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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lime_kiln | Lime kiln | A lime kiln is a kiln used for the calcination of limestone (calcium carbonate) to produce the form of lime called quicklime (calcium oxide). The chemical equation for this reaction is: CaCO3 + heat → CaO + CO2
This reaction can take place at anywhere above 840 °C (1,540 °F), but is generally considered to occur at 900 °C (1,650 °F) (at which temperature the partial pressure of CO2 is 1 atmosphere), but a temperature around 1,000 °C (1,830 °F) (at which temperature the partial pressure of CO2 is 3.8 atmospheres) is usually used to make the reaction proceed quickly. Excessive temperature is avoided because it produces unreactive, "dead-burned" lime.
Slaked lime (calcium hydroxide) can be formed by mixing quicklime with water.
== History ==
=== Pre-pottery Neolithic ===
==== In plaster, proto-pottery, and mortar ====
Because it is so readily made by heating limestone, lime must have been known from the earliest times, and all the early civilizations used it in building mortars and as a stabilizer in mud renders and floors. According to finds at 'Ain Ghazal in Jordan, Yiftahel in Israel, and Abu Hureyra in Syria dating to 7500–6000 BC, the earliest use of lime was mostly as a binder on floors and in plaster for coating walls. This use of plaster may in turn have led to the development of proto-pottery, made from lime and ash. In mortar, the oldest binder was mud. According to finds at Catal Hüyük in Turkey, mud was soon followed by clay, and then by lime in the 6th millennium BC.
=== Lime use in agriculture and coal ===
Knowledge of its value in agriculture is also ancient, but agricultural use only became widely possible when the use of coal made it cheap in the coalfields in the late 13th century, and an account of agricultural use was given in 1523. The earliest descriptions of lime kilns differ little from those used for small-scale manufacture a century ago. Because land transportation of minerals like limestone and coal was difficult in the pre-industrial era, they were distributed by sea, and lime was most often manufactured at small coastal ports. Many preserved kilns are still to be seen on quaysides around the coasts of Britain.
=== Types of kilns ===
Permanent lime kilns fall into two broad categories: "flare kilns" also known as "intermittent" or "periodic" kilns; and "draw kilns" also known as "perpetual" or "running" kilns. In a flare kiln, a bottom layer of coal was built up and the kiln above filled solely with chalk. The fire was alight for several days, and then the entire kiln was emptied of the lime.
In a draw kiln, usually a stone structure, the chalk or limestone was layered with wood, coal or coke and lit. As it burnt through, lime was extracted from the bottom of the kiln, through the draw hole. Further layers of stone and fuel were added to the top.
=== Early kilns ===
The common feature of early kilns was an egg-cup shaped burning chamber, with an air inlet at the base (the "eye"), constructed of brick. Limestone was crushed (often by hand) to fairly uniform 20–60 mm (1–2+1⁄2 in) lumps – fine stone was rejected. Successive dome-shaped layers of limestone and wood or coal were built up in the kiln on grate bars across the eye. When loading was complete, the kiln was kindled at the bottom, and the fire gradually spread upwards through the charge. When burnt through, the lime was cooled and raked out through the base. Fine ash dropped out and was rejected with the "riddlings".
Only lump stone could be used, because the charge needed to "breathe" during firing. This also limited the size of kilns and explains why kilns were all much the same size. Above a certain diameter, the half-burned charge would be likely to collapse under its own weight, extinguishing the fire. So kilns always made 25–30 tonnes of lime in a batch. Typically the kiln took a day to load, three days to fire, two days to cool and a day to unload, so a one-week turnaround was normal. The degree of burning was controlled by trial and error from batch to batch by varying the amount of fuel used. Because there were large temperature differences between the center of the charge and the material close to the wall, a mixture of underburned (i.e. high loss on ignition), well-burned and dead-burned lime was normally produced. Typical fuel efficiency was low, with 0.5 tonnes or more of coal being used per tonne of finished lime (15 MJ/kg).
=== Industrial scale production ===
Lime production was sometimes carried out on an industrial scale. One example at Annery in North Devon, England, near Great Torrington, was made up of three kilns grouped together in an 'L' shape and was situated beside the Torrington canal and the River Torridge to bring in the limestone and coal, and to transport away the calcined lime in the days before properly metalled roads existed.
Sets of seven kilns were common. A loading gang and an unloading gang would work the kilns in rotation through the week.
A rarely used kiln was known as a "lazy kiln".
=== Australia ===
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries the town of Waratah in Gippsland, Victoria, Australia produced a majority of the quicklime used in the city of Melbourne as well as around other parts of Gippsland. The town, now called Walkerville, was set on an isolated part of the Victorian coastline and exported the lime by ship. When this became unprofitable in 1926 the kilns were shut down. The present-day area, though having no town amenities as such, markets itself as a tourist destination. The ruins of the lime kilns can still be seen today.
A lime kiln also existed in Wool Bay, South Australia.
=== Ukraine ===
=== United Kingdom ===
The large kiln at Crindledykes near Haydon Bridge, Northumbria, was one of more than 300 in the county. It was unique to the area in having four draw arches to a single pot. As production was cut back, the two side arches were blocked up, but were restored in 1989 by English Heritage.
The development of the national rail network made the local small-scale kilns increasingly unprofitable, and they gradually died out through the 19th century. They were replaced by larger industrial plants. At the same time, new uses for lime in the chemical, steel and sugar industries led to large-scale plants. These also saw the development of more efficient kilns.
A lime kiln erected at Dudley, West Midlands (formerly Worcestershire) in 1842 survives as part of the Black Country Living Museum which opened in 1976, although the kilns were last used during the 1920s. It is now among the last in a region which was dominated by coalmining and limestone mining for generations until the 1960s.
=== Other countries ===
== Modern kilns ==
=== Shaft kilns ===
The theoretical heat (the standard enthalpy) of reaction required to make high-calcium lime is around 3.15 MJ per kg of lime, so the batch kilns were only around 20% efficient. The key to development in efficiency was the invention of continuous kilns, avoiding the wasteful heat-up and cool-down cycles of the batch kilns. The first were simple shaft kilns, similar in construction to blast furnaces. These are counter-current shaft kilns. Modern variants include regenerative and annular kilns. Output is usually in the range 100–500 tonnes per day.
==== Counter-current shaft kilns ====
The fuel is injected part-way up the shaft, producing maximum temperature at this point. The fresh feed fed in at the top is first dried then heated to 800 °C, where de-carbonation begins, and proceeds progressively faster as the temperature rises. Below the burner, the hot lime transfers heat to, and is cooled by, the combustion air. A mechanical grate withdraws the lime at the bottom. A fan draws the gases through the kiln, and the level in the kiln is kept constant by adding feed through an airlock. As with batch kilns, only large, graded stone can be used, in order to ensure uniform gas-flows through the charge. The degree of burning can be adjusted by changing the rate of withdrawal of lime. Heat consumption as low as 4 MJ/kg is possible, but 4.5 to 5 MJ/kg is more typical. Due to temperature peak at the burners up to 1200 °C in a shaft kiln conditions are ideal to produce medium and hard burned lime.
==== Regenerative kilns ====
These typically consist of a pair of shafts, operated alternately. First, when shaft A is the "primary" and B the "secondary" shaft, the combustion air is added from the top of shaft A, while fuel somewhat below via burner lances. The flame is top-bottom. The hot gases pass downward, cross to shaft B via the so-called "channel" and pass upward to exhaust of shaft B. At same time in both shafts cooling air is added from the bottom to cool the lime and to make exhaust of gases via the bottom of the kiln impossible via maintaining a positive pressure. The combustion air and cooling air leave the kiln jointly via exhaust on top of shaft B, preheating the stone. The direction of flow is reversed periodically (typically 5–10 times per hour) shaft A and B changing the role of "primary" and "secondary" shaft. The kiln has three zones: preheating zone on the top, burning zone in the middle, and cooling zone close to the bottom. The cycling produces a long burning zone of constant, relatively low temperature (around 950 °C) that is ideal for the production of high quality soft burned reactive lime. With exhaust gas temperatures as low as 120 °C and lime temperature at kiln outlet in 80 °C range the heat loss of the regenerative kiln is minimal, fuel consumption is as low as 3.6 MJ/kg. Due to these features the regenerative kilns are today mainstream technology under conditions of substantial fuel costs. Regenerative kilns are built with 150 to 800 t/day output, 300 to 450 being typical.
==== Annular kilns ====
These contain a concentric internal cylinder. This gathers pre-heated air from the cooling zone, which is then used to pressurize the middle annular zone of the kiln. Air spreading outward from the pressurized zone causes counter-current flow upwards, and co-current flow downwards. This again produces a long, relatively cool calcining zone. Fuel consumption is in 4 to 4.5 MJ/kg range and the lime is typically medium burned.
=== Rotary kilns ===
Rotary kilns started to be used for lime manufacture at the start of the 20th century and now account for a large proportion of new installations if energy costs are less important. The early use of simple rotary kilns had the advantages that a much wider range of limestone size could be used, from fines upwards, and undesirable elements such as sulfur can be removed. On the other hand, fuel consumption was relatively high because of poor heat exchange compared with shaft kilns, leading to excessive heat loss in exhaust gases. Old fashioned "long" rotary kilns operate at 7 to 10 MJ/kg. Modern installations partially overcome this disadvantage by adding a preheater, which has the same good solids/gas contact as a shaft kiln, but fuel consumption is still somewhat higher, typically in range of 4.5 to 6 MJ/kg. In the design shown, a circle of shafts (typically 8–15) is arranged around the kiln riser duct. Hot limestone is discharged from the shafts in sequence, by the action of a hydraulic "pusher plate". Kilns of 1000 tonnes per day output are typical. The rotary kiln is the most flexible of any lime kilns able to produce soft, medium, or hard burned as well as dead-burned lime or dolime.
=== Gas cleaning ===
All the above kiln designs produce exhaust gas that carries an appreciable amount of dust. Lime dust is particularly corrosive. Equipment is installed to trap this dust, typically in the form of electrostatic precipitators or bag filters. The dust usually contains a high concentration of elements such as alkali metals, halogens and sulfur.
== Carbon dioxide emissions ==
The lime industry is a significant carbon dioxide emitter. The manufacture of one tonne of calcium oxide involves decomposing calcium carbonate, with the formation of 785 kg of CO2 in some applications, such as when used as mortar; this CO2 is later re-absorbed as the mortar goes off.
If the heat supplied to form the lime (3.75 MJ/kg in an efficient kiln) is obtained by burning fossil fuel it will release CO2: in the case of coal fuel 295 kg/t; in the case of natural gas fuel 206 kg/t. The electric power consumption of an efficient plant is around 20 kWh per tonne of lime. This additional input is the equivalent of around 20 kg CO2 per ton if the electricity is coal-generated. Thus, total emission may be around 1 tonne of CO2 for every tonne of lime even in efficient industrial plants, but is typically 1.3 t/t. However, if the source of heat energy used in its manufacture is a fully renewable power source, such as solar, wind, hydro or even nuclear; there may be no net emission of CO2 from the calcination process. Less energy is required in production per weight than portland cement, primarily because a lower temperature is required. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank_Azaria | Hank Azaria | Henry Albert Azaria ( ə-ZAIR-ee-ə; born April 25, 1964) is an American actor and producer. He is known for voicing many characters in the animated sitcom The Simpsons since 1989, including Moe Szyslak, Chief Wiggum, Superintendent Chalmers, Comic Book Guy, Snake, Professor Frink, Kirk Van Houten, Duffman, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Lou, and Carl Carlson, among others. Azaria joined the show with little voice acting experience, but became a regular in its second season. For his work on the show, he has won four Primetime Emmy Awards.
Alongside his continued voice acting on The Simpsons, Azaria became more widely known through his live-action supporting appearances in films such as Quiz Show (1994), Heat (1995), The Birdcage (1996) (for which he won a Screen Actors Guild Award) and Godzilla (1998). He has also appeared in numerous films including Mystery Men (1999), America's Sweethearts (2001), Shattered Glass (2003), Along Came Polly (2004), Run Fatboy Run (2007), Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009) and The Smurfs (2011) and The Smurfs 2 (2013). Further voice roles include Anastasia (1997), for which he won an Annie Award.
Azaria's live-action television work includes recurring roles on the sitcoms Mad About You and Friends, as well as dramatic roles in the TV films Tuesdays with Morrie (1999) as writer Mitch Albom and Uprising (2001) as Jewish resistance leader Mordechai Anielewicz. For the former, Azaria received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie. He starred in the title roles in the Showtime drama series Huff (2004–2006) and the IFC sitcom Brockmire (2017–2020). His recurring role on the drama Ray Donovan earned him a sixth Primetime Emmy Award in 2016.
Azaria made his Broadway debut as Lancelot in Spamalot, for which he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. He returned to Broadway in 2007, playing David Sarnoff in The Farnsworth Invention.
== Early life and education ==
Henry Albert Azaria was born in the Manhattan borough of New York City on April 25, 1964, to Ruth and Albert Azaria. He began going by the name "Hank" as a child, after a pediatrician he visited said he felt it was a more suitable name for a child than "Henry". His paternal grandparents were Greek Saloniki Smyrna Sephardic Jews. His paternal grandfather, Herman Azaria, came from Salonika which was then in the Ottoman Empire (today the Greek city of Thessaloniki) in Greek Macedonia. His paternal grandmother, Sarah (née Corkidi) was born in Bergama, modern-day Turkey (Izmir Province). His family spoke Ladino, also known as Judaeo-Spanish, which he described as "a strange, antiquated Spanish dialect written in Hebrew characters." Azaria's father ran several dress-manufacturing businesses while his mother raised him and his two older sisters, Stephanie and Elise. Before marrying his father, Azaria's mother had been a publicist for Columbia Pictures, promoting films in Latin American countries as she was fluent in both English and Spanish. During his childhood, Azaria would often "memorize and mimic" the scripts of films, shows, and stand-up comedy routines he enjoyed.
Azaria attended The Kew-Forest School in Queens' Forest Hills neighborhood. He decided to become an actor after performing in a school play at the age of 16, becoming "obsessed with acting" at the expense of his academic studies. Both of his parents loved all forms of show business, which further spurred him to become an actor. He studied drama at Tufts University from 1981 to 1985, where he met and befriended actor Oliver Platt and noted that Platt was a "better actor" than he was and inspired him. Together they starred in various college stage productions, including The Merchant of Venice, before Azaria went to train at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Although he did not expect the endeavor to be successful, he decided to become a professional actor so that he would not regret not having tried later in life. His first acting job was an advertisement for Italian television when he was 17 years old. He also worked as a busboy. He originally intended to work predominantly as a theatrical actor, and he and Platt set up a company called Big Theatre, although Harold Pinter's The Dumb Waiter was the only show they ever performed. Azaria decided that television was a better arena and offered more opportunity, and moved to Los Angeles after being offered work with talent agent Harry Gold.
== Career ==
=== Early career (1986–1988) ===
Azaria got along with talent agent Harry Gold, who was lukewarm about working with him but still sent him out for auditions after a woman Azaria had worked with in New York "got really furious with [Gold]" for breaking his promise to work with Azaria. He made his television debut with a role in the pilot episode of the 1986 ABC comedy-drama series Joe Bash. His part—a one-line role as the police officer Maldonado—was edited out before the show was broadcast, although the role secured him admission to the Screen Actors Guild. Azaria appeared in the TV film Nitti: The Enforcer, about the gangster Frank Nitti, and appeared in the failed pilot Morning Maggie alongside Matthew Perry, with whom he became good friends. He played Joe in an episode of the sitcom Family Ties in 1988 in which he had one line, and the following year he played Steve Stevenson in an episode of Growing Pains. Azaria has described his career progression as being gradual; he did not achieve overnight recognition or fame. In Los Angeles, Azaria was trained by acting coach Roy London. Between acting jobs he performed as a stand-up comedian, and worked as a bartender for a catering firm.
=== The Simpsons (since 1989) ===
Azaria is known for his voice work in the ongoing animated television series The Simpsons. He joined the show having previously performed only one voice acting job—as the titular animated dog in the failed Fox pilot Hollywood Dog, a show he described as "sort of Roger Rabbit-esque, where the dog was animated, but everybody else was real." The first voice he performed on The Simpsons was that of town bartender Moe Szyslak, replacing Christopher Collins who had initially recorded the character's voice. Having known him from Hollywood Dog, casting director Bonita Pietila called Azaria and asked him to audition for the voice of Moe. At the time he was performing the role of a drug dealer in a play, utilizing a voice based on Al Pacino's performance in the film Dog Day Afternoon. He used the voice in his audition for The Simpsons and, at the request of the show's executive producers Matt Groening and Sam Simon, made the voice more "gravelly". Groening and Simon thought the resultant voice was ideal for Moe and took Azaria over to the Fox recording studio. Before he had even seen a script, he recorded several lines of dialogue as Moe for the episode "Some Enchanted Evening", dubbing Collins' voice.
Azaria did not expect to hear from the show again, but they continued to call him back, first to perform the voice of Chief Wiggum and then Apu Nahasapeemapetilon. He felt that, initially, "[the producers] didn't seem too pleased with what I had done...[Simon] was very exacting...[and] was kind of impatiently directing me on the ABCs of comedy. But then, much to my surprise, he would still keep having me back every week. But each week, I thought it was going to be my last week because I really didn't think I had done that well." Nevertheless, by the show's second season he was performing multiple recurring voices and so was given a contract and made a permanent member of the main cast. Since he joined later than the rest of the cast, Groening still considered Azaria the "new guy". In addition to Moe, Wiggum and Apu, Azaria provides the voices of Comic Book Guy, Carl Carlson (until season 32, now voiced by Alex Désert), Cletus Spuckler, Professor Frink, Dr. Nick Riviera, Lou, Snake Jailbird, Kirk Van Houten, Bumblebee Man, the Sea Captain, Superintendent Chalmers, Disco Stu, Duffman, the Wiseguy, and numerous guest characters. His co-star in The Simpsons, Nancy Cartwright, wrote that: "The thing about Hank that I most remember is that he started out so unassuming and then, little by little, his abilities were revealed and his contributions to the show escalated. I realized Hank was going to be our breakaway star."
As Moe's voice is based on Al Pacino's, likewise many of Azaria's other recurring characters are based on existing sources. He took Apu's voice from the many Indian and Pakistani convenience store workers in Los Angeles that he had interacted with when he first moved to the area, and also loosely based it on Peter Sellers' character Hrundi V. Bakshi from the film The Party. Originally, it was thought that Apu being Indian was too offensive and stereotyped, but after Azaria's reading of the line "Hello, Mr. Homer", which the show's producers thought was hilarious, the character stayed. Azaria, however, disputed this on LateNet with Ray Ellin, claiming that Apu was always intended to be stereotypical. Chief Wiggum's voice was originally a parody of David Brinkley, but when Azaria was told it was too slow, he switched it to that of Edward G. Robinson. Officer Lou is based on Sylvester Stallone, and Dr. Nick is "a bad Ricky Ricardo impression." The "Wise Guy" voice is "basically Charles Bronson," while Carl is "a silly voice [Azaria] always did." Two of the voices come from his time at college: Snake's is based on Azaria's old college roommate, while Comic Book Guy's voice is based on a student who lived in the room next door to Azaria and went by the name "F". Professor Frink is based on Jerry Lewis' performance in the original The Nutty Professor, and the Sea Captain is based on English actor Robert Newton's portrayal of many pirates. Azaria based his performance for the one-time character Frank Grimes, from the episode "Homer's Enemy", on actor William H. Macy. He counts Grimes as the hardest, most emotional performance he has ever had to give in the history of The Simpsons.
Azaria's work on the show has won him four Emmy Awards for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance, in 1998, 2001, 2003 and 2015. He was also nominated for the award in 2009 and 2010, but lost to co-star Dan Castellaneta and guest star Anne Hathaway respectively. He was nominated again in 2012. Azaria, with the rest of the principal cast, reprised all of his voice roles from The Simpsons for the 2007 film The Simpsons Movie. Azaria notes that he spends "an embarrassingly small amount of time working on The Simpsons." He works for "an hour on Thursdays when we read through the script, then four hours on Monday when we record it, and I'll pop in again once or twice." He concludes it is "the best job in the world, as far as I'm concerned."
Up until 1998, Azaria was paid $30,000 per episode. Azaria and the five other main The Simpsons voice actors were then involved in a pay dispute in which Fox threatened to replace them with new actors and went as far as preparing for the casting of new voices. However, the issue was soon resolved and from 1998 to 2004, they received $125,000 per episode. In 2004, the voice actors intentionally skipped several script read-throughs, demanding they be paid $360,000 per episode. The strike was resolved a month later, with Azaria's pay increasing to something between $250,000 and $360,000 per episode. In 2008, production for the twentieth season was put on hold due to new contract negotiations with the voice actors, who wanted a "healthy bump" in salary. The dispute was later resolved, and Azaria and the rest of the cast received their requested pay raise, approximately $400,000 per episode. Three years later, with Fox threatening to cancel the series unless production costs were cut, Azaria and the other cast members accepted a 30 percent pay cut, down to just over $300,000 per episode.
In an April 24, 2018, appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Azaria discussed his reaction to The Problem with Apu, a 2017 documentary by Hari Kondabolu that examined Azaria and other white actors who had played South Asian roles as stereotypes. During the interview, Azaria described how watching the documentary had changed his perspective on the issue: "The idea that anyone, young or old, past or present, was bullied or teased based on the character of Apu, it just really makes me sad." Azaria also offered to stop voicing the character: "I'm perfectly willing and happy to step aside, or help transition it into something new." In response, Kondabolu tweeted his appreciation for Azaria's statement: "Thank you, @HankAzaria. I appreciate what you said & how you said it." In early 2020, Azaria announced that he was stepping away from the Apu character, primarily because of the stereotypes and bias it perpetuated. Later in the year he would retire from voicing Carl for similar reasons. In April 2021, Azaria apologized for voicing the Apu character, on Dax Shepherd's podcast.
=== Further career (since 1991) ===
==== Television work ====
With the continuing success of The Simpsons, Azaria began taking on other, principally live-action roles. He was a main cast member on the show Herman's Head (1991–1994) playing Jay Nichols, alongside The Simpsons co-star Yeardley Smith. He regularly recorded for The Simpsons and filmed Herman's Head during the same day. Following the series' cancellation Azaria unsuccessfully auditioned for the role of Joey Tribbiani, one of the lead characters in the sitcom Friends. He was instead cast in the role of the scientist David, one of Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow)'s boyfriends in the series. He appeared in the show's tenth episode "The One with the Monkey", before the character left for a research trip in Minsk. He reprised the role in the show's seventh season (2001), before making several appearances in the ninth (2003). This return culminates in David proposing to Phoebe; she rejects him, and David leaves the show for good. From 1995 to 1999, Azaria had a recurring role in the sitcom Mad About You as Nat Ostertag, the dog walker. Azaria was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his roles in both Mad About You (in 1998) and Friends (in 2003). Azaria had the lead role in the short-lived sitcom If Not for You in 1995, playing record producer Craig Schaeffer.
Azaria produced and starred in the sitcom Imagine That in 2002, replacing Emeril mid-season in the NBC lineup. He played Josh Miller, a comedy writer, who "transformed" each episode into a character Miller has imagined, "provid[ing] a humorous outlet for his frustrations at home and work". Production closed after five episodes and it was canceled after just two aired, due to poor critical reaction and ratings. Azaria later commented on the show: "I wanted to do something really truthful and interesting and impactful. We had a bunch of executives sitting in the room, all agreeing that The Larry Sanders Show was our favorite thing on television, but we couldn't do it on NBC, and nor would we want to from a business standpoint; it simply wouldn't make enough money. By the time it aired, the writing was sort of on the wall, and I don't blame them at all. It was apparent it wasn't working."
He starred as psychiatrist Craig "Huff" Huffstodt in the Showtime drama series Huff, which ran for two seasons between 2004 and 2006, airing 24 episodes. Azaria served as an executive producer on the show and directed an episode of its second season. After reading the pilot script, he sent it to Platt, who took the role of Huff's friend Russell Tupper. Azaria enjoyed working on the show, but struggled with the bleak subject matter and was often in dispute with its creator Bob Lowry, noting that it "was tough to marry our visions all the time, [because] we both cared so much about it that neither of us were willing to let go." Gillian Flynn of Entertainment Weekly called Azaria "impressively subtle" in the role, while John Leonard of New York magazine said he was a "shrewd bit of casting." The show garnered seven Emmy nominations in 2005, including a nomination for Azaria for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. Despite the awards, the show continually received low ratings, and Showtime chose not to commission it for a third season.
Returning to live-action television in 2011, Azaria starred in the NBC sitcom Free Agents, a remake of the British series of the same name. He played Alex Taylor, a recently divorced public relations executive "who is missing his kids and trying to keep himself together", and ends up sleeping with a co-worker Helen Ryan (Kathryn Hahn). Azaria also served as a producer on the show. He was apprehensive about the project, disliking the lengthy schedule required of a lead actor in a single-camera series, and favoring the "sensibility" of cable shows. However, he liked the script and executive producer John Enbom's previous series Party Down and decided to accept the part. Despite Azaria mounting a campaign on Twitter to save it, the series was canceled after four episodes due to low ratings. Between 2014 and 2016, Azaria had a recurring role in the second, third and fourth season of Showtime's Ray Donovan, playing FBI agent Ed Cochran. He won the Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his work on the show in 2016, as well as earning a further nomination the same category the following year.
Azaria starred in the IFC series Brockmire, which ran for four seasons from 2017–2020. He played the lead role of Jim Brockmire, a legendary baseball announcer, fired for a profanity-filled breakdown live on air after discovering his wife Lucy Brockmire (Katie Finneran) was having an affair. Azaria based the voice and style of Brockmire on several veteran sportscasters, including Bob Murphy and Phil Rizzuto. The character originated as part of the third episode of the Funny or Die web-series Gamechangers, entitled "A Legend in the Booth", which Azaria also co-wrote. He subsequently appeared as Brockmire on the NFL Network's The Rich Eisen Podcast to discuss the National Football League. In November 2012, Azaria sued actor Craig Bierko over the ownership of the Brockmire voice. The case was ruled in Azaria's favor in 2014. Both actors had been using a baseball announcer voice before and since meeting at a party in 1990, but United States district judge Gary Allen Feess ruled that only Azaria's voice was, as Brockmire, a defined, "tangible" character and thus subject to copyright. In 2016, IFC confirmed development on the series, on which Azaria also served as an executive producer. Azaria received three nominations for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Comedy Series for his performance on the series.
==== Film work ====
Azaria made his film debut in the direct-to-video release Cool Blue (1990), as Buzz. His first theatrically released feature film appearance came the same year in Pretty Woman, as a police detective named Albertson. His next major film role was as television producer Albert Freedman in the 1994 film Quiz Show, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. In 1996, Azaria played gay Guatemalan housekeeper Agador Spartacus in the film The Birdcage. For the role, which Azaria considers to be his "big break", he was nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role, and critically branded "the most hilarious performance in the film," by Alison Macor of The Austin Chronicle, while Empire wrote that he "[stole] the show." For the role he used a Guatemalan accent, and made himself sound as effeminate as possible. He had chosen two possible voices, an effeminate one and a tougher one. After advice from a drag queen, he chose the effeminate voice. Three weeks into production, he realized he sounded exactly like his grandmother, which aided his performance. Agador was originally going to be a single scene part, with the larger role of the housekeeper being played by David Alan Grier. With the producers fearing the racial connotations of a black actor in such a part, Azaria inherited the full role.
He appeared in numerous other films in the late 1990s, including Heat (1995), Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), Celebrity (1998) and worked opposite Gwyneth Paltrow, as Walter Plane, in the 1998 adaptation of Great Expectations. He played photographer Victor "Animal" Palotti in Godzilla (1998). Godzilla was one of Azaria's first starring roles in a blockbuster film. Its five-month shoot was the longest of his career to date, but he considered it a good chance to boost his profile. He noted, "I'm so used to melding into every character I play. Even people in the business think the guy who did Birdcage, Quiz Show and Great Expectations are three different actors—which in a way makes me proud, but in another way is very frustrating. It's the curse and blessing of the character actor". The shoot's physical challenges, and the film's critical failure, led Azaria to later describe it as "tough to make, and very disappointing when it came out. It was one you definitely chalk up and say, 'That was part of paying your dues, better luck next time'." In 1999, he starred in the drama Mystery, Alaska as Charles Danner, and the comedy superhero film Mystery Men, as the faux-British silverware throwing expert The Blue Raja. Other film roles included Hector Gorgonzolas in America's Sweethearts (2001), Claude in Along Came Polly (2004), and the young Patches O'Houlihan in DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story (2004), the latter two with Ben Stiller. For his role of Claude, a French scuba instructor, in Along Came Polly, Azaria donned a wig and worked out extensively to get into the physical shape the part required.
Azaria played composer Marc Blitzstein in Tim Robbins' film Cradle Will Rock in 1999. Paul Clinton wrote that Azaria was "brilliant as the tortured (is there any other kind) artist Blitzstein." The same year he appeared as author and journalist Mitch Albom alongside Jack Lemmon in the television film Tuesdays with Morrie, winning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for the role. Azaria described the latter as the "best work [he has] done." These were two of the first dramatic roles Azaria had taken; throughout his career, Azaria has primarily worked in comedy, but tries to balance the two. Azaria commented: "all the roles I got were in comedy at first, and I was certainly happy to get those, so I never felt the lack of being considered a dramatic actor because I was so happy to get what I got. And then I became surprised later on when I got dramatic roles. But I never went, 'OK, now it's time to get a dramatic role.'" His next dramatic part was in the television film Uprising in 2001. The film was based on the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and Azaria played Mordechaj Anielewicz, one of the revolt's leaders. Azaria was confused by his casting in Uprising and frequently asked the film's producer and director Jon Avnet why he was selected. "I know [Avnet] liked the fact I was Jewish, and he knew I could do accents well. He cast me and David Schwimmer in [Uprising], and we were both sort of mystified. He had some instinct that he wanted people who were more known for being funny. He never explained it satisfactorily to me; I don't understand why." His parts in Tuesdays With Morrie and Uprising affected him, causing a depressive state which he countered with DVDs of the comedy series Monty Python. Azaria found Uprising to be "very difficult very depressing very emotionally challenging" material. In 2003, Azaria played journalist Michael Kelly, the former editor of The New Republic, in the drama film Shattered Glass. Kelly died a few months before the film was released and Azaria said the film "has become a weird kind of eulogy to him."
Since Huff's conclusion in 2006, Azaria has continued to make multiple film appearances. He played the smooth-talking Whit Bloom in David Schwimmer's directorial debut Run Fatboy Run (2007). During production he became good friends with co-star Simon Pegg, performing The Simpsons voices on request, frequently distracting Pegg when he was supposed to be filming. He worked with Stiller again on 2009's Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian in which Azaria played the villainous pharaoh Kah Mun Rah, utilizing a Boris Karloff accent. Although the film received mixed reviews, critics praised Azaria's performance. Perry Seibert of TV Guide wrote that "thanks to Azaria, a master of comic timing. His grandiose, yet slightly fey bad guy is equally funny when he's chewing out minions as he is when deliberating if Oscar the Grouch and Darth Vader are evil enough to join his team." He appeared as Abraham in Year One (2009), Dr. Stan Knight in 2010's Love & Other Drugs, and played Deep Throat director Gerard Damiano in Lovelace (2013).
Azaria played Gargamel in the animated/live-action adaptation of The Smurfs (2011). Azaria wore a prosthetic nose, ears, buck teeth, eyebrows and a wig, as well as shaving his head. He spent approximately 130 hours in the make-up chair over the course of the production. Azaria considered Gargamel's voice to be the most important part of his performance. The producers wanted an "old, failed, Shakespearean actor" voice, but Azaria felt this would lack energy and wanted something more Eastern European. He eventually selected a voice similar to that of Paul Winchell's from the cartoon. Azaria disliked the cartoon when it first aired, and considered Gargamel too one-dimensional a character and "just this straight villain"; he opted to make Gargamel "more sarcastic" than in the cartoon, but "discovered that there's no way to play Gargamel without screaming your head off at certain points – ramping him up and getting him very upset over Smurfs". He interpreted him as "very lonely", adding that "he hates the Smurfs because they're such a happy family. He wants in really badly. I think he wants to be embraced as a Smurf". Azaria worked with the writers to "infuse" the script with some of his ideas about the character, "particularly with the 'married' relationship between Gargamel and [his cat] Azreal [sic]" which Azaria conceived.
Reviewers from The San Francisco Chronicle and The Boston Globe commented on Azaria's "overacting" in the role of Gargamel. More positive reaction came from Scott Bowles of USA Today called Azaria the "human standout"; Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times felt he suffered the "greatest disservice" of the film's cast due to a poor script. Azaria noted in an interview with The A.V. Club that The Smurfs and Night at the Museum were films he agreed to do primarily for the money, but that "I won't even do that unless I think it will at least be fun to do...I really try to throw myself into it, figure out the funniest, cleverest way to get the material over, and make it fun to do and fun to watch." Azaria reprised his role in the 2013 sequel The Smurfs 2. In 2016, Azaria starred in Norman with Richard Gere.
==== Further voice work ====
Azaria performed a number of voice roles in addition to The Simpsons, although he noted in 2005: "I started doing other voiceovers for cartoons for a couple of years, but I didn't really love it. I was spoiled by The Simpsons." He voiced Eddie Brock / Venom in Spider-Man: The Animated Series between 1994 and 1996. In the animated feature Anastasia (1997), he voiced Bartok the bat and reprised the role in the direct-to-video prequel Bartok the Magnificent (1999). For his performance in Anastasia, Azaria won the Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting by a Male Performer in an Animated Feature Production. He also voiced Eric in the American dub of the series Stressed Eric, Harold Zoid in the 2001 Futurama episode "That's Lobstertainment!", and Abbie Hoffman and Allen Ginsberg in Chicago 10 (2007). For the 2011 film Hop, Azaria voiced Carlos and Phil. The response to the film was mostly negative, but many reviewers praised Azaria's performance. For example, Sandie Chen of The Washington Post said "Azaria has been honing his over-the-top Spanish accent since The Birdcage, so anything he says grabs some laughs", while Emma Simmonds of Time Out called him an "unflappable presence, voicing two characters with style". Later in the year he voiced The Mighty Sven in Happy Feet Two. He also voiced the lead character, Texan border agent Bud Buckwald, in Bordertown, which aired in 2016, as well as Shelfish Sheldon in Mack & Moxy the same year.
Once The Simpsons was "going steadily" and Azaria had enough money to live on, he stopped working on commercials as he found them "demoralizing", feeling that he sounded sarcastic whenever he read for them. When recording the part of "Jell-O Man" for a Jell-O commercial, he was told to make the voice he offered "more likable and friendly so that children like him." After pointing out that "Jell-O Man" was a fictional character, he left and pledged to never record for an advertisement again. However, in 2012 he voiced several insects in a commercial for the Chevrolet Sonic.
==== Other work ====
Azaria wrote and directed the 2004 short film Nobody's Perfect, which won the Film Discovery Jury Award for Best Short at the US Comedy Arts Festival. In January 2007, he was confirmed to be directing Outsourced, a film about two American workers who journey to get their jobs back, after their factory is moved to Mexico. In 2009, Azaria told Empire he was instead focusing on making a documentary about fatherhood. Two years later he told the Los Angeles Times that this project was "half-complete" and was "forever looking for financing to finish it." It eventually began in 2014, airing on AOL as an online series titled Fatherhood. According to AOL, the series of short episodes documents Azaria's "touching, humorous, and often enlightening journey from a man who is not even sure he wants to have kids, to a father going through the joys, trials and tribulations of being a dad."
He has periodically returned to theatrical work, appearing in several productions. In 2003, he appeared as Bernard in a run of David Mamet's play Sexual Perversity in Chicago, along with Matthew Perry and Minnie Driver, in London's West End. Azaria made his first appearance as Sir Lancelot, the French Taunter, and four other characters in Spamalot, the musical version of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which opened in Chicago in December 2004, before moving to the Shubert Theatre on Broadway. The show met with critical acclaim and received fourteen Tony Award nominations in 2005; Azaria and Tim Curry both received nominations for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical. Reuniting with The Birdcage director Mike Nichols, and being a huge Monty Python fan, he saw it as an opportunity he could not pass up, describing it as "so much fun that I haven't realized how tiring it is," and "the most fun that I've ever had in my entire life." He took a break from the show in June 2005 to work on Huff, but returned in December 2005. Alan Tudyk played the role during Azaria's absence. In late 2007 he starred in Aaron Sorkin's The Farnsworth Invention, playing RCA head David Sarnoff. In 2016, he starred in the world premiere of Dry Powder opposite Claire Danes, John Krasinski, and Sanjit De Silva, directed by Thomas Kail, at the off-Broadway Public Theater in New York City.
In August of 2024, after his 60th birthday, Azaria began touring with Bruce Springsteen tribute act Hank Azaria and the EZ Band.
== Acting style and vocal range ==
Azaria's friends refer to him as "the freakish mimic" due to his ability to copy almost anyone's voice, instantly after he has heard it. As a child, he believed that everyone could do this, but later realized that it was not a common talent. Azaria has said, "I can remember every voice I hear, famous or otherwise ... they kind of remain in the memory banks, so I'm ready to trot them out." Azaria was glad to have found the "ultimate outlet" for this skill, in The Simpsons. He "didn't realize it [when he joined the show], but it became like a lab for a character actor. [He] had to do so many voices." In the early 2000s, Azaria felt he had reached the maximum number of voices he was capable of: "For the first 10 years of The Simpsons, I would develop a bunch of voices. And then ... I hit a point when I was tapped out. Every noise I can make, I have made. Even characters like Gargamel, I've done. Even if it was only two or three lines, at some point I've done something similar on The Simpsons, at least somewhere along the line."
For many of Azaria's characters, much of their humor is derived from a "funny voice", such as The Birdcage and Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. He stated that "being funny with a funny voice is more my comfort zone, a broader character that I try to humanize, a kind of silly or wacky persona that I try to fill in," although he finds it "much easier to be someone much closer to myself," as it requires "less energy ... than playing characters that are so out there and high strung."
The Simpsons creator Matt Groening has stated that Azaria possesses the ability to turn unfunny lines into some of the best in an episode, while former writer Jay Kogen stated: "Just when I think I know [Azaria's] bag of tricks, he's always got a new thing he does to surprise me." Throughout the run of The Simpsons, Azaria has had to sing in character several times, a task which he describes as easier than singing normally. The Smurfs writer David N. Weiss says Azaria "has a beautiful treasure trove of talent," and "became what you wished you were writing." Playwright Jenelle Riley wrote in 2005 that Azaria was "by far" her favorite actor, praising his "versatility" and "tendency to take small roles that would normally fade into the background and to consistently create characters people care about," noting his roles in Shattered Glass, Mystery, Alaska and especially DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story.
== Personal life ==
In the early 1990s, Azaria was in a relationship with actress Julie Warner. His relationship with actress Helen Hunt began in 1994; they married in a traditional Jewish ceremony at the couple's home in Southern California on July 17, 1999. The two had appeared together in Mad About You and the Simpsons episode "Dumbbell Indemnity". After a year of marriage, Azaria moved out of the couple's home, and Hunt filed for divorce after a six-month separation, citing irreconcilable differences. The divorce was finalized on December 18, 2000.
Azaria began dating former actress Katie Wright in 2007, and the two married later that year. They have a son named Hal (b. 2009). The family has one dog, Truman, and two rescue cats, Mookie and Wilson. In 2013, the family began renting a home on 80th Street in Manhattan, with plans to make a final decision on where to live in two years. They previously lived in a four-bedroom house in Pacific Palisades, which Azaria bought from his Simpsons co-star Dan Castellaneta in 2011. Several weeks earlier, Azaria had sold his home in Bel Air. Azaria previously owned a fifth-floor co-op loft on Mercer Street in Manhattan's Soho neighborhood, which he bought from photographer Cindy Sherman in 2005, before selling it in 2013.
Azaria is a fan of the New York Mets and the New York Jets.
Azaria suffered from alcoholism for several years. He credited his longtime friend Matthew Perry for encouraging him to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and has been sober since about 2006. His contribution to the substance-free dorm at Tufts University inspired it to be renamed "Simpson House".
Azaria is the godfather of Oliver Platt's son, George. He is also a regular poker player, appearing twice on Celebrity Poker Showdown and competing at other events, finishing a few places short of the bubble in the main event of the 2010 World Series of Poker. Azaria donated to several Democratic Party candidates in the 1990s and 2000s. He enjoys the music of Elvis Costello and Bruce Springsteen, and he has stated that he would have been a therapist if he were not an actor. Azaria co-founded the educational support charity, "Determined to Succeed".
On May 22, 2016, he was awarded the Honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters (DHL) from Tufts University.
== Acting credits ==
=== Film ===
=== Television ===
=== Theatre ===
=== Video games ===
=== Theme Parks ===
== Awards and nominations == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saving_Private_Ryan | Saving Private Ryan | 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/Remy%27s_Ratatouille_Adventure | Remy's Ratatouille Adventure | Remy's Ratatouille Adventure, also known as Ratatouille: L'Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy (lit., 'Remy's Totally Zany Adventure'), is a trackless dark ride located at Walt Disney Studios Park in France and Epcot in Florida. The ride first opened at Walt Disney Studios Park on 21 June 2014. A second version opened at Epcot in 2021.
Remy's Ratatouille Adventure is set in the world of Pixar's Ratatouille, where guests encounter various characters from the film.
In both versions, the ride's dialogue alternates between English and French.
== Summary ==
The attraction's exterior is that of Gusteau's restaurant, and the surrounding buildings of a Parisian plaza, with the queue set in an artist's loft leading to the rooftops of Paris, where guests are "shrunk" to the size of a rat.
After guests board their "ratmobiles" on the roof of Gusteau's restaurant, Remy and the spirit of Chef Auguste Gusteau are deciding which meal to prepare for them. After deciding on their famous ratatouille dish, Remy and the guests fall through a swinging roof glass-pane, landing on the restaurant kitchen floor. This starts a chase sequence with Remy leading the guests and other rats away from the cooks, passing through the walk-in freezer and under a hot oven.
Guests eventually end up in the dining area, attracting attention from customers and causing a riot. Chef Skinner tries to get rid of the rats and the guests, while Alfredo Linguini tries to help them escape into a nearby vent. The escape through the vent in the walls is almost wrecked by Skinner, who angrily attempts to grab the guests through the venting grids. In the end, they make it safely to Remy's kitchen, where the cooking of the ratatouille is ongoing.
The guests are bid farewell by Remy and the spirit of Gusteau, while the rat colony is feasting on Remy's cooking. In Paris, the attraction exits at the restaurant Bistro Chez Rémy, unlike at Epcot.
Patton Oswalt, Peter Sohn, Lou Romano, and Brad Garrett reprise their voice roles from the original film as Remy, Emile, Linguini and Gusteau, respectively.
== Production ==
=== History ===
==== Walt Disney Studios Park ====
In 2008, rumors began online that Disneyland Paris planned to construct a Ratatouille-themed ride in Toon Studios for the park's 20th anniversary. Following the initial rumors, articles on the Internet surfaced concept paintings, ride blueprints, and images of the first phases of construction, confirming that there would be such an attraction. Construction of the attraction officially began in 2012, under the name "Ratatouille: Désastre en Cuisine," or "Ratatouille Kitchen Calamity". The attraction was formally announced in March 2013 at the Euro Disney S.C.A. annual shareholders meeting as "Ratatouille: L'Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy" with the opening date set for Summer 2014. Construction for the attraction was completed in June 2014 with an estimated budget of US$150-240 million. On 21 June 2014, the attraction was officially inaugurated by then-president and CEO of The Walt Disney Company, Robert Iger. The attraction fully opened to the public on 10 July 2014.
On 27 August 2021, following Disneyland Paris' reopening, Walt Disney Studios Park announced that the attraction was set to become part of the Worlds of Pixar area.
On 26 August 2025, it was announced that the attraction will be temporarily closed in October 2025 for refurbishment, technical upgrades and scenic enhancements, before reopening in March 28, 2026.
==== Epcot ====
On 15 July 2017, Disney Parks announced during a D23 Expo presentation that a duplicate of the ride would come to Epcot's France Pavilion at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida in 2020. Construction began in November of the same year with land clearing. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the attractions opening was delayed from 2020 until October 1, 2021 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Walt Disney World.
The attraction underwent a short refurbishment from November 10 to 14, 2025. During that time, the ride transitioned from 3D visuals to 2D.
=== Ride technology ===
The attraction uses LPS trackless ride technology, same as Rise of the Resistance, Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway and Mystic Manor. The ride uses rat-shaped vehicles to automatically slide across the ground with no track. It also contains 3D dome segments of the ride that the vehicles ride into, though it was announced in the Fall of 2025 that both versions would no longer be in 3D. Different scent effects are employed in each room of the ride.
== Gallery == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivia_Newton-John | Olivia Newton-John | Dame Olivia Newton-John (26 September 1948 – 8 August 2022) was a British and Australian singer, songwriter and actress. With over 100 million records sold, Newton-John is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, as well as the highest-selling female Australian recording artist of all time.
In 1978, Newton-John starred in the musical film Grease, which was the highest-grossing musical film at the time and whose soundtrack remains one of the world's best-selling albums. It features two major hit duets with co-star John Travolta: "You're the One That I Want"—which is one of the best-selling singles of all time—and "Summer Nights". Her signature solo recordings include the Record of the Year Grammy winner "I Honestly Love You" (1974) and "Physical" (1981)—Billboard's highest-ranking Hot 100 single of the 1980s. Other defining hit singles include "If Not for You" and "Banks of the Ohio" (both 1971), "Let Me Be There" (1973), "If You Love Me (Let Me Know)" (1974), "Have You Never Been Mellow" (1975), "Sam" (1977), "Hopelessly Devoted to You" (1978; also from Grease), "A Little More Love" (1978), "Twist of Fate" (1983) and, from the 1980 film Xanadu, "Magic" and "Xanadu" (with the Electric Light Orchestra).
Newton-John's accolades include four Grammy Awards, a Daytime Emmy Award, nine Billboard Music Awards, six American Music Awards, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and an induction into the ARIA Hall of Fame. She scored fifteen top-ten singles, including five number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100, and two number-one albums on the Billboard 200: If You Love Me, Let Me Know (1974) and Have You Never Been Mellow (1975). Eleven of her singles (including two Platinum) and fourteen of her albums (including two Platinum and four 2× Platinum) have been certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). She was appointed Officer of the Order of Australia in 2006 and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2020.
Newton-John, who had breast cancer three times, was an advocate and sponsor for breast cancer research. In 2012, the Olivia Newton-John Cancer & Wellness Centre at the Austin Hospital opened in her home town of Melbourne; in 2015, the facility was rechristened the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness & Research Centre. She was also an activist for environmental and animal rights causes.
== Early life and family ==
Olivia Newton-John was born on 26 September 1948 in Cambridge to Brinley "Brin" Newton-John (1914–1992) and Irene Helene (née Born; 1914–2003). Her father was born and raised in Wales to a middle-class family. Her mother was born and raised in Germany to a German-Jewish academic family who came to the UK in 1933 to escape the Nazi regime.
Newton-John's maternal grandfather was German Jewish Nobel Prize–winning physicist Max Born. Her maternal grandmother Hedwig was the daughter of German Jewish jurist Victor Ehrenberg and his Lutheran wife, Helene Agatha von Jhering. Through Helene Agatha, Newton-John was a descendant of Protestant theologian Martin Luther. She was also descended from an unspecified Spanish monarch. Helene Agatha's own father, Newton-John's great-great-grandfather, was jurist Rudolf von Jhering. Newton-John's uncle was pharmacologist Gustav Victor Rudolf Born. Through her Ehrenberg line, Newton-John was a third cousin of comedian Ben Elton.
Newton-John's father was an MI5 officer on the Enigma project at Bletchley Park who took Rudolf Hess into custody during World War II. After the war, he became the headmaster of the Cambridgeshire High School for Boys and was in this post when Newton-John was born.
In early 1954, when Newton-John was five, her family emigrated to Melbourne, Victoria, on the SS Strathaird. Her father worked as a professor of German and as the master of Ormond College at the University of Melbourne. Her family attended church while her father served as the head of the Presbyterian college.
Newton-John attended Christ Church Grammar School in the Melbourne suburb of South Yarra and then the University High School in Parkville.
Newton-John was the youngest of three children. The eldest sibling was Hugh Newton-John, who became a physician and infectious diseases specialist.
Newton-John's older sister, Rona Newton-John, became a model and actress whose acting career in the UK included appearances on The Benny Hill Show and Gerry Anderson's UFO. Rona was married three times and had four children including, from her first marriage (1961–1968) to restaurateur and nightclub owner Brian Goldsmith, music producer Brett Goldsmith and entertainer Tottie Goldsmith, a founder member of the band The Chantoozies. Racing car driver Emerson Newton-John is the son from her second marriage to Graham Hall, and Rona was also married from 1980 to 1985 to Grease and Taxi actor Jeff Conaway.
Newton-John's parents divorced in 1958. Her father Brin remarried two more times and also had two more children with his second wife.
== Career ==
=== Career beginnings ===
Newton-John went to primary school with Daryl Braithwaite, who also followed a singing career. At age 14, with three classmates, Newton-John formed a short-lived, all-girl group called Sol Four which often performed at a coffee shop owned by her brother-in-law.
Newton-John originally wanted to become a vet but then chose to focus on performance after doubting her ability to pass science exams.
In 1964, Newton-John's acting talent was first recognised portraying Lady Mary Lasenby in her University High School's production of The Admirable Crichton as she became the Young Sun's Drama Award best schoolgirl actress runner-up. She then became a regular on local Australian television shows, including Time for Terry and HSV-7's The Happy Show, where she performed as "Lovely Livvy". She also appeared on The Go!! Show, where she met her future duet partner, singer Pat Carroll, and her future music producer, John Farrar. (Carroll and Farrar later married.)
In 1965, she entered and won a talent contest on the television program Sing, Sing, Sing, hosted by 1960s Australian icon Johnny O'Keefe. She performed the songs "Anyone Who Had a Heart" and "Everything's Coming Up Roses". She was initially reluctant to use her prize, a trip to Great Britain, but travelled there nearly a year later after her mother encouraged her to broaden her horizons.
While in Britain, Newton-John missed her then-boyfriend, Ian Turpie, with whom she had co-starred in the 1965 Australian telefilm Funny Things Happen Down Under. She repeatedly booked trips back to Australia that her mother cancelled.
In 1966, Newton-John recorded her first single, "Till You Say You'll Be Mine", in Britain for Decca Records.
Newton-John's outlook changed when Pat Carroll moved to the UK. The two formed a duo called Pat and Olivia and toured nightclubs in Europe. (In one incident, they were booked at Paul Raymond's Revue in Soho, London, and were unaware that it was a strip club until they began to perform onstage dressed primly in frilly high-collared dresses.) During this period, she and Carroll contributed backup vocals to recordings by a number of other artists, notably the song "Come In, You'll Get Pneumonia" by the Easybeats. After Carroll's visa expired, Carroll was forced to return to Australia but Newton-John remained in Britain to pursue solo work.
Newton-John was recruited for the group Toomorrow, formed by American producer Don Kirshner. In 1970, the group starred in the science fiction musical Toomorrow and recorded an accompanying soundtrack album on RCA Records; both the LP and the movie were named after the group. That same year, the group made two single recordings: "You're My Baby Now"/"Goin' Back" and "I Could Never Live Without Your Love"/"Roll Like a River". Neither track became a chart success; the project failed and the group disbanded.
=== 1971–1974: Early success ===
In 1971, Newton-John released her first solo album, If Not for You (US No. 158 Pop). In the UK, the album was released as Olivia Newton-John. The title track, written by Bob Dylan, was her first international hit (US No. 25 Pop, No. 1 Adult Contemporary/"AC"). Her follow-up single, "Banks of the Ohio", was a top 10 hit in the UK and Australia, but only peaked at number 94 in the United States. She was voted Best British Female Vocalist two years in a row by the magazine Record Mirror. She made frequent appearances on Cliff Richard's weekly show It's Cliff Richard and starred with him in the telefilm The Case.
Newton-John's 1972 single "What Is Life" (No. 34 AC) made minimal impact in the United States. As a result, her second studio album Olivia was never formally issued in the United States. The subsequent single, "Take Me Home, Country Roads", similarly saw little success. Her fortune changed with the release of "Let Me Be There" in 1973. The song reached the American top 10 on the Pop (No. 6), Country (No. 7), and AC (No. 3) charts and earned her a Grammy for Best Country Female and an Academy of Country Music award for Most Promising Female Vocalist.
Her third studio album Let Me Be There was released in November 1973, retitled Music Makes My Day in Britain. The US and Canadian versions featured an alternate track list that mixed new cuts with selections from Olivia and also recycled six songs from If Not for You, which was going out of print.
In 1974, Newton-John represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Long Live Love". The song was chosen for Newton-John by the British public out of six possible entries (Newton-John later admitted that she disliked the song). Newton-John finished fourth at the contest, held in Brighton, behind the Swedish winning entry, "Waterloo" by ABBA. All six Eurovision contest song candidates—"Have Love, Will Travel", "Lovin' You Ain't Easy", "Long Live Love", "Someday", "Angel Eyes" and "Hands Across the Sea"—were recorded by Newton-John and included on her Long Live Love album, her first for the EMI Records label.
The Long Live Love album was released in the US and Canada as If You Love Me, Let Me Know. All the Eurovision entries were dropped for different and more country-flavoured tunes intended to capitalise on the success of "Let Me Be There"; the North American offering used selections from Long Live Love, Olivia and Music Makes My Day, and only the title cut was new. The album reached No. 1 on both the pop (one week) and country (eight weeks) albums charts. If You Love Me, Let Me Know's title track was its first single and reached No. 5 Pop, No. 2 Country (her highest-peaking song on the chart) and No. 2 AC. The next single, "I Honestly Love You", became Newton-John's signature song. Written and composed by Jeff Barry and Peter Allen, the ballad became her first Pop number-one (staying there for two weeks), second AC number-one (for three weeks) and third top-10 Country (No. 6) hit and earned Newton-John two more Grammys for Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance – Female. In her 2018 autobiography, Don't Stop Believin', Newton-John describes "I Honestly Love You" as a song which is "so simple, with a meaning that was deeper than the ocean". In 1974, she received the (BCMA) British Country Music Association Award for "Female Vocalist of the Year" in London, England.
In the United States, Newton-John's success in country music sparked a debate among purists, who took issue with a foreigner singing country-flavoured pop music being classed with native Nashville artists. In addition to her Grammy for "Let Me Be There", in 1974 Newton-John was also named the Country Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year, a designation which made her the first British singer to have won the award; and the title also meant she defeated more established Nashville-based nominees Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton and Tanya Tucker, as well as Canadian artist Anne Murray.
This protest by country music participants led to the formation of the short-lived Association of Country Entertainers (ACE). Newton-John was eventually supported by the country music community. Stella Parton, Dolly's sister, recorded "Ode to Olivia" and Newton-John recorded her 1976 album, Don't Stop Believin', in Nashville, Tennessee.
