel tips for visitors to Hawaii. Critiques of these promotional tactics focus on how adverse effects of tourism have devastated native communities in the Pacific, resulting in environmental degradation and poverty.
A Maui "skin suit" costume made to tie in with the film was pulled by Disney from its online store following complaints about it being culturally insensitive and for appearing to promote brownface.
There are currently meet-and-greets with Moana at Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Disneyland Paris, and at Aulani, a Disney Resort and Spa. At the parks, she is located in Adventureland and is occasionally joined by Maui.
At Hong Kong Disneyland, there is a stage show called Moana's Village Festival, which opened in 2018.
=== Home media ===
Moana was released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on Blu-ray (2D and 3D) and DVD in the United States on March 7, 2017, with a digital release on February 21, 2017. The releases include the short film Inner Workings. The Blu-ray release also introduces a short film featuring Maui and Moana titled Gone Fishing. Moana was also released on the streaming service Disney+ on its launch date November 12, 2019. A sing-along version of the film was released on Disney+ July 22, 2022.
In 2017, Moana sold 4.4 million units and generated $116.3 million in revenue from home video sales, making it the best-selling film of the year. In 2018, the film sold 357,378 units, earning $5,232,197 in home video revenue. The following year, the film sold 467,213 units and generated $7,803,605 in revenue. In 2020, Moana sold 252,055 units, earning $4,055,589 in home video revenue.
Nielsen Media Research, which records streaming viewership on some U.S. television screens, reported that Moana was streamed for 10.507 billion minutes in 2020, ranking as the second most-streamed film of the year. In 2021, it was streamed for 8.896 billion minutes, again placing second among films for the year. The following year, Moana was streamed for 8.629 billion minutes, ranking fourth in annual streaming rankings. In 2023, the film was streamed for 11.6 billion minutes, making it the most-streamed film of the year. Moana retained the top position in 2024 with 13.03 billion minutes streamed. Between January and June 2025, it accumulated 3.846 billion minutes of viewing time, ranking as the fourth most-streamed film in that period. In December 2025, Disney announced that the film was among the programs to surpass one billion hours streamed on Disney+ in 2025. That same month, Nielsen subsequently that Moana had accumulated 37.7 billion minutes of watch time between 2020 and 2025, ranking first among the most-streamed films during that period. For 2025, the film garnered 5.81 billion minutes of watch time, ranking as the fourth most-streamed children's film and the seventh most-streamed film overall for the year.
== Reception ==
=== Box office ===
Moana grossed $248.7 million in the U.S. and Canada, and $438.4 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $687.2 million. On January 22 and March 16, 2017, respectively, the film reached the $500 million and $600 million marks, becoming the fourth consecutive Walt Disney Animation Studios film to reach both milestones after Frozen (2013), Big Hero 6 (2014), and Zootopia (2016). Although Disney had not disclosed the film's production budget, most of its animated films cost around $150 million. Deadline Hollywood calculated the net profit of the film to be $121.3 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues for the film, making it the 12th-most profitable release of 2016.
==== North America ====
In the United States, Moana was released during the Thanksgiving weekend. The film played in 3,875 theaters of which a majority of them (80%) screened it in 3D. It also played in 50 premium large-format screens and more than 400 D-Box screens. It was projected to take in around $50 million in three days, with $75–85 million in five days (some estimates going as high as $90 million). Deadline.com said the numbers were good for the original Disney film and marked a great rebound for the company in the wake of Pixar's The Good Dinosaur the previous year, which had made $55 million over five days off a production budget of $175–200 million.
Moana made $2.6 million from Tuesday paid previews which began at 7 pm, the highest ever for a Walt Disney Animation Studios film and for a non-Pixar Disney animated film. On its opening day, it made $15.5 million, a new record for a Walt Disney Animation Studios film opening on Wednesday (breaking Frozen's record) and the biggest opening day ever for a film released on pre-Thanksgiving Day. On Thanksgiving Day, it earned $9.9 million, a decrease of 36% from its previous day. On Black Friday—the highest-grossing day of the Thanksgiving stretch—it made $21.8 million, a 127% increase from the day before. Through Sunday, the film posted a three-day opening weekend worth $56.6 million over its Friday-to-Sunday debut and $82.1 million from Wednesday to Sunday, the third biggest three-day Thanksgiving opening (behind Frozen and Toy Story 2) and the second-biggest five-day Thanksgiving opening (behind Frozen), dethroning Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them off the top spot. Among all films that did not necessarily open in this weekend but may have played, Moana ranks sixth among three-day weekends and fifth among five-day weekends.
The film's opening was considered to be another animated success for the studio after Zootopia and Pixar's Finding Dory posted huge openings, respectively, the same year in March and June.
In its second weekend, the film dropped by about 50% for a total of $28.3 million, a smaller drop than Toy Story 2, Frozen, Tangled, and The Good Dinosaur. The film managed to top the box office for its third weekend, despite competition from newcomers and holdovers, earning $18.5 million while falling by 34%. It became the sixth film of 2016 to top the box office three times, following Deadpool, Zootopia, The Jungle Book, Finding Dory, and Suicide Squad. The film was overtaken by Disney's own Rogue One: A Star Wars Story in its fourth weekend, despite only a marginal decline.
It fell to number six in its fifth weekend, due to competition from four new releases—Sing, Passengers, Why Him?, and Assassin's Creed—despite a small drop again; it grossed $2.9 million on Christmas Day. On the holiday week of December 23–29, the film finished at number four with a gross of $26 million, which was 14% up from the previous week, despite losing over 300 theaters. It finished at number four in its sixth weekend, going up 42% and 97%, respectively, during the three-day and four-day weekends; it grossed $3.6 million on New Year's Day.
It fell outside the top ten in its eighth weekend (which included Martin Luther King Jr. Day), dropping 33% and 4%, respectively, during the three-day and four-day weekends.
==== Outside North America ====
Internationally, the film earned $17.2 million in its first weekend from 12 markets, the bulk of which came from China. In its second weekend, the film expanded to a total of 30 markets, adding an additional $33.7 million.
In China, the film had a November 25 opening day with $1.9 million from 38,000 screenings. However, it enjoyed a big weekend bump on Saturday—even though its screens dipped—and Sunday. In total, it scored an opening weekend of $12.3 million, the second best for a Disney animated title, behind only Zootopia. It was No. 2 behind Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Strong social media numbers showed among the highest the studio has seen there, similar to how Zootopia started off slow and later became a blockbuster phenomenon. The film slipped 55% in its second weekend, earning $5.8 million, and $21.8 in total in China. It would eventually earn a total of $32.7 million in China.
It had similar successful number-one debuts in France, Russia, Mexico and Spain. The film also saw success in Belgium, the Netherlands and French-speaking Switzerland. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the film faced competition from Fantastic Beasts—which was playing in its third weekend—and as a result, it posted a low opening of only £2.2 million ($2.8 million).
The biggest earning markets to date have been Japan ($45.9 million), followed by France ($35.5 million), China ($32.8 million), the UK ($25.3 million), Brazil ($22.9 million), Australia ($19 million), Germany ($17 million), Italy ($15.9 million), and South Korea ($15.5 million).
=== Critical response ===
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Moana holds an approval rating of 95% based on 287 reviews and an average rating of 7.9/10. The website's critical consensus reads "With a title character as three-dimensional as its lush animation and a story that adds fresh depth to Disney's time-tested formula, Moana is truly a family-friendly adventure for the ages." Subsequently, the film is also listed as number 20 on the website's "100 Best Computer-Animated Movies" list. On Metacritic, the film holds a weighted average score of 81 out of 100, based on 44 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave an 89% overall positive score and a 79% "definite recommend".
Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal proclaimed that "Moana is beautiful in more ways than I can tell, thanks to the brilliance of more animators than I could count." Animator Eric Goldberg received praise from critics and audiences for his hand-drawn animation of Maui's tattoos, which they claimed "stole the show" from the actual CGI-animated motion picture. Wai Chee Dimock, writing in the Los Angeles Review of Books, compared the ocean in Moana to the one in "The Water Baby", a short story by Jack London, saying that both are animated: one, by the tension between digital and analog animation, and the other, by the tension between an encroaching future and a past in retreat still capable of pushing back.
Christy Lemire of RogerEbert.com gave the film three-and-a-half out of four stars, stating "...its dazzling visuals, catchy tunes, enjoyable performances, clever running gags and overall sense of fun. It's all there, and—except for a few scary moments—it'll delight viewers of all ages." Peter Debruge of Variety praised the film, calling it "a return to the heights of the Disney Renaissance".
Critics also lauded Moana for centering on a strong female protagonist whose narrative is not confined to finding a Prince Charming, a contrast to princess characters of past Disney films. Brent Lang of Variety wrote, "Whereas earlier Disney heroines waited around for their prince to come and save the day, Moana takes it upon herself to embark on a perilous oceanic voyage in order to lift her island home from a curse. It's the kind of adventuring that would have been left for the guys in Disney films of yore... Her journey is about finding herself, not landing a husband".
=== Accolades ===
== Other media ==
Due to the success of the film, Moana was officially added to the Disney Princess franchise and was the 12th addition to the lineup. Moana was the most-streamed film in the United States over a five-year period from 2020 to 2024, being watched for a total of more than 1 billion hours, leading the Wall Street Journal to describe it as "the No.1 movie in streaming history."
=== Theme park attraction ===
On October 16, 2023, Walt Disney World Resort announced that a new water walk-through attraction, the Journey of Water Pavilion, was opened in World Nature section of the park at EPCOT, as part of The Walt Disney Company's 100th anniversary celebration, since the opening date was indefinitely delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
== Expanded franchise ==
=== Sequel ===
A sequel, Moana 2, was written and directed by Dave G. Derrick Jr, and released in theaters on November 27, 2024. A 16-second first look at the film was released in February 2024. The project was originally announced in December 2020 as a television series for Disney+ before being redeveloped into a feature film.
=== Live-action adaptation ===
In April 2023, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Walt Disney Pictures was developing a live-action adaptation of Moana to be produced by Johnson, Dany Garcia, and Hiram Garcia, under their production company Seven Bucks Productions, and Beau Flynn of Flynn Pictures Co., executive produced by Auliʻi Cravalho and Scott Sheldon, and written by Jared Bush, with Johnson set to reprise his role as Maui. Johnson remarked "This story is my culture, and this story is emblematic of our people's grace and warrior strength. I wear this culture proudly on my skin and in my soul, and this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reunite with Maui, inspired by the mana and spirit of my late grandfather, High Chief Peter Maivia, is one that runs very deep for me... There is no better world for us to honor the story of our people, our passion and our purpose than through the realm of music and dance, which is at the core of who we are as Polynesian people." Sean Bailey, Disney Live Action's president of production, acknowledged that, although only seven years had passed since the animated film was released, the celebration of Disney's 100th anniversary contributed to the decision to remake the film so soon.
Thomas Kail is set to direct the film, while Cravalho would not reprise her role as Moana. The film was originally scheduled for theatrical release on June 27, 2025, in the United States, but was delayed to July 10, 2026, due to the release of Moana 2.
On June 12, 2024, it was announced that newcomer Catherine Laga'aia was cast as the titular character. Additional casting includes John Tui as Chief Tui, Frankie Adams as Sina, and Rena Owen as Gramma Tala. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_concerts_at_the_Millennium_Stadium | List of concerts at the Millennium Stadium | Concerts have been held at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, since the stadium's opening in 1999. The musicians who have played at the stadium include Tina Turner, Beyoncé, Spice Girls, The Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart, Paul McCartney, Madonna and Rihanna. The highest concert audience at the stadium was 73,354, who saw U2 in 2009. In 2018 Ed Sheeran performed for a record-breaking 4 nights at the Stadium on his ÷ Tour. The stadium's total seating capacity for sporting events is 73,434.
== History ==
The first concert held was on New Year's Eve 1999 when the Manic Street Preachers headlined Manic Millennium, followed two days later by a concert for the BBC's Songs of Praise programme, with Cliff Richard performing his UK number-one single "The Millennium Prayer". This event attracted an attendance of 66,000.
During 2003, the stadium established a new in-house promotions and events department to attract major concerts to the stadium, taking over from SJM Concerts. The stadium's General Manager Paul Sergeant at the time said of the change, "We looked at the current way our business was run, (and) realized that if we do it ourselves and have direct contact with the event owners and promoters...we will be able to offer an improved service".
At the end of January 2005, the stadium hosted a Tsunami Relief Cardiff, a tsunami relief concert, in aid of victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, with Eric Clapton headlining the event. On 22 August 2009, U2 played at the stadium as part of their European leg of their U2 360° Tour, playing to a record-breaking concert attendance for a concert at the stadium of 73,354.
In 2005 the stadium installed an "Arena Partition Drape System" – a 1,100 kg black curtain made up of 12 drapes measuring 9 m (30 ft) x 35 m (115 ft) – to vary the audience from a capacity of over 73,000 down to between 12,000 and 46,000, depending on the four different positions that it can be hung. The curtains can be stored in the roof of the stadium when not in use. The £1m cost of the curtain was funded by the stadium, the Millennium Commission, its caterers Letherby and Christopher (Compass Group) and by the then Wales Tourist Board. The curtain was supplied by Blackout Ltd.
It was feared that music concerts and sporting events would take business away from local shops. However, David Hughes Lewis, chairman of Cardiff Retail Partnership, said in 2005 that "Despite initial concerns that major events in the Millennium Stadium hit trading in the shops, it now believed such events had a positive impact...When people come to Cardiff for the concerts, they more often than not arrive the night before and they'll spend the morning shopping".
=== Concerts === |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Idol | Australian Idol | Australian Idol is an Australian singing competition, which began its first season in July 2003 and ended its initial run in November 2009. As part of the Idol franchise, Australian Idol originated from the reality program Pop Idol, which was created by British entertainment executive Simon Fuller. Australian Idol was televised on Network Ten for its first seven series and was broadcast on the Southern Cross Austereo Radio Network between 2005 and 2007. The series returned in 2023 after Seven Network announced they would be picking up the show.
== Finalists ==
== Series overview ==
== Judges and hosts ==
== History ==
Australian Idol sought to discover the most commercial young singer in Australia through a series of nationwide auditions. The outcomes of the later stages of this competition were determined by public voting. It was the first show to use this system of voting in Australia. The original judging panel featured Mark Holden, Marcia Hines and Ian 'Dicko' Dickson. In 2005, this was changed as Dickson was replaced by Kyle Sandilands.
In 2007, Dickson again returned to the program, when Holden left at the end of the season. In 2009, Sandilands was replaced by Jay Dee Springbett.
=== Cancellation ===
Network Ten made the decision to "rest" the program for 2010 after poor ratings in 2009. No further comment was formally made regarding the future of Australian Idol on Network Ten until early 2013, following the network's acquisition of rights to the American series, when program chief Beverley McGarvey hinted it may return. However, later that same year, a Ten spokesperson confirmed that it would not be returning.
=== Revival ===
On 21 October 2020, Seven Network announced at their annual upfronts that they would be reviving the series, originally slated for 2022.
On 28 September 2022, Seven announced that Ricki-Lee Coulter and Scott Tweedie would be the new hosts, with the judging panel consisting of former American Idol judge Harry Connick Jr., former Australian Idol judge Kyle Sandilands, Amy Shark and Meghan Trainor. Original judge Marcia Hines appeared as a guest judge. The revival premiered on 30 January 2023.
In July 2023, it was officially revealed that the show had been renewed by Seven Network for a ninth season, set to premiere in 2024. It was later revealed that Coulter and Tweedie would return as hosts, and that Sandilands and Shark will be returning to their judging positions. However, Connick Jr. and Trainor will not be returning, with Trainor leaving due to family reasons. Original judge Marcia Hines will return as a main judge. Seven officially confirmed the 2024 judges at their upfronts in October 2023. In November 2024, the series was renewed for a tenth season by Seven with Sandilands, Hines and Shark returning as judges with Coulter & Tweedie returning as hosts. On March 29, 2025, it was confirmed during a live show of the 2025 season, that the show would be renewed for an eleventh season in 2026. Sandilands, Hines and Shark are all slated to return as judges with Coulter & Tweedie returning as hosts.
== Format ==
=== Auditions ===
Auditions were held in major cities around Australia to find each season's contestants. Any contestant who got a "yes" from a majority of judges was put through to the top 100 in Sydney. The TV episodes showed the most interesting auditions, which generally meant the worst and the best.
In Seasons 1, 3, 4, 6 and 7, auditions were held in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide.
In Season 5 auditions were also held in Darwin.
In Season 2 in addition to the above cities, auditions were also held in Tamworth, Canberra and Hobart.
=== Top 100 ===
Singers who progress from the auditions go to Sydney, in a stage which was sometimes called the Top 100 or Top 50 (season 8). Over a few days, these contestants are narrowed down to the semi-finalists.
=== Semi-finals ===
Over different seasons, the number of semi-finalists varied between 24 and 40, with between 8 and 10 contestants. For the first seven seasons, each semi-final was spread over two nights. On the first night, each semi-finalist sang a song, and was critiqued by each judge. Then over the next day, the public voted (by phone or SMS). The second night was results night, and the top 2 or 3 went through to the top 12. There was also included a "wild card" semi-final, to give some contestants a second chance to make the top 12.
For seasons 1 to 3, each semi-final took a week, with performances on Sunday night and results on Monday night. For seasons 4 onwards, the semi-finals were all in a single week, because there was greater viewer interest in the finals than the semi-finals.
The formats for the different seasons were:
Season 1 had 5 semi-finalis of 8 contestants each. The top 2 in each semi-final made the top 12. A wild card round decided 2 more finalists (it turned out to be 3 after one contestant withdrew) - one judges' choice, two by public vote.
Seasons 2 and 3 had 3 semi-finals of 10 contestants each, with the top 3 in each semi-final making the top 12. Then a further 3 were progressed from the wild card round (2 by judges' choice, 1 by public vote). (The wild card episode in the 3rd season had a little twist, when the judges announced a third person, namely, Roxanne Lebrasse, who also had the 2nd highest number of votes, would be included in the finals, making it a Top 13.)
Seasons 4, 5, 6 and 7 had 4 semi-finals of 6 contestants each, with the top 2 in each semi-final making the top 12. Then a further 4 made the Top 12 from the wild card round. Seasons 4 and 5 had same gender semi-finals, while Season 6 had 3 males and 3 females in each semi-final. For the wild card show, Seasons 4 and 6 selected 3 by judges' choice and 1 by public vote; Season 5 selected 2 by judges' choice and 2 by public vote;.
Season 8 had 3 semi-finals of 8 contestants each, with the judges putting 4 from each through to the top 12, on the same night. There was no public voting and no wild card round.
For the first five seasons, contestants who made the semi-finals in previous seasons were not eligible to audition. From the 2008 season onwards, only Top 12 contestants from previous seasons were ineligible.
=== Finals (Top 12) ===
In the Season 1 to 7 finals, one contestant was eliminated per week. (With the exception of Season 1, which eliminated 2 in the first 3 weeks of the finals, and Season 3, which eliminated 2 in the first week of finals due to having a final 13). In the Season 8 finals, two contestants were eliminated per week.
Each week, contestants chose a song to a weekly theme on the Sunday night. (As the number of contestants got smaller, they sang two or three songs each). As in the semi-finals, each performance was critiqued by the judges, and then there was (approximately) 24 hours of voting by phone or SMS, before the results were announced on the Monday night. The eliminated competitor(s) then presented a final song – usually the number they sang the previous night. In Season 8, each of the bottom 4 performed on elimination night, after voting had closed but before the results were announced.
==== Grand Finale ====
The final results night, the Grand Finale, was held at the Sydney Opera House. It usually featured fireworks and an outdoor concert with many past Idol stars and other Australian musicians. It had been the highest rating episode of each season. The top 12 were celebrated and at the end of the night the winner was announced. Seasons 1–5 were held inside Sydney Opera House on the concert hall stage. For seasons 6 and 7, the finale was held on a stage erected on the Opera House forecourt.
After the first two seasons, the top 12 and top 10 went on a national tour. There were no tours for later seasons. However, there was a "Winner's Journey Tour" involving the winner with some guest performances from the Top 12 for seasons 4 and 5.
=== Touchdowns ===
A "touchdown" was awarded by judge Mark Holden when, in his own opinion, a contestant's performance was particularly good. Holden awarded his first ever "touchdown" to Cosima De Vito for her rendition of Cold Chisel's "When the War Is Over" in the Top 8 on Australian Made night in Season 1. De Vito also received a touchdown for her rendition of Respect, a classic hit by Aretha Franklin. Season 4 winner, Damien Leith and Season 2 winner, Casey Donovan have the record for the highest number of touchdowns at four apiece. Leith is the only contestant to receive two touchdowns in the same night. Emily Williams, and Matt Corby, runners-up of seasons 3 and 5 respectively both hold the record of receiving the most touchdowns without winning, at three apiece. In 2004, Top 8 contestants choice night, he awarded his only ever 'Grand Royal' Touchdown when Anthony Callea sang his stunning rendition of "The Prayer" which is still regarded as one of the most memorable performances of all seven series. Another two of Holden's most memorable "touchdowns" were awarded to Guy Sebastian for his rendition of "Climb Every Mountain" on the Top 3 show in Season 1 and to Jessica Mauboy for her rendition of Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful" on the Top 10 Number 1 Hits show in Season 4. Holden's final touchdown went to 2007 winner Natalie Gauci in the Top 4 on Big Band night during Season 5.
During Season 6, due to Holden's departure from the judging panel, the other judges awarded "touchdowns" themselves. The first "touchdown" was delivered by Kyle Sandilands to Chrislyn Hamilton on top 12 night. She later received another on Motown night by guest judge and first series winner, Guy Sebastian. Thanh Bui received one from Marcia Hines during ABBA night and Mark Spano was also delivered one by Ian "Dicko" Dickson during Top 6 Rolling Stones night. Eventual winner, Wes Carr was awarded two; one by Hines and guest judge Jermaine Jackson on Michael Jackson night and another on Top 3 night by Dickson.
An alternate version of a "touchdown" was done by Dickson if he believes the performance was extraordinary saying "big ticko from Dicko". This was used in one of Natalie Gauci's performances and a few other performances when Holden was around.
In the first seven seasons, a "touchdown" did not carry any official status. However, in Season 8, during the Top 24 performances, each judge was allowed one "touchdown", which put a singer immediately through to the Top 12.
== Season synopsis ==
=== Season 1 ===
When Network Ten paid $15 million for the first season of Australian Idol they anticipated it to be a critical and financial success like it had been in other countries such as the UK and the USA. When the show aired for the first time in August 2003 it was a ratings bonanza attracting diverse ranges of viewers, from people wanting the crazy auditions to people who wanted to hear great voices. The audition process went through several major cities in Australia including Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide and Darwin. Australian Idol became the most popular TV show in the country with more ratings than major events such as the AFL Grand Final. The Grand Final at the Sydney Opera House attracted more than 3 million viewers. It was listed as the ninth highest rating TV show in Australia in the past century in 2007. The eventual winner of the competition was Guy Sebastian with Shannon Noll finishing in 2nd place.
Guy Sebastian has released ten top 10 albums, with eight reaching the top 5, including three No. 1's. His debut album Just As I Am was certified 6× platinum and sold in excess of 480,000 units. Beautiful Life, Closer to the Sun and Like It Like That were all platinum sellers, with The Memphis Album, Twenty Ten reaching 2× platinum. Armageddon has been certified 3× platinum. Madness has been certified gold. His most recent album, T.R.U.T.H. became his third number one album and has been certified platinum. He has also released 23 top 20 singles, with 14 reaching the top ten, including six No. 1's. Sebastian is the only Australian male artist in Australian music history to achieve six No. 1 singles, and is third overall for all Australian acts. His debut single Angels Brought Me Here was the highest selling single in Australia in 2003, reaching 5× platinum certification. It won the 2004 ARIA for Highest Selling Single, and in 2010 ARIA announced it was the highest selling song of the previous decade. "Like It Like That" the title track from his fifth album reached 5× platinum and was the highest selling Australian artist single of 2009. "Who's That Girl", Twenty Ten's only single, reached 6× platinum certification and won the 2011 ARIA Award for Highest Selling Single. "Don't Worry Be Happy, the lead single of Sebastian's seventh album Armageddon reached 5× platinum. The third single "Battle Scars" featuring Lupe Fiasco debuted at No. 1, becoming his sixth No. 1 single in Australia, and achieved 14× platinum certification in 2023. Sebastian has been awarded 82 platinum and seven gold certifications for albums and singles in Australia, the highest for any Australian Idol contestant.
"Angels Brought Me Here" reached No. 1 in Malaysia, Singapore, The Philippines, Indonesia and New Zealand. Sebastian achieved a second No. 1 on the New Zealand Charts with "Who's That Girl", and reached the Top 10 with his debut album and five other singles, and has ten platinum and five gold certifications there. Sebastian is currently the Australian Idol contestant to chart in the US. "Battle Scars" reached No. 71 on the Billboard Hot 100, No. 23 on the Billboard Digital Songs Chart and No. 1 on the Billboard R&B/Hip-hop Digital Song Chart. It spent 20 weeks in the Hot 100 and has been certified triple platinum in the US for sales of three million. "Battle Scars" also reached No. 2 in Norway. In 2015 Sebastian was selected to represent Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest. He finished 5th, and his song "Tonight Again" charted in the top 50 in a number of European countries, including No.6 in Iceland and 16 in Austria. During his career Sebastian has received 32 ARIA Award nominations, winning six of them, including Best Pop Release and Best Live Act.
Shannon Noll has released five top 10 albums. His debut album That's What I'm Talking About gained 5× platinum certification and his second album Lift reached 3× platinum, both debuting at No. 1 on the ARIA charts. His third album, Turn It Up, peaked at No. 3 and achieved platinum certification, His fourth album No Turning Back: The Story So Far reached No. 7, with his fifth album A Million Suns peaking at #8. Neither of these albums have gained certification. Between 2004 and 2007 Noll released ten top 10 singles including three #1's, and he is the only Australian male artist to have achieved 10 consecutive top 10 singles. Since then he has released seven more singles, with two reaching the top 50, the highest one peaking at #26. "What About Me" was the highest selling single in Australia in 2004 and he received ARIA nominations for highest seller for it and his debut album at the 2004 Aria Awards. He also received nominations for best pop release for his second album Lift and a highest selling single nomination for its lead single "Shine" in 2006. "Don't Give Up" a duet with Natalie Bassingthwaighte was nominated for highest selling single at the 2007 ARIA Awards. He has a total of 17 platinum and three gold certifications for albums and singles in Australia. Noll's first single "What About Me" also reached No. 2 in Ireland and No. 10 in New Zealand, with his debut album peaking at No. 31 in NZ.
Paulini who came fourth has released two albums as a solo artist, One Determined Heart which reached No. 1 and gained platinum certification, and Superwoman which peaked at #77. She has also released four top 50 singles including the No. 1 "Angel Eyes", a platinum seller which was nominated for highest selling single at the 2004 ARIA Awards. In 2007, Paulini was nominated for "Urban Music Awards" for "Best R&B Album" & "Best Female Artist" for Superwoman. Paulini was also a member of The Young Divas, who released two Top 10 albums and four Top 50 singles.
The other top 5 contestants in season one were Cosima De Vito who came 3rd, & Rob Mills who finished in 5th place. After Idol it was these five, the Final 5, who were the most successful out of the Top 12. Other Idol contestants from Season 1 to release music were Levi Kereama, Rebekah LaVauney, Peter Ryan and Courtney Act. All of these independent acts achieved limited success.
=== Season 2 ===
As well as the five larger cities, the judges also visited Canberra, Hobart, Darwin and Tamworth this year. Of the twelve finalists, three were from Sydney, two were from Melbourne, and one each from Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Hobart, Perth, Canberra, Adelaide and Bega.
The winner was Casey Donovan. The runners up (in descending order) were Anthony Callea, Courtney Murphy, Hayley Jensen & Chanel Cole. The final two, as well as Ricki-Lee Coulter (7th), were the only contestants from the Top 12 to be signed to a record company. Callea was the highest seller of the three, with his first release "The Prayer" spending five consecutive weeks at No 1, and becoming the second highest selling song in Australia last decade overall and for an Australian artist. Chanel Cole and Daniel Belle teamed up under the name Spook to release an album in October 2005; a bootleg album for Chanel was also released in November 2005. Top 30 contestants Ngaiire Joseph and Marty Worrall each released a single in late 2005, and Hayley Jensen an album in September 2007. Daniel O'Connor, another of the Top 12, gained a role on Neighbours.
The Grand finale of this series remains the highest rated show out of all broadcast over the five seasons.
On a darker note, Telstra, a major sponsor of the series, made an embarrassing error when they issued a series of half-page advertisements in major newspapers congratulating Donovan on her victory, with a reference to her website. However, the address was incorrect, leading to a website about gay porn star Casey Donovan, rather than the singer's. The company issued a prompt apology upon realising their mistake.
After this season, judge Ian Dickson left the series, later to appear in the Seven Network reality TV shows My Restaurant Rules, Dancing with the Stars and most recently, Australian Celebrity Survivor. The 2004 season was also notable for an Asian contestant named "Flynn", who sang the Freestylers song "Push Up" after being found from a terrible audition, in the same vein as William Hung.
=== Season 3 ===
For the first time in 'Australian Idol' history there were 13 finalists. This came about during the Wildcard Verdict show on 5 September 2005. The judges initially chose James Kannis and Emily Williams to go through to the final. This left one spot which was chosen by the Australian public. Out of the remaining contestants the two that received the highest votes were Daniel Spillane and Roxane Lebrasse. With only 1% between them, Dan was announced as the final member of the Top 12. This meant Roxane had missed out yet again. The judges decided however that Roxane was too good to be left out of the Top 12 so they made it a Top 13. The catch was that two contestants were eliminated in the first round of the finals.
On 21 November 2005, the winner was announced and it was Kate DeAraugo. Kate was an outside chance to win throughout the whole season and after the show had ended Kate released a No. 1 single, a platinum selling album and a further Top 10 hit single through Sony BMG. Kate is currently working with all-girl group Young Divas, which is made up of past Idol contestants which include Paulini Curuenavuli, Jessica Mauboy and Emily Williams.
Runner up Emily Williams lost by 1% in the closest percentage ever in an Idol finale. She was originally signed to Sony BMG as a solo artist, but the agreement fell through. She is also a member of Young Divas and has had much success with them.
Lee Harding finished in third position and was signed to Sony BMG and released a # 1 single and a platinum selling album. His second single from his debut album proved to be less successful and in mid-2006 Harding was released from his contract with the label. He is currently touring and performing with Bedrock.
Dan England came 4th and didn't score a recording contract with a major label but recorded several independent releases and has toured with Season 2 winner Casey Donovan and Season 1 runner-up Shannon Noll.
Anne Robertson who finished in sixth position was negotiating a deal with Sony BMG, but it was rumoured that Sony BMG was reluctant in signing her as they believed she was too similar to Season 1 contestant Paulini Curuenavuli who had been signed to the label for several years.
Other Idol contestants from Season 3 have released numerous independent material and have toured and performed with several bands and music groups.
Although averaging around the 1.5 million viewer mark, ratings were down by up to 40% on average during the third season compared to the first two seasons, which regularly drew more than 2.5 million viewers during the latter half of the competition. This created a serious situation for Ten, which was airing three Australian Idol shows every week at the time, and forced them to give away free commercial airtime to program sponsors expecting higher ratings. Commentators has theorised over the reasons why this has occurred, ranging from the viewing public being tired of the format due to Sandilands replacing the popular Dickson. This caused a major Idol revamp for Season 4 which meant Season 4 being one of the highest rating seasons yet.
=== Season 4 ===
Changes for the fourth season of Australian Idol included the cancellation of "Inside Idol"; a "streamlined" semi-finals (replaced with a variant of the 12 females, 12 males format popularised by American Idol); and the contestants will be able to bring instruments with them on stage for at least one of the final shows. Also, the fourth season's television promos promised a change in the viewer's role in the show, revealed to be an SMS service called 199-JUDGE which allows viewers to SMS their opinions on the judges' reactions.
Damien Leith was named the winner of Australian Idol 2006 on 26 November, beating Jessica Mauboy for the title. Leith is the fifth most successful Australian Idol contestant behind Guy Sebastian, Shannon Noll, Mauboy and Anthony Callea. He has been awarded 7 platinum and one gold certification and achieved sales of 525,000+. He has the third highest album sales for a contestant. He achieved two No. 1 albums, The Winner's Journey which sold 4× platinum and Where We Land which gained platinum certification. His first single, Night of My Life stayed at No. 1 for four consecutive weeks and was certified platinum after one week of sales. It was the fastest selling debut single for 2006. Leith won 4 ARIA No. 1 Chart Awards, and the 2007 ARIA Award for Highest Selling Album for The Winner's Journey. His third studio album Catch the Wind: Songs of a Generation peaked at No. 2, reaching gold status. His fourth album Remember June released in 2009 peaked at No. 25. In 2010 Leith released a covers album of Roy Orbison songs titled Roy which reached No. 2 and platinum certification. His sixth album Now and Then released in 2012 peaked at #12. He has also released two novels and hosted Network Ten's television series "Saving Kids".
Jessica Mauboy went on to join ex-Idol girl group Young Divas, after member from season 2, Ricki-Lee Coulter, left the group. Mauboy has since gained much success as a solo artist. Her first studio album Been Waiting peaked at No. 11, spent 59 weeks on the charts and achieved 2× platinum status. Mauboy has also enjoyed success with her singles "Running Back" which was certified 2× platinum and second single "Burn" which reached No. 1 and achieved platinum status. Her third single "Been Waiting" peaked at No. 12, fourth single "Because" peaked at No. 9 and her 5th single "Up/Down" peaked at #11. These three singles all reached gold certification. Her second studio album Get 'Em Girls peaked at No. 6 and achieved gold certification. Five top 20 singles were released from the album, including 2 which achieved platinum and 2 double platinum certification. Mauboy has achieved 11 platinum and 5 gold certifications and received 12 ARIA Award nominations, including one win during her career as a recording artist. Third place getter Dean Geyer later released his debut album Rush and top ten single "If You Don't Mean It" and starred on the Australian long-time running soap Neighbours from 2008 to 2009.
=== Season 5 ===
Ian "Dicko" Dickson rejoined the show as one of the judges, along with Mark Holden, Marcia Hines and Kyle Sandilands from 2006. The series was again hosted by Andrew G and James Mathison. The show continued with the format from Season 4 where contestants could use instruments throughout the show and for their audition they could perform original material rather than covering other artist's work.
Natalie Gauci went on to win the series, beating Matt Corby for the title. Natalie released her debut platinum selling album "The Winner's Journey". After the winner's single "Here I Am" debuted at No. 2 on the ARIA Charts, and the album debuted at No. 11. Natalie released her second album in 2012.
Carl Riseley, who finished third in the contest went on to release a swing-style album titled "The Rise", debuting at No. 5 on the ARIA Charts. Carl Riseley's 2nd cd "the stillest hour" was released 24 April 2009 and peaked at NO#1 on the ARIA jazz chart.
=== Season 6 ===
Changes to the Australian Idol format for season 6 include judge Mark Holden leaving the show and temporary absence of host Andrew Günsberg, and auditions held for the first time in the United Kingdom. This was also the first season where the Top 4 contestants were all male, and the second time with two male grand finalists, after Season 1 Finale with Guy Sebastian and Shannon Noll. On 23 November, Wes Carr was announced as Australian Idol for 2008, beating Luke Dickens.
=== Season 7 ===
On 10 November 2008, it was announced that a seventh season of Australian Idol would be produced and aired in late 2009.
James Mathison announced on 31 March 2009 that he was leaving the show after six seasons. Andrew G continued hosting along with Ricki-Lee Coulter who was once again co-host.
On 1 June 2009, musical director John Foreman announced that he was also leaving the show after six seasons. Foreman's right-hand man, David Pritchard-Blunt, was announced as his replacement.