=== 1975–1977: Have You Never Been Mellow, Clearly Love, and continued success ===
Encouraged by expatriate Australian singer Helen Reddy, Newton-John left the UK and moved to the US. Newton-John topped the Pop (one week) and Country (six weeks) albums charts with her next album, Have You Never Been Mellow. For 45 years, Olivia held the Guinness World Record for the shortest gap (154 days) by a female between new Number 1 albums (If You Love Me, Let Me Know > Have You Never Been Mellow) on the US Billboard 200 album charts until Taylor Swift in 2020 (140 days with folklore > evermore).
The Have You Never Been Mellow album generated two singles – the John Farrar-penned title track (No. 1 Pop, No. 3 Country, No. 1 AC) and "Please Mr. Please" (No. 3 Pop, No. 5 Country, No. 1 AC).
Her pop career cooled with the release of her next album, Clearly Love. Her streak of five consecutive gold top 10 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 ended when the album's first single, "Something Better to Do", stopped at No. 13 (also No. 19 Country and No. 1 AC). Her albums still achieved gold status, and she returned to the top ten of the Hot 100 and Billboard 200 charts again in 1978.
Newton-John's singles continued to top the AC chart, where she amassed ten No. 1 singles, including a record seven consecutively:
"I Honestly Love You" (1974) – 3 weeks
"Have You Never Been Mellow" (1975) – 1 week
"Please Mr. Please" (1975) – 3 weeks
"Something Better to Do" (1975) – 3 weeks
"Let It Shine"/"He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" (1976) – 2 weeks
"Come on Over" (1976) – 1 week
"Don't Stop Believin'" (1976) – 1 week
She provided a prominent, but uncredited, vocal on John Denver's "Fly Away" single, which was succeeded by her own single, "Let It Shine"/"He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother", at No. 1 on the AC chart. ("Fly Away" returned to No. 1 after the two-week reign of "Let It Shine".) In December 1975, she appeared on the ABC special John Denver - A Rocky Mountain Christmas, where she performed the duet of "Fly Away" with John, as well as "Let It Shine". Newton-John also continued to reach the Country top 10 where she tallied seven top-10 singles through 1976's "Come on Over" (No. 23 Pop, No. 5 Country, No. 1 AC) (from the same-titled album) and six consecutive (of a career nine total) top-10 albums through 1976's Don't Stop Believin' (No. 30 Pop, No. 7 Country). She headlined her first US television special, A Special Olivia Newton-John, in November 1976.
In 1977, the single "Sam", a mid-tempo waltz from Don't Stop Believin', returned her to the No. 1 spot on the AC (No. 40 Country) and also reached No. 20 Pop, her highest chart placement since "Something Better to Do". By mid-1977, Newton-John's pop, AC, and country success all suffered a slight blow. Her Making a Good Thing Better album (No. 34 Pop, No. 13 Country) was not certified gold, and its only single, the title track (No. 87 Pop, No. 20 AC), did not reach the AC top 10 or the Country chart. Later that year, Olivia Newton-John's Greatest Hits (No. 13 Pop, No. 7 Country) became her first platinum album.
Newton-John was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1979 New Year Honours and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2020 New Year Honours for services to charity, cancer research, and entertainment.
=== 1978–1979: Grease and Totally Hot ===
In 1978, Newton-John's career soared after she starred as Sandy in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Grease. She was offered the role after meeting producer Allan Carr at a dinner party at Helen Reddy's home. Disillusioned by her Toomorrow experience and concerned that she was too old to play a high school senior (she was 28 during the filming of Grease), Newton-John insisted on a screen test with the film's co-lead, John Travolta. Newton-John previewed some of the film's soundtrack during her second American network television special, Olivia, featuring guests ABBA and Andy Gibb.
Grease became the biggest box-office hit of 1978. Newton-John's performance, however, received mixed reviews. The soundtrack album spent 12 non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 and yielded three Top 5 singles for Newton-John: the platinum "You're the One That I Want" (No. 1 Pop, No. 23 AC) with John Travolta, the gold "Hopelessly Devoted to You" (No. 3 Pop, No. 20 Country, No. 7 AC) and the gold "Summer Nights" (No. 5 Pop, No. 21 AC) with John Travolta and the film's cast. Newton-John became the second woman (after Linda Ronstadt in 1977) to have two singles—"Hopelessly Devoted to You" and "Summer Nights"—in the Billboard top 5 simultaneously. The soundtrack is one of the best-selling soundtracks of all time. In June 2006, Newton-John's company ON-J Productions Ltd filed a lawsuit against Universal Music Group (UMG) for $1 million in unpaid royalties from the Grease soundtrack. In 2007, it was announced that she and UMG had reached a "conditional settlement".
Newton-John's performance earned her a People's Choice Award for Favourite Film Actress. She was nominated for a Golden Globe as Best Actress in a Musical and performed the Oscar-nominated "Hopelessly Devoted to You" at the 1979 Academy Awards. The film's popularity has endured. It was re-released for its 20th anniversary in 1998 and ranked as the second highest-grossing film behind Titanic in its opening weekend. Following her death in August 2022, AMC announced that the picture would reappear in some of its cinemas over the weekend and that a portion of the proceeds would go to breast cancer research.
In November 1978, she released her next studio album, Totally Hot, which became her first solo top-10 (No. 7) album since Have You Never Been Mellow. Dressed on the cover all in leather, Newton-John capitalised on her character's look that was introduced at the end of Grease; moreover, Totally Hot's singles—"A Little More Love" (No. 3 Pop, No. 94 Country, No. 4 AC), "Deeper Than the Night" (No. 11 Pop, No. 87 Country, No. 4 AC), and the title track (No. 52 Pop)—all demonstrated a more aggressive and uptempo sound for Newton-John. Although the album de-emphasised the country sound, the LP still reached No. 4 on the Country Albums chart. Newton-John released the B-side, "Dancin' 'Round and 'Round", of the "Totally Hot" single to Country radio. The entry peaked at No. 29 (as well as No. 82 Pop and No. 25 AC), and it became her last charted solo Country airplay single.
Newton-John cancelled a 1978 concert tour of Japan in protest at the slaughter of dolphins caught in tuna fishing nets. She subsequently rescheduled the tour when the Japanese government assured her that the practice was being curbed. In honor of dolphins, in 1981 she also composed and recorded the song "The Promise (the Dolphin Song)" on the Physical album.
She was a performer on the 1979 Music for UNICEF Concert for the UN's International Year of the Child televised worldwide. During the concert, artists performed songs for which they donated their royalties, some in perpetuity, to benefit the cause.
==== Lawsuit against MCA Records ====
In April 1975, Newton-John and MCA entered into an initial two-year, four-album deal in which she was expected to deliver two LPs a year for the record company. MCA also had the option of extending the contract for six more records and three more years; and if the artist did not deliver on time, MCA was allegedly allowed to lengthen the term of the contract.
Per her new agreement with MCA, Newton-John's first three albums, beginning with Clearly Love, came out on schedule. Her fourth, Making a Good Thing Better, was late. This delay occurred around the same time she was working on Grease for RSO Records, and the postponement arguably gave MCA—which seemed to want to keep its hold on the performer—the right to exercise its option, extend its contract, and stop her from signing with another enterprise. She also did not deliver a "newly optioned" album.
On 31 May 1978, Newton-John and MCA each filed breach-of-contract actions against the other. Newton-John sued for $10 million and claimed that MCA's failure to adequately promote and advertise her product freed her from their agreement. MCA's countersuit requested $1 million in damages and an injunction against Newton-John working with another music firm.
Ultimately, Newton-John was forbidden from offering her recording services to another label until the five-year pact had run its course. The original covenant was not automatically extended, though she had not duly supplied the total sum of vinyls indicated in the contract.
As a result of the lawsuit, record companies changed their contracts to be based on the number of albums recorded by a musician and not a specific number of years.
=== 1980–1988: Physical, Soul Kiss, and The Rumour ===
Newton-John began 1980 by releasing "I Can't Help It" (No. 12 Pop, No. 8 AC), a duet with Andy Gibb from his After Dark album, and by starring in her third television special, Hollywood Nights. Later that year, she appeared in her first film since Grease when she starred with Gene Kelly and Michael Beck in the musical fantasy Xanadu. Although the film was a critical failure, its soundtrack (No. 4 Pop) was certified double platinum and scored five top 20 singles on the Billboard Hot 100. Newton-John charted with "Magic" (No. 1 Pop, No. 1 AC), "Suddenly" with Cliff Richard (No. 20 Pop, No. 4 AC) and the title song "Xanadu" with the Electric Light Orchestra (No. 8 Pop, No. 2 AC). [ELO also charted with "I'm Alive" (No. 16 Pop, No. 48 AC) and "All Over the World" (No. 13 Pop, No. 46 AC).]
"Magic" was Newton-John's biggest pop hit to that point (four weeks at No. 1) and still ranks as the biggest AC hit of her career (five weeks at No. 1). The film Xanadu has since become a cult classic and the basis for a Broadway show that ran for more than 500 performances beginning in 2007 and was nominated for four Tony Awards, including Best Musical.
In 1981, Newton-John released her most successful studio album, the double platinum Physical, which strongly reinforced her image change by showcasing risqué, rock-oriented material. Newton-John explained: "I just wasn't in the mood for tender ballads. I wanted peppy stuff because that's how I'm feeling." Of the title cut, Newton-John said: "Roger Davies was my manager at the time; he played it for me and I knew it was a very catchy song." The title track, written by Steve Kipner and Terry Shaddick, spent ten weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100. This matched the record at that time held by Debby Boone's "You Light Up My Life" for most weeks spent at No. 1 on the Hot 100. The single was certified platinum, and it ultimately ranked as the biggest song of the decade. (In 2008, Billboard ranked the song No. 6 among all songs that charted in the 50-year history of the Hot 100.)
"Physical" earned Newton-John her only placement ever on the R&B Singles (No. 28) and Albums (No. 32) charts. The Physical album spawned two more singles, "Make a Move on Me" (No. 5 Pop, No. 6 AC) and "Landslide" (No. 52 Pop).
The provocative lyrics of the "Physical" title track prompted two Utah radio stations to ban the single from their playlists. (In 2010, Billboard magazine ranked this as the most popular single ever about sex.) To counter its overtly suggestive tone, Newton-John filmed an exercise-themed video that turned the song into an aerobics anthem and made headbands a fashion accessory outside the gym.
She helped pioneer the music video industry by recording a video album for Physical, featuring videos of all the album's tracks and three of her older hits. The video album earned her a fourth Grammy and was aired as an ABC prime-time special, Let's Get Physical, becoming a top-10 Nielsen hit. Newton-John asserted: "Like everyone, I've got different sides of my personality. I've my dominant self, my need-to-be-dominated self, the sane Olivia and the crazy Olivia. Playing these different characters gave me a chance to show strange parts people haven't seen much."
The success of Physical led to an international tour and the release of her second hits collection, the double-platinum Olivia's Greatest Hits Vol. 2 (No. 16 Pop), which yielded two more top-40 singles: "Heart Attack" (No. 3 Pop) and "Tied Up" (No. 38 Pop). The tour was filmed for her Olivia in Concert television special, which premiered on HBO in January 1983. The special was subsequently released to video, earning Newton-John another Grammy nomination.
Newton-John reteamed with Travolta in 1983 for the critically and commercially unsuccessful movie Two of a Kind, redeemed by its platinum soundtrack (No. 26 Pop) featuring "Twist of Fate" (No. 5 Pop), "Livin' in Desperate Times" (No. 31 Pop), and a new duet with Travolta, "Take a Chance" (No. 3 AC). Newton-John released another video package, the Grammy-nominated Twist of Fate, featuring videos of her four songs on the Two of a Kind soundtrack and the two new singles from Olivia's Greatest Hits Vol. 2.
That same year Newton-John and Pat Farrar (formerly Pat Carroll) founded Koala Blue. The store, originally for Australian imports, evolved into a chain of women's clothing boutiques. The chain was initially successful, but it eventually declared bankruptcy and closed in 1992. Newton-John and Farrar were the targets of a multimillion-dollar lawsuit when Koala Blue franchise holders alleged breach of contract and unfair competition; agreeing with a motion citing insufficient evidence, a judge dismissed the case on summary judgment in 1993. Newton-John and Farrar later licensed the brand name for a line of Australian wines.
Newton-John, a supporter of Australian rules football Carlton, performed the Australian national anthem at the 1986 VFL Grand Final between Carlton and Hawthorn.
Newton-John's music career cooled again with the release of her next studio album, the gold Soul Kiss (No. 29 Pop), in 1985. The album's only charted single was the title track (No. 20 Pop, No. 20 AC). The video album for Soul Kiss featured only five of the album's ten tracks (concept videos for the album's singles "Soul Kiss" and "Toughen Up" as well as performance videos of the tracks "Culture Shock", "Emotional Tangle" and "The Right Moment").
After a nearly three-year hiatus following the birth of her daughter Chloe in January 1986, Newton-John resumed her recording career with the 1988 album The Rumour. The album was promoted by an HBO special, Olivia Down Under. Its first single, the title track, was written and produced by Elton John. Both the single (No. 62 Pop, No. 33 AC) and the album (No. 67 Pop) faltered commercially as the nearly 40-year-old Newton-John seemed "old" when compared with the teen queens Debbie Gibson and Tiffany ruling the pop charts at that time. (The album was praised by critics as more mature, with Newton-John addressing topics such as AIDS ("Love and Let Live"), the environment and single-parent households.)
The second single, "Can't We Talk It Over in Bed", did not chart, but was released in 1989 by Grayson Hugh, the song's arranger, and became a top-20 pop hit as "Talk It Over".
=== 1989–1998: Motherhood, cancer, and advocacy ===
In September 1989, Newton-John released her self-described "self-indulgent" album, Warm and Tender, which reunited her with producer John Farrar, absent from her previous LP, and also marked a return to a more wholesome image. Inspired by her daughter, who appeared on the cover, the album featured lullabies and love songs for parents and their children. This album, the last one solely produced by Farrar, also failed to revive her recording career, as the disc reached only No. 124 Pop.
She was appointed a Goodwill ambassador to the United Nations Environment Programme.
Newton-John's television work included starring in two Christmas films, A Mom for Christmas (1990) and A Christmas Romance (1994) – both top 10 Nielsen hits.
Newton-John was primed for another comeback in 1992 when she compiled her third hits collection, Back to Basics: The Essential Collection 1971–1992, and planned her first tour since her Physical trek ten years earlier. Shortly after the album's release, Newton-John was diagnosed with breast cancer, forcing her to cancel all publicity for the album, including the tour. She received her diagnosis the same weekend her father died.
Newton-John recovered. In 1991, she became the National Spokesperson for the Colette Chuda Environmental Fund/CHEC (Children's Health Environmental Coalition) following the death from Wilms' tumour of five-year-old Colette Chuda, daughter of Newton-John's friend Nancy Chuda. Later, Newton-John became an advocate for breast cancer research and other health issues. She was a product spokesperson for the Liv-Kit, a breast self-examination product, and also founded her own cancer centre in her home town in Australia.
Newton-John's cancer diagnosis also affected the type of music she recorded. In 1994, she released Gaia: One Woman's Journey, which chronicled her ordeal. Co-produced by Newton-John for ONJ Productions, Gaia was originally issued by Festival in Australia but also distributed by various independent labels in Japan and Europe. In 2002, there was an American distribution by Hip-O Records, and a subsequent re-release in 2012 by Green Hill featured an alternative cover photo. Gaia was the first album on which Newton-John wrote all the music and lyrics herself, and this endeavour encouraged her to become more active as a songwriter thereafter. The single "No Matter What You Do" entered the Australian top 40, and the second single, the environmentally themed "Don't Cut Me Down", was also used in the film It's My Party, a 1996 AIDS drama. The Latin-fuelled "Not Gonna Give into It" eventually became heavily showcased in concert performance; "The Way of Love" was featured in the telefilm A Christmas Romance, and "Trust Yourself" was incorporated into both the TV movie The Wilde Girls and the theatrical film Sordid Lives.
Newton-John was listed as president of the Isle of Man Basking shark Society between 1998 and 2005.
=== 1998–2012: Later releases ===
Newton-John continued to record and perform pop-oriented music as well. In 1998, she returned to Nashville to record Back with a Heart (No. 59 Pop). The album returned her to the top 10 (No. 9) on the Country Albums chart. Its first single was a re-recording of "I Honestly Love You" produced by David Foster and featuring Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds on background vocals that charted on the Pop (No. 67) and AC (No. 18) charts. Country radio dismissed the song, though it did peak at No. 16 on the Country Sales chart. The album track, "Love Is a Gift", won Newton-John a 1999 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Song after being featured on the daytime serial, As the World Turns.
During October–December 1998, Newton-John, John Farnham and Anthony Warlow performed in The Main Event Tour. The album Highlights from The Main Event peaked at No. 1 in December, was certified 4× platinum, won an ARIA Award for Highest Selling Australian CD at the 1999 Awards and was also nominated for Best Adult Contemporary Album.
For the 2000 Summer Olympics, Newton-John and Farnham re-teamed to perform "Dare to Dream" during the Parade of Nations at the Opening Ceremony. Broadcast of the ceremony was viewed by an estimated 3.5 billion people around the world.
In December 1998, following a hiatus of about 16 years, Newton-John also resumed touring by herself and in 2000 released a solo CD, One Woman's Live Journey, her first live album since 1981's Love Performance.
In 2000, she appeared in a dramatically different role as Bitsy Mae Harling, a bisexual former-convict country singer, in Del Shores' Sordid Lives. Newton-John reprised her role for Sordid Lives: The Series which aired one season on the LOGO television network. The series featured five original songs written and composed by Newton-John specifically for the show. In 2000, she teamed with Vince Gill and the London Symphony Orchestra for 'Tis the Season sold exclusively through Hallmark. The following year, she released The Christmas Collection, which compiled seasonal music previously recorded for her Hallmark Christmas album, her appearance on Kenny Loggins' 1999 TNN Christmas special and her contributions to the Mother and Child and Spirit of Christmas multi-artist collections.
Newton-John's subsequent albums were released primarily in Australia. In 2002, she released (2), a duets album featuring mostly Australian artists (Tina Arena, Darren Hayes, Jimmy Little, Johnny O'Keefe, Billy Thorpe and Keith Urban), as well as a "duet" with the deceased Peter Allen. In addition, (2) offered a hidden 12th track, a samba version of "Physical" which Newton-John later performed occasionally in concert instead of the more rock-style original. The album's 2004 Japanese release includes the bonus track "Let It Be Me", a duet with Cliff Richard with whom she had previously been coupled on "Suddenly" and Songs from Heathcliff.
In 2002, Newton-John was also inducted into Australia's ARIA Hall of Fame.
Produced by Phil Ramone and recorded at the Indigo Recording Studios in Malibu for ONJ Productions, Indigo: Women of Song was released in October 2004 in Australia. The tribute album featured Newton-John covering songs by artists such as Joan Baez, the Carpenters, Doris Day, Nina Simone and Minnie Riperton. She dedicated the album to her mother, who had died the previous year of breast cancer. Indigo was subsequently released in the UK in April 2005 and in Japan in March 2006. A rebranded and resequenced version called Portraits: A Tribute to Great Women of Song was eventually issued in the United States in 2011.
In 2005, she released Stronger Than Before, sold exclusively in the United States by Hallmark. This was her second exclusive album for Hallmark Cards after her successful first Christmas album Tis the Season with Vince Gill five years earlier. Proceeds from the album's sales benefited breast cancer research. The album featured the song "Phenomenal Woman," based on the poem by Maya Angelou, and guest vocals from Diahann Carroll, Beth Nielsen Chapman, Delta Goodrem, Amy Holland, Patti LaBelle and Mindy Smith—all survivors of or affected by cancer.
In 2006, Newton-John released a healing CD, Grace and Gratitude. The album was sold exclusively by Walgreens, also to benefit various charities including Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization. The CD was the "heart" of their Body – Heart – Spirit Wellness Collection, which also featured a re-branded Liv-Kit and breast-health dietary supplements.
In 2007, she re-teamed with her Grace and Gratitude producer, Amy Sky, for Christmas Wish (No. 187 Pop) which was sold exclusively by Target in its first year of release. Newton-John released another concert DVD, Olivia Newton-John and the Sydney Symphony: Live at the Sydney Opera House and a companion CD, her third live album titled Olivia's Live Hits.
In 2008, she raised funds to help build the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre in Melbourne, Australia. She led a three-week, 228 km walk along the Great Wall of China during April, joined by various celebrities and cancer survivors throughout her trek. She released a companion CD, A Celebration in Song, the following month in Australia and later worldwide, featuring new and previously recorded duets by "Olivia Newton-John & Friends", including Jann Arden, Jimmy Barnes, John Farrar, Barry Gibb, Delta Goodrem, Sun Ho, Richard Marx, Cliff Richard, Melinda Schneider, Amy Sky, and Keith Urban.
In 2008, Newton-John took part in the BBC Wales program Coming Home about her Welsh family history. Also, in 2008, Newton-John joined Anne Murray on Murray's last album, titled Duets: Friends & Legends. She sang Gordon Lightfoot's hit "Cotton Jenny" with Murray.
She re-recorded some tracks from Grace and Gratitude in 2010 and re-released the album as Grace and Gratitude Renewed on the Green Hill music label. The Renewed CD includes a new track, "Help Me to Heal", not featured on the original album.
Newton-John was featured in UniGlobe Entertainment's breast cancer docu-drama, 1 a Minute, released in October 2010. The documentary was made by actress Namrata Singh Gujral and featured other celebrities who had survived breast cancer or who were affected by the disease. During the same month, Bluewater Productions released a comic book featuring Newton-John to coincide with Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
In 2010, Newton-John starred in the film Score: A Hockey Musical, released in Canada. She portrayed Hope Gordon, the mother of a home-schooled hockey prodigy. The film opened the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival.
Newton-John guest-starred as herself in the sitcoms Ned and Stacey, Murphy Brown and Bette and also made two appearances as herself on Glee.
For her first Glee appearance, Newton-John recreated her "Physical" video with series regular Jane Lynch. The performance was released as a digital single which peaked at number 89 on the Billboard Hot 100 in May 2010. In Australia, Newton-John hosted the animal and nature series Wild Life and guest-starred as Joanna on two episodes of the Australian series The Man From Snowy River.
In January 2011, Newton-John began filming the comedy A Few Best Men in Australia with director Stephan Elliott, in the role of mother of the bride. The groom is played by Xavier Samuel.
=== 2012–2022: Vegas residency and final releases ===
Newton-John was actively touring and doing concerts from 2012 to 2017 and also performed a handful of shows in 2018. Her dates for A Summer Night with Olivia Newton-John even included stops in Asia and Canada and culminated in a rare concert appearance in London in 2013. Her March 2013 UK trek also encompassed Bournemouth, Brighton, Birmingham, Manchester and Cardiff, Wales.
In November 2012, Newton-John teamed with John Travolta to make the charity album This Christmas, in support of The Olivia Newton-John Cancer & Wellness Centre and the Jett Travolta Foundation. Artists featured on the album include: Barbra Streisand, James Taylor, Chick Corea, Kenny G, Tony Bennett, Cliff Richard and the Count Basie Orchestra.
A 2013 residency at the Flamingo Las Vegas was postponed due to the May 2013 death of her elder sister, Rona (aged 72), from a brain tumour. Newton-John resumed performing, doing 45 shows beginning in April 2014. Along with the Vegas shows, Newton-John released a new EP in April 2014 entitled Hotel Sessions, which consisted of seven tracks of unreleased demos that were recorded between 2002 and 2011 with her nephew Brett Goldsmith. The CD contains a cover of "Broken Wings" as well as the popular-with-fans original "Best of My Love", which had leaked on the internet many years prior.
Her Vegas stay was eventually extended beyond August 2014, and her Summer Nights residency finished in December 2016 after 175 shows. Her successful three-year run even prompted a fourth live album, Summer Nights: Live in Las Vegas (2015). In 2015, Newton-John also reunited with John Farnham for a joint venture called Two Strong Hearts Live.
In 2015, Newton-John was a guest judge on an episode of RuPaul's Drag Race. That same year, she scored her first number-one single on Billboard's Dance Club Songs chart with "You Have to Believe" with daughter Chloe and producer Dave Audé. The song was a re-imagining of her 1980 single "Magic", which she noted was to celebrate both the 35th anniversary of Xanadu and as a dedication to her daughter. About the latter, Newton-John stated: "I met Chloe's dad on the set of Xanadu; so, without that film, Chloe wouldn't be here. She was the real 'magic' that came out of that film!" The song became the first mother-daughter single to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Dance Club Play chart.
In 2015, Newton-John was inducted into the Music Victoria Hall of Fame.
In 2017, she collaborated with two North American singer-songwriters, Beth Nielsen Chapman and Amy Sky, on a joint concert tour entitled Liv On after co-producing a 2016 CD by the same name.
On 7 May 2019, Newton-John's elder brother Hugh, a doctor, died at age 80; his death left Newton-John as the sole surviving sibling from the original family.
In recognition for "her work as an entertainer and philanthropist", she was bestowed Australia's highest honour, the Companion of the Order of Australia, in June 2019.
In December 2019, Newton-John and Travolta also re-teamed for three live Meet 'n' Grease sing-along events in the Florida cities of Tampa, West Palm Beach and Jacksonville. Subsequently, a sing-along re-broadcast of Grease aired on CBS Television.
In February 2020, Newton-John appeared at the Fire Fight Australia charity event. This was her final public performance.
In January 2021, Newton-John released her final single, "Window in the Wall", a duet about unity which she recorded with her daughter Chloe Lattanzi. The music video for the song peaked at No. 1 on the iTunes pop music video chart the week of its release.
== In the media ==
On 2 November 2019, Julien's Auctions auctioned hundreds of memorabilia items from Newton-John's career. The sale raised $2.4 million. Newton-John's Grease outfit garnered $405,700; her pants and jacket were purchased separately by two different billionaires. Sara Blakely, founder of Spanx, bought Newton-John's black skintight pants from Grease for $162,000. The anonymous buyer who acquired her famous Grease leather jacket for $243,200 (£185,000) returned the item to her and said: "It should not sit in a billionaire's closet for country-club bragging rights [...] The odds of beating a recurring cancer using the newest emerging therapies is a thousandfold greater than someone appearing out of the blue, buying your most famous and cherished icon, and returning it to you." All proceeds were donated to her Cancer Wellness and Research Centre in Australia.
In December 2024 and January 2025, Julien's and TCM also held posthumous sales of Newton-John commemoratives.
== Musical legacy ==
Newton-John's first boyfriend, Ian Turpie, once said of her early appearances: "In those days she had a small voice, but it was very pure. She could sing prettily in tune....The improvement in her singing since she went to England has been remarkable. She told me Shirley Bassey has been a big influence on her. After hearing Bassey, she worked at developing her head voice to sound like a chest voice, the way Bassey uses hers. The power she's developed is amazing".
Michael Dwyer of the Sydney Morning Herald maintains that following Newton-John's career was like watching "our slightly older and braver sister growing up in public" and her death "feels today like a lost member of the family". Rachel Syme of The New Yorker also suggests that her familial, down-to-earth demeanor and humanity may have even superseded her singing accomplishments: "Her most lasting legacy might be as the rare celebrity who was almost universally well liked, and thought of as an essentially kind and warmhearted person".
Her musical abilities on their own merits were also impressive. In her 1982 Olivia in Concert performance of Dolly Parton's "Jolene," Newton-John showcases a down-falling note range covering three octaves. (Much later, Newton-John and Parton recorded a duet of "Jolene," which was not formally released until after Newton-John's death.) In her memoir, Newton-John describes herself as "not a power singer but more of an interpretive one"; and author Lauren O'Neill concurs: "She sang with clarity and precision, her high notes bright and open like a window on a summer morning, but her voice was never clinical – a sultry purr, euphoric cry or breathy gasp seemed always available to her....Her vocal [on "Hopelessly Devoted to You" from Grease] is clean and soaring, but to hear it is to be right down in the dirt with Sandy too; to feel, and perhaps even identify with, her total frustration with herself. As she slides between notes while singing 'I'm out of my head,' she shows us her emotional freefall as well as telling us about it."
Long before and after the career summit of Grease, Newton-John proved herself to be a fairly versatile performer, lending her instrument to everything from sentimental ballads and New Age soul searching to lively dance productions and rock & soul fervor. Maura Johnston of Vulture assesses: "Newton-John was a regular chart-topper...throughout the '70s, her lithe soprano adapting well to the soft pop sound" of the era with "AM Gold staples and tracks from the folk and country world...As it turned out, Newton-John's voice was pretty well suited to the spiky dance pop that would become popular in the early 1980s" too. However, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of the Los Angeles Times offers a counterpoint on her career decline in the mid-1980s: "Hardness never was Newton-John's comfort zone, though, and the 1980s were a much harder decade than the 1970s. The inherent warmth of 1970s studio sessions gave way to the cold, synthesized gleam of the 1980s, a sterile sound that suited her well only once: the candied faux-new wave of 'Twist of Fate'", produced by David Foster. Johnston further maintains: "Her pop heyday transcended any attempts to musically pigeonhole her"; and by the time she stopped having many new hits, "her musical legacy ... had been pretty well solidified."
Newton-John's work has inspired many other female vocalists, including Juliana Hatfield, Lisa Loeb, Kylie Minogue, Delta Goodrem, Natalie Maines and Alanis Morissette. Pink staged a commemorative Newton-John cover during the 2022 American Music Awards. At the 2022 ARIA Music Awards, a special tribute in her honour featured performances by Natalie Imbruglia, Peking Duk and Tones and I.
== Personal life ==
=== Relationships ===
In the mid-1960s, Newton-John dated Australian actor and singer Ian Turpie, her co-star in the 1965 musical film Funny Things Happen Down Under. They met in 1963 when Turpie attended the coffee shop where Newton-John's group Sol Four performed. The relationship continued until she returned to England in 1966.
In 1968, Newton-John was engaged to but never married Bruce Welch, one of her early producers and co-writer of her hit "Please Mr. Please". In 1972, Newton-John ended her relationship with Welch, who subsequently attempted suicide.
In 1973, while vacationing on the French Riviera, Newton-John met British businessman Lee Kramer, who became both her new boyfriend and manager. Newton-John lived with Kramer on and off and they stayed a couple until 1979; she called their turbulent pairing "one long breakup". Kramer subsequently returned to England and married. He also managed vocalist Krishna Das. Kramer died in 2017.
Newton-John married her long-time, live-in partner, actor Matt Lattanzi, in December 1984. The pair had met in 1980 while filming Xanadu. They announced their separation in April 1995, and they divorced in 1996. The couple remained friends. Their daughter, Chloe Rose, was born in January 1986.
Newton-John met gaffer/cameraman Patrick McDermott soon after her divorce from Lattanzi. They dated on and off for nine years. McDermott vanished during a 2005 fishing trip off the Californian coast. Newton-John was in Australia at her Gaia Retreat & Spa at the time of McDermott's disappearance. A United States Coast Guard investigation, based on then-available evidence and released in 2008, pointed to McDermott having been lost at sea. Various unsubstantiated claims have been made that he faked his own death.
In 1993, Newton-John met John Easterling, founder and president of the Amazon Herb Company, which he started in 1990 and sold to TriVita in 2012. Also known as "Amazon John", Easterling initially marketed rainforest botanicals and later owned Happy Tree Microbes, which offered natural plant performance products. When Newton-John and Easterling first met, they were both married to other people. In 2007, they started dating and married in an Incan spiritual ceremony in Peru on 21 June 2008, followed by a legal ceremony nine days later (30 June 2008) on Jupiter Island, Florida.
=== Residences and citizenship ===
Although principally raised in Australia, Newton-John remained a British subject throughout her childhood. She initially pursued Australian citizenship in 1981 with an application that Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser was asked to expedite. However, she finally became an Australian citizen in 1994.
After relocating from England to the United States in late 1974, Newton-John set up residence in Malibu, California, where for 35 years she owned various real estate, including a horse ranch and several beachfront properties.
In June 2009, Newton-John and her second husband, John Easterling, purchased a new $4.1 million home in Jupiter Inlet, Florida. In 2013, while renovations were being done on the property and the couple was not there, a contractor committed suicide on the estate, which at the time was up for sale. Following the death on the premises, Newton-John and Easterling bought a nearby condo; their larger home lingered on and off the market for two years but was eventually sold in 2015 to a Swedish advertising executive for $5 million.
In 2015, the couple purchased a $5.3 million, 12-acre horse ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley outside Santa Barbara. Easterling sold the estate, known as Indian Way, in early 2025 for $7.9 million.
In 2019, Newton-John sold her 187-acre Australian farm, near Byron Bay in New South Wales, which she had owned for nearly 40 years. The Dalwood estate sold for $4.6 million; in 1980, Newton-John had paid $622,000 for the property, which had additional land adjoined in both 1983 and in 2002.
Newton-John was also partial owner of Byron Bay's Gaia Retreat & Spa, which was founded in 2005 and sold in 2021 for $30 million to the investment firm of Tattarang.
When asked in 2017 whether she considered herself to be a British, Australian, or American citizen, she said, "I am still Australian." In December 2019, upon being given the title of Dame, she expressed her thanks by stating: "As a girl born in Cambridge [England], I am very proud of my British ancestry and so appreciative to be recognised in this way by the United Kingdom."
== Illness and death ==
In May 2017, it was announced that Newton-John's breast cancer had returned and metastasised to her lower back. Her back pains had initially been diagnosed as sciatica. She subsequently revealed this was actually her third bout with breast cancer, as she had experienced a recurrence of the disease in 2013 in addition to her initial 1992 diagnosis. With the 2017 recurrence, the cancer had spread to her bones and progressed to stage IV. Newton-John experienced significant pain from the metastatic bone lesions and had spoken of using cannabis oil to ease her pain. She was an advocate for the use of medical cannabis; her daughter Chloe owns a cannabis farm in Oregon.
Newton-John died on 8 August 2022, at the age of 73, at her home in the Santa Ynez Valley of California. Tributes were paid by John Travolta, Barbra Streisand, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and many other celebrities. As a mark of respect, Melbourne and Sydney lit up many of their landmarks.
In September 2022, Newton-John's family held a "small and very private" memorial service in California for the singer, who asked to be cremated and have her ashes scattered in Byron Bay, on her Santa Ynez ranch, and "in other places that I love".
The State of Victoria offered Newton-John's family a state funeral, which her niece Tottie Goldsmith accepted. Newton-John's Australian memorial service, hosted by David Campbell, was held on 26 February 2023, at Hamer Hall in Melbourne and included eulogies from her widower and daughter; a testimonial to her strength of character, optimism and magnanimity by television personality Richard Wilkins; montages of her career, family life and wellness centre; a medley of her hits performed by Delta Goodrem, and pre-recorded video tributes from Elton John, Mariah Carey, Barry Gibb, Dolly Parton and Nicole Kidman.
== Awards and honours ==
== Discography ==
== Filmography ==
== Television ==
== Tours ==
Headlining
Co-headlining
The Main Event Tour (with John Farnham and Anthony Warlow) (1998)
Two Strong Hearts Tour (with John Farnham) (2015)
Liv On In Concert (with Beth Nielsen Chapman and Amy Sky) (2017)
Residency show
Summer Nights (2014–2016) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wolf_of_Wall_Street_(2013_film) | The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 film) | The Wolf of Wall Street is a 2013 American biographical dark comedy crime film co-produced and directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Terence Winter, and based on Jordan Belfort's 2007 memoir. It loosely recounts Belfort's career as a stockbroker in New York City and how his firm, Stratton Oakmont, engaged in rampant corruption and fraud on Wall Street, leading to his downfall. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Belfort; Jonah Hill as his business partner and friend Donnie Azoff; Margot Robbie as his second wife, Naomi Lapaglia; Matthew McConaughey as his mentor and former boss Mark Hanna; and Kyle Chandler as FBI special agent Patrick Denham portraying Gregory Coleman. It is DiCaprio's fifth collaboration with Scorsese.
DiCaprio and Warner Bros. acquired the rights to Belfort's memoir in 2007, but production was halted due to content restrictions. It was later produced by the independent Red Granite Pictures. The film was shot in New York in late 2012, using mostly 35mm film stock.
The film premiered in New York City on December 17, 2013, and was released in the United States on December 25, by Paramount Pictures. It was the first major American film to be released exclusively through digital distribution. It was a major commercial success, grossing $407 million worldwide during its theatrical run, becoming Scorsese's highest-grossing film. However, the film initially received considerable controversy for its moral ambiguity and lack of sympathy for victims, as well as its explicit, graphic sexual content, extreme profanity (with at least 500 uses of the expletive "fuck"), depiction of hard drug use, and use of animals during production. The film was initially rated NC-17 by the Motion Picture Association of America, but it was shortly appealed for an R rating after Scorsese made slight changes to the film. It set a Guinness World Record for the most instances of profanity in a film. The film's financing became implicated in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad corruption scandal; the U.S. Department of Justice and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission investigated Red Granite Pictures, and producer Riza Aziz was arrested in 2019. He was discharged in May 2020 on a 1,000,000 Malaysian ringgit (US$240,000) bail.
The film received positive reviews from critics and appeared on several "best of the year" lists. It was nominated for several awards, including five at the 86th Academy Awards ceremony: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor (for DiCaprio) and Best Supporting Actor (for Hill). DiCaprio won Best Actor – Musical or Comedy at the 71st Golden Globe Awards, where the film was also nominated for Best Picture – Musical or Comedy.
== Plot ==
In 1987, twenty-five-year-old Jordan Belfort becomes a Wall Street stockbroker for L.F. Rothschild, employed under Mark Hanna. Quickly enticed by the drug-fueled stockbroker culture, he is taught that their goal is to make themselves rich. Jordan loses his job following Black Monday, the largest one-day stock market drop in history after the Wall Street crash of 1929, and takes a job at Investor's Center, a boiler room brokerage firm on Long Island that specializes in pink sheet penny stocks. He makes a small fortune thanks to his aggressive pitching style and high commissions.
Befriending neighbor Donnie Azoff, Jordan and he start their own boiler room brokerage. Jordan's childhood friends Robbie Feinberg, Alden Kupferburg, Nicky Koskoff, Chester Ming, and Toby Welch are recruited as well as drug pusher Brad Bodnick. Jordan trains them on the "hard sell," mounting their offices in a former auto repair shop.
Jordan's tactics and salesmanship make his pump and dump scheme successful. They misleadingly talk up a stock, inflating its price to sell it at an artificially high price. When the scheme's perpetrators sell their overvalued securities, the price plummets, and those who bought at the inflated price are left with stock that is suddenly worth much less than they paid for it. To cloak this, Jordan gives the firm the respectable-sounding name of Stratton Oakmont in 1989.
Soon after, the company becomes immensely successful, moving out of the auto repair shop into a bigger office. An exposé in Forbes which dubs Jordan "The Wolf of Wall Street" – "a sort of twisted Robin Hood who takes from the rich and gives to himself and his merry band of brokers"— initially enrages Belfort until it causes hundreds of ambitious young financiers to flock to the company, thus causing them to move into even bigger offices.
As all this is happening, Jordan becomes immensely wealthy, and slides into a decadent lifestyle of prostitutes and drugs. He has an affair with lingerie designer Naomi Lapaglia; when his wife Teresa finds out about this, Jordan divorces her and marries Naomi in 1991. Meanwhile, the SEC and the FBI begin investigating Stratton Oakmont.
In 1993, Jordan illegally makes $22 million in three hours after securing the IPO of Steve Madden, Ltd., founded by Donnie's childhood friend and women's shoes designer Steve Madden, bringing him and his firm further FBI attention. Jordan tries to bribe agent Denham but fails, prompting him to seek a safe place for the money. He opens a Swiss bank account with corrupt banker Jean-Jacques Saurel in the name of Naomi's aunt Emma, a British citizen who is outside the immediate reach of American authorities. He uses Brad's Swiss-Slovenian wife Chantalle and her family, who have European passports, to smuggle the cash into Switzerland.
Donnie and Brad get into a heated argument in public during a money exchange, resulting in Brad's arrest as Donnie escapes. Donnie informs Jordan that he has come upon some "Lemmon 714" quaaludes, which the latter refers to as "the holy grail" of drugs. The two take the pills at Belfort's home, but they have no effect. They assume that they have expired, and wind up taking the rest of their supply.
Jordan's private investigator Bo Dietl calls him and tells him he needs to talk to him on a payphone. Jordan drives to a local country club and calls Bo, who informs him that the FBI is wiretapping his phones. While talking with Bo, the quaaludes kick in, and Jordan becomes extremely inebriated, struggling to get home in his Lamborghini Countach. When he gets home, he finds Donnie talking on the phone, and nearly strangles him with the phone cord. Donnie chokes on some meat; Jordan ingests a large amount of cocaine and gives him the Heimlich maneuver. The next day, the police arrive and inform Jordan that his car has been trashed.
Fearing for his son, Jordan's father Max advises him to leave Stratton Oakmont and lie low while Jordan's lawyer negotiates a deal to keep him out of prison. In the midst of his farewell speech, Jordan cannot bear to quit and talks himself into staying, to the immense support of his friends and employees, but to the anger of his father.
In 1996, Jordan, Donnie, and their wives are on a yacht trip to Italy, when they learn that Emma has died of a heart attack. Fearing for the money he left under her name in his Swiss account, Jordan announces that they will chart a course to Switzerland to forge her name on a document and save the account before going to London for the funeral. To bypass the border patrols, he orders his yacht captain Ted to sail to Monaco, but their ship capsizes in a storm. After their rescue, the plane sent to take them to Geneva is destroyed when a seagull flies into the engine; Jordan takes this as a sign from God to address his worsening drug addiction and attempts to sober up.
In 1998, Saurel and Koskoff are arrested for an unrelated crime, the former informing the FBI about Jordan as part of a plea bargain. Since the evidence against him is overwhelming, Jordan agrees to gather evidence from the rest of his colleagues in exchange for leniency. Disgusted with Jordan's lifestyle, Naomi tells him that she is divorcing him, and is taking full custody of their children. In a cocaine-fueled rage, Jordan punches Naomi and tries to drive away with their daughter, but crashes his car in the driveway.
Later, Jordan wears a wire to work and slips a note to Donnie, warning his partner. However, the note is shortly found by the FBI, who arrest Jordan, before they raid and shut down Stratton Oakmont. Despite breaching his deal, Jordan receives a reduced sentence of 36 months in a minimum security prison for his testimony, and is released in 2000 after serving 22 months. After his release, Jordan makes a living hosting seminars on sales techniques, using the same test he used with his founding partners at his firm.
== Cast ==
In addition, cameos and smaller roles include Bo Dietl as himself, the real Jordan Belfort as the Auckland Straight Line host at the end of the film, Stephanie Kurtzuba as Kimmie Belzer, Thomas Middleditch as a Stratton broker whose goldfish is eaten by Donnie for slacking off, Jake Hoffman as Steve Madden, Fran Lebowitz as The Honorary [sic] Samantha Stogel, Edward Herrmann as the voiceover in the Stratton Oakmont commercial at the beginning of the film, and an uncredited Spike Jonze as Dwayne, the head of the Long Island brokerage firm who introduces Belfort to the world of penny stocks.
== Production ==
=== Development ===
In 2007, DiCaprio and Warner Bros. won a bidding war for the rights to Belfort's memoir The Wolf of Wall Street, with Belfort making $1 million off the deal. Having worked on the film's script, Scorsese was considered to direct the film but abandoned the project to work on Shutter Island (2010). In 2010, Warner Bros. offered the directorial role to Ridley Scott, with Brad Pitt playing Belfort, but the studio eventually abandoned the project.
In 2012, the independent company Red Granite Pictures greenlit the project without content restrictions. Soon after, Scorsese came back on board. Red Granite Pictures also asked Paramount Pictures to distribute the film; Paramount agreed to do so in the United States, Canada and Japan, with Red Granite Pictures holding international rights through various independent distributors, Universal Pictures distributed the film in some countries in Europe and Roadshow Films distributed the film in Australia and New Zealand.
According to Belfort, Random House asked him to tone down or excise the depictions of debauchery in his memoir before publication, especially those relating to his bachelor party, which featured bestiality, and rampant use of drugs like nitrous oxide; neither the published memoir nor the film contains references to this.
In the film, most real-life characters' names have been changed from Belfort's original memoir. Donnie Azoff is based on Danny Porush. The name was changed after Porush threatened to sue the filmmakers and Paramount. Porush maintains that much of the film is fictional and that Azoff is not an accurate depiction of him. Former Donna Karan Jeanswear CEO Elliot Lavigne does not appear in the film, but an incident recounted in the book, in which Belfort gives Lavigne mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to save him from choking to death, is similar to a scene in the film involving Donnie. The FBI agent Patrick Denham is the stand-in for real-life Gregory Coleman, and lawyer Manny Riskin is based on Ira Sorkin. Belfort's first wife, Denise Lombardo, is renamed Teresa Petrillo, and his second wife, Nadine Caridi, is Naomi Lapaglia on-screen. In contrast, Mark Hanna's name remains the same as the LF Rothschild stockbroker who, like Belfort, was convicted of fraud and served time in prison. Belfort's parents Max and Leah Belfort's names remained the same for the film. The role of Aunt Emma was initially offered to Julie Andrews, who declined as she was recovering from an ankle injury, and was replaced by Joanna Lumley. Olivia Wilde auditioned for the role of Naomi, but she was rejected as she was deemed "too old" for the role despite DiCaprio being a decade older than she; the role eventually went to Margot Robbie. In January 2014, Jonah Hill revealed in an interview with Howard Stern that he had made only $60,000 on the film (the lowest possible SAG-AFTRA rate for his amount of work), while DiCaprio (who also produced) received $10 million.
=== Filming ===
Filming began on August 8, 2012, in New York City. Hill announced on Twitter that his first day of shooting was September 4, 2012. Filming also took place in Closter, New Jersey, and Harrison, New York. Vitamin D powder was used as the fake substance for cocaine in the film; Hill was hospitalized with bronchitis due to snorting large quantities during filming.
Scorsese's longtime editor Thelma Schoonmaker, who has received seven Academy Award nominations (as well as one win) for Best Film Editing, said the film would be shot digitally instead of on film. Scorsese had been a proponent of shooting on film, but decided to shoot Hugo digitally because it was being photographed in 3D. Despite being filmed in 2D, The Wolf of Wall Street was originally planned to be shot digitally. Schoonmaker expressed her disappointment with the decision: "It would appear that we've lost the battle. I think Marty just feels it's unfortunately over, and there's been no bigger champion of film than him." After extensive comparison tests during pre-production, eventually the majority of the film was shot on film stock, while scenes that used green screen effects or low light (mainly the nighttime scenes) were shot with the digital Arri Alexa camera system. The film contains 400 to 450 VFX shots.
=== Profanity ===
The film set a Guinness World Record for the most instances of swearing in a motion picture. It uses the word "fuck" 569 times, "cunt" three times, "twat" twice, "fuckface" once, and "prick" four times, averaging 2.81 profanities per minute. The previous record holders were Scorsese's gangster films Goodfellas (1990) and Casino (1995), which had respectively 300 and 422 uses of the word; the 1993 film Menace II Society, which had 305 uses; the 1997 British film Nil by Mouth, which had 428; and the 1999 film Summer of Sam at 435. The record has since been broken by Swearnet: The Movie, which uses the word 935 times, but it still holds the record for a major theatrical release.
The film's distributor in the United Arab Emirates cut 45 minutes of scenes of swearing, religious profanity, drug use, sex, and nudity, and "muted" dialogue containing expletives. The National reported that filmgoers in the UAE believed the film should not have been shown rather than being edited so heavily.
== Release ==
=== Theatrical ===
The Wolf of Wall Street premiered at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City on December 17, 2013, followed by a wide release on December 25. Its original release date of November 15 was pushed back after cuts were made to reduce the runtime. On October 22, it was reported that the film was set for release that Christmas. On October 29, Paramount officially confirmed that the film would release on Christmas Day, with a runtime of 165 minutes. This was changed to 180 minutes on November 25. It was officially rated R by the Motion Picture Association (MPA) for "sequences of strong sexual content, graphic nudity, drug use and language throughout, and for some violence". In the United Kingdom, the film received an 18 certificate from the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) for "very strong language, strong sex [and] hard drug use".
The film is banned in Kenya, Malaysia, Nepal, and Zimbabwe because of its scenes depicting sex and drugs and excessive profanity, and additional scenes have been cut in the versions playing in India. In Singapore, after cuts were made to a gay orgy scene as well as some religiously profane or denigrating language, the film was passed R21.
The release of The Wolf of Wall Street marked a shift in cinema history when Paramount became the first major studio to distribute movies to theaters exclusively in a digital format, eliminating 35mm film entirely. Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues was the last Paramount production to include a 35mm film version to be shown in theaters.
=== Home media ===
The Wolf of Wall Street was released on DVD and Blu-ray on March 25, 2014. On January 27, 2014, it was announced that a four-hour director's cut would be attached to the home release. Paramount later announced that the home release would feature only the original theatrical version. A 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray was released on December 14, 2021.
== Reception ==
=== Box office ===
The Wolf of Wall Street grossed $116.9 million in the United States and Canada, and $289 million internationally, for a worldwide total of $406.9 million; it is Scorsese's highest-grossing film.
In the United States, the film finished in fifth place in its first weekend with $19.4 million from 3,387 theaters, for a five-day total of $34.2 million. The film made $13.2 million (a drop of 27.9%) and $8.8 million (33%) in its second and third weekends, finishing in fourth place both times.
In Australia, it was the highest grossing R-rated film, earning $12.96 million.
=== Critical response ===
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 79% of 284 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.8/10. The website's consensus reads: "Funny, self-referential, and irreverent to a fault, The Wolf of Wall Street finds Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio at their most infectiously dynamic." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 75 out of 100, based on 47 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
Peter Travers of Rolling Stone magazine named The Wolf of Wall Street as the third-best movie of 2013, behind 12 Years a Slave and Gravity. Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote, "it is the best and most enjoyable American film to be released this year." Richard Brody of The New Yorker called the film "Olympian", saying that if it was Scorsese's last film it "would rank among the most harshly awe-inspiring farewells of the cinema." The Chicago Sun-Times's Richard Roeper gave the film a B+, calling it "good, not great Scorsese".
Dana Stevens of Slate was more critical, calling the film "epic in size, claustrophobically narrow in scope." Marshall Fine of The Huffington Post argued that the story "wants us to be interested in characters who are dull people to start with, made duller by their delusions of being interesting because they are high". Some critics viewed the film as an irresponsible glorification of Belfort and his associates rather than a satirical takedown. DiCaprio defended the film, arguing that it does not glorify the excessive lifestyle it depicts.
In 2016, the film was ranked No. 78 on the BBC's 100 Greatest Films of the 21st Century list. In 2017, Richard Brody named The Wolf of Wall Street the second-best film of the 21st century so far, behind Jean-Luc Godard's In Praise of Love. In 2019, Brody named The Wolf of Wall Street the best film of the 2010s. In 2021, members of Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) and Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) voted its screenplay 63rd in WGA’s 101 Greatest Screenplays of the 21st Century (So Far). In 2025, the film ranked number 20 on The New York Times' list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century" and number 54 on the "Readers' Choice" edition of the list.
=== Audience response ===
The film received an average grade of "C" on an A+ to F scale from audiences surveyed by CinemaScore, the lowest rating of any film opening that week. The Los Angeles Times suggested that the film's marketing may have attracted conservative viewers who expected a more moralistic tone than the film presents.
Christina McDowell, daughter of Tom Prousalis, who worked closely with Belfort at Stratton Oakmont, wrote an open letter to Scorsese, DiCaprio, and Belfort, criticizing the film for insufficiently portraying the victims of Stratton Oakmont's financial crimes, disregarding the damage done to her family as a result, and giving celebrity status to people (Belfort and his partners, including her father) who do not deserve it.
Steven Perlberg of Business Insider saw an advance screening of the film at a Regal Cinemas near the Goldman Sachs building with an audience of finance workers. Perlberg reported cheers from the audience at what he considered all the wrong moments, writing, "When Belfort—a drug addict attempting to remain sober—rips up a couch cushion to get to his secret coke stash, there were cheers."
Former Assistant United States Attorney Joel M. Cohen, who prosecuted Belfort, criticized both the film and the book on which it is based. He said that he believes some of Belfort's claims were "invented": for instance, Belfort "aggrandized his importance and reverence for him by others at his firm." He strongly criticized the film for not depicting the "thousands of victims who lost hundreds of millions of dollars", not accepting the filmmakers' argument that it would have diverted attention from the wrongdoers. He deplored the ending—"beyond an insult" to Belfort's victims—in which the real Belfort appears, while showing "a large sign advertising the name of Mr. Belfort's real motivational speaking company", and a positive depiction of Belfort uttering "variants of the same falsehoods he trained others to use against his victims".
=== Top ten lists ===
The Wolf of Wall Street was listed on many critics' top ten lists for films released in 2013, and was chosen as one of the top ten films of the year by the American Film Institute. Metacritic analysis found the film was the ninth-most mentioned film on "best of the year" film rankings and the 22nd-most mentioned on "best of the decade" film rankings.
== Controversies ==
=== Use of animals ===
The Wolf of Wall Street uses animals, including a chimpanzee, a lion, a snake, a fish, and dogs. The chimpanzee and the lion were provided by the Big Cat Habitat wildlife sanctuary in Sarasota County, Florida. The four-year-old chimpanzee Chance spent time with DiCaprio and learned to roller skate in three weeks. The sanctuary also provided a lion named Handsome because the trading company depicted in the film used a lion as its symbol. Danny Porush denied that there were any animals in the office, although he admitted to eating an employee's goldfish.
In December 2013, before the film premiered, the organization Friends of Animals criticized the use of the chimpanzee and organized a boycott of the film. Variety reported, "Friends of Animals thinks the chimp ... suffered irreversible psychological damage after being forced to act." The Guardian commented on the increasing criticism of Hollywood's use of animals, writing, "The Wolf of Wall Street's use of a chimpanzee arrives as Hollywood comes under ever-increasing scrutiny for its employment of animals on screen". PETA also launched a campaign to highlight mistreatment of ape actors and to petition for DiCaprio not to work with great apes.
=== 1MDB scandal ===
In 2015, Red Granite Pictures and the film's financing became implicated in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal, a major international corruption scandal that began in Malaysia. The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) alleged the film was financed by money producer Riza Aziz stole from the Malaysian 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) sovereign wealth fund. Aziz is the stepson of then-Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak. Aziz was arrested in connection with the scandal and pleaded not guilty to money laundering charges in July 2019. According to court filings, a company owned by fugitive businessman Jho Low gave the film's producers a $9 million advance. Low was given a "special thanks" in the film's credits.
The film is part of a broader investigation into these illicit monetary movements, and in 2016 was named in a series of civil complaints the United States Department of Justice filed "for having provided a trust account through which hundreds of millions of dollars belonging to the 1MDB fund were illicitly siphoned". To settle the civil lawsuit, Red Granite Pictures agreed to pay the U.S. government $60 million with no "admission of wrongdoing or liability on the part of Red Granite". This settlement was part of a more expansive U.S. effort to seize approximately $1.7 billion in assets allegedly purchased with funds embezzled from 1MDB. In January 2020, Belfort sued Red Granite for $300 million, also wishing to void his rights deal; he said that he would never have sold the rights to Red Granite if he had known how the film was being financed.
Aziz was discharged in May 2020 on a 1,000,000 Malaysian ringgit (US$240,000) bail.
=== Thematic controversy and debate ===
Various people have criticized the film as materialistic, encouraging greedy behavior, extreme wealth, and advocating for the infamous individuals portrayed in the film. Christina McDowell, whose father, Tom Prousalis, worked in association with Belfort, accused the filmmakers of "exacerbating our national obsession with wealth and status and glorifying greed and psychopathic behavior". She emphasized the gravity and significance of Belfort's crimes, saying that Wolf of Wall Street is a "reckless attempt at continuing to pretend that these sorts of schemes are entertaining, even as the country is reeling from yet another round of Wall Street scandals".
After DiCaprio defended himself from criticism, Variety journalist Whitney Friedlander called the film "three hours of cash, drugs, hookers, repeat" and argued that the film is a "celebration of this lifestyle" and implies that short-lived extreme wealth and extraordinary experiences are superior to normal behavior.
Nikole TenBrink, vice president of marketing and membership at Risk and Insurance Management Society, has said the film is a "cautionary tale of what can happen when fraud is left unchecked". She describes Belfort's business acumen, his talent in communicating and selling his ideas, and his ability to motivate others as offering "valuable lessons for risk professionals as they seek to avoid similar pitfalls".
=== Belfort's reaction ===
Belfort said of the film's depiction of himself and Stratton Oakmont that it did an excellent job at describing the "overall feeling" of those years, adding, "the camaraderie, the insanity, that was accurate". Of his drug use, Belfort said that his actual habits were "much worse" than is depicted in the film and that he was "on 22 different drugs at the end".
Belfort also analyzed the inaccuracies in the film's oversimplification of Stratton Oakmont's gradual transition from advocating for "speculative stocks" to "help build America" to committing crimes. He said he "didn't like hearing" overly simplified and blunt depictions of his crimes because "it made me look like I was just trying to rip people off". However, Belfort did acknowledge the cinematic benefits of these oversimplifications as "a very easy way in three hours" to "move the audience emotionally".
=== Nadine Macaluso's reaction ===
On September 28, 2022, Nadine Macaluso, Belfort's ex-wife on whom the character Naomi was based, said that the depiction of Belfort and their relationship was accurate and that she hopes to educate people on signs of domestic abuse and toxic relationships.
== Accolades ==
The film was nominated for five Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director for Scorsese, Best Adapted Screenplay for Winter, Best Actor for DiCaprio, and Best Supporting Actor for Hill. It was also nominated for four BAFTAs, including Best Director, Best Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay, and two Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. DiCaprio won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.
== Soundtrack ==
The film's soundtrack features both original and preexisting music tracks. It was released on December 17, 2013, for digital download. More than 60 songs are used in the film, but only 16 are on the official soundtrack. Among the notable exceptions are original compositions by Theodore Shapiro. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Picasso | Pablo Picasso | Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th century, he is known for co-founding the Cubist movement, the invention of constructed sculpture, the co-invention of collage, and for the wide variety of styles that he helped develop and explore. Among his most famous works are the proto-Cubist Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907) and the anti-war painting Guernica (1937), a dramatic portrayal of the bombing of Guernica by German and Italian air forces during the Spanish Civil War. His career spanned more than 76 years, from his late teens to his death in 1973.
Beginning his formal training under his father José Ruiz y Blasco aged seven, Picasso demonstrated extraordinary artistic talent from a young age, painting in a naturalistic manner through his childhood and adolescence. During the first decade of the 20th century, his style changed as he experimented with different theories, techniques, and ideas. After 1906, the Fauvist work of the older artist Henri Matisse motivated Picasso to explore more radical styles, beginning a fruitful rivalry between the two artists, who subsequently were often paired by critics as the leaders of modern art.
Picasso's output, especially in his early career, is often periodized. While the names of many of his later periods are debated, the most commonly accepted periods in his work are the Blue Period (1901–1904), the Rose Period (1904–1906), the African-influenced Period (1907–1909), Analytic Cubism (1909–1912), and Synthetic Cubism (1912–1919), also referred to as the Crystal period. Much of Picasso's work of the late 1910s and early 1920s is in a neoclassical style, and his work in the mid-1920s often has characteristics of Surrealism. His later work often combines elements of his earlier styles.
Exceptionally prolific throughout the course of his long life, Picasso achieved universal renown and immense fortune for his revolutionary artistic accomplishments, and became one of the best-known figures in 20th-century art.
== Early life ==
=== Childhood ===
Picasso was born at 23:15 on 25 October 1881, in the city of Málaga, Andalusia, in southern Spain. He was the first child of José Ruiz y Blasco (1838–1913) and María Picasso y López. Picasso's family was of middle-class background. His father was a painter who specialized in naturalistic depictions of birds and other game. For most of his life, Ruiz was a professor of art at the School of Crafts and a curator of a local museum.
Picasso's birth certificate and the record of his baptism include very long names, combining those of various saints and relatives (St. James, St. Joseph, St. Francis of Paola, St. John of Nepomuk, Mary of the Remedies, St. Cyprian, the Holy Trinity, Ruiz, y, Picasso). Ruiz y Picasso were his paternal and maternal surnames, respectively, per Spanish custom. The surname "Picasso" comes from Liguria, a coastal region of north-western Italy. Pablo's maternal great-grandfather, Tommaso Picasso, moved to Spain around 1807.
Picasso showed a passion and a skill for drawing from an early age. According to his mother, his first words were "piz, piz", a shortening of lápiz, the Spanish word for "pencil". From the age of seven, Picasso received formal artistic training from his father in figure drawing and oil painting. Ruiz was a traditional academic artist and instructor, who believed that proper training required disciplined copying of the masters, and drawing the human body from plaster casts and live models. His son became preoccupied with art to the detriment of his classwork.
The family moved to A Coruña in 1891, where his father became a professor at the School of Fine Arts. They stayed for almost four years. On one occasion, the father found his son painting over his unfinished sketch of a pigeon. Observing the precision of his son's technique, an apocryphal story relates, Ruiz felt that the thirteen-year-old Picasso had surpassed him, and vowed to give up painting, though paintings by him exist from later years.
In 1895, Picasso was traumatized when his seven-year-old sister, Conchita, died of diphtheria. After her death, the family moved to Barcelona, where Ruiz took a position at its School of Fine Arts. Picasso thrived in the city, regarding it in times of sadness or nostalgia as his true home. Ruiz persuaded the officials at the academy to allow his son to take an entrance exam for the advanced class. This process often took students a month, but Picasso completed it in a week, and the jury admitted him, at just 13. As a student, Picasso lacked discipline but made friendships that would affect him in later life. His father rented a small room for him close to home so he could work alone, yet he checked up on him numerous times a day, judging his drawings. The two argued frequently.
Picasso's father and uncle decided to send the young artist to Madrid's Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, the country's foremost art school. At age 16, Picasso set off for the first time on his own, but he disliked formal instruction and stopped attending classes soon after enrollment. Madrid held many other attractions. The Prado housed paintings by Diego Velázquez, Francisco Goya, and Francisco de Zurbarán. Picasso especially admired the works of El Greco; elements such as his elongated limbs, arresting colours, and mystical visages are echoed in Picasso's later work.
== Career ==
=== Before 1900 ===
Picasso's training under his father began before 1890. His progress can be traced in the collection of early works now held by the Museu Picasso in Barcelona, which provides one of the most comprehensive extant records of any major artist's beginnings. During 1893 the juvenile quality of his earliest work falls away, and by 1894 his career as a painter can be said to have begun. The academic realism apparent in the works of the mid-1890s is well displayed in The First Communion (1896), a large composition that depicts his sister, Lola. In the same year, at the age of 14, he painted Portrait of Aunt Pepa, a vigorous and dramatic portrait that Juan-Eduardo Cirlot has called "without a doubt one of the greatest in the whole history of Spanish painting."
In 1897, his realism began to show a Symbolist influence, for example, in a series of landscape paintings rendered in non-naturalistic violet and green tones. What some call his Modernist period (1899–1900) followed. His exposure to the work of Rossetti, Steinlen, Toulouse-Lautrec and Edvard Munch, combined with his admiration for favourite old masters such as El Greco, led Picasso to a personal version of modernism in his works of this period.
Picasso made his first trip to Paris, then the art capital of Europe, in 1900. There, he met his first Parisian friend, journalist and poet Max Jacob, who helped Picasso learn the language and its literature. Soon they shared an apartment; Max slept at night while Picasso slept during the day and worked at night. These were times of severe poverty, cold, and desperation. Much of his work was burned to keep the small room warm. During the first five months of 1901, Picasso lived in Madrid, where he and his anarchist friend Francisco de Asís Soler founded the magazine Arte Joven (Young Art), which published five issues. Soler solicited articles and Picasso illustrated the journal, mostly contributing grim cartoons depicting and sympathizing with the state of the poor. The first issue was published on 31 March 1901, by which time the artist had started to sign his work Picasso. From 1898 he signed his works as "Pablo Ruiz Picasso", then as "Pablo R. Picasso" until 1901. The change does not seem to imply a rejection of the father figure. Rather, he wanted to distinguish himself from others; initiated by his Catalan friends who habitually called him by his maternal surname, much less current than the paternal Ruiz.
=== Blue Period: 1901–1904 ===
Picasso's Blue Period (1901–1904), characterized by sombre paintings rendered in shades of blue and blue-green only occasionally warmed by other colours, began either in Spain in early 1901 or in Paris in the second half of the year. Many paintings of gaunt mothers with children date from the Blue Period, during which Picasso divided his time between Barcelona and Paris. In his austere use of colour and sometimes doleful subject matter – prostitutes and beggars are frequent subjects – Picasso was influenced by a trip through Spain and by the suicide of his friend Carles Casagemas. Starting in autumn of 1901, he painted several posthumous portraits of Casagemas culminating in the gloomy allegorical painting La Vie (1903), now in the Cleveland Museum of Art.
The same mood pervades the well-known etching The Frugal Repast (1904), which depicts a blind man and a sighted woman, both emaciated, seated at a nearly bare table. Blindness, a recurrent theme in Picasso's works of this period, is also represented in The Blindman's Meal (1903, the Metropolitan Museum of Art) and in the portrait of Celestina (1903). Other Blue Period works include Portrait of Soler and Portrait of Suzanne Bloch.
=== Rose Period: 1904–1906 ===
The Rose Period (1904–1906) is characterized by a lighter tone and style utilizing orange and pink colours and featuring many circus people, acrobats and harlequins known in France as saltimbanques. The harlequin, a comedic character usually depicted in checkered patterned clothing, became a personal symbol for Picasso. Picasso met Fernande Olivier, a bohemian artist who became his mistress, in Paris in 1904. Olivier appears in many of his Rose Period paintings, many of which are influenced by his warm relationship with her, in addition to his increased exposure to French painting. The generally upbeat and optimistic mood of paintings in this period is reminiscent of the 1899–1901 period (i.e., just prior to the Blue Period), and 1904 can be considered a transition year between the two periods.
By 1905, Picasso became a favourite of American art collectors Leo and Gertrude Stein. Their older brother Michael Stein and his wife Sarah also became collectors of his work. Picasso painted a portrait of Gertrude Stein and one of her nephew Allan Stein. Gertrude Stein became Picasso's principal patron, acquiring his drawings and paintings and exhibiting them in her informal Salon at her home in Paris. At one of her gatherings in 1905, he met Henri Matisse, who was to become a lifelong friend and rival. The Steins introduced him to Claribel Cone and her sister Etta, who were American art collectors; they also began to acquire Picasso's and Matisse's paintings. Eventually, Leo Stein moved to Italy. Michael and Sarah Stein became patrons of Matisse, while Gertrude Stein continued to collect Picassos.
In 1907, Picasso joined an art gallery that had recently been opened in Paris by Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, a German art historian and art collector who became one of the premier French art dealers of the 20th century. He was among the first champions of Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque and the Cubism that they jointly developed. Kahnweiler promoted burgeoning artists such as André Derain, Kees van Dongen, Fernand Léger, Juan Gris, Maurice de Vlaminck and several others who had come from all over the globe to live and work in Montparnasse at the time.
=== African art and primitivism: 1907–1909 ===
Picasso's African-influenced Period (1907–1909) begins with his painting Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. The three figures on the left were inspired by Iberian sculpture, but he repainted the faces of the two figures on the right after being powerfully impressed by African artefacts he saw in June 1907 in the ethnographic museum at Palais du Trocadéro. When he displayed the painting to acquaintances in his studio later that year, the nearly universal reaction was shock and revulsion; Matisse angrily dismissed the work as a hoax. Picasso did not exhibit Les Demoiselles publicly until 1916.
Other works from this period include Nude with Raised Arms (1907) and Three Women (1908). Formal ideas developed during this period lead directly into the Cubist period that follows.
Analytic cubism (1909–1912) is a style of painting Picasso developed with Georges Braque using monochrome brownish and neutral colours. Both artists took apart objects and "analyzed" them in terms of their shapes. Picasso and Braque's paintings at this time share many similarities.
In Paris, Picasso entertained a distinguished coterie of friends in the Montmartre and Montparnasse quarters, including André Breton, poet Guillaume Apollinaire, writer Alfred Jarry and Gertrude Stein. In 1911, Picasso was arrested and questioned about the theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre. Suspicion for the crime had initially fallen upon Apollinaire due to his links to Géry Pieret, an artist with a history of thefts from the gallery. Apollinaire in turn implicated his close friend Picasso, who had also purchased stolen artworks from the artist in the past. Afraid of a conviction that could result in his deportation to Spain, Picasso denied having ever met Apollinaire. Both were later cleared of any involvement in the painting's disappearance.
=== Synthetic cubism: 1912–1919 ===
Synthetic cubism (1912–1919) was a further development of the genre of cubism, in which cut paper fragments – often wallpaper or portions of newspaper pages – were pasted into compositions, marking the first cubist collage and simultaneously what is often considered to be the first assemblage, with his creation of the seminal work Still Life with Chair Caning (1912; oil and printed oilcloth
on canvas edged with rope).
Between 1915 and 1917, Picasso began a series of paintings depicting highly geometric and minimalist Cubist objects, consisting of either a pipe, a guitar or a glass, with an occasional element of collage. "Hard-edged square-cut diamonds", notes art historian John Richardson, "these gems do not always have upside or downside". "We need a new name to designate them," wrote Picasso to Gertrude Stein. The term "Crystal Cubism" was later used as a result of visual analogies with crystals at the time. These "little gems" may have been produced by Picasso in response to critics who had claimed his defection from the movement, through his experimentation with classicism within the so-called return to order following the war.
After acquiring some fame and fortune, Picasso left Olivier for Marcelle Humbert, also known as Eva Gouel. Picasso included declarations of his love for Eva in many Cubist works. Picasso was devastated by her premature death from illness at the age of 30 in 1915.
At the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Picasso was living in Avignon. Braque and Derain were mobilized and Apollinaire joined the French artillery, while the Spaniard Juan Gris remained from the Cubist circle. During the war, Picasso was able to continue painting uninterrupted, unlike his French comrades. His paintings became more sombre and his life changed with dramatic consequences. Kahnweiler's contract had terminated on his exile from France. At this point, Picasso's work would be taken on by the art dealer Léonce Rosenberg. After the loss of Eva Gouel, Picasso had an affair with Gaby Lespinasse. During the spring of 1916, Apollinaire returned from the front wounded. They renewed their friendship, but Picasso began to frequent new social circles.
Towards the end of World War I, Picasso became involved with Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. Among his friends during this period were Jean Cocteau, Jean Hugo, Juan Gris, and others. In the summer of 1918, Picasso married Olga Khokhlova, a ballerina with Sergei Diaghilev's troupe, for whom Picasso was designing a ballet, Erik Satie's Parade, in Rome; they spent their honeymoon near Biarritz in the villa of glamorous Chilean art patron Eugenia Errázuriz.
Khokhlova introduced Picasso to high society, formal dinner parties, and other dimensions of the life of the rich in 1920s Paris. The two had a son, Paulo Picasso, who would grow up to be a motorcycle racer and chauffeur to his father. Khokhlova's insistence on social propriety clashed with Picasso's bohemian tendencies and the two lived in a state of constant conflict. During the same period that Picasso collaborated with Diaghilev's troupe, he and Igor Stravinsky collaborated on Pulcinella in 1920. Picasso took the opportunity to make several drawings of the composer. In the summer of 1921, Picasso, Khokhlova and Paulo stayed at a villa in the village of Fontainebleau, France; during their time there, Picasso, using the garage as a studio, painted Three Women at the Spring and Three Musicians.
=== Neoclassicism and surrealism: 1919–1929 ===
In February 1917, Picasso made his first trip to Italy. In the period following the upheaval of World War I, Picasso produced work in a neoclassical style. This "return to order" is evident in the work of many European artists in the 1920s, including André Derain, Giorgio de Chirico, Gino Severini, Jean Metzinger, the artists of the New Objectivity movement and of the Novecento Italiano movement. Picasso's paintings and drawings from this period frequently recall the work of Raphael and Ingres.
In 1925 the Surrealist writer and poet André Breton declared Picasso as "one of ours" in his article Le Surréalisme et la peinture, published in Révolution surréaliste. Les Demoiselles was reproduced for the first time in Europe in the same issue. Yet Picasso exhibited Cubist works at the first Surrealist group exhibition in 1925; the concept of "psychic automatism in its pure state" defined in the Manifeste du surréalisme never appealed to him entirely. He did at the time develop new imagery and formal syntax for expressing himself emotionally, "releasing the violence, the psychic fears and the eroticism that had been largely contained or sublimated since 1909", writes art historian Melissa McQuillan. Although this transition in Picasso's work was informed by Cubism for its spatial relations, "the fusion of ritual and abandon in the imagery recalls the primitivism of the Demoiselles and the elusive psychological resonances of his Symbolist work", writes McQuillan. Surrealism revived Picasso's attraction to primitivism and eroticism.
In 1927, Picasso met 17-year-old Marie-Thérèse Walter and began a long-standing affair with her. She became his "Golden muse," and he fathered a daughter with her, named Maya.
=== The Great Depression, Guernica, and the MoMA exhibition: 1930–1939 ===
During the 1930s, the minotaur replaced the harlequin as a common motif in his work. His use of the minotaur came partly from his contact with the surrealists, who often used it as their symbol, and it appears in Picasso's Guernica. The minotaur and Picasso's mistress Marie-Thérèse Walter are heavily featured in his celebrated Vollard Suite of etchings.
Arguably Picasso's most famous work is his depiction of the German bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War – Guernica. This large canvas embodies for many the inhumanity, brutality and hopelessness of war. Asked to explain its symbolism, Picasso said, "It isn't up to the painter to define the symbols. Otherwise it would be better if he wrote them out in so many words! The public who look at the picture must interpret the symbols as they understand them."
Guernica was exhibited in July 1937 at the Spanish Pavilion at the Paris International Exposition, and then became the centrepiece of an exhibition of 118 works by Picasso, Matisse, Braque and Henri Laurens that toured Scandinavia and England. After the victory of Francisco Franco in Spain, the painting was sent to the United States to raise funds and support for Spanish refugees. Until 1981 it was entrusted to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City, as it was Picasso's expressed desire that the painting should not be delivered to Spain until liberty and democracy had been established in the country.
Before Guernica, Picasso had never addressed political themes in his art. The politicized nature of the work is largely attributed to his romantic relationship at the time with the French anti-fascist activist and surrealist photographer, Dora Maar. In addition, her black and white photographs are likely to have influenced the black and white scheme of Guernica, in stark contrast to Picasso's usual colorful paintings. "Maar's practice of photography influenced the art of Picasso – she had a great influence on his work," said Antoine Romand, a Dora Maar expert. "She contested him. She pushed him to do something new and to be more creative politically." Maar had exclusive access to Picasso's studio to observe and photograph the creation of Guernica. At Picasso's request, Maar painted parts of the dying horse.
In 1939 and 1940, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, under its director Alfred Barr, a Picasso enthusiast, held a major retrospective of Picasso's principal works until that time. This exhibition lionized Picasso, brought into full public view in America the scope of his artistry, and resulted in a reinterpretation of his work by contemporary art historians and scholars. According to Jonathan Weinberg, "Given the extraordinary quality of the show and Picasso's enormous prestige, generally heightened by the political impact of Guernica ... the critics were surprisingly ambivalent". Picasso's "multiplicity of styles" was disturbing to one journalist; another described him as "wayward and even malicious"; Alfred Frankenstein's review in ARTnews concluded that Picasso was both charlatan and genius.
=== World War II and late 1940s: 1939–1949 ===
During World War II, Picasso remained in Paris while the Germans occupied the city. Picasso's artistic style did not fit the Nazi ideal of art, so he did not exhibit during this time. He confused Germans who came to steal both his and Matisse's paintings from a bank vault, disparaging the value of his work and distracting them from a more thorough search, thus protecting their collections. He was often harassed by the Gestapo. During one search of his apartment, an officer saw a photograph of the painting Guernica. "Did you do that?" the German asked Picasso. "No," he replied, "You did."
Retreating to his studio, he continued to paint, producing works such as the Still Life with Guitar (1942) and The Charnel House (1944–48). Although the Germans outlawed bronze casting in Paris, Picasso continued regardless, using bronze smuggled to him by the French Resistance.
Around this time, Picasso wrote poetry as an alternative outlet. Between 1935 and 1959 he wrote more than 300 poems. Largely untitled except for a date and sometimes the location of where they were written (for example "Paris 16 May 1936"), these works were gustatory, erotic, and at times scatological, as were his two full-length plays, Desire Caught by the Tail (1941), The Four Little Girls (1949) and The Burial of the Count of Orgaz (1959).
In 1944, after the liberation of Paris, Picasso, then 63 years old, began a romantic relationship with a young art student named Françoise Gilot. She was 40 years younger than he was. Picasso grew tired of his mistress Dora Maar; Picasso and Gilot began to live together. Eventually, they had two children: Claude Picasso, born in 1947 and Paloma Picasso, born in 1949.
Picasso had affairs with women of an even greater age disparity than his and Gilot's. While still involved with Gilot, in 1951 Picasso had a six-week affair with Geneviève Laporte, who was four years younger than Gilot. By his 70s, many paintings, ink drawings and prints have as their theme an old, grotesque dwarf as the doting lover of a beautiful young model.
=== Later works and final years: 1949–1973 ===
Picasso was one of 250 sculptors who exhibited in the 3rd Sculpture International held at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in mid-1949. In the 1950s, Picasso's style changed once again, as he took to producing reinterpretations of the art of the great masters. He made a series of works based on Velázquez's painting Las Meninas. He also based paintings on works by Goya, Poussin, Manet, Courbet and Delacroix.
By this time, Picasso had constructed a huge Gothic home, and could afford large villas in the south of France, such as Mas Notre-Dame-de-Vie on the outskirts of Mougins, and in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. He was an international celebrity, with often as much interest in his personal life as his art.
In 1952, Picasso met Jacqueline Roque, who worked at the Madoura Pottery in Vallauris on the French Riviera, where Picasso made and painted ceramics. She became his lover, and then his second wife in 1961. The two were together for the remainder of Picasso's life.
In addition to his artistic accomplishments, Picasso made a few film appearances, always as himself, including a cameo in Jean Cocteau's Testament of Orpheus (1960). In 1955, he helped make the film Le Mystère Picasso (The Mystery of Picasso) directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot.
He was commissioned to make a maquette for a huge 50-foot-high (15 m) public sculpture to be built in Chicago, known usually as the Chicago Picasso. He approached the project with a great deal of enthusiasm, designing a sculpture which was ambiguous and somewhat controversial. Picasso said the figure represented the head of an Afghan Hound named Kabul. The sculpture, one of the most recognizable landmarks in downtown Chicago, was unveiled in 1967. Picasso refused to be paid $100,000 for it, donating it to the people of the city.
Picasso's final works were a mixture of styles, his means of expression in constant flux until the end of his life. Devoting his full energies to his work, Picasso became more daring, his works more colourful and expressive, and from 1968 to 1971 he produced a torrent of paintings and hundreds of copperplate etchings. At the time these works were dismissed by most as pornographic fantasies of an impotent old man or the slapdash works of an artist who was past his prime. Only later, after Picasso's death, when the rest of the art world had moved on from abstract expressionism, did the critical community come to see the late works of Picasso as prefiguring Neo-Expressionism.
In the spring of 1973, Picasso assisted in putting together 201 of his paintings for the Avignon Arts Festival, which opened at the Palais des Papes in May of that year. The canvases, according to Paul Puaux, the festival director who had visited Picasso at his home, represented the artist's work from October 1970 until the end of 1972.
== Death ==
Picasso died on 8 April 1973 in Mougins, France, from a heart attack brought on by pulmonary edema. The evening before his death, Picasso and his wife Jacqueline entertained friends for dinner. He painted until 3 a.m. on this particular night before going to bed. Picasso woke up at 11:30 a.m., but he was unable to get out of bed. Jacqueline called his physician, Dr. Jean-Claude Rance, for assistance, but he died at 11:40 a.m. before a doctor arrived.
Picasso was interred at the Château of Vauvenargues near Aix-en-Provence, a property he had acquired in 1958 and occupied with Jacqueline between 1959 and 1961. Jacqueline prevented Picasso's children Maya, Claude, and Paloma, and his grandson Pablito from seeing his body. Only Paulo, the sole legitimate child of Picasso, was allowed to attend the funeral.
Picasso died without a will, which led to a feud over his estate. His three illegitimate children were granted the right to share the Picasso estate by French judges, despite opposition from Jacqueline and Paulo. Following the death of Paulo in 1975, Picasso's surviving heirs were his widow, Jacqueline; his grandchildren from Paulo, Marina and Bernard; and his children, Claude, Paloma and Maya. They reached a settlement on how to divide Picasso's $240 million estate in December 1976.
== Works ==
=== Style and technique ===
Picasso was exceptionally prolific throughout his long lifetime. At his death there were more than 45,000 unsold works in his estate, comprising 1,885 paintings, 1,228 sculptures, 3,222 ceramics, 7,089 drawings, 150 sketchbooks, many thousands of prints, and numerous tapestries and rugs. The most complete – but not exhaustive – catalogue of his works, the catalogue raisonné compiled by Christian Zervos, lists more than 16,000 paintings and drawings. Picasso's output was several times more prolific than most artists of his era; by at least one account, American artist Bob Ross is the only one to rival Picasso's volume, and Ross's artwork was designed specifically to be easily mass-produced quickly.
The medium in which Picasso made his most important contribution was painting. In his paintings, Picasso used colour as an expressive element, but relied on drawing rather than subtleties of colour to create form and space. He sometimes added sand to his paint to vary its texture. A nanoprobe of Picasso's The Red Armchair (1931), in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, by physicists at Argonne National Laboratory in 2012 confirmed art historians' belief that Picasso used common house paint in many of his paintings. Much of his painting was done at night by artificial light.
Picasso's early sculptures were carved from wood or modelled in wax or clay, but from 1909 to 1928 Picasso abandoned modelling and instead made sculptural constructions using diverse materials. An example is Guitar (1912), a relief construction made of sheet metal and wire that Jane Fluegel terms a "three-dimensional planar counterpart of Cubist painting" that marks a "revolutionary departure from the traditional approaches, modeling and carving".
From the beginning of his career, Picasso displayed an interest in subject matter of every kind, and demonstrated a great stylistic versatility that enabled him to work in several styles at once. For example, his paintings of 1917 included the pointillist Woman with a Mantilla, the Cubist Figure in an Armchair, and the naturalistic Harlequin (all in the Museu Picasso, Barcelona). In 1919, he made a number of drawings from postcards and photographs that reflect his interest in the stylistic conventions and static character of posed photographs. In 1921 he simultaneously painted several large neoclassical paintings and two versions of the Cubist composition Three Musicians (Museum of Modern Art, New York; Philadelphia Museum of Art). In an interview published in 1923, Picasso said, "The several manners I have used in my art must not be considered as an evolution, or as steps towards an unknown ideal of painting ... If the subjects I have wanted to express have suggested different ways of expression I have never hesitated to adopt them."
Although his Cubist works approach abstraction, Picasso never relinquished the objects of the real world as subject matter. Prominent in his Cubist paintings are forms easily recognized as guitars, violins, and bottles. When Picasso depicted complex narrative scenes it was usually in prints, drawings, and small-scale works; Guernica (1937) is one of his few large narrative paintings. Guernica was on display at the Museum of Modern Art for many years. In 1981, it was returned to Spain and was on exhibit at the Casón del Buen Retiro of the Museo del Prado. In 1992, the painting was put on display in the Reina Sofía Museum when it opened.
Picasso painted mostly from imagination or memory. According to William Rubin, Picasso "could only make great art from subjects that truly involved him ... Unlike Matisse, Picasso had eschewed models virtually all his mature life, preferring to paint individuals whose lives had both impinged on, and had real significance for, his own." The art critic Arthur Danto said Picasso's work constitutes a "vast pictorial autobiography" that provides some basis for the popular conception that "Picasso invented a new style each time he fell in love with a new woman". The autobiographical nature of Picasso's art is reinforced by his habit of dating his works, often to the day. He explained: "I want to leave to posterity a documentation that will be as complete as possible. That's why I put a date on everything I do."
The women in Picasso's life played an important role in the emotional and erotic aspects of his creative expression, and the tumultuous nature of these relationships has been considered vital to his artistic process. Many of these women functioned as muses for him, and their inclusion in his extensive oeuvre granted them a place in art history. A largely recurring motif in his body of work is the female form. The variations in his relationships informed and collided with his progression of style throughout his career. For example, portraits created of his first wife, Olga, were rendered in a naturalistic style during his Neoclassical period. His relationship with Marie-Thérèse Walter inspired many of his surrealist pieces, as well as what is referred to as his "Year of Wonders". The reappearance of an acrobats theme in 1905 put an end to his "Blue Period", marking the transition into his "Rose Period". This transition has been incorrectly attributed to the presence of Fernande Olivier in his life.
=== Catalogue raisonné ===
Picasso entrusted Christian Zervos to constitute the catalogue raisonné of his work (painted and drawn). The first volume of the catalogue, Works from 1895 to 1906, published in 1932, entailed the financial ruin of Zervos, self-publishing under the name Cahiers d'art, forcing him to sell part of his art collection at auction to avoid bankruptcy.
From 1932 to 1978, Zervos constituted the catalogue raisonné of the complete works of Picasso in the company of the artist who had become one of his friends in 1924. Following the death of Zervos, Mila Gagarin supervised the publication of 11 additional volumes from 1970 to 1978.
The 33 volumes cover the entire work from 1895 to 1972, with close to 16,000 black and white photographs, in accord with the will of the artist.
1932: tome I, Œuvres de 1895 à 1906. Introduction p. XI–[XXXXIX], 185 pages, 384 reproductions
1942: tome II, vol.1, Œuvres de 1906 à 1912. Introduction p. XI–[LV], 172 pages, 360 reproductions
1944: tome II, vol.2, Œuvres de 1912 à 1917. Introduction p. IX–[LXX–VIII], 233 p. pp. 173 to 406, 604 reproductions
1949: tome III, Œuvres de 1917 à 1919. Introduction p. IX–[XIII], 152 pages, 465 reproductions
1951: tome IV, Œuvres de 1920 à 1922. Introduction p. VII–[XIV], 192 pages, 455 reproductions
1952: tome V, Œuvres de 1923 à 1925. Introduction p. IX–[XIV], 188 pages, 466 reproductions
1954: tome VI, Supplément aux tomes I à V. Sans introduction, 176 pages, 1481 reproductions
1955: tome VII, Œuvres de 1926 à 1932. Introduction p. V–[VII], 184 pages, 424 reproductions
1978: Catalogue raisonné des œuvres de Pablo Picasso, Paris, Éditions Cahiers d'art
Further publications by Zervos
Picasso. Œuvres de 1920 à 1926, Cahiers d'art, Paris
Dessins de Picasso 1892–1948, Paris, Éditions Cahiers d'art, 1949
Picasso. Dessins (1892–1948), Hazan, 199 reproductions, 1949
== Personal life ==
Picasso has been characterized as a womaniser and a misogynist, being quoted as saying to his longtime partner Françoise Gilot that "women are machines for suffering." He later allegedly told her, "For me there are only two kinds of women: goddesses and doormats." In her memoir, Picasso, My Grandfather, Marina Picasso writes of his treatment of women, "He submitted them to his animal sexuality, tamed them, bewitched them, ingested them, and crushed them onto his canvas. After he had spent many nights extracting their essence, once they were bled dry, he would dispose of them."
From early adolescence, Picasso maintained both superficial and intense amatory sexual relationships. Biographer John Richardson stated that 'work, sex, and tobacco' were his addictions. Picasso was married twice and had four children with three women:
Paulo Picasso (4 February 1921 – 5 June 1975, Paul Joseph Picasso) – his son with Olga Khokhlova
Paulo had 3 children: Pablito Picasso (5 May 1949 – 12 July 1973); Marina Picasso (b. 14 November 1950); Bernard Ruiz-Picasso (b. 3 September 1959)
Maya (5 September 1935 – 20 December 2022, Maria de la Concepcion Picasso) – his daughter with Marie-Thérèse Walter
Maya had 3 children: Olivier Widmaier Picasso (b. 4 June 1961); Richard Widmaier Picasso (b. 1966); Diana Widmaier Picasso (b. 12 March 1974)
Claude (15 May 1947 – 24 August 2023, Claude Ruiz Picasso) – his son with Françoise Gilot
Claude had 1 child: Jasmin Picasso (b. 1981)
Paloma (born 19 April 1949, Anne Paloma Picasso) – his daughter with Françoise Gilot
Picasso married ballet dancer Olga Khokhlova in 1918. In 1935, Picasso began divorce proceedings, but Khokhlova refused to divorce. They legally separated in 1941, but remained married until Khokhlova's death in 1955.
When Picasso's mistress Marie-Thérèse Walter gave birth to their daughter Maya in 1935, he secretly placed them in an apartment at 44 rue de La Boétie in the 8th arrondissement, which was across from his residence with his wife Olga at number 23. In 1937, Marie-Thérèse and Maya were sent to Le Tremblay-sur-Mauldre. Maya was 10 years old when she learned that she had an older brother, Paulo.
Photographer and painter Dora Maar was a constant companion and lover of Picasso. The two were closest in the late 1930s and early 1940s, and it was Maar who documented the painting of Guernica.
In December 1961, Picasso's children with artist Françoise Gilot, Claude and Paloma, were granted full legal rights to use the name Picasso after their father legally recognized his paternity in a written statement submitted to a French court. However, ten years later, Picasso successfully contested a legal case in which he refused to acknowledge paternity. Three weeks following the 1961 court case, newspapers revealed his second marriage to Jacqueline Roque, a salesgirl at a pottery store. In her 1964 book Life with Picasso, Gilot describes his abusive treatment and myriad infidelities which led her to leave him, taking the children with her in 1953. The book angered Picasso and he severed ties with his children. His strained relationship with Claude and Paloma was never healed. Gilot later stated in an interview with The Times:
He was astonishingly creative, so intelligent and seductive. If he was in the mood to charm, even stones would dance to his tune. But he was also cruel, sadistic and merciless to others as well as to himself. Everything had to be his way. You were there for him; he was not there for you. Pablo thought he was God, but he was not God — and that annoyed him! ... Pablo was the greatest love of my life, but you had to take steps to protect yourself. I did. I left before I was destroyed. The others didn't, they clung on to the mighty Minotaur and paid a heavy price.
Of the several important women in his life, two of them – his lover Marie-Thèrése Walter and his second wife Jacqueline Roque – died by suicide. Others, notably his first wife Olga Khokhlova and lover Dora Maar, succumbed to nervous breakdowns. His grandson, Pablito, died by suicide from ingesting bleach when he was barred by Picasso's widow, Jacqueline, from attending the artist's funeral in 1973. His son, Paulo, died from alcoholism due to depression in 1975. Devastated and lonely after the death of Picasso, Jacqueline fatally shot herself in 1986.
== Political views ==
Picasso remained aloof from the Catalan independence movement during his youth, despite expressing general support and being friendly with activists within it. He did not join the armed forces for any side or country during World War I, the Spanish Civil War, or World War II. As a Spanish citizen living in France, Picasso was under no compulsion to fight against the invading Germans in either world war. In 1940, he applied for French citizenship, but it was refused on the grounds of his "extremist ideas evolving towards communism". This information was not revealed until 2003.
At the start of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, Picasso was 54 years of age. Soon after hostilities began, the Republicans appointed him "director of the Prado, albeit in absentia", and "he took his duties very seriously", according to John Richardson, supplying the funds to evacuate the museum's collection to Geneva. The war provided the impetus for Picasso's first overtly political work. He expressed anger and condemnation of Francisco Franco and fascists in The Dream and Lie of Franco (1937), which was produced "specifically for propagandistic and fundraising purposes". This surreal fusion of words and images was intended to be sold as a series of postcards to raise funds for the Spanish Republican cause.
In 1944, Picasso joined the French Communist Party. He attended the 1948 World Congress of Intellectuals in Defense of Peace in Poland, and in 1950 received the Stalin Peace Prize from the Soviet government. A portrait of Joseph Stalin made by Picasso in 1953 drew Party criticism due to being insufficiently realistic, though he remained a loyal member of the Communist Party until his death. His dealer, D-H. Kahnweiler, a socialist, termed Picasso's communism "sentimental" rather than political, saying "He has never read a line of Karl Marx, nor of Engels of course." In a 1945 interview with Jerome Seckler, Picasso stated: "I am a Communist and my painting is Communist painting. ... But if I were a shoemaker, Royalist or Communist or anything else, I would not necessarily hammer my shoes in a special way to show my politics." His commitment to communism, common among continental intellectuals and artists at the time, has long been the subject of some controversy; a notable demonstration thereof was a quote by Salvador Dalí (with whom Picasso had a rather strained relationship):
In the late 1940s, his old friend surrealist poet André Breton, who was a Trotskyist and anti-Stalinist, was more blunt; refusing to shake hands with Picasso, he told him: "I don't approve of your joining the Communist Party nor with the stand you have taken concerning the purges of the intellectuals after the Liberation."
As a communist, Picasso opposed the intervention of the United Nations and the United States in the Korean War, and depicted it in Massacre in Korea. The art critic Kirsten Hoving Keen wrote that it was "inspired by reports of American atrocities" and considered it one of Picasso's communist works.
On 9 January 1949, Picasso created Dove, a black and white lithograph. It was used to illustrate a poster at the 1949 World Peace Council and became an iconographic image of the period, known as "The dove of peace". Picasso's image was used around the world as a symbol of the Peace Congresses and communism.
In 1962, he received the Lenin Peace Prize. Biographer and art critic John Berger felt his talents as an artist were "wasted" by the communists. According to Jean Cocteau's diaries, Picasso once said to him in reference to the communists: "I have joined a family, and like all families, it's full of shit."
== Legacy ==
Picasso's influence was and remains immense and widely acknowledged by his admirers and detractors alike. On the occasion of his 1939 retrospective at New York's Museum of Modern Art, Life magazine wrote: "During the 25 years he has dominated modern European art, his enemies say he has been a corrupting influence. With equal violence, his friends say he is the greatest artist alive." In 1971, Picasso was the first living artist to receive a special honour exhibition at the Grand Gallery of the Louvre Museum in Paris in celebration of his 90th birthday. In 1998, Robert Hughes wrote of him: "To say that Pablo Picasso dominated Western art in the 20th century is, by now, the merest commonplace. ... No painter or sculptor, not even Michelangelo, had been as famous as this in his own lifetime. ... Though Marcel Duchamp, that cunning old fox of conceptual irony, has certainly had more influence on nominally vanguard art over the past 30 years than Picasso, the Spaniard was the last great beneficiary of the belief that the language of painting and sculpture really mattered to people other than their devotees."
=== The Basel vote ===
In the 1940s, a Swiss insurance company based in Basel had bought two paintings by Picasso to diversify its investments and serve as a guarantee for the insured risks. Following an air disaster in 1967, the company had to pay out heavy reimbursements. The company decided to part with the two paintings, which were deposited in the Kunstmuseum Basel. In 1968, a large number of Basel citizens called for a local referendum on the purchase of the Picassos by the Canton of Basel-Stadt, which was successful, making it the first time in democratic history that the population of a city voted on the purchase of works of art for a public art museum. The paintings therefore remained in the museum in Basel. Informed of this, Picasso donated three paintings and a sketch to the city and its museum and was later made an honorary citizen by the city.
=== Museums ===
At the time of Picasso's death many of his paintings were in his possession, as he had kept off the art market what he did not need to sell. In addition, Picasso had a considerable collection of the work of other famous artists, some his contemporaries, such as Henri Matisse, with whom he had exchanged works. Since Picasso left no will, his death duties (estate tax) to the French state were paid in the form of his works and others from his collection. These works form the core of the immense and representative collection of the Musée Picasso in Paris.
In 2003, relatives of Picasso inaugurated a museum dedicated to him in his birthplace, Málaga, Spain, the Museo Picasso Málaga.
The Museu Picasso in Barcelona features many of his early works, created while he was living in Spain, including many rarely seen works which reveal his firm grounding in classical techniques. The museum also holds many precise and detailed figure studies done in his youth under his father's tutelage, as well as the extensive collection of Jaime Sabartés, his close friend and personal secretary.
In 1985, Museum Picasso Eugenio Arias' Collection established in Buitrago del Lozoya by Picasso's friend Eugenio Arias Herranz.
From 8 October 2010 to 17 January 2011, Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris, an exhibition of 150 paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints and photographs from the Musée National Picasso in Paris, was on display at the Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, USA. The exhibition subsequently travelled to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia; the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, California, USA; the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; and the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (The works were on tour while the Musée underwent a multi-year renovation.) The catalog was written by Anne Baldassari, the Chairman and Chief Curator of Collections of the Musée Picasso (ASIN B005JX7O16)
It was announced on 22 September 2020 that the project for a new Picasso Museum due to open in Aix-en-Provence in 2021, in a former convent (Couvent des Prêcheurs), which would have held the largest collection of his paintings of any museum, had been scrapped due to the fact that Catherine Hutin-Blay, Jacqueline Picasso's daughter, and the City Council had failed to reach an agreement.
As of 2015, Picasso remained the top-ranked artist (based on sales of his works at auctions) according to the Art Market Trends report. More of his paintings have been stolen than those of any other artist; in 2012, the Art Loss Register had 1,147 of his works listed as stolen.
=== The Picasso Administration ===
Picasso's heirs formed a committee to formally authenticate his works at the beginning of the 1980s. However, disagreements regarding the legitimacy of a series of drawings led to the dissolution of the committee in 1993. Two of the children, Claude and Maya, began issuing authenticity certificates separately. Dealers claim that this has resulted in a situation that has been difficult and time-consuming, especially since auction houses were increasingly requesting certifications from both heirs due to the dual (and competing) authentication methods.
In 2012, four of Picasso's five surviving heirs—Claude, Paloma Picasso, Bernard Ruiz-Picasso, and Marina Ruiz-Picasso—established the Picasso Administration to authenticate works by the artist. They announced that Claude should now be the recipient of all authentication requests, adding that "only his opinions shall be fully and officially acknowledged by the undersigned." Claude served as legal administrator of the estate from 1989 until 2023, when his sister Paloma took over.
The Picasso Administration also manages the Picasso estate. The US copyright representative for the Picasso Administration is the Artists Rights Society.
=== Auction history ===
Several paintings by Picasso rank among the most expensive paintings in the world. Garçon à la pipe sold for US$104 million at Sotheby's on 4 May 2004. Dora Maar au Chat sold for US$95.2 million at Sotheby's on 3 May 2006. On 4 May 2010, Nude, Green Leaves and Bust was sold at Christie's for US$106.5 million. The 1932 work, which depicts Picasso's mistress Marie-Thérèse Walter reclining and as a bust, was in the personal collection of Los Angeles philanthropist Frances Lasker Brody, who died in November 2009. On 11 May 2015 his painting Women of Algiers set the record for the highest price ever paid for a painting when it sold for US$179.3 million at Christie's in New York.
On 21 June 2016, a painting by Pablo Picasso titled Femme Assise (1909) sold for £43.2 million ($63.4 million) at Sotheby's London, exceeding the estimate by nearly $20 million, setting a world record for the highest price ever paid at auction for a Cubist work.
On 17 May 2017, The Jerusalem Post in an article titled "Picasso Work Stolen By Nazis Sells for $45 Million at Auction" reported the sale of a portrait painted by Picasso, the 1939 Femme assise, robe bleu, which was previously misappropriated during the early years of WWII. The painting has changed hands several times since its recovery, most recently through auction in May 2017 at Christie's in New York City.
In March 2018, his Femme au Béret et à la Robe Quadrillée (1937), a portrait of Marie-Thérèse Walter, sold for £49.8m at Sotheby's in London.
== In pop culture ==
In the 1996 movie Surviving Picasso, Picasso is portrayed by actor Anthony Hopkins. Picasso is also a character in Steve Martin's 1993 play, Picasso at the Lapin Agile. In A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway, Hemingway tells Gertrude Stein that he would like to have some Picassos, but cannot afford them. Later in the book, Hemingway mentions looking at one of Picasso's paintings. He refers to it as Picasso's nude of the girl with the basket of flowers, possibly related to Young Naked Girl with Flower Basket.
Picasso is portrayed by Antonio Banderas in the 2018 season of Genius, which focuses on his life and art.
In the 2011 film Midnight in Paris, which was directed by Woody Allen, Picasso (portrayed by Marcial Di Fonzo Bo) appears as a member of the 1920s Parisian art circles. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svetlana_Boginskaya | Svetlana Boginskaya | Svetlana Leonidovna Boginskaya (born February 9, 1973) is a former artistic gymnast for the Soviet Union and Belarus of Belarusian origin. She is a three-time Olympic champion, with an individual gold medal on vault from the 1988 Summer Olympics and team gold medals from the 1988 and 1992 Summer Olympics.
== Early life ==
Boginskaya was born in Minsk, Belarus on February 9, 1973. She practiced figure skating before beginning gymnastics at age six, after seeing Nadia Comăneci compete at the Olympics. Two years later, she moved to Moscow to train full-time at the Round Lake Gymnastics Center, where she trained with Lyubov Miromanova.
== Gymnastics career ==
Boginskaya became a member of the Soviet national team at age 14. She competed internationally for the first time at the 1987 World Championships, where she placed third on balance beam; the team placed second. She went on to compete in the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea, where she won four medals: gold in the team competition, gold on vault, silver on floor, and bronze in the individual all-around.
Three days after the Olympics, Boginskaya's longtime coach, Lyubov Miromanova, died by suicide. Miromanova had been a surrogate mother to Boginskaya, coaching and caring for her after she moved from Minsk to train full-time in Moscow.
After Miromanova's death, Boginskaya began training with Tatiana Grosovivich. Under Grosovivich's tutelage, Boginskaya competed at the 1989 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships, where she received gold in all-round, vault, and floor. Later that year, she placed first in all-around, floor, and team events at the 1989 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, eventually dedicating her performance to her late mentor.
The following year, Boginskaya became the fourth woman to win the gold medal in every individual event at the European Championships. She also competed at the FIG World Cup, where she placed first on floor.
In 1991, Boginskaya won gold at the World Championships on beam and silver in the all-around; the team won gold.
In 1992, Boginskaya competed at the European Championships, where she won gold on beam with a score of 9.95. However, she fell during her final event, the floor exercise, ultimately finishing fifth in the all-around. Her teammate, Tatiana Gutsu, received the all-around title. Despite Boginskaya's fall on floor, she remained a favorite to win the all-around title at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. At the World Championships, Boginskaya won gold on vault and was selected for the Unified Team at the 1992 Summer Olympics. Many in the gymnastics world expected a duel between Boginskaya and Zmeskal at the Olympics, and the media promoted this story. At the Olympic games, Boginskaya won her third Olympic gold in the team competition; in the individual competition, she faltered on the uneven bars and finished fifth in the individual all-around; Zmeskal finished tenth.
Following the 1992 Olympics, Boginskaya retired. However, she returned to the sport in 1995, stating that she had been inspired by Katarina Witt who had a memorable comeback at the 1994 Winter Olympics. Boginskaya moved to Houston, Texas to train with Bela Karolyi (1942–2024) and upgraded the difficulty of her routines. At the 1995 European Championships, she won silver in the all-around.
In 1996, at age 23, she placed second in the all-around at the American Cup behind one of Karolyi's pupils, Kerri Strug. She also placed second at the European Championships in Birmingham behind the defending world champion Lilia Podkopayeva. She then progressed to the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, where she was one of a number of older gymnasts competing. Boginskaya competed in the all-around and vault finals, but did not medal. The Belarusian team came in sixth.
Following the 1996 Olympics, Boginskaya retired from gymnastics.
Boginskaya is among a small group of women to have competed in three Olympic Games; and due to the break-up of the Soviet Union, she competed at each Games under a different flag: USSR, the Unified Team, and Belarus. She was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2005.
Boginskaya has remained active in both the American and international gymnastics communities, and works as a consulting guest coach. In the early 2010s, she frequently supported former teammate Oksana Chusovitina, who continues to compete in her late 40s, and has appeared on the competition floor as her coach.
== Post-gymnastics and personal life ==
Boginskaya lives in Houston, Texas with her husband and two children. She runs several businesses, including an online gymnastics apparel retailer and a summer camp for gymnasts.
== In popular culture ==
After the 1992 Olympics, Boginskaya appeared alongside her compatriot Vitaly Scherbo in the music video for the song "Revolution Earth," by The B-52's.
== Trademarks ==
Boginskaya's floor routine at the 1988 Olympics was done to the music of Georges Bizet's Carmen, and another routine she performed in parts of 1990 and 1991 was choreographed by the Bolshoi Ballet. Her uneven bars exercise included a signature giant to handstand with 180° split into a toe-on element. Commentators and reporters cited her height and slim stature as elements she used to her advantage through attention to posture and body alignment; meanwhile they also suggested that she relied more on execution and presentation than difficulty, though she did usually fulfill requirements and earn 10.0 start values. She frequently landed dismounts and vaults with her right foot placed slightly in front of her left, an intentional touch of artistry that also helped her stick landings.
== Competitive history == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pep_Guardiola | Pep Guardiola | Josep "Pep" Guardiola Sala (Catalan pronunciation: [ˈpɛb ɡwəɾðiˈɔlə]; born 18 January 1971) is a Catalan football manager and former player from Spain who is the manager of Premier League club Manchester City. Guardiola is one of two managers in history to win the continental treble twice and he holds the record for the most consecutive league games won in La Liga, Bundesliga, and the Premier League. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time.
Guardiola was a defensive midfielder who usually played in a deep-lying playmaker's role. He spent the majority of his career with Barcelona, forming a part of Johan Cruyff's Dream Team that won the club's first European Cup in 1992, and four successive Spanish league titles from 1991 to 1994. He captained the team from 1997 until his departure from Barcelona in 2001. Guardiola then had stints with Brescia and Roma in Italy, Al-Ahli in Qatar and Dorados in Mexico. He was capped 47 times for the Spanish national team and appeared at the 1994 FIFA World Cup, as well as at UEFA Euro 2000. He also played friendly matches for Catalonia.
After retiring as a player, Guardiola briefly managed Barcelona B and won the Tercera División title before taking charge of the first team in 2008. In his first season, Guardiola led Barcelona to the continental treble of La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the UEFA Champions League, becoming the youngest manager to win the latter competition. He was named the FIFA World Coach of the Year in 2011 after leading the club to another La Liga and Champions League double in the 2010–11 season. Guardiola ended his four-year Barcelona stint in 2012 with 14 honours, a club record.
Guardiola joined Bayern Munich in 2013 and won the Bundesliga in each of the three seasons, including two domestic doubles. He left the club for Manchester City in 2016 and has since won six Premier League titles, including four successive wins from 2019 to 2024, marking the first time in the history of the English top flight that a team has done so. His first title in his second season in charge broke numerous domestic records as the team became the first to attain 100 points in a single season. He also led City to a domestic treble in 2018–19. Guardiola guided City to their first Champions League final in 2020–21, and their first Champions League title as part of his second continental treble in 2022–23. He is the club's second-longest serving manager and is the longest-serving current Premier League manager.
== Club career ==
=== 1988–2001: Barcelona ===
Born in Santpedor, Barcelona, Catalonia, Guardiola joined La Masia at age 13 from Gimnàstic Manresa and rose through the ranks of Barcelona's youth academy for six years, making his debut in 1990 against Cádiz. As Phil Ball writes in Morbo, In his first week at the club, Johan Cruyff turned up unannounced at the Mini Estadi, a venue just down the road from Camp Nou used by Barcelona B. Just before half-time he wandered into the dug-out and asked Charly Rexach, the youth team manager at the time, the name of the young lad playing on the right side of midfield. "Guardiola – good lad," came the reply. Cruyff ignored the comment and told Rexach to move him into the middle for the second half, to play as pivot. It was a difficult position to adapt to and one not used by many teams in Spain at the time. Guardiola adjusted immediately, as Cruyff had suspected he would, and when he moved to the first-team in 1990, he became the pivot of the Dream Team.
Guardiola became a first-team regular in the 1991–92 season, and at only 20 years old was a key component of a side that won La Liga and the European Cup. The Italian magazine Guerin Sportivo heralded Guardiola as the finest player in the world under the age of 21. Cruyff's "Dream Team" went on to retain La Liga title in the 1992–93 and 1993–94 seasons. The side again reached the 1994 UEFA Champions League final, but were beaten 4–0 by Fabio Capello's AC Milan side in Athens. Cruyff left in 1996, with Barcelona finishing fourth in the 1994–95 season and third in the 1995–96 season, but Guardiola retained his position at the centre of Barcelona's midfield.
In the 1996–97 season, Barcelona, this time led by Bobby Robson, won three cups: the Copa del Rey, the Supercopa de España, and the European Cup Winners' Cup. In 1997, Guardiola was named as Barcelona captain under new manager Louis van Gaal, but a calf muscle injury ruled Guardiola out of most of the 1997–98 season, in which Barcelona won a league and cup double. At the end of the season, Barcelona rejected offers from Roma and Parma (of around 300 million pesetas) for Guardiola. After prolonged and complicated contract talks, he signed a new contract with Barcelona that extended his stay until 2001.
Guardiola returned to action the following season and Barcelona once again won La Liga. On 8 June 1998, Guardiola underwent surgery to try to resolve his lingering calf injury, which had caused him to miss the 1998 FIFA World Cup for Spain. A largely disappointing 1999–2000 season again ended in surgery, with Guardiola missing the last three months of the season with a serious ankle injury.
On 11 April 2001, Barcelona's captain announced his intention to leave the club after 17 years of service. He stated that it was a personal decision and, in part, a response to what he perceived as football heading in a new, more physical, direction. On 24 June 2001, Guardiola played his last match with Barcelona in the final game of the season against Celta Vigo. Guardiola played 479 games in 12 seasons for the first team, winning 16 trophies. At the press conference after the Celta game, he said: "It's been a long journey. I'm happy, proud, happy with the way people treated me and I have made many friends. I cannot ask for more. I have had many years in the elite. I did not come to make history but to make my own history." A number of future Barcelona midfielders, including Xavi, Andrés Iniesta and Cesc Fàbregas, have hailed Guardiola as their role model and hero.