On 3 August, Kyle Sandilands was let go as a judge on Australian Idol, after an on-air radio stunt went wrong. "Australian Idol is very much a family program and its appeal is very much right across the board, and we'd like to think that all families can enjoy the program in front of the TV," Idol Executive David Mott stated on the daily news.
It was announced on 3 August 2009, via a press statement from Network Ten, that Sandilands had been sacked from Australian Idol due to this incident. He was replaced by Jay Dee Springbett, a Sony music executive.
A Network Ten spokesman said of Sandilands' firing:
"Idol has remained a family-focused show, even more so this year with the 6.30 pm Sunday timeslot. His radio persona has taken on a more controversial position ... which is not in the interest of the show."
Of being fired from Australia Idol, Sandilands said in a statement that "I'm disappointed at Channel Ten's decision to remove me from Australian Idol. I have truly loved being a part of the show." Network Ten had held crisis talks with advertisers in the days prior to his firing amid concerns Sandilands would damage their brands. Idol creator Simon Fuller reportedly gave Ten his blessing to fire Sandilands. It was believed Sandilands earned $1 million of his estimated annual $2.8 million income from Idol.
The promotional commercial for the season featured various "Legends". It featured impersonations of Elvis, Madonna, Michael Jackson, the Supremes, Christina Aguilera, and Mariah Carey among others. The Australian Idol hopefuls were featured covering Mariah Carey's "Emotions" as the soundtrack to this commercial.
The 7th season began on 9 August at 6.30 pm. This was the first year that previously rejected contestants could return to audition again. The only ineligible contestants were those who previously made the Top 12/13. Semi-finalists (Top 24/30) had the opportunity to re-audition for the show.
Season 7 was also broadcast in New Zealand, five days after the initial airing in Australia. This marked the return of the show to New Zealand screens after a 4-year absence.
* Toby Moulton withdrew hence keeping original eliminee in the competition.
=== Season 8 ===
In November 2020, the Seven Network announced that the show would be revived in early 2022, 13 years since it last aired. However, the revival was delayed to 2023.
On 28 September 2022, Ricki-Lee Coulter and Scott Tweedie were announced as the new hosts. Harry Connick Jr. alongside Amy Shark, Meghan Trainor and Kyle Sandilands were announced as the judging panel for the revived series. On 24 October 2022, Marcia Hines was announced as a guest judge for the season.
Filming for the auditions took place in October 2022 in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, and the Gold Coast. Filming for the top 50 took place at the Sydney Coliseum Theatre.
19 March – all singers were up for elimination that week.
=== Season 9 ===
In June 2023, Seven confirmed Australian Idol would return for a ninth season in 2024.
Ricki-Lee Coulter and Scott Tweedie were announced as the returning hosts. Harry Connick Jr. and Meghan Trainor will not return as judges. Amy Shark and Kyle Sandilands were confirmed as returning judges from the previous season. It was also confirmed that Marcia Hines will return as a main judge for the series, after being a member of the original seven seasons of the show. On March 24, Guy Sebastian temporarily filled in for Hines, who was sent to hospital after collapsing, but returned for results night.
Filming for the auditions took place in October 2023.
18 March – all singers were up for elimination that week.
=== Season 10 ===
In November 2024, Seven confirmed Australian Idol would return for a tenth season in 2025.
Ricki-Lee Coulter and Scott Tweedie were announced as the returning hosts with Amy Shark, Kyle Sandilands and Marcia Hines returning as series judges. The season began airing on 2 February 2025.
== Controversies ==
=== Weight comments ===
After a performance, judge Ian "Dicko" Dickson told Paulini Curuenavuli that to wear the dress she had chosen she would need to "shed some pounds". This caused outrage and heated debate. The TV show 20 to 1 named the controversy in an episode of its show titled "Aussie Scandals". Kyle Sandilands claimed that 2005 winner, Kate DeAraugo, had "tuck-shop arms".
=== Hillsong voting claims ===
In October 2007, criticism was levelled at the fairness of the program's telephone voting system, where 50% of the remaining contestants were stated by the media to be members of the Hillsong Church. The 50% of remaining contestants dispute was not put to rest- when Daniel and Ben both lied and said they did not have any affiliations with the Assemblies of God, and raising concerns of vote-stacking by the church congregation.
=== Revenue generation ===
In October 2017, reporter Neil Wooldridge stated that although the producers are coy about how much was being made from SMS promotions that "some commentators estimate Telstra and Network Ten, partners in the 'Australian Idol' program, made up to $900,000 profit each episode."
In 2003, it was estimated that viewers cast 20 million votes. At 55 cents for each telephone call or text message, that equated to $11 million. Network Ten paid around $13 million for each season. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demetrio_Albertini | Demetrio Albertini | Demetrio Albertini (born 23 August 1971) is an Italian football administrator and former player who is the sporting director of Parma. He was preciously the vice-president of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC).
As a player, he is widely considered one of the legends of the AC Milan side of the 1990s, and a fundamental player for the Italy national team of the same period. He spent most of his career with Milan of Italy's Serie A, winning many trophies, including five Serie A titles and two UEFA Champions League titles with the club. He also played his final season for Barcelona, winning the Spanish League before retiring that year.
A vital member of the Italy national team, Albertini was part of the squads that competed at the World Cups of 1994 and 1998, as well as the 1996 and 2000 European Championships, reaching the finals of the 1994 World Cup and Euro 2000.
== Club career ==
Albertini, born in Besana in Brianza, province of Monza e Brianza near Milan, emerged as a product of AC Milan's youth system, and went on to spend 14 highly successful years with the senior club after debuting in Serie A as a 17-year-old during the 1988–89 season under Arrigo Sacchi, on 15 January 1989, in a 4–0 home win over Como. He spent part of the 1990–91 season on loan at Padova Calcio in Serie B, collecting 28 appearances and 5 goals, in order to gain experience, and was subsequently awarded a prize by Diadora as one of the most promising young Italian stars. After a successful season with Padova, he soon established himself in the starting lineup of the AC Milan senior side during the 1991–92 season under Fabio Capello, wearing the number 4 shirt, and helping Milan to win the title undefeated that season; he would go on to make almost 300 Serie A appearances for the club (293 in total, scoring 21 goals), and 406 total career appearances for Milan, scoring 28 goals in all competitions.
Albertini won many titles during his years at Milan, and claimed three successive Serie A titles in 1992, 1993 and 1994, and he also managed to capture two further scudetti in 1996 and 1999. In addition, he made 41 Champions League appearances, helping the Rossoneri to reach three consecutive finals between 1993 and 1995, lifting the trophy in 1994. He also won two UEFA Super Cups, three Italian Super Cups, and an Intercontinental Cup during his time at the club. Albertini remained at Milan until 2002, when his manager and former mentor Carlo Ancelotti preferred to play the emerging Andrea Pirlo in his position. During his time at the club, he managed 28 goals in 406 appearances; he also scored a personal record of 8 goals during the 1996–97 season.
After leaving Milan, Albertini bounced around different teams. He spent the 2002–03 season on loan to Atlético Madrid, scoring 2 goals in 28 caps for the Spanish club. He was eventually traded to Lazio in exchange for Giuseppe Pancaro during the 2003–04 season, with great bitterness, where he finally won the Coppa Italia which had eluded him at Milan, scoring 2 goals in 23 appearances for the club. He started the 2004–05 season with Atalanta, playing 14 matches and scoring a goal on his debut, before transferring to FC Barcelona in January, where he joined his former midfield mentor, now manager Frank Rijkaard, and was able to capture La Liga during the final season of his career, with five appearances.
== International career ==
For the Italy national team, Albertini has been capped 79 times between 1991 and 2002, scoring 3 goals. He made his debut on 21 December 1991, at the age of 20, in a 2–0 win against Cyprus in Foggia. In 1992, he competed with the national squad at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, and he won the 1992 UEFA European Under-21 Championship with the Italian Under-21 side. He played for his country at the 1994 and 1998 World Cups, Euro 96, and Euro 2000. Although he was still an Italy regular at the time, he was unable to participate in the 2002 World Cup due to an injury to his Achille's tendon a few months before the competition. His final international appearance came in a 2–1 away win over England in Leeds, in an international friendly match in March 2002, with Albertini coming on during the second half. Albertini captained Italy on 6 occasions.
=== World Cup 1994 ===
Albertini's first major tournament for Italy came at the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the USA, under manager Arrigo Sacchi. Alongside Milan teammate Roberto Donadoni, as well as Dino Baggio, Albertini formed the "engine room" of the Italian midfield throughout the World Cup. In the last group game against Mexico, Albertini assisted a crucial goal for Daniele Massaro, which allowed Italy to qualify for the second round as the best third placed team. In the semifinal against Bulgaria, Albertini gave a dominant performance, taking several shots on goal and even hitting the post. Albertini also created several chances during the match, dictating the tempo of his team's play; he notably helped to set up Roberto Baggio's second goal of the match, with a lobbed throughball, which allowed Italy to progress to the final with a 2–1 victory. In the final against Brazil, a balanced, scoreless game after extra-time led to a penalty shoot-out; Albertini scored his penalty, but his effort did not prove to be sufficient, as his teammates Franco Baresi, Daniele Massaro, and Roberto Baggio missed their penalties.
=== Euro 1996 ===
Italy went to the European championship in England and many saw Sacchi's team as the key contender for the title along with Germany, and saw Albertini as Italy's key player, wearing the number 10 shirt. However, the tournament ended in frustration for the Italians, as they suffered a first-round elimination. Arrigo Sacchi's team selection for the second group game against Czech Republic was based on the presumption that, after the opening 2–1 victory over Russia and in the light of the upcoming clash with Germany, Italy could afford playing without a series of key players. Italy lost 2–1 to the eventual runners-up Czech Republic, however, and then were knocked out of the tournament following a 0–0 draw with future champions Germany in their final group game, a match the "Azurri" dominated thanks to Albertini's presence in midfield, with Gianfranco Zola missing a potentially match-winning penalty. Sacchi in one of his interviews admitted the early departure was due to his mistakes and the 1996 squad was his best Italy team, even better than the one that got the second place in USA 1994.
=== World Cup 1998 ===
Albertini played a key role in helping Italy to qualify for the 1998 World Cup: during the first leg of the 1998 World Cup qualification play-off against Russia, in Moscow, on 29 October 1997, he set up Christian Vieri's goal in a 1–1 draw; he also set up Pierluigi Casiraghi's goal in the second leg in Naples, which allowed Italy to qualify for the World Cup 2–1 on aggregate.
At the 1998 World Cup, Albertini's presence was not as central or explicit as it was in the previous major tournaments, but Cesare Maldini relied on him as one of the team's key central midfielders and creative players. Out of the games that Italy played in France, Albertini was not involved only when Italy faced Austria in the final match of the group stage. In the quarter-final clash, a Zidane-led France managed to overcome the Italian masters of insurmountable defence only on penalties after a goalless draw, during which Albertini's surprising failure from the spot did induce the tides to turn against la "Squadra Azzurra". Ironically, the midfielder could have been the creator of Italy's golden goal; during extra-time, his superb delivery into the area to Roberto Baggio, from a lobbed pass, left the latter alone in front of French keeper Fabien Barthez, but the volley went just inches wide. Having won the most difficult match of the tournament, France went on to claim the nation's first World Cup title on home soil.
=== Euro 2000 ===
In Dino Zoff's formation at Euro 2000, Albertini was the unquestionable leader of Italy's midfield, starting alongside Di Biagio, behind either Stefano Fiore or Francesco Totti. His pace-setting and creative role in creating chances and controlling the Italian midfield was paramount to Italy's successful run in the tournament, as he provided two assists for his team (one for Totti's goal against Belgium, and the other for Inzaghi's goal against Romania), finishing the tournament as his country's top creator, although the Italians ultimately missed out on the trophy. The azzurri progressed to the final undefeated, winning all three of their group matches against Turkey, co-hosts Belgium, and Sweden. Italy went on to defeat Romania 2–0 in the quarterfinal, and overcame co-hosts the Netherlands in the semi-final on penalties after a 0–0 draw following extra time. Italy eventually lost out once again to the 1998 World Champions France 2–1 in the final, on a golden goal in extra-time. Albertini was chosen to be part of the Team of the Tournament due to his performances throughout the Cup.
=== Missed World Cup 2002 and retirement ===
Despite being a key part of Giovanni Trapattoni's Italy squad, Albertini missed the 2002 World Cup due to an injury sustained on 14 April 2002, less than two months before the tournament, in the away Serie A game for Milan against Juventus, effectively putting an end to his international career at the age of 30. Coincidentally, this game also turned out to be his last for AC Milan as well.
== After retirement ==
On 5 December 2005, Albertini announced his retirement from professional football and expressed his desire to one day become a full-time football manager. On 15 March 2006, a Milan vs Barcelona celebration match was organised in Albertini's honour, featuring great footballing names from both past and present (such as Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard, and Franco Baresi). Milan won the match 3–2 at the San Siro, with Albertini scoring the first goal from a textbook swerving free kick. Following the match, a visibly emotional Albertini was given a standing ovation from the fans.
In 2006, Albertini was involved in a project to create a Footballing Academy in his name, “Scuola calcio Demetrio Albertini", in Selvino (Bg), which took place in Milan and Lecchese, involving over 1000 young players.
=== Sporting director with FIGC ===
On 18 May 2006, following the Italian football Calciopoli scandal involving Juventus and Luciano Moggi, among others, which led to the resignation of Franco Carraro from the Italian Football Federation presidency and the appointment of a temporary commissioner, Guido Rossi, by the National Olympic Committee, Albertini was named vice-commissioner of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC).
On 19 September, following the resignation of Rossi, who was meanwhile appointed as chairman of Telecom Italia, Albertini also announced his resignation. He was later appointed vice-president of the FIGC in 2007, under Giancarlo Abete, and was re-elected in 2013.
On 27 July 2014, Albertini nominated himself for the position of the president of the FIGC, but ultimately lost controversially to his former co-vice-president Carlo Tavecchio on 11 August, despite having the support of the A.I.C. (the Italian Footballers' Association).
=== Parma board member ===
Following the bankruptcy of Parma FC, Demetrio Albertini was appointed to the club's board as a football advisor for the club’s administrators.
=== Researcher for Football Manager ===
Albertini is a researcher for Football Manager, the football management simulation game franchise.
== Style of play ==
Albertini was a complete, experienced and composed midfielder, who was gifted with stamina, power, technique, and class, which allowed him to be regarded as one of the best midfielders of his generation. His key strengths as a player were his mentality, his excellent vision, tactical knowledge, ability to read the game, and ball control, but above all, his brilliant passing range, which made him a key member of the Milan and the Italy national sides of the 90s and early 2000s; he was also known for his powerful and accurate shots from distance, which also enabled him to contribute to his team's offensive play with goals as well as assists. Few players were able to replicate Albertini's precise long passing and powerful distance shooting adeptness, and many have likened his abilities in these areas to those of Ronald Koeman. Albertini was also an accurate penalty kick and set piece taker, who could curl the ball well, but also kick with power, and was known for often striking the ball without a run-up during dead ball situations. Although he was fundamentally a hardworking, intelligent, and creative central midfielder or deep-lying playmaker with excellent technical ability, he was able to complete himself tactically and improve upon the defensive and offensive aspect of his game play throughout his career, demonstrating his adeptness as a ball-winner; his wide range of skills made him a versatile player, allowed him to play in several other midfield positions, including out on the wing, due to his crossing ability.
In the Milan side and Italy side, he was seen as the heir to Carlo Ancelotti, and later also as the predecessor to Andrea Pirlo as the playmaking pivot of the teams' midfield, due to his ability to create goalscoring opportunities or control the game in midfield and set the tempo of his team's play with his distribution, and he was often regarded as the "creative brain" and "metronome" of his teams. Many football experts draw parallels between Albertini and Pirlo, the midfield ace of European and world football, who emerged as his heir in Italian football, both for Milan and for the Italy national side. Like Albertini, Pirlo is a deep-lying playmaker who also possesses excellent technique, ball skills, vision and passing range, and who is also a set-piece specialist and a goal threat from distance. In addition to his footballing skills, Albertini was also known for his correct behaviour on the pitch, and was seen as a symbol and leader for both his club and national sides.
== Personal life ==
Albertini is a practising Roman Catholic. He married Uriana Capone in 1996 in Oria, Italy. He has a son named Guillermo who is born in Den Bosch, Holland.
== Career statistics ==
=== Club ===
*European competitions include the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup, and UEFA Super Cup
=== International ===
== Honours ==
AC Milan
Serie A: 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1995–96, 1998–99
Supercoppa Italiana: 1992, 1993, 1994
UEFA Champions League: 1993–94; runner-up: 1992–93, 1994–95
European Super Cup: 1989, 1994
Lazio
Coppa Italia: 2003–04
Barcelona
La Liga: 2004–05
Italy U21
UEFA European Under-21 Championship: 1992
Italy
FIFA World Cup runner-up: 1994
UEFA European Championship runner-up: 2000
Individual
UEFA European Championship Team of the Tournament: 2000
AC Milan Hall of Fame
Orders
4th Class / Officer: Ufficiale Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana: 2006
5th Class / Knight: Cavaliere Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana: 2000 |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submersion_of_Japan | Submersion of Japan | Submersion of Japan (日本沈没, Nihon Chinbotsu; lit. "Japan Sinks") is a Japanese disaster film directed by Shiro Moritani in 1973. It is based on the 1973 novel Japan Sinks by Sakyo Komatsu. The film stars Keiju Kobayashi, Hiroshi Fujioka and Ayumi Ishida.
== Plot ==
Geophysicist Dr. Tadokoro and Onodera Toshio take the submarine Wadatsumi-1 to the Ogasawara Islands, in order to investigate tremors in the seafloor. They discover that the land mass of the Japanese islands is collapsing into the Japan Trench.
Afterward, Onodera is introduced to Abe Reiko, and the two become lovers. Relaxing on the beach, they witness an eruption of Mount Amagi. A meeting of government officials, including Prime Minister Yamamoto, focuses on assessing the disaster. Tadokoro warns that more eruptions and earthquakes are imminent, but his claims are rejected as alarmist. He later meets with a mysterious wealthy man named Mr. Watari, who agrees to fund the doctor's research expeditions. With this funding, he develops a course of action to address a nationwide earthquake disaster. During a meeting to secure a research submarine from France, Mount Kirishima erupts.
Onodera leaves his job as a submarine pilot to help Tadokoro full-time. Further research verifies that the Japanese archipelago will be pulled into the ocean. This is immediately followed by a massive earthquake in Tokyo causing immense damage and 3,000,000 deaths.
Three months later, Tokyo is slowly recovering. Yamamoto, who lost his wife in the earthquake, works closely with Watari and Tadokoro's team. Their assessment is that another even larger earthquake is on the horizon.
Tadokoro and his team meet with Watari at his secluded mountainside home. Tadokoro reveals his two-phase plan: D1-investigating seismic activity in the Japan Trench, and D2-an evacuation of the Japanese islands. Yamamoto negotiates with countries to accept refugees. Watari describes three options for Plan D2. One is the formation of a new country, a second is immigration and integration into other countries, and a third is a non-response that means passive acceptance of Japan's fate. Onodera, drunk and agonizing over the public's ignorance of the impending disaster, meets Reiko for the first time since the Tokyo earthquake.
The Japan Meteorological Agency reveals devastating news; the original two-year timeline for Japan's sinking is inaccurate, shrinking to just 10 months. Immigration negotiations are sped up, though countries such as South Korea, China and Taiwan are refusing to participate. Shipping and air transport production are increased, and a full announcement of Japan’s fate is released to the public nationwide. Onodera plans to marry Reiko and meet her in Geneva, but they are separated when a new earthquake triggers an eruption of Mount Fuji.
A United Nations summit discusses possible locations for Japan's population. In two months, 2.8 million Japanese have successfully evacuated; the low number frustrates Yamamoto. Japan's sinking accelerates, with the Kii Peninsula and Shikoku submerged. The United States, China and the Soviet Union agree to accept large numbers of refugees, but evacuation estimates only increase to eight million per month. The Sanriku coast, Tōhoku region, Kyushu, Hokkaido and Okinawa are submerged. Sixty-three million Japanese remain on the archipelago, 57% of the original population.
Eleven days before Japan is expected to completely sink, Onodera is shown engaged in rescue efforts, while hoping to reunite with Reiko. Yamamoto later announces a cessation of all JSDF rescue operations.
Watari, on his deathbed, has a final meeting with Tadokoro and Yamamoto. Tadokoro states that he will remain in Japan until the end, and expresses his confidence in Yamamoto's leadership with the Japanese people's uncertain future. Just as a helicopter takes Yamamoto to safety, almost all of Japan has sunk into the ocean. Months later, Reiko is riding in a passenger train in Switzerland, while Onodera is riding in a crowded boxcar in the Southwestern United States to an uncertain future.
== Cast ==
== Release ==
Submersion of Japan was released in Japan on 29 December 1973 where it was distributed by Toho.
=== American version ===
Roger Corman bought the U.S. rights to the film for his New World Pictures. He cut out a great deal of footage, added new sequences directed by Andrew Meyer and starring Lorne Greene as an ambassador at the United Nations, and released it as Tidal Wave in May 1975.
The American version of the film's new cast members also included Rhonda Leigh Hopkins, John Fujioka, Marvin Miller, Susan Sennett, Ralph James, Phil Roth, Cliff Pellow, and Joe Dante. New World additionally released an uncut subtitled format as Submersion of Japan.
== Box office ==
The film was the highest-grossing film in Japan in 1973 and 1974. The film grossed more than twice of the second-highest-grossing film of the year, The Human Revolution. The film earned ¥4,468,680,000 ($14 million) in Japan. It surpassed The Godfather as the highest-grossing film in Japan until overtaken in December 1974 by The Exorcist.
The film performed weakly at the United States box office, earning $3.5 million, for a combined total of $17,500,000 (equivalent to $126,920,915 in 2025) in Japan and the United States. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Hope_Hudson | Anna Hope Hudson | Anna Hope Hudson (1869–1957) was an American-born artist who lived and worked in France and England. She was a founding member of the London Group, and the life partner of likewise artist Ethel Sands.
== Early life ==
Hudson was born 10 September 1869 in New York City. She was the daughter of Colonel Edward McKenny Hudson, who died in 1892; her mother died when she was 9 years old. She lived in the United States until she was 24 when she moved to Europe, preferring France of the places she lived and visited. The inheritance that she received was the result of her grandfather's success as a partner of a banknote engraving organization, which later merged to become the American Bank Note Company.
== Education ==
Hudson began her studies in Paris in 1892 and met fellow art student Ethel Sands, who became her life partner. Like Sands, Hudson was provided a legacy upon her parents' death. They studied under Eugène Carrière in 1896. Henri Evenepoel, a Flemish painter, was Hudson's art instructor beginning in January 1897.
== Artist ==
Hudson lived and painted with Ethel Sands, dividing their time between France and England. Sands was a socialite who frequently entertained artists and writers when they were in England. Hudson preferred a quieter lifestyle in France, and it was there that Hudson first established herself as an artist.
She made a painting of Giudecca Canal after travelling to Venice to paint. It was shown at the Salon d'Automne in Paris in 1906. Walter Sickert, who know Hudson through her association with Sands, had not known of her works. Impressed, he shared his opinions about her talent and invited her to the Fitzroy Street Group. Sands also joined the group, where both women sometimes attended and often sent paintings for the Saturday "At Homes" sessions.
Walter Sickert, who captured her confident, independent manner in Miss Hudson at Rowlandson House that he made about 1910, described Hudson as "the radiant and dashing horsewoman of a young man's dreams." Virginia Woolf said that she dressed stylishly and was "dour and upstanding."
In England, Hudson began exhibiting her works at Leicester Galleries, the New English Art Club and the Allied Artists Association. In 1912, she had a joint show with Sands at the Carfax Gallery. The Fitzroy Street Group and the male member only Camden Town Group} merged in 1913 to become the London Group, of which both Sands and Hudson were founding members. Hudson occasionally exhibited her work there until 1938. She also continued to have works shown at the English Art Club. At Sickert's invitation, Hudson occasionally work in his studios and used his models for subjects of her paintings.
Her works, inspired by Édouard Vuillard and Walter Sickert, were in large part destroyed or lost during World War II. There are some remaining works in public collections and one at the Tate.
== World wars ==
Sands and Hudson established a hospital for soldiers near Dieppe during World War I. It was forced to close down, and they continued their nursing efforts in both France and England.
During World War II, Hudson's home was pillaged and Sand's Chelsea home was destroyed during The Blitz by a parachute mine.
== Personal life ==
Hudson purchased the 17th-century house, the Château d'Auppegard, in 1920. It was located in the countryside about 10 miles from Dieppe. She had it restored and decorated her beloved house over a period of time.
Sands and Hudson lived together until her death on 17 September 1957.
== Works ==
Among the works that survived World War II plunders and bombings are:
Château d'Auppegard, after 1927, oil on board, 46.2 x 38.2 cm (estimated) Tate, having been bequeathed by Colonel Christopher Sands in 2000.
Harbour, Northern France, Dieppe,oil on board, 35 x 43 cm, Government Art Collection
Newington House, Autumn, Oxfordshire, 1913, oil on canvas, 60.8 x 73.1 cm, Derby Museums and Art Gallery
The Lamb Inn, Wallingford, 1912
The Visitor, oil on canvas, 37.5 x 24.8 cm, York Museums Trust |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_City | Oklahoma City | Oklahoma City ( OH-klə-HOH-mə -), often shortened to OKC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It is the 20th-most populous U.S. city and 8th largest in the Southern United States, with a population of 681,054 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Oklahoma County, with the city limits extending into Canadian, Cleveland, and Pottawatomie counties; however, areas beyond Oklahoma County primarily consist of suburban developments or areas designated rural and watershed zones. Oklahoma City ranks as the tenth-largest city by area in the United States when including consolidated city-counties, and second-largest when such consolidations are excluded. It is also the second-largest state capital by area, after Juneau, Alaska. The Oklahoma City metropolitan area, with an estimated 1.49 million residents, is the largest metropolitan area in the state and 42nd-most populous in the country.
Oklahoma City has one of the world's largest livestock markets. Oil, natural gas, petroleum products, and related industries are its economy's largest sector. The city is in the middle of an active oil field, and oil derricks dot the capitol grounds. The federal government employs a large number of workers at Tinker Air Force Base and the United States Department of Transportation's Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center (which house offices of the Federal Aviation Administration and the Transportation Department's Enterprise Service Center, respectively).
Oklahoma City is on the I-35 and I-40 corridors, one of the primary travel corridors south into Texas and New Mexico, north towards Wichita and Kansas City, west towards Albuquerque, and east towards Little Rock and Memphis. Located in the state's Frontier Country region, the city's northeast section lies in an ecological region known as the Cross Timbers. The city was founded during the Land Run of 1889 and grew to a population of over 10,000 within hours of its founding. It was the site of the April 19, 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, in which 168 people died.
Since weather records have been kept beginning in 1890, Oklahoma City has been struck by 13 violent tornadoes, 11 of which were rated F4 or EF4 on the Fujita and Enhanced Fujita scales, and two which were rated F5 or EF5.
== History ==
Oklahoma City was settled on April 22, 1889, when the area known as the "Unassigned Lands" was opened for settlement in an event known as "The Land Run". On April 26 of that year, its first mayor was elected, William Couch. Some 10,000 homesteaders settled in the area that would become the capital of Oklahoma. The town grew quickly; the population doubled between 1890 and 1900. Early leaders of the development of the city included Anton H. Classen, John Wilford Shartel, Henry Overholser, Oscar Ameringer, Jack C. Walton, Angelo C. Scott, and James W. Maney.
By the time Oklahoma was admitted to the Union in 1907, Oklahoma City had surpassed Guthrie, the territorial capital, as the new state's population center and commercial hub. Soon after, the capital was moved from Guthrie to Oklahoma City. Oklahoma City was a significant stop on U.S. Route 66 during the early part of the 20th century; it was prominently mentioned in Bobby Troup's 1946 jazz song "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66" made famous by artist Nat King Cole.
Before World War II, Oklahoma City developed significant stockyards, attracting jobs and revenue formerly in Chicago and Omaha, Nebraska. With the 1928 discovery of oil within the city limits (including under the State Capitol), Oklahoma City became a major center of oil production. Post-war growth accompanied the construction of the Interstate Highway System, which made Oklahoma City a major interchange as the convergence of I-35, I-40, and I-44. It was also aided by the federal development of Tinker Air Force Base after successful lobbying efforts by the director of the Chamber of Commerce Stanley Draper.
In 1950, the Census Bureau reported the city's population as 8.6% black and 90.7% white.
In 1959, the city government launched a "Great Annexation Drive" that expanded the city's area from 80 to 475.55 square miles (207.2 to 1,231.7 square kilometers) by the end of 1961, making it the largest U.S. city by land mass at the time.
Patience Latting was elected Mayor of Oklahoma City in 1971, becoming the city's first female mayor. Latting was also the first woman to serve as mayor of a U.S. city with over 350,000 residents.
Like many other American cities, the center city population declined in the 1970s and 1980s as families followed newly constructed highways to move to newer housing in nearby suburbs. Urban renewal projects in the 1970s, including the Pei Plan, removed older structures but failed to spark much new development, leaving the city dotted with vacant lots used for parking. A notable exception was the city's construction of the Myriad Gardens and Crystal Bridge, a botanical garden and modernistic conservatory in the heart of downtown. Architecturally significant historic buildings lost to clearances were the Criterion Theater, the Baum Building, the Hales Building, and the Biltmore Hotel.
In 1993, the city passed a massive redevelopment package known as the Metropolitan Area Projects (MAPS), intended to rebuild the city's core with civic projects to establish more activities and life in downtown. The city added a new baseball park; a central library; renovations to the civic center, convention center, and fairgrounds; and a water canal in the Bricktown entertainment district. Water taxis transport passengers within the district, adding color and activity along the canal. MAPS has become one of the most successful public-private partnerships undertaken in the U.S., exceeding $3 billion in private investment as of 2010. As a result of MAPS, the population in downtown housing has exponentially increased, with the demand for additional residential and retail amenities, such as groceries, services, and shops.
Since the completion of the MAPS projects, the downtown area has seen continued development. Several downtown buildings are undergoing renovation/restoration. Notable among these was the restoration of the Skirvin Hotel in 2007. The famed First National Center is also being renovated.
Residents of Oklahoma City suffered substantial losses on April 19, 1995, when Timothy McVeigh detonated a bomb in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The building was destroyed (the remnants of which had to be imploded in a controlled demolition later that year), more than 100 nearby buildings suffered severe damage, and 168 people were killed, making it the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history. The site of the Murrah Building has been commemorated as the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum. Since its opening in 2000, over three million people have visited.
The "Core-to-Shore" project was created to relocate I-40 one mile (1.6 km) south and replace it with a boulevard to create a landscaped entrance to the city. This also allows the central portion of the city to expand south and connect with the shore of the Oklahoma River. Several elements of "Core to Shore" were included in the MAPS 3 proposal approved by voters in late 2009.
In 2012, Devon Energy completed the construction of their new skyscraper, the Devon Energy Center, which immediately became the tallest building in Oklahoma City as well as the state of Oklahoma at 844 feet (257.25m). Culturally, the “Devon Tower”, as it is called by locals, has been considered the centerpiece of the city's skyline. Mayor Mick Cornett attended the building's opening ceremony and stated, "The visual impact it has on the city is so striking and so identifiable. It took just over three years to complete the building that has quickly become a staple in our city's skyline."
Oklahoma City is set to become the home of the Legends Tower, which when complete would be the tallest building in the United States and amongst the tallest buildings in the world.
== Geography ==
Oklahoma City lies along one of the primary corridors into Texas and Mexico and is a three-hour drive from the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The city is in the Frontier Country region in the state's center, making it ideal for state government.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 620.79 square miles (1,607.8 km2), of which 601.11 square miles (1,556.9 km2) is land and 19.23 square miles (49.8 km2) is water. The city has annexed 480 net acres under the leadership of Mayor David Holt.
Oklahoma City lies in the Sandstone Hills region of Oklahoma, known for hills of 250 to 400 feet (80 to 120 m) and two species of oak: blackjack oak (Quercus marilandica) and post oak (Q. stellata). The northeastern part of the city and its eastern suburbs fall into an ecological region known as the Cross Timbers.
The city is roughly bisected by the North Canadian River (renamed in 2004 to the Oklahoma River inside city limits). The North Canadian once had sufficient flow to flood every year, wreaking destruction on surrounding areas, including the central business district and the original Oklahoma City Zoo. In the 1940s, a dam was built on the river to manage the flood control and reduce its level. In the 1990s, as part of the citywide revitalization project known as MAPS, the city built a series of low-water dams, returning water to the portion of the river flowing near downtown. The city has three large lakes: Lake Hefner and Lake Overholser, in the northwestern quarter of the city; and the largest, Lake Stanley Draper, in the city's sparsely populated far southeast portion.
The population density typically reported for Oklahoma City using the area of its city limits can be misleading. Its urbanized zone covers roughly 244 square miles (630 km2) resulting in a 2013 estimated density of 2,500 per square mile (970/km2), compared with larger rural watershed areas incorporated by the city, which cover the remaining 377 sq mi (980 km2) of the city limits.
Oklahoma City is one of the largest cities in the nation in compliance with the Clean Air Act.
=== Tallest buildings ===
=== Neighborhoods ===
Oklahoma City neighborhoods are highly varied, with affluent historic neighborhoods located next to districts that have not wholly recovered from the economic and social decline of the 1970s and 1980s.
The city is bisected geographically and culturally by the North Canadian River, which divides North Oklahoma City and South Oklahoma City. The north side is characterized by diverse and fashionable urban neighborhoods near the city center and sprawling suburbs further north. South Oklahoma City is generally more blue-collar working class and significantly more industrial, having grown up around the Stockyards and meat packing plants at the turn of the century. It is also the center of the city's rapidly growing Latino community.
Downtown Oklahoma City, which has 7,600 residents, is seeing an influx of new private investment and large-scale public works projects, which have helped to revitalize a central business district left almost deserted by the Oil Bust of the early 1980s. The centerpiece of downtown is the newly renovated Crystal Bridge and Myriad Botanical Gardens, one of the few elements of the Pei Plan to be completed. In 2021, a massive new central park will link the gardens near the CBD and the new convention center to be built just south of it to the North Canadian River as part of a massive works project known as "Core to Shore"; the new park is part of MAPS3, a collection of civic projects funded by a one-cent temporary (seven-year) sales tax increase.
=== Climate ===
Oklahoma City has a temperate humid subtropical climate (Köppen: Cfa, Trewartha: Cfak), along with significant continental influences. The city features hot, humid summers and cool winters. Prolonged and severe droughts (sometimes leading to wildfires in the vicinity) and hefty rainfall leading to flash flooding and flooding occur regularly. Consistent winds, usually from the south or south-southeast during the summer, help temper the hotter weather. Consistent northerly winds during the winter can intensify cold periods. Severe ice storms and snowstorms happen sporadically during the winter.
The average temperature is 61.4 °F (16.3 °C), with the monthly daily average ranging from 39.2 °F (4.0 °C) in January to 83.0 °F (28.3 °C) in July. Extremes range from −17 °F (−27 °C) on February 12, 1899 to 113 °F (45 °C) on August 11, 1936, and August 3, 2012; The last sub-zero (Fahrenheit) reading was −14 °F (−26 °C) on February 16, 2021. Temperatures reach 100 °F (38 °C) on 10.4 days of the year, 90 °F (32 °C) on nearly 70 days, and fail to rise above freezing on 8.3 days. The city receives about 35.9 inches (91.2 cm) of precipitation annually, of which 8.6 inches (21.8 cm) is snow.
The report "Regional Climate Trends and Scenarios for the U.S. National Climate Assessment" (NCA) from 2013 by NOAA projects that parts of the Great Plains region can expect up to 30% (high emissions scenario based on CMIP3 and NARCCAP models) increase in extreme precipitation days by mid-century. This definition is based on days receiving more than one inch of rainfall.
==== Extreme weather ====
Oklahoma City has an active severe weather season from March through June, especially during April and May. Being in the center of what is colloquially referred to as Tornado Alley, it is prone to widespread and severe tornadoes, as well as severe hailstorms and occasional derechoes. Tornadoes occur every month of the year, and a secondary smaller peak also occurs during autumn, especially in October. The Oklahoma City metropolitan area is one of the most tornado-prone major cities in the world, with about 150 tornadoes striking within the city limits since 1890. Since the time weather records have been kept, Oklahoma City has been struck by 13 violent tornadoes, eleven rated F/EF4 and two rated F/EF5.
On May 3, 1999, parts of Oklahoma City and surrounding communities were impacted by a particularly violent tornado, which would be the last recorded in the U.S. to be given a rating of F5 on the original Fujita scale prior to its replacement by the Enhanced Fujita scale in 2007. While the tornado was in the vicinity of Bridge Creek to the southwest, wind speeds of 318 mph (510 km/h) were estimated by a mobile Doppler radar, the highest wind speeds ever recorded on Earth. A second top-of-the-scale tornado occurred on May 20, 2013, when an EF5—estimated to be 0.5 to 1.3 miles (0.80 to 2.09 km) in width—struck portions of South Oklahoma City, Newcastle and Moore; 23 people, including eight children at a Moore elementary school, were killed by the tornado. On May 31, less than two weeks after the May 20 event, another outbreak affected the Oklahoma City area. Within Oklahoma City, the system spawned an EF1 and an EF0 tornado, and in El Reno to the west, an EF3 tornado occurred. This lattermost tornado, which was heading in the direction of Oklahoma City before it dissipated, had a width of 2.6 miles (4.2 km), making it the widest tornado ever recorded. Additionally, winds over 295 mph (475 km/h) were measured, one of the two highest wind records for a tornado.
With 19.48 inches (495 mm) of rainfall, May 2015 was Oklahoma City's record-wettest month since record-keeping began in 1890. Across Oklahoma and Texas generally, there was a record flooding in the latter part of the month.
== Demographics ==
In the 2010 census, there were 579,999 people, 230,233 households, and 144,120 families in the city. The population density was 956.4 inhabitants per square mile (321.9/km2). There were 256,930 housing units at an average density of 375.9 per square mile (145.1/km2). By the 2020 United States census, its population grew to 681,054.
Of Oklahoma City's 579,999 people in 2010, 44,541 resided in Canadian County, 63,723 lived in Cleveland County, 471,671 resided in Oklahoma County, and 64 resided in Pottawatomie County.
In 2010, there were 230,233 households, 29.4% of which had children under 18 living with them, 43.4% were married couples living together, 13.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.4% were non-families. One person households account for 30.5% of all households, and 8.7% of all households had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 3.11.
According to the American Community Survey 1-year estimates in 2022, the median income for a household in the city was $63,713, and the median income for a family was $80,833. Married-couple families $99,839, and nonfamily households $40,521. The per capita income for the city was $35,902. 15.5% of the population and 11.2% of families were below the poverty line. Of the total population, 20.1% of those under 18 and 10.6% of those 65 and older lived below the poverty line.
In the 2000 census, Oklahoma City's age composition was 25.5% under the age of 18, 10.7% from 18 to 24, 30.8% from 25 to 44, 21.5% from 45 to 64, and 11.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.7 males.
Oklahoma City has experienced significant population increases since the late 1990s. It is the first city in the state to record a population greater than 600,000 residents and the first city in the Great Plains region to record a population greater than 600,000 residents. It is the largest municipal population of the Great Plains region (Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota).
In the 2020 United States census, there were 268,035 households in the city, out of which 81,374 households (30.4%) were individuals, 113,161 (42.2%) were opposite-sex married couples, 17,699 (6.6%) were unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 2,930 (1.1%) were same-sex married couples or partnerships.
=== Race and ethnicity ===
According to the 2020 census, the racial composition of Oklahoma City was as follows: White or European American 49.5%, Hispanic or Latino 21.3%, Black or African American 13.8%, Asian 4.6%, Native American 2.8%, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 0.2%, other race 0.4%, and two or more races (non-Hispanic) 7.6%. Its population has diversified since the 1940s census, where 90.4% was non-Hispanic white. An analysis in 2017 found Oklahoma City to be the 8th least racially segregated significant city in the United States.
Of the 20 largest US cities, Oklahoma City has the second-highest percentage of the population reporting two or more races on the Census, 7.6%, second to 8.9% in New York City.
=== 2020 ===
=== Metropolitan statistical area ===
Oklahoma City is the principal city of the eight-county Oklahoma City metropolitan statistical Area in Central Oklahoma and is the state's largest urbanized area. As of 2015, the metro area was the 41st largest in the nation based on population.
=== Religion ===
The Association of Religion Data Archives in 2020 reported that the Southern Baptist Convention was the city and metropolitan area's most prominent Christian tradition with 213,008 members, Christianity being the area's predominant religion. Non/interdenominational Protestants were the second largest tradition with 195,158 members. The Roman Catholic Church claimed 142,491 adherents throughout the metropolitan region and Pentecostals within the Assemblies of God USA numbered 48,470. The remainder of Christians in the area held to predominantly Evangelical Christian beliefs in numerous evangelical Protestant denominations. Outside of Christendom, there were 4,230 practitioners of Hinduism and 2,078 Mahayana Buddhists. An estimated 8,904 residents practiced Islam during this study.
=== Crime ===
Law enforcement claims Oklahoma City has traditionally been the territory of the notorious Juárez Cartel, but the Sinaloa Cartel has been reported as trying to establish a foothold in Oklahoma City. There are many rival gangs in Oklahoma City, one whose headquarters has been established in the city, the Southside Locos, traditionally known as Sureños.
Oklahoma City also has its share of violent crimes, particularly in the 1970s. The worst occurred in 1978 when six employees of a Sirloin Stockade restaurant on the city's south side were murdered execution-style in the restaurant's freezer. An intensive investigation followed, and the three individuals involved, who also killed three others in Purcell, Oklahoma, were identified. One, Harold Stafford, died in a motorcycle accident in Tulsa not long after the restaurant murders. Another, Verna Stafford, was sentenced to life without parole after being granted a new trial after she had been sentenced to death. Roger Dale Stafford, considered the mastermind of the murder spree, was executed by lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in 1995.
The Oklahoma City Police Department has a uniformed force of 1,169 officers and 300+ civilian employees. The department has a central police station and five substations covering 2,500 police reporting districts that average 1/4 square mile in size.
On April 19, 1995, the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was destroyed by a fertilizer bomb manufactured and detonated by Timothy McVeigh. The blast and catastrophic collapse killed 168 people and injured over 680. The blast shock-wave destroyed or damaged 324 buildings within a 340-meter radius, destroyed or burned 86 cars, and shattered glass in 258 nearby buildings, causing at least an estimated $652 million of damage. McVeigh was convicted and subsequently executed by lethal injection on June 11, 2001.
== Economy ==
The economy of Oklahoma City, once just a regional power center of government and energy exploration, has since diversified to include the sectors of information technology, services, health services, and administration. The city is headquarters to two Fortune 500 companies: Expand Energy and Devon Energy, as well as being home to Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores, which is ranked thirteenth on Forbes' list of private companies.
As of March 2024, the top 20 employers in the city were:
Other major corporations with a significant presence (over 1,000 employees) in the city of Oklahoma City include the United Parcel Service, Farmers Insurance Group, Southwest Beverages Coca-Cola Bottling Company, Deaconess Hospital, Johnson Controls, MidFirst Bank, Rose State College, and Continental Resources.
While not in the city limits, other large employers within the Oklahoma City MSA include United States Air Force – Tinker AFB (27,000); University of Oklahoma (11,900); University of Central Oklahoma (2,900); and Norman Regional Hospital (2,800).
According to the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce, the metropolitan area's economic output grew by 33% between 2001 and 2005 due chiefly to economic diversification. Its gross metropolitan product (GMP) was $43.1 billion in 2005 and grew to $61.1 billion in 2009. By 2016 the GMP had grown to $73.8 billion.
In 2008, Forbes magazine reported that the city had falling unemployment, one of the strongest housing markets in the country and solid growth in energy, agriculture, and manufacturing. However, during the early 1980s, Oklahoma City had one of the worst job and housing markets due to the bankruptcy of Penn Square Bank in 1982 and then the post-1985 crash in oil prices (oil bust).
=== Tourism ===
Approximately 23.2 million visitors contributed $4.3 billion to Oklahoma City's economy. These visitors directly spent $2.6 billion, sustained nearly 34,000 jobs, and generated $343 million in state and local taxes.
=== Business districts ===
Business and entertainment districts (and, to a lesser extent, local neighborhoods) tend to maintain their boundaries and character by applying zoning regulations and business improvement districts (districts where property owners agree to a property tax surcharge to support additional services for the community). Through zoning regulations, historic districts, and other special zoning districts, including overlay districts, are well established. Oklahoma City has three business improvement districts, including one encompassing the central business district.
== Culture ==
=== Museums and theaters ===
The Donald W. Reynolds Visual Arts Center is the new downtown home for the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. The museum features visiting exhibits, original selections from its collection, a theater showing various foreign, independent, and classic films each week, and a restaurant. OKCMOA is also home to the most comprehensive collection of Chihuly glass in the world, including the 55-foot Eleanor Blake Kirkpatrick Memorial Tower in the Museum's atrium. The art deco Civic Center Music Hall, which was renovated most recently in 2023, has performances from the Oklahoma City Ballet, the Oklahoma City Opera, the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, and also various concerts and traveling Broadway shows.
Other theaters include the Lyric Theatre, Jewel Box Theatre, Kirkpatrick Auditorium, the Poteet Theatre, the Oklahoma City Community College Bruce Owen Theater, and the 488-seat Petree Recital Hall at the Oklahoma City University campus. The university opened the Wanda L Bass School of Music and Auditorium in April 2006.
There are several concert venues across the city hosting major and regional musical artists from across the world. This includes The Criterion, a 3,000 capacity multi-level venue completed in 2016 in Bricktown. The Tower Theater, hosting both concerts and raves, built in 1937 located on 23rd Street right off historic Route 66. The Jones Assembly, a 1,600 capacity venue located in downtown within the city's historic Film Row district.
The Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center (formerly City Arts Center) moved downtown in 2020, near Campbell Art Park at 11th and Broadway, after being at the Oklahoma State Fair fairgrounds since 1989. It features exhibitions, performances, classes, workshops, camps, and weekly programs.
The Science Museum Oklahoma (formerly Kirkpatrick Science and Air Space Museum at Omniplex) houses exhibits on science and aviation and an IMAX theater. The museum formerly housed the International Photography Hall of Fame (IPHF), which displays photographs and artifacts from an extensive collection of cameras and other artifacts preserving the history of photography. IPHF honors those who have contributed significantly to the art or science of photography and relocated to St. Louis, Missouri in 2013.
The Museum of Osteology displays over 450 real skeletons and houses over 7,000. Focusing on the form and function of the skeletal system, this 7,000 sq ft (650 m2) museum displays hundreds of skulls and skeletons from all corners of the world. Exhibits include adaptation, locomotion, classification, and diversity of the vertebrate kingdom. The Museum of Osteology is the only one of its kind in America.
The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum has galleries of western art and is home to the Hall of Great Western Performers.
In September 2021, the First Americans Museum opened to the public, focusing on the histories and cultures of the numerous tribal nations and many Indigenous peoples in the state of Oklahoma.
The Oklahoma City National Memorial in the northern part of Oklahoma City's downtown was created as the inscription on its eastern gate of the Memorial reads, "to honor the victims, survivors, rescuers, and all who were changed forever on April 19, 1995"; the memorial was built on the land formerly occupied by the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building complex before its 1995 bombing. The outdoor Symbolic Memorial can be visited 24 hours a day for free, and the adjacent Memorial Museum, in the former Journal Record building damaged by the bombing, can be entered for a small fee. The site is also home to the National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism, a non-partisan, nonprofit think tank devoted to preventing terrorism.
The American Banjo Museum in the Bricktown Entertainment district is dedicated to preserving and promoting the music and heritage of the banjo. Its collection tells the evolution of the banjo from its roots in American slavery, to bluegrass, to folk, and to world music.
The Oklahoma History Center is the state's history museum. Across the street from the governor's mansion at 800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive in northeast Oklahoma City, the museum opened in 2005 and is operated by the Oklahoma Historical Society. It preserves Oklahoma's history from the prehistoric to the present day.
The Oklahoma State Firefighters Museum contains early colonial firefighting tools, the first fire station in Oklahoma, and modern fire trucks.
The historic 23rd Street Armory in Oklahoma City is set to be transformed into a $23 million entertainment venue by Fischer Companies and TempleLive, featuring a 4,500-capacity theater, a 500-capacity venue for local artists, dining options, and a microbrewery, with construction beginning in spring 2024 and anticipated completion in 2026.
The Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden is home to numerous natural habitats, WPA era architecture and landscaping, and major touring concerts during the summer at its amphitheater. Nearby is a combination racetrack and casino, Remington Park, which hosts both Quarter Horse (March – June) and Thoroughbred (August—December) seasons.
=== Restaurants ===
Florence's Restaurant in 2022 was named one of America's Classics by the James Beard Foundation. It was the first James Beard award for an Oklahoma entity. The Oklahoman called Florence's "The Grand Dame of all local restaurants". Andrew Black, chef/owner of Grey Sweater, won the 2023 James Beard Award for Best Chef Southwest.
The Food Network show Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives has been to several restaurants in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. Some of these include Cattlemen's Steakhouse, Chick N Beer, Clanton's Cafe, The Diner, Eischen's Bar, Florence's Restaurant, and Guyutes, among several others.
== Sports ==
Oklahoma City is home to several professional sports teams, including the Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association. The Thunder is the city's second "permanent" major professional sports franchise after the now-defunct AFL Oklahoma Wranglers. It is the third major-league team to call the city home when considering the temporary hosting of the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets for the 2005–06 and 2006–07 NBA seasons. However, the Thunder was formerly the Sonics before the movement of the Sonics to OKC in 2008.
Other professional sports clubs in Oklahoma City include the Oklahoma City Comets, the Triple-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Oklahoma City Energy FC of the United Soccer League, and the Crusaders of Oklahoma Rugby Football Club of USA Rugby. The Oklahoma City Blazers, a name used for decades of the city's hockey team in the Central Hockey League, has been used for a junior team in the Western States Hockey League since 2014.
The Paycom Center in downtown is the main multipurpose arena in the city, which hosts concerts, NHL exhibition games, and many of the city's pro sports teams. In 2008, the Oklahoma City Thunder became the primary tenant. Nearby in Bricktown, the Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark is the home to the city's baseball team, the Comets. "The Brick", as it is locally known, is considered one of the finest minor league parks in the nation.
Oklahoma City hosts the World Cup of Softball and the annual NCAA Women's College World Series. The city has held 2005 NCAA Men's Basketball First and Second round and hosted the Big 12 Men's and women's basketball tournaments in 2007 and 2009. The major universities in the area – University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City University, and Oklahoma State University – often schedule major basketball games and other sporting events at Paycom Center and Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. However, most home games are played at their campus stadiums.
Other major sporting events include Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing circuits at Remington Park and numerous horse shows and equine events that take place at the state fairgrounds each year. There are multiple golf courses and country clubs spread around the city.
=== High school football ===
The state of Oklahoma hosts a highly competitive high school football culture, with many teams in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. The Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association organizes high school football into eight distinct classes based on school enrollment size. Beginning with the largest, the classes are 6A, 5A, 4A, 3A, 2A, A, B, and C. Class 6A is broken into two divisions. Oklahoma City schools in include: Westmoore, Putnam City North, Putnam City, Putnam City West, Southeast, Capitol Hill, U.S. Grant, and Northwest Classen.
=== Oklahoma City Thunder ===
The Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association (NBA) has called Oklahoma City home since the 2008–09 season, when owner Clay Bennett relocated the franchise from Seattle, Washington. The Thunder plays home games in downtown Oklahoma City at the Paycom Center. The Thunder is known by several nicknames, including "OKC Thunder" and simply "OKC", and its mascot is Rumble the Bison.
After arriving in Oklahoma City for the 2008–09 season, the Oklahoma City Thunder secured a berth (8th) in the 2010 NBA Playoffs the following year after boasting its first 50-win season, winning two games in the first round against the Los Angeles Lakers. In 2012, Oklahoma City made it to the NBA Finals but lost to the Miami Heat in five games. In 2013, the Thunder reached the Western Conference semi-finals without All-Star guard Russell Westbrook, who was injured in their first-round series against the Houston Rockets, only to lose to the Memphis Grizzlies. In 2014, Oklahoma City reached the NBA's Western Conference Finals again but eventually lost to the San Antonio Spurs in six games.
Sports analysts have regarded the Oklahoma City Thunder as one of the elite franchises of the NBA's Western Conference and a media darling of the league's future. Oklahoma City earned Northwest Division titles every year from 2011 to 2014 and again in 2016 and has consistently improved its win record to 59 wins in 2014. The Thunder is led by third-year head coach Mark Daigneault and is anchored by All-Star point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander; acquired from the Los Angeles Clippers in a trade in the summer of 2019. They returned to the NBA Finals in 2025 and defeated the Indiana Pacers in seven games to win their first NBA championship since moving to Oklahoma City.
=== Hornets ===
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the NBA's New Orleans Hornets temporarily relocated to the Ford Center, playing the majority of its home games there during the 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons. The team became the first NBA franchise to play regular-season games in Oklahoma. The team was known as the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets while playing in Oklahoma City.
The team returned to New Orleans full-time for the 2007–08 season. The Hornets played their final home game in Oklahoma City during the exhibition season on October 9, 2007, against the Houston Rockets.
=== Professional sports teams ===
=== 2028 Olympics ===
Venues in Oklahoma City will host two events during the 2028 Summer Olympics, which will primarily be held in Los Angeles. The LA Olympic Organizing Committee opted to have canoe slalom and softball in Oklahoma City, given the lack of acceptable venues for those sports in Los Angeles. Riversport OKC will host the canoe slalom competition, while Devon Park will host the softball competition. Oklahoma City is located approximately 1,300 miles away from Los Angeles.
== Parks and recreation ==
Oklahoma City has more than 170 parks that cover 6,256 acres, and 100 miles of trails.
One of the more prominent landmarks of downtown Oklahoma City is the Crystal Bridge tropical conservatory at the Myriad Botanical Gardens, a large downtown urban park. Designed by I. M. Pei, the park also includes the Water Stage amphitheater, a bandshell, and lawn, a sunken pond complete with koi, an interactive children's garden complete with a carousel and water sculpture, various trails and interactive exhibits that rotate throughout the year including the ice skating in the Christmas winter season. In 2007, following a renovation of the stage, Oklahoma Shakespeare In The Park relocated to the Myriad Gardens. Bicentennial Park, also downtown located near the Oklahoma City Civic Center campus, is home to the annual Festival of the Arts in April.
The Scissortail Park is just south of the Myriad Gardens, a large interactive park that opened in 2021. This park contains a large lake with paddleboats, a dog park, a concert stage with a great lawn, a promenade including the Skydance Bridge, a children's interactive splash park and playground, and numerous athletic facilities. Farmers Market is a common attraction at Scissortail Park during the season, and there are multiple film showings, food trucks, concerts, festivals, and civic gatherings.
Returning to the city's first parks masterplan, Oklahoma City has at least one major park in each quadrant, outside downtown. Will Rogers Park, the Grand Boulevard loop once connected Lincoln Park, Trosper Park, and Woodson Park, some sections of which no longer exist. Martin Park Nature Center is a natural habitat in far northwest Oklahoma City. Will Rogers Park is home to the Lycan Conservatory, the Rose Garden, and the Butterfly Garden, all built in the WPA era. In April 2005, the Oklahoma City Skate Park at Wiley Post Park was renamed the Mat Hoffman Action Sports Park to recognize Mat Hoffman, an Oklahoma City area resident and businessman who was instrumental in the design of the skate park and is a 10-time BMX World Vert champion.
Walking trails line the Bricktown Canal and the Oklahoma River downtown. The city's bike trail system follows around Lake Hefner and Lake Overholser in the northwest and west quadrants of the city. The majority of the east shore area of Lake Hefner is taken up by parks and bike trails, including a new leashless dog park and the post-war-era Stars and Stripes Park, and eateries near the lighthouse. Lake Stanley Draper, in southeast Oklahoma City, is the city's largest and most remote lake, offering a genuine rural yet still urban experience.
== Government ==
The City of Oklahoma City has operated under a council-manager form of city government since 1927. David Holt assumed the office of Mayor on April 10, 2018, after being elected two months earlier. Eight councilpersons represent each of the eight wards of Oklahoma City. The City Council appointed current City Manager Craig Freeman on November 20, 2018. Freeman took office on January 2, 2018, succeeding James D. Couch, who had served in the role since 2000. Before becoming City Manager, Craig Freeman served as Finance Director for the city.
=== Politics ===
Similar to many American cities, Oklahoma City is politically conservative in its suburbs and liberal in the central city. In the United States House of Representatives, it is represented by Republicans Stephanie Bice, Tom Cole, and Frank Lucas of the 5th, 4th, and 3rd districts, respectively. The city has called on residents to vote for sales tax-based projects to revitalize parts of the city. The Bricktown district is the best example of such an initiative. In the recent MAPS 3 vote, the city's fraternal police order criticized the project proposals for not doing enough to expand the police presence to keep up with the growing residential population and increased commercial activity. In September 2013, Oklahoma City area attorney David Slane announced he would pursue legal action regarding MAPS3 on claims the multiple projects that made up the plan violate a state constitutional law limiting voter ballot issues to a single subject.
== International relations ==
=== Consulates ===
=== Twin towns – sister cities ===
Oklahoma City's sister cities are:
== Education ==
=== Higher education ===
The city is home to several colleges and universities. Oklahoma City University, formerly known as Epworth University, was founded by the United Methodist Church on September 1, 1904, and is known for its performing arts, science, mass communications, business, law, and athletic programs. OCU has its main campus in the north-central section of the city, near the city's Asia District area. OCU Law is in the old Central High School building in the Midtown district near downtown.
The University of Oklahoma has several institutions of higher learning in the city and metropolitan area, with OU Medicine and the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center campuses east of downtown in the Oklahoma Health Center district, and the main campus to the south in the suburb of Norman. OU Medical Center hosts the state's only Level-One trauma center. OU Health Sciences Center is one of the nation's largest independent medical centers, employing over 12,000 people. OU is one of only four major universities in the nation to operate six medical schools.
The third-largest university in the state, the University of Central Oklahoma, is just north of the city in the suburb of Edmond. Oklahoma Christian University, one of the state's private liberal arts institutions, is just south of the Edmond border, inside the Oklahoma City limits.
Oklahoma City Community College in south Oklahoma City is the second-largest community college in the state. Rose State College is east of Oklahoma City in suburban Midwest City. Oklahoma State University–Oklahoma City is in the "Furniture District" on the Westside. Northeast of the city is Langston University, the state's historically black college (HBCU). Langston also has an urban campus in the eastside section of the city. Southern Nazarene University, which was founded by the Church of the Nazarene, is a university in suburban Bethany, which is surrounded by the Oklahoma City city limits.
Although technically not a university, the FAA's Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center has many aspects of an institution of higher learning. Its FAA Academy is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Its Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI) has a medical education division responsible for aeromedical education in general, as well as the education of aviation medical examiners in the U.S. and 93 other countries. In addition, The National Academy of Science offers Research Associateship Programs for fellowship and other grants for CAMI research.
=== Primary and secondary ===
Oklahoma City is home to (as of 2009) the state's largest school district, Oklahoma City Public Schools, which covers the most significant portion of the city. The district's Classen School of Advanced Studies and Harding Charter Preparatory High School rank high among public schools nationally according to a formula that looks at the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or Cambridge tests taken by the school's students divided by the number of graduating seniors. In addition, OKCPS's Belle Isle Enterprise Middle School was named the top middle school in the state according to the Academic Performance Index and recently received the Blue Ribbon School Award, in 2004 and again in 2011.
Due to Oklahoma City's explosive growth, parts of several suburban districts spill into the city. All but one of the school districts in Oklahoma County includes portions of Oklahoma City. The other districts in that county covering OKC include: Choctaw/Nicoma Park, Crooked Oak, Crutcho, Deer Creek, Edmond, Harrah, Jones, Luther, McLoud, Mid-Del, Millwood, Moore, Mustang, Oakdale, Piedmont, Putnam City, and Western Heights. School districts in Cleveland County covering portions of Oklahoma City include: Little Axe, McLoud, Mid-Del, Moore, and Robin Hill. Within Canadian County, Banner, Mustang, Piedmont, Union City, and Yukon school districts include parts of OKC.
There are also charter schools. KIPP Reach College Preparatory School in Oklahoma City received the 2012 National Blue Ribbon, and its school leader, Tracy McDaniel Sr., was awarded the Terrel H. Bell Award for Outstanding Leadership.
The city also boasts several private and parochial schools. Casady School and Heritage Hall School are both examples of a private college preparatory school with rigorous academics that range among the top in Oklahoma. Providence Hall is a Protestant school. Two prominent schools of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City include Bishop McGuinness High School and Mount Saint Mary High School. Other private schools include the Advanced Science and Technology Education Center and Crossings Christian School.
The Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics, a school for some of the state's most gifted math and science pupils, is also in Oklahoma City.
=== CareerTech ===
Oklahoma City has several public career and technology education schools associated with the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education, the largest of which are Metro Technology Center and Francis Tuttle Technology Center.
Private career and technology education schools in Oklahoma City include Oklahoma Technology Institute, Platt College, Vatterott College, and Heritage College. The Dale Rogers Training Center is a nonprofit vocational training center for individuals with disabilities.
== Media ==
=== Print ===
The Oklahoman is Oklahoma City's major daily newspaper and is the most widely circulated in the state. NewsOK.com is the Oklahoman's online presence. Oklahoma Gazette is Oklahoma City's independent newsweekly, featuring such staples as local commentary, feature stories, restaurant reviews, movie listings, and music and entertainment. The Journal Record is the city's daily business newspaper, and okcBIZ is a monthly publication that covers business news affecting those who live and work in Central Oklahoma.
Numerous community and international newspapers cater to the city's ethnic mosaic, such as The Black Chronicle, headquartered in the Eastside, the OK VIETIMES and Oklahoma Chinese Times, in Asia District, and various Hispanic community publications. The Campus is the student newspaper at Oklahoma City University. Gay publications include The Gayly Oklahoman.
An upscale lifestyle publication called 405 Magazine (formerly Slice Magazine) is circulated throughout the metropolitan area. In addition, there is a magazine published by Back40 Design Group called The Edmond Outlook. It contains local commentary and human interest pieces directly mailed to over 50,000 Edmond residents.
Ready Player One is set in Oklahoma City in the year 2045.
=== Broadcast ===
Oklahoma City was home to several pioneers in radio and television broadcasting. Oklahoma City's WKY Radio was the first radio station transmitting west of the Mississippi River and the third radio station in the United States. WKY received its federal license in 1921 and has continually broadcast under the same call letters since 1922. In 1928, WKY was purchased by E.K. Gaylord's Oklahoma Publishing Company and affiliated with the NBC Red Network; in 1949, WKY-TV (channel 4) went on the air and later became the first independently owned television station in the U.S. to broadcast in color. In mid-2002, WKY radio was purchased outright by Citadel Broadcasting, who was bought out by Cumulus Broadcasting in 2011. The Gaylord family earlier sold WKY-TV in 1976, which has gone through a succession of owners (what is now KFOR-TV is owned by Nexstar Media Group as of October 2019).
The major U.S. broadcast television networks have affiliates in the Oklahoma City market (ranked 41st for television by Nielsen and 48th for radio by Arbitron, covering a 34-county area serving the central, north-central and west-central sections of Oklahoma); including NBC affiliate KFOR-TV (channel 4), ABC affiliate KOCO-TV (channel 5), CBS affiliate KWTV-DT (channel 9, the flagship of locally based Griffin Media), PBS station KETA-TV (channel 13, the flagship of the state-run OETA member network), Fox affiliate KOKH-TV (channel 25), independent station KOCB (channel 34), CW owned-and-operated station KAUT-TV (channel 43), MyNetworkTV affiliate KSBI-TV (channel 52), and Ion Television affiliate KOPX-TV (channel 62). The market is also home to several religious stations, including TBN owned-and-operated station KTBO-TV (channel 14) and Norman-based Daystar owned-and-operated station KOCM (channel 46).
Despite the market's geographical size, none of the English-language commercial affiliates in the Oklahoma City designated market area operate full-power satellite stations covering the far northwestern part of the state (requiring cable or satellite to view them). However, KFOR-TV, KOCO-TV, KWTV-DT, and KOKH-TV each operate low-power translators in that portion of the market. Oklahoma City is one of the few markets between Chicago and Dallas to have affiliates of two or more of the significant Spanish-language broadcast networks: Telemundo affiliate KTUZ-TV (channel 30), Woodward-based Univision/UniMás affiliate KUOK 35 (whose translator KUOK-CD, channel 36, serves the immediate Oklahoma City area), and Estrella TV affiliate KOCY-LD (channel 48). (Locally based Tyler Media Group, which owns the three stations above, also owns eight radio stations in the market, including Regional Mexican-formatted KTUZ-FM (106.7) and news–talk outlet KOKC (1520 AM).)
== Infrastructure ==
=== Fire department ===
Oklahoma City is protected by the Oklahoma City Fire Department (OKCFD), which employs 1015 paid, professional firefighters. The current Chief of Department is Richard Kelley, and the department is commanded by three Deputy Chiefs, who – along with the department chief – oversee the Operational Services, Prevention Services, and Support Services bureaus. The OKCFD operates out of 37 fire stations throughout the city in six battalions. The OKCFD operates a fire apparatus fleet of 36 engine companies (including 30 paramedic engines), 13 ladder companies, 16 brush pumper units, six water tankers, two hazardous materials units, one Technical Rescue Unit, one Air Supply Unit, six Arson Investigation Units, and one Rehabilitation Unit along with several special units. Each engine Company is staffed with a driver, an officer, and one to two firefighters, while each ladder company is staffed with a driver, an officer, and one firefighter. The minimum staffing for each shift is 213 personnel. The Oklahoma City Fire Department responds to over 70,000 emergency calls annually.
=== Transportation ===
==== Highways ====
Oklahoma City is an integral point on the United States Interstate Network, with three major interstate highways – Interstate 35, Interstate 40, and Interstate 44 – bisecting the city. Interstate 240 connects Interstate 40 and Interstate 44 in south Oklahoma City. At the same time, Interstate 235 spurs from Interstate 44 in north-central Oklahoma City into downtown. Interstate 44, between NW 23rd and NW 36th Streets, is the busiest roadway in the city and state, with an average daily traffic count of 167,200 vehicles per day in 2018.
Major state expressways through the city include Lake Hefner Parkway (SH-74), the Kilpatrick Turnpike, Airport Road (SH-152), and Broadway Extension (US-77) which continues from I-235 connecting Central Oklahoma City to Edmond. Lake Hefner Parkway runs through northwest Oklahoma City, while Airport Road runs through southwest Oklahoma City and leads to Will Rogers World Airport. The Kilpatrick Turnpike loops around north and west Oklahoma City.
Oklahoma City also has several major national and state highways within its city limits. Shields Boulevard (US-77) continues from E.K. Gaylord Boulevard in downtown Oklahoma City and runs south, eventually connecting to I-35 near the suburb of Moore, Oklahoma. Northwest Expressway (Oklahoma State Highway 3) runs from North Classen Boulevard in north-central Oklahoma City to the northwestern suburbs.
The following significant expressways traverse Oklahoma City:
Interstate 35
Interstate 40 (Crosstown Expressway, Stanley Draper Expressway, Tinker Diagonal, Tom Stead Memorial Highway)
Interstate 44 (Turner Turnpike, Belle Isle Freeway, Will Rogers Expressway, H.E. Bailey Turnpike)
Interstate 235 (Centennial Expressway) / U.S. 77 (Broadway Extension)
Interstate 240 (Southwest Expressway)
Lake Hefner Parkway (State Highway 74)
Airport Road (State Highway 152)
Kilpatrick Turnpike (Interstate 344)
==== Air ====
Oklahoma City is served by two primary airports, Will Rogers World Airport and the much smaller Wiley Post Airport (incidentally, the two honorees died in the same plane crash in Alaska) Will Rogers World Airport is the state's busiest commercial airport, with 4,341,159 passengers served in 2018, a historical record.
Tinker Air Force Base, in southeast Oklahoma City, is the largest military air depot in the nation. It is a major maintenance and deployment facility for the Navy and the Air Force and the second largest military institution in the state (after Fort Sill in Lawton).
==== Rail and intercity bus ====
Amtrak has a station downtown at the Santa Fe Depot, with daily service to Fort Worth and the nation's rail network via the Heartland Flyer. Oklahoma City once was the crossroads of several interstate passenger railroads at the Santa Fe Depot, the Union Station, and the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad station. But service at that level has long since been discontinued. However, several proposals to extend the current train service have been made, including a plan to expand the Heartland Flyer to Newton, Kansas, which is currently being connected through Amtrak Thruway. Freight service is provided by BNSF Railway, Union Pacific Railroad, and Stillwater Central.
Greyhound and several other intercity bus companies serve Oklahoma City at the Oklahoma City Bus Station east of downtown.
==== Public transit ====
Embark (formerly Metro Transit) is the city's public transit company. The primary transfer terminal is downtown at NW 5th Street and Hudson Avenue. Embark maintains limited coverage of the city's primary street grid using a hub-and-spoke system from the main terminal, making many journeys impractical due to the relatively small number of bus routes offered and that most trips require a transfer downtown. The city has recognized transit as a significant issue for the rapidly growing and urbanizing city. It has initiated several recent studies to improve the existing bus system, starting with a plan known as the Fixed Guideway Study. This study identified several potential commuter transit routes from the suburbs into downtown Oklahoma City as well as feeder-line bus and rail routes throughout the city.
Though Oklahoma City has no light rail or commuter rail service, city residents identified improved transit as one of their top priorities. From the fruits of the Fixed Guideway and other studies, city leaders strongly desire to incorporate urban rail transit into the region's future transportation plans. The greater Oklahoma City metropolitan transit plan identified from the Fixed Guideway Study includes a streetcar system in the downtown area, to be fed by enhanced city bus service and commuter rail from the suburbs including Edmond, Norman, and Midwest City. There is a significant push for a commuter rail line connecting downtown OKC with the eastern suburbs of Del City, Midwest City, and Tinker Air Force Base. In addition to commuter rail, a short heritage rail line that would run from Bricktown just a few blocks away from the Amtrak station to the Adventure District in northeast Oklahoma City is under reconstruction.
In December 2009, Oklahoma City voters passed MAPS 3, the $777 million (7-year, 1-cent tax) initiative. This initiative would generate funding (approx. $130 million) for the modern Oklahoma City Streetcar system in downtown Oklahoma City and the establishment of a transit hub.
On September 10, 2013, the federal government announced that Oklahoma City would receive a $13.8-million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation's TIGER program. This was the first-ever grant for Oklahoma City for a rail-based initiative and is thought to be a turning point for city leaders who have applied for grants in the past, only to be denied continuously. It is believed the city will use the TIGER grant along with approximately $10 million from the MAPS 3 Transit budget to revitalize the city's Amtrak station, becoming an Intermodal Transportation Hub, taking over the role of the existing transit hub at NW 5th/Hudson Avenue.
Construction of the Oklahoma City Streetcar system in Downtown OKC began in early 2017, and the system opened for service in December 2018. Also known as the Maps 3 Streetcar, it connects the areas of Bricktown, Midtown and Downtown. The 6.9 mi (11.1 km) system serves the greater Downtown area using modern low-floor streetcars. The initial system consists of two lines connecting Oklahoma City's Central Business District with the entertainment district, Bricktown, and the Midtown District. Expansion to other districts surrounding downtown and more routes in the CBD is already underway.