=== 2001–2006: Later career ===
After leaving Barcelona in 2001 at age 30, Guardiola joined Serie A side Brescia as Andrea Pirlo's replacement in the deep-lying playmaker role, where he played alongside Roberto Baggio under manager Carlo Mazzone. Following his stint at Brescia, Guardiola transferred to Roma. His time in Italy, however, was unsuccessful and included a four-month ban for testing positive for nandrolone (he was cleared of all charges in 2009).
After his career with Brescia and Roma, in 2003, Guardiola played in Qatar with Al-Ahli from Doha in the Qatar Stars League. In 2005–06, he turned down offers from a number of European clubs, as he felt his playing career was coming to a close.
In 2006, Juan Manuel Lillo was appointed the manager of Mexican club Dorados. Lillo recruited Guardiola to play for the club while he was in managing school in Axocopán, Atlixco, Puebla. Guardiola played with Dorados for six months, but was limited to ten appearances due to injuries, before retiring. He scored one goal for the club.
== International career ==
=== Spain ===
On 14 October 1992, Guardiola debuted for the Spain national football team in a friendly match against Northern Ireland. The same year, he served as Spain when they won a gold medal at the Barcelona Olympic Games. That same year he won the Bravo Award, which recognises the world's best player under the age of 21.
Guardiola was a member of the Spanish team during the 1994 FIFA World Cup, where they reached the quarter-finals, losing 2–1 to Italy. Due to disagreements, he fell out of favour with Spain coach Javier Clemente and missed out on UEFA Euro 1996. Guardiola suffered a career-threatening injury in 1998 which kept him out of the year's World Cup, but later played at Euro 2000, where Spain reached another quarter-final, this time losing to France by the same margin of 2–1. He continued to play in the Spanish midfield until his final appearance on 14 November 2001, in a 1–0 victory in a friendly match against Mexico. Guardiola scored his last international goal against Sweden in a 1–1 friendly draw during his 45th appearance.
=== Catalonia ===
Guardiola has played for and advocated on behalf of the Catalonia football team. Between 1995 and 2005, he played seven friendly matches for Catalonia.
== Player profile ==
=== Style of play ===
Guardiola was a highly creative, hard-working, nimble, and elegant player, with good anticipation, tactical awareness, and an ability to read the game; throughout his career, he was usually deployed as either a central or defensive midfielder in front of his team's back-line, although he was also capable of playing in more attacking midfield roles. Although he was competent defensively and able to press opponents to break up play and win the ball effectively through his team-work and defensive positioning, he also had a tendency to give away many fouls; as such, and also in part due to his slender physical build, he usually functioned as a deep-lying playmaker in front of the defence, where he excelled courtesy of his technical ability and intelligent, efficient, precise passing game. He would also occasionally drop deeper to act as an additional centre-back in Cruyff's fluid 3–4–3 formation at Barcelona. Despite his lack of notable pace, dribbling ability, aerial prowess, or strong physical or athletic attributes, Guardiola was highly regarded throughout his career for his vision, close control, passing range, positional sense, and calm composure on the ball, as well as his speed of thought, which enabled him to retain possession under pressure and either set the tempo of his team's play in midfield with quick and intricate short first-time exchanges, or switch the play or create chances with longer passes. His role has also been likened to that of a metodista ("centre-half", in Italian football jargon), due to his ability to dictate play in midfield as well as assist his team defensively.
Guardiola was capable of being an offensive threat, due to his ability to make attacking runs or strike accurately from distance; he was also effective at creating chances or shooting on goal from set-pieces. Having served as captain of both Barcelona and the Spanish national side, he also stood out for his leadership throughout his career. Despite his playing ability, he was also known to be injury prone throughout his career.
=== Reception ===
Guardiola's playing style, which relied on creativity, technique and ball movement, rather than physicality and pace, inspired several future diminutive Spanish playmaking midfielders, such as Xavi, Andrés Iniesta, and Cesc Fàbregas, with the latter describing him as his "idol". Pirlo instead described Guardiola as the "model" for the position which he himself occupied deep in midfield. Former Barcelona president Joan Laporta once described Guardiola as "the best central midfielder in our history." Johan Cruyff considered him to be one of the best midfielders of his generation, a view echoed by Richard Jolly of FourFourTwo and Marco Frattino, the latter of whom stated in 2018: "Twenty years ago, [...] Pep Guardiola was one of the best midfielders in the world." In 2001, his agent Josè Maria Orobitg described him as the best in the world at dictating the tempo and rhythm of his team's play.
Miguel Val of Marca considered Guardiola to be one of the greatest Spanish players of all time, describing him as the "brains of Barcelona's Dream Team under Johan Cruyff" in 2020. Federico Aquè described him as one of the best deep-lying playmakers in European football in his prime, while Lee Bushe of 90min.com even included him in his list of "The Best Deep-Lying Playmakers of All Time" in 2020.
== Managerial career ==
=== Barcelona ===
==== B team ====
Guardiola was appointed manager of Barcelona B on 21 June 2007 with Tito Vilanova as his assistant. Under his guidance, the team subsequently won their Tercera División group and qualified for the 2008 Segunda División B playoffs, which the team won, thereby achieving promotion. Barcelona President Joan Laporta announced in May 2008 that Guardiola would be appointed manager of the senior Barcelona squad to replace Frank Rijkaard at the end of the 2007–08 season.
==== 2008–09: First season with first team and historic treble ====
Upon being appointed, Guardiola made headlines by announcing that stars such as Ronaldinho, Deco and Samuel Eto'o were not part of his plans for the coming season, though Eto'o was, in the end, allowed to remain.
In association with Barcelona Director of Sport Txiki Begiristain, several new signings were made by Guardiola – Dani Alves and Seydou Keita arrived from Sevilla; Martín Cáceres from Villarreal by way of Recreativo; Gerard Piqué returned from Manchester United; and Alexander Hleb was signed from Arsenal. Along with the new signings, Guardiola promoted canteranos Sergio Busquets, Pedro and Jeffrén to the first-team squad. In interviews with the press, Guardiola stressed a harder work ethic than before, but also a more personal approach during training and a closer relationship with his players.
Guardiola's first competitive game as manager was in the third qualifying round of the Champions League, in which Barcelona comfortably beat Polish club Wisła Kraków 4–0 in the first leg at home. They then lost 1–0 in the second leg, but progressed with a 4–1 aggregate victory. Promoted Numancia also defeated Barcelona in the opening matchday of the 2008–09 La Liga, but the team then went on an undefeated streak for over 20 matches to move to the top of the league. Barcelona maintained their spot atop La Liga's table, securing their first league title since 2006 when rivals Real Madrid lost at Villarreal on 16 May 2009. The most important match, however, was on 2 May when they defeated Real Madrid 6–2 at the Santiago Bernabéu. The league title was the second piece of silverware in Guardiola's first season at the club. Earlier, on 13 May, Barcelona won the 2008–09 Copa del Rey, beating Athletic Bilbao 4–1 in the 2009 Copa del Rey final.
In the final of the Champions League, Barcelona beat Manchester United 2–0. In doing so, they became the first Spanish club to win the domestic cup, the league, and the European club titles (the treble) in the same season. Guardiola became the youngest man to manage a Champions League winning team, at age 37. The treble-winning season is regarded as one of the club's finest in its history.
==== 2009–10: Six trophies in a calendar year ====
Guardiola's second season as manager began with defeats of Athletic Bilbao in the Supercopa de España and Shakhtar Donetsk in the UEFA Super Cup. On 25 September 2009, Barcelona gave him his 50th professional victory, away against Málaga and on 19 December, they were crowned FIFA Club World Cup champions for the first time in their history.
Guardiola finished the calendar year with a record six trophies, the Spanish League, Copa del Rey, Champions League, Spanish Super Cup, European Super Cup and Club World Cup, becoming the first manager in history to do so. In January 2010, he became Barcelona's longest serving Spanish manager, overtaking the record previously held by Josep Samitier. He agreed to a one-year contract extension to keep him with Barcelona until the end of the 2010–11 season.
In February 2010, Guardiola managed his 100th match for Barcelona's first team. His record stood at 71 wins, 19 draws and 10 losses, with 242 goals for and 76 against. On 10 April 2010, he became the first manager in Barcelona's history to beat Real Madrid four times in a row in El Clásico. Barcelona reached the semi-finals of the 2009–10 Champions League, but lost 3–2 on aggregate to José Mourinho's Inter Milan. Despite this, they managed to win their 20th La Liga title with 99 points by beating Real Valladolid 4–0 at home. At the time, this was the highest points total ever gained amongst any of Europe's major leagues. The La Liga title was Guardiola's seventh trophy as manager of the club, tying Ferdinand Daučík for second behind Johan Cruyff and his 11 trophies.
==== 2010–11: Second Champions League title ====
On 21 August, Barcelona beat Sevilla 5–3 on aggregate to win the 2010 Supercopa de España, his second in a row. On 29 November 2010, Barcelona beat Real Madrid 5–0, giving Guardiola five straight wins in El Clásico. On 8 February 2011, Guardiola accepted the club's offer for a one-year deal extension, signing a contract until June 2012.
On 11 May 2011, Barcelona won the La Liga title and the club's third in a row after a 1–1 draw with Levante. On 28 May, Barcelona beat Manchester United 3–1 at Wembley in the 2011 Champions League final.
==== 2011–12: Final season ====
The season started with a 5–4 aggregate win over Real Madrid for the Supercopa de España.
Barcelona won their second trophy of the season on 26 August, beating Porto 2–0 in the 2011 UEFA Super Cup. With the trophy won against Porto, he became all-time record holder of most titles won as a manager at Barcelona, with 12 trophies in only three years. November of the same year saw Guardiola manager his 200th match for Barcelona's first team. His record stood at 144 wins, 39 draws and 17 losses with 500 goals for and 143 against.
Barcelona ended the 2011 calendar year winning the Club World Cup, beating Brazilian club Santos 4–0 in the final, the widest margin in an Intercontinental Cup/Club World Cup final since changing to a single match format. This was Guardiola's 13th title of only 16 tournaments played. On 9 January 2012, he was named FIFA World Coach of the Year. On his 41st birthday, he led his side to a 2–1 victory over arch-rivals Real Madrid in El Clásico, ensuring that he remained unbeaten against Real Madrid in regular time as a manager. On 21 April, Guardiola conceded the league title to leaders Real Madrid after they beat Barcelona 2–1 and extended their lead in the table to seven points with four matches remaining.
On 24 April, a 2–2 draw at home against Chelsea in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final knocked Barcelona out of the competition on a 2–3 aggregate score. That effectively left the team with only the Copa del Rey to play for. Guardiola had faced criticism over his recent tactics and squad selections. On 27 April 2012, he announced he would step down as Barcelona's manager at the end of the 2011–12 season. He had been on a rolling contract that was renewed annually during his tenure as manager. Citing tiredness as the main reason for his decision, he also commented that four years at a club like Barcelona felt like an eternity.
Guardiola continued to lead Barcelona to wins in the remaining La Liga games of the season, followed by a 3–0 win in the Copa del Rey final. His record of 14 trophies in four seasons has made him the most successful manager in Barcelona's history. Barcelona announced that he would be succeeded by Tito Vilanova, who would begin leading the first team at the start of the 2012–13 season.
==== Sabbatical ====
After his time at Barcelona came to an end, Guardiola took a year's sabbatical in New York City. On 7 January 2013, he came in third place for the 2012 FIFA World Coach of the Year, behind the winner Vicente del Bosque and runner-up José Mourinho. While at a news conference at the 2012 FIFA Ballon d'Or gala in Zürich, Guardiola said: "I have taken a decision to return to coaching but beyond that no decision has been taken. I don't have a team to go to but I would like to go back to coaching."
=== Bayern Munich ===
==== 2013–2015: Consecutive Bundesliga titles ====
On 16 January 2013, it was announced that Guardiola would take over as manager of Bundesliga club Bayern Munich after the 2012–13 season, replacing Jupp Heynckes for the following season. He addressed his first press conference at Bayern, on 24 June 2013, in German, and had his first training session two days later. His first official match was the German Super Cup against Borussia Dortmund, with Bayern losing 4–2. His first trophy with Bayern was the 2013 UEFA Super Cup, defeating longtime adversary José Mourinho, who had just returned to manage at Chelsea. Bayern beat ten-man Chelsea in a shoot-out after Manuel Neuer saved Romelu Lukaku's kick.
In December 2013, Guardiola won his third Club World Cup after beating Raja Casablanca in Morocco. On 25 March 2014, he led Bayern to their 23rd Bundesliga title by beating Hertha Berlin 3–1 at the Olympiastadion in Berlin. With seven matches remaining in the season, it was the earliest the championship had been won in Bundesliga history, breaking the record Heynckes' Bayern had set in the previous season. Guardiola broke Karl-Heinz Feldkamp's record for the longest winning streak to start his tenure at a Bundesliga club. The streak ended at 28 when Augsburg defeated Bayern 1–0 on matchday 29. The streak also ended Bayern's 53–match undefeated streak.
Bayern were drawn against Real Madrid in the semi–finals of Champions League. Bayern lost the first leg 1–0 and the second leg 4–0. The first leg was also Guardiola's first defeat at the Santiago Bernabéu. He finished the 2013–14 season by winning the DFB-Pokal 2–0 in extra–time.
In the 2014–15 season, Bayern lost the German Super Cup 2–0 to Borussia Dortmund. On 11 March 2015, Bayern defeated Shakhtar Donetsk 7–0, tying their largest win in Champions League history. In Guardiola's 100th match as manager, Bayern defeated Porto 6–1. With the win, Bayern reached their fourth-straight Champions League semi-final. On 28 April 2015, Bayern were knocked out of the German Cup in a penalty shoot-out. Bayern had missed all four of their shots. In his first competitive match against Barcelona, Bayern lost 3–0. Bayern failed to get a shot on target in the match. For the first time in his career, he lost four in a row (including the shoot-out loss).
==== 2015–16: Second domestic double and final season ====
The 2015–16 season started on 1 August 2015 when Bayern lost in a shoot-out to Wolfsburg in the German Super Cup. In the league, Bayern won their first ten matches. The first time they dropped points in the league was on 30 October 2015 in a 0–0 scoreline against Eintracht Frankfurt and their first loss in the league was on 5 December 2015 in a 3–1 scoreline to Borussia Mönchengladbach. In the Champions League group stage, Bayern won Group F, winning five out of the six matches. Bayern's only loss in the Champions League group stage was against Arsenal on 20 October. This was Bayern's first loss in all competitions during the 2015–16 season.
On 20 December, Bayern confirmed that Guardiola was leaving the club after his contract expired at the end of the season, with Carlo Ancelotti his replacement for the 2016–17 season.
On 3 May 2016, Guardiola's Bayern Munich lost to Atlético Madrid in the Champions League semi-finals stage, thereby ending his final chance of winning a Champions League title with the Bavarian club. Guardiola's final match was on 21 May 2016, with Bayern defeating Borussia Dortmund in a shootout. He finished with a record of 82 wins, eleven draws and nine losses in the Bundesliga; a record of 14 wins, three draws and no losses in the DFB-Pokal; a record of 23 wins, five draws and eight losses in the UEFA Champions League. He also went a combined two wins, two draws, and two losses in the FIFA Club World Cup, UEFA Super Cup, and the German Super Cup. In non–official competitions, he went a combined six wins, one draw, and one loss.
=== Manchester City ===
==== 2016–17: Adjustment to England and first season ====
On 1 February 2016, Manchester City signed Guardiola to a three-year contract for the start of the 2016–17 season. Guardiola brought in several significant players in the summer, including midfielders İlkay Gündoğan from Borussia Dortmund and Nolito from Celta Vigo, winger Leroy Sané from Schalke 04 and defender John Stones from Everton. He also controversially replaced long-serving City starting goalkeeper Joe Hart with Claudio Bravo from his former club Barcelona; Hart would never make another appearance for the club.
On 13 August 2016, Guardiola earned victory in his first match of the Premier League season, as City defeated Sunderland 2–1. On 11 September, Guardiola won his first Manchester derby as a manager in a 2–1 City victory at Old Trafford; this was also his sixth win against his "rival" manager José Mourinho.
City were leaders going into the international break, but their form declined thereafter. Manchester City lost to Everton 0–4 on 15 January 2017; this was Guardiola's biggest-ever managerial defeat in a domestic competition. In Europe, City were eliminated in the Champions League round of 16 by Monaco on away goals after a 6–6 aggregate draw. The second leg of the tie was Guardiola's 100th game as a manager in European competition, and he arrived at that mark with the best record of any manager, having earned 61 wins and 23 draws (one draw better than the previous record holder, Guardiola's former manager at Barcelona, Louis van Gaal). Following a loss to Arsenal in the FA Cup semi-finals, Guardiola finished the season without a trophy for the first time in his managerial career.
==== 2017–18: "Centurions" and first Premier League title ====
Guardiola identified the defensive areas which required improvement for Manchester City in the summer transfer window to challenge for the league title, particularly in the goalkeeper and full-back positions. Due to Bravo's struggles the previous season, Ederson was brought in as the new first-choice goalkeeper. Wing-backs Benjamin Mendy and Kyle Walker were also signed, while dispensing of all the previous senior full-backs at the club in Aleksandar Kolarov, Gaël Clichy, Bacary Sagna and Pablo Zabaleta. Additionally, Bernardo Silva and Danilo were also acquired from Monaco and Real Madrid, respectively.
On 25 February 2018, City won the 2017–18 EFL Cup after beating Arsenal 3–0 in the final, which was Guardiola's first trophy with the club. On 15 April, City were confirmed as 2017–18 Premier League champions following Manchester United's 1–0 home defeat to West Bromwich Albion. After finishing the league season with a record-breaking 100 points, Guardiola signed a new contract with City until 2021.
==== 2018–2020: Domestic treble and Champions League disappointment ====
During Guardiola's third season as manager, Manchester City signed Riyad Mahrez from Leicester City for a fee of £60 million. On 5 August 2018, City kicked off the season with a 2–0 victory over FA Cup holders Chelsea in the 2018 FA Community Shield.
On 24 February 2019, Guardiola's side played Chelsea in the EFL Cup final held at Wembley. The match ended 0–0 after extra time, and Manchester City won 4–3 on penalties to retain the trophy for the second year in a row. On 9 April, City faced Tottenham Hotspur in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-finals, held at Tottenham's new stadium. The game ended in a 0–1 defeat for City. The second leg was held at the Etihad Stadium on 17 April, where Guardiola's side beat Tottenham 4–3, with City's last-minute fifth goal having been controversially disallowed. Due to the aggregate score being a 4–4 draw, Tottenham went through to the semi-finals on away goals. On 12 May, Guardiola secured a second consecutive Premier League title. His side finished on 98 points, one point above Liverpool, after a 4–1 victory at Brighton & Hove Albion in the final match of the season. On 18 May, City beat Watford 6–0 in the final of the FA Cup, becoming the first ever men's team in England to win a domestic treble.
Guardiola made two major acquisitions during the summer transfer window of 2019 in defender João Cancelo from Juventus for £27.4m plus Danilo and midfielder Rodri from Atlético Madrid for a fee of £62.8 million, a club record. These signings meant that the value of the City squad had exceeded €1 billion, becoming the first football club in the world to assemble a squad with this value. On 4 August 2019, City began the season with a penalty shoot-out victory against Liverpool in the Community Shield, claiming the trophy for the second straight year. During the match, Guardiola also became the first Premier League manager to receive a yellow card from the referee. On 1 March, Manchester City beat Aston Villa 2–1 in the 2020 EFL Cup final, winning the competition for a third successive season. City finished second in the 2019–20 Premier League after a spring hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After defeating Real Madrid in the 2019–20 Champions League round of 16, Guardiola's side faced Lyon in the single-elimination quarter-finals on 15 August 2020. City lost the match 1–3 and was eliminated at the quarter-final stage for the third season in a row.
==== 2020–2024: Premier League four-peat, Champions League win and continental treble ====
The 2020–21 season saw City's defence greatly improve compared to the last campaign, conceding just one goal in twelve matches played. On 19 November 2020, Guardiola signed a new two-year contract with Manchester City until summer 2023. He won his 500th game as manager after City beat Sheffield United 1–0 at home in the Premier League on 31 January 2021; it was the ninth game City had won in January, becoming the team with the most wins in a single month in the top four tiers of English football since the Football League began in 1888. Following a 3–1 victory over Swansea City in the FA Cup on 10 February, Guardiola's side broke the record for the longest winning run in English top-flight football history, with fifteen straight victories for City in all competitions.
Guardiola won his third Premier League title on 11 May after Manchester United's home defeat to Leicester City, two weeks after beating Tottenham Hotspur 1–0 in the 2021 EFL Cup final to claim that trophy for the fourth successive time. On 29 May, Manchester City played in the Champions League final for the first time in their history, losing to Chelsea 0–1. Following the match, Guardiola was criticised for his team selection and not starting a defensive midfielder. Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel also admitted that he was surprised not to see midfielder Fernandinho in the City starting line-up.
During the summer transfer window of 2021, Manchester City broke the British transfer record by signing Aston Villa midfielder Jack Grealish for £100m. On 25 September, he surpassed Les McDowall as the manager with the most wins in Manchester City history following their 1–0 away victory over Chelsea in the Premier League. On 22 May 2022, Manchester City won the Premier League with a 3–2 victory over Aston Villa. This was Guardiola's fourth title at the club, placing him second on the list of managers with the most Premier League titles.
During the 2022–23 season, Manchester City won their third consecutive Premier League title, their fifth under Guardiola. On 23 November 2022, Guardiola signed a new two-year contract with Manchester City until summer 2025. On 3 June 2023, the club won their second FA Cup under Guardiola after a 2–1 victory over rivals Manchester United in the final to achieve another domestic double. On 10 June 2023, he led the club to their first Champions League title, and his personal third, after a 1–0 win against Inter Milan in the final, which completed their continental treble.
On 16 August 2023, Guardiola won a record-equaling fourth UEFA Super Cup title, also becoming the first-ever manager to win the trophy with three clubs, as the Mancunian side defeated Sevilla 5–4 on penalties following a 1–1 draw. On 22 December, Guardiola guided City to their first FIFA Club World Cup trophy, as they beat Fluminense 4–0 in the final, and became the first English club to win five titles in a calendar year. With this achievement, Guardiola became the first manager in history to win four FIFA Club World Cup titles. Following the match, Guardiola stated that he "had the feeling [...] would close the chapter, we won all the titles, there's nothing else to win. I had a feeling the job was done, it was over".
Man City's Champions League defence was ended in the quarter finals following a 4–3 loss on penalties after a 4—4 aggregate draw to Real Madrid who Man City beat 5–1 in the semi finals of the previous Champions League which ended Man City's hope of consecutive continental trebles.
On 19 May 2024, Man City beat West Ham United 3–1 on the final day of the season to win their fourth straight Premier League title with 91 points, two points ahead of Arsenal, becoming the first English club to win four top flight league titles in a row. A week later, Man City lost the FA Cup Final to Manchester United 2–1 which ended their chance of a consecutive domestic double.
==== 2024–present: Decline and challenges ====
Under Pep Guardiola, Manchester City's 2024–25 season initially mirrored the success of the previous campaign, winning the Community Shield for the first time since 2019 and for the third time in the Guardiola era and beginning the league season with an unbeaten run of nine games. However, the team's fortunes took a downturn following a 1–2 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in the fourth round of the EFL Cup. This loss marked the beginning of a difficult period for the club, as they won only one of their next thirteen matches across all competitions.
On 9 November 2024, Manchester City were beaten 2–1 by Brighton & Hove Albion, meaning that for the first time in his managerial career, Guardiola had suffered four losses in a row in regulation time. On 22 November 2024, Guardiola signed a two-year contract extension with the club which will keep him at the Etihad until 2027, despite earlier widespread speculation that he might not renew his contract and could leave the club at the end of the 2024–25 Premier League season. However, a day later, Guardiola suffered his heaviest ever home defeat as Manchester City manager in a 4–0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur.
On 19 February 2025, Manchester City was eliminated from the 2024–25 Champions League after a 3–6 aggregate loss to Real Madrid, marking their first failure to reach the round of sixteen since the 2012–13 season. Guardiola, reflecting on the team's struggles, openly criticized his own performance and suggested that he would not remain at the club if he were found to be the source of the problem.
With Manchester City only having the FA Cup to play for, they would make the FA Cup final for the third season in a row after beating Nottingham Forest 2–0 in the semi finals but they lost the final 1–0 to Crystal Palace marking Manchester City's second FA Cup final defeat in a row and the first time Guardiola had lost two finals in a row in the same competition in his managerial career. The loss also meant Manchester City would finish a season without a major trophy for the first time since the 2016–17 season. After a 2–0 win over Fulham on the final day of the season, Manchester City finished third in the Premier League with 71 points ensuring Champions League qualification for the 15th consecutive season but the third place finish also marked Manchester City's worst finish in the league since the 2016–17 season.
On 5 October 2025, he secured his 250th Premier League victory with a 1–0 away win over Brentford, achieving the milestone in just 349 matches and surpassing Alex Ferguson's previous record of 404 matches. A month later, on 9 November, he took charge of his 1,000th match, leading his team to a 3–0 win over Liverpool and maintaining a 71.6% overall win rate. On 28 January 2026, he recorded his 400th win with the club in 569 matches in a 2–0 win over Galatasaray in the Champions League, becoming the fastest manager in England to reach this milestone, breaking Arsène Wenger's previous record of 696 matches.
== Manager profile ==
=== Tactics ===
Although much emphasis is placed on retaining possession of the ball and dictating play, with the intent to have the opposing side's defence chase the ball for extended periods of play, Guardiola's teams are recognised for pressing off the ball. Players press and harry the opposition collectively in an attempt to win back possession of the ball. This collective press is only conducted in the starting third of the opposition's pitch where less space exists and defenders and/or the goalkeeper may not be as good at dribbling or passing the ball as a midfielder.
As high pressing became prominent, Guardiola sought to counteract it with goalkeepers and defenders comfortable with controlling the ball and both long and short ball distribution, with goalkeepers such as Victor Valdés and Manuel Neuer also acting as sweeper-keepers at Barcelona and Bayern Munich, rushing off their line to prevent counter-attacks, and playing out from the back. At Manchester City, Ederson routinely played accurate long balls up-field when City were pressed high, at times taking the entire opposition out-of-play and creating 1-on-1 situations for City forwards. To avoid getting caught by long-range passing from City's defensive-third, the opposition defence would cautiously drop deep despite the forward line's high-press, hence creating space in the middle of the pitch.
Guardiola has stated he tries to constantly evolve his tactics. After learning the style analogous with Total Football under Johan Cruyff, Guardiola was particularly influenced by his time as a player in Mexico under his friend and manager at Dorados, Juan Manuel Lillo. Guardiola also sought help of Marcelo Bielsa to learn from him. His editorials for El Pais during the 2006 World Cup in praise of Luis Aragonés' Spanish side and Ricardo La Volpe's Mexican side reveal the extent of his reverence for possession-based, attacking football, with defenders along with the goal-keeper playing it out from the back, which Guardiola later cited as a major inspiration on multiple occasions. In one of his editorials, he called Zinedine Zidane France's best defender, pointing out how recycling possession in itself is a key defensive tactic, something that Guardiola teams would later become synonymous with. Philipp Lahm, who played for Guardiola at Bayern Munich, pointed out that Guardiola's tactics were majorly "an offensive Sacchi", modelled after the Arrigo Sacchi's Milan team of the late 1980s, emphasising fluid movement, quick recoveries, and keeping possession of the ball, which was in sharp contrast to the strictly-defensive Catenaccio–inspired style employed effectively by José Mourinho and later by Diego Simeone; and that Guardiola has evolved his approach that seemingly was now a mix of both those styles.
Tactics employed by Guardiola have been likened to Gegenpressing invented by Ralf Rangnick and used to great effect by Jürgen Klopp. His tactics have influenced approaches of managers such as Maurizio Sarri, Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter, and Luis Enrique; as well as those of other sports such as rugby. Guardiola admitted that he had to adapt his style to German and English leagues, but his "football education comes from [Catalunya]" which is possession-based, and distinct from Gegenpressing. While several pundits have often linked Guardiola's attacking–minded tactics at Barcelona – centred around quick passing, ball possession, movement, a high defensive line, and heavy pressing – to the tiki-taka style employed by the Spanish national side under Aragonés at Euro 2008, Guardiola himself has refuted this claim, and has even been critical of the system, commenting in 2014: "I loathe all that passing for the sake of it, all that tiki-taka. It's so much rubbish and has no purpose. You have to pass the ball with a clear intention, with the aim of making it into the opposition's goal. It's not about passing for the sake of it."
Guardiola has been praised by pundits for his flexibility as a coach, and has used several formations throughout his career. At Barcelona, he often used a 4–3–3 formation with inverted wingers and attacking full-backs who would overlap and provide width to the team, as well as a 3–4–3 formation on occasion; he also later used these formations at Bayern Munich and Manchester City. In the 3–4–3 formation, defensive midfielders Sergio Busquets at Barcelona and Xabi Alonso at Bayern Münich would occasionally drop back into the back-line to act as an additional defender; this role was similar to the one Guardiola himself played under Cruyff at Barcelona. At Bayern Münich, he also used full-backs Phillip Lahm and Joshua Kimmich in midfield. Guardiola also began to use a false 9 during his time at Barcelona, fielding Lionel Messi in the centre of the team's attacking line, who would drop deep into midfield to give the team a numerical advantage in the middle of the pitch. At Manchester City, after experimenting with several formations, he used a modern version of the 3–2–2–3 formation during the 2022–23 treble–winning season, which was likened to the past WM formation. He deployed centre-back John Stones in a hybrid defensive and creative role in midfield, which Jonathan Wilson of The Guardian likened to both the libero and wing-half roles in 2023. Guardiola also used inverted full-backs who moved inside to occupy central areas of the pitch, while he also played in a more physical and direct style than in previous seasons, utilising Erling Haaland as a traditional striker.
=== Reception ===
Considered by pundits to be one of the greatest managers of all time, Guardiola is often linked with the successes of the Spanish and German national teams in 2010s, both of whom had many first-team players that were coached by him.
Jürgen Klopp credits Guardiola with building the toughest teams he has ever faced, stating: "I could say City are the toughest opponent I've ever had but it wasn't much easier when I faced Pep's Bayern [..] We push each other to insane levels."
In 2017, Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini was critical of Guardiola's philosophy, however, and expressed his belief that the popularisation of possession-based playing styles, associated with Barcelona under Guardiola, and the increasing focus on developing defenders who are comfortable with the ball at their feet from a young age in Italy, had in fact had a negative impact on their overall defensive quality. He commented: "Guardiolismo [a term he coined for "the Guardiola way"] has ruined a generation of Italian defenders a bit – now everyone is looking to push up, defenders know how to set the tone of play and they can spread the ball, but they don't know how to mark."
Several of Guardiola's former players, teammates, and coaching staff members, such as Xabi Alonso, Xavi, Luis Enrique, Erik ten Hag, and Mikel Arteta, have pursued coaching careers, and have cited Guardiola as an inspiration.
== Personal life ==
Guardiola was born to Dolors and Valentí. He has two older sisters and a younger brother, Pere Guardiola, a football agent. He is an atheist. Guardiola met his wife Cristina Serra when he was 18. They married on 29 May 2014. They have three children named Maria, Màrius and Valentina. Serra and Guardiola split in 2025. He is a distant relative to Spanish politician Anna Balletbò.
Following his tenure as Barcelona's manager, he stated that he would move to the United States to live in Manhattan, New York, for a year, until he had decided on his future. To prepare for his position as the manager of Bayern Munich, Guardiola studied German for four to five hours each day.
Guardiola supports the political independence of Catalonia. In 2015, he confirmed that he would participate in the pro-independence coalition, Junts pel Sí, in that year's regional parliamentary election. He has spoken in support of the people of Palestine and condemned the civilian loss of life in the Gaza War, referring to the situation as a genocide against Palestinians.
On 24 May 2023, Guardiola made a cameo appearance in Ted Lasso, in which Ted Lasso's (played by Jason Sudeikis) team, AFC Richmond, play against Manchester City and win. Guardiola gives Lasso a handshake following City's defeat and gives Lasso a word of advice, to which Lasso responds positively. Guardiola reportedly is a fan of the show and enjoys watching it with his wife and daughter.
Guardiola was one of the 13 sports personalities named in the Pandora Papers published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). He had an account open in the principality of Andorra until 2012, exploiting the tax amnesty that Mariano Rajoy's conservative government had enacted in Spain to regularise his fiscal situation. Until that point, he had not declared the funds held in that account to the Spanish Tax Agency.
== Career statistics ==
=== Club ===
=== International ===
Scores and results list Spain's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Guardiola goal
=== Managerial ===
As of match played 22 March 2026
== Honours ==
=== Player ===
Barcelona B
Segunda División B: 1990–91
Barcelona
La Liga: 1990–91, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1997–98, 1998–99
Copa del Rey: 1996–97, 1997–98
Supercopa de España: 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996
European Cup: 1991–92
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1996–97
European Super Cup: 1992
Spain U23
Olympic Games Gold Medal: 1992
Individual
Bravo Award: 1992
Olympics – Spain Best Player: 1992
=== Manager ===
Barcelona B
Tercera División: 2007–08
Barcelona
La Liga: 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11
Copa del Rey: 2008–09, 2011–12; runner-up: 2010–11
Supercopa de España: 2009, 2010, 2011
UEFA Champions League: 2008–09, 2010–11
UEFA Super Cup: 2009, 2011
FIFA Club World Cup: 2009, 2011
Bayern Munich
Bundesliga: 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16
DFB-Pokal: 2013–14, 2015–16
UEFA Super Cup: 2013
FIFA Club World Cup: 2013
Manchester City
Premier League: 2017–18, 2018–19, 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24
FA Cup: 2018–19, 2022–23; runner-up: 2023–24, 2024–25
EFL Cup: 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21, 2025–26
FA Community Shield: 2018, 2019, 2024
UEFA Champions League: 2022–23; runner-up: 2020–21
UEFA Super Cup: 2023
FIFA Club World Cup: 2023
Individual
Don Balón Award: 2009, 2010
Miguel Muñoz Trophy: 2008–09, 2009–10
Onze d'Or Coach of the Year: 2009, 2011, 2012
World Soccer magazine World Manager of the Year: 2009, 2011
IFFHS World's Best Club Coach: 2009, 2011, 2023
UEFA Team of the Year Best Coach: 2008–09, 2010–11
La Liga Coach of the Year: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012
FIFA World Coach of the Year: 2011
Globe Soccer Awards Coach Career Award: 2013
Globe Soccer Awards Coach of the Century: 2020
Premier League Manager of the Month: February 2017, September 2017, October 2017, November 2017, December 2017, February 2019, April 2019, January 2021, February 2021, November 2021, December 2021, February 2026
Premier League Manager of the Season: 2017–18, 2018–19, 2020–21, 2022–23, 2023–24
LMA Manager of the Year: 2017–18, 2020–21, 2022–23
LMA Premier League Manager of the Year: 2017–18, 2020–21, 2022–23, 2023–24
League Managers Association (LMA) Hall of Fame
UEFA Men's Coach of the Year: 2022–23
The Best FIFA Football Coach: 2022–23
=== Decorations ===
Gold Medal Royal Order of Sports Merit: 2010
Catalan of the Year Award: 2009 |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obie_Trice | Obie Trice | Obie Trice III (born November 14, 1977) is an American rapper. He signed with fellow Detroit rapper Eminem's Shady Records, an imprint of Interscope Records in 2000 to release his first two albums, Cheers (2003) and Second Round's on Me (2006). Both peaked within the top ten of the Billboard 200, while the former was supported by the singles "Got Some Teeth" and the Dr. Dre-produced "The Set Up (You Don’t Know)" (featuring Nate Dogg). Upon leaving the label, Trice formed his own record label, Black Market Entertainment to release his following albums, Bottoms Up (2012), The Hangover (2015) and The Fifth (2019).
== Biography ==
Obie Trice III was born and raised on the west side of Detroit, Michigan, by his mother Eleanor Trice, along with three brothers. He is of African American and German descent. Trice was given a karaoke machine by his mother when he was 11 and he used it to rhyme over instrumentals from artists such as N.W.A. By the age of 14, he was attending rap battle gatherings around Detroit, including the Hip Hop Shop, where he and his friends would go on Saturday afternoons. The battles were hosted by Proof from D12. Positive response from watchers encouraged Trice to get into rap music seriously."
Trice was calling himself "Obie 1" at that time as a pun on Star Wars character Obi-Wan Kenobi, but before Proof introduced him at the Hip Hop Shop, he asked Trice his real name and introduced him as "Obie Trice", which remains his rap name. Trice was introduced to Eminem through D12 member Bizarre. Later, Trice's manager arranged for him to have dinner and go to a Kid Rock party with Eminem.
== Career ==
=== Shady Records (2000–2002) ===
Trice signed to Shady Records in 2000. He created a freestyle skit on the D12 album Devil's Night, following up with an intro snippet in Eminem's The Eminem Show lead single "Without Me", as well as the song "Drips". Later in 2002, Trice rapped on songs for the 8 Mile soundtrack, and also had a cameo appearance in the film as a rapper in a parking lot.
=== Cheers (2003–2004) ===
Trice's debut album, Cheers, was released on September 23, 2003, with its first single "Got Some Teeth" being well received on radio in a number of countries. "Got Some Teeth” peaked at number 54 on the Billboard Hot 100, and peaked within the top ten of the charts in Belgium (Flanders), Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. In the latter country, "Got Some Teeth" debuted and peaked at number eight on the UK Singles Chart in October 2003. He also released the singles "The Set Up" and "Don't Come Down". The album consists of 17 tracks with production from Eminem, Dr. Dre, Timbaland, Mike Elizondo, Emile, Fredwreck and Mr. Porter. Artists featured on Cheers include Busta Rhymes, Eminem, 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks, Dr. Dre, Nate Dogg, D12, Tony Yayo, and Timbaland. The album was eventually certified Gold by the RIAA.
Trice also featured on the track Hennessey on Tupac Shakur's posthumous album Loyal To The Game.
=== Second Round's on Me and shooting (2005–2007) ===
In 2005, Trice began work on his second album, entitled Second Round's on Me. The album was released on August 15, 2006. Following the release of Second Round's on Me, he released a mixtape called Bar Shots with G-Unit's DJ Whoo Kid.
Shortly after his label-mate Proof was shot to death in a Detroit nightclub, a song emerged on the mixtape circuit called "Ride Wit Me". The song was dedicated to Proof. Trice made a speech at Proof's funeral, addressing the problem of black-on-black violence:
I want to talk to those coming up in the 'hood, coming up in the struggle. We're killing each other, and it's about nothing. Nothing. Nothing. We're all dying... over nothing.
In the single "Cry Now" from his second album, Trice addresses his shooting, as well as Eminem's rumored retirement, referenced with the following line, "Rock City is my voice / The white boy has stepped down / So I will accept the crown." Trice also addresses the shooting in the song "Pistol Pistol (Remix)" from the album Eminem Presents: The Re-Up claiming he's after revenge, "I solemnly swear on my daughters tears/The nigga that got him in the head will feel it before the year ends / Hope you inconspicuous my friend / `Cause once the word get back ya in a world of sin / Bullets will hurtle at him for tryin to murder what been determined as the first solo African " and later "I'm so sincere you seein' a hearse this year / it's not a verse it's curse for burstin' what's on ya person". He has since given insight as to why he feels the shooting occurred, and has labeled it "haterism", as well as a bad mind state by saying, "it's a lot of do-or-die type individuals. They want to get that plug and there's really more to the game than they think it is [...] it's competition on a real vicious level."
=== Departure from Shady Records (2008–2009) ===
In June 2008, Obie Trice departed from Shady Records due to concern that he was not being promoted properly. Contrary to public belief at the time of the announcement, Trice did not have a falling out with Eminem or Dr. Dre. Both contributed vocals and production to Trice's upcoming album. A misunderstanding was made where it was believed he was attacking the label and Eminem on a single titled "The Giant"; however, this was quickly dismissed.
=== Special Reserve (2009–2010) ===
On December 15, 2009, a compilation album, Special Reserve, by Obie Trice and MoSS, the first producer of DJ Premier's "Works of Mart" production company, was released. The album is a collection of eleven of Trice's tracks recorded with MoSS from 1997 to 2000. The album served as a preface to his next album, "Bottoms Up".
=== Move to Black Market Entertainment, Bottoms Up, The Hangover and The Fifth, getting signed to Greenback Records (2010–present) ===
In 2010, Rap Basement reported that Obie Trice would launch his own independent music label, Black Market Entertainment. The label would be owned by Universal. On May 4, he confirmed that Eminem would be a featured guest artist on his upcoming album, Bottoms Up. On August 24, 2010, he released the single "My Time 2011" via Myspace; the track was produced by Geno XO. The music video was released on March 22, 2011; footage for the video was filmed at the Black Market Ent. Launch Party.
In April 2011, Trice released another single called "Learn to Love". It was a remixed version of the song "Haters" from his Bar Shots mixtape. That August, Trice tweeted the release date for Bottoms Up, initially planned for October 25. The first official single, "Battle Cry" featuring Adrian Rezza and produced by Lucas Rezza was released on iTunes on August 23.
On April 3, 2012, Bottoms Up was released. On May 7, Trice released a new song from his upcoming mixtape The Hangover titled "Get Rich Die Tryin" featuring Bilal. In an interview with HipHopDX that August, Trice announced that he was working on an album that would also be also titled The Hangover, which features production by Warren G. On June 15, 2015, Trice released the single "Good Girls" which would appear on The Hangover. The track was produced by the Grammy award-winning producer Magnedo7, who was one of the producers of Eminem's seventh studio album, Recovery. The album was released on August 7.
In a 2016 interview with Mr. Wavvy, Trice announced that he was already working on his fifth studio album, which he planned to releasing later in the year. Additionally, he revealed plans of a box set that included all four of his previous studio albums, along with previously unreleased tour footage. On August 23, 2019, his fifth album aptly named The Fifth was released. It includes guest appearances from Magnedo7, Directorkasper, Xzibit, and others.
On December 10, 2019, Obie Trice released a diss track called "Spanky Hayes" against Nick Cannon after Cannon released two diss tracks against Eminem. In the track, Trice was rapping over the instrumental of "30 Something" by Jay-Z. On December 16, Trice released a second diss track against Cannon called "Spanky Hayes 2" and under original production by Dubmuzik, who has produced for Trice in the past. In the diss track, he also calls out Suge Knight for calling Cannon "the new 2Pac" on the latter's first diss track against Eminem.
On September 14, 2025, Obie Trice shared a video on X (Twitter) of Conor McGregor announcing about Trice officially being signed with McGregor’s record label Greenback Records.
== Personal life ==
Trice's first child, a daughter, was born in 1998. He has credited her birth as motivation for him to get serious with music.
On April 22, 2011, Trice met with Michigan State Senator Virgil Smith Jr. to discuss providing local artists with entertainment venues.
=== Legal issues ===
On December 31, 2005, Trice's car was shot six times and while driving on the Lodge Expressway by Wyoming Avenue in Detroit; one of the bullets penetrated his head. Trice was able to drive off the expressway, where his girlfriend waved down the police. He was taken to Providence Hospital and released later that day. Doctors contemplated whether or not to remove the bullet. As it was too dangerous to operate, the bullet is still lodged in his skull.
TMZ reported on December 6, 2019, that Trice was arrested for shooting his girlfriend's son. On July 8, 2020, Trice was sentenced to 90 days in the Oakland County Jail in Michigan from charges related to the shooting.
On June 16, 2022, Trice was arrested and jailed after an arraignment in District Court in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, on a charge of using a telephone to harass or threaten someone. Soon after, he posted the $10,000 bond in the case.
== Discography == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minute_Maid_Park | Minute Maid Park | |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinchilla | Chinchilla | Chinchilla is a genus consisting of two species (Chinchilla chinchilla and Chinchilla lanigera) of crepuscular rodents of the parvorder Caviomorpha, native to the Andes Mountains in South America. They live in colonies called "herds" at high elevations up to 4,270 m (14,000 ft). Historically, chinchillas lived in an area that included parts of Bolivia, Peru and Chile, but today, colonies in the wild are known only in Chile. Along with their relatives, viscachas, they make up the family Chinchillidae. They are also related to the chinchilla rat.
Chinchillas have the densest fur of all extant terrestrial mammals, with around 20,000 hairs per square centimeter and 50 hairs growing from each follicle. The chinchilla is named after the Chincha people of the Andes, who once wore its dense, velvet-like fur and ate their meat. By the end of the 19th century, chinchillas had become quite rare after being hunted for their notably soft fur. Most chinchillas currently used by the fur industry for clothing and other accessories are farm-raised. Domestic chinchillas descended from C. lanigera are sometimes kept as pets, and may be considered a type of pocket pet.
== Species ==
The two living species of chinchilla are Chinchilla chinchilla (formerly known as Chinchilla brevicaudata) and Chinchilla lanigera. C. chinchilla has a shorter tail, a thicker neck and shoulders, and shorter ears than C. lanigera. The former species is currently facing extinction; the latter, though rare, can be found in the wild. Domesticated chinchillas are thought to be of the C. lanigera species.
== Distribution and habitat ==
Chinchillas formerly occupied the coastal regions, hills, and mountains of Chile, Peru, Argentina, and Bolivia. Overexploitation caused the downturn of these populations and, as early as 1914, one scientist claimed that the species was headed for extinction. Five years of fieldwork (published in 2007) in Jujuy Province, Argentina, failed to find a single specimen. Populations in Chile were thought extinct by 1953, but the animal was found to inhabit an area in the Antofagasta Region in the late 1900s and early 2000s. The animal may be extinct in Bolivia and Peru, though one specimen found (in a restaurant in Cerro de Pasco) may hail from a native population.
In their native habitats, chinchillas live in burrows or crevices in rocks. They are agile jumpers and can jump up to 1.8 m (6 ft). Predators in the wild include birds of prey, skunks, felines, snakes and canines. Chinchillas have a variety of defensive tactics, including spraying urine and releasing fur if bitten. In the wild, chinchillas have been observed eating plant leaves, fruits, seeds, and small insects.
In nature, chinchillas live in social groups that resemble colonies, but are properly called herds. Herd sizes can range from 14 members up to 100, and herding behavior is thought to promote both social interaction and protection from predators. They can breed any time of the year, though breeding season typically falls between May and November. They are typically monogamous. Their gestation period is 111 days, longer than most rodents. Due to this long pregnancy, chinchillas are born fully furred and with eyes open. Litters are usually small in number, predominantly two.
== Conservation ==
Both species of chinchilla are currently listed as Endangered by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species due to a severe population loss approximated at a 90% global population loss since 2001. The severe population decline has been caused by chinchilla hunting by humans. The long tailed-species was listed on the IUCN Red List as "Very rare and believed to be decreasing in numbers" in 1965. From 1982 to 1996, both species were listed as Indeterminate. In 2006, the long-tailed species was listed as "Vulnerable" while the short-tailed species was listed as "Critically Endangered". By 2008, both were listed as "Critically Endangered", and in 2016 they were reclassified as "Endangered" due to limited recovery in some areas.
== Relationship with humans ==
=== Fur industry ===
Chinchilla fur trade on an international level goes back to the 16th century. Their fur is popular due to its extremely soft feel, which is caused by the sprouting of 25 hairs (on average) from each hair follicle. The color is usually very even, which makes it ideal for small garments or the lining of larger ones, though some large pieces can be made entirely from the fur. A single, full-length coat made from chinchilla fur may require as many as 150 pelts, as chinchillas are relatively small. Their use for fur led to the near extinction of one species (C.chinchilla), and put serious pressure on the other (C. lanigera). Though it is illegal to hunt wild chinchillas, they are now on the verge of becoming extinct because of continued poaching. Domesticated chinchillas are still bred for fur.
=== As pets ===
The domestic chinchilla is descended from Chinchilla lanigera, the long-tailed chinchilla. They are the more common one in the wild, as the other species, Chinchilla chinchilla, or short-tailed chinchilla, has been hunted nearly to extinction. Domestic chinchillas have thinner bodies, longer tails and larger ears. In the wild, the average life-span of a chinchilla is ten years; however, they could live up to 20 years in human care.
Chinchillas are popular pets, though they require extensive exercise and dental care, due to their teeth continually growing throughout their life span, and since they lack the ability to sweat, they require a temperature-controlled environment.
The animals instinctively clean their fur by taking dust baths, in which they roll around in special dust made of fine pumice, a few times a week; they should not bathe in water, as mold and matting can occur. Their thick fur resists parasites, such as fleas, and reduces loose dander.
Pet chinchillas require easy access to food, water, and hiding places, where they can sleep undisturbed for extended periods of time. Chinchillas are typically highly social creatures, so owners should interact often with their pets. They also have sensitive hearing and are easily startled by loud, unexpected noises.
=== In scientific research ===
Chinchillas have been used in research since the 1950s. Since the 1970s, the prime interest in chinchillas by researchers is their auditory system. Other research fields in which chinchillas are used as an animal model include the study of Chagas disease, gastrointestinal diseases, pneumonia, and listeriosis, as well as of Yersinia and Pseudomonas infections.
== Veterinary medicine ==
=== Fractures ===
Chinchillas live active lives and can recover well from minor physical injury. Fractures may be problematic, because chinchillas sit on their hind legs and eat with their front paws, so many types of injuries will disturb their natural eating behavior.
=== Convulsions ===
Chinchilla breeders sometimes report seeing their animals have convulsions. Typically this happens only irregularly and then only for a few seconds, and not more than a few minutes at the most. Convulsions are a symptom that can have many causes, including a brain problem such as hemorrhaging, a vitamin or dietary element deficiency in the diet, low air quality (such as smoke), or some kind of nervous system injury. If convulsions are observed after chinchillas mate then it is likely related to a circulatory problem. Some chinchillas who are kept in groups have stress convulsions during feeding if they see other chinchillas getting food first. Vitamin B, cardiac medication, or a calcium injection may be used to prevent convulsions.
=== Infectious diseases ===
Listeriosis can be transmitted to chinchillas by contaminated food or from other infected animals. In group housing conditions it can be transmitted from infected chinchillas to the community as a digestive tract disease. Pasteurella can be contracted from food and then transmitted among a group of chinchillas. Symptoms include apathy, digestive disorder, and fever. Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections are widely distributed in nature and can affect chinchillas like many other animals. They can cause wide deaths in populations of chinchillas and spontaneous abortion in pregnant chinchillas.
Respiratory tract infections can be caused by many pathogens, but, regardless of cause, usually result in difficult breathing and a nasal discharge. Young chinchilla are more likely to be affected and these infections are unlikely to result in an epidemic, even if transmissible.
Gastrointestinal disorders are observed as either constipation or diarrhea. These are almost always the result of a problem with the diet, but if the diet is optimal, they could be the symptom of an infectious disease. Constipation in chinchillas is difficult to observe in groups because it may not be obvious that an animal is not contributing to the population's waste. If it is identified, mild treatments include feeding paraffin to soften the feces.
=== Temperament ===
Chinchillas are easily distressed, and when they are unhappy, they may exhibit physical symptoms. A common indicator of stress in pet chinchillas is fur-chewing (or fur barbering), an excessive grooming behavior that results in uneven patches of fur; chinchillas may chew their own fur or that of their cagemates. Fur-chewing can sometimes be alleviated through changes in living environment, but is regarded by some experts to be passed genetically from parents to offspring. Usually, fur-chewing itself is a benign symptom that does not cause physiological distress.
Sick chinchillas may stop eating if they are stressed, which can make them even weaker. Chinchillas that live in communities are especially sensitive in their breeding seasons of February to March and August to September. Chinchillas are social animals and are likely to be upset to have their breeding mate changed in breeding season. They are known to be disturbed by a change of diet in these times.
=== Pharmaceutical treatment ===
Chinchillas may be treated with chloramphenicol, neomycin, or spectinomycin for digestive problems. Sulfonamides dissolved in drinking water may be used. Colistin can be an effective antibiotic. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowflake_Bentley_(book) | Snowflake Bentley (book) | Snowflake Bentley is a children's picture book written by Jacqueline Briggs Martin and illustrated by Mary Azarian. Published in 1998, the book is about Wilson Bentley, the first known photographer of snowflakes. Azarian won the 1999 Caldecott Medal for her illustrations. In 2003, the company Weston Woods Studios, Inc. adapted the book to a film, narrated by Sean Astin. It was released on DVD in 2004.
== Description ==
Snowflake Bentley is a medium-size book, measuring 10 ½ by 10 ¼ inches, and having 16 pages of illustrations. The majority of the pictures are large colorful prints, the typical art style of artist Mary Azarian, and each picture summarizes the wording for that page. Many of the pages have a vertical side bar in each layout, with a light blue background, and white snowflakes that contains factual information about Wilson Bentley. Azarian also uses a black bold frame around her illustrations, intended to represent a photo that has been taken.
== Synopsis ==
The book is based on the life the first known snowflake photographer, Wilson Bentley, and his interest in capturing the beauty of snowflakes through photography. Wilson lived on a farm with his family in Jericho, Vermont, between Lake Champlain and Mount Mansfield, where the annual snowfall can reach up to about 120 inches. Wilson was very fond of snowflakes and wanted to capture them one day to share with others. With a microscope, Wilson tried to depict the snowflakes through drawings but was never able to finish, as the snow would melt too quickly.
As Wilson grew older, he asked his parents if they could get him a camera, so that he could photograph snowflakes. Wilson’s parents decided to spend their savings to buy Wilson his camera because they wanted to support his dream of capturing snowflake photos. With his new-found camera, Wilson went out to take hundreds of pictures.
In the beginning, Wilson’s photos were unsuccessful, but that did not stop him from pursuing his dream. Wilson experimented with lighting, lenses and camera exposures, eventually finding a technique that captured the snowflakes clearly. When it wasn't winter, Wilson loved taking pictures of other aspects of nature, but taking snow pictures would always be his favorite. Wilson would even hold evening slideshows on his lawn to show his friends.
Eventually, Wilson wrote a book about snow and published his photos in magazines. When Wilson went to publish his first book to share to the world, he got caught in a blizzard on his trip, a misfortune which caused him to catch pneumonia and become ill. Two weeks later, Wilson died of the illness. Wilson’s friends and neighbors built a museum of his work to educate the world about “Snowflake” Bentley.
== Critical reception ==
Snowflake Bentley received critical acclaim. Kirkus reviews says “This is a lyrical biographical tribute to a farmer…whose love of snow and careful camera work expanded both natural science and photography”, and Horn book review says “The book exhibits a beautiful blend of Azarian’s splendid woodcuts, a lyrical text, and factual sidebars.” |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brendan_Fraser | Brendan Fraser | Brendan James Fraser ( FRAY-zər; born December 3, 1968) is an American and Canadian actor. Fraser had his breakthrough in 1992 with the comedy Encino Man and the drama School Ties. He gained further prominence for his starring roles in the comedies With Honors (1994) and George of the Jungle (1997) and emerged as a star playing Rick O'Connell in The Mummy films (1999–present). He took on dramatic roles in Gods and Monsters (1998), The Quiet American (2002), and Crash (2004), and further fantasy roles in Bedazzled (2000), Inkheart and Journey to the Center of the Earth (both 2008).