==== Walkability ====
A 2013 study by Walk Score ranked Oklahoma City the 43rd most walkable out of the 50 largest U.S. cities. Oklahoma City has 18 neighborhoods with a Walk Score above 60, mainly close to the downtown core.
=== Health ===
Oklahoma City and the surrounding metropolitan area have several healthcare facilities and specialty hospitals. In Oklahoma City's MidTown district near downtown resides the state's oldest and largest single-site hospital, St. Anthony Hospital and Physicians Medical Center.
OU Medicine, an academic medical institution on the campus of The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, is home to OU Medical Center. OU Medicine operates Oklahoma's only level-one trauma center at the OU Medical Center and the state's only level-one trauma center for children at Children's Hospital at OU Medicine, both of which are in the Oklahoma Health Center district. Other medical facilities operated by OU Medicine include OU Physicians and OU Children's Physicians, the OU College of Medicine, the Oklahoma Cancer Center, and OU Medical Center Edmond, the latter in the northern suburb of Edmond.
INTEGRIS Health owns several hospitals, including INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center, the INTEGRIS Cancer Institute of Oklahoma, and the INTEGRIS Southwest Medical Center. INTEGRIS Health operates hospitals, rehabilitation centers, physician clinics, mental health facilities, independent living centers, and home health agencies throughout much of Oklahoma. INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center ranks high-performing in the following categories: Cardiology and Heart Surgery; Diabetes and Endocrinology; Ear, Nose and Throat; Gastroenterology; Geriatrics; Nephrology; Orthopedics; Pulmonology and Urology.
The Midwest Regional Medical Center is in the suburb of Midwest City; other significant hospitals include the Oklahoma Heart Hospital and the Mercy Health Center. There are 347 physicians for every 100,000 people in the city.
In the American College of Sports Medicine's annual ranking of the United States' 50 most populous metropolitan areas on the basis of community health, Oklahoma City took last place in 2010, falling five spots from its 2009 rank of 45. The ACSM's report, published as part of its American Fitness Index program, cited, among other things, the poor diet of residents, low levels of physical fitness, higher incidences of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease than the national average, low access to recreational facilities like swimming pools and baseball diamonds, the paucity of parks and low investment by the city in their development, the high percentage of households below the poverty level, and the lack of state-mandated physical education curriculum as contributing factors.
== Notable people == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Taylor_(golfer) | Nick Taylor (golfer) | Nicholas Alexander Bruce Taylor (born April 14, 1988) is a Canadian professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. After turning professional in 2010, Taylor has won on the PGA Tour five times, including becoming the first Canadian to win the Canadian Open since 1954, which he did in 2023 at the Oakdale Golf & Country Club.
Taylor had strong junior, collegiate, and amateur careers, winning the 2007 Canadian Amateur Championship at the age of 19, the top 8 of the 2007 U.S. Amateur, and finishing as a runner-up in the 2008 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship. He was a two-time All American and Pac-10 Golfer of the Year for the University of Washington Huskies. As an amateur in the 2009 U.S. Open, Taylor carded the lowest amateur round in U.S. Open history with a second round 65, finishing tied for 36th with the honour of the low amateur of the major. He was awarded the 2009 Mark H. McCormack Medal as the leading player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, and the 2010 Ben Hogan Award as the best college golf player in the United States.
Taylor played on PGA Tour Canada from 2011 to 2013, and on the Web.com Tour before graduating to the PGA Tour in 2014. In his inaugural PGA Tour season he won the 2014 Sanderson Farms Championship, and picked up his second win in the 2020 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
== Early life and amateur career ==
Taylor was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba and moved to Abbotsford, British Columbia when he was three. His home golf course is Ledgeview Golf and Country Club where he started golfing at the age of 10. Taylor attended Yale Secondary School, where he and his teammates won back to back provincial championships. Afterwards he attended the University of Washington on a golf scholarship where he graduated with a degree in economics.
In 2007, at the age of 19, Taylor won the Canadian Amateur Championship at the Riverside Country Club in Saskatoon, defeating Michael Knight in two playoff holes. At the 2007 U.S. Amateur at the Olympic Club, Taylor won the 51st seed and advanced through three rounds of the tournament, including defeating future PGA golfer Jamie Lovemark. Taylor was defeated in the quarter-finals by eventual champion Colt Knost.
In the May 2008 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship, Taylor finished tied for second in the individual competition with Jorge Campillo, three strokes back of champion Kevin Chappell. Taylor's Washington Husky's team finished in seventh place. He was named an Honorable Mention for the GCAA Division I PING All-America Team. In 2008, Taylor qualified for the U.S. Open, in which he missed the cut by three strokes. In the July 2009 U.S. Amateur Public Links, Taylor finished as the runner-up to Brad Benjamin. He also finished T53 at the 2008 RBC Canadian Open with a final score of −1. In the 2008 Canadian Amateur, Taylor finished in ninth place with a final score of −2.
In the May 2009 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship, Taylor finished the individual competition tied for ninth place, while his Washington Husky's team finished tied for third place. He was named on the Division I GCAA All-America Team with future PGA golfers Rickie Fowler and Billy Horschel. He qualified for the 2009 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black, where he made the cut, carding a 65 in the second round, the record for lowest by an amateur in major's history. He finished tied for 36th, being the lowest amateur of the championship. Taylor won the July 2009 Sahalee Players Championship. In the 2009 Canadian Amateur at Blainvillier Golf Club, he finished tied for 3rd with a final score of −5. He also became the number one world amateur golfer according to the World Amateur Golf Ranking. In September 2009, he won the Mark H. McCormack Medal for being on top of the World Amateur Golf Ranking after the U.S. Amateur.
In his final amateur year in 2010, Taylor finished 41st at the May 2010 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship, while his Washington Husky's team finished in fourth place. He was named a Ping First-Team All-American for the second season in a row, along with Washington teammates Chris Williams and Richard H. Lee. Taylor was eliminated from the U.S. Amateur in the first round by Chan Kim. In the 2010 Canadian Amateur, Taylor finished tied for 33rd at +3. He won the 2010 Ben Hogan Award for the top men's collegiate golfer, and also won his second consecutive Pac-10 Golfer of the Year award.
== Professional career ==
Taylor turned professional in late 2010, making his professional debut at the October Russell Brewing VGT Tour Championship on the Vancouver Golf Tour. He played on PGA Tour Canada from 2011 to 2013, compiling 10 top-10 finishes in 25 starts. In 2013, he finished 7th on the Order of Merit and earned an exemption into the final stage of the Web.com Tour qualifying school, where he finished 11th to earn status for the 2014 season. He finished 69th in the 2014 Web.com Tour regular season, then 23rd in the Web.com Tour Finals to earn his PGA Tour card for the 2014–15 season.
=== 2014–15 PGA Tour season: inaugural season and first victory ===
Taylor made his first start in the 2014–15 PGA Tour season at the October Frys.com Open at Silverado Resort and Spa. He finished at +2 and missed the cut. In November 2014, Taylor achieved his first victory on the PGA Tour at the Sanderson Farms Championship, hosted at the Country Club of Jackson, finishing with a score of −16. Taylor's win was the first on the PGA Tour for a Canadian-born player in seven years, following Mike Weir's victory at the 2007 Fry's Electronics Open. Taylor qualified for only one major, competing in the 2015 PGA Championship. He finished with a score of +4 and tied for 68th place. In his inaugural season on the PGA Tour, Taylor competed in 28 events, making 17 cuts, with two top-25 finishes, and one win. At the conclusion of the FedEx Cup race, Taylor finished at 101st place with 613 FedEx Cup points, and finished the season with $1,072,360 in prize money.
=== 2015–16 to 2018–19 PGA Tour seasons: limited success ===
In his second season, the 2015–16 PGA Tour season, Taylor made his best finish at the March Puerto Rico Open, finishing at −10 and in a tie for 5th place, marking his only top-20 finish. Taylor did not qualify of an majors during the year, and was cut from the Players Championship. In the 2015–16 PGA Tour season, Taylor competed in 26 events, making 16 cuts with five top-25 finishes. He finished the FedEx Cup race at 129th with 441 FedEx Cup points, and won $628,756 in prize money.
In the 2016–17 PGA Tour season, Taylor made his first top-10 finish at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, finishing −8 and tied for 10th place. Taylor made his second top-10 finish of the season at the Wells Fargo Championship, finishing −6 and tied for eighth, his best finish for the 2016–17 PGA Tour season. His third top-10 finish came only a few weeks later at the AT&T Byron Nelson, finishing at −7 and tied for ninth, and his final top-10 finish came at the Greenbrier Classic, finishing −9 and tied for ninth place. For the second season in a row, Taylor failed to qualify for any major championships. In the 2016–17 PGA Tour season, Taylor competed in 29 events, making 20 cuts with eight top-25 finishes. He finished the FedEx Cup race at 93rd with 554 FedEx Cup points, and won $1,255,259 in prize money.
In the 2017–18 PGA Tour season, Taylor started out hot finishing tied for 9th in the Safeway Open with a final score of −9. He followed that up with a tied 13th at the CIMB Classic, and tied 23rd at the CJ Cup. Taylor struggled in the middle of the season missing six consecutive cuts between March and May 2018. He made one more top-10 finish at the Wyndham Championship with a final score of −15 and tied for 8th place. Taylor failed to qualify for any major championships. In the 2017–18 PGA Tour season, Taylor competed in 30 events, making 17 cuts with six top-25 finishes. He finished the FedEx Cup race at 123rd with 420 FedEx Cup points, and won $899,373 in prize money.
In the 2018–19 PGA Tour season, Taylor finished his fifth tournament of the season, the 2018 World Cup of Golf in Australia, tied for 4th place with a final score of −17. He had only one other top-10 finish on the season, finishing tied for 9th at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with a final score of −19. Taylor failed to qualify for any major championships. In the 2018–19 PGA Tour season, Taylor competed in 28 events, making 21 cuts with four top-25 finishes. He finished the FedEx Cup race at 102nd place with 408 FedEx Cup points, and won $892,663 in prize money.
=== 2019–20 PGA Tour season: second victory ===
In the 2019–20 PGA Tour season, Taylor finished the Safeway Open at tied for 10th place with a final score of −11. In February 2020, he entered the final round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am with a one shot lead over Phil Mickelson. Taylor shot a final round 70 in windy conditions and won the tournament by four strokes over Kevin Streelman with a final score of −19. The win was his first full-strength tournament victory on the PGA Tour, and his second overall. The win qualified him for his first Masters Tournament. A month later, the PGA Tour season was paused due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the season pausing after the first round of the 2020 Players Championship. Taylor had shot an opening round 73, and was tied for 98th when the tournament was cancelled. In his first tournament after the season pause, Taylor finished tied for 48th at the Workday Charity Open with a final score of −3. In his major championship appearance at the 2020 PGA Championship, his first since 2015, Taylor did not make the cut finishing +9 after two rounds. In the 2019–20 PGA Tour season, Taylor competed in 18 events, making 11 cuts with three top-25 finishes. He finished the FedEx Cup race at 48th place with 741 FedEx Cup points, and won $1,897,539 in prize money.
=== 2020–21 to 2021–22 PGA Tour season: limited success ===
In the 2020–21 PGA Tour season, Taylor competed in his first Masters Tournament, finishing tied for 29th with a final score of −3. He experienced limited success in the season, finishing tied 11th at the Sony Open in Hawaii, tied 20th at the Genesis Invitational, and tied 48th at the 2021 Players Championship. At the Wyndham Championship, the final tournament of the season, Taylor made his only top 10 finish, tied for 10th with a final score of −13. In the 2020–21 PGA Tour season, Taylor competed in 29 events, making 18 cuts with three top 25 finishes. He finished the FedEx Cup race at 141st place with 370 FedEx Cup points, and won $862,159 in prize money.
In the 2021–22 PGA Tour season, Taylor had his best finish at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am at tied for 14th place with a final score of −11. In the 2021 US Open, Taylor was cut after the second round with a score of +5. In the 2021–22 PGA Tour season, Taylor competed in 28 events, making 16 cuts with four top 25 finishes. He finished the FedEx Cup race at 134th place with 334 FedEx Cup points, and won $832,637 in prize money.
=== 2022–23 PGA Tour season: victory at Canadian Open ===
In the 2022–23 PGA Tour season, Taylor started hot with a tied 6th place finish at the opening Fortinet Championship with a score of −11. He made his second top-10 finish of the season at the Sony Open in Hawaii, finishing tied for 7th with a final score of −13. In February 2023, Taylor finished runner-up at the WM Phoenix Open, two shots behind Scottie Scheffler with a final score of −17. This result also moved him to his highest world ranking at 73rd. Taylor and fellow Canadian teammate Adam Hadwin finished runner up at the April Zurich Classic of New Orleans, with a final score of −28, two strokes behind the team of Nick Hardy and Davis Riley. In the 2023 PGA Championship, Taylor was cut after the second round finishing at +7.
Taylor won his third career tournament at the June RBC Canadian Open, at the Oakdale Golf & Country Club. In the third round, Taylor scored a tournament low 63, and fourth round a 66 to finish for a tie for first with Tommy Fleetwood. In the playoff, both golfers birdied the first, and parred the second and third holes. On the par-5 fourth hole, Taylor holed a 72-foot putt for eagle to win. He became the first Canadian citizen to win their national open since 1954, and the first born in Canada to win it since 1914.
=== 2024 PGA Tour season: victory at the WM Phoenix Open ===
After a slow start to the 2024 PGA Tour season that saw him finish 52nd or worse in three of his first four events, Taylor picked up his fourth career victory at the WM Phoenix Open in a playoff over Charley Hoffman with a birdie on the second playoff hole.
=== 2025 PGA Tour season: Fifth career victory ===
In his second start of the 2025 PGA Tour season at the Sony Open in Hawaii, Taylor won his fifth PGA Tour event in a playoff over Nico Echavarría.
== Amateur wins ==
2006 BC Junior, Canadian Junior
2007 Canadian Amateur Championship
2009 Sahalee Players Championship
== Awards and honors ==
In 2009, Taylor was awarded the Mark H. McCormack Medal
In 2010, he was selected for the Ben Hogan Award
== Professional wins (6) ==
=== PGA Tour wins (5) ===
PGA Tour playoff record (3–0)
=== Gateway Tour wins (1) ===
2013 Arizona Fall 3
== Results in major championships ==
Results not in chronological order in 2020.
LA = low amateur
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
NT = no tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic
=== Summary ===
Most consecutive cuts made – 3 (2009 U.S. Open – 2019 U.S. Open)
Longest streak of top-10s – 0
== Results in The Players Championship ==
CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
C = canceled after the first round due to the COVID-19 pandemic
== Results in World Golf Championships ==
1Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
NT = No tournament
"T" = Tied
Note that the Championship and Invitational were discontinued from 2022. The Champions was discontinued from 2023.
== Team appearances ==
Amateur
Eisenhower Trophy (representing Canada): 2008
Four Nations Cup (representing Canada): 2009 (winners)
Professional
World Cup (representing Canada): 2018 |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_S%26P_500_companies | List of S&P 500 companies | The S&P 500 is a stock market index maintained by S&P Dow Jones Indices. It comprises 503 common stocks which are issued by 500 large-cap companies traded on the American stock exchanges (including the 30 companies that compose the Dow Jones Industrial Average). The index includes about 80 percent of the American market by capitalization. It is weighted by free-float market capitalization, so more valuable companies account for relatively more weight in the index. The index constituents and the constituent weights are updated regularly using rules published by S&P Dow Jones Indices. Although called the S&P 500, the index contains 503 stocks because it includes two share classes of stock from three of its component companies (Alphabet, Fox Corporation and News Corp).
== S&P 500 component stocks ==
== Selected changes to the list of S&P 500 components ==
S&P Dow Jones Indices updates the components of the S&P 500 periodically, typically in response to acquisitions, or to keep the index up to date as various companies grow or shrink in value. Between January 1, 1963, and December 31, 2014, 1,186 index components were replaced by other components. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Team_at_the_Olympics | Unified Team at the Olympics | The Unified Team (Russian: Объединённая команда) was the name used for the sports team of the former Soviet Union
(except the Baltic states) at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville and the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. The IOC country code was EUN, after the French name, Équipe unifiée (French: [ekip ynifje]). The Unified Team was sometimes informally called the CIS Team (Commonwealth of Independent States, as a counterpart of CIS national football team taking part in Euro 1992 of the same year), although Georgia did not join the CIS until 1993.
The team finished second in the medal table at the 1992 Winter Games, and first at the 1992 Summer Games, edging its old rival the US in the latter.
== Ceremonies procedures ==
At the 1992 Winter Olympics, the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) of the constituent countries had not yet been affiliated to the IOC due to the dissolution of the Soviet Union having only taken place little more than two months prior. During the opening ceremony, the team's placard displayed Équipe unifiée in large print, with the names of the five participating countries displayed in smaller print below, and both the French and English announcers announced only the names of the participating countries without announcing the name "Unified Team". Russian flagbearer Valeriy Medvedtsev followed, carrying the Olympic Flag, followed by the team's athletes in no particular order, each carrying a small flag representing their individual country.
By the time of the 1992 Summer Olympics, the NOCs had affiliated separately, though they fielded a joint team with a standard uniform as Olympic qualifying rounds had been completed before the final demise of the Soviet Union. During the opening ceremony, the team's four-sided placard displayed "Unified Team" in the four official languages (French, English, Spanish, and Catalan), followed by Russian flagbearer Aleksandr Karelin carrying the Olympic Flag, followed by three more four-sided placards displaying the 12 constituent countries in English, followed by 12 flagbearers carrying the national flags of the 12 countries, followed by the athletes, all in no particular order. The announcers announced the name "Unified Team" in multiple languages, followed by the Spanish announcer announcing all 12 countries. During medals ceremonies, where an EUN individual won a medal, the national flag of the medalist's nation was raised rather than the Olympic flag, and a gold medalist's national anthem was played rather than the Olympic Hymn. In team events, the EUN team continued to use the Olympic flag and the Olympic Hymn, as team members represented different nations.
== Participating countries ==
While only five of the EUN countries took part in the 1992 Winter Olympics, all twelve participated in the 1992 Summer Olympics. At the 1994 Winter Olympics and the 1996 Summer Olympics, the nations that were part of the Unified Team started to make their Olympic debuts as independent countries.
* Unified Team participant in the Winter Olympic Games.
** Kyrgyzstan paraded under its former name Kirghizia, and Turkmenistan paraded under its former name Turkmenia.
=== Timeline of participation ===
== Medal tables ==
== Flag bearers ==
1992 Albertville Winter Olympics - Valeriy Medvedtsev (Biathlon)
1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics - Aleksandr Karelin (Wrestling) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_FIFA_World_Cup#Officiating | 2018 FIFA World Cup#Officiating | The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting rights in late 2010. It was the eleventh time the championships had been held in Europe and the first time they were held in Eastern Europe, also featuring one or two venues, depending on definition, located across the boundary with Asia. At an estimated cost of over $14.2 billion, it was the most expensive World Cup ever held until it was surpassed by the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
The tournament phase involved 32 teams, of which 31 came through qualifying competitions, while the host nation Russia qualified automatically. Of the 32, 20 had also appeared in the 2014 event, while Iceland and Panama each made their debut at the World Cup. 64 matches were played in 12 venues across 11 cities. Germany, the defending champions, were eliminated in the group stage for the first time since 1938. Host nation Russia was eliminated in the quarter-finals. In the final, France played Croatia on 15 July at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. France won the match 4–2, claiming their second World Cup and becoming the fourth consecutive title won by a European team, after Italy in 2006, Spain in 2010, and Germany in 2014 - a winning streak for the teams representing the same continent that extended the record broken four years earlier.
Croatian player Luka Modrić was voted the tournament's best player, winning the Golden Ball. England's Harry Kane won the Golden Boot as he scored the most goals during the tournament with six. Belgium's Thibaut Courtois won the Golden Glove, awarded to the goalkeeper with the best performance. It has been estimated that more than 3 million people attended games during the tournament.
== Host selection ==
The bidding procedure to host the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup tournaments began in January 2009, and national associations had until 2 February 2009 to register their interest. Initially, nine countries placed bids for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, but Mexico later withdrew from the proceedings, and Indonesia's bid was rejected by FIFA in February 2010 after the Indonesian government failed to submit a letter to support the bid. During the bidding process, the three remaining non-UEFA nations (Australia, Japan, and the United States) gradually withdrew from the 2018 bids, and thus all UEFA nations were ruled out of the 2022 bid. As such, there were eventually four bids for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, two of which were joint bids: England, Russia, Netherlands/Belgium, and Portugal/Spain.
The 22-member FIFA Executive Committee convened in Zürich on 2 December 2010 to vote to select the hosts of both tournaments. Russia won the right to be the 2018 host in the second round of voting. The Portugal/Spain bid came second, and that from Belgium/Netherlands third. England, which was bidding to host its second tournament, was eliminated in the first round.
The voting results were:
=== Host selection criticism ===
The choice of Russia as host was controversial. Issues included the high level of racism in Russian football, human rights abuses by Russian authorities, and discrimination against LGBT people in government (including gay propaganda laws) along with wider Russian society. Russia's annexation of Crimea had also prompted calls for the tournament to be moved. In 2014, FIFA president Sepp Blatter stated that "the World Cup has been given and voted to Russia and we are going forward with our work".
Russia was criticised for alleged abuse of migrant labourers in the construction of World Cup venues, with Human Rights Watch reporting cases where workers were left unpaid, made to work in dangerously cold conditions, or suffering reprisals for raising concerns. A few pundits claimed it was slave labour. In May 2017, FIFA president Gianni Infantino admitted there had been human rights abuses of North Korean workers involved in the construction of Saint Petersburg's Zenit Arena. By June 2017, at least 17 workers had died on World Cup construction sites, according to Building and Wood Workers' International. In August, a group of eight US senators called on FIFA to consider dismissing Russia as the World Cup host if an independent investigation verified allegations of North Koreans being subjected to forced labour.
Racism and Neo-nazi symbols displayed in the past by some Russian football fans drew criticism, with documented incidents of racial chants, banners spewing hate-filled messages, and sometimes assaults on people from the Caucasus and Central Asia. In March 2015, FIFA's then Vice-President Jeffrey Webb said that Russia posed a huge challenge from a racism standpoint, and that a World Cup could not be held there under the current conditions. On July, United Nations anti-discrimination official Yuri Boychenko said that Russian soccer authorities had failed to fully grasp what racism was and needed to do more to combat it. To address this as well as concerns of hooliganism in general, Russian intelligence services blacklisted over 400 fans from entering the stadiums by June 2018, with 32 other countries also sending officers to help local police screen attendees for valid ID cards.
Allegations of corruption in the bidding processes and concerns over bribery on the part of the Russian team and corruption by FIFA members for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups led to threats from England's FA to boycott the tournament. They claimed that four members of the executive committee had requested bribes to vote for England, and Sepp Blatter had said it had already been arranged before the vote that Russia would win. FIFA appointed Michael J. Garcia, a US attorney, to investigate and produce a report on the corruption allegations. Although the report was never published, FIFA released a 42-page summary of its findings as determined by German judge Hans-Joachim Eckert. Eckert's summary cleared Russia and Qatar of any wrongdoing, but was denounced by critics as a whitewash. Because of the controversy, the FA refused to accept Eckert's absolving Russia from blame. Greg Dyke called for a re-examination of the affair and David Bernstein called for a boycott of the World Cup. Garcia criticised the summary as being "materially incomplete" with "erroneous representations of the facts and conclusions", and appealed to FIFA's Appeal Committee. The committee declined to hear his appeal, so Garcia resigned to protest of FIFA's conduct, citing a "lack of leadership" and lack of confidence in Eckert's independence.
On 3 June 2015, the FBI confirmed that federal authorities were investigating the bidding and awarding processes for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Even so, Russia had received many terrorist threats which fuelled concern from the world on how secure the FIFA World Cup would be. Russia demonstrated its potential and has shown that they can survive and be protective while the attacks still coming. However, two significant events occurred: first, a statement was released by the Islamic State (IS) threatening attacks during the event, demonstrating their intent to instil fear in Russia. That moment had caused a lot of the talks between FIFA and leaders to even allow Russia a chance to host. The second concern, the intention of different terrorist groups intending to attack or cause harm, could not be overlooked at all. So, Russia's Counter Terrorism and had to come up with a plan to protect their country or even players from any of these attacks from happening. After all was resolved, they continued to focus on the awards processes, which were their main priority for the FIFA World Cup. In an interview published on 7 June 2015, Domenico Scala, the head of FIFA's Audit And Compliance Committee, stated that "should there be evidence that the awards to Qatar and Russia came only because of bought votes, then the awards could be cancelled". Prince William of Wales and former British Prime Minister David Cameron attended a meeting with FIFA vice-president Chung Mong-joon in which a vote-trading deal for the right to host the 2018 World Cup in England was discussed.
== Teams ==
=== Qualification ===
For the first time in the history of the FIFA World Cup, all eligible nations—the 209 FIFA member associations except automatically qualified hosts Russia—applied to enter the qualifying process. Zimbabwe and Indonesia were later disqualified before playing their first matches, while Gibraltar and Kosovo, who joined FIFA on 13 May 2016 after the qualifying draw but before European qualifying had begun, also entered the competition. Places in the tournament were allocated to continental confederations, with the allocation unchanged from the 2014 World Cup. The first qualification game, between Timor-Leste and Mongolia, began in Dili on 12 March 2015 as part of the AFC's qualification, and the main qualifying draw took place at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg, on 25 July 2015.
Of the 32 nations qualified to play at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, 20 countries competed at the previous tournament in 2014.
==== Debutants and returnees ====
Both Iceland and Panama qualified for the first time, with the former becoming the smallest country in terms of population to reach the World Cup.
Egypt returned to the finals after their last appearance in 1990
Morocco returned to the finals after their last appearance in 1998
Peru returned to the finals after their last appearance in 1982
Senegal, competing for the second time after reaching the quarter-finals in 2002.
Poland, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Sweden returned after 12 years.
Denmark and Serbia returned after missing the previous tournament in 2014.
It was the first time three Nordic countries (Denmark, Iceland and Sweden) and four Arab nations (Egypt, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia) qualified for the World Cup.
The lowest-ranked team to qualify was the host nation, Russia.
==== Absentees ====
Italy failed to qualify for the first time since 1958.
Netherlands missed out for the first time since 2002.
United States for the first time since 1986, failed to qualify.
Two-time Copa América champions and 2017 Confederations Cup runners-up, Chile, couldn't advance.
Ghana and Ivory Coast all failed to qualify after making the three previous tournaments.
As of 2025, this was the last time Russia, Sweden, Peru, and Nigeria qualified for the World Cup finals, the only time Iceland have qualified, and the last time the Netherlands, Wales, Canada, the United States, Ecuador, Ghana, and Qatar failed to qualify.
=== Draw ===
The draw was held on 1 December 2017 at 18:00 MSK at the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow. The draw was conducted by former football player Gary Lineker and many celebrities helped with the draw such as Diego Maradona, Fabio Cannavaro, Cafu, Diego Forlán, Gordon Banks, Carles Puyol, Laurent Blanc and former Russian player Nikita Simonyan. The 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four, by selecting one team from each of the four ranked pots.
For the draw, the teams were allocated to four pots based entirely on the FIFA World Rankings of October 2017. Pot one contained the hosts Russia (who were automatically assigned to position A1) and the best seven teams. Pot two contained the next best eight teams, and so on for pots three and four. This was different from previous draws, when only pot one was based on FIFA rankings while the remaining pots were based on geographical considerations. However, teams from the same confederation still were not drawn against each other for the group stage, except that two UEFA teams could be in each group. The pots for the draw are shown below.
== Squads ==
Initially, each team had to name a preliminary squad of 30 players, but in February 2018 this was increased to 35. From the preliminary squad, the team had to name a final squad of 23 players (three of whom had to be goalkeepers) by 4 June. Players in the final squad could be replaced for serious injury up to 24 hours prior to kickoff of the team's first match. These replacements did not need to have been named in the preliminary squad.
For players named in the 35-player preliminary squad, there was a mandatory rest period between 21 and 27 May 2018, except for those involved in the 2018 UEFA Champions League Final played on 26 May.
== Officiating ==
On 29 March 2018, FIFA released the list of 36 referees and 63 assistant referees selected to oversee matches. On 30 April 2018, FIFA released the list of 13 video assistant referees, who acted solely in this capacity in the tournament.
Referee Fahad Al-Mirdasi of Saudi Arabia was removed on 30 May 2018 over a match-fixing attempt, along with his two assistant referees, compatriots Mohammed Al-Abakry and Abdulah Al-Shalwai. A new referee was not appointed, but two assistant referees, Hasan Al Mahri of the United Arab Emirates and Hiroshi Yamauchi of Japan, were added to the list. Assistant referee Marwa Range of Kenya also withdrew after the BBC released an investigation conducted by a Ghanaian journalist which implicated him in a bribery scandal.
=== Video assistant referees ===
Shortly after the International Football Association Board's decision to incorporate video assistant referees (VARs) into the Laws of the game (LOTG) on 16 March 2018, the FIFA Council took the much-anticipated step of approving the use of VAR for the first time in a FIFA World Cup tournament.
VAR operations for all games were operated from a single headquarters in Moscow, which received live video of the games and were in radio contact with the on-field referees. Systems were in place for communicating VAR-related information to broadcasters and visuals on stadiums' large screens were used for the fans in attendance.
VAR had a significant impact on several games. On 15 June 2018, Diego Costa's first goal against Portugal became the first World Cup goal based on a VAR decision; the first penalty as a result of a VAR decision was awarded to France in their match against Australia on 16 June and resulted in a goal by Antoine Griezmann. A record number of penalties were awarded in the tournament, a phenomenon partially attributed to VAR. Overall, the new technology was both praised and criticised by commentators. FIFA declared the implementation of VAR a success after the first week of competition.
== Venues ==
Russia proposed the following host cities: Kaliningrad, Kazan, Krasnodar, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don, Saint Petersburg, Samara, Saransk, Sochi, Volgograd, Yaroslavl, and Yekaterinburg. To reduce travel time for the teams in the huge country, each chosen city was located in or close to European Russia (those geographically in Asia being Yekaterinburg and, according to some definitions for the border, Sochi). The bid evaluation report stated: "The Russian bid proposes 13 host cities and 16 stadiums, thus exceeding FIFA's minimum requirement. Three of the 16 stadiums would be renovated, and 13 would be newly constructed."
In October 2011, Russia reduced the number of stadiums from 16 to 14. Construction of the proposed Podolsk stadium in the Moscow Oblast was cancelled by the regional government. Also, in the capital, Otkritie Arena was competing with Dynamo Stadium over which would be constructed first.
The final choice of host cities was announced on 29 September 2012. The number of cities was reduced further to 11 and the number of stadiums to 12 as Krasnodar and Yaroslavl were dropped from the final list. Of the 12 stadiums used for the tournament, three (Luzhniki, Yekaterinburg and Sochi) had been extensively renovated and the other nine were brand new; $11.8 billion was spent on hosting the tournament.
Sepp Blatter had said in July 2014 that, given the concerns over the completion of venues in Russia, the number of venues for the tournament may be reduced from 12 to 10. He also said, "We are not going to be in a situation, as is the case of one, two or even three stadiums in South Africa, where it is a problem of what you do with these stadiums".
In October 2014, on their first official visit to Russia, FIFA's inspection committee and its head, Chris Unger, visited St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan and both Moscow venues. They were satisfied with the progress. On 8 October 2015, FIFA and the local organising committee agreed on the official names of the stadiums to be used during the tournament. Of the twelve venues, the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow and the Saint Petersburg Stadium—the two largest stadiums in Russia—were used most; both hosted seven matches. Sochi, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod and Samara each hosted six matches, including one quarter-final match each, while the Otkritie Stadium in Moscow and the Rostov Stadium hosted five matches, including one round-of-16 match each. Volgograd, Kaliningrad, Yekaterinburg and Saransk each hosted four matches, but did not host any knockout stage games.
=== Stadiums ===
Twelve stadiums in eleven Russian cities were built or renovated for the FIFA World Cup. Between 2010 (when Russia were announced as hosts) and 2018, nine of the twelve stadiums were built (some in place of older, outdated venues) and the other three were renovated for the tournament.
Kaliningrad: Kaliningrad Stadium (new). The first piles were driven into the ground in September 2015. On 11 April 2018 it hosted its first match.
Kazan: Kazan Arena (new). The stadium was built for the 2013 Summer Universiade. It has since hosted the 2015 World Aquatics Championships and the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup. It serves as a home arena for FC Rubin Kazan.
Moscow: Luzhniki Stadium (heavily renovated). The largest stadium in the country, it was closed for renovation in 2013. It was commissioned in November 2017.
Moscow: Spartak Stadium (new). This stadium is the home arena to its namesake FC Spartak Moscow. In accordance with FIFA requirements, during the 2018 World Cup, it was called Spartak Stadium instead of its usual name Otkritie Arena. It hosted its first match on 5 September 2014.
Nizhny Novgorod: Nizhny Novgorod Stadium (new). Construction of this stadium commenced in 2015 and was completed in December 2017.
Rostov-on-Don: Rostov Arena (new). The stadium is located on the left bank of the Don. Construction was completed on 22 December 2017.
Saint Petersburg: Saint Petersburg Stadium (new). Construction commenced in 2007 after the site, formerly occupied by Kirov Stadium, was cleared. The project was officially completed on 29 December 2016. It has hosted 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup games and served as a venue for UEFA Euro 2020.
Samara: Samara Arena (new). Construction officially started on 21 July 2014 and was completed on 21 April 2018.
Saransk: Mordovia Arena (new). The stadium in Saransk was scheduled to be commissioned in 2012 in time for the opening of the all-Russian Spartakiad, but the plan was revised. The opening was rescheduled to 2017. The arena hosted its first match on 21 April 2018.
Sochi: Fisht Stadium (slightly renovated). This stadium was opened in 2013 and subsequently hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2014 Winter Olympics. Afterwards, it was renovated in preparation for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and the 2018 World Cup.
Volgograd: Volgograd Arena (new). The main Volgograd arena was built on the demolished Central Stadium site, at the foot of the Mamayev Kurgan memorial complex. It was commissioned on 3 April 2018.
Yekaterinburg: Ekaterinburg Arena (heavily renovated). The Central Stadium of Yekaterinburg had been renovated for the FIFA World Cup. Its stands have a capacity of 35,000 spectators. The renovation project was completed in December 2017.
=== Team base camps ===
Base camps were used by the 32 national squads to stay and train before and during the World Cup tournament. On 9 February 2018, FIFA announced the base camps for each participating team.
== Preparation and costs ==
=== Budget ===
At an estimated cost of over $14.2 billion as of June 2018, the 2018 FIFA event was the most expensive World Cup in history, surpassing the $11.6 billion cost of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
The Russian government had originally earmarked a budget of around $20 billion, which was later slashed to $10 billion, for World Cup preparations. Half was spent on transportation infrastructure. As part of the program to prepare for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, a federal sub-program—"Construction and Renovation of Transport Infrastructure"—was implemented with a total budget of ₽352.5 billion (rubles), with ₽170.3 billion coming from the federal budget, ₽35.1 billion from regional budgets, and ₽147.1 billion from investors. The biggest item of federal spending was the aviation infrastructure costing ₽117.8 billion. Construction of new hotels was a crucial area of infrastructure development in World Cup host cities. Costs continued to mount as preparations were underway.