Fraser's film work slowed from the late 2000s to mid-2010s due to poor box office performances and various health and personal issues, including the fallout from a sexual assault committed against him in 2003 by Philip Berk, the then-president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. In addition to films, Fraser branched into television with roles in the Showtime drama The Affair (2016–2017), the FX series Trust (2018), and the HBO Max series Doom Patrol (2019–2023).
His film career was revitalized in the 2020s by roles in Steven Soderbergh's No Sudden Move (2021) and Darren Aronofsky's The Whale (2022), the latter of which earned him critical acclaim and numerous accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Actor – making him the first Canadian to win it.
== Early life ==
Fraser was born on December 3, 1968, in Indianapolis, to Canadian parents Carol Mary (née Généreux; 1937–2016) and Peter Fraser. He is the youngest of four siblings; his brothers are Kevin, Sean, and Regan. His mother was a sales counselor, and his father was a former journalist who worked as a Canadian foreign service officer for the Government Office of Tourism. His maternal uncle, George Genereux, was the only Canadian to win a gold medal in the 1952 Summer Olympics, at the Olympic Trap. Fraser and his three older brothers have Irish, Scottish, German, Czech, and French-Canadian ancestry. He holds dual American and Canadian citizenship.
Fraser's family moved often during his childhood, living in Eureka, California; Seattle, Washington; Ottawa, Ontario; the Netherlands; and Switzerland. His earlier years were spent attending a Montessori school in Detroit and the Sacred Heart School in Bellevue, Washington. He then attended Upper Canada College.
While on vacation in London, in the 1970s, he attended his first professional theater-show, Oliver!, in the West End, which sparked his interest in acting. He also joined the chorus of a high-school musical production of Oklahoma!
Fraser graduated from Seattle's Cornish College of the Arts in 1990. He then began acting at a small acting college in New York City. Fraser had planned on studying toward a Master of Fine Arts in Acting from Southern Methodist University, but after visiting Hollywood, he decided instead to move there to pursue work in film.
== Career ==
=== 1991–1997: Career beginnings ===
In 1991, Fraser made his film debut with a small role as a seaman headed to Vietnam in Dogfight. He got his first leading film role alongside Sean Astin and Pauly Shore in the 1992 comedy film Encino Man, where he played a frozen pre-historic caveman who is thawed out in the present day. The film was a moderate box office success and has gained a cult following. That same year he starred in School Ties with fellow rising actors Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Chris O'Donnell as a Jewish star quarterback confronting embedded anti-semitism in private prep school society.
Between 1994 and 1997, he starred in several box office failures such as With Honors (1994) with Joe Pesci, Airheads (1994) with Steve Buscemi & Adam Sandler, The Passion of Darkly Noon (1995), Mrs. Winterbourne (1996) and The Twilight of the Golds (1997). He also had a small part in the 1995 film Now and Then. He made cameo appearances in the Pauly Shore films Son in Law (1993) and In the Army Now (1994), reprising his Encino Man role.
Fraser performed at his first theatre production in 1995 at the Geffen Playhouse, taking on the role of Victor in John Patrick Shanley's Four Dogs and a Bone.
=== 1997–2001: Global success ===
He had his first major box office success with the 1997 comedy film George of the Jungle which was based on the animated series of the same title created by Jay Ward.
Fraser received critical acclaim for his dramatic role in 1998's Gods and Monsters, which was based on the life of James Whale (Ian McKellen), who directed Frankenstein. The film was written and directed by Bill Condon, and follows the loss of creativity, ambiguous sexuality and the bond between a heterosexual gardener (played by Fraser) and a homosexual, tortured and ailing filmmaker (played by McKellen).
He achieved his biggest commercial success when he portrayed the lead adventurer Rick O'Connell in the fantasy adventure film The Mummy (1999) and its sequel The Mummy Returns (2001). The Mummy established him as one of the biggest film stars of the 1990s. In between these successes, he also starred in the box office bombs Dudley Do-Right (1999) (which was based on another Jay Ward animated series) and the stop-motion/live-action fantasy comedy Monkeybone (2001); though he did have moderate success with the romantic comedy Blast from the Past (1999) and the fantasy comedy Bedazzled (2000), a remake of the 1967 British film of the same name. He lent his voice for the unreleased animated film Big Bug Man, with Marlon Brando.
=== 2001–2008: Dramatic and comedic roles ===
In late 2001, Fraser starred as "Brick" in the Pulitzer Prize winning play Tennessee Williams's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, directed by Anthony Page. Castmates included Ned Beatty, Frances O'Connor and Gemma Jones. The show closed on January 12, 2002, with Fraser garnering many excellent reviews. In 2002, he starred alongside Michael Caine in the political drama The Quiet American which was well received by critics. The following year, he starred in the live-action/animated film Looney Tunes: Back in Action as its human lead, D.J. Drake (he also voiced the Tasmanian Devil). In 2004, he appeared as part of an ensemble cast in the Academy Award-winning film Crash where he played the husband to Sandra Bullock's character as the District Attorney of Los Angeles.
He has also made guest appearances on the television shows Scrubs, King of the Hill, and The Simpsons. In March 2006, he was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame, the first American-born actor to receive the honor. However, as of 2022, he does not have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. After a six-year hiatus in the franchise, Fraser returned for the second sequel to The Mummy released in August 2008 and titled The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. Filming started in Montreal on July 27, 2007, and the film also starred Jet Li as Emperor Han. That same year, he starred in the 3D film adaptation of Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth and the fantasy film Inkheart (chosen personally for the lead role by the novel's author Cornelia Funke).
=== 2009–2020: Setbacks and switch to television ===
In 2010, Fraser returned to Broadway in the production of Elling, but the play closed after one week, due to lackluster reviews. After appearing in the critically panned Furry Vengeance in 2010, Fraser moved from being represented by William Morris Endeavor to the Creative Artists Agency. In 2010, he starred in Whole Lotta Sole directed by Terry George and in 2011, he was set to play William Tell in The Legend of William Tell: 3D, directed by Eric Brevig, with whom Fraser had also worked in Journey to the Center of the Earth. Filming was delayed and late in 2011, Fraser sued the producer Todd Moyer for promised wages. Moyer later countersued for assault, which Fraser dismissed as [Moyer's] desperate attempt to avoid paying his debt. In 2013, he played an Elvis Presley impersonator in the ensemble black comedy Pawn Shop Chronicles.
In 2016, Fraser replaced Ray Liotta in the Bollywood thriller Line of Descent. Fraser later joined the recurring cast of the television drama series The Affair during season 3 where he portrayed the misery-minded prison guard Gunther. He portrayed Getty family fixer James Fletcher Chace in the FX anthology series Trust, which premiered on March 25, 2018. Fraser portrayed Clifford "Cliff" Steele / Robotman in the Titans TV series, with Jake Michaels physically portraying Robotman. He reprised the role in the spin-off series Doom Patrol, where he voices the character and appears as Steele in flashbacks; Riley Shanahan, replacing Jake Michaels in Titans, physically portrays Robotman.
His comeback after a period of relative inactivity was dubbed "The Brennaissance" by fans. In an interview on The Graham Norton Show, Fraser acknowledged the portmanteau.
=== 2020–present: career resurgence and critical acclaim ===
In September 2020, Fraser was cast as gangster Doug Jones in Steven Soderbergh's period crime film No Sudden Move, which was released in 2021. In January 2021, Fraser was announced as the lead in Darren Aronofsky's film The Whale. Aronofsky stated he had looked for the lead role in the movie for a decade, and decided to cast Fraser after seeing him in the trailer of the low-budget Brazilian film Journey to the End of the Night. "A light bulb went off, and I was like, 'Oh, that guy can do it'", he said.
The film premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in September 2022. Fraser spoke on preparing for the role with The New York Times stating, "The Obesity Action Coalition gave me access to many people, so I could ask them their story on Zoom calls. I talked to maybe eight or 10 people — some bedridden, some perfectly mobile." Fraser's performance was highly praised and the film received a six-minute standing ovation at the festival and subsequently won him an Oscar for Best Actor, making him the first Canadian to win in this category.
In August of the same year, Fraser was announced as part of the cast of Martin Scorsese's film Killers of the Flower Moon, as well as Max Barbakow's comedy film Brothers. In October 2021, Fraser was cast to portray the villain Firefly in the superhero film Batgirl, set in the DC Extended Universe; the release of the film was canceled in August 2022 after a change in Warner Bros. studio priorities.
Fraser lent his voice to the audiodrama The Downloaded, written by Robert J. Sawyer, which was released in Autumn of 2023 as an Audible-exclusive audiobook. In December 2023, Fraser was a guest narrator at Disney's Candlelight Processional at Walt Disney World. In July 2024, it was announced that Fraser would star as Dwight D. Eisenhower in Pressure.
In November 2025, it was reported that Fraser would be reprising his role as Rick O'Connell in a fourth film in The Mummy series.
== Personal life ==
On July 4, 1993, shortly after he had arrived in Los Angeles, Fraser met his future wife, actress Afton Smith, at a barbecue at Winona Ryder's house. Smith appeared as a minor cast member in Fraser's George of the Jungle film. They married on September 27, 1998, and have three sons together, born in 2002, 2004, and 2006. Two sons are fashion models signed with Marilyn Agency.
In April 2007, Fraser and his wife sold their home in Beverly Hills, California, for $3 million. In December 2007, Fraser's publicist announced that the couple had decided to divorce. Fraser was ordered to make monthly alimony payments of $50,000 for ten years or until Smith remarried, whichever came first, and monthly child support payments of $25,000. In early 2011, Fraser asked the court to reduce his alimony payments, asserting that he was unable to meet the annual obligation of $600,000; he did not contest the child support payments. In late 2011, Smith accused Fraser of fraudulently failing to disclose some of his financial assets, including contracts for two films: Extraordinary Measures and Furry Vengeance. In 2014, the court ruled against both Fraser's request for alimony reduction and Smith's fraud allegation. Both parents received public praise for being actively engaged in their sons’ lives. Smith has since turned from acting to book-writing and real estate.
As of February 2018, Fraser lives in Bedford, New York. Since September 2022, Fraser has been in a relationship with makeup artist Jeanne Moore. The couple made their red-carpet debut at the 2022 Venice Film Festival, and Fraser expressed his gratitude to Moore during his acceptance speech for the Oscar for Best Actor at the 95th Academy Awards.
Fraser speaks French and serves on the board of directors for FilmAid International. He is an accomplished amateur photographer and has used several instant cameras in movies and on TV shows, most notably in his guest roles on Scrubs. In his first appearance, he used a Polaroid pack film, and in his second appearance, he used a Holga with a Polaroid back, a Japanese-only model. He is an accomplished amateur archer.
=== Health ===
In 2018, Fraser stated publicly that the physical demands of the stunts and maneuvers he had performed in his action and comedy roles had required him to undergo several surgeries over a period of seven years, including a partial knee replacement, a laminectomy, and vocal-cord surgery.
=== Sexual assault allegation against Philip Berk ===
In 2018, Fraser said publicly that, at a luncheon in 2003, he had been sexually assaulted by Philip Berk, the president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), the nonprofit organization that votes for the Golden Globe Awards. Berk described Fraser's account as a "total fabrication", but in his 2014 memoir, he acknowledged having groped Fraser "in jest". The stress he experienced from a succession of events, including his divorce, his health problems, the death of his mother, and making the alleged assault public, plunged Fraser into a depression that led to a break in his career.
Several publications and social media users assumed that Fraser had been blacklisted from Hollywood because of his accusation against Berk. In the 2018 GQ article in which Fraser first made his allegation public, he said, "The phone does stop ringing in your career, and you start asking yourself why. There's many reasons, but was [my allegation] one of them? I think it was." In Fraser's 2019 appearance on the radio show Sway in the Morning, he expressed a different view, saying, "I don't think the HFPA really wield that much power." In 2022, Fraser told GQ that if the HFPA nominated him for a Golden Globe that year for his most recent film, The Whale, he would "not participate" because of his "history" with the organization. He was nominated for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama and did not attend the event; he lost the award to Austin Butler.
== Philanthropy ==
Since 2018, Fraser has been a celebrity judge on the Dancing Stars of Greenwich annual charity gala which raises money for Abilis, a nonprofit organization that supports more than 800 individuals and their families with disabilities in Fairfield County, Connecticut. His former wife, Afton Smith, also takes part in the dance competition. In 2022, Smith and Fraser received the Heart of Abilis Award for their support and fundraising work for the charity.
== Filmography ==
== Awards and nominations == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outrageous_Fortune_(TV_series) | Outrageous Fortune (TV series) | Outrageous Fortune is a New Zealand family comedy crime drama television series, which ran from 12 July 2005 to 9 November 2010 on TV3. The series followed the lives of the career criminal West family after the matriarch, Cheryl (Robyn Malcolm), decided the family should go straight and abide by the law. The show was created by James Griffin and Rachel Lang and produced by South Pacific Pictures.
Like the show itself, episodes took their names from Shakespeare quotations. The show concluded after 6 seasons and 107 episodes making it the longest running drama series made in New Zealand. The primary cast for the show's run consisted of Robyn Malcolm, Antony Starr, Siobhan Marshall, Antonia Prebble, Frank Whitten and Kirk Torrance; Grant Bowler appeared in a sporadic role throughout the show's first five seasons.
The show premiered on 12 July 2005 and was welcomed by high acclaim. It won many of the major categories in the New Zealand television awards for its first 4 years, with Malcolm's performance warmly recognised by most New Zealand reviewers. Following the show's success, Outrageous Fortune received worldwide interest and in 2008 was adapted for United Kingdom television as Honest and again in 2010 for United States residents as Scoundrels, neither of which were renewed after their debut seasons.
In 2014, TV3 announced a six-part prequel miniseries entitled Westside that chronicles the lives of Ted and Rita West in 1970s Auckland. Initially airing in May 2015, Westside was renewed for a second season in 2016; then repeatedly again up to the sixth and final series which concluded in November 2020.
== Overview ==
The series followed the lives of the West family, headed by Cheryl (Robyn Malcolm) and Wolf West (Grant Bowler) in their working class West Auckland home. The family relied on crime for an income, with Cheryl working at a stolen goods shop. When Wolf is incarcerated, Cheryl informs her family, twin sons Van and Jethro (Antony Starr), daughters Pascalle (Siobhan Marshall) and Loretta (Antonia Prebble), and "retired" Patriarch Ted (Frank Whitten), that they will obey the law and avoid committing any more crimes. Show creator Rachel Lang described the series as an "upside down morality tale and a family story about a woman who tries to make her family go straight."
== Cast and characters ==
The show's initial seasons focused primarily on the West family. However, as the seasons developed, the focus branched out onto the family's affiliates and enemies.
Robyn Malcolm as Cheryl West (seasons 1–6), the family matriarch who, after husband Wolf gets imprisoned, decides to make her family go straight. Throughout the series, she goes through numerous jobs before starting a lingerie business. While fiercely devoted to her loved ones, her stubborn and combative personality regularly leads them to butt heads.
Antony Starr as Jethro and Van West (seasons 1–6), identical twin brothers with extremely different personalities. While Jethro is a slick, amoral lawyer, Van is a dim but generally well-meaning stoner.
Siobhan Marshall as Pascalle West (seasons 1–6), the eldest daughter of the West family. She is a shallow-minded, statuesque blonde renowned throughout the West Auckland community for her beauty. Despite being introduced as spoiled and self-absorbed, she gradually grows into a strong, caring woman.
Antonia Prebble as Loretta West (seasons 1–6), the youngest member of the West family as well as the most intelligent. Calculating and remorseless, Loretta is utterly ruthless in pursuit of her goals. Despite her twisted nature, she is nonetheless devoted to her family and proves indispensable in saving them from dangers both from outside and within. By the series end, she is a mother and a wife.
Frank Whitten as Ted West (seasons 1–6), Wolf's retired safe cracker father who is eccentric to the point of foul
Kirk Torrance as Detective Sergeant Wayne Judd (seasons 1–6), initially the West family's nemesis, later one of the family
Stella King as Jane West (seasons 3–6), Loretta's daughter with Hayden Peters
Grant Bowler as Wolfgang West (seasons 1–2, 4; guest; 3, 5), the West family patriarch and the series' main antagonist. While he cares for his wife and kids, his fixation on foiling their attempts to go straight at any cost constantly brings them into harm's way.
Tammy Davis as Jared "Munter" Mason (recurring seasons 1–2, regular 3–6), Van's loyal best friend and co-owner of the handyman business, the Tool Guys
Nicole Whippy as Kasey (recurring seasons 1–2, regular 3–6), Cheryl's best friend and eventual wife of Munter.
Claire Chitham as Aurora Bay (seasons 2–3), Van West's girlfriend who dies after being hit by a bus
Shane Cortese as Hayden Peters (recurring seasons 2–3, regular seasons 4–6), Jane's father. Later business partner and husband of Loretta.
Tyler-Jane Mitchel as Sheree Greegan (guest seasons 3, 6, regular seasons 4–5), Wolfgang West's girlfriend
Rohan Glynn as Detective Glenn Hickey, Sergeant Judd's quirky sidekick (recurring series 1–3).
== Production ==
Following the dwindling numbers on Rachel Lang's series Mercy Peak, she decided one way to attract an audience was to feature abrasive and in-your-face characters, something she promised herself would feature in her next show. When Lang heard a radio report on the low median number of women's income, she pondered why they did not turn to crime and realised the potential for a television show.
== Ratings ==
== Season synopsis ==
=== Season One (2005) ===
When career criminal Wolfgang "Wolf" West is jailed for four years for assorted criminal acts, his wife Cheryl makes the decision that the family will get honest employment, instead of continuing their life of crime. Wolf is not pleased about this, but there's not much he can do from jail. Cheryl is initially disillusioned by her attempts at earning a legal living, but she and a couple of her friends start a business called "Hoochie Mama" making and selling sexy underwear, all the while resisting the newly found attraction of policeman, Wayne Judd. The West children, Jethro, Van, Pascalle, and Loretta, all struggle to cope with the newfound rules in their own ways, while Ted struggles to come to terms with his late wife.
=== Season Two (2006) ===
Wolf has been released on home detention. He has no intention of keeping to Cheryl's new rules on life. Judd is determined to tear him away from Cheryl, and attempts to entice Wolf to break his parole so that he is returned to prison. Wolf escapes home detention and Judd moves in, much to the horror of the children. Pascalle starts to date Pakistani doctor Bruce, Van finds the love of his life, Aurora, and Loretta starts to date much older man Hayden. Jethro shocks his mother when he reveals he is still a criminal and only doing law to learn how to break the law more successfully. The season ends on Wolf framing Judd for a robbery he committed.
=== Outrageous Fortune: The Movie (2006 Telemovie) ===
This one-off two-hour TV movie followed on from season 2.
The West family, along with Aurora, Eric and Munter go camping at Tutaekuri Bay, a magical place where they have gone camping every year at Christmas. The Māori-language name Tutaekuri means "dog shit"; Tutaekuri Bay is a fictional place for the purpose of the movie.
=== Season Three (2007) ===
Cheryl is still battling to keep her family on the straight and narrow. Both the men in her life are inside – Wolf after turning himself in to the cops as part of his master plan to frame Judd; Judd from being framed by Wolf. She borrows money from Gary Savage to pay for a better lawyer for Judd, which results in his release, but the debt causes a strain in their relationship. Aurora dies in a road accident while trying to hide her ex-boyfriend's drugs after Van calls the police on him, spiraling Van into depression. Loretta is outraged when Hayden edits their film to be more explicit for commercial gain, breaks up with him as punishment, and harasses him after he flatly accepts it, instead of trying to win her back. This escalates until he leaves, and she burns down his house. After Hayden has left, she discovers she is pregnant by him. Bruce breaks up with Pascalle after he sees her (edited to be more explicit than she actually performed) porn movie. Jethro finds love with Danielle, a single mother and the ex-wife of Gary. Ted becomes suspicious of Gary and tracks down Wolf, only to find Gary is Wolf's half brother. Over the season Munter develops a relationship with Kasey and marries her in the season finale.
=== Season Four (2008) ===
The family is brought together when Cheryl talks Loretta out of adopting out her baby, whom she names Jane. Cheryl having broken up with Judd, starts to have feelings for Wolf again, who is in a rocky relationship with the much younger ex-stripper, named Sheree Greegan. Sheree's dodgy brother Nicky arrives and starts a relationship with Loretta. Pascalle returns from a trip abroad, having married the older and wealthy Milt. Milt eventually dies, leaving Pascalle a fortune. Sheree and Nicky conspire to get access to her money by having Nicky break up with Loretta and start a relationship with Pascalle. Wolf attempts to earn some money by facilitating a shipment of drugs for Nicky in a container, which Jethro steals to ransom, but Van and Munter destroy the drugs. Jethro is forced to run away when he takes the blame for the drugs being destroyed. Van starts an affair with Sheree. Loretta and Jethro set Wolf up for burglary, and Cheryl returns to Judd, becoming pregnant. Sheree also becomes pregnant, either by Van, Wolf, or Jethro (it is strongly implied that it is Jethro but not confirmed). After Hayden's sister Bernadette finds out about baby Jane, she forces Hayden to return to care for his child. Ted courts and at the end of the season, marries the scheming Ngaire Munroe, the widow of his former gang mate, Lefty. Pascalle becomes engaged to the dodgy Nicky much to her family's disbelief.
=== Season Five (2009) ===
Detective Sergeant Zane Gerard becomes a fixture in the West's lives, due to his past involvement with Sheree and Nicky Greegan. Van is pressured into becoming a police informant (behind the backs of all), infuriating Sheree when she finds out. Jethro starts up a business selling legal party pills. Nicky truly falls for Pascalle, enraging Sheree, who makes off with Pascalle's millions and attempts to murder Van (to claim life insurance). After a rogue job robbing a Chinese money lender, Pascalle breaks up with Nicky. Loretta gets back together with Hayden and the two decide to marry as so they get custody of Jane. Ted ends up in prison for robbery and is helped out by Nicky, causing him and Pascalle to get back together. Near the end of the season, Cheryl has a stillbirth. The season ends with Gerard trying to arrest Pascalle for offensive language, resulting in a brawl (in the midst of Loretta and Hayden's wedding), only to be stabbed in the neck by Cheryl and turning round to fire three bullets in her direction.
=== Season Six (2010) ===
Season 6 returned with TV presenter John Campbell appearing as a news reporter in a small cameo. The season was the last for the series, and the series reached its 100th episode. Ten-second promos started airing for the show on 14 June. The West family house set was on show in Auckland Museum for six months after the series ends.
In the aftermath of Loretta and Hayden's wedding, it was revealed that Pascalle was shot but survived, Cheryl was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon, Munter, Kasey, Van, and Ted were arrested for various crimes, and Eric, who returned in the previous series, had taken residence in the Wests' home. Over the course of the first episode, Detective Sergeant Zane Gerard dies, leaving Cheryl to be charged with his murder. Van starts to see his lawyer, Bailey, only to learn she is dating Jethro. Loretta opens up a brothel, while Nicky escapes prison and tries to convince Pascalle to run away with him. The two break up, and Sheree reveals where her children are, with Van becoming a part-time father to them. Judd and Pascalle develop feelings for each other and start an affair, disgusting Ted. Cheryl's charges are dropped and she is devastated to learn about Judd and Pascalle, finally forgiving him in the season finale. Pascalle and Judd leave town, while Van marries the Russian Elena. Loretta, Hayden, and Jane continue to be a happy family, and Jethro fulfills his mother's fixation.
== International broadcasts ==
Australia
Outrageous Fortune was shown weekly on the Pay-TV channel W.
It was shown on the Nine Network during the summer non-ratings period.
Season 5 did screen on Network Ten at 21:30 on Friday nights over the summer period in early 2010 but was cancelled halfway through. In an interview with Andrew Mercado in April, Robyn Malcolm confirmed that this was because New Zealand-produced shows count against the quota of Australian-made shows that networks can show and series 5 was used as a filler during the non-rating season. Series 5 was later again show on ARENA in November 2010. Network 10 continued series 5 from 21 June 22:00 Monday nights.
Australia Network broadcasts Outrageous Fortune to a wide Pay-TV audience in the Asia/Pacific Region.
USA
Outrageous Fortune is currently available for viewing on Hulu and Amazon Prime.
Ireland
TV3 Ireland showed the first series during 2006 and started showing the second series in March 2007 (22:00 Thursdays).
Canada
Began airing in 2007 on Super Channel.
UK
Shown on Living in the United Kingdom starting on Tuesday 6 March 2007 at 10 pm. As of June 2012, it is currently being shown on CBS Drama.
Until late 2025, it is available on STV Player.
== Home media ==
=== Box sets ===
=== Other ===
== Music ==
Two compilation soundtracks have been released for the show, and both draw on New Zealand music. The title track for the series is Hello Sailor's "Gutter Black".
== Awards ==
New Zealand TV Awards for 2005
Best Actor: Antony Starr
Best Actress : Robyn Malcolm
Best Director: Mark Beesley
Best Drama
Best Editing: Nicola Smith
Best Script: Rachel Lang
TV GUIDE Best on the Box
Best Actress: Robyn Malcolm
Best Drama
Woman's Day Reader's Choice
Favourite Female Personality: Robyn Malcolm
Air NZ Screen Award 2006
Best Drama Programme for episode 4
Best Drama Series
Air New Zealand Screen Awards for 2007
Best Actor: Antony Starr
Best Actress: Robyn Malcolm
Best Drama Programme
Best Supporting Actor: Frank Whitten.
2008 Qantas Film and Television Awards
Achievement in Editing – Drama/Comedy Programme: Bryan Shaw
Best Script – Drama/Comedy Programme: Rachel Lang
Performance by an Actor in General Television: Antony Starr
Performance by an Actress in General Television: Robyn Malcolm
Performance by a Supporting Actor in General Television: Tammy Davis
Performance by a Supporting Actress in General Television: Antonia Prebble
Sony Achievement in Directing – Drama/Comedy Programme: Mark Beesley.
== Adaptations ==
Versions of the series have been produced in the United Kingdom and United States. The UK remake, Honest was produced for ITV by the independent production company Greenlit. The first episode aired on 9 January 2008, and the show ran for a single season.
The U.S. remake, titled Scoundrels, premiered in June 2010 to mixed reviews. A previous adaptation developed by Rob Thomas, entitled Good Behavior, failed to be picked up for broadcast by any networks. After its initial 8-episode run, Scoundrels was not picked up for another season.
Westside, a prequel to Outrageous Fortune, screened its first season on TV3 in 2015 and the second season in 2016. Set in the 1970/80s, Antonia Prebble who played Loretta West stars as Rita West, Loretta's grandmother.
Westside ran for six seasons ending in November 2020. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Statham | Jason Statham | Jason Statham ( STAY-thəm; born 26 July 1967) is an English actor. He is known for being typecast as tough, gritty, or violent characters in various action thriller films, and has been credited for leading the resurgence of action films during the 2000s and 2010s. By 2017, his films had grossed over £1.1 billion ($1.5 billion), making him one of the industry's most bankable stars. Films in which he has appeared have grossed over $8.5 billion worldwide.
Statham began practising Chinese martial arts, kickboxing, and karate recreationally in his youth while working at local market stalls. An avid footballer and diver, he was a member of Great Britain's national diving team and competed for England in the 1990 Commonwealth Games. Shortly after, he was asked to model for French Connection, Tommy Hilfiger, and Levi's in various advertising campaigns.
Statham's history of working at market stalls inspired his casting in the Guy Ritchie crime films Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and Snatch (2000). Both films were commercial hits, and they helped catapult Statham to stardom. He went on to play supporting roles in the American action films Turn It Up (2000), Ghosts of Mars and The One (both 2001). From 2002 to 2008, he played the title role in the first three films in the Transporter film series (2002–2008), which solidified his status as an action star. In 2003, he appeared in the ensemble heist action film The Italian Job. He went on to play leading roles in commercially successful films such as Crank (2006), The Bank Job (2008), The Mechanic (2011), Homefront (2013), Mechanic: Resurrection (2016), The Meg (2018), Wrath of Man (2021), Meg 2: The Trench (2023), and The Beekeeper (2024), among others.
Statham has also starred as Lee Christmas in the ensemble action film series The Expendables (2010–2023) and as Deckard Shaw in the Fast & Furious franchise (2013–2023), including the spin-off Hobbs & Shaw (2019), which he co-produced. His voice acting work includes the documentaries Thai Boxing: A Fighting Chance (2002), Truth in 24 (2008) and its 2012 sequel, and the animated film Gnomeo & Juliet (2011).
== Early life and education ==
Jason Statham was born in Shirebrook, in the county of Derbyshire, England, on 26 July 1967, the son of dancer Eileen (née Yates) and street seller Barry Statham. His father also worked odd jobs as a house painter, coal miner, and singer in the Canary Islands. Statham moved to Great Yarmouth, where he initially chose not to follow his father's career working the local market stalls, instead practising martial arts. He grew up alongside football player Vinnie Jones, with whom he would later act; Jones introduced him to football, and Statham went on to play for the local grammar school, which he attended from 1978 to 1983. He was also passionate about diving, practising daily to perfect his techniques. He was a member of Great Britain's National Swimming Squad for 12 years, and competed for England at the 1990 Commonwealth Games in the 10 metre, 3 metre, and 1 metre events, coming tenth, eleventh and eighth respectively. He said in a 2003 interview that his time with the national squad was a "great experience" that taught him "discipline, focus, and certainly [kept him] out of trouble".
Statham was spotted by the sports modelling agency Sports Promotions while training at London's Crystal Palace National Sports Centre. He was signed by Tommy Hilfiger, Griffin, and Levi's for various modelling contracts during their 1996 spring and summer collections. In 1997, he became a model for the clothing brand French Connection. A spokesperson for the high street clothing chain said, "We chose Jason because we wanted our model to look like a normal guy. His look is just right for now: very masculine and not too male-modelly." However, he was still forced to follow in his father's footsteps as a street seller to make ends meet, stating that he sold "fake perfume and jewellery on street corners". He made small appearances in a few music videos, including "Comin' On" by The Shamen in 1993, "Run to the Sun" by Erasure in 1994, and "Dream a Little Dream of Me" by The Beautiful South in 1995.
== Career ==
=== 2000–2010: Rise to prominence ===
While working as a model for French Connection, Statham was introduced to fledgling filmmaker Guy Ritchie, who was developing a film and needed to fill the role of a streetwise con artist. After learning about Statham's past as a market stall salesman, Ritchie cast him in the crime comedy thriller Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998). The film was well received by both critics and audiences, and helped put Statham in the public eye; for his role, he was paid £5,000. Statham's second collaboration with Ritchie came with Snatch (2000), which earned more than $80 million at the box office. For his role in Snatch, he was paid £15,000. He was then able to break into Hollywood and appeared in two films in 2001: the science fiction action horror film Ghosts of Mars and the science fiction martial arts action film The One.
In 2002, he narrated the martial arts documentary Thai Boxing: A Fighting Chance (2002), which follows the lives of three individuals who come from very different backgrounds that are all training Muay Thai, each with their own unique motivations and stories, as they prepare for their next fight.
Statham was offered more film roles and was cast in the lead role of driver Frank Martin in the action film The Transporter (2002), written by Luc Besson. The film spawned two sequels, Transporter 2 (2005) and Transporter 3 (2008). He also played supporting roles in Mean Machine (2002), The Italian Job (2003), and as the lead villain in Cellular (2004).
In 2005, Statham was once again cast by Ritchie to star in his new project, Revolver, which was a critical and box office failure. He played a dramatic role in the independent film London in 2005. In 2006, he played the lead role in the action film Crank. Statham was asked to promote Crank during the 2006 San Diego Comic-Con Convention. In 2008, Statham starred in the British crime thriller The Bank Job and Death Race, a remake of Death Race 2000 (1975). American film critic Armond White hailed Statham's ascension as an action film star. On the occasion of Death Race, White championed Statham's "best track record of any contemporary movie star." Later in 2008, White praised Statham's Transporter 3 as a great example of kinetic pop art. Chris Hewitt of Empire Magazine, noted the film as "a dour, drab affair", but credited the film with "establishing Statham as a new action hero, as at ease with gruff one-liners as he was with Jackie Chan-esque high-kicking".
In 2009, Statham started to develop a new movie written by David Peoples and Janet Peoples. Statham stated "We've got a movie we're trying to do, written by David Peoples and Janet Peoples, in the vein of an old film, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. It's not a remake or anything, but it's a little bit like that, about relationships and how greed contaminates the relationships these three people have. The working title is The Grabbers." He reprised his role as Chev Chelios in the 2009 sequel Crank: High Voltage.
In 2010, Statham appeared alongside fellow action stars Sylvester Stallone, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren and Mickey Rourke, among others, in the ensemble action film The Expendables. Statham plays Lee Christmas, a former SAS soldier and expert at close quarters combat using knives. The film was commercially successful, opening at number one at the box office in the United States, the United Kingdom, China and India, and grossed a total of $274 million worldwide.
=== 2011–2015: Commercial expansion ===
In his first film of 2011, Statham starred in the remake of the 1972 Charles Bronson film The Mechanic as Arthur Bishop. A theatrical trailer depicting Statham's character "shooting a man's head off" was banned from circulation by the Advertising Standards Authority for showing excessive violence. His role in The Mechanic was positively reviewed by the critics both in the United States and the United Kingdom. The Guardian praised his performance as possessing a "now-customary efficiency" in attaining "an entertaining hitman thriller". The New York Times noted Statham as "sleek as a bullet"; and the film "a more powerful recharge" of the original. UK newspaper, The Daily Telegraph hailed Statham as "England's best export to action movies in just about forever, a businesslike brute with gentlemanly soul." He returned to British film by starring in the police drama Blitz as Detective Sergeant Tom Brant. The film received mixed reviews with Cath Clake of The Guardian reviewing it as "not half bad" and "oddly entertaining". He was then cast in the action film Killer Elite. The film was based on real events, which were the subject of Sir Ranulph Fiennes' novel The Feather Men. Statham played an assassin named Danny who comes out of retirement to save an old friend, played by Robert De Niro. The film grossed returned a negative budget, and was panned by the critics.
In August 2011, he began filming Parker for director Taylor Hackford; the film was released in January 2013. Statham played Parker, the criminal antihero previously played by Mel Gibson in 1999's Payback and by Lee Marvin in 1967's Point Blank (though their characters were given different surnames). A. O. Scott of The New York Times said of the actor in the film: "[Statham], who seems to be made entirely of muscle and scar tissue, is comfortable with his limitations as an actor. His Parker, in any case, is more of an axiom than a fully rounded human being." A 2012 BBC News report estimated that his ten-year film career to date (2002 to 2012) yielded over one billion dollars in the box office, making him one of the industry's most bankable stars. He was signed on to reprise his role as Lee Christmas in The Expendables 2 in 2012.
In 2013, Statham had a cameo appearance at the end of Fast & Furious 6 as the brother of the film's antagonist Owen Shaw (Luke Evans). He reprised the character, this time as the main antagonist, in Furious 7, which was released in April 2015. He also starred opposite James Franco in the thriller Homefront, written by Sylvester Stallone, and headlined the British thriller Hummingbird. The latter film was praised by critics for pushing Statham's acting abilities to new heights. His "attempt to develop his 'brand' by trying more adventurous parts" noted by The Guardian's Mark Kermode, "[broadened] his dramatic palette". Statham made a cameo in the 2014 music video Summer of Calvin Harris as one of the car racers. In 2014, he returned as Lee Christmas in The Expendables 3. Although critically panned, the film would go on to gross $215 million against a $90 million budget.
In 2015, he starred in the action comedy Spy alongside Melissa McCarthy, Jude Law, and Rose Byrne. The film, a commercial success, was particularly praised for showcasing Statham's comedic side in contrast to his more serious roles. According to an article by Empire magazine, a Spy 2 was development in late 2015, with more screen time dedicated for Statham's character, Rick Ford. He was nominated for the Critic's Choice Award for Best Actor in a Comedy for his role in Spy.
Statham was offered a three-film contract to reboot the Transporter series in late 2015, but turned it down because he was not given the script before the signing date and unhappy with its compensation package. According to an article by The Guardian, Statham expressed interest in playing James Bond in the upcoming Spectre film. Its author, Steve Rose noted that "there was no doubt Statham can walk the Bond walk. And talking his talk can hardly be an issue with a character whose accent has fluctuated between Sean Connery's Scottish brogue and Timothy Dalton's Welsh." After the interview there were multiple calls from critics and the public to instate him as James Bond in a future film.
=== 2016–present: Continued success ===
The sequel to his 2011 film The Mechanic was scheduled for production in late 2016 and announced to open as Mechanic: Resurrection. The film went on to become highly commercially successfully in international film markets grossing $109.4 million worldwide. According to Forbes, the film was Statham's "seventh-biggest earner" and most commercially successful solo film venture of his career.
In February 2017, he starred alongside Gal Gadot in a 30-second Super Bowl advertisement for Wix.com during Super Bowl LI. CNET reported that the advertisement reached 22 million user impressions. Statham was asked to re-join the Fast & Furious franchise once more in 2016. The ensuing film, The Fate of the Furious, was released in April 2017 to commercial success. While the film overall received mixed reviews, Statham was praised for his comedic timing and onscreen chemistry with contemporaries. The film went on to be the third highest-grossing film of 2017 and the 12th highest-grossing film of all time.
Spy 2 was confirmed on 15 February 2018. But later in 2018, Feig explained that although a sequel to Spy could still happen, "there hasn't been any interest from the studio" in the project.
Statham played the lead, former Naval captain Jonas Taylor, in the 2018 action-horror film The Meg, which was released on 10 August. The film would go on to gross $527.8 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing U.S.-Chinese co-production of all time.
In 2019, Statham reprised his role as Deckard Shaw again in Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, a spin-off of the Fast & Furious franchise focusing on his and Dwayne Johnson's characters. The film grossed $758 million worldwide, becoming the tenth highest-grossing film of 2019, and received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for Statham's performance.
In 2022, Statham established his own production company, Punch Palace Productions.
== Public image ==
An article by Adam Gabbatt in The Guardian noted that Statham's character contributions to his industry and film niche are "tough [and] uncompromising". Some critics note his presence as a "defining feature" that signals to movie-goers the content of a film. The same exposé commented, "You know what you're getting with a Jason Statham film. He will beat people up. He will crash cars. He will do an unconvincing American accent."
Statham's impact on the action-thriller genre has been seen by Gabbatt as a replacement of the same undertaken by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, and Jean-Claude Van Damme during their runs as headliners throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Statham himself cites Stallone, Bruce Lee, Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, and Clint Eastwood as his inspirations.
An article by Times Higher Education reported that Manchester University Press commissioned an academic study analysing the impact Statham has had on the British and American film industries from his debut in 1998 to 2018. According to the article, professors Steven Gerrard and Robert Shail are looking to show "the changing face of British cinematic masculinity" into "one that embraces cinema across a wide range of projects, but one that also uses cross-textual media in his output".
== In popular media ==
In 2003, Statham appeared in three British television commercials for the Kit Kat chocolate bar. Described as a "break philosopher", he philosophised about salmon swimming upstream, a Mexican fisherman, and the relative speeds and ages of animals, before ending with a reminder that "taking a break" (alluding to the Kit Kat slogan) is an important part of life.
In the comic book series Ultimate Spider-Man, that series' version of the villain Vulture was rendered by artist Mark Bagley to resemble actor Statham, per writer Brian Michael Bendis' instructions.
In the Twenty One Pilots song "Pet Cheetah" released in 2018, Statham is mentioned in the lyrics.
== Personal life ==
Statham has been in a relationship with model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley since 2010. The couple announced their engagement in January 2016. Their son was born in June 2017. Their daughter was born on 2 February 2022. They lived in Beverly Hills for a number of years before moving back to London in 2020.
Statham holds a black belt in karate.
Statham enjoys wakeboarding, jet skiing, windsurfing, and rock climbing. He is known for performing many of his own stunts. While filming on location in Bulgaria for The Expendables 3, he drove a truck off the road in Varna and crashed into the Black Sea due to malfunctioning brakes.
In a 2013 interview with Vanity Fair, Statham advocated for stunt performers to be given their own category at the Academy Awards: "All of the stunt men, these are the unsung heroes. They really are. Nobody is giving them any credibility. They're risking their necks. And then you've got poncy actors pretending like they're doing [the stunts]."
In 2014, Statham was inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fame.
== Filmography ==
=== Film ===
=== Video games ===
=== Music videos ===
=== Commercials ===
== Awards and nominations == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Heinrich_Klaproth | Martin Heinrich Klaproth | Martin Heinrich Klaproth (1 December 1743 – 1 January 1817) was a German chemist. He trained and worked for much of his life as an apothecary, moving in later life to the university. His shop became the second-largest apothecary in Berlin, and the most productive artisanal chemical research center in Europe.
Klaproth was a major systematizer of analytical chemistry, and an independent inventor of gravimetric analysis. His attention to detail and refusal to ignore discrepancies in results led to improvements in the use of apparatus. He was a major figure in understanding the composition of minerals and characterizing the elements.
Klaproth discovered uranium (1789)
and zirconium (1789).
He was also involved in the discovery or co-discovery of
titanium (1795),
strontium (1793),
cerium (1803), and
chromium (1797) and confirmed the previous discoveries of
tellurium (1798) and
beryllium (1798).
Klaproth was a member and director of the Berlin Academy of Sciences. He was recognized internationally as a member of the Royal Society in London, the Institut de France, and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
== Career ==
Klaproth was born in Wernigerode. He was the son of a tailor, and attended the Latin school at Wernigerode for four years.
For much of his life he followed the profession of apothecary. In 1759, when he was 16 years old, he apprenticed at Quedlinburg. In 1764, he became a journeyman. He trained in pharmacies at Quedlinburg (1759–1766); Hanover (1766–1768, with August Hermann Brande); Berlin (1768); and Danzig (1770).
In 1771, Klaproth returned to Berlin to work for Valentin Rose the Elder as manager of his business. Following Rose's death, Klaproth passed the required examinations to become senior manager. Following his marriage in 1780, he was able to buy his own establishment, the Apotheke zum Baren. Between 1782 and 1800, Klaproth published 84 papers based on researches carried out in the Apotheke's laboratory. His shop was the most productive site of artisanal chemistry investigations in Europe at that time.
Beginning in 1782, he was the assessor of pharmacy for the examining board of the Ober-Collegium Medicum. In 1787 Klaproth was appointed lecturer in chemistry to the Prussian Royal Artillery.
In 1788, Klaproth became an unsalaried member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences. In 1800, he became the salaried director of the Berlin Academy of Sciences. He sold the apothecary and moved to the academy, where he convinced the university to build a new laboratory. Upon completion in 1802, Klaproth moved the equipment from his apothecary laboratory into the new building.
When the University of Berlin was founded in 1810 he was selected to be the professor of chemistry.
He died in Berlin on New Year's Day in 1817.
== Contributions ==
An exact and conscientious worker, Klaproth did much to improve and systematise the processes of analytical chemistry and mineralogy. His appreciation of the value of quantitative methods led him to become one of the earliest adherents of the Lavoisierian doctrines outside France.
Klaproth was the first to discover uranium, identifying it first in torbernite but doing the majority of his research on it with the mineral pitchblende.
On 24 September 1789 he announced his discovery to the Royal Prussian Academy of sciences in Berlin. He also discovered zirconium in 1789, separating it in the form of its "earth" zirconia, oxide ZrO2. Klaproth analyzed a brightly-colored form of the mineral called "hyacinth" from Ceylon. He gave the new element the name zirconium based on its Persian name "zargun", gold-colored.
Klaproth characterised uranium and zirconium as distinct elements, though he was unable to isolate them.
Klaproth independently discovered cerium (1803), a rare earth element, around the same time as Jöns Jacob Berzelius and Wilhelm Hisinger, in the winter of 1803.
William Gregor of Cornwall was the first to identify the element titanium in 1791, correctly concluding that he had found a new element in the ore ilmenite from the Menachan valley. He proposed the name "menachanite", but his discovery attracted little attention.
Klaproth verified the presence of an oxide of an unknown element in the ore rutile from Hungary in 1795. Klaproth suggested the name "titanium". It was later determined that menachanite and titanium were the same element, from two different minerals, and Klaproth's name was adopted.
Klaproth clarified the composition of numerous substances until then imperfectly known, including compounds of then newly recognised elements tellurium, strontium and chromium.
Chromium was discovered in 1797 by Louis Nicolas Vauquelin and independently discovered in 1798 by Klaproth and by Tobias Lowitz, in a mineral from the Ural mountains. Klaproth confirmed chromium's independent status as an element.
The existence of tellurium was first suggested in 1783 by Franz-Joseph Mueller von Reichenstein, an Austrian mining engineer who was examining Transylvanian gold samples. Tellurium was also discovered independently by Hungarian Pál Kitaibel in 1789. Mueller sent some of his mineral to Klaproth in 1796. Klaproth isolated the new substance and confirmed the identification of the new element tellurium in 1798. He credited Mueller as its discoverer, and suggested that the heavy metal be named "tellus", Latin for 'earth'.
In 1790 Adair Crawford and William Cruickshank determined that the mineral strontianite, found near Strontian in Scotland, was different from barium-based minerals.
Klaproth was one of several scientists involved in the characterization of strontium compounds and minerals.
Klaproth, Thomas Charles Hope, and
Richard Kirwan independently studied and reported on the properties of strontianite, the preparation of compounds of strontium, and their differentiation from those of barium. In September 1793, Klaproth published on the separation of strontium from barium, and in 1794 on the preparation of strontium oxide and strontium hydroxide.
In 1808, Humphry Davy became the first to successfully isolate the pure element.
Louis Nicolas Vauquelin reported the existence of a new element common to emerald and beryl in 1798, and suggested that it be named "glucine". Klaproth confirmed the presence of a new element, and became involved in a lengthy and ongoing debate over its name by suggesting "beryllia". The element was first isolated in 1828, independently by Friedrich Wöhler and Antoine Bussy. Only in 1949 did IUPAC rule exclusively in favor of the name beryllium.
Klaproth published extensively, collecting over 200 papers by himself in Beiträge zur chemischen Kenntnis der Mineralkörper (5 vols., 1795–1810) and Chemische Abhandlungen gemischten Inhalts (1815). He also published a Chemisches Wörterbuch (1807–1810), and edited a revised edition of F. A. C. Gren's Handbuch der Chemie (1806).
His mineral collection, which contained the original samples for his analyses and comprised 4828 pieces at the end of his life, was purchased by the University of Berlin after his death and is now housed in the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin.
Klaproth became a foreign member of the Royal Society of London in 1795, and a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1804.
He also belonged to the Institut de France.
The crater Klaproth on the Moon is named after him.
In 1823, botanist Carl Sigismund Kunth published a genus of flowering plants (belonging to the family Loasaceae), from Central America as Klaprothia in his honour.
His son Julius was a famous orientalist.
== Works ==
Beiträge zur Chemischen Kenntniss der Mineralkörper . Vol. 1–5 . Rottmann, Berlin 1795–1810 Digital edition by the University and State Library Düsseldorf
Chemisches Wörterbuch . Vol. 1–9 . Voss, Berlin 1807–1819 Digital edition by the University and State Library Düsseldorf
Chemische Abhandlungen gemischten Inhalts . Nicolai, Berlin [u. a.] 1815 Digital edition by the University and State Library Düsseldorf |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feastables | Feastables | Feastables Inc. is a chocolate and snack brand created by American YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast. In January 2022, Donaldson announced the creation of his company which launched its own brand of chocolate bars called "MrBeast Bar". Feastables' chocolate products are manufactured in Peru by Machu Picchu Foods SAC.
== History ==
In 2021, Jimmy "MrBeast" Donaldson involved Jim Murray, formerly the president of Rxbar, in the creation of Feastables. Murray subsequently became a co-founder and the CEO of the company. The company was incorporated on July 8, 2021.
The launch was accompanied by a sweepstakes campaign offering over $1 million in prizes. Ten grand prize winners were offered the opportunity to compete for a chocolate factory in a future MrBeast video, referencing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The video, released in June 2022, featured Gordon Ramsay as a cake judge and included a $500,000 cash prize. Competitive eaters Matt Stonie and Joey Chestnut made appearances in the video. On February 2, 2022, Feastables announced partnerships with Turtle Beach Corporation and Roccat to provide prizes for the sweepstakes. In its initial months, Feastables reportedly achieved $10 million in chocolate bar sales.
In March 2023, Donaldson faced criticism after asking fans on Twitter to "clean up" Feastables displays in stores, offering entry into a $5,000 raffle for providing proof. This prompted accusations of exploiting fans for unpaid labor.
Initially available at Walmart, Feastables expanded to other retail locations in May 2023. The brand was launched in the UK in July 2023 and expanded to Australia and New Zealand in September 2023. Expansion into South Africa occurred in October 2023.
On October 2, 2023, Feastables entered into a partnership with the Charlotte Hornets, becoming their official jersey patch sponsor for the 2023–24 NBA season and introducing a new logo. This partnership has since ended.
In February 2024, Feastables introduced a new logo on its product packaging, and the formulation of the chocolate bar was revised. The "MrBeast Bar" name was discontinued, and the "Deez Nutz" flavor was renamed "Peanut Butter" following a legal claim by the peanut company "Dee's Nuts".
In April 2024, Feastables expanded its distribution to Canada. In May 2024, the brand began sales in the European Union, initially in Denmark and the Netherlands. Distribution expanded to Germany in September 2024. The brand was launched in India in November 2024.
In September 2024, Feastables became a partner in Tony's Open Chain.
In February 2025, Feastables announced it had received kosher certification from the Orthodox Union. In July 2025, it was announced that celebrity chef Nick DiGiovanni had partnered with the company as an official brand partner. Feastables also began to be sold in Russia in the Pyaterochka chain. Before that, they could be purchased on the Wildberries and Ozon marketplaces. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Seymour | Jane Seymour | Jane Seymour (; c. 1508 – 24 October 1537) was Queen of England as the third wife of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 30 May 1536 until her death the next year. She became queen following the execution of Henry's second wife, Anne Boleyn, who was accused by Henry of adultery after failing to produce a male heir. Jane, however, died of postnatal complications less than two weeks after the birth of her only child, the future King Edward VI. She was the only wife of Henry VIII to receive a queen's funeral, and Henry was later buried alongside her remains in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.
== Early life ==
Jane, the daughter of Sir John Seymour and Margery Wentworth, was most likely born at Wulfhall, Wiltshire, although West Bower Manor in Somerset has also been suggested. Her birth date is not recorded; various accounts use anywhere from 1504 to 1509, but it is generally estimated at between 1508 and 1509. Through her maternal grandfather, she was a descendant of King Edward III's son Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence. Because of this, she and King Henry VIII were fifth cousins. She also shared a great-grandmother, Elizabeth Cheney, Lady Say, with his second and fifth wives, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard.
Jane was not as highly educated as Henry's first and second wives, Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. She could read and write a little but was much better at needlework and household management, which were considered much more necessary for women. Her needlework was reportedly beautiful and elaborate; some of it survived as late as 1652, when it is recorded to have been given to the Seymour family. After her death, it was noted that Henry was an "enthusiastic embroiderer".
Jane was praised for her gentle, peaceful nature, being called as "gentle a lady as ever I knew" by John Russell and "the Pacific" by the Imperial Ambassador Eustace Chapuys (who referred to her as Jane Semel in his letters), for her peacemaking efforts at court. According to Chapuys, she was of middling stature and very pale; he also said that she was not of much beauty, but Russell said she was "the fairest of all the King's wives". Polydore Vergil commented that she was "a woman of the utmost charm in both character and appearance". She was regarded as meek, gentle, simple, and chaste, with her large family making her thought to be suitable to have many children.
== Service in royal court ==
Although no original evidence of Jane's employment in the royal court survives, most historians agree that Jane arrived to serve as a lady-in-waiting for Queen Catherine between 1527 and 1529. In 1531, Henry VIII banished Catherine from court. Elizabeth Norton posits that Jane likely accompanied Catherine into exile.Alison Weir suggests Jane likely remained at the royal court and entered Anne's service instead.
A "Mistress Seymour" received a New Year's gift from Henry in January 1534, which may indicate that Jane was indeed part of Anne's retinue at this time. However, according to Jane Dormer's memoir, Jane Seymour's entry to Anne's retinue was arranged in late 1535 by courtier Francis Bryan, himself a relative of both Anne and Seymour. In July 1536, Holy Roman ambassador Pedro Ortiz wrote to Empress Isabella that his colleague, Eustace Chapuys, understood Jane to have previously served as a maid to both Catherine and Anne.
Anne became Henry's wife in January 1533 and Queen consort of England later that year, in June. After giving birth to a daughter, Elizabeth I, in September 1533, Anne suffered a series of miscarriages, and her relationship with Henry began to fail, in large part due to Henry's growing desperation for a male heir.
=== Visit to Wolf Hall and relationship with Henry: 1535-1536 ===
In late 1535, Henry VIII embarked on what would be his final royal tour with Anne. They stayed at Wolf Hall, the ancestral home of the Seymour family, for one week in September. Henry often visited the homes of his favoured courtiers during progresses, of which Jane Seymour's father was one.
Most historians agree that Jane was likely present during this visit, either to support her parents in providing hospitality to the royal couple or to attend to Queen Anne. Seymour was likely already acquainted with Henry in some personal capacity, due to her service in the royal court and Henry's dealings with the Seymour family. However, it is possible that Henry took a romantic interest in Jane for the first time during this visit.
By February 1536, Henry was, according to Eustace Chapuys, sending Jane gifts, indicating interest in her as a potential mistress. Upon receiving a letter and a purse full of sovereigns from the king, Jane returned the gift and the letter unopened. She asked the messenger, who may have been Richard Page, to tell Henry that "there was no treasure in this world that [Jane] valued as much as her honour," and to request that Henry reserve sending gifts "for such a time as God would be pleased to send [Jane] some advantageous marriage."
Both contemporaries and historians have posited that Jane was being coached by her family in her responses to Henry's attentions, with the ultimate goal of Jane usurping Anne as queen. Conservative members of the royal court, including Jane's brother Edward, certainly saw Jane supplanting Anne as a means to undo reformist policies associated with Anne's reign. Nonetheless, biographer Antonia Fraser posits that Jane's refusal may have been less strategic than practical: protecting her reputation meant protecting her future marriage prospects, as she lacked independent wealth and could not risk a scandalous association with the monarch.
Intrigued by Jane's apparent modesty, Henry's interest in her intensified. He arranged for Jane and her brother Edward to move into Thomas Cromwell's apartments at Greenwich Palace, so that Edward could act as Jane's chaperone while Henry continued to pursue her.