=== Infrastructure spending ===
Platov International Airport in Rostov-on-Don was upgraded with automated air traffic control systems. Modern surveillance, navigation, communication, control, and meteorological support systems were also installed. Koltsovo Airport in Yekaterinburg was upgraded with radio-engineering tools for flight operation and received a second runway. Saransk Airport received a new navigation system; two new hotels were constructed in the city—the Mercure Saransk Centre (Accor Hotels) and Four Points by Sheraton Saransk as well as few other smaller accommodation facilities. In Samara, new tram lines were laid. Khrabrovo Airport in Kaliningrad was upgraded with radio navigation and weather equipment. Renovation and upgraded radio-engineering tools for flight operations was completed in the Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Volgograd, Samara, Yekaterinburg, Kazan and Sochi airports. On 27 March, the Russian Ministry of Construction Industry, Housing and Utilities Sector of reported that all communications within its area of responsibility had been commissioned. The last facility commissioned was a waste treatment station in Volgograd. In Yekaterinburg, where four matches were hosted, hosting costs increased to over ₽7.4 billion, exceeding the ₽5.6 billion rubles originally allocated from the state and regional budget.
=== Volunteers ===
Volunteer applications to the 2018 Russia Local Organising Committee opened on 1 June 2016. The 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia Volunteer Program received about 177,000 applications, and engaged a total of 35,000 volunteers. They received training at 15 Volunteer Centres of the local organising committee based in 15 universities, and in volunteer centres in the host cities. Preference, especially in key areas, was given to those with knowledge of a foreign language and volunteering experience, but not necessarily to Russian nationals.
=== Transport ===
Free public transport services were offered for ticketholders during the World Cup, including additional trains linking host cities, as well as services such as bus services within them.
== Schedule ==
The full schedule was announced by FIFA on 24 July 2015 without kick-off times, which were confirmed later. On 1 December 2017, following the final draw, FIFA adjusted six kick-off times.
Russia was placed in position A1 in the group stage and played in the opening match at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on 14 June against Saudi Arabia, the two lowest-ranked teams of the tournament at the time of the final draw. The Luzhniki Stadium also hosted the second semi-final on 11 July and the final on 15 July. The Krestovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg hosted the first semi-final on 10 July and the match for third place on 14 July.
== Opening ceremony ==
The opening ceremony took place on Thursday, 14 June 2018, at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, preceding the opening match of the tournament between hosts Russia and Saudi Arabia.
At the start of the ceremony, Russian president Vladimir Putin gave a speech, welcoming the countries of the world to Russia and calling football a uniting force. Brazilian World Cup-winning striker Ronaldo entered the stadium with a child in a Russia jersey. Pop singer Robbie Williams then sang two of his songs solo before he and Russian soprano Aida Garifullina performed a duet. Dancers dressed in the flags of the 32 competing teams appeared carrying a sign with the name of each nation. At the end of the ceremony Ronaldo reappeared with the official match ball which had returned from the International Space Station in early June.
Young participants of the international children's social programme Football for Friendship from 211 countries and regions took part in the opening ceremony of the FIFA World Cup at the Luzhniki stadium.
== Group stage ==
Competing countries were divided into eight groups of four teams (groups A to H). Teams in each group played one another in a round-robin, with the top two teams advancing to the knockout stage. Ten European teams and four South American teams progressed to the knockout stage, together with Japan and Mexico.
For the first time since 1938, Germany, the reigning champions, were eliminated in the first round. This was the third consecutive tournament in which the holders were eliminated in the first round, after Italy in 2010 and Spain in 2014. No African team progressed to the second round for the first time since 1982. The fair play criteria came into use for the first time when Japan qualified over Senegal because the team had received fewer yellow cards. Only one match, Denmark versus France, was goalless. Until then there were a record 36 straight games in which at least one goal was scored. All times listed below are local time.
=== Group A ===
=== Group B ===
=== Group C ===
=== Group D ===
=== Group E ===
=== Group F ===
=== Group G ===
=== Group H ===
== Knockout stage ==
In the knockout stages, if a match was level at the end of normal playing time, extra time was played (two periods of 15 minutes each) and followed, if necessary, by a penalty shoot-out to determine the winners. If a match went into extra time, each team was allowed to make a fourth substitution, the first time this had been allowed in a FIFA World Cup tournament. Below is the bracket for the knockout round of the tournament, teams in bold denote match winners.
=== Bracket ===
=== Round of 16 ===
=== Quarter-finals ===
=== Semi-finals ===
=== Match for third place ===
=== Final ===
== Statistics ==
=== Goalscorers ===
There were 169 goals scored in 64 matches, for an average of 2.64 goals per match.
Twelve own goals were scored during the tournament, doubling the record of six set in 1998.
Goals scored from penalty shoot-outs are not counted towards an individual player's goal count.
6 goals
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
1 own goal
Source: FIFA
=== Discipline ===
In total, only four players were sent off in the entire tournament, the fewest since 1978. International Football Association Board technical director David Elleray stated a belief that this was due to the introduction of VAR, since players would know that they would not be able to get away with anything under the new system.
A player is automatically suspended for the next match for the following offences:
Receiving a red card (red card suspensions may be extended for serious offences)
Receiving two yellow cards in two matches; yellow cards expire after the completion of the quarter-finals (yellow card suspensions are not carried forward to any other future international matches)
The following suspensions were served during the tournament:
== Awards ==
The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament. The Golden Boot (top scorer), Golden Ball (best overall player) and Golden Glove (best goalkeeper) awards were all sponsored by Adidas.
=== Dream Team ===
The users of FIFA.com elected their Fan Dream Team.
Additionally, FIFA.com shortlisted 18 goals for users to vote on as the tournament's best. The poll closed on 23 July. The award was sponsored by Hyundai.
=== All-Star Team ===
FIFA published an All-Star Team, this year called the Fantasy Team, based on player performances evaluated through statistical data.
=== Prize money ===
Prize money amounts were announced in October 2017.
== Marketing ==
=== Branding ===
The tournament logo was unveiled on 28 October 2014 by cosmonauts at the International Space Station and then projected onto Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre during an evening television programme. Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said the logo was inspired by "Russia's rich artistic tradition and its history of bold achievement and innovation", and FIFA president Sepp Blatter stated that it reflected the "heart and soul" of the country. For branding, Portuguese design agency Brandia Central created materials in 2014, with a typeface called Dusha – душа (Russian for 'soul') – designed by Brandia Central and edited by Adotbelow of the DSType Foundry in Portugal.
=== Ticketing ===
The first phase of ticket sales started on 14 September 2017, 12:00 Moscow Time, and lasted until 12 October 2017.
The general visa policy of Russia did not apply to participants and spectators, who were able to visit Russia without a visa right before and during the competition regardless of their citizenship. Spectators were nonetheless required to register for a "Fan-ID", a special photo identification pass. A Fan-ID was required to enter the country visa-free, while a ticket, Fan-ID and a valid passport were required to enter stadiums for matches. Fan-IDs also granted World Cup attendees free access to public transport services, including buses, and train service between host cities. Fan-ID was administered by the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media, which could revoke this accreditation at any time to "ensure the defence capability or security of the state or public order".
=== Merchandise ===
On 29 May 2018, Electronic Arts released a free update to their video game FIFA 18 that added content related to the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The expansion included a World Cup tournament mode with all teams and stadiums from the event, official television presentation elements, and World Cup-related content for the Ultimate Team mode.
Panini continued their partnership with FIFA by producing stickers for their World Cup sticker album. Panini also developed an app for the 2018 World Cup where fans could collect and swap virtual stickers, with 5 million fans gathering digital stickers for the tournament.
== Symbols ==
=== Mascot ===
The tournament's official mascot was unveiled on 21 October 2016, and selected through a design competition among university students. A public vote was used to select the mascot from three finalists—a cat, a tiger, and a wolf. The winner, with 53% or approximately 1 million votes, was Zabivaka—an anthropomorphic wolf dressed in the colours of the Russian national team. Zabivaka's name is a portmanteau of the Russian words забияка ("hothead") and забивать ("to score"), and his official backstory states that he is an aspiring football player who is "charming, confident and social".
=== Match ball ===
The official match ball, the "Telstar 18", was unveiled on 9 November 2017. It was based on the name and design of the first Adidas World Cup ball from 1970. A special red-coloured variation, "Telstar Mechta", was used for the knockout stage of the tournament. The word mechta (Russian: мечта) means "dream" or "ambition".
Goalkeepers noted that the ball was slippery and prone to having unpredictable trajectory. In addition, two Telstar 18 balls popped in the midst of a first-round match between France and Australia, leading to further discussions over the ball's performance.
=== Music ===
The official song of the tournament was "Live It Up", with vocals by Will Smith, Nicky Jam and Era Istrefi, released on 25 May 2018. Its music video was released on 8 June 2018.
== Controversies ==
Thirty-three footballers who were alleged to be part of the Russian steroid programme are listed in the McLaren Report. On 22 December 2017, it was reported that FIFA had fired a doctor who had been investigating doping in Russian football. On 22 May 2018, FIFA stated that the investigations concerning all Russian players named for the provisional squad of the FIFA World Cup in Russia had been completed, with the result that insufficient evidence was found to support anti-doping rule violations. FIFA's medical committee also decided that Russian personnel would not be involved in performing drug testing procedures at the tournament, an action taken to reassure teams that samples would not be tampered with.
Russia relaxed its visa rules during the World Cup, allowing Fan ID holders to enter and exit Russia without a visa through 31 December 2018. Traffickers exploited this system to bring foreign sex trafficking victims into the country, especially from Nigeria. Reuters had raised concerns about the victims' conditions, who had allegedly been forced into prostitution, with some of them enduring violent abuse. Russian authorities were accused of doing little to fix to the issue, allegedly because many locals blamed the victims for falling into prostitution.
=== Response to Skripal poisoning ===
In response to the March 2018 poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, British prime minister Theresa May announced that no British ministers or members of the royal family would attend the World Cup, and issued a warning to any travelling England fans. Russia responded to the comments from the UK Parliament claiming that the West are trying to "take the World Cup out of Russia". The Russian Foreign Ministry denounced Boris Johnson's statements that compared the event to the 1936 Olympics held in Nazi Germany as "poisoned with venom of hate, unprofessionalism and boorishness" and "unacceptable and unworthy" parallel towards Russia, a "nation that lost millions of lives in fighting Nazism".
== Critical reception ==
At the close of the World Cup, Russia was widely praised for its success in hosting the tournament, with Steve Rosenberg of the BBC deeming it "a resounding public relations success" for Putin, adding: "The stunning new stadiums, free train travel to venues and the absence of crowd violence has impressed visiting supporters. Russia has come across as friendly and hospitable: a stark contrast with the country's authoritarian image. All the foreign fans I have spoken to are pleasantly surprised."
Despite the British Foreign Office and MPs repeatedly warning English football fans travelling to Russia of "racist or homophobic intimidation, hooligan violence and anti-British hostility", fans who did travel said they received a warm welcome from ordinary citizens after arriving in Russia.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino stated: "Everyone discovered a beautiful country, a welcoming country, that is keen to show the world that everything that has been said before might not be true. A lot of preconceived ideas have been changed because people have seen the true nature of Russia." Infantino has proclaimed Russia 2018 to be "the best World Cup ever." 98 per cent of the stadiums were sold out, there were 3 billion viewers on TV around the world and 7 million fans visited the fan fests. It was the most viewed World Cup to date, and the third most viewed television broadcast, surpassing the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
== Broadcasting rights ==
FIFA, through several companies, sold the broadcasting rights for the 2018 FIFA World Cup to various local broadcasters. After having tested the technology at limited matches of the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, and the 2014 FIFA World Cup (via private tests and public viewings in the host city of Rio de Janeiro), the 2018 World Cup was the first World Cup in which all matches were produced in 4K ultra high definition. Host Broadcast Services (HBS) stated that at least 75% of the broadcast cut of each match would come from 4K cameras (covering the majority of main angles), with instant replays and some camera angles being converted up from 1080p high definition sources with limited degradation in quality. These broadcasts were made available from selected rightsholders and television providers.
In February 2018, Ukrainian rightsholder UA:PBC stated that it would not broadcast the World Cup due to existing tensions with Russia amidst the Russo-Ukrainian War. This came in the wake of growing boycott of the tournament by the Football Federation of Ukraine and sports minister Ihor Zhdanov. Additionally, the FFU refused to accredit journalists for the World Cup and waived their quota of tickets. However, the Ukrainian state TV still broadcast the World Cup, and more than 4 million Ukrainians watched the opening match.
Broadcast rights to the tournament in the Middle East were hampered by an ongoing diplomatic crisis in Qatar, which saw Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates cut diplomatic ties with Qatar—the home country of FIFA's Middle East and Africa rightsholder beIN Sports—in June 2017, over its alleged state support of terrorist groups. On 2 June 2018, beIN pulled its channels from Du and Etisalat, but with service to the latter restored later that day. Etisalat subsequently announced that it would air the World Cup in the UAE, and continue to offer beIN normally and without interruptions. In Saudi Arabia, beIN was banned from doing business; as a result, its channels and other content have been widely and illegally repackaged by a broadcaster identifying itself as "beoutQ". While FIFA attempted to negotiate the sale of a package consisting of Saudi matches and the final indirectly, they were unable to do so. On 12 July 2018, FIFA stated that it had "engaged counsel to take legal action in Saudi Arabia and is working alongside other sports rights owners that have also been affected to protect its interests."
In the United States, the 2018 World Cup was the first men's World Cup whose English rights were held by Fox Sports, and Spanish rights held by Telemundo. The elimination of the United States in the qualifiers led to concerns that US interest and viewership of this World Cup would be reduced, noting that "casual" viewers of US matches caused them to peak at 16.5 million in 2014, and determined how much Fox paid for the rights. During a launch event prior to the elimination, Fox stated that it had planned to place a secondary focus on the Mexican team in its coverage to take advantage of their popularity among Hispanic and Latino Americans. Fox stated that it was still committed to broadcasting a significant amount of tournament coverage. Viewership was down overall compared to 2014; match scheduling and time zones were not as favourable to viewers in the Americas as they were in 2014. Many games aired in the morning hours, although Telemundo's broadcast of the Mexico-Sweden Group F match was announced as being its most-watched weekday daytime program in the network's history.
Unlike previous tournaments, where the rights were bundled with those of South Korea, Korean Central Television acquired rights to the 2018 World Cup within North Korea. Broadcasts only began with the round of 16, and matches were tape delayed and edited for time. In addition, matches involving Japan were excluded from the broadcasts, due to strained relations and campaigns against the country.
== Sponsorship ==
The sponsors of the 2018 World Cup are divided into four categories: FIFA Partners, FIFA World Cup Sponsors and African, Asian and European supporters. This marks the first time a FIFA World Cup is sponsored by supporters from three different regions.
== Audience ==
A combined 3.572 billion unique viewers (live global 1-minute reach) – more than half of the global population aged four and over – tuned in to world football's ultimate competition, according to audience data for official broadcast coverage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
The average global live audience for every game of the tournament was 191 million viewers (for a cumulative live audience of 12.224 billion viewers), a 2.1% increase over the 2014 tournament average of 187 million viewers, including that average audience in the early stages (group stage and round of 16) were bigger than in 2014. However, in 2018, the audience was 15 per cent smaller for the semi-finals, 17 per cent for the match for third place, and 5.1 per cent for the final, which was watched by 517 million people on average (only in-home TV viewers), compared to 545 million in 2014. Presumably, the reason for that is the smaller countries involved in the top four games compared to those in 2014, and only one global region (Europe) being represented in 2018 (compared to South America and Europe in 2014). However the live global 1-minute reach of the final was 1.12 billion people (884.37 in-home TV viewers and 231.82 million out-of-home or digital-only viewers). |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suharto | Suharto | Suharto (8 June 1921 – 27 January 2008) was an Indonesian military officer and politician who served as the second and longest-serving president of Indonesia from 1967 to 1998. Widely regarded as a military dictator by international observers, Suharto led Indonesia as an authoritarian regime from 1967 until his resignation in 1998 following nationwide unrest. His 31-year dictatorship is considered one of the most brutal and corrupt of the 20th century: he was central to the perpetration of mass killings against alleged communists and subsequent persecution of ethnic Chinese, irreligious people, and trade unionists.
Suharto was born in Kemusuk, near the city of Yogyakarta, during the Dutch colonial era. He grew up in humble circumstances. His Javanese Muslim parents divorced not long after his birth, and he lived with foster parents for much of his childhood. During the Japanese occupation, Suharto served in the Japanese-organized Indonesian security forces. During Indonesia's independence struggle, he joined the newly formed Indonesian Army and rose to the rank of major general some time after full Indonesian independence was achieved. An attempted coup on 30 September and 1 October 1965 was countered by Suharto-led troops. The army subsequently led a nationwide violent anti-communist purge. In March 1967, the MPRS appointed Suharto as acting president, and he was appointed president the following year. When Suharto came to power, inflation was running at over 650%. He appointed an economic advisory group that implemented free market policies, and by 1969 the country entered a period of price stability. Suharto ordered an invasion of East Timor in 1975, followed by a 23-year occupation of the country and genocide.
Under his "New Order" regime, Suharto established a strong, centralised government dominated by the military, evolving from an initial oligarchic military dictatorship into a deeply authoritarian state centred on a cult of personality that elevated him as the nation's undisputed leader. His staunch anti-communist stance and ability to maintain political stability across Indonesia's vast and diverse archipelago secured significant economic and diplomatic backing from Western powers, particularly the United States, during the Cold War. During much of his presidency, Indonesia underwent rapid industrialisation, sustained economic growth (with GDP growing at around 7% per annum,) improved education, and a rise in domestic entrepreneurship, developments that led the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) to name him "Father of Development" (Indonesian: Bapak Pembangunan) in 1982. In 1986, he was awarded the Ceres Medal by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for achieving self-sufficiency in rice production. However, by the 1990s, his regime's increasing authoritarianism and widespread corruption fueled public dissatisfaction, which reached a breaking point during the 1997 Asian financial crisis that plunged the country into economic turmoil and widespread unrest. Under immense pressure, Suharto resigned in May 1998 after more than three decades in power.
Suharto died in January 2008 and received a state military funeral with full honors. The Indonesian government declared a week of national mourning. Suharto's 32-year presidency and legacy are highly divisive, and he remains a controversial figure within the Indonesian general public. He has been praised for making Indonesia into an economic success story, bringing stability to the region particularly during the Cold War period, and leading Indonesia when it played a significant role in international affairs. Others denounce his authoritarian rule, widespread corruption, and extensive human rights violations (such as a violent anti-communist purge prior to his rule and subsequent repression of Chinese culture in Indonesia).
== Name ==
Like many Javanese, Suharto had only one name. The spelling "Suharto" reflects modern Indonesian orthography, although the general approach in Indonesia is to rely on the spelling preferred by the person concerned. At the time of his birth, the standard transcription was "Soeharto", and he used the original spelling throughout his life. The international English-language press generally uses the spelling "Suharto", while the Indonesian government and media use "Soeharto".
After completing the Hajj in 1991, he was given the Islamic name "Mohammad" by King Fahd of Saudi Arabia and received the honorific title Hajji. Throughout the 1990s and until his death, Suharto used the name "Haji Mohammad Suharto".
== Early life and family ==
Suharto was born on 8 June 1921 in a plaited-bamboo-walled house in the hamlet of Kemusuk, a part of the larger village of Godean, then part of the Dutch East Indies. The village is 15 kilometres (9 mi) west of Yogyakarta, the cultural heartland of the Javanese. Born to ethnic Javanese parents, he was the only child of his father's second marriage. His father, Kertosudiro, had two children from his previous marriage and was a village irrigation official. His mother, Sukirah, a local woman, was distantly related to Hamengkubuwono V by his first concubine. Five weeks after Suharto's birth, his mother suffered a nervous breakdown; he was placed in the care of his paternal great-aunt, Kromodirjo as a result. Kertosudiro and Sukirah divorced early in Suharto's life and both later remarried. At the age of three, Suharto was returned to his mother, who had married a local farmer whom Suharto helped in the rice paddies. In 1929, Suharto's father took him to live with his sister, who was married to an agricultural supervisor, Prawirowihardjo, in the town of Wuryantoro in a poor and low-yielding farming area near Wonogiri. Over the following two years, he was taken back to his mother in Kemusuk by his stepfather and then back again to Wuryantoro by his father.
Prawirowihardjo took to raising the boy as his own, which provided Suharto with a father-figure and a stable home in Wuryantoro. In 1931, he moved to the town of Wonogiri to attend the primary school, living first with Prawirohardjo's son Sulardi, and later with his father's relative Hardjowijono. While living with Hardjowijono, Suharto became acquainted with Darjatmo, a dukun ("shaman") of Javanese mystical arts and faith healing. The experience deeply affected him and later, as president, Suharto surrounded himself with powerful symbolic language. Difficulties in paying the fees for his education in Wonogiri resulted in another move back to his father in Kemusuk, where he continued studying at a lower-fee Schakel Muhammadiyah (middle school) in the city of Yogyakarta until 1938. Suharto's upbringing contrasts with that of leading Indonesian nationalists such as Sukarno in that he is believed to have had little interest in anti-colonialism, or political concerns beyond his immediate surroundings. Unlike Sukarno and his circle, Suharto had little or no contact with European colonisers. Consequently, he did not learn to speak Dutch or other European languages in his youth. He learned to speak Dutch after his induction into the Dutch military in 1940.
== Military service ==
=== Japanese occupation period ===
Suharto finished middle school at the age of 18 and took a clerical job at a bank in Wuryantaro. He was forced to resign after a bicycle mishap tore his only working clothes. Following a spell of unemployment, he joined the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) in June 1940 and undertook basic training in Gombong near Yogyakarta. With the Netherlands under German occupation and the Japanese pressing for access to Indonesian oil supplies, the Dutch had opened up the KNIL to large intakes of previously excluded Javanese. Suharto was assigned to Battalion XIII at Rampal, graduated from a short training course at KNIL Kadetschool in Gombong to become a sergeant, and was posted to a KNIL reserve battalion in Cisarua. Following the Dutch surrender to the invading Japanese forces in March 1942, Suharto abandoned his KNIL uniform and went back to Wurjantoro. After months of unemployment, he then became one of the thousands of Indonesians who took the opportunity to join Japanese-organized security forces by joining the Yogyakarta police force.
In October 1943, Suharto was transferred from the police force to the newly formed Japanese-sponsored militia, the Pembela Tanah Air (PETA) in which Indonesians served as officers. In his training to serve with the rank of shodancho (platoon commander) he encountered a localised version of the Japanese bushido, or "way of the warrior," used to indoctrinate troops. This training encouraged an anti-Dutch and pro-nationalist thought, although toward the aims of the Imperial Japanese militarists. The encounter with a nationalistic and militarist ideology is believed to have profoundly influenced Suharto's own way of thinking. Suharto was posted to a PETA coastal defense battalion at Wates, south of Yogyakarta until he was admitted for training for chudancho (company commander) in Bogor from April to August 1944. As company commander, he conducted training for new PETA recruits in Surakarta, Jakarta, and Madiun. The Japanese surrender and Proclamation of Indonesian Independence in August 1945 occurred while Suharto was posted to the remote Brebeg area (on the slopes of Mount Wilis) to train new NCOs to replace those executed by the Japanese in the aftermath of the failed February 1945 PETA Revolt in Blitar, led by Supriyadi.
=== Indonesian National Revolution ===
Two days after the Japanese surrender in the Pacific, independence leaders Sukarno and Hatta declared Indonesian independence and were appointed president and vice-president respectively of the new Republic. Suharto disbanded his regiment under orders from the Japanese command and returned to Yogyakarta. As republican groups rose to assert Indonesian independence, Suharto joined a new unit of the newly formed Indonesian army. Based on his PETA experience, he was appointed deputy commander, and subsequently, a battalion commander when the republican forces were formally organized in October 1945. Suharto was involved in fighting against Allied troops around Magelang and Semarang and was subsequently appointed the head of a brigade as lieutenant-colonel, having earned respect as a field commander. In the early years of the war, he organized local armed forces into Battalion X of Regiment I; Suharto was promoted to Major and became Battalion X's leader. The arrival of the Allies, under a mandate to return the situation to the status quo ante bellum, quickly led to clashes between Indonesian republicans and Allied forces, i.e. returning Dutch and assisting British forces.
Suharto led his Division X troops to halt an advance by the Dutch T ("Tiger") Brigade on 17 May 1946. It earned him the respect of Lieutenant-Colonel Sunarto Kusumodirjo, who invited him to draft the working guidelines for the Battle Leadership Headquarters (MPP), a body created to organize and unify the command structure of the Indonesian Nationalist forces. The military forces of the still infant Republic of Indonesia were constantly restructuring. By August 1946, Suharto was head of the 22nd Regiment of Division III (the "Diponegoro Division") stationed in Yogyakarta. In late 1946, the Diponegoro Division assumed responsibility for the defence of the west and southwest of Yogyakarta from Dutch forces. Conditions at the time are reported by Dutch sources as miserable; Suharto himself is reported as assisting smuggling syndicates in the transport of opium through the territory he controlled, to generate income. In September 1948, Suharto was dispatched to meet Musso, chairman of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) in an unsuccessful attempt at a peaceful reconciliation of the communist uprising in Madiun.
In December 1948, the Dutch launched "Operation Kraai," which resulted in the capture of Sukarno and Hatta and the capital Yogyakarta. Suharto was appointed to lead the Wehrkreise III, consisting of two battalions, which waged guerrilla warfare against the Dutch from the hills south of Yogyakarta. In dawn raids on 1 March 1949, Suharto's forces and local militia recaptured the city, holding it until noon. Suharto's later accounts had him as the lone plotter, although other sources say Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX of Yogyakarta, and the Panglima of the Third Division ordered the attack. However, General Abdul Nasution said that Suharto took great care in preparing the "General Offensive" (Indonesian: Serangan Umum). Civilians sympathetic to the Republican cause within the city had been galvanised by the show of force which proved that the Dutch had failed to win the guerrilla war. Internationally, the United Nations Security Council pressured the Dutch to cease the military offensive and to recommence negotiations, which eventually led to the Dutch withdrawal from the Yogyakarta area in June 1949 and to complete transfer of sovereignty in December 1949. Suharto was responsible for the takeover of Yogyakarta city from the withdrawing Dutch in June 1949.
During the Revolution, Suharto married Siti Hartinah (known as Tien), the daughter of a minor noble in the Mangkunegaran royal house of Solo. The arranged marriage was enduring and supportive, lasting until Tien's death in 1996. The couple had six children: Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana (Tutut, born 1949), Sigit Harjojudanto (born 1951), Bambang Trihatmodjo (born 1953), Siti Hediati Hariyadi (Titiek, born 1959), Hutomo Mandala Putra (Tommy, born 1962), and Siti Hutami Endang Adiningish (Mamiek, born 1964). It was characteristic of a military family's life that three of their children were born when Suharto was on duty and away from his family. Their first child was born when Suharto was fighting in a guerrilla war outside of Yogyakarta. He did not see their first daughter for three months after her birth. Their second child, a son, was born while Suharto was serving in South Sulawesi. Another, their fifth child (and third son), was born when he was leading the Mandala Command for the Liberation of West Irian.
=== Post-independence career ===
In the years following Indonesian independence, Suharto served in the Indonesian National Army, primarily in Java. In 1950, as a colonel, he led the Garuda Brigade in suppressing the Makassar uprising, a rebellion of former colonial soldiers who supported the Dutch-established State of East Indonesia and its federal entity, the United States of Indonesia. During his year in Makassar, Suharto became acquainted with his neighbours, the Habibie family, whose eldest son BJ Habibie was later Suharto's vice-president, and went on to succeed him as president. In 1951–1952, Suharto led his troops in defeating the Islamic-inspired rebellion of Battalion 426 in the Klaten area of Central Java. Appointed to lead four battalions in early 1953, he organized their participation in battling Darul Islam insurgents in northwestern Central Java and anti-bandit operations in the Mount Merapi area. He also sought to stem leftist sympathies among his troops. His experience in this period left Suharto with a deep distaste for both Islamic and communist radicalism.
Between 1956 and 1959, he served in the important position of commander of Diponegoro Division based in Semarang, responsible for Central Java and Yogyakarta provinces. His relationship with prominent businessmen Liem Sioe Liong and Bob Hasan, which extended throughout his presidency, began in Central Java, where he was involved in a series of "profit-generating" enterprises conducted primarily to keep the poorly funded military unit functioning. Army anti-corruption investigations implicated Suharto in a 1959 smuggling scandal. Relieved of his position, he was transferred to the army's Staff and Command School (Seskoad) in the city of Bandung.
While in Bandung, he was promoted to brigadier-general, and in late 1960, promoted to army deputy chief of staff. On 6 March 1961, he was given an additional command, as head of the army's new Strategic Reserve (Korps Tentara I Cadangan Umum AD, later Kostrad), a ready-reaction air-mobile force based in Jakarta. In January 1962, Suharto was promoted to the rank of major general and appointed to lead Operation Mandala, a joint army-navy-air force command based in Makassar. This formed the military side of the campaign to win western New Guinea from the Dutch, who were preparing it for its own independence, separate from Indonesia. In 1965, Suharto was assigned operational command of Sukarno's Konfrontasi, against the newly formed Malaysia. Fearful that the Konfrontasi would leave Java thinly covered by the army and hand control to the 2 million-strong Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), he authorised a Kostrad intelligence officer, Ali Murtopo, to open secret contacts with the British and Malaysians.
== Rise to power ==
=== Background ===
Tensions between the military and communists increased in April 1965, when Sukarno endorsed the immediate implementation of the PKI's proposal for a "fifth armed force" consisting of armed peasants and workers. However, this idea was rejected by the army's leadership as being tantamount to the PKI establishing its own armed forces. In May, the "Gilchrist Document" aroused Sukarno's fear of a military plot to overthrow him, a fear which he repeatedly mentioned during the next few months. On his independence day speech in August, Sukarno declared his intention to commit Indonesia to an anti-imperialist alliance with China and other communist countries and warned the army not to interfere.
While Sukarno devoted his energy for domestic and international politics, the economy of Indonesia deteriorated rapidly with worsening widespread poverty and hunger, while foreign debt obligations became unmanageable and infrastructure crumbled. Sukarno's Guided Democracy stood on fragile grounds due to the inherent conflict between its two underlying support pillars, the military and the communists. The military, nationalists, and the Islamic groups were shocked by the rapid growth of the communist party under Sukarno's protection. They feared the imminent establishment of a communist state in Indonesia. By 1965, the PKI had three million members and was particularly strong in Central Java and Bali. The party had become the most potent political party in Indonesia.
=== Abortive coup and anti-communist purge ===
Before dawn on 1 October 1965, six army generals were kidnapped and executed in Jakarta by soldiers from the Presidential Guard, Diponegoro Division, and Brawidjaja Division. Soldiers occupied Merdeka Square including the areas in front of the Presidential Palace, the national radio station, and telecommunications centre. At 7:10 am Untung bin Syamsuri announced on the radio that the "30 September Movement" had forestalled a coup attempt on Sukarno by "CIA-backed power-mad generals," and that it was "an internal army affair". The movement never made any attempt on Suharto's life. Suharto had been in Jakarta army hospital that evening with his three-year-old son Tommy who had a scalding injury. It was here that he was visited by Colonel Abdul Latief, a key member of the Movement and close family friend of Suharto. According to Latief's later testimony, the conspirators assumed Suharto to be a Sukarno-loyalist; hence Latief went to inform him of the impending kidnapping plan to save Sukarno from treacherous generals, upon which Suharto seemed to offer his neutrality.
Upon being told of the killings, Suharto went to Kostrad headquarters just before dawn from where he could see soldiers occupying Merdeka Square. He mobilised Kostrad and RPKAD (now Kopassus) special forces to seize control of the centre of Jakarta, capturing key strategic sites including the radio station without resistance. Suharto announced over the radio at 9:00 pm that six generals had been kidnapped by "counter-revolutionaries" and that the 30 September Movement actually intended to overthrow Sukarno. He said he was in control of the army, and that he would crush the Movement and safeguard Sukarno. Suharto issued an ultimatum to Halim Air Force Base, where the G30S had based themselves and where Sukarno, air force commander Omar Dhani and PKI chairman Dipa Nusantara Aidit had gathered, causing them to disperse before Suhartoist soldiers occupied the airbase on 2 October after short fighting. With the failure of the poorly organized coup, and having secured authority from the president to restore order and security, Suharto's faction was firmly in control of the army by 2 October (he was officially appointed army commander on 14 October). On 5 October, Suharto led a dramatic public ceremony to bury the generals' bodies.
Complicated and partisan theories continue to this day over the identity of the attempted coup's organizers and their aims. The army's version, and subsequently that of the "New Order," was that the PKI was solely responsible. A propaganda campaign by the army and Islamic and Catholic student groups convinced both Indonesian and international audiences that it was a communist coup attempt, and that the killings were cowardly atrocities against Indonesian heroes. The army in alliance with civilian religious groups, and backed by the United States and other Western powers, led a campaign of mass killings to purge Indonesian society, government, and armed forces of the Communist Party of Indonesia and other leftist organizations. The purge spread from Jakarta to much of the rest of the country. The most widely accepted estimates are that at least 500,000 to over 1 million were killed. As many as 1.5 million were imprisoned at one stage or another. As a result of the purge, one of Sukarno's three pillars of support, the Indonesian Communist Party, was effectively eliminated by the other two, the military and political Islam. The CIA described the purge as "one of the worst mass murders of the 20th century."
=== Power struggle ===
Sukarno continued to command loyalty from large sections of the armed forces as well as the general population, and Suharto was careful not to be seen to be seizing power in his own coup. For eighteen months following the quashing of the 30 September Movement, there was a complicated process of political manoeuvres against Sukarno, including student agitation, stacking of parliament, media propaganda and military threats. In January 1966, university students under the banner of KAMI, began demonstrations against the Sukarno government voicing demands for the disbandment of the PKI and control of hyperinflation. The students received support and protection from the army. Street fights broke out between the students and pro-Sukarno loyalists with the pro-Suharto students prevailing due to army protection.
In February 1966, Sukarno promoted Suharto to lieutenant-general (and to full general in July 1966). The killing of a student demonstrator and Sukarno's order for the disbandment of KAMI in February 1966 further galvanised public opinion against the president. On 11 March 1966, the appearance of unidentified troops around Merdeka Palace during a cabinet meeting (which Suharto had not attended) forced Sukarno to flee to Bogor Palace (60 km away) by helicopter. Three pro-Suharto generals, Major General Basuki Rahmat, Brigadier General M. Jusuf, and Brigadier General Amir Machmud went to Bogor to meet Sukarno. There, they persuaded and secured a presidential decree from Sukarno (see Supersemar) that gave Suharto authority to take any action necessary to maintain security. Using the Supersemar letter, Suharto ordered the banning of the PKI the following day and proceeded to purge pro-Sukarno elements from the parliament, the government and military, accusing them of being communist sympathisers.
The army arrested 15 cabinet ministers and forced Sukarno to appoint a new cabinet consisting of Suharto supporters. The army arrested pro-Sukarno and pro-communist members of the MPRS (parliament), and Suharto replaced chiefs of the navy, air force, and the police force with his supporters, who then began an extensive purge within each service. In June 1966, the now-purged parliament passed 24 resolutions including the banning of Marxism–Leninism, ratifying the Supersemar, and stripping Sukarno of his title of President for Life. Crucially, it also resolved that if Sukarno were unable to carry out his duties, the holder of the Supersemar—Suharto—would become acting president. Against the wishes of Sukarno, the government ended the Konfrontasi with Malaysia and rejoined the United Nations (Sukarno had removed Indonesia from the UN in the previous year). Suharto did not seek Sukarno's outright removal at this MPRS session due to the remaining support for the president among some elements of the armed forces. By January 1967, Suharto felt confident that he had removed all significant support for Sukarno within the armed forces. After Sukarno gave his version of events, the MPRS concluded that he had been derelict in his duties and decided to hold another session to impeach him. On 20 February 1967, facing an increasingly untenable situation, Sukarno announced he would resign from the presidency. Later, the MPRS session stripped him of his remaining power on 12 March and named Suharto acting president. Sukarno was placed under house arrest in Bogor Palace; little more was heard from him, and he died in June 1970. On 27 March 1968, the MPRS elected Suharto for a full five-year term as president.