== Marriage and birth of heir ==
Henry VIII was betrothed to Jane on 20 May 1536, the day after Anne Boleyn's execution. They were married at the Palace of Whitehall, Whitehall, London, in the Queen's closet by Bishop Stephen Gardiner on 30 May 1536. As a wedding gift he granted her 104 manors in four counties as well as a number of forests and hunting chases for her jointure, the income to support her during their marriage. She was publicly proclaimed queen on 4 June 1536. Her well-publicised sympathy for the late Queen Catherine and her daughter Mary showed her to be compassionate and made her a popular figure with the common people and most of the courtiers. She was never crowned because of plague in London, where the coronation was to take place. Henry may have been reluctant to have her crowned before she had fulfilled her duty as a queen consort by bearing him a male heir.
As queen, Jane was observed by her court to be strict and formal. The lavish entertainments, gaiety, and extravagance of the queen's household, which had reached their peak during Anne Boleyn's time, were replaced by strict decorum. She banned the French fashions Anne had introduced. Politically, Jane was conservative. Her only reported involvement in national affairs, in 1536, was when she asked for pardons for participants in the Pilgrimage of Grace. Henry is said to have rejected this, reminding her of the fate her predecessor met with should she "meddle with his affairs." Her motto as a queen was Bound to obey and serve.
Jane formed a close relationship with her stepdaughter Mary, making efforts to have Mary restored to court and to the royal succession, behind any children she might have with Henry. She brought up the issue of Mary's restoration both before and after she became queen. While she was unable to restore Mary to the line of succession, she was able to reconcile her with Henry. Chapuys wrote to Emperor Charles V of her compassion and efforts on behalf of Mary's return to favour. A letter from Mary to her shows Mary's gratitude. While it was she who first pushed for the restoration, Mary and Elizabeth were not reinstated to the succession until Henry's sixth wife, Catherine Parr, convinced him to do so.
One non-contemporary source conjectures that she may have been pregnant and had a miscarriage by Christmas 1536. In January 1537, Jane conceived again.
During her pregnancy, she developed a craving for quail. Henry had an uncle and aunt in Calais, the Viscount and Viscountess Lisle; quails were abundant in the marshes around where the couple lived, and they were also able to source the birds from Flanders. In May, Henry instructed John Russell to contact the Lisles: "My lord, the king commanded me to write to you for some fat quails, for the queen is very desirous to eat some but here be none to be gotten. [I] pray you... will send some with as much speed as may be possible, but they must be very fat." The Lisles obliged.
During the summer, Jane took no public engagements and led a relatively quiet life, attended by the royal physicians and the best midwives in the kingdom. She went into confinement in September 1537 and gave birth to the coveted male heir, the future King Edward VI, at two o'clock in the morning on 12 October 1537 at Hampton Court Palace. Edward was christened on 15 October 1537 without his parents in attendance, as was the custom. He was the only legitimate son of Henry VIII to survive infancy. Both of his daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, were present and carried Edward's train during the ceremony.
== Death and funeral ==
Jane's labour had been difficult, lasting two days and three nights, probably because the baby was not well positioned. After the christening, it became clear that she was seriously ill. She died on 24 October 1537 at Hampton Court Palace. Within a few weeks, there were conflicting accounts of the cause of her death. According to King Edward's biographer Jennifer Loach, her death may have been due to an infection from a retained placenta. According to Alison Weir, she may have succumbed to puerperal fever following a bacterial infection contracted during the birth. Weir has also speculated, after medical consultation, that the cause of her death may have been a pulmonary embolism.
Jane was buried on 12 November in St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle after the funeral in which her stepdaughter Mary acted as chief mourner. A procession of 29 mourners followed Mary, one for every year of Jane's life. She was the only one of Henry's wives to receive a queen's funeral.
After her death, Henry wore black for the next three months. He married Anne of Cleves two years later, although marriage negotiations were tentatively begun soon after Jane's death. He gained weight during his widowerhood, becoming obese and swollen and developing diabetes and gout. When he died in 1547, he was buried beside her, on his request, in the grave he had made for her.
== Legacy ==
Jane gave the King the son he so desperately desired, helped to restore Mary to the succession and her father's affections, ensuring that both her husband and stepdaughter felt tremendously bereft after her death. She used her influence to bring about the advancement of her family, which had been hindered by the scandal of her father's affair with his daughter-in-law, Catherine Filliol. Two of her brothers, Thomas and Edward, used her memory to improve their own fortunes. Thomas was rumoured to have been pursuing the future Elizabeth I, but he married the queen dowager Catherine Parr instead. In the reign of the young King Edward VI, Edward Seymour set himself up as Lord Protector and de facto ruler of the kingdom. Both brothers eventually fell from power and were executed.
== Costume ==
Lady Margery Lyster was in charge of the jewels of Jane Seymour. An inventory was made of the queen's beads, jewels, pomanders, tablets, girdles, borders, brooches, bracelets, buttons, aglets, and chains. Many of the pieces were gold decorated with enamel and some were set with gems.
An inventory of Henry VIII includes costume belonging to Jane Seymour, which was stored in 1542 in the Old Jewel House of Whitehall Palace. The list includes: gowns of damask, velvet, and satin; kirtles of velvet, cloth of silver, taffeta, and purple cloth of gold; cloaks of satin; sleeves of silver and gold tissue embroidered with Venice gold and tied with gold aglets; placards for gowns; stomachers; frontlets; French hoods and billiments of black velvet and white satin; partlets; and crimson velvet hats. The same clothes were listed again in 1547.
Jane Seymour was said to have embroidered a bed and a chair, later given by Charles I to her relation William Seymour. Included in the 1542 inventory are some items of embroidery, possibly her own work such as a cushion featuring an antelope. A piece with a branch of roses and a crowned white falcon seems to be an emblem associated with Anne Boleyn. Jane Seymour owned great and little "babies", dolls dressed in gowns of cloth of silver, satin, and velvet tied with gold "aglettes", like her own sleeves. These may have been fashion dolls.
== In media ==
=== In film and on stage ===
In 1933, Wendy Barrie played Seymour opposite Charles Laughton's Henry VIII in Alexander Korda's highly acclaimed film The Private Life of Henry VIII.
In 1969, Lesley Paterson portrayed Jane briefly in Anne of the Thousand Days.
As part of the 1970 BBC series The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Henry was played by Keith Michell, and Seymour by Anne Stallybrass.
In 1972, this interpretation was repeated in the film Henry VIII and His Six Wives, adapted from the BBC series, in which Keith Michell reprised his role as Henry; on this occasion Seymour was played by Jane Asher.
Seymour was played by Charlotte Roach in David Starkey's documentary series The Six Wives of Henry VIII in 2001.
Seymour is a supporting character in the 2003 BBC television drama The Other Boleyn Girl, played by Naomi Benson opposite Jared Harris as Henry VIII and Jodhi May as Anne Boleyn.
In October 2003, in the two-part ITV drama Henry VIII, Ray Winstone starred as the King. Jane Seymour was played by Emilia Fox.
In The Simpsons 2004 episode "Margical History Tour", Seymour is portrayed by the shrill Miss Springfield during Marge's retelling of Henry's reign. Henry (portrayed by Homer) quickly orders Seymour's beheading after hearing her annoying voice.
Corinne Galloway depicts Seymour in The Other Boleyn Girl (2008).
Anita Briem portrayed Seymour as lady-in-waiting to Anne Boleyn in the second (2008) season of the television series The Tudors, produced for Showtime. In the third season of the same series, when Jane Seymour becomes queen and later dies, the part is played by Annabelle Wallis.
Kate Phillips, in her first professional role, plays Jane Seymour in the BBC Two adaptation of Wolf Hall. Phillips reprises the role in the sequel Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light.
Jane Seymour is portrayed in the stage adaptation of Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall parts I and II, adapted by Mike Poulton. It was presented by the Royal Shakespeare Company in London's West End (2014) and on Broadway (2015).
Lucy Telleck played Seymour opposite Charlie Clements as Henry VIII in Suzannah Lipscomb and Dan Jones Henry VIII and his Six Wives on Channel 5.
In the musical Six, she was played by Holly Musgrave in the original Edinburgh cast, Natalie Paris in the studio and West End casts and Abby Mueller in the Chicago cast.
=== In books ===
Is the main character in Janet Wertman's Jane the Quene novel, the first installment in her Seymour Saga.
Is the main character in Carolly Erickson's highly fictionalized novel The Favoured Queen, which follows her from her appointment as lady-in-waiting to Catherine of Aragon right up until her death.
Is the subject of the novel Plain Jane: A Novel of Jane Seymour (Tudor Women Series) by Laurien Gardner (Sarah Hoyt).
Appears as a lady serving both Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn in Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, which ends with hints of her coming prominence. The second novel in Mantel's series, Bring Up the Bodies focuses on the machinations that led to the execution of Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII's growing determination to replace her with Jane Seymour and the Seymour family's strategems to gain from the King's attraction to Jane. The third volume, The Mirror & the Light, includes Jane Seymour's story.
The book I, Jane, by Diane Haeger, tells of her growing up and, before catching the eye of King Henry, meeting a young man whose parents are well placed in court and look down on Jane and her family. Despite this, Jane and the son become close, and over the years she never forgets him.
Is the title character of Jane Seymour: Henry VIII's True Love by Elizabeth Norton.
Seymour is the title character in Alison Weir's book Jane Seymour: The Haunted Queen, the third in the Six Tudor Queens series.
=== In music ===
As Giovanna Seymour, she appears in Gaetano Donizetti's opera Anna Bolena.
Rick Wakeman recorded the piece "Jane Seymour" for his 1973 album The Six Wives of Henry VIII.
The English ballad "The Death of Queen Jane" (Child No. 170) is about the death of Jane Seymour following the birth of Prince Edward. The story as related in the ballad is historically inaccurate, but apparently reflects the popular view at the time of the events surrounding her death. The historical fact is that Prince Edward was born naturally, and that his mother succumbed to infection and died 12 days later. Most versions of the song end with the contrast between the joy of the birth of the Prince and the grief of the death of the Queen.
A setting of the ballad to a tune by Irish musician Dáithí Sproule was included on the Bothy Band's 1979 album After Hours (Live in Paris), on the 1995 album Trian II by Trian (Sproule, Liz Carroll, and Billy McComiskey), and the Bothy Band's 2008 album Best of the Bothy Band. The song also appears on Loreena McKennitt's 2010 album The Wind That Shakes the Barley, and on Dáithí Sproule's 2011 album Lost River: Vol. 1; and it was performed by Oscar Isaac in the Coen brothers' 2013 film Inside Llewyn Davis.
== Footnotes ==
== Sources == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_River_(painting) | Northern River (painting) | Northern River is a 1914–15 oil painting by Canadian painter Tom Thomson. The work was inspired by a sketch completed over the same winter, possibly in Algonquin Park. The completed canvas is large, measuring 115.1 × 102.0 cm (455⁄16 × 403⁄16 in). Painted over the winter of 1914–15, it was completed in Thomson's shack behind the Studio Building in Toronto. The painting was produced as he was entering the peak of his short art career and is considered one of his most notable works. In 1915 it was purchased by the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa and has remained in the collection ever since.
== Background ==
Thomson first visited Algonquin Park in May 1912, venturing through the area on a canoe trip with his Grip colleague Ben Jackson. Thomson's transition from commercial art towards his original style of painting began to be apparent around this time. His early works, such as Northern Lake (1912–13) and Evening (1913), were not outstanding technically, yet they did illustrate an above average ability regarding composition and colour handling.
Northern River and the winter of 1914–15 stand as a point of transition in Thomson's art. In 1914 he made himself a sketch box to hold 8½ × 10½ inch (21.6 × 26.7 cm) panels, allowing him greater opportunity for sketching. A. Y. Jackson in particular taught him about the subtleties of composition, colour and technique in general, allowing the sketches that followed show a beginning desire to experiment with colour and texture rather than continue with the precision and subdued nature of his earlier works.
== Description ==
In a letter to James MacCallum, Thomson referred to Northern River as his "swamp picture." Though Thomson was typically critical of his own work, he described the painting as being "not half bad" to a nephew. David Milne, a Canadian artist and critic, praised the painting, writing in a letter,
Just plain impossible, but he has done it, it stirs you. Any painter who has ever worked on this overlying pattern motive will realize at once that this is tackling a complication beyond reason. A great point in Thomson's favour this, and his lack of perfection. I am wary of craftsmanship. It is nothing in itself, neither emotion nor creation. [...] I rather think it would have been wiser to have taken your ten most prominent Canadians and sunk them in Canoe Lake—and saved Tom Thomson.
In an article for Canadian Magazine, MacCallumm would write about the uniqueness of the painting amongst Thomson's entire catalogue. In particular, while Thomson would normally depict trees as amalgamated masses, in this painting he gives them each an individual form: Drawing was to [Thomson] the expression of form, and form might be expressed by any method, so long as the form is true. One would have expected that with his intimate knowledge of trees he would have loved to paint all their traceries. In the “Northern River” alone did he lavish detail on his trees and here only because it helped the pattern. In one in whom the sense of design, of decoration was so developed that is the more striking, for in his sketches and in his larger pictures he always treated trees as masses. In his painting of them he gives form structure and colour by dragging paint in bold strokes over an underlying tone. Like many other painters he felt the limitations of paint, the impossibility of expressing on a flat surface the solidity and thickness of a tree, and in some canvasses almost modeled them in paint, while in others he got the same effect by expressing them by deep grooves in the paint.
The painting recalls elements of A. Y. Jackson's 1914 canvas, A Frozen Lake, which Thomson likely saw in November 1914 before Jackson took it in December to be exhibited. Both paintings share a motif of trees and thin, sinuous branches obscuring the view to a body of water. The directional emphasis of the image is placed in the vertical direction, especially apparent when contrasted with the later canvas, The Pool.
Given Thomson's love of poetry, the title of the work may be a reference to the William Wilfred Campbell poem, A Northern River. Campbell was a Canadian poet who lived in Owen Sound, nearby to Thomson's hometown of Leith.
=== Sketch to studio painting ===
It is not known where the original study was made. Though it is typically assumed to have been completed in Algonquin Park, Thomson's friend Winifred Trainor claimed that it was set outside the Park. Curator Charles C. Hill has instead suggested that the sketch was "[p]robably painted in his Toronto studio, it is most likely a memory—an amalgam of experiences rather than a specific site."
The initial sketch of the scene illustrates Thomson's adept ability to transform his small sketches into powerful studio paintings. This is apparent with other sketch-painting pairings, such as Opulent October, Spring Ice, The Jack Pine and The West Wind, amongst many other examples. Thomson's first gouache study of the work was brightly coloured partly because gouache reflects more light than oil on canvas does. To make the eventual studio painting livelier, he included reds, oranges and yellows within the foreground, though still maintaining the original gouache blends in the sky. The dominant colour of the painting is black, an oddity within Thomson's corpus. Curator and scholar Joan Murray has written that the final canvas closely follows the original study, but with key differences. For one, the canvas is devoid of the accidental brushstrokes present in the sketch. Foreground space was also added to better convey depth and the trees are simpler and more defined, with less foliage present.
=== Art Nouveau ===
In Thomson's time as a commercial artist, he became familiar with the then contemporary decorative style of Art Nouveau. Art historian David P. Silcox has described Northern River as utilizing the same sinuous forms that are to be found in the art style. Of particular note are the "S-curves" of the trees which have their origins in Thomson's work as a draughtsman. He would continue to utilize this motif in other later works, such as Decorative Landscape, Birches (1915–16) and The West Wind (1916–17). Fellow artist A. Y. Jackson would affirm the Group of Seven's tendency towards using Art Nouveau styles within their work, writing that, "We (the Group of Seven and Tom Thomson) treated our subjects with the freedom of designers. We tried to emphasize colour, line and pattern."
== Provenance and exhibition ==
The National Gallery of Canada purchased the painting from Thomson in 1915 for $500 (equivalent to CAD$14,000 in 2025), essentially a years wage for a painter like himself. Since then, it has appeared in over 30 exhibitions, including shows at Musée & du Jeu de Paume in Paris; Los Angeles; London; and Mexico. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amenmesse | Amenmesse | Amenmesse (also Amenmesses or Amenmeses) was the fifth pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty in Ancient Egypt, possibly the son of Merneptah and Queen Takhat. Others consider him to be one of the innumerable sons of Ramesses II. Very little is known about this pharaoh, who ruled Egypt for only three to four years. Various Egyptologists date his reign between 1202 BC–1199 BC or 1203 BC–1200 BC with others giving an accession date of 1200 BC. Amenmesse means "born of or fashioned by Amun" in Egyptian. Additionally, his nomen can be found with the epithet Heqa-waset, which means "Ruler of Thebes". His royal name was Menmire Setepenre.
== Usurper ==
It is likely that he was not Merneptah's intended heir. Scholars Kenneth Kitchen and Jürgen von Beckerath have theorized that Amenmesse usurped the throne from Seti-Merneptah, who was Merneptah's son and crown prince and who should have been next in the line of royal succession. It is unclear how this would have happened. Kitchen has written that Amenmesse may have taken advantage of a momentary weakness of Seti-Merneptah or seized power while the crown prince was away in Asia. Seti-Merneptah was most likely the same man as king Seti II, whose reign was traditionally thought to have followed upon Amenmesse's reign. The cartouches of Seti II's tomb in Upper Egypt were deliberately erased and then repainted, suggesting that Seti's rule in Upper Egypt was temporarily interrupted by agents of his half-brother. Confusion generally clouds Amenmesse's reign and its correct position within the succession sequence of the rulers of the Egyptian 19th Dynasty. However, an increasing number of Egyptologists today such as Rolf Krauss and Aidan Dodson maintain that Seti II was in fact the immediate successor of Merneptah "without any intervening rule by Amenmesse." Under this scenario, Amenmesse did not succeed Merneptah on the throne of Egypt and was rather a rival king who usurped power sometime during Years 2 to 4 of Seti II's reign in Upper Egypt and Nubia where his authority is monumentally attested. Amenmesse was documented in power at Thebes during his third and fourth year (and perhaps earlier in Nubia) where Seti II's Year 3 and Year 4 are noticeably unaccounted for. The treatment of Amenmesse as a rival king also best explains the pattern of destruction to Seti II's tomb which was initially ransacked and later restored again by Seti II's officials. This implies that the respective reigns of Amenmesse and Seti II were parallel to one another; Seti II must have initially controlled Thebes in his first and second years during which time his tomb was excavated and partly decorated. Then Seti was ousted from power in Upper Egypt by Amenmesse whose agents desecrated Seti II's tomb. Seti would finally defeat his rival Amenmesse and return to Thebes in triumph whereupon he ordered the restoration of his damaged tomb.
Rolf Krauss, followed by Aidan Dodson, suggests that Amenmesse was once a Kushite Viceroy called Messuy. In particular, two representations of Messuy on the temple of Amida allegedly show that a royal uraeus had been added to his brows in a way consistent with other pharaohs such as Horemheb, Merneptah and some of the sons of Rameses III. An inscription at the temple of Amada also calls him "the king's son himself" but this may be merely a figure of speech to emphasize Messuy's high stature as Viceroy under Merneptah. However, Frank Yurco notes that various depictions of Messuy in several Nubian temples were never deliberately defaced by Seti II's agents compared to the damnatio memoriae meted out to all depictions of another Viceroy of Kush, Khaemtir, who had served as Amenmesse's Vizier. This strongly implies that Seti II held no grudge against Messuy, which would be improbable if Messuy was indeed Amenmesse. Yurco also observes that the only objects from Messuy's tomb which identified a Pharaoh all named only Merneptah, Seti II's father, which leads to the conclusion that Messuy died and was buried in his tomb at Aniba, Nubia, during Merneptah's reign, and could not be Amenmesse.
The records of a court case early in the reign of Seti II also throw some light on the matter. Papyrus Salt 124 records that Neferhotep, one of the two chief workmen of the Deir el-Medina necropolis, had been killed during the reign of Amenmesse (the king's name is written as Msy in the document). Neferhotep was replaced by Paneb his adopted son, against whom many crimes were alleged by Neferhotep's brother Amennakhte in a strongly-worded indictment preserved on a papyrus in the British Museum. If Amennakhte's allegations can be trusted, Paneb had stolen stone for the embellishment of his own tomb from that of Seti II in the course of its completion, besides purloining or damaging other property belonging to that monarch. Also he had allegedly tried to kill Neferhotep in spite of having been educated by him, and after the chief workman had been killed by "the enemy" had bribed the vizier Pra'emhab in order to usurp his place. Whatever the truth of these accusations, it is clear that Thebes was going through very troubled times. There are references elsewhere to a "war" that had occurred during these years, but it is obscure to what this word alludes—perhaps to no more than internal disturbances and discontent. Neferhotep had complained of the attacks upon himself to the vizier Amenmose, presumably a predecessor of Pra'emhab, whereupon Amenmose had Paneb punished. Paneb, however, then successfully brought a complaint before 'Mose'/'Msy' whereupon the latter decided to dismiss Amenmose from office. Evidently this 'Mose'/'Msy' was a person of the highest importance who most probably should be identified with king Amenmesse himself.
== Family ==
His mother is known to be Queen Takhat, but who she is exactly is a matter of interpretation complicated by inscriptions being revised by Seti II and Amenmesse. Among her titles are "King's Daughter", which would make her a daughter of Merneptah or Ramesses II or possibly a granddaughter of Ramesses. The name Takhat appears in a list of princesses dated to Year 53 of Ramesses II (Louvre 666). If this is the same Takhat, she would be about the same age as Seti II.
A monument from Karnak, carved while Amenmesse was in control of the area, includes the relief of a woman titled "King's Daughter" and "King's Mother". The monument was reinscribed from 'Mother' to 'Wife'. Another statue of Seti II (Cairo CG1198) bears Seti's name surcharged over someone else's while the names of Takhat were left alone. This suggests that Takhat was married to Seti as well as mother to Amenmesse. Others such as Frank Yurco believe Takhat was wife to Merneptah making the rivals Seti II and Amenmesse half-brothers.
Some assume that Twosret, wife of Seti II, was his sister. Amenmesse's wife was thought to be a woman named Baktwerel since she was buried in the same tomb as Amenmesse, KV10. Three mummies were initially present in this tomb, two women and one man. It is uncertain if any of these remains belong to Amenmesse, Takhat, or Baketwerel. The two females Baketwerel and Takhat could have been buried later. Some people believe that Seti II broke into the tomb and had Amenmesse's remains desecrated since his mummy was never found.
Six quartzite statues originally placed along the axis of the hypostyle hall in the Amun Temple at Karnak are thought to be his, although these were defaced and overwritten with the name of Seti II. One of these statues, with the inscription, "the Great Royal Wife Takhat", lends credence to the argument that a Takhat was Amenmesse's wife. Amenmesse was also responsible for restoring a shrine dating from Thutmose III that stands before a temple at El-Tod.
There is confusion about the events surrounding his death. His mummy was not amongst those found in the cache at Deir el Bahri, and from the destruction of his tomb in the Valley of the Kings, it is assumed that Seti II took revenge upon his usurping half-brother.
== Aftermath ==
Amenmesse was buried in a rock-cut tomb in the Valley of the Kings which is now identified as Tomb KV10. However, almost all of its texts and scenes were either erased or usurped by Seti II's agents. No mention of Amenmesse was spared. A number of officials associated with Amenmesse were also attacked or replaced, chief among them being the Theban High Priest of Amun, Roma called Roy, and Khaemtir, a former viceroy of Kush, who may have supported Amenmesse's usurpation.
Amenmesse's tomb was looted in antiquity. However the remains of three mummies were found in this tomb, two women and one man, it is uncertain if any of these remains belong to Amenmesse, Takhat or the later Baketwerel without further testing or whether they were later intrusions. It seems more likely, however, that Seti II had Amenmesse's remains desecrated since his mummy was never found "in either of the two great caches of royal mummies found in 1881 and 1901". Surviving inscriptions mentioning Takhat's name along with the wall inscriptions suggest she was buried in Amenmesse's tomb. Artifacts from the tombs of Seti I and Rameses VI were also found in the KV10 tomb adding to the uncertainty. After his death, Seti II also conducted a damnatio memoriae campaign against the memory of Amenmesse's Vizier, Khaemtir. Egyptologist Frank Yurco notes that Seti II's agents erased all of Khaemtir's depictions and inscriptions—even those that were inscribed when Khaemtir served as a Viceroy in Nubia.
It is possible that Siptah, the Pharaoh who succeeded Seti II, was the son of Amenmesse and not of Seti II. A statue of Siptah in Munich shows the Pharaoh seated in the lap of another, clearly his father. The statue of the father, however, has been destroyed. Dodson writes: The only ruler of the period who could have promoted such destruction was Amenmesse, and likewise he is the only king whose offspring required such explicit promotion. The destruction of this figure is likely to have closely followed the fall of Bay or the death of Siptah himself, when any short-lived rehabilitation of Amenmesse will have ended.
M. Georg and Rolf Krauss find that there are a number of parallels between the story of Amenmesse and the biblical story of Moses in Egypt. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliot_Handler | Elliot Handler | Isadore Elliot Handler (April 9, 1916 – July 21, 2011) was an American inventor, business magnate, and the co-founder of Mattel. With his wife, Ruth Handler, he developed some of the biggest-selling toys in American history, including Barbie, Chatty Cathy, Creepy Crawlers, and Hot Wheels.
== Early life ==
Isadore "Izzy" Elliot Handler was born to a Jewish family in Chicago, Illinois, on April 9, 1916. Handler's parents were Ukrainian Jews who largely spoke Yiddish within their household. The family moved out of Chicago, and Handler grew up on the west side of Denver, Colorado. He studied industrial design at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. In 1929, he met his future wife Ruth Mosko at a B'nai B'rith dance for teenagers. They dated on and off for years, and were married in June 1938. Shortly after their marriage, his new wife Ruth requested he change his name: partially due to her preferring his middle name "Elliot" over "Izzy", and partially from her fears of American antisemitism toward a name frequently associated with being Jewish like Isadore. He complied. The couple had two children: Barbara, who was the namesake of Barbie dolls; and Kenneth, the namesake of Ken dolls. While a struggling art student and designer of light fixtures, Handler partnered with Harold Matson to design a realistic-looking miniature piano that received roughly 300,000 orders; however, they mispriced the product and lost a dime on each one produced.
== Mattel ==
Mattel received its name from business partners Harold "Matt" Matson and Elliot Handler in 1945. Elliot's wife, Ruth, took Matson's role when the Handlers bought his share in the late 1940s.
Handler holds credit for developing the first talking doll Chatty Cathy, using a pull string talking mechanism, revolutionizing the toy industry. Mattel continued to develop a number of talking toys, including Chatty Baby, Tiny Chatty Baby, and Charmin' Chatty. Toys were made for cartoon favorites such as Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig, and for television characters such as Herman Munster and Mr. Ed.
When Handler's daughter Barbara married Allan Segal, they created Allan, Ken's friend. The 1965 talking doll Baby Cheryl was named after the Handlers' first grandchild, and the Todd doll in the Barbie line was named after their grandson.
Handler was primarily responsible for two additional Mattel product lines. In 1966, Mattel introduced smaller dolls called Liddle Kiddles. Handler claimed he wanted them to resemble little children in neighborhoods across America. They were sculpted by doll artist Martha Armstrong-Hand. Kiddles were a great success and continued to be produced in different versions until the early 1970s. Another product line was Hot Wheels, introduced in 1968, which gave rise to 10,000 different models.
First called Mattel Creations, the company has become the largest toy maker in the world in terms of revenue. In April 2006, Mattel honored Handler with a 90th birthday party at its headquarters in El Segundo, California. Guests included his daughter Barbara Segal, the namesake of the Barbie doll.
== Personal life ==
Handler died of heart failure at home in Century City, a district of Los Angeles, California, at age 95 on July 21, 2011. Ruth Handler, Elliot's wife, died in 2002; their son Ken died in 1994. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pecos_National_Historical_Park | Pecos National Historical Park | Pecos National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park in San Miguel County, New Mexico. The park, operated by the National Park Service, encompasses thousands of acres of landscape infused with historical elements from prehistoric archaeological ruins to 19th-century ranches, to a battlefield of the American Civil War. Its largest single feature is Pecos Pueblo also known as Cicuye Pueblo, a Native American community abandoned in historic times. First a state monument in 1935, it was made Pecos National Monument in 1965, and greatly enlarged and renamed in 1990. Two sites within the park, the pueblo and the Glorieta Pass Battlefield, are National Historic Landmarks.
== Features ==
Pecos National Historical Park's main unit is located in western San Miguel County, about 17 miles (27 km) east of Santa Fe and just south of Pecos.
=== Pecos Pueblo ===
The main unit of the park preserves the ruins of Pecos Pueblo, known historically as Cicuye (sometimes spelled Ciquique), the "village of 500 warriors". The first Pecos pueblo was one of two dozen rock-and-mud villages built in the valley around AD 1100 in the prehistoric Pueblo II Era. Within 350 years the Pueblo IV Era Pecos village had grown to house more than 2,000 people in its five-storied complex.
The people who lived at Cicuye/Pecos Pueblo spoke the Towa language. The Pecos people enjoyed a rich culture with inventive architecture and beautiful crafts. They also possessed an elaborate religious life, evidenced by the remains of over 20 ceremonial subterranean kivas. Some of the kivas have diameters as large as 40 feet and are 10 feet deep, accessed by wooden ladders. Farming was a main part of their diet and staple crops included the usual beans, corn, and squash. Their location, power and ability to supply goods made the Pecos a major trade center in the eastern part of the Puebloan territory, connecting the Pueblos to the Plains cultures such as the Comanche. There are seven distinct periods of their occupancy beginning with the Preceramic Period (11,500 B.C.E. - 600 C.E.) Ancestral Puebloan Paleo-Indians. Emigration of Pecos people to other areas, encroachment of Hispanic settlers in the area, outbreaks of smallpox, and problems with Plains Indians caused the site to decline. The last 17 (or 20) inhabitants abandoned Pecos Pueblo in 1838, moving to the Jemez Pueblo, the only other Pueblo which spoke the Towa language.
The historical Pecos people produced, used or traded seven types of ceramic ware during their occupancy of the area. These are known as Rio Grande Greyware (plain and corrugated), Pajarito White Ware, Rio Grande Glaze Ware, Historic polychromes, Historic plain ware, White Mountain Red Ware, and Plains Apache Ware. Many of these were decorated with black, red or polychrome designs.
=== Spanish mission ===
The main unit of the park also protects the remains of Mission Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles de Porciúncula de los Pecos, a Spanish mission near the pueblo built in the early 17th century. A 1.25-mile (2 km) self-guiding trail begins at the nearby visitor center and winds through the ruins of Pecos Pueblo and the mission church.
Pecos was visited by expeditionaries with Francisco Vásquez de Coronado in 1540. The Spanish mission church was built in 1619. A traditional kiva was built in front of the church during the Pueblo Revolt in 1680 as a rejection of the Christian religion brought by Spanish colonists. However, when the Spanish returned in 1692, the Pecos community stayed on friendly terms with them, and a new, smaller church was built in 1717.
=== Forked Lightning Ranch ===
Another part of the park is the Forked Lightning Ranch, a cattle ranch established in the 1920s by Tex Austin, a famous producer of rodeos. It was headquartered at the Kozlowski's Stage Stop and Tavern, a stagecoach stop on the Santa Fe Trail that had also served as a Union forces encampment before the Battle of Glorieta Pass. It was only a cattle ranch for a time before Austin converted it into a dude ranch which he promoted to Easterners. The main ranch was designed by John Gaw Meem in the Pueblo Revival style of architecture. Austin's heavily mortgaged endeavour failed, closing in 1933. In 1936 the ranch again became a working cattle ranch, and in 1941 it was purchased by Buddy Fogelson, a Texas oilman who married actress Greer Garson. After her husband died, Garson sold her share of the park in 1991 to a conservation group, which donated it to the Park Service.
=== Old Santa Fe Trail ===
Portions of the historic Santa Fe Trail run through all units of the park. This rutted wagon trail was one of the major routes by which the American Southwest grew in the 19th century.
=== Glorieta Pass Battlefield ===
The Battle of Glorieta Pass was fought March 26–28, 1862 in the mountain pass west of Pecos Pueblo, along the route of the Old Santa Fe Trail. Confederate forces were en route to take Union-controlled Fort Union, and were fought to a standoff by militia raised in the New Mexico and Colorado Territories. Although parts of the battlefield have been compromised by highway construction, two sections of the battlefield have been preserved by the Park Service on either side of the pass. Public access to these units is limited by the National Park Service.
== Administrative history ==
Pecos Pueblo and an area of 341 acres (138 ha) was acquired by the state and preserved as a state monument in 1935. In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson established Pecos National Monument over the same area, and control was turned over the Park Service. In 1990 the main unit of the park was expanded to more than 6,000 acres (24 km2), including a large area of ranchland and archaeologically sensitive landscapes. The two units of the Glorieta Pass Battlefield were formally added to the park in 1993.
== Climate ==
According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, the area has an oceanic climate, abbreviated "Cfb" on climate maps. The hottest temperature recorded was 100 °F (37.8 °C) on June 26, 1994 and July 18, 2023, while the coldest temperature recorded was −29 °F (−33.9 °C) on February 1, 1951. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_Year-End_Hot_100_singles_of_1985#:~:text=Article,11 | Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1985#:~:text=Article,11 | This is a list of Billboard magazine's Top Hot 100 singles of 1985. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_modernist_writers | List of modernist writers | Literary modernism has its origins in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, mainly in Europe and North America. Modernism is characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional styles of poetry and prose. Modernists experimented with literary form and expression, adhering to Ezra Pound's maxim to "Make it new". The modernist literary movement was driven by a conscious desire to overturn traditional modes of representation and express the new sensibilities of their time.
It is debatable when the modernist literary movement began, though some have chosen 1910 as roughly marking the beginning and quote novelist Virginia Woolf, who declared that human nature underwent a fundamental change "on or about December 1910." But modernism was already stirring by 1899, with works such as Joseph Conrad's (1857–1924) Heart of Darkness, while Alfred Jarry's (1873–1907) absurdist play, Ubu Roi appeared even earlier, in 1896. Knut Hamsun's (1859–1952) Hunger (1890) is a groundbreaking modernist novel and Mysteries (1892) pioneers modernist stream of consciousness method. Even earlier precursor to stream of consciousness can be found in Dostoyevsky's Notes from Underground (1864).
When modernism ends is debatable. Though The Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature sees Modernism ending by c.1939, with regard to British and American literature, "When (if) Modernism petered out and postmodernism began has been contested almost as hotly as when the transition from Victorianism to Modernism occurred". Clement Greenberg sees Modernism ending in the 1930s, with the exception of the visual and performing arts. In fact many literary modernists lived into the 1950s and 1960s, though generally speaking they were no longer producing major works. The term late modernism is also sometimes applied to modernist works published after 1930. Among modernists (or late modernists) still publishing after 1945 were Wallace Stevens, Gottfried Benn, T. S. Eliot, Anna Akhmatova, William Faulkner, Dorothy Richardson, John Cowper Powys, and Ezra Pound. Basil Bunting, born in 1901, published his most important modernist poem Briggflatts in 1965. In addition Hermann Broch's The Death of Virgil was published in 1945 and Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus in 1947. Samuel Beckett, who died in 1989, has been described as a "later modernist". Beckett is a writer with roots in the expressionist tradition of modernism, who produced works from the 1930s until the 1980s, including Molloy (1951), En attendant Godot (1953), Happy Days (1961), Rockaby (1981). The poets Charles Olson (1910-1970) and J. H. Prynne (1936- ) are, amongst other writing in the second half of the 20th century, who have been described as late modernists.
List
The following is a list of significant modernist writers: |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricky_van_Wolfswinkel | Ricky van Wolfswinkel | Ricky van Wolfswinkel (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈrɪki vɑɱ ˈʋɔl(ə)fsˌʋɪŋkəl]; born 27 January 1989) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a striker for Eredivisie club Twente. He has played top-flight football in the Netherlands, Portugal, England, France, Spain and Switzerland and has been capped twice by the Netherlands national team.
== Club career ==
=== Vitesse ===
Van Wolfswinkel started his football career at the D-pupils of Vitesse Arnhem. In the A-juniors, he became top scorer in the national first division, winning a prize awarded by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) for the feat. This prize was presented by Wesley Sneijder in 2007. On 5 April 2008, Van Wolfswinkel made his debut for Vitesse's first team in a match against Sparta Rotterdam, in which he was the substitute in the 85th minute for Santi Kolk. Against De Graafschap, in the 2008–09 season, he was in the starting lineup for the first time. In his third match that season, against Sparta Rotterdam, he scored his first Eredivisie goal.
=== Utrecht ===
On 29 May 2009, Van Wolfswinkel announced his departure from Vitesse, subsequently signing a three-year contract with FC Utrecht. He began the 2010–11 league campaign with a goal in a 3–1 loss against Feyenoord. On 22 August 2010, he scored two goals against Willem II resulting in a 3–0 win for Utrecht. On 26 August 2010, Van Wolfswinkel scored a hat-trick against Celtic in the UEFA Europa League; Utrecht went on to win the match 4–0. On 3 October 2010, Van Wolfswinkel scored two penalties against Ajax to gain a 2–1 away win over the Dutch runners-up.
=== Sporting CP ===
On 3 June 2011, Van Wolfswinkel moved to Sporting CP, signing a five-year contract on a €5.4 million deal; Sporting CP was given financial aid by Sporting Portugal Fund and Quality Sports Investments. He scored his first goal for Sporting on 10 September 2011 against Paços de Ferreira in a 3–2 win. He was the SJPF Player of the Month for September 2011. Overall, he scored a total of 25 goals during the 2011–12 season, including a hat-trick in the final game, a 3–2 win over Braga at the Estádio José Alvalade on 12 May 2012.
In his second season in Lisbon, Van Wolfswinkel recorded another 14 league goals in 30 games, although his team missed out on European competition by finishing 7th. He scored a hat-trick, again in a 3–2 win over Braga, on 1 April 2013.
=== Norwich City ===
On 22 March 2013, it was announced that Van Wolfswinkel had agreed a deal to join English club Norwich City for the 2013–14 season, a transfer worth €10 million, plus up to €2 million in bonuses. He joined the Canaries on 1 July on a four-year deal. He stated that the famous Netherlands player Johan Neeskens had urged him to join Norwich, saying, "Ricky, you have to go. It's a great club for you. If you have a great feeling, do it."
He scored on his league debut on 17 August, in a 2–2 home draw for Norwich against Everton. After the match, he said in an interview that Manchester United and Netherlands international Robin van Persie also recommended Norwich to him. Van Persie was reported to have told Van Wolfswinkel that Norwich are "a difficult team to beat" and that the "crowd always get really behind them."
Van Wolfswinkel was involved in controversy in the 0–0 home draw against Cardiff City on 26 October 2013. After teammate Alexander Tettey was injured, Cardiff goalkeeper David Marshall sportingly put the ball out of play. Van Wolfswinkel quickly threw the ball to Leroy Fer, who kicked the ball into the goal. This caused outrage amongst the Cardiff players, who started shoving both Van Wolfswinkel and Fer. The goal was disallowed despite it not technically being a violation of any rules. In February 2014, he was alleged to have been kicked by Manchester City's Yaya Touré, who was investigated, and Van Wolfswinkel welcomed The FA's verdict that Touré had done no wrong.
Van Wolfswinkel failed to score for the remainder of the season, making 25 Premier League appearances in total, while Norwich were relegated to the Championship after finishing with only 33 points.
==== Loans ====
On 5 August 2014, Van Wolfswinkel joined Saint-Étienne of the French Ligue 1 on a season-long loan. He stated that his goal was to work hard for the team and to be important for the club. Van Wolfswinkel scored his first goal for the club on 25 September, the first goal in the 1–1 home draw against Bordeaux. On 30 November, he scored the second goal as the team won 3–0 in the Derby du Rhône against Lyon, his team's first home win over their rivals in 20 years.
Upon his return to Norwich from his loan spell at Saint-Étienne, he scored against Rotherham United in the League Cup second round on 25 August 2015, a 2–1 away win.
On 31 August 2015, Van Wolfswinkel joined Real Betis of the Spanish La Liga on a season-long loan. On 24 September, he made his first appearance in a 2–1 home defeat to Deportivo La Coruña, replacing Jorge Molina in the 59th minute. He scored his first two goals on 15 December in a Copa del Rey tie against Sporting Gijón, which finished as a 3–3 draw, and on 19 April 2016, he finally scored his first La Liga goal in a 1–0 home victory over Las Palmas.
=== Return to Vitesse ===
On 28 July 2016, Van Wolfswinkel rejoined Vitesse for an undisclosed fee from Norwich. On 6 August, he marked his comeback with a goal in the 21st minute to give Vitesse a 1–0 lead in an eventual 4–1 away victory over Willem II.
He ultimately scored 20 goals in 32 games for the league season, one behind Golden Boot winner Nicolai Jørgensen. This included a hat-trick on 8 April 2017 in a 4–2 win over Heerenveen at the GelreDome.
He scored two goals in the final of the KNVB Beker against AZ on 30 April 2017 to lead the club to the title for the first time in its 125-year history.
=== Basel ===
On 14 June 2017, it was announced that van Wolfswinkel would join Swiss side Basel on a three-year deal. He joined Basel's first team for their 2017–18 season under head coach Raphaël Wicky. After playing in five test games van Wolfswinkel played his first team league debut for his new club on 22 July in the 2–0 away defeat against Young Boys in the Stade de Suisse. He scored his first goal for his new club in the next match in the 3–1 home win in the St. Jakob-Park against Luzern on 30 July. On 10 August, van Wolfswinkel scored twice as Basel beat Grasshoppers 3–2; his first double strike for the club meant that he scored four times in his first four league games for the club.
Van Wolfswinkel injured himself during the Champions League group stage home game against Benfica on 27 September. The game was won 5–0 and van Wolfswinkel had netted the third goal. However, the injury (a metatarsal fracture) meant that van Wolfswinkel could not play again in the first half of the season. He returned to the team after three months on 17 December in the 2–0 away win against Grasshoppers being substituted in five minutes from time.
Under trainer Marcel Koller Basel won the Swiss Cup in the 2018–19 season. In the first round Basel beat FC Montlingen 3–0, in the second round Echallens Région 7–2 and in the round of 16 Winterthur 1–0. In the quarter-finals Sion were defeated 4–2 after extra time and in the semi-finals Zürich were defeated 3–1. All these games were played away from home. The final was held on 19 May 2019 in the Stade de Suisse Wankdorf Bern against Thun. Striker Albian Ajeti scored the first goal, Fabian Frei the second for Basel, then Dejan Sorgić netted a goal for Thun, but the result remained 2–1 for Basel. Van Wolfswinkel played in five cup games and scored twice.
In August 2019, van Wolfswinkel underwent surgery for a brain aneurysm detected during a routine scan for concussion. After some complications and an injury in training, he returned to the squad in June the following year. His contract expired on 31 August 2020, but a week later, he signed for another two years. During their 2020–21 season under head coach Ciriaco Sforza made 25 league appearances, mainly as substitute. After the season van Wolfswinkel left the club. Between the years 2017 and 2020 he played a total of 148 games for Basel scoring a total of 54 goals. 88 of these games were in the Swiss Super League, 11 in the Swiss Cup, 16 in the UEFA competitions (Champions League and Europa League) and 33 were friendly games. He scored 28 goals in the domestic league, 4 in the cup, 6 in the European games and the other 16 were scored during the test games.
=== Twente ===
On 21 July 2021, Van Wolfswinkel signed a two-year contract with an option for a further season with Twente, returning to the Eredivisie. He scored on his competitive debut on 14 August, opening the scoring in a 2–1 league defeat away to Fortuna Sittard. He finished the 2021–22 campaign as Twente's leading scorer with 17 goals in 35 appearances, contributing to a fourth-place league finish and qualification for European play-offs.
On 27 March 2025, Van Wolfswinkel signed a one-year extension through 2026. He scored his 100th Eredivisie goal on 13 September 2025 against NAC Breda, becoming the 67th player to reach the milestone; per Opta, the span between his first and hundredth Eredivisie goals—16 years and 358 days—was the longest on record.
== International career ==
Van Wolfswinkel played several matches for the Netherlands' national youth sides in various age groups and in August 2010 was called up for the senior national team for a friendly against Ukraine, during which he made his senior debut. He earned his second full international cap against Indonesia in June 2013.
== Career statistics ==
=== Club ===
As of match played 15 March 2026
=== International ===
== Honours ==
Sporting CP
Taça de Portugal runner-up: 2011–12
Vitesse
KNVB Cup: 2016–17
Basel
Swiss Cup: 2018–19
Individual
SJPF Player of the Month: September 2011 |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slush_Puppie | Slush Puppie | Slush Puppie (stylized as SLUSH PUPPiE) is a slush beverage created in 1970, and marketed both directly by the Slush Puppie division of J&J Snack Foods, and through its Slush Puppie distributors in the United States and Canada.
A Slush Puppie has two major components; the base and the flavoring. The base is made from a special syrup that is mixed with water and then frozen. This creates a mixture resulting in pellets of ice in a sweet liquid. The taste is simply that of the flavored syrup. The brand's mascot is a white puppy wearing a blue shirt with the letter "S" and a knit hat.
Because of the glycerol used to prevent slushy drinks from freezing, Slush Puppie beverages may not suitable for children under age four.
== History ==
Slush Puppie founder Will Radcliff (1939–2014) decided to start the company after seeing a slush-making machine at a Chicago trade fair in 1970. Radcliff, his sister and their mother came up with the name "Slush Puppie" (based on hush puppy) while sitting on their front porch in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The business started from a home address in Cincinnati and progressed to a single door small warehouse, to a manufacturing plant/warehouse, to a candy and tobacco distributor, to a front door repair shop, to finally a showplace building that overlooks the city of Cincinnati. As the company expanded, Radcliff added additional product lines, including Thelma's frozen lemonade, Pacific Bay Smooth-E, and Lanikai Frozen Cocktails. Under Radcliff, Slush Puppie grew to $25 million in annual sales.
Radcliff sold Slush Puppie to Cadbury Schweppes for $16.6 million in 2000. Slush Puppie was then acquired by J & J Snack Foods, a food manufacturer based in Pennsauken Township, New Jersey, on May 30, 2006.
== List of international operations ==
=== United Kingdom ===
In 1974, Slush Puppie arrived in the United Kingdom when businessman Ralph Peters bought three Slush Puppie machines. The Slush Puppie license continued to be held in the United Kingdom by the Peters family for decades, and was later joined by the Frutina brand. In December 2019, it was announced that the UK license with the Peters family (now known as Frozen Brothers) would be terminated. In June 2021, the UK license for Slush Puppie was awarded to Vimto Out of Home. In November 2024, the Slush Puppie license was then changed to Celtic Frozen Drinks.
Spin-offs of Slush Puppie sold in UK retail outlets, such as a home slush machine, have been sold by Fizz Creations since 2017. A freezeable pouch version was introduced by Manchester Drinks in July 2018. In 2021, Rose Confectionary began making various Slush Puppie candy assortments. In March 2023, a soft-drink version called Slush Puppie Fizzie was launched by Nichols plc. There are other items produced, such as ice lollies, teacakes and milkshake powder by CRC Innovations. There are also air freshers and air sprays available by RTC Direct.
== Gallery == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenkodogo | Tenkodogo | Tenkodogo is a town in southeastern Burkina Faso. It serves as the capital city of Boulgou Province and the Centre-Est Region of Burkina Faso with a population of 61,936 (2019). Tenkodogo was also the capital of the historic Tenkodogo Bissa-Mossi origin and considered to be root of all other Mossi Kingdoms, having been founded circa 1100. The literal translation of Tenkodogo is ancient-land.
== Economy ==
The villages surrounding Tenkodogo are primarily based around animal husbandry.
The main market takes place every 3 days.
Notable hotels include Hotel Djamou, Hotel Djamou Annexe, Hotel Laafi, and Auberge Riale.
== Politics ==
On 29 January 2016, the king of Tenkodogo, Naba Saga, died while in Thailand for hospital care. He was the 28th king of Tenkodogo according to tradition and was inducted on 5 October 2001. He had taken the position after the death of his father, Naba Tigre, in September 2001. He was succeeded by Naba Guiguem-Pollé as king.
== Transport ==
The town is connected to Koupéla and Bittou, along the N15 highway.
Companies such as STAF, TSF, TSR, TCV and many more provide multiple daily services to Ouagadougou.
Tenkodogo is approximately 185 kilometres (115 mi) from Ouagadougou and it takes about 3h30min by vehicle.
== Development ==
In the period leading up to the 2019 edition of 11 Dècembre festivity, Tenkodogo had a massive improvement to its road network. Multiple roads and roundabouts were asphalted making movements within the city much faster.
Tenkodogo also had the removal of its dirt runway to make way for the 11 Dècembre neighbourhood (colloquially known as "Cité 11 Decémbre") which is full of modern villas and houses.
== Royal Family ==
The headquarters of the royal family is located within the Palais Royal de Tenkodogo (colloquially known as Na-Yiri in Mooré language) located at a close proximity to the market (Marchè de Tenkodogo or Tenkodogo Daassi or Raaga in both BISSA and Mooré languages respectively).The second in command of the Tenkodogo chieftaincy or prime minister is Kere family.
The current head of the family is His Majesty King Naba Guiguem-Pollé and Kiir BIDIMPOO as his second in command, King of the Kingdom of Tenkodogo and Rima of BISSAKO (RIALEKOU).
The majority of descendants of the royal family carry the surname Sorgho and they are colloquially known as the naabisi (royals) of the city.
The royal family are still a key figure in the city and they still mediate over land or family disputes in the city.
== Climate ==
Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies its climate as hot semi-arid (BSh) that closely borders with tropical wet and dry (Aw).
== Demographics == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girl_Scouts_of_the_USA#Presidents | Girl Scouts of the USA#Presidents | Girl Scouts of the United States of America (GSUSA), commonly referred to as Girl Scouts, is a youth organization for girls in the United States and American girls living abroad.
It was founded by Juliette Gordon Low in 1912, a year after she had met Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting America (formerly Boy Scouts).
The stated mission of Girl Scouts is to "[build] girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place" through activities involving camping, community service, and practical skills such as first aid. Members can earn badges by completing certain tasks and mastering skills. More senior members may be eligible for awards, such as the Bronze, Silver, and Gold Awards. Membership is organized according to grade level, with activities designed for each level. The organization is a member of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS).
== History ==
=== Girl Guides of America ===
Girl Scouting in the United States began on March 12, 1912, when founder Juliette Gordon Low organized the first Girl Guide troop meeting in Savannah, Georgia. It has since grown to near 3.7 million members. From its inception, Girl Scouts has been organized and run exclusively for girls.
Low was the granddaughter of Juliette Magill Kinzie and John Harris Kinzie, and her maternal grandparents were two of the earliest settlers of Chicago. Juliette Kinzie wrote about her experiences in the Northwest Territory (now the state of Wisconsin) in her book Wau-Bun: The Early Day. Low incorporated some of her grandmother's experiences on the frontier into the traditions of Girl Scouts.
In late 1912, Low sought various mergers with similar organizations, including Camp Fire Girls and the Des Moines-based Girl Scouts of America, but was unsuccessful in any merging.
=== Girl Scouts of the United States ===
In 1913, the organization was renamed to Girl Scouts of the United States. Its headquarters was subsequently moved to Washington, D.C.
In 1915, the organization was incorporated, and its headquarters was moved to New York City. The organization was renamed for the final time to Girl Scouts of the United States of America in 1947. The organization received a congressional charter on March 16, 1950.
By 1920, the organization reached nearly 70,000 members. In 1930, that number had expanded to over 200,000 members. As of 2013, there were over 3.2 million Girl Scouts: 2.3 million youth members and 890,000 adult members. More than 50 million American women have participated in Girl Scouts throughout its history.
In 1923, Girl Scouts were organized into patrols, troops, local councils, and a National Council. Initially, troops had a high degree of independence, but over time, councils were formed between troops. Today there are 111 councils across the United States and Girl Scouts Overseas following a cycle of mergers in 2006.
The Juliette Gordon Low Historic District in Savannah, Georgia, became the national Girl Scout program center in 1956. Upon Low's death in 1927, she willed her carriage house, at 330 Drayton Street, which eventually became The Girl Scout First Headquarters, to the local Savannah Girl Scouts for continued use.
=== Desegregation ===
Most Girl Scout units were originally segregated by race according to state and local laws and customs. The first troop for African American girls was founded in 1917; the first American Indian troop was formed in New York State in 1921; and the first troop for Mexican Americans was formed in Houston, Texas, in 1922. In 1933, Josephine Groves Holloway founded unofficial African American troops in Tennessee. She also fully desegregated the Cumberland Valley council in 1962. The first official African American troop in the South was founded in 1932 in Richmond, Virginia. It was created by Maggie Lena Walker and Lena B. Watson, but was led by Lavnia Banks, a teacher from Armstrong High School. It first met in Hartshorn Hall at Virginia Union University.
By the 1950s, GSUSA had begun significant national efforts to desegregate the camps and maintain racial balance. One of the first desegregations, accomplished by Murray Atkins Walls in 1956, was at Camp Shattuck in Kentucky. In 1969, a Girl Scout initiative called Action 70 was created that aimed to eliminate prejudice. Gloria D. Scott, an African American, was elected national president of GSUSA in 1975.
=== Wing Scouts ===
The Wing Scouts was a Senior Girl Scout program for girls interested in aviation. It was started in 1941 and ended in the 1970s. In July 1942, 29 troop leaders from 15 states met in Philadelphia for Wing Scout leadership training. They returned to their councils and began the creation of Wing Scout troops. In 1959, the council in San Mateo County, California was presented with an offer from United Airlines to start an aviation program for Senior Girl Scouts. A highlight of the Wing Scout program was a courtesy flight provided to Senior Girl Scouts using United Airlines aircraft. For many of the girls, the flight was their first time being in an airplane. The program was discontinued after United Airlines experienced financial issues in the 1970s.
== Age levels ==
In 1938, the age divisions consisted of Brownies (ages 7 through 9), Intermediates (ages 10 through 13), and Seniors (ages 14 through 18).
In 1965, the age divisions were changed to include Brownies (ages 7 and 8, or 2nd and 3rd grade), Juniors (ages 9 through 11, or 4th through 6th grade), Cadettes (ages 11 through 14, or 7th through 9th grade), and Seniors (ages 14 through 18, or 10th through 12th grade).
The Daisy program for kindergarten-age girls was started in 1984. The Daisy program succeeded a 1976 pilot program known as Pixies.
In 2003, the Studio 2B program was introduced for Cadettes and Seniors. Under the Studio 2B programs, girls were able to work on traditional badges as well as Studio 2B activities, and the Silver Award and Gold Award requirements were altered to require both. Studio 2B activities differed from badges in that each booklet focused on a topic such as environmentalism or self-confidence rather than being skill-based like a badge.
On October 1, 2008, all levels were renamed to begin with "Girl Scout" (e.g., Girl Scout Brownies instead of Brownie Girl Scouts). Additionally, levels were changed to an exclusively grade-based system, A new level, Girl Scout Ambassadors, was created for girls in grades 11 and 12. Sixth grade girls were reclassified from Junior level to Cadette level in order to conform with the broad reclassification of 6th grade as a middle school grade. The new levels were tested in approximately six councils during the spring of 2008 and were instituted nationally after October 1, 2008.
As of 2024, Girl Scouts can begin in kindergarten and join all the way through 12th grade. The age divisions are Daisies (kindergarten and 1st grade), Brownies (2nd and 3rd grade), Juniors (4th and 5th grade), Cadettes (6th through 8th grade), Seniors (9th and 10th grade), and Ambassadors (11th and 12th grade).
Although troop membership is the most common way to participate in Girl Scouting, girls who do not have a local troop, or those who are unable or unwilling to participate in their local troop, can still sign up as individual Girl Scouts. Individual Girl Scouts were known in the early years of Girl Scouting as Lone Scouts and later as Juliettes; they attend activities independently and work individually on badges and awards. In 2015–2016, the term Juliette was phased out at the national level, in favor of the term Independent Girl Scouts, although some councils still use the term Juliette.
=== Mariner Scouts ===
The 20th National Council of GSUSA launched the Mariner Girl Scout program in October 1934. Similar to the Boy Scouts of America's Sea Scouting, the program was designed for older Girl Scouts interested in outdoor water-based activities. By the end of 1934, 12 Mariner ships were registered and the first two handbooks, launching a Girl Scout Mariner Ship and Charting the Course of a Girl Scout Mariner Ship, were published. The Mariner Girl Scout program remains active but in a smaller form; most girls have instead joined Sea Scouting, which has been coed since 1971.
=== Special programs ===
Programs are available for girls in specific circumstances that may make it difficult for them to participate in standard programs. The Girl Scouts "Beyond Bars program" helps daughters of incarcerated mothers connect with their mothers and helps mothers participate in Girl Scout activities. Another program, Girl Scouting in Detention Centers, allows girls who are themselves in detention centers to participate in Scouting. Other initiatives try to help girls in rural areas or in public housing. There are also programs for American girls living overseas, and girls whose families are experiencing homelessness or are living in temporary housing.
== Organizational structure ==
The national organization is headquartered in New York City. It is headed by a chief executive officer and a 30-member board of directors. Bonnie Barczykowski currently serves as the chief executive officer and was officially appointed in February 2023. The president of the board of directors is Noorain Khan.
Councils operate below the national leadership; they usually cover a large portion of a state or geographic region. Some councils own and run camps for the troops within their area of responsibility. Councils are usually subdivided into areas, variously known as neighborhoods, service units, or associations. These are program delivery areas that consist of troops at all age levels in a smaller area, such as a town.
The basic unit is the troop which may or may not be sponsored. In contrast to Boy Scout troop-chartered organizations, Girl Scout troop sponsors do not own the troop. Troops range in size from as small as 5 to as large as 30 or more girls and may be divided into several patrols of 8 or fewer girls.
=== Realignment ===
In 2004, Girl Scouts of the USA hired a consultant "to help Girl Scouts develop a strategy to ensure our future success and growth." Six "gap teams" looked at ways Girl Scouts could improve its structure in order to ensure the future growth and success of the organization. This followed declines in both membership and revenue, as well as challenges in subsidizing programs in urban areas. The governance gap team found that consolidation decreased confusion and provided economies of scale and recommended an optimal council size of approximately 10,000 girls. This left 312 regional Girl Scout councils, which administrate 236,000 local troops and other groups. In 2004, the board of directors consolidated the 312 councils into 109 councils.
In response to the consolidation, the Manitou Girl Scout council in Wisconsin sued GSUSA in the district court, alleging a breach of the Girl Scout charter. The suit was summarily dismissed with prejudice. The Seventh U.S. Circuit of Appeals overturned the decision, stating that a Girl Scout council agreement "was no different than a Dunkin' Donuts franchise." The decision of the appeals court maintained the status of the Manitou council. As a result, there are 112 Girl Scout councils in the United States.
== Insignia ==
=== Promise, Law, Motto, and Slogan ===
Promise
The Girl Scout Promise can be communicated in English, Spanish, or in American Sign Language, carrying the same meaning:
The Promise is often recited at Girl Scout troop meetings while holding up the three middle fingers of the right hand, forming the Girl Scout sign. Girl Scout policy states that the organization does not endorse or promote any particular philosophy or religious belief. The movement is nonsectarian and secular. In this context, the word "God" may be interpreted by each Girl Scout depending on her individual spiritual beliefs, and Girl Scouts are free to substitute the word consistent with their beliefs, such as "Creator", "my faith", "Allah", etc. Many Girl Scouts use the word "Community" or "Good" as a substitution.
Law
The current version of the
Girl Scout Law reads as follows:
The Girl Scout Law has been changed several times since 1912. The original Girl Scout Law written by Juliette Gordon Low was:
Motto
Be prepared.
Slogan
Do a good turn daily.
=== Girl Scout uniforms ===
Girl Scout uniforms vary by age cohort – Daisies wear blue, Brownies wear brown, Juniors wear green, and Cadettes, Seniors, and Ambassadors wear tan. Since 2008, Girl Scouts at each level have one required element (tunic, sash or vest) for the display of official pins and awards which will be required when girls participate in ceremonies or officially represent the Girl Scout Movement.
For girls ages 5 to 14, the unifying look includes wearing a choice of a tunic, vest, sash for displaying official pins and awards, combined with their own solid white shirts and khaki pants or skirts. Girl Scouts in high school can also wear a scarf that unites their look with the sisterhood of Girl Scouts around the world. For adult members the unifying look of the uniform is a Girl Scout official scarf or tie for men, worn with the official membership pins, combined with their own navy-blue business attire. Girl Scouts at the Daisy and Brownie levels will continue to have a full uniform ensemble available.
The adult uniform also changed, with registered women and men wearing navy blue business attire, again from their regular wardrobes. Also available for women are official sweaters and an insignia scarf, while men have the option of an official tie.
For all levels, earned awards go on the front of the vest or sash following official placements. Fun patches can be displayed on the back of a vest or sash. Girl Scout Daisies can choose a blue vest or a smock with a full uniform or white shirt and khaki pants and skirt. They have their own Daisy pin and a choice of accessories. Girl Scout Brownies can choose a traditional brown vest or sash to be worn with the historic Brownie pin and other uniform pieces or white shirt and khaki pants or skirts. Girl Scout Juniors wear their official vest or sash to display insignia including awards, coupled with a white shirt and khaki pants or skirt. Girl Scout Cadettes, Seniors, and Ambassadors can choose a khaki sash or vest to go with khaki pants or skirt and a white shirt.
=== Logos ===
The emblem designed by Juliette Gordon Low was the only emblem used for Girl Scout pins through 1980. At the 1978 GSUSA National Convention, the use of two logos was voted on, allowing Girl Scouts to pick which they wanted to wear as their Girl Scout pin (for Girl Scout Juniors and up).
The current Girl Scouts of the USA logo is a rejuvenation of the original logo based on Saul Bass' 1978 design, Bass being a graphic designer known for his motion picture title sequences and design of various other well-known logos. In 2010, the hair and facial styles were updated by Jennifer Kinnon and Bobby C. Martin Jr. of The Original Champions of Design.
== Activities and programs ==
One of the original and continuing attractions of Girl Scouts is that girls become proficient campers and participate in many outdoor activities such as canoeing or backpacking with their troops. Troops do service projects such as carrying out flag ceremonies, collecting food for food drives, visiting nursing homes, and Christmas caroling or other community services. Troops may also plan and take extended trips within the United States or even to another country. Troops may organize cultural or learning events such as first-aid training or attending live theater. The Girl Scout activity most familiar to the general public may be the annual sale of Girl Scout Cookies, which started in 1917 as a money-earning opportunity for councils and troops.
=== Girl Scouts and STEM ===
Girl Scouts has incorporated STEM-related programs and badges to encourage more interest in Scouts in STEM fields. From 2005 to 2007, more than 8.6 million STEM-related badges were earned. The first STEM-related Girl Scout badges, though, can be traced back to the 1913 Electrician and Flyer Badges. The first computer-related badges appeared in the 1980s. In 2001, The Girl Scout Research Institute, published a 36-page report about the need for more encouragement to get girls into the field of technology. An even larger push for STEM programs came after a 2012 study by the Girl Scout Research Institute reported that 74% of teenage girls were interested in courses in STEM subjects while only 25% of STEM industry jobs were held by women. Recent endeavors to encourage interest in STEM fields amongst Girl Scouts includes partnerships with companies like NASA, AT&T, and Lockheed Martin. NASA specifically paired Girl Scouts with the SETI Institute to create a 5-year space education program called "Reaching for the Stars: NASA Science for Girl Scouts." The most recent push to help Girl Scouts imagine a future in STEM was the Girl Scout's appearance at the International Consumer Electronics Show in January 2016 to show off Digital Cookie 2.0, a website made in partnership with Dell and Visa, that helps Girl Scouts manage their cookie business online.
There are four Girl Scout FIRST Robotics Competition teams: Space Cookies Team 1868, Lady Cans Team 2881, Gadget Girls Team 4816, and Tin Mints Team 4574. The Space Cookies are based at NASA Ames Research Center and were the first all-girls team to reach the finals at FRC world championships. They are known for their extensive community outreach and work to expand menstrual equity and eliminate period poverty. The Space Cookies helped launch the Girl Scout STEM Pledge, a national initiative to reduce the gender gap in STEM fields by bringing millions of girls into the STEM pipeline.
Girl Scouts currently has 127 badges and journeys under the STEM category. In 2020, Girl Scouts announced the addition of 24 new badges in STEM, entrepreneurship, and leadership.
The Automotive, Coding for Good, Cybersecurity, Mechanical Engineering, and Robotics badges are all series of three awards that cover different areas in their respective topics. These badges can be earned separately but are all related by the topic that they cover. Additionally, these badges mostly have the same name across levels, but have unique requirements for each level that get more complex and in-depth through the different age levels.
In June 2017, Girl Scouts announced a partnership with Palo Alto Networks to create 18 cybersecurity badges by September 2018.
== National convention ==
Every three years Girl Scouts holds an international convention, featuring voting on policies and procedures, as well as guest speakers and activities and events for upwards of 10,000 girls and Girl Scout alums. The 2020 convention was conducted virtually due to concerns about COVID-19, and the latest convention was held in 2023 at Walt Disney World in Florida.
=== Destinations ===
Once known as "Wider Opportunities" or "Wider Ops", Destinations are travel opportunities for individual older Girl Scouts. Destinations are held within the United States and in other countries. Destinations are primarily international, outdoor, science, people, or apprenticeship oriented, such as kayaking in Alaska, or career oriented such as learning about working for NASA.
A "Destination" may be a trip to one of the WAGGGS World Centers:
Our Cabaña in Cuernavaca, Mexico
Our Chalet in Adelboden, Switzerland
Pax Lodge in London, England
Sangam World Centre in Pune, India
Kusafiri in Africa
== Traditions ==
The Girl Scouts of the USA have many customs and traditions: camping, community service, singing, and money earning to support their activities. The Girl Scout Handshake and the Girl Scout signal for silence are two shared by WAGGGS member organizations. Other traditions include the Friendship Circle with "the squeeze," taking bandanas and homemade sit-upons on camping trips, and the buddy system.
"Bridging" is the process of going from one level to another. Bridging is usually done at the troop level, although area bridgings are often held. The girls that are bridging walk across a bridge to their new level and are greeted with the Girl Scout Handshake. A bridging ceremony takes place in San Francisco, where Girl Scout Juniors transition to Cadettes by crossing the Golden Gate Bridge.
World Thinking Day and "Girl Scouts' Own" are traditions throughout the world of Girl Scouting. World Thinking Day has occurred annually since 1926 on February 22, the birthday of both Robert Baden-Powell and Olave Baden-Powell. On World Thinking Day, Girl Scouts and Guides around the world think about their sisters in other lands; Councils or local service units (associations) hold a celebration on or near this day, in which each participating troop gives a presentation of the culture and customs of a country selected by the troop. Many Girl Scouts in America celebrate Juliette Gordon Low's birthday on October 31, Founder's Day. The parties often include the girls dressing up in Halloween costumes and serving birthday cake.
A "Girl Scouts' Own" is a special ceremony that expresses the spirit of Girl Scouting when the girls reflect upon their feelings about Girl Scouting and the world around them. A "Girl Scouts' Own" can have any theme, or none at all. It is a solemn time given for Girl Scouts to create a moment of their very own. It can be held at any time and include the girls' troop or be held at any inter-troop gathering.
== Badges and other awards ==
All levels of Girl Scouts can earn badges. Each level has specific badges that can be earned. Daisies earn badges shaped like flowers. Brownies earn badges shaped like triangles. Juniors earn badges shaped like circles. Cadettes earn badges shaped like diamonds. Seniors earn badges shaped like rectangles. Ambassadors earn badges shaped like squares.
Earned Badges and Awards are worn on the front of a Girl Scout's vest (or sash). Fun Patches are worn on the back of the vest. Daisies wear blue vests. Brownies wear brown vests. Juniors wear green vests. Cadettes, Seniors, and Ambassadors wear khaki vests. For Cadettes, Seniors, and Ambassadors, a Girl Scout may choose to wear the same khaki vest for all three levels. Active Girl Scouts, who earn a lot of badges, may opt to get a new khaki vest when they change levels, so they have more room to display their awards.
=== Skill building badges ===
=== Journey awards ===
Each level of Girl Scouting has multiple Journey programs. A Journey is a series of lessons on a particular topic. The Journeys are made up of multiple parts and all parts of the Journey must be earned for it to be complete. A Girl Scout who completes three Journeys at one level earns a Summit Pin. Before beginning work on a Bronze, Silver, or Gold Award project, a Girl Scout must complete one Journey at her level. A Girl Scout who did not earn her Silver Award must complete two Journeys at her current level, instead of one, to work on her Gold Award.
Girl Scouts has announced that Journeys will be retired on October 1, 2026. They will be replaced with updated leadership awards for Juniors through Ambassadors.
=== Additional awards ===
Girl Scouts can earn other awards, usually represented by pins. Some of these awards are: Leadership Torch, Community Service Bar, Service to Girl Scouting Bar, Bronze Cross, Medal of Honor, Cookie Activity Pin, Safety Pin, My Promise My Faith Pin, Counselor in Training I & II, Volunteer in Training, World Thinking Day Award, and Global Action Award.
Girl Scouts can also earn and display on their uniform awards from outside organizations, such as the religious emblems from religious organizations, or the President's Volunteer Service Award.
=== Highest awards ===
The highest achievement in Girl Scouting is the Girl Scout Gold Award, which can only be earned by Girl Scout Seniors and Ambassadors. The highest award for Girl Scout Cadettes is the Silver Award, and Bronze Award is the highest award for Girl Scout Juniors. These awards require large-scale service projects showing leadership along with service hours.
The Gold Award is the highest honor a Girl Scout can earn. This award can be earned by Girl Scout Seniors and Girl Scout Ambassadors. This prestigious award represents a Girl Scout's dedication and commitment to Girl Scouting and to her community. Earning the Girl Scout Gold Award requires hard work and a willingness to take on significant responsibility. For many, the leadership and organizational skills and sense of community and commitment that come from earning the Gold Award set the foundation for a lifetime of active citizenship. The Gold Award project takes a minimum of 80 hours to complete.
The Silver Award, the highest honor a Girl Scout Cadette can earn, gives girls the chance to do big things and make their community better in the process. The Silver Award takes the participants through a seven-step process: identify an issue, build a Girl Scout Silver Award team, explore the community needs, choose a project, develop the project, make a plan, and put it into motion. The Silver Award project takes a minimum of 50 hours to complete.
The Bronze Award, the highest honor a Girl Scout Junior can earn, requires girls to learn the leadership and planning skills necessary to follow through on a project that makes a positive impact on her community. Working toward this award demonstrates a Girl Scout's commitment to helping others, improving her community and the world, and becoming the best she can be. The Bronze Award project takes a minimum of 20 hours to complete.
=== Adult recognition ===
There are also GS awards for adults including: Outstanding Volunteer, Outstanding Leader, Appreciation Pin, Honor Pin, Thanks Badge, and Thanks Badge II. Outstanding Volunteer is awarded for Outstanding service as Girl Scout volunteer (other than a leader). Outstanding Leader is awarded for Outstanding service as Girl Scout leader. Appreciation Pin is awarded for exceptional performance beyond expectations for the position. The Honor Pin recognizes an adult member who has delivered exceptional service beyond expectations to two or more geographic areas, service units or program delivery audiences in a way that furthers the council's goals. Thanks Badge recognizes outstanding service for a Council as a whole or the Girl Scout Movement as a whole. Different GS councils use different terminology for regions within their council. Thanks Badge II is awarded where the recipient has received the Thanks Badge and the recipient's service continues to merit further recognition. At least one nomination, two endorsements, and a review of the forms is required for each of these awards.
== Effect on American life ==
Among the many famous American Girl Scouts are Taylor Swift, Sonia Sotomayor, Dakota Fanning, Lucille Ball, Katie Couric, Elizabeth Dole, Ann Landers, and Nancy Reagan. Many Girl Scouts have become successful leaders in numerous professional fields such as law, medicine, politics, journalism, and science. Beginning with Lou Henry Hoover, the incumbent First Lady has served as the honorary president of GSUSA. Lou Henry Hoover was also the actual president of the Girl Scouts from 1922 to 1925 and Chairman of the National board of directors from 1925 to 1928. A 1994 Chronicle of Philanthropy poll showed Girl Scouts ranked by the public as the eighth "most popular charity/non-profit in America" among more than 100 charities.
During World War I and World War II, girls involved in Scouts helped the Allied forces by selling defense bonds, growing victory gardens, and collecting waste fat and scrap iron. Girl Scouts also spread their values into their communities through community service projects such as soup kitchens and food drives.
Over twenty of NASA's female career astronauts were former Girl Scouts. The first American woman to spacewalk was a former Girl Scout, Dr. Kathryn Sullivan.
=== The American Girl ===
Girl Scouts published their own magazine from 1917 to 1979. The name changed from The Rally (1917–1920) to The American Girl (eventually dropping "The"). Circulation exceeded 200,000 in the 1940s, and reached as high as 510,000 per month by 1949. It can be confused with American Girl magazine, 1992–2019.
=== Girl Scout Senior Roundups ===
International Girl Scout gatherings named Senior Roundups were held every three years from 1956 until 1965:
Milford, Michigan (1956) attended by 5,000 girls
Colorado Springs, Colorado, from July 3, 1959, to July 12, 1959, with 10,000 girls
Button Bay, Vermont from July 18, 1962, to July 31, 1962, with 9,000 girls
Farragut, Idaho, from July 17, 1965, to July 26, 1965, with 12,000 girls
== Issues ==
=== Religion ===
==== Non-sectarian founding ====
When Girl Scouts was first organized, the organization claimed to be "non-sectarian in practice as well as theory". By the early 1920s, Catholic Girl Scout units had been founded in New York, Philadelphia, Washington and other cities. In the 1920s, about 2,000 Girl Scouts were Catholic. During this time, the organization upheld standards which were consistent with the beliefs of the Catholic religion. From its founding in 1912, it had Jewish leaders and scouts.
==== "To serve God" in the Promise ====
Since 1993, Girl Scouts have been able to substitute something appropriate to their own beliefs for the phrase "To serve God" in the Girl Scout Promise. This option appears in the guidelines distributed to adult volunteers but not in the actual girls' books. Official volunteer documentation contains this note:
Girl Scouts of the USA makes no attempt to define or interpret the word "God" in the Girl Scout Promise. It looks to individual members to establish for themselves the nature of their spiritual beliefs. When making the Girl Scout Promise, individuals may substitute wording appropriate to their own spiritual beliefs for the word "God."
This note or a shorter variant also frequently appears on local council web pages.
Volunteers are reminded "to be sensitive to the spiritual beliefs of the girls in your group and to make sure that everyone in the group feels comfortable and included in Girl Scouting" and to feel free to share the policy with the girls' families.
The policy change was prompted by lawsuits and attempts to be more inclusive. Atheist parents sued the Boy Scouts of America in 1991 for denying membership in the Cub Scouts to their sons. Considering this news, the Totem Girl Scout Council of Seattle attempted to change the Girl Scout Promise to make mention of "God" optional, which would be more inclusive of local non-theist Native American and Southeast Asian girls. After the national organization asserted this could not be changed locally, the Seattle council advocated that the change be adopted nation-wide. In November 1992, the parents of Nitzia Cuevas-Macias sued for their daughter to be permitted to participate in Girl Scouts even though she refused to promise to serve God.
On October 23, 1993, at the Girl Scouts of the USA annual national convention, delegates voted 1,560 "yes" against 375 "no" to permit individuals to substitute another word or phrase for "God" in their promise. The convention gave this explanation:
For some individuals, the word "God", no matter how broadly interpreted, does not appropriately reflect their spiritual beliefs. Since the belief in a spiritual principle is fundamental to Girl Scouting, not the word used to define that belief, it is important that individuals have the opportunity to express that belief in wording meaningful to them. It is essential to maintain the spiritual foundation of Girl Scouting, yet be inclusive of the full range of spiritual beliefs. This [policy change] does not take the word "God" out of the Girl Scout Promise. It gives those individuals who wish to do so the option to state their commitment to the spiritual concepts fundamental to the Movement with a word or words more appropriate to their own beliefs. For instance, an individual may say "my faith" or "Allah" or "the Creator".
This policy change settled the Cuevas-Macias lawsuit.
Some consider that the Girl Scouts of the USA have not gone far enough in making Scouting open to non-theists; others that they have gone too far in removing God or that they are violating the constitution of the WAGGGS. In 2017, some parents still find the perceived religious aspects of the Girl Scouts enough of a reason not to sign up their daughters to participate. The WAGGGS constitution requires member societies to maintain membership standards to include a promise similar to the one established by Baden-Powell, which includes the concept of duty to God. The GSUSA policy adopted in 1993 led to the 1995 formation of an alternative organization, the American Heritage Girls that accepts only leaders and chartering organizations that agree with a specific Christian statement of faith. The organization had a little over 5,000 members in 2006. According to the organization, membership as of 2017 is over 43,000.
==== Prayer at meetings ====
The official Girl Scout policy does not ban or require prayer.
The Girl Scout organization does not endorse or promote any particular philosophy or religious belief. Our movement is secular and is founded on American democratic principles, one of which is freedom of religion.
Although Girl Scouts has policies supporting religious diversity, there is no policy by Girl Scouts of the USA that prohibits or requires the saying or singing of a grace, blessing, or invocation before meals by Girl Scout members in a troop/group setting, in a resident or day camp, or at meetings, conferences, and other large events. The decision to say a grace, blessing, or invocation is made locally at the troop or group level, and should be sensitive to the spiritual beliefs of all participants.
==== Religious pin ====
Girl Scouts of the USA has an optional "My Promise, My Faith" pin which girls in all grades may earn. Girls may also do religious recognition programs and wear the resulting emblem on their uniform; however, these are created and administered by the religious organizations and not by Girl Scouts directly.
=== Sexuality and gender issues ===
Girl Scouts of the USA stated in an October 1991 letter:
As a private organization, Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. respects the values and beliefs of each of its members and does not intrude into personal matters. Therefore, there are no membership policies on sexual preference. However, Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. has firm standards relating to the appropriate conduct of adult volunteers and staff. The Girl Scout organization does not condone or permit sexual displays of any sort by its members during Girl Scout activities, nor does it permit the advocacy or promotion of a personal lifestyle or sexual preference. These are private matters for girls and their families to address.
GSUSA upholds a "don't ask, don't evangelize" policy on sexuality. The debate over this issue is split between those who feel that the policy should avoid and prevent discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, and those who question the inclusion of lesbians.
In October 2011, the Girl Scouts of Colorado council publicly stated, "If a child identifies as a girl and the child's family presents her as a girl, Girl Scouts of Colorado welcomes her as a Girl Scout", when overturning a local troop's rejection of a seven-year-old transgender girl. In July 2015, the Girl Scouts of Western Washington returned a $100,000 donation after the donor stipulated that the money could not be used to support services for transgender Scouts. The group then set up an online fundraising campaign to recoup the lost funds, ultimately raising $250,000.
In January 2012, a teen in California created a video calling for the boycott of Girl Scout Cookies in response to Girl Scouts' policy of inclusion for transgender girls. The viral video became a rallying cry for both supporters and opponents of the group's stance on transgender members. In February 2016, Robert James Carlson, the Roman Catholic archbishop of St. Louis, urged parishioners to cut ties with the Girl Scouts over the group's embrace of LGBT rights.
Girl Scouts themselves defended their actions against this. "For 100 years, Girl Scouts has prided itself on being an inclusive organization serving girls from all walks of life. We handle cases involving transgender children on a case-by-case basis, with a focus on ensuring the welfare and best interests of the child in question and the other girls in the troop as our highest priority."
=== Local objections to sex education sponsored by Planned Parenthood in Waco, Texas ===
GSUSA is not aligned with and does not endorse, at the national level, the reproductive health organization Planned Parenthood; Girl Scout councils may choose to have or not have connections with Planned Parenthood. In 2003, in Waco, Texas, the local Bluebonnet Council was listed as a co-sponsor, with the Girl Scouts logo printed on the promotional flyer, of the Planned Parenthood of Central Texas event titled "Nobody's Fool '03: Dating, Love, Sex & HIV." In 2004, the same Council promoted a Planned Parenthood education event without providing money nor sending Girl Scouts to it. This was criticized by some anti-abortion movement supporters and social conservatives, resulting in a local attempt to boycott Girl Scout cookies sold by the Bluebonnet Council. Waco residents responded to the announced boycott by purchasing a record number of cookies, and the Bluebonnet Council dropped promotion of the event. A month later, GSUSA CEO Kathy Cloninger went on NBC's Today show, defending the Bluebonnet Council's decision to sever ties with Planned Parenthood.
=== The Radical Brownies ===
In 2014, Marilyn Hollinquest and Ana Yvette Martinez, both women of color, founded the Radical Brownies, a community group for girls of color in Oakland, California. Similar to the GSUSA, but created specifically for girls of color, the Radical Brownies endeavors to "empower and encourage" girls of color and cultivate sisterhood and community bonds between them.
According to the Radical Brownies' mission statement at the time of its founding, its aim was to empower young girls of color to "step into their collective power" and to make the world a more "radical" place. The Radical Brownies wear brown berets and vests in homage to the Brown Berets and Black Panther movements. The group's members, ages 8–12 years old, can earn badges in "radical beauty," "food justice," and "radical self-love."
==== Name controversy ====
In February 2015, despite Radical Brownies co-founder Hollinquest clarifying that the group claimed no affiliation with the GSUSA, the GSUSA contacted the Radical Brownies organization and informed them that their troop's name and uniforms caused "some confusion" among GSUSA membership. According to GSUSA Chief Communications Officer Kelly Parisi, once the founders of the Radical Brownies were notified of the misunderstanding, they offered to change the group's name.
In May that same year, the Radical Brownies renamed themselves the Radical Monarchs.
== Presidents ==
Juliette Gordon Low (1915–1920)
Anne Hyde Choate (1920–1922)
Lou Henry Hoover (1922–1925) (1935–1937)
Sarah Louise Arnold (1925–1943) (first Dean of Simmons College, 1902–1921)
Mira Hoffman (1926–1930) (Mrs. William H. Hoffman)
Birdsall Otis Edey (1930–1935) (Mrs. Frederick Edey) (after ceasing to be president she became National Commissioner for Girl Scouts until her death in 1940)
Henrietta Bates Brooke (1937–1939) (Mrs. Frederick H. Brooke) (died 1967, her husband was the architect Frederick H. Brooke who designed the District of Columbia War Memorial)
Mildred Mudd (1939–1941) (she later supported the founding of Harvey Mudd College named after her husband, Harvey Seeley Mudd)
Helen Means (1941–1945) (Mrs. Alan H. Means) Later chairwoman of the World Board (WAGGGS) (1952–1957)
Harriet Rankin Ferguson (1946–1951) (Mrs. Vaughan C. Ferguson)
Olivia Cameron Higgins Layton (1951–1957) (Mrs. Roy F. Layton) (died 1975)
Marjorie Mehne Culmer (1958–1963) (Mrs. Charles U. Culmer) (later chair of WAGGGS, died in 1994)
Margaret W. Price (1963–1969) (Mrs. Holton R. Price Jr.) (died in 1973)
Grace M. S. McKittrick MacNeil (1969–1972) (Mrs. Douglas H. MacNeil) (died in 2000)
Marjorie Motch (1972–1975)
Gloria Randle Scott (1975–1978)
Jane C. Shields Freeman (1978–1984) (her husband is Orville Freeman)
Betty Fuller Pilsbury (1984–1990), she received the Silver Buffalo Award in 1986.
B. LaRae Orullian (1990–1996)
Elinor Johnstone Ferdon (1996–1999)
Connie L. Matsui (1999–2002)
Cynthia B. Thompson (2002–2005)
Patricia Diaz Dennis (2005–2008)
Connie L. Lindsey (2008–2013)
Kathy Hopinkah Hannan (2014–2020)
Karen P. Layng (2020–2023)
Noorain Khan (2023–present)
=== Chief executive officers ===
The title has changed over the years.
National Secretaries:
Edith D. Johnston (June 1913 – June 1914)
Cora Neal (June 1914 – June 1916)
Montague Gammon (June 1916 – August 1917)
National Directors:
Abby Porter Leland (August 1917 – February 1919)
Jane Deeter Rippin (February 1919 – November 1930)
Josephine Schain (November 1930 – September 1935)
Constance Rittenhouse (September 1935 – December 1950)
National Executive Directors:
Dorothy C. Stratton (December 1950 – July 1960)
Sally Stickney Cortner (July 1960 – May 1961) (Interim)
Louise A. Wood (May 1961 – April 1972)
Dr. Cecily Cannan Selby (April 1972 – September 1975)
Frank H. Kanis (September 1975 – July 1976) (Interim)
Frances Hesselbein (July 1976– February 1990) was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998 in part for her work in Girl Scouts.
Mary Rose Main (February 1990– October 1997)
Joel E. Becker (October 1997– January 1998) (Interim)
Marsha Johnson Evans (January 1998– July 2002): retired rear admiral, left Girl Scouts to become president of the American Red Cross
Chief executive officers:
Jackie Barnes (July 2002– October 2003) (Interim)
Kathy Cloninger (October 2003– November 2011)
Anna Maria Chávez (November 2011– June 2016)
Sylvia Acevedo (July 2016– August 2020) (Served in interim capacity from July 2016 – May 2017)
Judith Batty (August 16, 2020– January 27, 2022) (Interim)
Sofia Chang (January 27, 2022 – February 2023)
Bonnie Barczykowski (February 2023–present)
== 100th anniversary ==
GSUSA celebrated the 100th anniversary of its founding by Juliette Gordon Low with a "Bridge to the Second Century" event on November 13, 2011, at the GS National Convention in Houston and other sites around the country. The Anniversary was also celebrated by participation in the world-famous Pasadena, California Tournament of Roses Parade of 2012, featuring the Girl Scouts 100th Anniversary float, which was designed and decorated by Girl Scouts.
US president Barack Obama signed the "Girl Scouts of the USA Commemorative Coin Act" for the 100th Anniversary celebration. The act authorized the minting of 350,000 silver dollar coins in honor of Girl Scouts and the achievements of the 50 million women influenced by Girl Scouting during the last 100 years.
Colorado staged a vigorous campaign to create a special license plate to honor the Girl Scout Centennial. The Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin River Valleys hosted "The Great Girl Gathering", a Centennial Celebration on March 10 and 11, 2012 for 140,000 girls at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota.
Build-A-Bear Workshop had a limited-edition Girl Scout bear and outfits for the 100th anniversary.
The Girl Scout Council of the Nation's Capital in Washington, DC hosted a 100th Anniversary Sing-Along on the National Mall, on June 9, 2012, called Girl Scouts Rock the Mall: 100th Anniversary Sing-Along. The Rock the Mall event drew more than 200,000 people to the national mall to celebrate Girl Scouting and cost $2 million.
Girl life-sized Scouts of Citrus, in partnership with Walt Disney World, held a special 100th anniversary bridging event on May 25–28, 2012. The Bridging into the Next Century event provides Girl Scouts from all over the country an opportunity to celebrate the spirit of Girl Scouting at Epcot.
Cincinnati Museum Center held a daytime and overnight event to celebrate in partnership with the Girl Scouts of Western Ohio, who Ohio designed an exhibit, which was on display for free until May 13, 2012. The exhibit displays old uniforms, literature and discussed the role of Girl Scouts for the last 100 years.
GSUSA made a new cookie called Savannah Smiles to commemorate the anniversary.
The Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas hosted the Girl Scouts national exhibition at the 2012 State Fair of Texas in the historic Hall of State. At the State Fair of Texas, visitors were able to indulge in a Fried Samoa, be part of a virtual campfire, walk through a life-sized cookie box and see a replica of Juliette Gordon Low's house.
In Savannah, Georgia, where Girl Scouting was founded, they hosted a "Party in the Park" in Forsyth Park where there was a Centennial Honor Guard consisting of girls wearing vintage uniforms from the Girl Scout First Headquarters. The uniforms represented various eras: 1912 (replica), 1914, 1928, the 1940s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and the present.
The city of Savannah closed part of the Talmadge Bridge so girls could walk the bridge and "Bridge to the next century". Savannah also had a "Sunrise Service" with the CEO, Anna Maria Chavez. The Honor guard from the park carried the Eternal Flame.
The city of Savannah dedicated their annual "Georgia Day" to Juliette.
== Similar organizations ==
Camp Fire Girls was founded in 1910, two years prior to Girl Scouts, by some of the creators of the Boy Scouts of America. In 1975, the group became co-educational and soon afterwards changed its name to "Camp Fire Boys and Girls". The name was changed to Camp Fire USA in 2001 and to Camp Fire in 2012. As of 2009, the group has a membership of about 750,000.
Various religious groups have established their own youth clubs such as Missionettes (now Mpact Girls) for the Assemblies of God. Little Flowers Girls' Club is a Catholic-focused girls club. GEMS Girls' Clubs is a non-denominational group with a Calvinist/Reformed background. Pioneer Girls started as a Methodist group but is non-denominational. The Masonic Lodge which requires belief in a Supreme Being has their own set of service organizations targeted at young and teenage girls, The International Order of the Rainbow for Girls and Job's Daughters International.
One youth group explicitly set up as a Christian alternative to Girl Scouts is the American Heritage Girls (AHG), started in 1995 in West Chester, Ohio, by a group of parents upset with available female Scouting organizations. AHG is a Christian organization that states that it is "a nonprofit organization dedicated to the mission of building women of integrity through service to God, family, community and country." As of 2020, it claims a membership (adult and youth) of over 50,000. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Everest | Mount Everest | Mount Everest (known locally as Sagarmāthā in Nepal and Qomolangma in Tibet) is Earth's highest mountain above sea level. It lies in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas and marks part of the China–Nepal border at its summit. Its height was most recently measured in 2020 by Chinese and Nepali authorities as 8,848.86 m (29,031 ft 8+1⁄2 in).
Mount Everest attracts many climbers, including highly experienced mountaineers. There are two main climbing routes, one approaching the summit from the southeast in Nepal (known as the standard route) and the other from the north in Tibet. While not posing substantial technical climbing challenges on the standard route, Everest presents dangers such as altitude sickness, weather, and wind, as well as hazards from avalanches and the Khumbu Icefall. As of May 2024, 340 people have died on Everest. Over 200 bodies remain on the mountain and have not been removed due to the dangerous conditions.
Climbers typically ascend only part of Mount Everest's elevation, as the mountain's full elevation is measured from the geoid, which approximates sea level. The closest sea to Mount Everest's summit is the Bay of Bengal, almost 700 km (430 mi) away. To approximate a climb of the entire height of Mount Everest, one would need to start from this coastline, a feat accomplished by Tim Macartney-Snape's team in 1990. Climbers usually begin their ascent from base camps above 5,000 m (16,404 ft). The amount of elevation climbed from below these camps varies. On the Tibetan side, most climbers drive directly to the North Base Camp. On the Nepalese side, climbers generally fly into Kathmandu, then Lukla, and trek to the South Base Camp, making the climb from Lukla to the summit about 6,000 m (20,000 ft) in elevation gain.
The first recorded efforts to reach Everest's summit were made by British mountaineers. As Nepal did not allow foreigners to enter the country at the time, the British made several attempts on the North Ridge route from the Tibetan side. After the first reconnaissance expedition by the British in 1921 reached 7,000 m (22,966 ft) on the North Col, the 1922 expedition on its first summit attempt marked the first time a human had climbed above 8,000 m (26,247 ft) and it also pushed the North Ridge route up to 8,321 m (27,300 ft). On the 1924 expedition, George Mallory and Andrew Irvine made a final summit attempt on 8 June but never returned, leading to debate as to whether they were the first to reach the top. Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary made the first documented ascent of Everest in 1953, using the Southeast Ridge route. Norgay had reached 8,595 m (28,199 ft) the previous year as a member of the 1952 Swiss expedition. The Chinese mountaineering team of Wang Fuzhou, Gonpo, and Qu Yinhua made the first reported ascent of the peak from the North Ridge on 25 May 1960.
== Name ==
Mount Everest's Nepali/Sanskrit name is Sagarmāthā (IAST transcription) or Sagar-Matha (सगर-माथा, [sʌɡʌrmatʰa], lit. "goddess of the sky"), which means "the head in the great blue sky", being derived from सगर (sagar), meaning "sky", and माथा (māthā), meaning "head".
The Tibetan name for Everest is Qomolangma (ཇོ་མོ་གླང་མ, lit. "holy mother"). The name was first recorded (in a Chinese transcription) in the 1721 Kangxi Atlas, issued during the reign of Qing Emperor Kangxi; it first appeared in the West in 1733 as Tchoumour Lancma, on a map prepared by the French geographer D'Anville and based on Kangxi Atlas. The Tibetan name is also popularly romanised as Chomolungma and (in Wylie) as Jo-mo-glang-ma.
The official Chinese transcription is 珠穆朗玛峰 (t 珠穆朗瑪峰), or Zhūmùlǎngmǎ Fēng in pinyin. It is a phonetic transcription of the Tibetan name into Standard Mandarin. While other Chinese names have been used historically, including Shèngmǔ Fēng (t 聖母峰, s 圣母峰, lit. "holy mother peak"), these names were largely phased out after the Chinese Ministry of Internal Affairs issued a decree to adopt a sole name in May 1952.
The British geographic survey of 1849 attempted to preserve local names when possible (e.g., Kangchenjunga and Dhaulagiri). However, Andrew Waugh, the British Surveyor General of India, claimed that he could not find a commonly used local name, and that his search for one had been hampered by the Nepalese and Tibetan policy of exclusion of foreigners. Waugh argued that – because there were many local names – it would be difficult to favour one name over all others; he therefore decided that Peak XV should be named after British surveyor Sir George Everest, his predecessor as Surveyor General of India. Everest himself opposed the honour, and told the Royal Geographical Society in 1857 that "Everest" could neither be written in Hindi nor pronounced by "the native of India". Despite Everest's objections, Waugh's proposed name prevailed, and the Royal Geographical Society officially adopted the name "Mount Everest" in 1865. The modern pronunciation of Everest () is different from Sir George's pronunciation of his surname ( EEV-rist).
In the late 19th century, many European cartographers incorrectly believed that a native name for the mountain was Gaurishankar, a mountain between Kathmandu and Everest.
=== Other names ===
"Peak XV" (temporary, assigned by British Imperial Survey)
"Deodungha" (Old Darjeeling)
"Gauri Shankar", "Gaurishankar", or "Gaurisankar" (misattribution; used occasionally until about 1900. In modern times the name is used for a different peak about 30 miles (48 kilometres) away.)
== Surveys ==
=== 19th century ===
In 1802, the British began the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India to fix, among other things, the locations, heights, and names of the world's highest mountains. Starting in southern India, the survey teams moved northward using giant theodolites, each weighing 500 kg (1,100 lb) and requiring 12 men to carry, to measure heights as accurately as possible. They reached the Himalayan foothills by the 1830s, but Nepal was unwilling to allow the British to enter the country due to suspicions of their intentions. Several requests by the surveyors to enter Nepal were denied.
The British were forced to continue their observations from Terai, a region south of Nepal which is parallel to the Himalayas. Conditions in Terai were difficult because of torrential rains and malaria. Three survey officers died from malaria while two others had to retire because of failing health.
Nonetheless, in 1847, the British continued the survey and began detailed observations of the Himalayan peaks from observation stations up to 240 km (150 mi) distant. Weather restricted work to the last three months of the year. In November 1847, Andrew Scott Waugh, the British Surveyor General of India, made several observations from the Sawajpore station at the east end of the Himalayas. Kangchenjunga was then considered the highest peak in the world, and with interest, he noted a peak beyond it, about 230 km (140 mi) away. John Armstrong, one of Waugh's subordinates, also saw the peak from a site farther west and called it peak "b". Waugh would later write that the observations indicated that peak "b" was higher than Kangchenjunga, but closer observations were required for verification. The following year, Waugh sent a survey official back to Terai to make closer observations of peak "b", but clouds thwarted his attempts.
In 1849, Waugh dispatched James Nicolson to the area, who made two observations from Jirol, 190 km (120 mi) away. Nicolson then took the largest theodolite and headed east, obtaining over 30 observations from five different locations, with the closest being 174 km (108 mi) from the peak.
Nicolson retreated to Patna on the Ganges to perform the necessary calculations based on his observations. His raw data gave an average height of 9,200 m (30,200 ft) for peak "b", but this did not consider light refraction, which distorts heights. However, the number clearly indicated that peak "b" was higher than Kangchenjunga. Nicolson contracted malaria and was forced to return home without finishing his calculations. Michael Hennessy, one of Waugh's assistants, had begun designating peaks based on Roman numerals, with Kangchenjunga named Peak IX. Peak "b" now became known as Peak XV.
In 1852, stationed at the survey headquarters in Dehradun, Radhanath Sikdar, an Indian mathematician and surveyor from Bengal was the first to identify Everest as the world's highest peak, using trigonometric calculations based on Nicolson's measurements. An official announcement that Peak XV was the highest was delayed for several years as the calculations were repeatedly verified. Waugh began work on Nicolson's data in 1854, and along with his staff spent almost two years working on the numbers, having to deal with the problems of light refraction, barometric pressure, and temperature over the vast distances of the observations. Finally, in March 1856 he announced his findings in a letter to his deputy in Calcutta. Kangchenjunga was declared to be 8,582 m (28,156 ft), while Peak XV was given the height of 8,840 m (29,002 ft). Waugh concluded that Peak XV was "most probably the highest in the world". Peak XV (measured in feet) was calculated to be exactly 29,000 ft (8,839.2 m) high, but was publicly declared to be 29,002 ft (8,839.8 m) in order to avoid the impression that an exact height of 29000 ft was nothing more than a rounded estimate. Waugh is sometimes playfully credited with being "the first person to put two feet on top of Mount Everest".
=== 20th century ===
In 1856, Andrew Waugh announced Everest (then known as Peak XV) as 8,840 m (29,002 ft) high, after several years of calculations based on observations made by the Great Trigonometrical Survey.
From 1952 to 1954, the Survey of India, using triangulation methods, determined that the height of Everest was 8,847.73 m (29,028 ft). In 1975 it was subsequently reaffirmed by a Chinese measurement of 8,848.13 m (29,029.30 ft). In both cases the snow cap, not the rock head, was measured.
The 8,848 m (29,029 ft) height given was officially recognised by Nepal and China. Nepal planned a new survey in 2019 to determine if the April 2015 Nepal earthquake affected the height of the mountain.
In May 1999, an American Everest expedition directed by Bradford Washburn anchored a GPS unit into the highest bedrock. A rock head elevation of 8,850 m (29,035 ft), and a snow/ice elevation 1 m (3 ft) higher, were obtained via this device. Although as of 2001, it has not been officially recognised by Nepal, this figure is widely quoted. Geoid uncertainty casts doubt upon the accuracy claimed by both the 1999 and 2005 (see § 21st-century surveys) surveys.
In 1955, a detailed photogrammetric map (at a scale of 1:50,000) of the Khumbu region, including the south side of Mount Everest, was made by Erwin Schneider as part of the 1955 International Himalayan Expedition, which also attempted Lhotse.
In the late 1980s, an even more detailed topographic map of the Everest area was made under the direction of Bradford Washburn, using extensive aerial photography.
=== 21st century ===
On 9 October 2005, after several months of measurement and calculation, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping announced the height of Everest as 8,844.43 m (29,017.16 ft) with accuracy of ±0.21 m (8.3 in), claiming it was the most accurate and precise measurement to date. This height is based on the highest point of rock and not the snow and ice covering it. The Chinese team measured a snow-ice depth of 3.5 m (11 ft), which is in agreement with a net elevation of 8,848 m (29,029 ft). An argument arose between China and Nepal as to whether the official height should be the rock height (8,844 m, China) or the snow height (8,848 m, Nepal). In 2010, both sides agreed that the height of Everest is 8,848 m, and Nepal recognises China's claim that the rock height of Everest is 8,844 m. On 8 December 2020, it was jointly announced by the two countries that the new official height is 8,848.86 metres (29,031.7 ft).
It is thought that the plate tectonics of the Main Himalayan Thrust and related faults, which form the convergent boundary between the Eurasian Plate and Indian Plate, are adding to the height and moving the summit northeastwards. Two accounts suggest the rates of change are 4 mm (0.16 in) per year vertically and 3 to 6 mm (0.12 to 0.24 in) per year horizontally, but another account mentions more lateral movement (27 mm or 1.1 in), and even shrinkage has been suggested.
=== Comparisons ===
The summit of Everest is the point at which Earth's surface reaches the greatest distance above sea level. Several other mountains are sometimes claimed to be the "tallest mountains on Earth". Mauna Kea in Hawaii is tallest when measured from its base; it rises over 10,200 m (33,464.6 ft) from its base on the mid-ocean floor, but only attains 4,205 m (13,796 ft) above sea level.
By the same measure of base to summit, Denali (also called Mount McKinley) in Alaska is taller than Everest as well. Despite its height above sea level of only 6,190 m (20,308 ft), Denali sits atop a sloping plain with elevations from 300 to 900 m (980 to 2,950 ft), yielding a height above base in the range of 5,300 to 5,900 m (17,400 to 19,400 ft); a commonly quoted figure is 5,600 m (18,400 ft). By comparison, reasonable base elevations for Everest range from 4,200 m (13,800 ft) on the south side to 5,200 m (17,100 ft) on the Tibetan Plateau, yielding a height above base in the range of 3,650 to 4,650 m (11,980 to 15,260 ft).
The summit of Chimborazo in Ecuador is 2,168 m (7,113 ft) farther from Earth's centre (6,384.4 km or 3,967.1 mi) than that of Everest (6,382.3 km, 3,965.8 mi), because the Earth bulges at the equator. This is despite Chimborazo having a peak of 6,268 m (20,564.3 ft) above sea level versus Mount Everest's 8,848 m (29,028.9 ft).
=== Context and maps ===
Many of the highest mountains in the world are near Mount Everest, for example Lhotse, 8,516 m (27,940 ft); Nuptse, 7,855 m (25,771 ft), Changtse, 7,580 m (24,870 ft) and Khumbutse, 6,636 m (21,772 ft). On the southwest side, a major feature in the lower areas is the Khumbu icefall and glacier, an obstacle to climbers on those routes but also to the base camps.
== Geology ==
Geologists have subdivided the rocks comprising Mount Everest into three units called formations. Each formation is separated from the other by low-angle faults, called detachments, along which they have been thrust southward over each other. From the summit of Mount Everest to its base these rock units are the Qomolangma Formation, the North Col Formation, and the Rongbuk Formation.
The Qomolangma Formation, also known as the Jolmo Lungama Formation, runs from the summit to the top of the Yellow Band, about 8,600 m (28,200 ft) above sea level. It consists of greyish to dark grey or white, parallel laminated and bedded, Ordovician limestone interlayered with subordinate beds of recrystallised dolomite with argillaceous laminae and siltstone. Gansser first reported finding microscopic fragments of crinoids in this limestone. Later petrographic analysis of samples of the limestone from near the summit revealed them to be composed of carbonate pellets and finely fragmented remains of trilobites, crinoids, and ostracods. Other samples were so badly sheared and recrystallised that their original constituents could not be determined. A thick, white-weathering thrombolite bed that is 60 m (200 ft) thick comprises the foot of the "Third Step", and base of the summit pyramid of Everest. This bed, which crops out starting about 70 m (230 ft) below the summit of Mount Everest, consists of sediments trapped, bound, and cemented by the biofilms of micro-organisms, especially cyanobacteria, in shallow marine waters. The Qomolangma Formation is broken up by several high-angle faults that terminate at the low angle normal fault, the Qomolangma Detachment. This detachment separates it from the underlying Yellow Band. The lower five metres of the Qomolangma Formation overlying this detachment are very highly deformed.
The bulk of Mount Everest, between 7,000 and 8,600 m (23,000 and 28,200 ft), consists of the North Col Formation, of which the Yellow Band forms the upper part between 8,200 to 8,600 m (26,900 to 28,200 ft). The Yellow Band consists of intercalated beds of Middle Cambrian diopside-epidote-bearing marble, which weathers a distinctive yellowish brown, and muscovite-biotite phyllite and semischist. Petrographic analysis of marble collected from about 8,300 m (27,200 ft) found it to consist as much as five per cent of the ghosts of recrystallised crinoid ossicles. The upper five metres of the Yellow Band lying adjacent to the Qomolangma Detachment is badly deformed. A 5–40 cm (2.0–15.7 in) thick fault breccia separates it from the overlying Qomolangma Formation.
The remainder of the North Col Formation, exposed between 7,000 to 8,200 m (23,000 to 26,900 ft) on Mount Everest, consists of interlayered and deformed schist, phyllite, and minor marble. Between 7,600 and 8,200 m (24,900 and 26,900 ft), the North Col Formation consists chiefly of biotite-quartz phyllite and chlorite-biotite phyllite intercalated with minor amounts of biotite-sericite-quartz schist. Between 7,000 and 7,600 m (23,000 and 24,900 ft), the lower part of the North Col Formation consists of biotite-quartz schist intercalated with epidote-quartz schist, biotite-calcite-quartz schist, and thin layers of quartzose marble. These metamorphic rocks appear to be the result of the metamorphism of Middle to Early Cambrian deep sea flysch composed of interbedded, mudstone, shale, clayey sandstone, calcareous sandstone, graywacke, and sandy limestone. The base of the North Col Formation is a regional low-angle normal fault called the "Lhotse detachment".
Below 7,000 m (23,000 ft), the Rongbuk Formation underlies the North Col Formation and forms the base of Mount Everest. It consists of sillimanite-K-feldspar grade schist and gneiss intruded by numerous sills and dikes of leucogranite ranging in thickness from 1 cm to 1,500 m (0.4 in to 4,900 ft). These leucogranites are part of a belt of Late Oligocene–Miocene intrusive rocks known as the Higher Himalayan leucogranite. They formed as the result of partial melting of Paleoproterozoic to Ordovician high-grade metasedimentary rocks of the Higher Himalayan Sequence about 20 to 24 million years ago during the subduction of the Indian Plate.
Mount Everest consists of sedimentary and metamorphic rocks that have been faulted southward over continental crust composed of Archean granulites of the Indian Plate during the Cenozoic collision of India with Asia. Current interpretations argue that the Qomolangma and North Col formations consist of marine sediments that accumulated within the continental shelf of the northern passive continental margin of India before it collided with Asia. The Cenozoic collision of India with Asia subsequently deformed and metamorphosed these strata as it thrust them southward and upward. The Rongbuk Formation consists of a sequence of high-grade metamorphic and granitic rocks that were derived from the alteration of high-grade metasedimentary rocks. During the collision of India with Asia, these rocks were thrust downward and to the north as they were overridden by other strata; heated, metamorphosed, and partially melted at depths of over 15 to 20 kilometres (9.3 to 12.4 mi) below sea level; and then forced upward to surface by thrusting towards the south between two major detachments. Mount Everest is rising by about 2 mm per year.
=== IUGS geological heritage site ===
In respect of the recognition of the "highest rocks on the planet" as fossiliferous, marine limestone, the Ordovician Rocks of Mount Everest were included by the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) in its assemblage of 100 geological heritage sites around the world in a listing published in October 2022. The organisation defines an IUGS Geological Heritage Site as "a key place with geological elements and/or processes of international scientific relevance, used as a reference, and/or with a substantial contribution to the development of geological sciences through history."
== Flora and fauna ==
There is very little native flora or fauna on Everest. A type of moss grows at 6,480 metres (21,260 ft) on Mount Everest and it may be the highest altitude plant species. An alpine cushion plant called Arenaria is known to grow below 5,500 metres (18,000 ft) in the region. According to the study based on satellite data from 1993 to 2018, vegetation is expanding in the Everest region. Researchers have found plants in areas that were previously deemed bare.
A minute black jumping spider of the genus Euophrys has been found at elevations as high as 6,700 metres (22,000 ft), possibly making it the highest confirmed non-microscopic permanent resident on Earth. Another Euophrys species, E. everestensis, has been found at 5,030 metres (16,500 ft), and may feed on insects that have been blown there by the wind. There is a high likelihood of microscopic life at even higher altitudes.
The bar-headed goose migrates over the Himalayas and have been seen flying at the higher altitudes of the mountain. In 1953, George Lowe (part of the expedition of Tenzing and Hillary) said that he saw bar-headed geese flying over Everest's summit. Another bird species, the chough, have been spotted as high as the South Col at 7,906 m (25,938 ft) and yellow-billed choughs have been seen as high as 7,900 m (25,919 ft).
Yaks are often used to haul gear for Mount Everest climbs. They can haul around 100 kg (220 pounds), have thick fur and large lungs. Other animals in the region include the Himalayan tahr, which is sometimes the prey of the snow leopard. The Himalayan black bear can be found up to about 4,300 metres (14,000 ft) and the red panda is also present in the region. One expedition found a surprising range of species in the region including a pika and ten new species of ants.
=== Conservation ===
From the Nepalese side, Everest is protected as part of Sagarmatha National Park, while from the Chinese side the mountain is protected as part of Qomolangma National Nature Reserve.
== Climate ==
Mount Everest has an ice cap climate (Köppen EF) with all months averaging well below freezing.
=== Climate change ===
The base camp for Everest expeditions based out of Nepal is located by Khumbu Glacier, which is rapidly thinning and destabilizing due to climate change, making it unsafe for climbers. As recommended by the committee formed by Nepal's government to facilitate and monitor mountaineering in the Everest region, Taranath Adhikari—the director general of Nepal's tourism department—said they have plans to move the base camp to a lower altitude. This would mean a longer distance for climbers between the base camp and Camp 1. Although officials had initially stated that the move might happen by 2024, resistance from the climbing and Sherpa communities resulted in the move being put on hold, in part because there is no viable alternative camp location that would allow climbers to pass through the icefall in the safer early morning hours.
=== Meteorology ===
In 2008, a new weather station at about 8,000 m (26,000 ft) elevation went online. The project was orchestrated by Stations at High Altitude for Research on the Environment (SHARE), which also placed the Mount Everest webcam in 2011. The solar-powered weather station is on the South Col.
Mount Everest extends into the upper troposphere and penetrates the stratosphere. The air pressure at the summit is generally about one-third what it is at sea level. The altitude can expose the summit to the fast and freezing winds of the jet stream. Winds commonly attain 160 km/h (100 mph); in February 2004, a wind speed of 280 km/h (175 mph) was recorded at the summit.