== New Order (1967–1998) ==
=== Political ideology ===
Suharto promoted his "New Order," as opposed to Sukarno's "Old Order," as a society based on the Pancasila ideology. After initially being careful not to offend sensitivities of Islamic scholars who feared Pancasila might develop into a quasi-religious cult, Suharto secured a parliamentary resolution in 1983 which obliged all organizations in Indonesia to adhere to Pancasila as a fundamental principle. He also instituted mandatory Pancasila training programs for all Indonesians, from primary school students to office workers. In practice, however, the vagueness of Pancasila was exploited by Suharto's government to justify their actions and to condemn their opponents as "anti-Pancasila." The New Order also implemented the Dwifungsi ("Dual Function") policy which enabled the military to have an active role in all levels of the Indonesian government, economy, and society.
=== Economic policy ===
Until the mid-1960s, Indonesia was known as the poorest country in Asia and amongst the poorest in the world. When Suharto came to power, inflation reached 650% per year. Suharto understood that if he wanted to defeat communism, he had to beat poverty. To stabilise the economy, he appointed an economic advisory group consisting of mostly US-educated intellectuals from the Economic Faculty of the University of Indonesia, dubbed the "Berkeley Mafia", to formulate significant changes in economic policy. Amongst the members of the economic group were Widjojo Nitisastro, Ali Wardhana and Emil Salim. The group implemented free market policies; a complete reversal from Sukarno's policies which tightly regulated manufacturing and trade. In addition, by cutting subsidies, decreasing government debt, and reforming the exchange rate mechanism, inflation was lowered from 660% in 1966 to 19% in 1969. With the economic group, Suharto was not an autocratic leader. He was willing to learn and rarely imposed his will on the team. The threat of famine was alleviated by the influx of USAID rice aid shipments from 1967 to 1968.
With a lack of domestic capital that was required for economic growth, the New Order reversed Sukarno's economic self-sufficiency policies and opened selected economic sectors of the country to foreign investment through the 1967 Foreign Investment Law. Suharto travelled to Western Europe and Japan to promote investment in Indonesia. The first foreign investors to re-enter Indonesia included mining companies Freeport Sulphur Company / International Nickel Company. Following government regulatory frameworks, domestic entrepreneurs (mostly Chinese-Indonesians) emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s in the import-substitution light-manufacturing sector such as Astra Group and Salim Group.
From 1967, the government secured low-interest foreign aid from ten countries grouped under the Inter-Governmental Group on Indonesia (IGGI) to cover its budget deficit. With the IGGI funds and the later jump in oil export revenue from the 1973 oil crisis, the government invested in infrastructure under a series of five-year plans, dubbed REPELITA (Rencana Pembangunan Lima Tahun) I to VI from 1969 to 1998.
=== Consolidation of power ===
Having been appointed president, Suharto still needed to share power with various elements including Indonesian generals who considered Suharto as mere primus inter pares, and Islamic and student groups who participated in the anti-communist purge. Suharto, aided by his "Office of Personal Assistants" (Aspri) clique of military officers from his days as commander of Diponegoro Division, particularly Ali Murtopo, began to systematically cement his hold on power by subtly sidelining potential rivals while rewarding loyalists with political position and monetary incentives. Having successfully stood-down MPRS chairman General Abdul Haris Nasution's 1968 attempt to introduce a bill which would have severely curtailed presidential authority, Suharto had him removed from his position as MPRS chairman in 1969 and forced his early retirement from the military in 1972. In 1967, generals Hartono Rekso Dharsono, Kemal Idris, and Sarwo Edhie Wibowo (dubbed "New Order radicals") opposed Suharto's decision to allow participation of existing political parties in elections in favour of a non-ideological two-party system similar to those found in many Western countries. Suharto sent Dharsono overseas as an ambassador, while Idris and Wibowo were sent to distant North Sumatra and South Sulawesi as regional commanders.
=== Domestic policy and political stability ===
To placate demands from civilian politicians for the holding of elections, as manifested in MPRS resolutions of 1966 and 1967, Suharto government formulated a series of laws regarding elections as well as the structure and duties of parliament which were passed by MPRS in November 1969 after protracted negotiations. The law provided for a parliament (Madjelis Permusjawaratan Rakjat, MPR) with the power to elect presidents, consisting of the House of Representatives (Dewan Perwakilan Rakjat, DPR) and regional representatives. 100 of the 460 members of DPR would be directly appointed by the government, while the remaining seats were allocated to political organizations based on results of the general election. This mechanism ensures significant government control over legislative affairs, particularly the appointment of presidents.
To participate in the elections, Suharto realised the need to align himself with a political party. After initially considering alignment with Sukarno's old party, the PNI, in 1969 Suharto decided to take over control of an obscure military-run federation of NGOs called Golkar ("Functional Groups") and transform it into his electoral vehicle under the coordination of his right-hand man Ali Murtopo. The first general election was held on 3 July 1971 with ten participants; consisting of Golkar, four Islamic parties, as well as five nationalist and Christian parties. Campaigning on a non-ideological platform of "development," and aided by official government support and subtle intimidation tactics, Golkar managed to secure 62.8% of the popular vote. The March 1973 general session of newly elected MPR promptly elected Suharto to a second-term in office, with Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX as his vice president.
"It is not the military strength of the Communists, but their fanaticism and ideology which is the principal element of their strength. To consider this, each country in the area needs an ideology of its own with which to counter the Communists. But a national ideology is not enough by itself. The well being of the people must be improved so that it strengthens and supports the national ideology."
On 5 January 1973, to allow better control, the government forced the four Islamic parties to merge into PPP (Partai Persatuan Pembangunan, United Development Party) while the five non-Islamic parties were fused into PDI (Partai Demokrasi Indonesia, Indonesian Democratic Party). The government ensured that these parties never developed effective opposition by controlling their leadership while establishing the "re-call" system to remove any outspoken legislators from their positions. Using this system, dubbed "Pancasila Democracy," Suharto was re-elected unopposed by the MPR in 1978, 1983, 1988, 1993, and 1998. Golkar won landslide majorities in the MPR at every election. Combined with the bloc of military representatives in the DPR, Suharto was able to pass his agenda with no substantive opposition.
Suharto took great care to make it appear that his regime appeared to observe the tenets of the constitution. On paper, the president was the "mandatory of the MPR," responsible for implementing the "Broad Lines of State Policy" (GBHN) developed by the MPR. Near the end of each of his terms, Suharto delivered "accountability speeches" to the MPR that outlined the achievements of his administration and demonstrated how he had adhered to the GBHN. Additionally, the president had the power to issue regulations in lieu of law, but such regulations had to be approved by the House of People's Representatives (DPR) to remain in effect. In practice, however, his supermajority in the DPR and MPR made such approval a mere formality. Combined with the DPR's infrequent sessions (it usually sat for only one session per year), Suharto was able to effectively rule by decree for most of his tenure. However, the Golkar/military bloc's support was large enough to turn the MPR and DPR into rubber stamps for his policies.
Suharto also proceeded with various social engineering projects designed to transform Indonesian society into a de-politicised "floating mass" supportive of the national mission of "development", a concept similar to corporatism. The government formed various civil society groups to unite the populace in support of government programs. For instance, the government created the KORPRI (Korps Pegawai Republik Indonesia) in November 1971 as union of civil servants to ensure their loyalty, organized the FBSI (Federasi Buruh Seluruh Indonesia) as the only legal labour union in February 1973, and established the MUI in 1975 to control Islamic clerics.
=== Social policy and programs ===
When the Indonesian government launched its family planning program (Keluarga Berencana/KB) in the early 1970s, Suharto and his wife travelled around the country to promote the benefits of family planning. The program, administrated by Badan Koordinasi Keluarga Berencana Nasional (the Family Planning Co-ordinating Board), combined outreach methods, education, and expanded access to several methods of birth control. Suharto not only provided the program with funding, but also moral support.
A lasting legacy from this period is the spelling reform of Indonesian language decreed by Suharto on 17 August 1972.
Suharto government's health-care programs (such as the Puskesmas program) increased life expectancy from 47 years (1966) to 67 years (1997) while cutting infant mortality rate by more than 60%. The government's Inpres program launched in 1973 resulted in primary school enrolment ratio reaching 90% by 1983 while almost eliminating the education gap between boys and girls. Sustained support for agriculture resulted in Indonesia achieving rice self-sufficiency by 1984, an unprecedented achievement which earned Suharto a gold medal from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in November 1985.
=== Internal security ===
Additionally, Suharto relied on the military to ruthlessly maintain domestic security, organized by the Kopkamtib (Operation Command for the Restoration of Security and Order) and BAKIN (State Intelligence Coordination Agency). To maintain strict control over the country, Suharto expanded the army's territorial system down to village-level, while military officers were appointed as regional heads under the rubric of the Dwifungsi ("Dual Function") of the military. By 1969, 70% of Indonesia's provincial governors and more than half of its district chiefs were active military officers. Suharto authorised Operasi Trisula which destroyed PKI remnants trying to organize a guerrilla base in the Blitar area in 1968 and ordered several military operations that ended the communist PGRS-Paraku insurgency in West Kalimantan (1967–1972). Attacks on oil workers by the first incarnation of Free Aceh Movement separatists under Hasan di Tiro in 1977 led to the dispatch of small special forces detachments who quickly either killed or forced the movement's members to flee abroad. Notably, in March 1981, Suharto authorised a successful special forces mission to end hijacking of a Garuda Indonesia flight by Islamic extremists at Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok.
To promote assimilation of the influential Chinese-Indonesians, the Suharto government passed several laws as part of the so-called "Basic Policy for the Solution of Chinese Problem", whereby only one Chinese-language publication (controlled by the Army) was allowed to continue, all Chinese cultural and religious expressions (including the display of Chinese characters) were prohibited from public space, Chinese schools were seized and turned into Indonesian-language public schools, and the ethnic-Chinese were forced to take-up Indonesian-sounding names; creating a systematic cultural genocide. In 1978, the government began requiring a Letter of Proof of Citizenship of the Republic of Indonesia (Indonesian: Surat Bukti Kewarganegaraan Republik Indonesia, or SBKRI). Although the SBKRI was legally required for all citizens of foreign descent, in practice it was generally applied only to Chinese descent. This led to difficulties for Chinese Indonesians when enrolling in state universities, applying to be civil servants, or joining the military or police.
=== Foreign policy ===
Upon assuming power, Suharto's government adopted a policy of neutrality in the Cold War but was nevertheless quietly aligned with the Western bloc (including Japan and South Korea) to secure support for Indonesia's economic recovery. Western countries, impressed by Suharto's strong anti-communist credentials, were quick to offer their support. Diplomatic relations with China were suspended in October 1967 due to suspicion of Chinese involvement in the 30 September Movement (diplomatic relations were only restored in 1990). Due to Suharto's destruction of the PKI, the Soviet Union embargoed military sales to Indonesia. However, from 1967 to 1970 foreign minister Adam Malik managed to secure several agreements to restructure massive debts incurred by Sukarno from the Soviet Union and other Eastern European communist states. Regionally, having ended confrontation with Malaysia in August 1966, Indonesia became a founding member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in August 1967. This organization is designed to establish a peaceful relationship between Southeast Asian countries free from conflicts such as the ongoing Vietnam War.
==== East Timor ====
In 1974, the neighbouring colony of Portuguese Timor descended into civil war after the withdrawal of Portuguese authority following the Carnation Revolution, whereby the left-wing populist Fretilin (Portuguese: Frente Revolucionária de Timor-Leste Independente) emerged triumphant. With approval from Western countries (including from U.S. president Gerald Ford and Australian prime minister Gough Whitlam during their visits to Indonesia), Suharto decided to intervene. He claimed the move was to prevent the establishment of a communist state. After an unsuccessful attempt of covert support to Timorese groups UDT and APODETI, Suharto authorised a full-scale invasion of the colony on 7 December 1975 followed with its official annexation as Indonesia's 27th province of East Timor in July 1976. The "encirclement and annihilation" campaigns of 1977–1979 broke the back of Fretilin control over the hinterlands, although continuing guerrilla resistance caused the government to maintain a strong military force in the half-island until 1999. An estimated minimum of 90,800 and maximum of 213,600 conflict-related deaths occurred in East Timor during Indonesian rule (1974–1999); namely, 17,600–19,600 killings and 73,200 to 194,000 'excess' deaths from hunger and illness; Indonesian forces were responsible for about 70% of the violent deaths.
Indonesia's invasion and occupation of East Timor during Suharto's presidency resulted in at least 100,000 deaths. To comply with the New York Agreement of 1962 which required a plebiscite on the integration of West Irian into Indonesia before the end of 1969, the Suharto government begin organizing for a so-called "Act of Free Choice" scheduled for July–August 1969. The government sent RPKAD special forces under Sarwo Edhie Wibowo which secured the surrender of several bands of former Dutch-organized militia (Papoea Vrijwilligers Korps / PVK) at large in the jungles since the Indonesian takeover in 1963 while sending Catholic volunteers under Jusuf Wanandi to distribute consumer goods to promote pro-Indonesian sentiments. In March 1969, it was agreed that the plebiscite would be channelled via 1,025 tribal chiefs, citing the logistical challenge and political ignorance of the population. Using the above strategy, the plebiscite produced a unanimous decision for integration with Indonesia, which was duly noted by the United Nations General Assembly in November 1969.
=== Socio-economic progress ===
Real socio-economic progress sustained support for Suharto's regime across three decades. By 1996, Indonesia's poverty rate had dropped to around 11% compared with 45% in 1970. From 1966 to 1997, Indonesia recorded real GDP growth of 5.03% pa, pushing real GDP per capita upwards from US$806 to US$4,114. In 1966, the manufacturing sector made up less than 10% of GDP (mostly industries related to oil and agriculture). By 1997, manufacturing had risen to 25% of GDP, and 53% of exports consisted of manufactured products. The government invested in massive infrastructure development (notably the launching of a series of Palapa telecommunication satellites); consequently, Indonesian infrastructure in the mid-1990s was considered at par with China. Suharto was keen to capitalize on such achievements to justify his presidency, and the parliament (MPR) on 9 March 1983 granted him the title of "Father of Development".
In the early 1980s, Suharto government responded to the fall in oil exports due to the 1980s oil glut by successfully shifting the basis of the economy to export-oriented labour-intensive manufacturing, made globally competitive by Indonesia's low wages and a series of currency devaluations. Industrialisation was mostly undertaken by Chinese-Indonesian companies which evolved into large conglomerates dominating the nation's economy.
The largest of these conglomerates were the Salim Group led by Liem Sioe Liong (Sudono Salim), Sinar Mas Group led by Oei Ek Tjong (Eka Tjipta Widjaja), Astra Group led by Tjia Han Poen (William Soeryadjaya), Lippo Group led by Lie Mo Tie (Mochtar Riady), Barito Pacific Group led by Pang Djun Phen (Prajogo Pangestu), and Nusamba Group led by Bob Hasan. Suharto decided to support the growth of a small number of Chinese-Indonesian conglomerates since they would not pose a political challenge due to their ethnic-minority status, but from his experience, he deemed them to possess the skills and capital needed to create real growth for the country. In exchange for Suharto's patronage, the conglomerates provided vital financing for his "regime maintenance" activities.
In the late 1980s, the Suharto government decided to de-regulate the banking sector to encourage savings and providing a domestic source of financing required for growth. Suharto decreed the "October Package of 1988" (PAKTO 88) which eased requirements for establishing banks and extending credit; resulting in a 50% increase in the number of banks from 1989 to 1991. To promote savings, the government introduced the TABANAS program to the populace. The Jakarta Stock Exchange, re-opened in 1977, recorded a "bull run", due to a spree of domestic IPOs and an influx of foreign funds after the deregulation in 1990. The sudden availability of credit fuelled robust economic growth in the early 1990s, but the weak regulatory environment of the financial sector sowed the seeds of the catastrophic crisis in 1997, which eventually lead to the end of Suharto's presidency.
=== Scandals and controversies ===
==== Pertamina scandal ====
In 1975, the state-owned oil company, Pertamina, defaulted on its foreign loans as a result of mismanagement and corruption under the leadership of Suharto's close ally, Ibnu Sutowo. The government bail-out of the company nearly doubled the national debt.
==== Internal dissent ====
Suharto's previously strong relationship with the student movement soured over the increasing authoritarianism and corruption of his administration. While many original leaders of the 1966 student movement (Angkatan '66) were successfully co-opted into the regime, Suharto was faced with large student demonstrations challenging the legitimacy of 1971 elections (Golput movement), the costly construction of the Taman Mini Indonesia Indah theme park (1972), the domination of foreign capitalists (Malari Incident of 1974), and the lack of term limits of Suharto's presidency (1978). The regime responded by imprisoning many student activists (such as future national figures Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti, Adnan Buyung Nasution, Hariman Siregar, and Syahrir), and even sending troops to occupy the campus of ITB (Bandung Institute of Technology) from January–March 1978. In April 1978, Suharto moved decisively by issuing a decree on "Normalisation of Campus Life" (NKK) which prohibited political activities on-campus not related to academic pursuits.
On 15–16 January 1974, Suharto faced a significant challenge when violent riots broke out in Jakarta during a visit by the Japanese prime minister Kakuei Tanaka. Students demonstrating against increasing dominance of Japanese investors were encouraged by General Sumitro, deputy commander of the armed forces. Sumitro was an ambitious general who disliked the strong influence of Suharto's Aspri inner circle. Suharto learned that the riots were engineered by Sumitro to destabilise the government, resulting in Sumitro's dismissal and forced retirement. This incident is referred to as the Malari incident (Malapetaka Lima Belas Januari, Disaster of 15 January). However, Suharto also disbanded Aspri to appease popular dissent. In 1980, fifty prominent political figures signed the Petition of Fifty, which criticised Suharto's use of Pancasila to silence his critics. Suharto refused to address the petitioners' concerns, and some of them were imprisoned with others having restrictions imposed on their movements.
==== Growing corruption ====
The growth of the economy coincided with the rapid expansion of corruption, collusion, and nepotism (Korupsi, Kolusi, dan Nepotisme / KKN). In the early 1980s, Suharto's children, particularly Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana ("Tutut"), Hutomo Mandala Putra ("Tommy"), and Bambang Trihatmodjo, had grown into greedy adults. Their companies were given lucrative government contracts and protected from market competition by monopolies. Examples include the toll-expressway market which was monopolised by Tutut, the national car project monopolised by Bambang and Tommy, and even the cinema market, monopolised by 21 Cineplex (owned by Suharto's cousin Sudwikatmono). The family is said to control about 36,000 km2 of real estate in Indonesia, including 100,000 m2 of prime office space in Jakarta and nearly 40% of the land in East Timor. Additionally, Suharto's family members received free shares in 1,251 of Indonesia's most lucrative domestic companies (mostly run by Suharto's ethnic-Chinese cronies), while foreign-owned companies were encouraged to establish "strategic partnerships" with Suharto family companies. Meanwhile, the myriad of yayasans run by the Suharto family grew even larger, levying millions of dollars in "donations" from the public and private sectors each year.
Suharto created a network of charitable organizations (yayasan) run by the military and his family members, which extracted "donations" from domestic and foreign enterprises in exchange for necessary government support and permits. While some proceeds were used for charitable purposes, much of the money was recycled as a slush fund to reward political allies and to maintain support for the New Order.
In 1997, Forbes listed Suharto as the fourth richest person in the world with an individual net worth of $16 billion, despite drawing an annual salary in his last peak year of only $21,000. The Suharto family owned or controlled 3.6 million hectares of prime Indonesian land, an area comparable to all of Belgium, and directly owned or had controlling equity in at least 564 companies, with no Indonesian economic sector untouched. With $100,000 of seed capital, Tommy Suharto got his start in 1984 at age 22. Within ten weeks his Humpuss Group already had twenty subsidiaries, which soon ballooned to sixty. A year later he acquired Perta Oil Marketing, a subsidiary of the state oil company Pertamina, instantly making him a major crude-oil broker and transporter. Perta generated profits of $1 million per month. Most of Indonesia's toll roads were built and operated by the stateowned firm Jasa Marga, with untold markups and opportunities for skimming and theft for oligarchs as the projects were completed. In 1989, Suharto issued a decree granting his daughter Tutut 75% of profits from all toll roads her group operated jointly with Jasa Marga, driving costs up still further. Bambang positioned his group as a partner of major foreign power companies and forced the state-run power company, PLN, to buy electricity at inflated rates. According to one estimate from the 24 May 1999 cover story in the international issue of Time magazine, the total wealth amassed by the Suharto family over three decades in power was $73.24 billion. Setting aside $9 billion earned from interest on deposits, three-fourths of this wealth was derived from grabbing the country's oil, gas, and mining resources, or muscling in on state corporations and major government contracts. The entrepreneurial value added from these Suharto family companies was, by all accounts, almost zero.
In early 2004, the German anti-corruption NGO Transparency International released a list of what it believed to be the ten most self-enriching leaders in the previous two decades; in order of amount allegedly stolen in USD, the highest-ranking of these was Suharto and his family who are alleged to have embezzled $15 billion – $35 billion.
=== Later presidency (1980s–1990s) ===
By the 1980s, Suharto's grip on power was maintained by the emasculation of civil society, engineered elections, and use of the military's coercive powers. Upon his retirement from the military in June 1976, Suharto undertook a re-organization of the armed forces that concentrated power away from commanders to the president. In March 1983, he appointed General Leonardus Benjamin Moerdani as head of the armed forces who adopted a hard-line approach on elements who challenged the administration. As a Roman Catholic, he was not a political threat to Suharto. From 1983 to 1985, army squads killed up to 10,000 suspected criminals in response to a spike in the crime rate (see "Petrus killings"). Suharto's imposition of Pancasila as the sole ideology caused protests from conservative Islamic groups who considered Islamic law to be above all other conceptions.
The Tanjung Priok massacre saw the army kill up to 100 conservative Muslim protesters in September 1984. A retaliatory series of small bombings, including the bombing of Borobudur, led to arrests of hundreds of conservative Islamic activists, including future parliamentary leader AM Fatwa and Abu Bakar Bashir (later leader of Jemaah Islamiyah). Attacks on police by a resurgent Free Aceh Movement in 1989 led to a military operation which killed 2,000 people and ended the insurgency by 1992. In 1984, the Suharto government sought increased control over the press by issuing a law requiring all media to possess a press operating license (Surat Izin Usaha Penerbitan Pers, SIUPP) which could be revoked at any time by Ministry of Information.
With the end of communism and the Cold War, Suharto's human rights record came under greater international scrutiny, particularly following the 1991 Santa Cruz massacre in East Timor. Suharto was elected as head of the Non-Aligned Movement in 1992, while Indonesia became a founding member of APEC in 1989 and host to the Bogor APEC Summit in 1994. Domestically, the business dealings of Suharto's family created discontent among the military who lost access to power and lucrative rent-seeking opportunities. The March 1988 MPR session, military legislators attempted to pressure Suharto by unsuccessfully seeking to block the nomination of Sudharmono, a Suharto-loyalist, as vice-president. Moerdani's criticism of the Suharto family's corruption saw the president dismiss him from the position of military chief. Suharto proceeded to slowly "de-militarise" his regime; he dissolved the powerful Kopkamtib in September 1988 and ensured key military positions were held by loyalists.
In an attempt to diversify his power base away from the military, Suharto began courting support from Islamic elements. He undertook a much-publicised hajj pilgrimage in 1991, took up the name of Haji Mohammad Suharto, and promoted Islamic values and the careers of Islamic-oriented generals. To win support from the nascent Muslim business community who resented the dominance of Chinese-Indonesian conglomerates, Suharto formed the Indonesian Association of Muslim Intellectuals (ICMI) in November 1990, which was led by his protégé B.J. Habibie, the Minister for Research and Technology since 1978. During this period, race riots against ethnic-Chinese begin to occur quite regularly, beginning with the April 1994 riot in Medan. By the 1990s, Suharto's government came to be dominated by civilian politicians such as Habibie, Harmoko, Ginandjar Kartasasmita, and Akbar Tanjung, who owed their position solely to Suharto. As a sign of Habibie's growing clout, when two prominent Indonesian magazines and a tabloid newspaper reported on criticism over Habibie's purchase of almost the entire fleet of the disbanded East German Navy in 1993 (most of the vessels were of scrap-value), the Ministry of Information ordered the offending publications be closed down on 21 June 1994. In 1993, the Purna Bhakti Pertiwi Museum was opened on the initiative of Tien Suharto. It houses and displays Suharto collections including artworks and souvenirs, received from various world leaders and Indonesian people.
In the 1990s, elements within the growing Indonesian middle class created by Suharto's economic development were becoming restless with his autocracy and the corruption of his children, fuelling demands for "Reformasi" (reform) of the almost 30-year-old New Order government. A significant element of the middle class had no memory of the events leading up to Suharto's rise to power. By 1996, Sukarno's daughter, Megawati Sukarnoputri, chairwoman of the normally compliant PDI, was becoming an opposition figure for this growing discontent. In response, Suharto backed a co-opted faction of PDI led by Suryadi, which ousted Megawati as PDI leader. On 27 July 1996, an attack by soldiers and hired thugs led by Lieutenant-General Sutiyoso on demonstrating Megawati supporters in Jakarta resulted in fatal riots and looting. This incident was followed by the arrest of 200 democracy activists, 23 of whom were kidnapped, and some killed, by army squads led by Suharto's son-in-law, Major-General Prabowo Subianto. In 1995, Suharto released a special 1,54 troy ounce gold coin worth of 850,000 rupiah with his face on one side of the coin in the celebration of 50th anniversary of Indonesian Independence. On 5 October 1997, he awarded himself and generals Sudirman and Abdul Haris Nasution the honorary rank of five-star "grand general."
== Economic crisis and downfall ==
=== Asian financial crisis ===
Indonesia was the country hardest hit by the 1997 Asian financial crisis. From mid-1997 there were large capital outflows and against the US dollar. Due to poor bank lending practices, many Indonesian companies borrowed cheaper US dollar loans while their income is mainly in Indonesian rupiah. The weakening rupiah spurred panic buying of US dollar by these companies, causing the Indonesian rupiah to drop in value from a pre-crisis level of Rp. 2,600 to a low point in early 1998 of around Rp. 17,000. Consequently, many companies were bankrupted and the economy shrank by 13.7%, leading to sharp increases in unemployment and poverty across the country.
Efforts by the central bank to defend the rupiah proved futile and only drained the country's dollar reserves. In exchange for US$43 billion in liquidity aid, between October 1997 and the following April, Suharto signed three letters of intent with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for an economic reform process. In January 1998, the government was forced to provide emergency liquidity assistance (BLBI), issue blanket guarantees for bank deposits and set-up the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency to take over management of troubled banks to prevent the collapse of the financial system. Among the steps taken on IMF recommendation, the government raised an interest rate up to 70% pa in February 1998, which further worsened the contraction of the economy. In December 1997, Suharto did not attend an ASEAN presidents' summit for the first time, which was later revealed to be due to a minor stroke, creating speculation about his health and the immediate future of his presidency. In mid-December, as the crisis swept through Indonesia and an estimated $150 billion of capital was being withdrawn from the country, he appeared at a press conference to re-assert his authority and to urge people to trust the government and the collapsing rupiah.
However, his attempts to re-instil confidence had little effect. Evidence suggested that his family and associates were being spared the most stringent requirements of the IMF reform process, further undermining confidence in the economy and his leadership. The economic meltdown was accompanied by increasing political tension. Anti-Chinese riots occurred in Situbondo (1996), Tasikmalaya (1996), Banjarmasin (1997), and Makassar (1997); violent ethnic clashes broke out between the Dayak and Madurese settlers in Central Kalimantan in 1997. Golkar won the rigged 1997 election, and in March 1998, Suharto was voted unanimously to another five-year term. He nominated his protégé B. J. Habibie as vice president then stacking the cabinet with his own family and business associates, including his eldest daughter Tutut as Minister of Social Affairs. The appointments and the government's unrealistic 1998 budget created further currency instability, rumours, and panic; which led to a run on stores and pushed up prices. The government increased the fuel prices further by 70% in May 1998, which triggered another wave of riots in Medan.
=== Fall and resignation ===
With Suharto increasingly seen as the source of the country's mounting economic and political crises, prominent political figures, including Muslim politician Amien Rais, spoke out against his presidency, and in January 1998 university students began organizing nationwide demonstrations. The crisis climaxed while Suharto was on a state visit to Egypt on 12 May 1998, when security forces killed four demonstrators from Jakarta's Trisakti University. Rioting and looting across Jakarta and other cities over the following days destroyed thousands of buildings and killed over 1,000 people. Ethnic Chinese and their businesses were particular targets in the violence. Theories on the origin of the violence include rivalry between military chief General Wiranto and Army Strategic Commander Lt. Gen. Prabowo Subianto, and the suggestion of deliberate provocation by Suharto to divert blame for the crisis to the ethnic-Chinese and discredit the student movement.
On 16 May, tens of thousands of university students demanded Suharto's resignation, and occupied the grounds and roof of the parliament building. Upon Suharto's return to Jakarta, he offered to resign in 2003 and to reshuffle his cabinet. These efforts failed when his political allies deserted him by refusing to join the proposed new cabinet. According to Wiranto, on 18 May, Suharto issued a decree which provided authority to him to take any measures to restore security; however, Wiranto decided not to enforce the decree to prevent conflict with the population. On 21 May 1998, Suharto announced his resignation, upon which vice-president Habibie assumed the presidency in accordance with the constitution. Documents from the United States Department of State indicate that the Clinton Administration sought to maintain close ties with the Indonesian military in the aftermath of Suharto's fall from power.
== Post-presidency (1998–2008) ==
=== Corruption charges ===
After resigning from the presidency, Suharto became a recluse in his family's compound in the Menteng area of Jakarta, protected by soldiers and rarely making public appearances. Suharto's family spent much of their time fending off corruption investigations. However, Suharto himself was protected from grave prosecution by politicians who owed their positions to the former president, as indicated in the leaked telephone conversation between President Habibie and attorney-general Andi Muhammad Ghalib in February 1999. In May 1999, Time Asia estimated Suharto's family fortune at US$15 billion in cash, shares, corporate assets, real estate, jewellery and fine art. Suharto sued the magazine seeking more than US$27 billion in damages for libel over the article. On 10 September 2007, Indonesia's Supreme Court awarded Suharto damages against Time Asia magazine, ordering it to pay him one trillion rupiah ($128.59 million). The High Court reversed the judgment of an appellate court and Central Jakarta district court (made in 2000 and 2001).
Suharto was placed highest on Transparency International's list of corrupt leaders with alleged misappropriation of between US$15–35 billion during his 32-year presidency. On 29 May 2000, Suharto was placed under house arrest when Indonesian authorities began to investigate the corruption during his presidency. In July 2000, it was announced that he was to be accused of embezzling US$571 million of government donations to one of several foundations under his control and then using the money to finance family investments. However, in September court-appointed doctors announced that he could not stand trial because of his declining health. State prosecutors tried again in 2002, but then doctors cited an unspecified brain disease. On 26 March 2008, a civil court judge acquitted Suharto of corruption but ordered his charitable foundation, Supersemar, to pay US$110 million (£55 million).
In 2002, Suharto's son Tommy Suharto was sentenced to 15 years' jail for ordering the killing of a judge (who had previously convicted him of corruption), illegal weapons possession, and fleeing justice. In 2006, he was paroled on "conditional release". In 2003, Suharto's half-brother Probosutedjo was tried and convicted for corruption and the loss of $10 million from the Indonesian state. He was sentenced to four years in jail. He later won a reduction of his sentence to two years, initiating a probe by the Corruption Eradication Commission into the alleged scandal of the "judicial mafia" which uncovered offers of $600,000 to various judges. Probosutedjo confessed to the scheme in October 2005, leading to the arrest of his lawyers. His full four-year term was reinstated. After a brief standoff at a hospital, in which he was reportedly protected by a group of police officers, he was arrested on 30 November 2005. On 9 July 2007, Indonesian prosecutors filed a civil lawsuit against Suharto, to recover state funds ($440 million or £219 million, which allegedly disappeared from a scholarship fund, and a further $1.1 billion in damages).
=== Illness and death ===
After resigning from the presidency, Suharto was hospitalised repeatedly for stroke, heart, and intestinal problems. His declining health hindered attempts to prosecute him as his lawyers successfully claimed that his condition rendered him unfit for trial. Moreover, there was little support within Indonesia for any attempts to prosecute him. In 2006, Attorney General Abdurrahman announced that a team of twenty doctors would be asked to evaluate Suharto's health and fitness for trial. One physician, Brigadier-General Dr Marjo Subiandono, stated his doubts about by noting that "[Suharto] has two permanent cerebral defects." In a later Financial Times report, Attorney General Abdurrahman discussed the re-examination, and called it part of a "last opportunity" to prosecute Suharto criminally. Attorney General Abdurrahman left open the possibility of filing suit against the Suharto estate.
On 4 January 2008, Suharto was taken to the Pertamina Central Hospital, Jakarta with complications arising from poor health, swelling of limbs and stomach, and partial renal failure. His health fluctuated for several weeks but progressively worsened with anaemia and low blood pressure due to heart and kidney complications, internal bleeding, fluid on his lungs, and blood in his faeces and urine which caused a haemoglobin drop. On 23 January, Suharto's health worsened further, as a sepsis infection spread through his body. His family consented to the removal of life support machines if his condition did not improve, and he died on 27 January at 1:09 pm.
Minutes after his death, then-Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono held a news conference declaring Suharto as one of Indonesia's "best sons" and invited the country to give the highest respect and honour to the ex-president. Suharto's body was taken from Jakarta to the Astana Giribangun mausoleum complex in Karanganyar Regency, near the Central Java city of Solo. He was buried alongside his late wife in a state military funeral with full honours, with the Kopassus elite forces and KOSTRAD commandos as the honour guard and pallbearers and Commander of Group II Kopassus Surakarta Lt. Colonel Asep Subarkah. In attendance were President Yudhoyono, who presided over the ceremony, as well as the vice-president, government ministers, and armed forces chiefs of staff. Tens of thousands of people lined the streets to see the convoy. Condolences were offered by many regional heads of state. President Yudhoyono that afternoon declared a week of official mourning starting from Suharto's day of death. During this period, all flags of Indonesia were flown at half-mast.
== Political rehabilitation ==
Starting in the early 2010s, the Javanese language slogan Piye kabare, penak jamanku to? (lit. 'How are you doing? It was better in my time, right?') featuring pictures of Suharto was heavily distributed around Indonesia in many forms, such as stickers, t-shirts and on the internet. The slogan can also be found on political campaign billboards and affixed to public transportation, such as minibuses as well as trucks and pedicabs.
Surveys of Indonesians done in 2011 and 2018 have found Suharto to be the most successful in carrying out his duties as president.
On 25 September 2024, in one of its last acts for the 2019–2024 period, the People's Consultative Assembly repealed Clause 4 of MPR Resolution No. XI/MPR/1998, which had accused Suharto and his cronies of acts of corruption, collusion, and nepotism and specifically named him. The stated reason for this was because Suharto was never put on trial for these accusations before his death in 2008. This move has reignited debate as to whether Suharto should be awarded the National Hero status.
On 10 November 2025, Suharto was named as a National Hero, along with nine other names—including fellow former president Abdurrahman Wahid—in a ceremony presided by President Prabowo Subianto, Suharto's former son-in-law. In response, around 100 people gathered in Jakarta and more than 16,000 people signed an online petition to protest against the nomination.
== Honours ==
=== National honours ===
As an officer in the Indonesian Army (1940–1974), and then as president of Indonesia (1967–1998), he received several civilian and military Star Decorations from Indonesia, namely:
Star of the Republic of Indonesia, 1st Class (Indonesian: Bintang Republik Indonesia Adipurna)
Star of Mahaputera, 1st Class (Indonesian: Bintang Mahaputera Adipurna)
Star of Merit, 1st Class (Indonesian: Bintang Jasa Utama)
The Sacred Star (Indonesian: Bintang Sakti)
Star of Meritorious Service (Indonesian: Bintang Dharma)
Guerrilla Star (Indonesian: Bintang Gerilya)
Star of Culture Parama Dharma (Indonesian: Bintang Budaya Parama Dharma)
Star of Yudha Dharma, 1st Class (Indonesian: Bintang Yudha Dharma Utama)
Star of Kartika Eka Paksi, 1st Class (Indonesian: Bintang Kartika Eka Paksi Utama)
Star of Kartika Eka Paksi, 2st Class (Indonesian: Bintang Kartika Eka Paksi Pratama)
Star of Kartika Eka Paksi, 3st Class (Indonesian: Bintang Kartika Eka Paksi Nararya)
Star of Jalasena, 1st Class (Indonesian: Bintang Jalasena Utama)
Star of Swa Bhuwana Paksa, 1st Class (Indonesian: Bintang Swa Bhuwana Paksa Utama)
Star of Bhayangkara, 1st Class (Indonesian: Bintang Bhayangkara Utama)
Garuda Star (Indonesian: Bintang Garuda)
Indonesian Armed Forces 8 Years of Service Star (Indonesian: Bintang Sewindu Angkatan Perang)
Military Long Service Medal, 16 Years Service (Indonesian: Satyalancana Kesetiaan 16 Tahun)
Military Campaign Medal (Indonesian: Satyalancana Teladan)
1st Campaign Commemoration Medal (Indonesian: Satyalancana Perang Kemerdekaan I)
2nd Campaign Commemoration Medal (Indonesian: Satyalancana Perang Kemerdekaan II)
1st Military Operations Service Medal (Indonesian: Satyalancana G.O.M I)
2nd Military Operations Service Medal (Indonesian: Satyalancana G.O.M II)
3rd Military Operations Service Medal (Indonesian: Satyalancana G.O.M III)
4th Military Operations Service Medal (Indonesian: Satyalancana G.O.M IV)
West New Guinea Military Campaign Medal (Indonesian: Satyalancana Satya Dharma)
Northern Borneo Military Campaign Medal (Indonesian: Satyalancana Wira Dharma)
Medal for Combat Against Communists (Indonesian: Satyalancana Penegak)
=== Foreign honours ===
In addition, he also received several foreign decorations:
Argentina:
Collar of the Order of the Liberator General San Martín (1972)
Austria:
Grand Star of the Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria (1973)
Belgium:
Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold (1973)
Brunei:
Recipient of the Most Esteemed Family Order of Laila Utama (DK) (1988)
Cambodia:
Grand Collar of the National Order of Independence (1968)
Egypt:
Grand Collar of the Order of the Nile (1977)
Ethiopia:
Grand Cordon and Collar of the Order of the Queen of Sheba (1968)
France:
Grand Cross of the National Order of the Legion of Honour (1972)
Iran:
First Class of the Order of Pahlavi
Recipient of the Commemorative Medal of the 2,500-year Celebration of the Persian Empire (1971)
Italy:
Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (OMRI) (1972)
Japan:
Grand Cordon of the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum (1968)
Jordan:
Grand Cordon with Collar of the Order of Al-Hussein bin Ali (1986)
Kuwait:
Collar of the Order of Mubarak the Great (1977)
Malaysia:
Honorary Recipient of the Most Exalted Order of the Crown of the Realm (DMN) (1988)
Johor:
Grand Commander of the Most Esteemed Royal Family Order of Johor (DK Johor) (1990)
Perak:
Recipient Member of the Most Esteemed Royal Family Order of Perak (DK Perak) (1988)
Mexico:
Grand Cross of the Order of the Aztec Eagle
Netherlands:
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Netherlands Lion (1970)
Pakistan:
Nishan-e-Pakistan (NPk) (1982)
Philippines:
Grand Collar (Raja) of the Order of Sikatuna (GCS) (1968)
Grand Collar (Maringal na Kuwintas) of the Order of the Golden Heart (GCGH) (1968)
Qatar:
Collar of the Order of the Independence (1977)
Romania:
First Class of the Order of the Star of the Romanian Socialist Republic (1982)
Saudi Arabia:
Great Chain of the Badr (1977)
Singapore:
Recipient of the Order of Temasek (DUT) (1974)
South Africa:
Grand Cross of the Order of Good Hope (1997)
South Korea:
Grand Order of Mugunghwa (1981)
Spain:
Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Isabella the Catholic (CYC) (1980)
Syria:
Member 1st Class of the Order of the Umayyads (1977)
Thailand:
Knight of the Most Auspicious Order of the Rajamitrabhorn (KRM) (1970)
Tunisia:
Grand Cordon of the Order of the Republic (1995)
Ukraine:
First Class of the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise (1997)
United Arab Emirates :
Grand Cordon with Collar of the Order of Unity (1977)
United Kingdom:
Honorary Knight Grand Cross (Military Division) of the Order of the Bath (GCB) (1974)
Venezuela:
Grand Cordon with Collar of the Order of the Liberator (1988)
West Germany:
Grand Cross Special Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (1970)
Yemen:
Grand Cordon with Collar of the Order of the Republic
Yugoslavia:
Yugoslav Star with Sash of the Order of the Yugoslav Star (1975)
=== Places and statue ===
Suharto's childhood house in Kemusuk is currently a memorial museum, called Memorial Jenderal Besar HM Soeharto. A statue of him stands in front of the museum. It was built by Probosutedjo and was inaugurated in 2013.
FELDA Soeharto, a village in Selangor, is named after him. He visited the village in 1970 as part of a momentous visit to normalize the Indonesia–Malaysia relations.
Istiklal Mosque in Sarajevo was initiated by Suharto as a gift for the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to replace the hundreds of mosques destroyed during the Bosnian War. Suharto famously visited Sarajevo in 1995 to help mediate the ongoing conflict (even though a UN-owned aircraft that passed through Bosnia was shot down two days earlier). The mosque is sometimes referred by locals as the Suharto Mosque.
== In popular culture ==
Suharto has been portrayed by five Indonesian actors in several movies.
Kaharuddin Syah portrayed Suharto in the 1980 movie Janur Kuning, directed by Alam Surawidjaja.
Antonius Yacobus portrayed Suharto in the 1982 movie Serangan Fajar, directed by Arifin C. Noer.
Amoroso Katamsi portrayed Suharto in the 1984 movie Pengkhianatan G30S/PKI and the 1988 movie Djakarta 66, both directed by Arifin C. Noer. He also portrayed Suharto in the 2015 drama movie Di Balik 98, directed by Lukman Sardi.
Marcell Siahaan portrayed Suharto in the 2010 comedic movie Laskar Pemimpi, directed by Monty Tiwa.
Tio Pakusadewo portrayed Suharto in the 2012 biopic movie Habibie & Ainun, directed by Faozan Rizal. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Boudreau | Lou Boudreau | Louis Boudreau (July 17, 1917 – August 10, 2001), nicknamed "Old Shufflefoot", "Handsome Lou", and "the Good Kid", was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 15 seasons, primarily as a shortstop on the Cleveland Indians, and managed four teams for 15 seasons including 10 seasons as a player-manager. He was also a radio announcer for the Chicago Cubs and in college was a dual-sport athlete in baseball and basketball, earning All-American honors in basketball for the University of Illinois.
Boudreau was an All-Star for seven seasons. In 1948, Boudreau won the American League Most Valuable Player Award and managed the Cleveland Indians to the World Series title. He won the 1944 American League (AL) batting title (.327), and led the league in doubles in 1941, 1944, and 1947. He led AL shortstops in fielding eight times. Boudreau still holds the MLB record for hitting the most consecutive doubles in a game (four), set on July 14, 1946. He had the most hits (1,578) for all players in the 1940s.
In 1970, Boudreau was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and his No. 5 was retired by the Indians that same year.
== Early life ==
Boudreau was born in Harvey, Illinois, the son of Birdie (Henry) and Louis Boudreau. His father was of French-Canadian ancestry, his mother was Jewish, and both of his maternal grandparents were observant Orthodox Jews with whom when he was young he celebrated Passover seders. He was raised Catholic by his father after his parents divorced. He graduated from Thornton Township High School in Harvey, Illinois, where he led the "Flying Clouds" to three straight Illinois high school championship games, winning in 1933 and finishing as runner up in 1934 and 1935.
== College baseball and basketball ==
Boudreau attended the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, where he was a member of Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity and captain of the basketball and baseball teams. During the 1936–37 basketball and baseball seasons, Boudreau led each Fighting Illini team to a Big Ten Conference championship. During the 1937–38 basketball season, Boudreau was named an NCAA Men's Basketball All-American.
While Boudreau was still at Illinois, Cleveland Indians general manager Cy Slapnicka paid him an undisclosed sum in return for agreeing to play baseball for the Indians after he graduated. Due to this agreement, Boudreau was ruled ineligible for collegiate sports by the Big Ten Conference officials. During his senior year at Illinois, he played professional basketball with the Hammond Ciesar All-Americans of the National Basketball League.
Despite playing professional baseball with Cleveland, Boudreau earned his Bachelor of Science in education from Illinois in 1940 and worked as the Illinois freshman basketball coach for the 1939 and 1940 teams. Boudreau stayed on as an assistant coach for the 1941–42 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team and he was instrumental in recruiting future Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Inductee Andy Phillip to play for Illinois.
== Professional baseball career ==
=== Cleveland Indians ===
Boudreau made his major league debut on September 9, 1938, for the Cleveland Indians at 21 as a third baseman in his first game. In 1939, Indian manager Ossie Vitt told him that he would have to move from his normal third base position to shortstop since established slugger Ken Keltner already had the regular third base job.
In 1940, his first full year as a starter, he batted .295 with 46 doubles and 101 RBI, and was selected for the All-Star Game for the first of five consecutive seasons (MLB cancelled the 1945 game due to war-time travel restrictions and did not name All-Stars).
Boudreau helped make history in 1941 as a key figure in stopping the 56-game hitting streak by Joe DiMaggio. After two sparkling stops by Keltner at third base on hard ground balls earlier in the game, Boudreau snagged a bad-hop grounder to short barehanded and started a double play retiring DiMaggio at first. He finished the season with a modest .257 batting average, but had a league-leading 45 doubles.
After the 1941 season, owner Alva Bradley promoted Indians manager Roger Peckinpaugh to general manager and appointed the 25-year-old Boudreau player-manager. Boudreau played and managed the Indians throughout World War II (playing basketball had put a strain on Boudreau's ankles that turned into arthritis, which classified him as 4-F and thus ineligible for military service). In 1944, Boudreau turned 134 double plays, the most ever by a player-manager in MLB history. When he bought the Indians in 1947, Bill Veeck, after being approached by Boudreau, renewed the player-manager agreement with mixed feelings on both sides, as Boudreau stated that he would rather be traded than only play shortstop. Details of possibly trading him for Vern Stephens of the St. Louis Browns in 1947 only attracted fans to the side of Boudreau. However, Boudreau hit .355 in 1948; Cleveland won the AL pennant and the World Series, the Indians first World Series championship in 28 years and only the second in Indians history, with Veeck and Boudreau publicly acknowledging each other's role in the team's success.
=== Later career ===
Boudreau was released by the Indians as both player and manager following the 1950 season. He signed with the Boston Red Sox, playing full-time in 1951, moving up to player-manager in 1952 and managing from the bench in 1953–54. He then became the first manager of the Kansas City Athletics in 1955 after their move from Philadelphia until he was fired after 104 games in 1957 and replaced by Harry Craft. He last managed the Chicago Cubs, in 1960.
=== Managerial record ===
== Boudreau shift ==
Boudreau is credited with inventing the infield shift, which came to be known colloquially as the "Boudreau shift." Because slugging Red Sox superstar Ted Williams was a dead-pull hitter, he moved most of his Cleveland Indian fielders to the right of second base against the Splendid Splinter, leaving only the third baseman and left fielder to the left of second but also very close to second base, far to the right of their normal positions. With characteristic stubborn pride, Williams refused the obvious advice from teammates to hit or bunt to left against the Boudreau shift, but great hitter that he was, not changing his approach against the shift didn't affect his hitting very much.
Boudreau later admitted that the shift was more about "psyching out" Williams rather than playing him to pull. "I always considered the Boudreau shift a psychological, rather than a tactical" ploy, he declared in his autobiography Player-Manager.
== Broadcasting ==
Boudreau did play-by-play for Cub games in 1958–59 before switching roles with manager "Jolly Cholly" Charlie Grimm in 1960. But after only one season as Cubs manager, Boudreau returned to the radio booth and remained there until 1987. He also did radio play-by-play for the Chicago Bulls in 1966–1968 and worked on Chicago Blackhawks games for WGN radio and television as well.
The presence of a Hall of Fame announcer affected at least one game. On June 23, 1976, the Cubs were two runs behind at home in the fourth inning of the second game of a doubleheader against the Pittsburgh Pirates at home when the umpires called the game on account of darkness (since there were no lights at Wrigley Field until 1988), announcing that the game would be resumed at the same point the next day as was normally the case in those days. But Boudreau knew the rules better than anyone else in the park, it turned out, for he went down quickly to the clubhouse and pointed out to the umpires that a game that was not yet an official game could not be treated as a suspended game (i.e., it had not gone five innings, or four and a half with the home team leading, as neither was the case), and as such had to be replayed from the first pitch (as was then the rule in a rain-out). The umpires called the National League office, found Boudreau was correct, and removed the two-run Cubs deficit.
== Later life and honors ==
Boudreau was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1970 with 77.33% of the vote. That same year, his uniform number 5 was retired by the Cleveland Indians (he wore number 4 with the Red Sox). In 1973, the city of Cleveland renamed a street bordering Cleveland Municipal Stadium after Boudreau. Boudreau Drive in Urbana, Illinois, is also named after Boudreau.
In 1990, the Cleveland Indians established The Lou Boudreau Award, which is given every year to the organization's Minor League Player of the Year. In 1992, Boudreau's number 5 jersey was retired by the Illinois Fighting Illini baseball program. Boudreau is only one of three Illinois Fighting Illini athletes to have their number retired; the other two athletes being Illinois Fighting Illini football players Red Grange and Dick Butkus.
== Personal life ==
Boudreau married Della DeRuiter in 1938, and together they had four children. His daughter Sharyn married Denny McLain, a former star pitcher with the Detroit Tigers who was the last 30-game winner in the major leagues (31–6 for the world champion 1968 Detroit Tigers).
Boudreau had a home in Frankfort, Illinois, for many years. He died on August 10, 2001, due to cardiac arrest at St. James Medical Center in Olympia Fields, Illinois. He was 84. He received a Catholic funeral and his body was interred in the Pleasant Hill Cemetery. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snoopy | Snoopy | Snoopy is one of the central characters in the comic strip Peanuts by American cartoonist Charles M. Schulz. He also appears in all of the Peanuts films and television specials. Debuting in the strip on October 4, 1950, the original drawings of Snoopy were inspired by Spike, one of Schulz's childhood dogs.
A largely anthropomorphic beagle, Snoopy is nearly the polar opposite of his owner, Charlie Brown: he is capable in multiple areas, quick-witted, imaginative, and independent. Snoopy usually spends his days sleeping flat on top of his doghouse or engaging in flights of fancy. This includes pretending to be a World War I flying ace who is the archenemy of the Red Baron, writing essays and short stories on his typewriter, and trying to romance the different neighborhood kids (with the main object of his affections being Lucy Van Pelt, who is disgusted by him). Snoopy is also known for his large family, rivalry with Linus Van Pelt over the latter's blanket, friendship with Peppermint Patty (who, due to his anthropomorphism, believes him to be a "funny-looking kid with [a] big nose" for years), and longstanding best-friendship with the yellow bird Woodstock.
Though anthropomorphic, Snoopy is incapable of diegetic speech. In the strip, he is given thought bubbles that showcase his inner thoughts, but these are removed in the majority of external media. In the specials, Snoopy's vocal effects were done by series producer Bill Melendez; following Melendez's death, his voice has been used via archival recordings on all subsequent films and specials.
Snoopy is widely considered the franchise's breakout character. He has become one of the most recognizable and iconic comic strip characters of all time, and is considered more famous than Charlie Brown in some countries.
== Traits ==
Snoopy is a loyal, imaginative, and good-natured beagle who is prone to imagining fantasy lives, including being an author, a college student known as "Joe Cool", an attorney, and a World War I flying ace. He is perhaps best known in this last persona, wearing an aviator's helmet and goggles and a scarf while carrying a swagger stick (like a stereotypical British Army officer of World War I and II).
Snoopy can be selfish, gluttonous, and lazy at times, and occasionally mocks his owner, Charlie Brown. But on the whole, he shows great love, care, and loyalty for his owner (even though he cannot even remember his name and always refers to him as "the round-headed kid"). In the 1990s comic strips, he is obsessed with cookies, particularly the chocolate-chip variety. This, and other instances in which he indulges in large chocolate-based meals and snacks, indicate that chocolate is not poisonous to Snoopy, the way it is for real dogs.
All of his fantasies have a similar formula. Snoopy pretends to be something, usually "world famous", and fails. His short "novels" are never published. His Sopwith Camel is consistently shot down by his imaginary rival enemy, the German flying ace the "Red Baron". Schulz said of Snoopy's character in a 1997 interview: "He has to retreat into his fanciful world in order to survive. Otherwise, he leads kind of a dull, miserable life. I don't envy dogs the lives they have to live."
Snoopy imagines himself to speak, but never actually does, other than nonverbal sounds and occasionally uttering "Woof". His very articulate thoughts are shown in thought balloons. In the animated Peanuts films and television specials, Snoopy's thoughts are not verbalized. His moods are instead conveyed through moans, yelps, growls, sobs, laughter, and monosyllabic utterances such as "bleah" or "hey" as well as through pantomime. His vocal effects were usually provided by Bill Melendez, who first played the role during Snoopy's appearances on The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show. The only exceptions are in the animated adaptations of the musicals You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown and Snoopy!!! The Musical, in which Snoopy's thoughts are verbalized by Robert Towers and Cameron Clarke, respectively. (His dialogue, however, is not "heard" by the other characters except Woodstock the bird and other non-human characters; however, he does remember Charlie Brown's name.)
Snoopy's doghouse defies physics and is shown to be bigger on the inside than the outside.
== History ==
Snoopy appeared on October 4, 1950, two days after the first Peanuts strip. He was one of the four original characters, along with Charlie Brown, Patty, and Shermy. He was named Snoopy for the first time in the November 10 strip.
On March 16, 1952, his thoughts were first shown in a thought balloon. Snoopy first appeared upright on his hind legs on January 9, 1956, when he was shown sliding across a sheet of ice after Shermy and Lucy had first done so. He is first shown sleeping on top of his doghouse rather than inside it on December 12, 1958, and first adopts his World War I Flying Ace persona on October 10, 1965. Snoopy's final appearance in the comic was on February 13, 2000, when he was shown sitting on top of his doghouse typing Schulz's farewell message to his readers.
=== Popularity ===
Snoopy appeared as a character balloon in New York City's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1968; the balloon depicted Snoopy in his World War I Flying Ace costume. The beagle has been in almost every parade ever since in different costumes, as an ice skater, a jester (to celebrate the new millennium and the parade's 75th anniversary), with Woodstock riding on his head, and an astronaut.
In Wales, the Dogs Trust and Wild in Arts created a trail called A Dog's Trail which spanned across Cardiff, Caerphilly, and Porthcawl in spring of 2022. The trail raised money for Dogs Trust to use for dog welfare.
== Relationship with other Peanuts characters ==
=== Charlie Brown ===
Despite his history of conflicted loyalties, his constant disrespect for Charlie Brown, and his inability to remember his name (he refers to him as "that round-headed kid"), Snoopy has shown both love and loyalty to his owner. Charlie Brown would often get irritated at Snoopy's flights of fancy with the comment, "Why can't I have a normal dog like everyone else?" He joins Charlie Brown in walking out of a game of Ha-Ha Herman when Peppermint Patty insults Charlie Brown, unaware that Charlie Brown is within earshot. He also helps Charlie Brown recover his autographed baseball when a bully takes it and challenges Charlie Brown to fight him for it. When Charlie Brown has to stop dedicating himself to making Snoopy happy, Snoopy replies, "Don't worry about it. I was already happy." In The Peanuts Movie, Snoopy remains loyal to Charlie Brown, supporting and caring for him throughout the movie.
In early Peanuts strips, Charlie Brown was not Snoopy's owner (as seen in the February 2, 1951, strip), and it was not made clear who, if anyone, his actual owner was. At various times, it was suggested that he was Patty's or Shermy's dog. Charlie Brown was first portrayed as being responsible for Snoopy in the strips of November 1 and 3, 1955; it was not until September 1, 1958, that Snoopy was specifically said to be Charlie Brown's dog. (In the September 20, 1980, strip, Charlie Brown comments that he once told Snoopy to "stay" and "he never went home".)
In both the early strips and the movie Snoopy Come Home, Charlie Brown says that he got Snoopy after being bullied by another kid. His parents took him to the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm to cheer him up, where he met and bought Snoopy. The special Snoopy's Reunion depicts their first meeting.
=== Lucy ===
Snoopy frequently tries to kiss Lucy on the cheek or nose, which Lucy, who is afraid of dog germs, thoroughly hates. Despite her distaste of doggy kisses, Lucy seems to care for Snoopy: in Snoopy Come Home, Lucy is sad to see him go and is (momentarily) glad when he comes back home. In some strips, Lucy goes to Snoopy for help, such as in the April 16, 1961 strip, wherein a jealous Lucy and Frieda are beating each other up at Schroeder's piano, Lucy ends up winning, and shakes hands with Snoopy in the end, looking slightly injured. Snoopy also commandeers Lucy's psychiatric booth either in her absence or when she ends up being the one needing help. In Snoopy!, Lucy and Snoopy hug each other during the song "If Just One Person".
=== Linus ===
Snoopy often tries to steal Linus's blanket, leading to slapstick fights and wild chases, the latter of which usually involve Snoopy running up, grabbing the blanket in his mouth, then running off with Linus holding on for dear life, and finally swinging Linus and the blanket around and around in a circular motion through the air before letting go and they both fly off to who-knows-where.
=== Lila ===
Lila was Snoopy's owner before Charlie Brown. Snoopy visits her in the cartoon Snoopy Come Home and struggles to decide whether to stay with Charlie Brown or go back to Lila. Lila quickly persuades him to leave Charlie Brown so Snoopy can live with her again. However, upon arriving at her apartment complex, Snoopy is very relieved to see a "NO DOGS ALLOWED" sign and returns to live with Charlie Brown.
=== Peppermint Patty ===
Peppermint Patty often refers to Snoopy as a "funny-looking kid with a big nose", unaware that he is a beagle. In one instance, she has him serve as her attorney in a case involving the school dress code. In the March 21, 1974, strip, Marcie tells Peppermint Patty that Snoopy is a beagle, finally resulting in her realizing his true identity. Snoopy serves as Peppermint Patty's watchdog several times. She is one of the few girls who does not get disgusted after being kissed by him.
=== Sally Brown ===
Like Lucy, Sally does not care that much for Snoopy and often calls him a stupid beagle. Sally usually complains when her big brother asks her to feed Snoopy whenever he is away from home. While she is still an infant, Sally has a friendly and playful relationship with Snoopy. In later years, Sally occasionally enlists Snoopy's help in school assignments. She even treats him to an ice cream cone (a very tall ice cream cone, with scoops of about a dozen flavors) when Snoopy helps her get an "A" on a report about "Our Animal Friends". In one storyline, Sally uses Snoopy as a "weapon" to help protect her from bullies on the playground (Snoopy barks loudly at anyone who threatens Sally, leading Snoopy to comment, "I feel like a can of mace!"), but this ends in disaster when Snoopy sees an old girlfriend of his and runs off to meet her, abandoning Sally and leaving her to get "slaughtered" by the playground bullies.
=== Schroeder ===
Schroeder does not mind much when Snoopy sits against his toy piano, except when Snoopy dances on top of the piano, much to Schroeder's annoyance. He also sometimes plays with the notes coming from the piano.
=== Rerun van Pelt ===
Rerun, the youngest child character in the strip, plays with Snoopy sometimes. In some strips, Rerun and Snoopy are playing cards with each other, both of them clueless about the rules.
=== Woodstock ===
Woodstock is Snoopy's best friend and sidekick. He is a small, yellow bird of indeterminate species. He speaks in a chirping language that only Snoopy and his other bird friends can understand. In return, the birds somehow understand Snoopy's thoughts. In some strips, Snoopy can be seen telling a joke to Woodstock and both laugh so hard they end up falling off the doghouse. Woodstock sometimes sleeps on top of Snoopy's nose, such as in one strip where Snoopy says "Never share your pad with a restless bird".
=== Fifi ===
Fifi is a major love interest of Snoopy and she appears in Life Is a Circus, Charlie Brown and The Peanuts Movie. In Life Is a Circus, Charlie Brown, Snoopy sees Fifi, a white poodle, at a circus and starts to get attracted to her. He and Fifi do a trapeze act and afterward, he runs away, taking Fifi with him. Fifi decides to go back to the circus, however, leaving Snoopy heartbroken and forced to return to Charlie Brown. In The Peanuts Movie, Fifi (voiced by Kristin Chenoweth) is a pilot just like Snoopy (being redesigned to be bipedal while still retaining her poodle traits), and together they have interaction via Snoopy's typewriter against the Red Baron. He shows how much he cares for her when he cries at Schroeder's house after she is captured by the Red Baron. Snoopy, Woodstock, and the Beagle Scouts set out on a mission to save her. Eventually, they save her, and she shows her affection to Snoopy.
== Siblings ==
In the comic strip, Snoopy has seven siblings. Five appeared at various times in the strip: four brothers, Spike, Andy, Marbles, and Olaf; and one sister, Belle. The two others were never mentioned by name in the comic strip, but the whole family appeared in 1991 television special Snoopy's Reunion, introducing the two unknown siblings, identified in the special as Molly and Rover.
Snoopy having seven siblings was an element of the strip that developed as the strip evolved. Originally described in a June 1959 strip as an "only dog", Snoopy went to a family reunion with several unnamed siblings in a May 1965 sequence, stating that they all spoke different languages and couldn't understand each other. In March 1970, Snoopy wrote in his autobiography that he was one of seven puppies, and the number reached its final count of eight beagles in December 1972.
In a 1987 interview, Schulz said that he felt introducing Snoopy's siblings was a mistake, similar to the introduction of Eugene the Jeep in Thimble Theatre: "I think Eugene the Jeep took the life out of Popeye himself, and I'm sure Segar didn't realize that. I realized it myself a couple of years ago when I began to introduce Snoopy's brothers and sisters. I realized that when I put Belle and Marbles in there it destroyed the relationship that Snoopy has with the kids, which is a very strange relationship. And these things are so subtle when you're doing them, you can make mistakes and not realize them." Schulz elaborated further in another 1987 interview: "Snoopy had a sister, Belle, whom I discovered I really didn't like. I brought in Spike and I like Spike a lot. But when I brought another brother in — I thought Marbles would make a great name for a dog — I discovered almost immediately that bringing in other animals took the uniqueness away from Snoopy. So the only other animal character who works now is Spike, as long as Spike stays out in the desert."
=== Spike ===
Spike, Snoopy's older brother who lived in the desert, was the most frequently seen sibling in the strip. He was introduced in the August 13, 1975, strip. He was a recurring character between 1984 and 1988, and was also used in one-off appearances sporadically through the rest of Peanuts history. Spike is named after Charles Schulz's childhood dog.
Spike's appearance is similar to Snoopy's, but he is substantially thinner, has a perpetually sleepy-eyed look, sports long, droopy whiskers that look like a mustache, and wears a fedora. He is called Snoopy's older brother during the first story in which he appears. Spike lives in the middle of a desert near Needles, California, mostly interacting with inanimate saguaro cacti and rocks.
He temporarily became Rerun's dog in I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown, and also starred in his own television special, It's the Girl in the Red Truck, Charlie Brown. He was also a main character in Snoopy's Getting Married, Charlie Brown, where he is shown traveling from Needles to visit Snoopy to be the best beagle at his wedding.
A large statue of Spike resides inside the Needles Regional Museum in Needles, California. The Schulz family lived in Needles from 1928 to 1930.
=== Belle ===
Belle is Snoopy's sister, who first appeared in the strip on June 28, 1976. She lives in Kansas City, Missouri with her teenage son, whom Snoopy noted as resembling the Pink Panther. Belle herself bears a strong resemblance to Snoopy, but with longer eyelashes. In addition, she wears a lace collar and sometimes wears a pearl necklace.
Belle only made a few appearances in the strip but is remembered because of the Belle stuffed animal toys sold in the late 1970s and early 1980s. San Francisco toy merchandiser Determined Productions had the license to make Snoopy plush toys, and they introduced Belle plush after receiving many requests from children who wanted a female "sister" doll.
In 1984, Snoopy and Belle inspired fashion designers around the world, including Lagerfeld, Armani, and de la Renta, to create one-of-a-kind outfits in their honor. Both beagles modeled for the "Snoopy in Fashion" exhibition held that year in Japan. "Snoopy & Belle in Fashion" continues to be exhibited as of 2020. Photographs of the exhibition were collected in a 1988 book, Snoopy in Fashion.
There was another traveling exhibition of Snoopy and Belle plush in outfits made by fashion designers in 1990, as a celebration of the comic strip's fortieth anniversary. This exhibition began in Paris at the Louvre Museum, and then to the Mitsukoshi department store in Tokyo, followed by showings in Los Angeles, New York City, London, Milan, and Madrid. Photographs from this collection were published as Snoopy Around the World.
== Reception ==
Snoopy and Charlie Brown were ranked by TV Guide as the 8th greatest cartoon characters of all time.
Some critics feel that the strip suffered a decline in quality after the 1960s. Writing in 2000, Christopher Caldwell argued that the character of Snoopy, and the strip's increased focus on him in the 1970s, "went from being the strip's besetting artistic weakness to ruining it altogether". Caldwell felt that Snoopy "was never a full participant in the tangle of relationships that drove Peanuts in its Golden Age", as he could not talk. He went on to say that Snoopy "was way too shallow for the strip as it developed in the 1960s, and the strips he featured in were anomalies."
Jim Davis noted that Snoopy was a boon from a marketing standpoint, which inspired him to center his comic strip Garfield around a cat: "Snoopy is very popular in licensing. Charlie Brown is not."
A toy titled The Snoopy Snowcone Machine was popular in the '80s and was later recreated in the 2010s by Cra-z-art.
=== Political endorsement controversy ===
On October 5, 2024, a fan account devoted to Snoopy on Twitter posted an endorsement of Donald Trump's presidential candidacy in the 2024 U.S. presidential race. The tweet, which featured an AI-generated portrait of Snoopy shaking the hand of Trump, was widely criticized by many fellow Peanuts fans on social media, several of whom referenced a 1970 letter from creator Schulz in which he stressed the importance of faith in American democracy, writing that "sometimes it is the very people who cry out the loudest in favor of getting back to what they call 'American Virtues' who lack this faith in our country. I believe that our greatest strength lies always in the protection of our smallest minorities." The account deleted the tweet, then did another which acknowledged the support from Trump supporters, and championed continued voter registration in swing states. The account was deactivated shortly thereafter.
The tweet was parodied on the October 12, 2024 edition of the NBC variety show Saturday Night Live, with remarks that, in turn, used the character of Franklin to reference Trump's own controversial comments about Haitian immigrants.
== Awards and honors ==
Schulz was a keen bridge player, and Peanuts occasionally included bridge references. In 1997 the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) awarded both Snoopy and Woodstock the honorary rank of Life Master, and Schulz was delighted.
On November 2, 2015, Snoopy was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, becoming the second Peanuts-related figure to be inducted with a star, after Schulz.
== In aviation and space ==
=== Use by NASA ===
Following the Apollo 1 fire, Snoopy became the official mascot of aerospace safety, testing and the rebuilding of the Apollo Program.
The Apollo 10 lunar module was named Snoopy and the command module Charlie Brown. While not included in the official mission logo, Charlie Brown and Snoopy became semi-official mascots for the mission, as seen here Archived June 19, 2001, at the Wayback Machine and here Archived October 25, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. Schulz also drew some special mission-related artwork for NASA, and several regular strips related to the mission, one showing Snoopy en route to the Moon atop his doghouse with a fishbowl on his head for a helmet. "We have mentioned," wrote television producer Lee Mendelson, "that Charles Schulz is a gambler, a man who doesn't sit pat on success. The New York Times headlined: 'Creator of Peanuts Tempts Fate on Apollo Mission.' Certainly, if a tragedy had occurred, as well it might have, the symbols would forever remain in man's mind as symbols of disaster. But Sparky has always had faith in the Apollo program, from the very start, and he felt if those men could risk their lives, the least he could do would be to risk the popularity of the characters." The strip that ran on July 21, 1969 – one day after Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo 11 Lunar Module Eagle on the Moon – included a full Moon in the background, with a black mark on it representing the module.
The fabric cap worn by NASA astronauts as part of the Extravehicular Mobility Unit is known as a "Snoopy cap", a reference to how the white crown and brown earflaps of the cap resemble Snoopy's fur and ears.
Snoopy is also seen in the mission patch of NASA's Skylab Medical Experiment Altitude Test (SMEAT).
The Silver Snoopy award is a special NASA honor, in the form of a sterling silver pin with an engraving of Snoopy in a spacesuit helmet. It is given by an astronaut to someone who works in the space program that has gone above and beyond in pursuit of quality and safety.
In April 2019, Snoopy and NASA announced that Snoopy would return to the Moon aboard NASA Orion in 2024.
He was a gravity indicator aboard Artemis 1 mission that orbited the moon in 2022.
In November 2019, Apple TV made a Snoopy in Space series.
=== Other uses ===
Snoopy is the name of a United States Air Force B-58 Hustler bomber, serial number 55-0665, which was modified to test a radar system.
American insurance company MetLife used Snoopy as their corporate mascot between 1985 and 2016. Snoopy One, Snoopy Two, and Snoopy J are three airships owned and operated by MetLife that provide aerial coverage of sporting events, and feature Snoopy as the World War I flying ace on their fuselage. As of October 20, 2016, MetLife no longer features Snoopy in its commercials, due to a global rebranding.
The Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport in California, named after Schulz, has a logo featuring Snoopy in his World War I flying ace attire flying atop his doghouse.
Snoopy is the mascot of the 26th Squadron (Barons, pronounced Barones) of the United States Air Force Academy, appearing on their squadron patch. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Fonda | Peter Fonda | Peter Henry Fonda (February 23, 1940 – August 16, 2019) was an American actor, film director, and screenwriter. He was twice an Academy Award nominee, both for acting and screenwriting, and a two-time Golden Globe Award winner for his acting. He was a member of the Fonda acting family, as the son of actor Henry Fonda, the brother of actress and activist Jane Fonda, and the father of actress Bridget Fonda.
Fonda began his career on stage, winning a New York Drama Critics' Circle Award and the Theatre World Award for his performance in the play Blood, Sweat and Stanley Poole. He became a prominent figure in the counterculture of the 1960s, starring in and co-writing the film Easy Rider (1969), which earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. He then made his directorial debut with the Revisionist Western film The Hired Hand (1971), in which he also starred. During the following decade, he established himself as an action star, appearing in a variety of productions including Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry (1974) and Futureworld (1976).
Fonda achieved a major critical comeback with his starring role in the drama film Ulee's Gold (1997), receiving an Oscar nomination for Best Actor and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama. He also won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film for The Passion of Ayn Rand (1999). In 2003, Fonda received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7018 Hollywood Blvd, for his contributions to the film industry.
== Early life ==
Fonda was born by caesarean section (C-section) on February 23, 1940, at LeRoy Hospital in New York City, the only son of actor Henry Fonda and socialite Frances Ford Seymour; his older sister is actress Jane Fonda. He and Jane had a half-sister, Frances de Villers Brokaw (1931–2008), from their mother's first marriage. Their mother committed suicide in a mental hospital when Peter, her youngest, was 10. He did not discover the circumstances or location of her death until he was 15.
One month prior to his 11th birthday, he accidentally shot himself in the abdomen and nearly died. He went to the hill station of Nainital, Uttarakhand, northern India, and stayed for a few months for recovery. Years later, while taking LSD with John Lennon and George Harrison, he referred to this incident, saying, "I know what it's like to be dead." This inspired the Beatles' song "She Said She Said" from their seventh studio album Revolver (1966).
Peter attended the Fay School in Southborough, Massachusetts, and was a member of the Class of 1954. He then matriculated in Westminster School, a Connecticut boarding school in Simsbury, where he graduated in 1958.
Once he graduated, Fonda studied acting in Omaha, Nebraska, his father's hometown. While attending the University of Nebraska Omaha, Fonda joined the Omaha Community Playhouse.
== Career ==
=== Early years and film work ===
Upon his return to New York, Fonda joined the Cecilwood Theatre in 1960. Afterwards, he found work on Broadway and gained notice in Blood, Sweat and Stanley Poole, written by James and William Goldman, which ran for 84 performances in 1961. Fonda began guest starring on television shows like Naked City, The New Breed, Wagon Train, and The Defenders.
Fonda's first film came when producer Ross Hunter was looking for a new male actor to romance Sandra Dee in Tammy and the Doctor (1963). He was cast in the role, in what was a minor hit. He followed this with a support part in The Victors (1963), a bleak look at American soldiers in World War II, directed by Carl Foreman. Fonda's performance won him a Golden Globe Award for most promising newcomer.
Fonda continued to work in television, guest starring in Channing, Arrest and Trial, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, and 12 O'Clock High. He also tested for the role of John F. Kennedy in PT-109. Fonda impressed Robert Rossen who cast him in what would be Rossen's last movie, Lilith (1964), alongside Warren Beatty, Jean Seberg and Gene Hackman. Fonda's performance was well reviewed. Shortly before dying, Rossen signed him to a seven-film contract which was to start with an adaptation of Bang the Drum Slowly. Fonda graduated to a starring role in The Young Lovers (1964), about out-of-wedlock pregnancy, the sole directorial effort of Samuel Goldwyn Jr.
=== Counterculture figure and Roger Corman ===
By the mid-1960s, Fonda was not a conventional "leading man" in Hollywood. As Playboy magazine reported, Fonda had established a "solid reputation as a dropout". He had become outwardly nonconformist and grew his hair long and took LSD regularly, alienating the "establishment" film industry. Desirable acting work became scarce. Through his friendships with members of the band The Byrds, Fonda visited The Beatles in their rented house in Benedict Canyon in Los Angeles in August 1965. While John Lennon, Ringo Starr, George Harrison, and Fonda were under the influence of LSD, Lennon heard Fonda say, "I know what it's like to be dead." Lennon used the phrase in the lyrics for his song, "She Said She Said", which was included on their 1966 album, Revolver.
In August 1966 Fonda was charged with possession of marijuana, and was later acquitted in December of that year. In November 1966 Fonda was arrested in the Sunset Strip riot, which the police ended forcefully. The band Buffalo Springfield protested the department's handling of the incident in their song "For What It's Worth". In 1967, Fonda recorded "November Night", a 45-rpm single written by Gram Parsons for the Chisa label, backed with "Catch the Wind" by Donovan, produced by Hugh Masekela.
Fonda's first counterculture-oriented film role was as a biker in Roger Corman's B movie The Wild Angels (1966). Fonda originally was to support George Chakiris, but graduated to the lead when Chakiris revealed he could not ride a motorcycle. In the film, Fonda delivered a "eulogy" at a fallen Angel's funeral service. The movie was a big hit at the box office, screened at the Venice Film Festival, launched the biker movie genre, and established Peter Fonda as a movie name. Fonda made a television pilot, High Noon: The Clock Strikes Noon Again, filmed in December 1965. It was based on the film High Noon (1952), starring Gary Cooper, with Fonda in the Cooper role. It did not become a series.
Fonda next played the male lead in Corman's film The Trip (1967), a take on the experience and "consequences" of consuming LSD, which was written by Jack Nicholson. His co-stars included Susan Strasberg, Bruce Dern, and Dennis Hopper. The movie was a hit. Fonda then traveled to France to appear in the portmanteau horror movie Spirits of the Dead (1968). His segment co-starred his sister Jane and was directed by her then-husband Roger Vadim. For American television, he appeared in a movie, Certain Honorable Men (1968), alongside Van Heflin, written by Rod Serling.
=== Easy Rider ===
Fonda produced, co-wrote and starred in Easy Rider (1969), directed by Dennis Hopper. Easy Rider is about two long-haired bikers traveling through the southwestern and southern United States where they encounter intolerance and violence. Fonda played "Wyatt", a charismatic, laconic man whose motorcycle jacket bore a large American flag across the back. Dennis Hopper played the garrulous "Billy". Jack Nicholson played George Hanson, an alcoholic civil rights lawyer who rides along with them. Fonda co-wrote the screenplay with Terry Southern and Hopper.
Fonda tried to secure financing from Roger Corman and American International Pictures (AIP), with whom he had made The Wild Angels and The Trip, but they were reluctant to finance a film directed by Hopper. They succeeded in getting money from Columbia Pictures. Hopper filmed the cross-country road trip depicted almost entirely on location. Fonda had secured funding of around $360,000, largely based on the fact he knew that it was the budget Roger Corman needed to make The Wild Angels. The guitarist and composer Robbie Robertson, of The Band, was so moved by an advance screening that he approached Fonda and tried to convince him to let him write a complete score, even though the film was nearly due for wide release. Fonda declined the offer, instead using Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild", Bob Dylan's "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" sung by The Byrds' Roger McGuinn, and Robertson's own composition "The Weight", performed by The Band, among many other tracks.
The film was released to international success. Jack Nicholson was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Fonda, Hopper and Southern were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. The film grossed over $40 million.
=== Director and action star ===
After the success of Easy Rider, both Hopper and Fonda were sought for film projects. Hopper directed the film The Last Movie (1971), in which Fonda co-starred along with singer Michelle Phillips of The Mamas and the Papas. Fonda directed and starred in the Western film The Hired Hand (1971). He took the lead role in a cast that also featured Warren Oates, Verna Bloom and Beat Generation poet Michael McClure. The film received mixed reviews and failed commercially upon its initial release, but many years later, in 2001, a fully restored version was shown at various film festivals and was re-released by the Sundance Channel on DVD that same year in two separate editions. Fonda later directed the science fiction film Idaho Transfer (1973). He did not appear in the film, and the film received mixed reviews upon its limited release. Around the same time, he co-starred with Lindsay Wagner in Two People (also 1973) for director Robert Wise, in which he portrayed a Vietnam War deserter.
Fonda starred alongside Susan George and longtime-friend (and frequent co-star) Adam Roarke in the film Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry (1974), a film about two NASCAR hopefuls who execute a supermarket heist to finance their jump into big-time auto racing. The film was a box-office hit that year. It led to Fonda's making a series of action movies: Open Season (1974), with William Holden; Race with the Devil (1975), fleeing devil worshippers with Warren Oates (another hit); 92 in the Shade (1975), again with Oates, for writer-director Thomas McGuane; Killer Force (1976) for director Val Guest; Futureworld (1976), a sequel to Westworld (1973), financed by AIP; Fighting Mad (1976), a reuniting with Roger Corman, directed by Jonathan Demme.
Outlaw Blues (1977) was a drama, with Fonda playing a musician opposite Susan Saint James. After some more action with High-Ballin' (1978), Fonda returned to directing, with the controversial drama Wanda Nevada (1979), wherein the 39-year-old Fonda starred as the "love" interest of the then 13-year-old Brooke Shields. His father, Henry Fonda, made a brief appearance as well, and it is the only film in which they performed together.
=== 1980s and 1990s ===
Fonda was top billed in The Hostage Tower (1980), a television movie based on a story by Alistair MacLean. Fonda appeared in the hit film The Cannonball Run (1981) as the "chief biker", a tongue-in-cheek nod to his earlier motorcycle films. He also played a charismatic cult leader in Split Image (1982), a film that also starred James Woods, Karen Allen and Brian Dennehy. Despite the strong cast and positive reviews, the film failed to find an audience.
Fonda later appeared in a series of films in the 1980s of varying genres — Daijōbu, My Friend (1983), shot in Japan; Dance of the Dwarfs (1983); Peppermint Peace (1983), shot in Germany; Spasms (1983), a Canadian horror film with Oliver Reed; A Reason to Live (1985), a TV movie; Certain Fury (1985), with Tatum O'Neal; Mercenary Fighters (1988); Hawken's Breed (1988), a Western; Sound (1988); Gli indifferenti (1989) with Liv Ullmann; and The Rose Garden (1989).
In the early 1990s Fonda also contributed to the script of Enemy (1990), in which he starred. He had the lead in Family Express (1991) and South Beach (1993), but then drifted into supporting roles in many independent films: Deadfall (1993), directed by Christopher Coppola; Bodies, Rest & Motion (1993), starring his daughter Bridget; Molly & Gina (1994) with Frances Fisher and Natasha Gregson; Love and a .45 (1994) with Renée Zellweger; Nadja (1994), produced by David Lynch. He had a good supporting role in Escape from L.A. (1996) from John Carpenter and was in Don't Look Back (1996). He also guest starred on In the Heat of the Night.
After years of films of varying success, Fonda received high-profile critical recognition and universal praise for his performance in Ulee's Gold (1997). He portrayed a taciturn North Florida beekeeper and Vietnam veteran who tries to save his son and granddaughter from a life of drug abuse. For his performance, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. He had the lead in Painted Hero (1997). In 1998, Fonda starred in the TV movie The Tempest, based in part on William Shakespeare's play of the same name. It was directed by Jack Bender and starred Fonda, John Glover, Harold Perrineau, and Katherine Heigl.
He played Frank O'Connor in The Passion of Ayn Rand (1998), a performance for which he received a Golden Globe Award in 2000, then appeared in the crime film The Limey (1999) as Terry Valentine, an aging rock music producer who accidentally kills his younger girlfriend. The film was directed by Steven Soderbergh.
Fonda wrote an autobiography, Don't Tell Dad (1998).
In the 1990s, Fonda appeared in an advertisement for American Express.
=== 2000s ===
Fonda's work in the 2000s included parts in South of Heaven, West of Hell (2000), Second Skin (2000), Thomas and the Magic Railroad (2000) Wooly Boys (2001), The Laramie Project (2001), The Maldonado Miracle (2003), Capital City (2004), The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (2004), A Thief of Time (2004), Back When We Were Grownups (2004), Supernova (2005), and El cobrador: In God We Trust (2006).
In 2002, Fonda was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame.
In 2004, he provided the voice of aging hippie weed grower "The Truth" in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which was one of the best-selling video games of all time.
In a 2007 interview, Fonda said that riding motorcycles helped him to focus, stating,
I ride an MV Agusta. This is an Italian racing motorcycle. It forces focus. You have to be focused and in my life, in this business, focus is hard to find sometimes. So I need to force focus and that's great. The bike takes you on a free road. There's no fences on the roads I ride and I don't ride freeways. That's as much as I can tell you, because there are more lands waiting for this little Christian boy. That's not true. I'm an atheist, but what the heck.
Fonda made a return to the big screen as the bounty hunter Byron McElroy in 3:10 to Yuma (2007), a remake of the 1957 Western. He appeared with Christian Bale and Russell Crowe. The film received two Academy Award nominations and positive reviews from critics. He also appeared in the last scenes of the biker comedy Wild Hogs as Damien Blade, founder of the biker gang Del Fuegos and father of Jack, played by Ray Liotta. Fonda also portrayed Mephistopheles, one of two main villains in the film Ghost Rider (also 2007). Although he wanted to play the character in the sequel, he was replaced by Ciarán Hinds.
He appeared in Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008), Japan (2008), and The Perfect Age of Rock 'n' Roll (2009) and as "The Roman", the main villain in The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day (also 2009), the sequel to The Boondock Saints. Fonda also appeared on the television series Californication.
=== Later career ===
Fonda's later appearances include American Bandits: Frank and Jesse James (2010) for Fred Olen Ray; The Trouble with Bliss (2011); episodes of CSI: NY; Smitty (2012); Harodim (2012); As Cool as I Am (2013); Copperhead (2013); The Ultimate Life (2013); The Harvest (2013); HR (2014); House of Bodies (2014); Jesse James: Lawman (2014) The blacklist ,(2015); The Runner (2015) with Nicolas Cage; The Ballad of Lefty Brown (2017); The Most Hated Woman in America (2017); Borderland (2017); You Can't Say No (2018); and Boundaries (2018) with Christopher Plummer. He was an executive producer of the documentary The Big Fix (2012).
His final portrayal was in the Vietnam War movie The Last Full Measure, whose director Todd Robinson, has recounted that Peter Fonda was able to view that film in its entirety before his death, and got emotional upon viewing it.
== Honors ==
In 2000, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to him.
== Personal life ==
Fonda was married three times. He married his first wife, Susan Brewer, in 1961; together they had three children: Bridget, Justin, and Thomas McGuane (stepson). They divorced in 1974 after 13 years of marriage. Fonda married his second wife, Portia Rebecca Crockett, in 1975. The marriage lasted for 36 years until they divorced in 2011. Fonda married his third wife, Margaret DeVogelaere, in 2011. The marriage lasted for eight years until Fonda's death in 2019.
=== Political views ===
In 2011, Fonda and Tim Robbins produced The Big Fix, a documentary that examined the role of BP in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and its effects on the Gulf of Mexico. At a press conference at the Cannes Film Festival, Fonda stated that he had written to President Barack Obama about the spill and criticized him as a "fucking traitor" for allowing "foreign boots on our soil telling our military—in this case the Coast Guard—what they can and could not do, and telling us, the citizens of the United States, what we could or could not do.'"
In June 2018, Fonda went on Twitter to criticize President Donald Trump's administration's enforcement of U.S. immigration policy by Jeff Sessions for separating children from their parents at the Mexican border, writing that "We should rip Barron Trump from the arms of First Lady Melania Trump and put him in a cage with pedophiles." He also suggested that Americans should seek out names of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in order to protest outside of their homes and the schools of their children. The Secret Service opened an investigation based on a report from the Trump family. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders (daughter of prominent Republican politician Mike Huckabee), was also the object of Fonda's tweets, in which he suggested that "Maybe we should take her (Sanders') children away..."
In another later deleted tweet, Fonda targeted United States Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen by calling her a "vulgar" name and calling for Nielsen to be "put in a cage and poked at by passersby ..."
Fonda stated that he deleted his tweet regarding Barron Trump, saying that he "immediately regretted it and sincerely apologize to the family for what I said and any hurt my words have caused." Backlash to Fonda's tweets resulted in a call for a boycott of his newest film, Boundaries, and other Sony projects. Sony Pictures released Boundaries as planned on June 22, 2018, but released a statement stating that Fonda's comments "are abhorrent, reckless and dangerous, and we condemn them completely."
== Death ==
Fonda died from respiratory failure caused by lung cancer at his home in Los Angeles on August 16, 2019, at the age of 79.
Following Fonda's death, his older sister Jane Fonda made the following statement: "I am very sad. He was my sweet-hearted baby younger brother, the talker of the family. I have had beautiful alone time with him these last days. He went out laughing."
== Awards and nominations == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Rangers_award_winners_and_league_leaders | Texas Rangers award winners and league leaders | This is a list of award winners and league leaders for the Texas Rangers baseball team (not including the franchise's first eleven years (1961–1971) as the Washington Senators).
== Key ==
== Baseball Hall of Famers ==
Ten Rangers have been inducted in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
== Awards ==
=== Most Valuable Player ===
Five Rangers have won the Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award.
=== Rookie of the Year ===
Two Rangers have won the Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year Award.
=== Manager of the Year ===
Three Rangers have won the Major League Baseball Manager of the Year Award.
=== World Series MVP ===
One Ranger has won the World Series Most Valuable Player Award.
=== Gold Glove Award ===
Fifteen Rangers have won the Gold Glove Award, which includes seven multi-time winners. Cumulatively, the Rangers have won four 4 at pitcher, 17 at catcher, 5 at first base, 9 at third base, 3 at shortstop, and 3 at outfield for a total of 38 Gold Gloves.
=== Platinum Glove Award ===
One Ranger has won the Platinum Glove Award.
=== Wilson Defensive Player of the Year Award ===
Three Rangers have won the Wilson Defensive Player of the Year Award.
=== Silver Slugger Award ===
=== Hank Aaron Award ===
One Ranger has won the Hank Aaron Award.
=== Edgar Martínez Award ===
Two Rangers have won the Edgar Martínez Award, formerly known as the Outstanding Designated Hitter Award.
=== Rolaids Relief Man of the Year Award ===
See footnote
Jim Kern (1979)
Jeff Russell (1989)
=== The Sporting News Comeback Player of the Year ===
See footnote below
1974 – Ferguson Jenkins
1991 – José Guzmán
1996 – Kevin Elster
2001 – Rubén Sierra
=== MLB "This Year in Baseball Awards" ===
See: This Year in Baseball Awards#Award winners
Note: Voted by five groups as the best in all of Major League Baseball (i.e., not two awards, one for each league).
Note: These awards were renamed the "GIBBY Awards" (Greatness in Baseball Yearly) in 2010 and then the "Esurance MLB Awards" in 2015.
==== "This Year in Baseball Awards" Player of the Year ====
Josh Hamilton (2010)
==== "This Year in Baseball Awards" Defensive Player of the Year ====
Elvis Andrus (2010)
==== "Esurance MLB Awards" Best Bounceback Player ====
Prince Fielder (2015)
=== Ted Williams MVP Award (All-Star Game) ===
Julio Franco (1990)
Alfonso Soriano (2004)
Michael Young (2006)
Josh Hamilton (2010)
=== All-Star Game — Home Run Derby champion ===
Juan González (1993)
Josh Hamilton (2010)
=== DHL Hometown Heroes (2006) ===
Nolan Ryan — voted by MLB fans as the most outstanding player in the history of the franchise, based on on-field performance, leadership quality and character value
=== Baseball Prospectus Internet Baseball Awards AL Most Valuable Player ===
See: Baseball Prospectus#Internet Baseball Awards
Josh Hamilton (2010)
=== USA Today AL Most Valuable Player ===
Josh Hamilton (2010)
=== Topps All-Star Rookie teams ===
=== MLB Insiders Club Magazine All-Postseason Team ===
2011 – Mike Napoli (C), Nelson Cruz (OF; one of three), Derek Holland (SP; one of three)
=== Associated Press Manager of the Year Award ===
See footnote
Billy Martin (1974)
=== Baseball Prospectus Internet Baseball Awards AL Manager of the Year ===
See: Baseball Prospectus#Internet Baseball Awards
See footnote
Ron Washington (2010)
=== USA Today AL Manager of the Year ===
See footnote
Ron Washington (2010)
=== The Sporting News Executive of the Year Award ===
Doug Melvin (1996)
=== Baseball America Major League Executive of the Year ===
See: Baseball America Major League Executive of the Year
Jon Daniels (2010)
== Team award ==
1989 – Baseball America Organization of the Year
2010 – William Harridge Trophy (American League champion)
2011 – William Harridge Trophy (American League champion)
== Minor league system ==
=== Tom Grieve Minor League Player of the Year ===
=== Nolan Ryan Minor League Pitcher of the Year ===
=== Minor League Defender of the Year ===
=== Minor League Reliever of the Year ===
=== True Ranger Award ===
The True Ranger Award recognizes "players who represent the core values of the organization in a positive light both on and off the field."
=== International Senior Athlete of the Year ===
2009 – Justin Smoak (Triple-A Oklahoma City)
== Other achievements ==
=== Texas Rangers Hall of Fame ===
See Texas Rangers (baseball)#Texas Rangers Hall of Fame
=== Retired numbers ===
See Texas Rangers (baseball)#Retired numbers
== American League statistical leaders ==
=== A.L. Batting Title ===
Julio Franco, 1991
Michael Young, 2005
Josh Hamilton, 2010
=== A.L. Home Run Champ ===
Frank Howard, 1968, 1970
Juan González, 1992, 1993
Alex Rodriguez, 2001, 2002, 2003 |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvel_vs._Capcom | Marvel vs. Capcom | Marvel vs. Capcom is a series of crossover fighting games developed and published by Capcom, featuring characters from their video game franchises and comic book series published by Marvel Comics. The series originated as coin-operated arcade games; later releases were specifically developed for home consoles, handhelds, and personal computers.
Its gameplay borrows heavily from Capcom's previous Marvel-licensed fighting games X-Men: Children of the Atom and Marvel Super Heroes; however, instead of focusing on single combat, the games incorporated tag team battles. Players form teams of two or three characters and, controlling one fighter at a time, attempt to damage and knock out their opponents. Players can switch out their characters during the match, allowing team members to replenish their health and prolong their ability to fight. The series' gameplay is distinguished from other fighting game franchises due to its character assist mechanics and emphasis on aerial combat.
The Marvel vs. Capcom series has received generally positive reviews from critics, who have praised its fast-paced gameplay, vibrant visuals, and wealth of playable characters. The series has enjoyed broad appeal, selling approximately 13 million units as of 2025.
== Games ==
Main games
X-Men vs. Street Fighter was initially released as an arcade game in 1996. The game was later ported to the Sega Saturn in 1997 and PlayStation in 1998. It established the series' basic gameplay conventions by combining Street Fighter-style combat with tag team features. X-Men vs. Street Fighter also borrowed gameplay concepts from Capcom's previous Marvel Comics-licensed fighting games, X-Men: Children of the Atom and Marvel Super Heroes.
Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter was released in arcades in 1997. It was then ported to the Sega Saturn in 1998 and PlayStation in 1999. The game expanded the playable roster to the larger Marvel Universe, introducing characters such as Captain America, Hulk, and Spider-Man. It was also responsible for introducing character assist moves to the franchise, a gameplay element which would influence future Marvel vs. Capcom installments.
Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes debuted in arcades in 1998. Ports to the Dreamcast and PlayStation soon followed in 1999. Rather than strictly using Street Fighter characters, the game included characters from other Capcom video game franchises, such as Mega Man, Morrigan, and Strider Hiryu. It removed the character assist feature used in Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter and implemented its own system, which randomly allocated guest characters to each player.
Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes was released in arcades in 2000 and ported to the Dreamcast within the same year. The game received ports to the PlayStation 2 and Xbox in 2002. It was then re-released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 through the Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network, respectively, in 2009. Lastly, a version for iOS devices was released in 2012. Featuring a large playable roster, Marvel vs. Capcom 2 reused the assist features from Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter and changed the series' two-on-two battle system to three-on-three fights.
Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds was released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2011. The series' traditional sprites transitioned into 3D character models while retaining the 2D-style combat. The game includes various gameplay features designed to make it more accessible to newer players, such as the additions of a comeback mechanic and a simplified control scheme.
Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, a standalone updated edition of the original Marvel vs. Capcom 3, was released for PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, and Xbox 360 in 2011. The game was also released for the PlayStation 4 via the PlayStation Network in 2016; releases for the Xbox One via the Xbox Live Arcade and Microsoft Windows via Steam followed in 2017. It features new characters, stages, modes, and other enhancements to improve game balance and online functionality.
Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite was released in 2017 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows. It features two-on-two battles, similar to earlier Marvel vs. Capcom games, and removes traditional assist moves in favor of its own dual-character combo system. The game also implements a gameplay mechanic involving the Infinity Stones, which grants players unique abilities and upgrades depending on the stone selected. It is the first game to feature a cinematic story mode.
Compilations
Marvel vs. Capcom Origins, a compilation game which includes Marvel Super Heroes and Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes, was released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 through the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade, respectively, in 2012. It features high-definition visuals, online multiplayer, dynamic challenges, and unlockables.
Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics is a compilation comprising all seven Capcom-developed Marvel games originally released for arcades: The Punisher, X-Men: Children of the Atom, Marvel Super Heroes, X-Men vs. Street Fighter, Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes, and Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes. It was released in 2024 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Microsoft Windows and in 2025 for Xbox One.
=== Related media ===
In 2011, a series of Minimates based on the playable characters from Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds were released by Art Asylum.
Udon Entertainment published Marvel vs. Capcom: Official Complete Works art book consisting of promotional artwork, sketches and bonus material from the video game collaborations between Marvel and Capcom, beginning with the 1993 arcade game The Punisher to Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. It contains contributions from a variety of artists and illustrators, including Akiman, Bengus, Shinkiro, Joe Madureira, Adi Granov, Joe Ng, Long Vo, Chamba, Adam Warren and Takeshi Miyazawa. Official Complete Works made its international debut at San Diego Comic-Con on July 11, 2012, in an exclusive hardcover edition. The hardcover also featured a wrap-around cover designed by Udon Entertainment and Capcom artist Alvin Lee, and digitally-painted by Udon's Genzoman. A standard-format softcover was released in November 2012 by Diamond Comics. An expanded edition, titled Marvel vs. Capcom: Ultimate Complete Works, was released in 2025.
Within the Marvel Comics multiverse, the Marvel vs. Capcom universe is designated as Earth-30847. The series' iteration of Spider-Man appears in the crossover event Spider-Verse (2014–15), where he is defeated by Morlun as he hunts Spider-Totems across different worlds. In 2017, Marvel Entertainment had released a comic book prequel to Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite known as Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite Horizons, that features Ryu and the Hulk fighting against the creatures from Capcom's Monster Hunter franchise.
== Gameplay ==
The basic gameplay of the Marvel vs. Capcom series was originally derived from X-Men: Children of the Atom and Marvel Super Heroes. Players compete in battle using characters with unique moves and special attacks. Using a combination of joystick movements and button presses, players must execute various moves to damage their opponent and deplete their life gauge, or alternatively, have the most cumulative health when the timer runs out. However, unlike the two aforementioned games, which focus on single combat, the Marvel vs. Capcom series revolve around tag team-based combat. Instead of choosing a single character, players select multiple characters to form teams of two or three. Each character on the team is given their own life gauge. Players control one character at a time, while the others await off-screen. Players are also free to swap between their characters at any point during the match. As characters take damage, portions of their life gauge will turn red, known as "red health", which represents the amount of health that a character can recover if the player tags them out. The off-screen, dormant characters will slowly replenish their red health, allowing players to cycle through their team members and prolong their ability to fight. Furthermore, as characters deal and receive damage, a colored meter at the bottom of the screen known as the "Hyper Combo Gauge" will gradually fill. By expending meter from their Hyper Combo Gauge, players can perform "Hyper Combos" – powerful, cinematic attacks that deal heavy damage to the opponent – in addition to several other special techniques. If one character loses all of their health, they are knocked out and the next available fighter will automatically come into play.
Each successive Marvel vs. Capcom installment has added, removed, or altered gameplay elements over the course of the series' history. X-Men vs. Street Fighter added two-on-two tag team features. Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter introduced the concept of the "assist" by allowing the player to summon their off-screen partner to perform a special move without switching characters. This feature was replaced in Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes, which instead randomly allocated an unplayable guest character with a preset assist move before each match; in addition, assists were limited to only a few uses per round. The assist features from Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter were re-incorporated into the following sequel, Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes, once again granting players the ability to call in their off-screen characters at any time during the match without constraint. Marvel vs. Capcom 2 also increased the number of characters per team by one, providing a three-on-three battle format. Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds introduced "X-Factor", a comeback mechanic which offers increased damage, speed, and red health regeneration for a limited time upon activation. Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite reverts to two-on-two partner battles and removes traditional character assists, in favour of a free-form tag system where the second character switches in at any point, irrespective of whether the player is mid-combo or in air. Infinite also implements the Infinity Stones as a gameplay mechanic, where each of the six stones grants unique abilities and enhancements to the player.
Another gameplay element that helps to distinguish the Marvel vs. Capcom series from other fighting game franchises is its emphasis on aerial combat. Every character in the Marvel vs. Capcom series is given a "Launcher" move, which sends the opponent flying up into the air. The player can then choose to follow up immediately by using a "Super Jump", which allows a character to jump much higher than normal, in order to continue their combo; these airborne combos are called "Air Combos" or "Aerial Raves". Marvel vs. Capcom 3 introduced a gameplay feature known as the "Team Aerial Combo" or "Aerial Exchange", giving players the opportunity to extend their Air Combos further by quickly tagging in their other characters while mid-air.
As Capcom's design philosophy for the series has changed to appeal to a wider audience, the control scheme has been repeatedly modified to accommodate people less familiar with the fighting game genre. The first three installments utilized the same layout of six attack buttons, separated as three pairs of light, medium, and hard punches and kicks. In Marvel vs. Capcom 2, in order to make the game more accessible, the layout was tweaked to four attack buttons, consisting of two pairs of light and heavy punches and kicks, and two dedicated assist buttons. The control scheme was further simplified with the release of Marvel vs. Capcom 3, which included three attack buttons designated to undefined light, medium, and hard attacks, two assist buttons, and an "exchange button" used to perform Launchers and switch between characters during Air Combos. In addition, Marvel vs. Capcom 3 included two different control scheme options: Normal Mode and Simple Mode. Simple Mode, designed for casual players, allows players to perform special moves and Hyper Combos with single button presses at the expense of limiting a character's available moveset. Though Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite returned to a control scheme similar to Marvel vs. Capcom 2 ― with four attack buttons, one dedicated button for character tagging, and another for activating Infinity Stone abilities ― it introduced a new "auto-combo" system to improve accessibility that allows players to repeatedly mash the light punch input to automatically execute ground and air combos without any damage penalty.
== Characters ==
Marvel vs. Capcom has featured over 100 playable fighters, primarily drawn from comic book series published by Marvel Comics and video games franchises developed and produced by Capcom. The games have introduced a few original characters, which include Norimaro from Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, and Amingo, Ruby Heart, and SonSon from Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes. In addition to the playable cast, other characters from the Marvel and Capcom universes make appearances in the games in varying capacities. Both Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter and Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes include secret characters which can be played by inputting specific sequences of joystick movements on the character select screen. These secret characters consist of palette swaps of existing fighters with different moveset properties. Clash of Super Heroes also has unplayable summon characters as part of its "Guest Character/Special Partner" assist system.
Many Marvel vs. Capcom installments also allow players to fight as the games' boss characters in special game modes, with the exception of Abyss from Marvel vs. Capcom 2. Characters that have not been playable frequently make cameo appearances in the games' cutscenes and stage backgrounds. Lastly, numerous non-playable Marvel and Capcom characters are featured as "Ability Cards" in the Heroes and Heralds game mode in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Out of all the playable characters, Ryu and Chun-Li are the only ones to have appeared in every game released thus far.
=== Notes ===
== History ==
Capcom's partnership with Marvel began in 1993 with the release of The Punisher, an arcade beat 'em up based on the comic book series of the same name. Capcom then created their first Marvel-licensed fighting game, X-Men: Children of the Atom, in 1994. Marvel Super Heroes soon followed in 1995. Many of the gameplay mechanics used in the Marvel vs. Capcom series were first developed and refined in these two fighting games, serving as precursors to the series. In 2011, then-current Capcom USA Strategic Marketing Director of Online and Community Seth Killian stated that many fighting game aficionados, including himself, consider them to have laid the foundation for the series.
The idea for implementing tag teams was allegedly inspired by an easter egg from Capcom's own 1995 fighting game Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams. In a secret "Dramatic Battle" mode, two players, controlling Ryu and Ken, were able to fight against an AI-controlled M. Bison at the same time. The easter egg itself had drawn inspiration from the final battle sequence of Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, which featured a similar fight scene. Recognizing the uniqueness of a team-up concept, Capcom began to work on their next project. After their earlier licensing ventures with Children of the Atom and Marvel Super Heroes, the company decided to combine Marvel's X-Men franchise, their own Street Fighter franchise, and their team-up concept, leading to the creation of X-Men vs. Street Fighter. The game debuted in Japanese arcades in 1996, establishing the series' fast-paced, tag team-based gameplay style.
Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter was then released in 1997, which replaced most of the X-Men cast with other heroes from the Marvel Universe and introduced the character assist mechanic. Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes later followed in 1998, exchanging the majority of the Street Fighter cast with characters from other Capcom video games series, such as Mega Man and Darkstalkers. In 1999, Capcom announced the development of yet another sequel, called Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes. Marvel vs. Capcom 2 heavily re-used assets from previous Capcom-developed games, including Street Fighter Alpha, Darkstalkers, and the earlier Marvel vs. Capcom titles, resulting in a large roster of 56 playable characters. Shortly after the release of the PlayStation 2 and Xbox ports for Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Capcom lost the use of the Marvel license, putting the series on an indefinite hiatus. However, with the resurgence of 2D fighting games in 2008, owing to the success of Street Fighter IV, Marvel requested Capcom to collaborate with them once again. Capcom would announce the development of the next installment in the Marvel vs. Capcom series, Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds, in 2010. The game was eventually released in 2011. An updated version of Marvel vs. Capcom 3, titled Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, was released later in the same year. The high-definition compilation game Marvel vs. Capcom Origins was then released in 2012.
Following the release of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 for the PlayStation Vita in 2012, Marvel's new parent company, The Walt Disney Company, which acquired Marvel in 2009, chose not to renew Capcom's license with the Marvel characters, instead opting to put them in its own self-published Disney Infinity series. As a result, Capcom had to pull both Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Marvel vs. Capcom 2 off their online platforms in 2013. However, in 2016, Disney announced its decision to cancel the Disney Infinity series, discontinue self-publishing efforts, and switch to a licensing-only model, allowing them to license their characters to third-party game developers, including Capcom. Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite was revealed in 2016, and then released in 2017.
In June 2024, Capcom announced Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Windows. The compilation features the seven Marvel titles developed and published by Capcom for arcades from The Punisher through Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes. It notably marks the series' debut on Nintendo platforms, the first time the classic entries have been made available on PC, as well as the first general re-releases for Marvel Super Heroes, Clash of Super Heroes and New Age of Heroes since the original Origins compilation and the remaster of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 were digitally delisted from seventh generation console storefronts.
== Reception ==
The Marvel vs. Capcom series has received reviews ranging from average to positive from critics. According to Capcom President and COO Haruhiro Tsujimoto, the games have enjoyed broad appeal, especially in markets outside of Japan. As of December 2023, 11 million units of the series have been sold.
The series' first three titles, X-Men vs. Street Fighter, Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, and Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes, received praise for their frantic gameplay style, visual flair, playable character rosters, and the quality of their sprite animations. The games' Dreamcast and Sega Saturn ports were also lauded for their technical performance, matching the capabilities of the arcade versions. Conversely, the PlayStation ports were criticized for their removal of tag team battles and noticeable decline in frame rate and animation quality – changes which stemmed from the console's RAM limitations.
Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes received similar praise, with particular attention given towards the large cast and the addition of three-on-three combat. The Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, and Xbox versions were criticized for their lack of online multiplayer support outside Japan. These concerns were addressed with the release of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 ports, which reviewers commended for their smooth online experience. A common source of complaints was the game's jazz-inspired soundtrack, which critics deemed as out of place.
In addition to its character variety and visual presentation, Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds garnered praise for simplifying the series' combat mechanics and control scheme, thus making it more accessible for newcomers. Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom was applauded for its additions to the character roster, gameplay tweaks, and improved online functionality. Both games, however, were criticized for their lack of game modes and single-player content. Marvel vs. Capcom Origins was praised for preserving the original arcade releases' integrity and its addition of online multiplayer, dynamic challenges, and unlockable content; however, in remaining faithful to the arcade versions, some reviewers criticized the games for their outdated gameplay and unbalanced fighters. Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite received mixed to positive reviews, with critics praising its implementation of new gameplay mechanics, such as the "Active Switch" combo system and the addition of the six Infinity Stones. On the other hand, the game was criticized for its presentation, particularly its art direction, and its character roster.
In 2012, Complex ranked Marvel vs. Capcom at number 37 on the list of the best video game franchises, commenting that "a frenetic pace and over the top effects work together to make this franchise stand the test of time". |
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