These winds can hamper or endanger climbers, by blowing them into chasms or (by Bernoulli's principle) by lowering the air pressure further, reducing available oxygen by up to 14 percent. To avoid the harshest winds, climbers typically aim for a 7- to 10-day window in the spring and fall when the Asian monsoon season is starting up or ending.
Mount Everest hosts several weather stations that collect important data on high-altitude weather conditions. Among them is the Balcony Station, the highest weather station on the planet, located at about 8,430 metres (27,660 ft) above sea level. Set up by climate scientists Tom Matthews and Baker Perry in 2019, this station is positioned just below the summit of Everest, which is the highest point on Earth.
As of January 20, 2020, the Balcony Station ceased transmitting data.
== Expeditions ==
Because Everest is the highest mountain in the world, it has attracted considerable attention and climbing attempts. Whether the mountain was climbed in ancient times is unknown. It may have been climbed in 1924, although this has never been confirmed, as neither man making the attempt returned. Climbing routes have been established over decades of expeditions.
The summit is first known to have been reached by humans in 1953. Despite the effort poured into expeditions, only about 200 people had summited by 1987. Everest remained a difficult climb for decades, even by professional climbers and large national expeditions, which were the norm until the commercial era began in the 1990s. As of December 2024, The Himalayan Database recorded just under 13,000 total summits, by around 7,200 different people.
Although lower mountains have longer or steeper climbs, Everest is so high the jet stream can hit it. Climbers can be faced with winds beyond 320 km/h (200 mph) when the weather shifts. At certain times of the year the jet stream shifts north, providing periods of relative calm at the mountain. Other dangers include blizzards and avalanches.
=== Early attempts ===
In 1885, Clinton Thomas Dent, president of the Alpine Club, suggested climbing Everest was possible in his book Above the Snow Line. The northern approach to the mountain was discovered by George Mallory and Guy Bullock on the initial 1921 British Reconnaissance Expedition. It was not equipped for a serious attempt to climb the mountain. With Mallory leading, and thus becoming the first European to set foot on Everest's flanks, they climbed the North Col to an altitude of 7,005 metres (22,982 ft). From there, Mallory espied a route to the top, but the party was unprepared to climb further and descended. The British returned for a 1922 expedition. On the first summit attempt Mallory, Col. Felix Norton, and Howard Somervell without supplemental oxygen reached 8,225 m (26,985 ft), the first time a human reported to climb higher than 8,000 m (26,247 ft). George Finch together with Geoffrey Bruce climbed using oxygen for the first time. They ascended at a remarkable speed—290 metres (951 ft) per hour—and reached an altitude of 8,321 m (27,300 ft).
The next expedition was in 1924. The initial attempt by Mallory and Geoffrey Bruce was aborted when weather conditions prevented the establishment of Camp VI. The next attempt was by Norton and Somervell, who climbed without oxygen and in perfect weather, traversing the North Face into the Great Couloir. Norton managed to reach, 8,572.8 m (28,126 ft) though he ascended only 30 m (100 ft) or so in the last hour. Mallory used oxygen equipment for a last-ditch effort. He chose young Andrew Irvine as his partner. On 8 June 1924, George Mallory and Andrew Irvine made an attempt on the summit via the North Col-North Ridge-Northeast Ridge route from which they never returned. On 1 May 1999, the Mallory and Irvine Research Expedition found Mallory's body on the North Face in a snow basin below and to the west of the traditional site of Camp VI. Controversy has raged in the mountaineering community whether one or both reached the summit 29 years before the first confirmed ascent and safe descent in 1953. Irvine's detached foot, still in a boot and sock, was found in 2024.
In 1933, Lady Houston, a British millionaire, funded the Houston Everest Flight of 1933, which saw a formation of two aeroplanes led by the Marquess of Clydesdale fly over the Everest summit.
Early expeditions—such as Charles Bruce's in the 1920s and Hugh Ruttledge's two unsuccessful attempts in 1933 and 1936—tried to ascend the mountain from Tibet, via the North Face. Access was closed from the north to Western expeditions in 1950 after China took control of Tibet. In 1950, Bill Tilman and a small party which included Charles Houston, Oscar Houston, and Betsy Cowles undertook an exploratory expedition to Everest through Nepal along the route which has become the standard approach to Everest from the south.
The 1952 Swiss Mount Everest expedition was granted permission to attempt a climb from Nepal. It established a route through the Khumbu icefall and ascended to the South Col at an elevation of 7,986 m (26,201 ft). Raymond Lambert and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay were able to reach an elevation of about 8,595 m (28,199 ft) on the Southeast Ridge, setting a new climbing altitude record. Tenzing's experience was useful when he was hired to be part of the British expedition in 1953. The Swiss made another post-monsoon attempt in the autumn; they made it to the South Col but were driven back by winter winds and severe cold.
=== First successful ascent by Tenzing and Hillary, 1953 ===
In 1953, a ninth British expedition, led by John Hunt, returned to Nepal. Hunt selected two climbing pairs to attempt the summit. The first, Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans, came within 100 m (330 ft) of the summit on 26 May 1953, but turned back after running into oxygen problems. As planned, their work in routefinding, breaking trail and oxygen caches were of great aid to the following pair. Two days later, the expedition made its second assault with the second pair: New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, a Nepali Sherpa climber. They reached the summit at 11:30 am local time on 29 May 1953 via the South Col route. At the time, both acknowledged it as a team effort by the whole expedition, but Tenzing revealed a few years later that Hillary had put his foot on the summit first. They took photos and buried sweets and a small cross in the snow before descending.
=== 1950s–60s ===
On 23 May 1956, Ernst Schmied and Juerg Marmet ascended. Wang Fuzhou, Gonpo and Qu Yinhua of China made the first reported ascent of the peak from the North Ridge in May 1960. The first American to climb Everest, Jim Whittaker, joined by Nawang Gombu, reached the summit on 1 May 1963 on the American Mount Everest expedition and on 22 May on the same expedition Tom Hornbein and Willi Unsoeld were the first the traverse the mountain by climbing via the North Face and descending via the South Col.
=== 1970s ===
In 1970, Japanese mountaineers conducted a major expedition. The centrepiece was a large "siege"-style expedition, working on finding a new route up the Southwest Face. Another element was an attempt to ski Everest. Despite a staff of over one hundred and a decade of planning, the expedition suffered eight deaths and failed to summit. However, Japanese expeditions enjoyed some successes. Yuichiro Miura became the first man to ski down Everest from the South Col—he descended nearly 1,300 vertical metres (4,200 ft) from the South Col before falling with extreme injuries. Another success was an expedition that put four on the summit via the South Col route. Miura's exploits became the subject of film, and he went on to become the oldest person to summit Everest in 2003 aged 70 and in 2013 aged 80.
In 1975, Junko Tabei became the first woman to summit Everest. The 1975 British Mount Everest Southwest Face expedition led and organised by Chris Bonington made the first ascent of the Southwest Face from the Western Cwm. In 1978, Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler made the first ascent of Everest without supplemental oxygen.
=== 1979/1980: Winter Himalaism ===
The Polish climber Andrzej Zawada headed the first winter ascent of Everest, the first winter ascent of an eight-thousander. On 15 January, the team managed to set up Camp III at 7,150 metres (23,460 ft) above sea level, but further action was stopped by hurricane-force winds. The weather improved after 11 February, when Leszek Cichy, Walenty Fiut and Krzysztof Wielicki set up camp IV on South Col at 7,906 metres (25,938 ft). Cichy and Wielicki started the final ascent at 6:50 am on 17 February. At 2:40 pm Andrzej Zawada at base camp heard the climbers' voices over the radio – "We are on the summit! The strong wind blows all the time. It is unimaginably cold." The successful winter ascent started a new decade of Winter Himalaism, which became a Polish specialisation. After 1980 Poles did ten first winter ascents on 8000 metre peaks.
=== Lho La tragedy, 1989 ===
In 1989, Polish climbers under the leadership of Eugeniusz Chrobak organised an international expedition to Everest on a difficult western ridge. Ten Poles and nine foreigners participated, but only the Poles remained in the attempt for the summit. On 24 May, Chrobak and Andrzej Marciniak, starting from camp V at 8,200 metres (26,900 ft), overcame the ridge and reached the summit. But on 27 May, during an avalanche from the side of Khumbutse near the Lho La pass, four climbers were killed: Mirosław Dąsal, Mirosław Gardzielewski, Zygmunt Andrzej Heinrich and Wacław Otręba. The following day, due to his injuries, Chrobak died. Marciniak, who was injured, was saved by a rescue expedition in which Artur Hajzer and New Zealanders Gary Ball and Rob Hall took part. The organisation of the rescue included Reinhold Messner, Elizabeth Hawley, Carlos Carsolio and the US consul.
=== 1996 disaster ===
On 10 and 11 May 1996, eight climbers died after guided expeditions were caught in a blizzard during a summit attempt on 10 May. During the 1996 season, 15 people died. These were the highest death tolls for a single weather event, and season, until the 16 deaths in the 2014 Mount Everest ice avalanche. The guiding disaster gained publicity and raised questions about the commercialisation of climbing and the safety of guiding clients on Everest.
Journalist Jon Krakauer, on assignment from Outside magazine, was in one of the affected guided parties, and published the bestseller Into Thin Air, which related his experience. Krakauer was critical of guide Anatoli Boukreev. A year later, Boukreev co-authored The Climb, in part as a rebuttal of Krakauer's portrayal. The dispute sparked debate within the climbing community. Boukreev was awarded The American Alpine Club's David Sowles Award for his rescue efforts on the expedition. In 2004 researchers from the University of Toronto told the New Scientist that analysis of conditions on 11 May suggested that weather caused oxygen levels to plunge about 14 per cent.
One survivor was Beck Weathers, left for dead about 275 metres (900 feet) from Camp 4 at 7,950 metres (26,085 feet). After spending a night on the mountain, Weathers made it back to Camp 4 with massive frostbite and vision impaired due to snow blindness. Fellow climbers considered his condition terminal and left him in a tent to die overnight. Weathers was lowered to Camp 2 and a helicopter rescue was organised by the Nepali Army. The storm's impact on climbers on the North Ridge, where several climbers also died, was detailed in a first-hand account by Matt Dickinson in his book The Other Side of Everest. Sixteen-year-old Mark Pfetzer was on the climb and wrote about it in, Within Reach: My Everest Story. The 2015 feature film Everest is based on the events of this guiding disaster.
=== 2006 ===
In 2006, 12 people died. David Sharp's death triggered debate and years of discussion about climbing ethics. The question was whether climbers had left a man to die and whether he could have been saved. He attempted to summit alone with two bottles of oxygen, compared to the standard five used by most climbers. He arranged his permit through Asian Trekking, a Kathmandu-based company that provided basic services to base camp, but not beyond that point. Sharp climbed without a radio or guide. Multiple climbing parties encountered Sharp in distress.
Double-amputee climber Mark Inglis said that on 15 May his climbing party, and many others, had passed Sharp, sheltering under a rock overhang 450 metres (1,480 ft) below the summit, without attempting a rescue. Inglis said 40 people had passed by Sharp, but he might have been overlooked as climbers assumed Sharp was the corpse nicknamed "Green Boots", but Inglis was not aware that climbers had tried to help Sharp despite being in the process of helping an injured woman, Burçak Özoğlu Poçan, down. There has been discussion about Himex in the commentary on Inglis and Sharp. In regard to Inglis's initial comments, he later revised details because he had been interviewed while he was "physically and mentally exhausted, and in much pain. He had suffered frostbite – he later had five fingertips amputated." It was estimated that Sharp summited on 14 May and began his descent, but on 15 May he was in trouble and being passed by climbers on their way up and down. It is believed he was suffering from hypoxia and was about 300 m (1,000 ft) from the summit on the North Side route.
The Tribune, India, quoted someone who described what happened to Sharp as "the most shameful act in the history of mountaineering". Much of this controversy was captured by the Discovery Channel while filming Everest: Beyond the Limit. A crucial decision affecting Sharp is shown where a returning climber, adventurer Maxim Chaya, is descending and radios his base camp manager (Russell Brice) that he has found a frostbitten and unconscious climber in distress. Chaya is unable to identify Sharp, who had chosen to climb solo and did not identify himself to other climbers. The manager assumes Sharp is part of a group that has already calculated they must abandon him, and informs his lone climber there is no chance of him being able to help Sharp by himself. As Sharp's condition deteriorates and other descending climbers pass him, his opportunities for rescue diminish: his legs and feet curl from frostbite, preventing him walking; later descending climbers are lower on oxygen and lack the strength to offer aid; time runs out for Sherpas to return and rescue him. Sharp's body remained just below the summit on the Chinese side next to "Green Boots"; they shared a space in a rock cave that was an ad hoc tomb. Sharp's body was removed from the cave in 2007, and since 2014, Green Boots has been missing, presumably removed or buried.
As the Sharp debate started, on 26 May Australian climber Lincoln Hall was found alive after being left. He was found by a party of four climbers who, giving up their own attempt, stayed with Hall and descended with him and 11 Sherpas sent up to carry him down. Hall fully recovered. His team had assumed he had died from cerebral edema, and were instructed to cover him with rocks. There were no rocks to do this and he was abandoned. The erroneous information of his death was passed to his family.
=== 2007 ===
On 21 May 2007, Canadian climber Meagan McGrath initiated the successful high-altitude rescue of Nepali Usha Bista. McGrath was selected as a 2011 recipient of the Sir Edmund Hillary Foundation of Canada Humanitarian Award, which recognises a Canadian who has contributed a significant service in the Himalayan Region of Nepal.
=== Ascent statistics up to 2010 season ===
By the end of 2010, there had been 5,104 summits by about 3,142 individuals, with 77 per cent accomplished since 2000. The summit was achieved in 7 of the 22 years from 1953 to 1974 and not missed between 1975 and 2014. An illustration of the explosion of popularity is provided by the number of daily ascents. Analysis of the 1996 Mount Everest disaster shows part of the blame was on the bottleneck caused by a large number of climbers (33 to 36) attempting to summit on the same day; this was unusually high at the time. By comparison, on 23 May 2010, the summit was reached by 169 climbers – more summits in a single day than in the 31 years from the first successful summit in 1953 to 1983. Nearly all attempts at the summit are done using one of two main routes. In 2005–07, more than half elected to use the more challenging, but cheaper northeast route. In 2008, the northeast route was closed by the Chinese government for the season, and the only people able to summit from the north that year were athletes carrying the Olympic torch for the 2008 Summer Olympics. The route was closed to foreigners in 2009 in the run-up to the 50th anniversary of the Dalai Lama's exile. These closures led to declining interest in the north route, and in 2010, two-thirds summitted from the south.
=== 2010s ===
The 2010s were a time of new highs and lows for the mountain, with disasters in 2013 and 2014 causing record deaths. In 2015 there were no summits for the first time in decades. A record was set in 2019 with over 890 summiters.
=== 2014 avalanche ===
On 18 April 2014, an avalanche hit the area just below Base Camp 2. 16 people were killed, all Nepali guides, and nine injured. In response, Sherpa climbing guides walked off the job and most climbing companies pulled out in respect for the Sherpa people mourning their loss.
=== 2015 avalanche and earthquake ===
2015 was set to be a record-breaking season of climbs, with hundreds of permits. However, on 25 April 2015, an earthquake measuring 7.8 Mw triggered an avalanche that hit Everest Base Camp, shutting down the season. 18 bodies were recovered by the Indian Army mountaineering team. The avalanche began on Pumori, moved through the Khumbu Icefall on the southwest side of Everest, and slammed into the South Base Camp. 2015 was the first time since 1974 with no spring summits, as all climbing teams pulled out. One reason for this was the high probability of aftershocks. Just weeks after the first quake, the region experienced a 7.3 quake and there were many aftershocks.
The quakes trapped hundreds of climbers above the Khumbu icefall, and they had to be evacuated by helicopter as they ran low on supplies. The quake shifted the route through the ice fall, making it impassable. Bad weather made helicopter evacuation difficult. There was a large impact overall on Nepal, with 9,000 dead. In Tibet, by 28 April at least 25 had died.
=== 2016 and 2017 ===
Hawley's database records 641 made it to the summit in early 2016. 2017 was the biggest season yet, yielding hundreds of summiters and a handful of deaths. On 27 May, Kami Rita made his 21st summit with the Alpine Ascents Everest Expedition, one of three people, along with Apa Sherpa and Phurba Tashi Sherpa to make it to the summit 21 times. The season had a tragic start with the death of Ueli Steck, who died from a fall during a warm-up climb. There was continued discussion about possible changes to the Hillary Step. Summiters for 2017 was tallied up to be 648.
=== 2018 ===
A record 891 summited in 2018. One factor that aided this was an especially long and clear weather window of 11 days during the critical spring climbing season. Various records were broken, including a summit by double-amputee Xia Boyu, after winning a case in the Nepali Supreme Court. 7 climbers died. Although record numbers summitted, old-time summiteers that made expeditions in the 1980s lamented the crowding, feces, and cost.
=== 2019 ===
The spring or pre-monsoon window for 2019 witnessed the deaths of climbers. Images of hundreds queuing to reach the summit and reports of climbers stepping over dead bodies dismayed people around the world.
There was an announcement of an expedition to re-measure the height of Everest, particularly in light of the 2015 earthquakes. Among the climbing teams was a scientific expedition with a planned study of pollution, and how things like snow and vegetation influence the availability of food and water in the region. In the 2019 spring season, there were roughly 40 teams with almost 400 climbers and several hundred guides attempting to summit on the Nepali side. Nepal issued 381 climbing permits for 2019. For the northern routes in Chinese Tibet, several hundred more permits were issued. In May, Nepali mountaineering guide Kami Rita summited twice within a week, his 23rd and 24th ascents.
By 28 May, the death toll reached 11, when a climber died at about 7,900 m (26,000 ft) during the descent, and a 12th climber was missing and later declared dead. The deaths were possibly due to crowding leading to delays high on the mountain, and shorter weather windows. Someone who had summited previously noted that when the weather window opens, long lines form as everyone rushes to summit and get back down. Despite the number of deaths, reports indicated that a record 891 climbers summited in the spring 2019 climbing season. Although China has had permit restrictions, and Nepal requires a doctor to sign off on climbing permits, the natural dangers of climbing such as falls and avalanches combined with medical issues aggravated by Everest's extreme altitude led to 2019 being a year with a comparatively high death toll.
=== 2020s ===
Both Nepal and China prohibited foreign climbing groups during the 2020 season, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 2020 saw no summits from the Nepal (South) Side.
In October 2025, blizzard-like conditions prompted Chinese authorities to evacuate nearly 350 people by October 6, with about 200 more stranded on the Everest Scenic Area.
== Climbing ==
=== Permits ===
In 2014, Nepal issued 334 climbing permits, which were extended until 2019 due to the closure. In 2015, Nepal issued 357 permits, but the mountain was closed again because of the avalanche and earthquake, and these permits were given a two-year extension to 2017.
In 2017, a person who tried to climb Everest without the $11,000 permit was caught after he made it past the Khumbu icefall. He faced, among other penalties, a $22,000 fine and a possible four years in jail. In the end, he was allowed to return home but banned from mountaineering in Nepal for 10 years.
The number of permits issued each year by Nepal is:
2008: 160
2009: 220
2010: 209
2011: 225
2012: 208
2013: 316
2014: 326 (extended for use through 2019)
2015: 356 (extended for use through 2017)
2016: 289
2017: 366 to 373
2018: 346
2019: 381
2020: 0 (no permits issued during the pandemic)
2021: 408 (current record)
The Chinese side in Tibet is also managed with permits for summiting Everest. They did not issue permits in 2008, due to the Olympic torch relay being taken to the summit of Mount Everest.
In March 2020, the governments of China and Nepal cancelled all climbing permits for Mount Everest due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In April 2020, a group of Chinese mountaineers began an expedition from the Chinese side. The mountain remained closed on the Chinese side to all foreign climbers. On 10 May 2021, a separation line was announced by Chinese authorities to prevent the spread of coronavirus from climbers ascending Nepal's side.
In April 2025, the Government of Nepal introduced a new regulation requiring climbers to have previously summited at least one 7,000-metre peak within Nepal before being eligible to obtain a permit for an expedition to Mount Everest. The rule is scheduled to come into effect from the Spring 2026 climbing season.
=== Commercial climbing ===
According to Jon Krakauer, the era of commercialisation of Everest started in 1985, when the summit was reached by a guided expedition led by David Breashears that included Richard Bass, a wealthy 55-year-old businessman and an amateur mountain climber with four years of climbing experience. By the early-1990s, several companies were offering guided tours to the mountain. Rob Hall, one of the mountaineers who died in the 1996 disaster, had successfully guided 39 clients to the summit before that incident.
By 2016, most guiding services cost between US$35,000 and US$200,000. Going with a "celebrity guide", usually a well-known mountaineer typically with decades of climbing experience and perhaps several Everest summits, can cost over £100,000 as of 2015. However, the services offered vary widely and it is "buyer beware" when doing deals in Nepal, one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world. Tourism contributed 7.9 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2019 in a country with high unemployment, but an Everest porter can make nearly double the nation's average wage in a region in which other sources of income are lacking.
Costs beyond the guiding service can vary widely. It is technically possible to reach the summit with minimal additional expenses, and there are "budget" travel agencies that offer logistical support for such trips. A limited support service, offering only some meals at base camp and bureaucratic overhead like a permit, can cost as little as US$7,000 as of 2007. However, this is considered difficult and dangerous (as illustrated by the case of David Sharp).
Climbing gear required to reach the summit may cost in excess of US$8,000, and most climbers also use bottled oxygen, which adds around US$3,000. The permit to enter the Everest area from the south via Nepal costs US$10,000 to US$30,000 per person, depending on the size of the team. The ascent typically starts at one of the two base camps near the mountain, both of which are approximately 100 kilometres (60 mi) from Kathmandu and 300 kilometres (190 mi) from Lhasa (the two nearest cities with major airports). Transferring one's equipment from the airport to the base camp may add as much as US$2,000.
Many climbers hire "full service" guide companies, which provide a wide spectrum of services, including the acquisition of permits, transportation to/from base camp, food, tents, fixed ropes, medical assistance while on the mountain, an experienced mountaineer guide, and even personal porters to carry one's backpack and cook one's meals. The cost of such a guide service may range from US$40,000 to $80,000 per person. Since most equipment is moved by Sherpas, clients of full-service guide companies can often keep their backpack weights under 10 kilograms (22 lb), or hire a Sherpa to carry their backpack for them. By contrast, climbers attempting less commercialised peaks, like Denali, are often expected to carry backpacks over 30 kilograms (66 lb) and, occasionally, to tow a sled with 35 kilograms (77 lb) of gear and food.
The degree of commercialisation of Mount Everest is a frequent subject of criticism. Jamling Tenzing Norgay, the son of Tenzing Norgay, said in a 2003 interview that his late father would have been shocked to discover that rich thrill-seekers with no climbing experience were now routinely reaching the summit, "You still have to climb this mountain yourself with your feet. But the spirit of adventure is not there any more. It is lost. There are people going up there who have no idea how to put on crampons. They are climbing because they have paid someone $65,000. It is very selfish. It endangers the lives of others."
One example of this is Shriya Shah-Klorfine, who had to be taught how to put on crampons during her summit attempt in 2012. She paid at least US$40,000 to a new guiding company for the trip, and died when she ran out of oxygen during the descent after climbing for 27 hours straight.
Reinhold Messner concurred in 2004: You could die in each climb and that meant you were responsible for yourself. We were real mountaineers: careful, aware and even afraid. By climbing mountains we were not learning how big we were. We were finding out how breakable, how weak and how full of fear we are. You can only get this if you expose yourself to high danger. I have always said that a mountain without danger is not a mountain....High altitude alpinism has become tourism and show. These commercial trips to Everest, they are still dangerous. But the guides and organisers tell clients, 'Don't worry, it's all organised.' The route is prepared by hundreds of Sherpas. Extra oxygen is available in all camps, right up to the summit. People will cook for you and lay out your beds. Clients feel safe and don't care about the risks.
By 2015, Nepal was considering requiring that climbers have some experience, hoping this would both make the mountain safer and increase revenue. One barrier to this is that low-budget firms make money not taking inexperienced climbers to the summit. Those turned away by Western firms can often find another firm willing to take them for a price—that they return home soon after arriving after base camp, or part way up the mountain.
However, not all opinions on the subject among prominent mountaineers have been strictly negative. For example, Edmund Hillary stated in 2003 that while "Having people pay $65,000 and then be led up the mountain by a couple of experienced guides...isn't really mountaineering at all", he was pleased by the changes brought to Everest area by Westerners: I don't have any regrets because I worked very hard indeed to improve the condition for the local people. When we first went in there they didn't have any schools, they didn't have any medical facilities, all over the years we have established 27 schools, we have two hospitals and a dozen medical clinics and then we've built bridges over wild mountain rivers and put in fresh water pipelines so in cooperation with the Sherpas we've done a lot to benefit them.
One of the early guided summiters, Richard Bass (of Seven Summits fame) stated in 2003 that "Climbers should have high altitude experience before they attempt the really big mountains. People don't realise the difference between a 20,000-foot [6,100 m] mountain and 29,000-foot [8,800 m]. It's not just arithmetic. The reduction of oxygen in the air is proportionate to the altitude alright, but the effect on the human body is disproportionate—an exponential curve. People climb Denali [6,190 m or 20,320 ft] or Aconcagua [6,960 m or 22,834 ft] and think, 'Heck, I feel great up here, I'm going to try Everest.' But it's not like that."
==== Speed climbing ====
===== Altitude tents =====
Some expedition teams have clients use altitude tents to pre-acclimatise prior to leaving for the mountain. Compared to traditional Everest expeditions that last 50 to 60 days, altitude tents can reduce the expedition time frame to 30 to 35 days.
===== Xenon gas =====
In 2025, four men climbed the mountain in one week. They claimed their inhalation of xenon gas 10 days prior to stimulate erythropoietin production had eliminated the need for altitude acclimatisation over several weeks. The International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation (UIAA) criticised the decision, citing that there is no evidence that the inhalation of xenon improves performance in high elevation environments. Furthermore, the UIAA warned that as an anesthetic, xenon gas could result in impaired brain function, respiratory compromise, and death if used in an unmonitored setting.
==== Summiting with disabilities ====
Summiting Everest with disabilities has become popular in the 21st century. Sudarshan Gautam, a Canadian double-amputee, summited the mountain in 2013. In the same year, Eli Reimer, a teenager with Down syndrome, hiked to the South Base Camp as part of a fundraising effort for his father's foundation.
=== Routes ===
Mount Everest has two main climbing routes, the Southeast Ridge from Nepal and the North Ridge from Tibet, as well as many other less frequently climbed routes. Of the two main routes, the Southeast Ridge is technically easier and more frequently used. It was the route used by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953 and the first recognised of 15 routes to the top by 1996. This was, however, a route decision dictated more by politics than by design, as the Chinese border was closed to the western world in the 1950s, after Annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China.
Most attempts are made during May, before the summer monsoon season. As the monsoon season approaches, the jet stream shifts northward, thereby reducing the average wind speeds high on the mountain. While attempts are sometimes made in September and October, after the monsoons, when the jet stream is again temporarily pushed northward, the additional snow deposited by the monsoons and the less stable weather patterns at the monsoons' tail end makes climbing extremely difficult.
==== Southeast Ridge ====
The ascent via the Southeast Ridge begins with a trek to Base Camp at 5,380 m (17,700 ft) on the south side of Everest, in Nepal. Expeditions usually fly into Lukla (2,860 m) from Kathmandu and pass through Namche Bazaar. Climbers then hike to Base Camp, which usually takes six to eight days, allowing for proper altitude acclimatisation in order to prevent altitude sickness. Climbing equipment and supplies are carried by yaks, dzopkyos (yak-cow hybrids), and human porters to Base Camp on the Khumbu Glacier. When Hillary and Tenzing climbed Everest in 1953, the British expedition they were part of (comprising over 400 climbers, porters, and Sherpas at that point) started from the Kathmandu Valley, as there were no roads further east at that time.
Climbers spend a couple of weeks in Base Camp, acclimatising to the altitude. During that time, Sherpas and some expedition climbers set up ropes and ladders in the treacherous Khumbu Icefall.
Seracs, crevasses, and shifting blocks of ice make the icefall one of the most dangerous sections of the route. Many climbers and Sherpas have been killed in this section. To reduce the hazard, climbers usually begin their ascent well before dawn, when the freezing temperatures glue ice blocks in place.
Above the icefall is Camp I at 6,065 metres (19,900 ft).
From Camp I, climbers make their way up the Western Cwm to the base of the Lhotse Face, where Camp II or Advanced Base Camp (ABC) is established at 6,500 m (21,300 ft). The Western Cwm is a flat, gently rising glacial valley, marked by huge lateral crevasses in the centre, which prevent direct access to the upper reaches of the Cwm. Climbers are forced to cross on the far right, near the base of Nuptse, to a small passageway known as the "Nuptse corner". The Western Cwm is also called the "Valley of Silence" as the topography of the area generally cuts off wind from the climbing route. The high altitude and a clear, windless day can make the Western Cwm unbearably hot for climbers.
From Camp II, climbers ascend the Lhotse Face on fixed ropes, up to Camp III, located on a small ledge at 7,470 m (24,500 ft). From there, it is another 500 metres to Camp IV on the South Col at 7,920 m (26,000 ft).
From Camp III to Camp IV, climbers are faced with two additional challenges: the Geneva Spur and the Yellow Band. The Geneva Spur is an anvil-shaped rib of black rock named by the 1952 Swiss expedition. Fixed ropes assist climbers in scrambling over this snow-covered rock band. The Yellow Band is a section of interlayered marble, phyllite, and semischist, which also requires about 100 metres of rope for traversing it.
On the South Col, climbers enter the death zone. Climbers making summit bids typically can endure no more than two or three days at this altitude. If the weather is not clear with low winds during these short few days, climbers are forced to descend, many all the way back down to Base Camp.
From Camp IV, climbers begin their summit push around midnight, with hopes of reaching the summit (still another 1,000 metres above) within 10 to 12 hours. Climbers first reach "The Balcony" at 8,400 m (27,600 ft), a small platform where they can rest and gaze at peaks to the south and east in the early light of dawn. Continuing up the ridge, climbers are then faced with a series of imposing rock steps which usually forces them to the east into the waist-deep snow, a serious avalanche hazard. At 8,750 m (28,700 ft), a small table-sized dome of ice and snow marks the South Summit.
From the South Summit, climbers follow the knife-edge Southeast Ridge along what is known as the "Cornice traverse", where snow clings to intermittent rock. This is the most exposed section of the climb, and a misstep to the left would send one 2,400 m (7,900 ft) down the Southwest Face, while to the immediate right is the 3,050 m (10,010 ft) Kangshung Face. At the end of this traverse is an imposing 12 m (39 ft) rock wall, the Hillary Step, at 8,790 m (28,840 ft).
Hillary and Tenzing were the first climbers to ascend this step, and did so using primitive ice climbing equipment and ropes. Nowadays, climbers ascend using fixed ropes previously set up by Sherpas. Once above the step, it is a comparatively easy climb to the top on moderately angled snow slopes—though the exposure on the ridge is extreme, especially while traversing large cornices of snow. With increasing numbers climbing the mountain, the Step has frequently become a bottleneck, with climbers forced to wait significant amounts of time for their turn on the ropes, leading to problems in getting climbers efficiently up and down the mountain.
After the Hillary Step, climbers must traverse a loose and rocky section that has a large entanglement of fixed ropes that can be troublesome in bad weather. Climbers typically spend less than half an hour at the summit to allow time to descend to Camp IV before darkness sets in, to avoid serious problems with afternoon weather, or because supplemental oxygen tanks run out.
==== North Ridge route ====
The North Ridge route begins from the north side of Everest, in Tibet. Expeditions trek to the Rongbuk Glacier, setting up base camp at 5,180 m (16,990 ft) on a gravel plain just below the glacier. To reach Camp II, climbers ascend the medial moraine of the east Rongbuk Glacier up to the base of Changtse, at around 6,100 m (20,000 ft). Camp III (ABC – Advanced Base Camp) is situated below the North Col at 6,500 m (21,300 ft). To reach Camp IV on the North Col, climbers ascend the glacier to the foot of the col where fixed ropes are used to reach the North Col at 7,010 m (23,000 ft). From the North Col, climbers ascend the rocky North Ridge to set up Camp V at around 7,775 m (25,500 ft). The route crosses the North Face in a diagonal climb to the base of the Yellow Band, reaching the site of Camp VI at 8,230 m (27,000 ft). From Camp VI, climbers make their final summit push.
Climbers face a treacherous traverse from the base of the First Step: ascending from 8,501 to 8,534 m (27,890 to 28,000 ft), to the crux of the climb, the Second Step, ascending from 8,577 to 8,626 m (28,140 to 28,300 ft). (The Second Step includes a climbing aid called the "Chinese ladder", a metal ladder placed semi-permanently in 1975 by a party of Chinese climbers. It has been almost continuously in place since, and ladders have been used by virtually all climbers on the route.) Once above the Second Step the inconsequential Third Step is clambered over, ascending from 8,690 to 8,800 m (28,510 to 28,870 ft). Once above these steps, the summit pyramid is climbed by a snow slope of 50 degrees, to the final summit ridge along which the top is reached.
=== Summit ===
The summit of Everest has been described as "the size of a dining room table". The summit is capped with snow over ice over rock, and the layer of snow varies from year to year. The rock summit is made of Ordovician limestone and is a low-grade metamorphic rock. (See the Surveys section for more on its height and about the Everest rock summit.)
Below the summit, there is an area known as "rainbow valley", filled with dead bodies still wearing brightly coloured winter gear. Down to about 8,000 m (26,000 ft) is an area commonly called the "death zone", due to the high danger and low oxygen because of the low pressure.
=== Death zone ===
At the higher regions of Mount Everest, climbers seeking the summit typically spend substantial time within the death zone (altitudes higher than 8,000 m or 26,000 ft), and face significant challenges to survival. Temperatures can dip to very low levels, resulting in frostbite of any body part exposed to the air. Since temperatures are so low, snow is well-frozen in certain areas and death or injury by slipping and falling can occur. High winds at these altitudes on Everest are also a potential threat to climbers.
Another significant threat to climbers is low atmospheric pressure. The atmospheric pressure at the top of Everest is about a third of sea level pressure or 0.333 standard atmospheres (337 mbar), resulting in the availability of only about a third as much oxygen to breathe.
A sea-level dweller exposed to the atmospheric conditions at the altitude above 8,500 m (27,900 ft) without acclimatisation would likely lose consciousness within two to three minutes. At sea level, blood oxygen saturation is generally 98 to 99 per cent. At base camp, blood saturation fell to between 85 and 87 per cent. Blood samples taken at the summit indicated very low oxygen levels in the blood. A side effect of low blood oxygen is a greatly increased breathing rate, often 80–90 breaths per minute as opposed to a more typical 20–30. Exhaustion can occur merely by attempting to breathe.
Lack of oxygen, exhaustion, extreme cold, and climbing hazards all contribute to the death toll. An injured person who cannot walk is in serious trouble, since rescue by helicopter is generally impractical and carrying the person off the mountain is very risky. People who die during the climb are typically left behind. As of 2015, over 200 bodies remain on the mountain.
Debilitating symptoms consistent with high altitude cerebral oedema commonly present during descent from the summit of Mount Everest. Profound fatigue and late times in reaching the summit are early features associated with subsequent death.
A 2008 study noted that the "death zone" is indeed where most Everest deaths occur, but also noted that most deaths occur during descent from the summit. A 2014 article in The Atlantic about deaths on Everest noted that while falling is one of the greatest dangers the death zone presents for all 8000ers, avalanches are a more common cause of death at lower altitudes.
Despite this, Everest is safer for climbers than a number of peaks by some measurements, but it depends on the period. Some examples are Kangchenjunga, K2, Annapurna, Nanga Parbat, and the Eiger (especially the nordwand). Some factors that affect total mountain lethality include the level of popularity of the mountain, the skill of those climbing, and the difficulty of the climb.
Another health hazard is retinal haemorrhages, which can damage eyesight and cause blindness. Up to a quarter of Everest climbers can experience retinal haemorrhages, and although they usually heal within weeks of returning to lower altitudes, in 2010 a climber went blind and died in the death zone.
The team made a huge effort for the next 12 hours to try to get him down the mountain, but to no avail, as they were unsuccessful in getting him through the difficult sections. Even for the able, Everest's Northeast Ridge is recognised as a challenge. It is hard to rescue someone who has become incapacitated and it can be beyond the ability of rescuers to save anyone in such a difficult spot. One way around this situation was pioneered by two Nepali men in 2011, who had intended to paraglide off the summit. They had no choice and were forced to go through with their plan anyway, because they had run out of bottled oxygen and supplies. They successfully launched off the summit and para-glided down to Namche Bazaar in just 42 minutes, without having to climb down the mountain.
=== Supplemental oxygen ===
Most expeditions use oxygen masks and tanks above 8,000 m (26,247 ft). Everest can be climbed without supplementary oxygen, but only by the most accomplished mountaineers and at increased risk. Low oxygen impairs cognition, and the combination of extreme weather, low temperatures, and steep slopes often requires quick, accurate decisions. While about 95 per cent of climbers who reach the summit use bottled oxygen in order to reach the top, about five per cent of climbers have summited Everest without supplemental oxygen. The death rate is double for those who attempt to reach the summit without supplemental oxygen. Travelling above 8,000 m (26,000 ft) altitude is a factor in cerebral hypoxia. One study found that Mount Everest may be the highest an acclimatised human could go, but also found that climbers may suffer permanent neurological damage despite returning to lower altitudes.
The use of bottled oxygen to ascend Mount Everest has been controversial. It was first used on the 1922 British Mount Everest Expedition by George Finch and Geoffrey Bruce who climbed up to 7,800 m (25,600 ft) at a spectacular speed of 300 vertical metres per hour (1,000 ft/h). Pinned down by a fierce storm, they escaped death by breathing oxygen from a jury-rigged set-up during the night. The next day they climbed to 8,100 m (26,600 ft) at 270 m/h (900 ft/h) – nearly three times as fast as non-oxygen users. Yet the use of oxygen was considered so unsportsmanlike that none of the rest of the Alpine world recognised this high ascent rate.
George Mallory described the use of such oxygen as unsportsmanlike, but he later concluded that it would be impossible for him to summit without it and consequently used it on his final attempt in 1924. When Tenzing and Hillary made the first successful summit in 1953, they also used open-circuit bottled oxygen sets, with the expedition's physiologist Griffith Pugh referring to the oxygen debate as a "futile controversy", noting that oxygen "greatly increases subjective appreciation of the surroundings, which after all is one of the chief reasons for climbing." For the next twenty-five years, bottled oxygen was considered standard for any successful summit.
...although an acclimatised lowlander can survive for a time on the summit of Everest without supplemental oxygen, one is so close to the limit that even a modicum of excess exertion may impair brain function.
Reinhold Messner was the first climber to break the bottled oxygen tradition and in 1978, with Peter Habeler, made the first successful climb without it. In 1980, Messner summited the mountain solo, without supplemental oxygen or any porters or climbing partners, on the more difficult northwest route. Once the climbing community was satisfied that the mountain could be climbed without supplemental oxygen, many purists then took the next logical step of insisting that is how it should be climbed.
The aftermath of the 1996 disaster further intensified the debate. Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air (1997) expressed the author's personal criticisms of the use of bottled oxygen. Krakauer wrote that the use of bottled oxygen allowed otherwise unqualified climbers to attempt to summit, leading to dangerous situations and more deaths. The disaster was partially caused by the sheer number of climbers (34 on that day) attempting to ascend, causing bottlenecks at the Hillary Step and delaying many climbers, most of whom summited after the usual 14:00 turnaround time. He proposed banning bottled oxygen except for emergency cases, arguing that this would both decrease the growing pollution on Everest—many bottles have accumulated on its slopes—and keep marginally qualified climbers off the mountain.
The 1996 disaster also introduced the issue of the guide's role in using bottled oxygen.
Guide Anatoli Boukreev's decision not to use bottled oxygen was sharply criticised by Jon Krakauer. Boukreev's supporters (who include G. Weston DeWalt, who co-wrote The Climb) state that using bottled oxygen gives a false sense of security. Krakauer and his supporters point out that, without bottled oxygen, Boukreev could not directly help his clients descend.
The low oxygen can cause a mental fog-like impairment of cognitive abilities described as "delayed and lethargic thought process, clinically defined as bradypsychia" even after returning to lower altitudes. In severe cases, climbers can experience hallucinations. Some studies have found that high-altitude climbers, including Everest climbers, experience altered brain structure.
=== Autumn climbing ===
Although generally less popular than spring, Mount Everest has also been climbed in the autumn (also called the "post-monsoon season"). For example, in 2010 Eric Larsen and five Nepali guides summited Everest in the autumn for the first time in ten years. The autumn season, when the monsoon ends, is regarded as more dangerous because there is typically a lot of new snow which can be unstable. However, this increased snow can make it more popular with certain winter sports like skiing and snowboarding. Two Japanese climbers also summited in October 1973.
Chris Chandler and Bob Cormack summited Everest in October 1976 as part of the American Bicentennial Everest Expedition that year, the first Americans to make an autumn ascent of Mount Everest according to the Los Angeles Times. By the 21st century, summer and autumn can be more popular with skiing and snowboard attempts on Mount Everest. During the 1980s, climbing in autumn was actually more popular than in spring. U.S. astronaut Karl Gordon Henize died in October 1993 on an autumn expedition, conducting an experiment on radiation. The amount of background radiation increases with higher altitudes.
The mountain has also been climbed in the winter, but that is not popular because of the combination of cold high winds and shorter days. By January the peak is typically battered by 270 km/h (170 mph) winds and the average temperature of the summit is around −33 °F (−36 °C).
=== Thefts and crime ===
Some climbers have reported life-threatening thefts from supply caches. In May 2006, Vitor Negrete, the first Brazilian to climb Everest without oxygen and part of David Sharp's party, died during his descent, and theft of gear and food from his high-altitude camp may have contributed. In addition to theft, Michael Kodas describes in his book, High Crimes: The Fate of Everest in an Age of Greed (2008): unethical guides and Sherpas, prostitution and gambling at the Tibet Base Camp, fraud related to the sale of oxygen bottles, and climbers collecting donations under the pretense of removing trash from the mountain.
The Chinese side of Everest in Tibet was described as "out of control" in 2007 after one Canadian had all his gear stolen and was abandoned by his Sherpa. Another Sherpa helped the victim get off the mountain safely and gave him some spare gear. Other climbers have also reported missing oxygen bottles, which can be worth hundreds of dollars each. Hundreds of climbers pass by people's tents, making it hard to safeguard against theft. In the late 2010s, the reports of theft of oxygen bottles from camps became more common.
=== Timeline ===
By the end of the 2010 climbing season, there had been 5,104 ascents to the summit by about 3,142 individuals. Some notable "firsts" by climbers include:
1922: First climb to 8,000 metres (26,247 ft), by George Mallory, Col. Felix Norton, and Howard Somervell
1952: First climb to South Col by 1952 Swiss Mount Everest expedition
1953: First ascent, by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary on 1953 British Mount Everest expedition
1960: First reported ascent from the North Ridge by Wang Fuzhou, Gonpo and Qu Yinhua of China.
1975: First female ascent, by Junko Tabei (16 May).
1975: First female ascent from the North Ridge, by Phanthog, deputy head of the second Chinese Everest expedition that sent nine climbers to the summit (27 May).
1978: First ascent without supplemental oxygen by Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler
1978: First solo ascent, by Franz Oppurg
1980: First winter ascent, by Polish National Expedition Winter 1979/1980 (Leszek Cichy and Krzysztof Wielicki)
1980: Second solo ascent, and the first without supplemental oxygen, by Reinhold Messner
1988: First "cross-over" climb by Chinese, Japanese and Nepali teams which ascended the peak simultaneously from both the North and South sides of the mountain and descended down the other side. The cross-over climb was also the first to be recorded on live broadcast television.
1988: First descent by paraglider, by Jean-Marc Boivin
1988: First female ascent without supplemental oxygen by Lydia Bradey
2000: Lhakpa Sherpa becomes first Nepali woman to summit Everest and survive.
2000: First descent by ski by Davo Karničar
2001: First descent by snowboard by Marco Siffredi
2001: First ascent by a blind climber, Erik Weihenmayer
2025: First descent by ski without supplemental oxygen by Andrzej Bargiel
== Aviation ==
=== 1933: Flight over Everest ===
Lucy, Lady Houston, a British millionaire former showgirl, funded the Houston Everest Flight of 1933. A formation of airplanes led by the Marquess of Clydesdale flew over the summit in an effort to photograph the unknown terrain.
=== 1988: First climb and glide ===
On 26 September 1988, having climbed the mountain via the Southeast Ridge, Jean-Marc Boivin made the first paraglider descent of Everest, in the process creating the record for the fastest descent of the mountain and the highest paraglider flight. Boivin said: "I was tired when I reached the top because I had broken much of the trail, and to run at this altitude was quite hard."
=== 1991: Hot air balloon flyover ===
In 1991, four men in two balloons achieved the first hot-air balloon flight over Mount Everest. In one balloon were Andy Elson and Eric Jones (cameraman), and in the other balloon Chris Dewhirst and Leo Dickinson (cameraman). Dickinson went on to write a book about the adventure called Ballooning Over Everest. The hot-air balloons were modified to function at up to 12,000 m (40,000 ft) altitude. Reinhold Messner called one of Dickinson's panoramic views of Everest, captured on the now discontinued Kodak Kodachrome film, the "best snap on Earth", according to UK newspaper The Telegraph. Dewhirst has offered to take passengers on a repeat of this feat for US$2.6 million per passenger.
=== 2005: Pilot summits with helicopter ===
In May 2005, pilot Didier Delsalle of France landed a Eurocopter AS350 B3 helicopter on the summit of Mount Everest. He needed to land for two minutes to set the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) official record, but he stayed for about four minutes, twice. In this type of landing the rotors stay engaged, which avoids relying on the snow to fully support the aircraft. The flight set rotorcraft world records, for highest of both landing and take-off.
Some press reports suggested that the report of the summit landing was a misunderstanding of a South Col landing, but he had also landed on South Col two days earlier, with this landing and the Everest records confirmed by the FAI. Delsalle also rescued two Japanese climbers at 4,880 m (16,000 ft) while he was there. One climber noted that the new record meant a better chance of rescue.
=== 2011: Paraglide off summit ===
On 21 May 2011, Nepalis Lakpa Tsheri Sherpa and Sano Babu Sunuwar paraglided from Everest's summit to Namche Bazaar in 42 minutes. After the flight they hiked, biked, and kayaked to the Indian Ocean, reaching the Bay of Bengal by 27 June 2011, thereby becoming the first people to complete a continuous summit-to-sea descent from Everest. They accomplished the ground-breaking feat despite Babu having never previously climbed, and Lakpa having never kayaked and not even knowing how to swim. The duo subsequently won National Geographic Adventurers of the Year for 2012 for their exploits. In 2013 footage of the flight was shown on the television news program Nightline.
=== 2014: Helicopter-assisted ascent ===
In 2014, a team financed and led by mountaineer Wang Jing used a helicopter to fly from South Base Camp to Camp II to avoid the Khumbu Icefall, and thence climbed to the Everest summit. This climb immediately sparked outrage and controversy in much of the mountaineering world over the legitimacy and propriety of her climb. Nepal ended up investigating Wang, who initially denied the claim that she had flown to Camp II, admitting only that some support crew were flown to that higher camp, over the Khumbu Icefall. In August 2014, however, she stated that she had flown to Camp II because the icefall was impassable. "If you don't fly to Camp II, you just go home", she said in an interview. In that same interview, she also insisted that she had never tried to hide this fact.
Her team had had to use the south side because the Chinese had denied them a permit to climb. Ultimately, the Chinese refusal may have been beneficial to Nepal's interests, allowing the government to showcase improved local hospitals and providing the opportunity for a new hybrid aviation/mountaineering style, triggering discussions about helicopter use in the mountaineering world. National Geographic noted that a village festooned Wang with honours after she donated US$30,000 to the town's hospital. Wang won the International Mountaineer of the Year Award from the Nepal government in June 2014.
=== 2016: Helicopter business increases ===
In 2016 the increased use of helicopters was noted for increased efficiency and for hauling material over the deadly Khumbu icefall. In particular it was noted that flights saved icefall porters 80 trips but still increased commercial activity at Everest. After many Nepalis died in the icefall in 2014, the government had wanted helicopters to handle more transportation to Camp 1 but this was not possible because of the 2015 earthquake closing the mountain, so this was then implemented in 2016 (helicopters did prove instrumental in rescuing many people in 2015 though). That summer Bell tested the 412EPI, which conducted a series of tests including hovering at 5,500 m (18,000 ft) and flying as high as 6,100 m (20,000 ft) altitude near Mount Everest.
== Extreme sports ==
Mount Everest has been host to other winter sports and adventuring besides mountaineering, including snowboarding, skiing, paragliding, and BASE jumping.
Yuichiro Miura became the first man to ski down Everest in the 1970s. He descended nearly 1,300 vertical metres (4,200 ft) from the South Col before falling with extreme injuries. Stefan Gatt and Marco Siffredi snowboarded Mount Everest in 2001. Other Everest skiers include Davo Karničar of Slovenia, who completed a top to South Base Camp descent in 2000, Hans Kammerlander of Italy in 1996 on the north side, and Kit DesLauriers of the United States in 2006. Marco Siffredi died in 2002 on his second snow-boarding expedition. In 2025, Andrzej Bargiel completed the first descent by ski without supplemental oxygen.
Various types of gliding descents have slowly become more popular, and are noted for their rapid descents to lower camps. In 1986 Steve McKinney led an expedition to Mount Everest. Frenchman Jean-Marc Boivin made the first paraglider descent of Everest in September 1988, descending in minutes from the Southeast Ridge to a lower camp. In 2011, Nepalis Sano Babu Sunuwar and Lakpa Tsheri Sherpa made a gliding descent from the Everest summit down 5,000 metres (16,400 ft) in 45 minutes.
== Religious significance ==
The southern part of Mount Everest is regarded as one of several "hidden valleys" of refuge designated by Padmasambhava, a ninth-century "lotus-born" Buddhist saint.
Near the base of the north side of Everest lies Rongbuk Monastery, which has been called the "sacred threshold to Mount Everest, with the most dramatic views of the world." For Sherpas living on the slopes of Everest in the Khumbu region of Nepal, Rongbuk Monastery is an important pilgrimage site, accessed in a few days of travel across the Himalayas through Nangpa La.
Miyolangsangma, a Tibetan Buddhist "Goddess of Inexhaustible Giving", is believed to have lived at the top of Mount Everest. According to Sherpa Buddhist monks, Mount Everest is Miyolangsangma's palace and playground, and all climbers are only partially welcome guests, having arrived without invitation.
The Sherpa people also believe that Mount Everest and its flanks are blessed with spiritual energy, and one should show reverence when passing through this sacred landscape. Here, the karmic effects of one's actions are magnified, and impure thoughts are best avoided.
== Waste management ==
In 2015, the president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association warned that pollution, especially human waste, has reached critical levels. As much as 12,000 kg (26,500 lb) of human excrement each season is left behind on the mountain. Human waste is strewn across the verges of the route to the summit, making the four sleeping areas on the route up Everest's south side minefields of human excrement. Climbers above Base Camp—for the 62-year history of climbing on the mountain—have most commonly either buried their excrement in holes they dug by hand in the snow, or slung it into crevasses, or simply defecated wherever convenient, often within metres of their tents. The only place where climbers can defecate without worrying about contaminating the mountain is Base Camp. At approximately 5,500 m (18,000 ft), Base Camp sees the most activity of all camps on Everest because climbers acclimate and rest there. In the late-1990s, expeditions began using toilets that they fashioned from blue plastic 190-litre (50-US-gallon) barrels fitted with a toilet seat and enclosed.
The problem of human waste is compounded by the presence of more anodyne waste: spent oxygen tanks, abandoned tents, empty cans and bottles. The Nepali government now requires each climber to pack out eight kilograms of waste when descending the mountain.
In February 2019, due to the mounting waste problem, China closed the base camp on its side of Everest to visitors without climbing permits. Tourists are allowed to go as far as the Rongbuk Monastery.
In April 2019, the Solukhumbu district's Khumbu Pasanglhamu Rural Municipality launched a campaign to collect nearly 10,000 kg (20,000 lb) of garbage from Everest. Five years later, 2024, waste removal is receiving continuing attention. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCT_(group)#Members | NCT (group)#Members | NCT (Korean: 엔시티; RR: Ensiti; an acronym for Neo Culture Technology) is a South Korean boy band formed and managed by SM Entertainment. Introduced in January 2016, the group consists of 25 members divided into seven different sub-units: NCT U, NCT 127, NCT Dream, WayV, NCT DoJaeJung, NCT Wish, and NCT JNJM. They are known for their versatility in music, vocal and rap abilities, and powerful performances, and have been cited as K-pop's "most experimental boy band" due to their concept of having limitless members. As of June 2024, NCT has recorded more than 45 million album sales in Korea across all sub-units, making them the best-selling K-pop artist of all time.
The group debuted their first sub-unit, the rotational NCT U, on April 9, 2016, with the double digital single "The 7th Sense" and "Without You". It was followed by the Seoul-based sub-unit NCT 127 on July 7, 2016, with their eponymous extended play and the then-teenaged sub-unit NCT Dream on August 24, 2016, with the digital single "Chewing Gum". WayV, a seven-member sub-unit based in China and NCT's first overseas sub-unit, debuted on January 17, 2019, with the single album The Vision. On April 17, 2023, a fixed sub-unit featuring members Doyoung, Jaehyun, and Jungwoo debuted as NCT DoJaeJung with the EP Perfume. NCT's last overseas unit based in Japan, NCT Wish, debuted with the single "Wish" on February 28, 2024. Jeno and Jaemin formed NCT JNJM and will debut on February 23, 2026, with the EP Both Sides.
Although each sub-unit promotes separately, NCT has united four times as a group to record four full-length albums: Empathy (2018), Resonance (2020), Universe (2021), and Golden Age (2023). Within two months of release, Resonance sold over 2.6 million copies across its two parts, becoming the highest-selling physical album released by an act from SM Entertainment at the time and earning the group their first Daesang (Grand Prize) Award at the 2020 Asia Artist Awards. Universe, which was released in December 2021, became their most pre-ordered album at 1.7 million copies, and later surpassed 1.8 million sales after its release.
== Background and name ==
In January 2016, SM Entertainment founder Lee Soo-man delivered a presentation at the SM Coex Artium titled "SMTOWN: New Culture Technology 2016". The label planned to debut a new boy group that would "fall in line" with their culture contents strategy, one that would contain an "unlimited" number of members that would debut in separate sub-units within the group. Furthermore, the members would form "sub-unit teams" and have "collaborations" with each other. The name of the group was later revealed to be NCT, an acronym for the presentation title. NCT as a whole was SM Entertainment's first idol group to debut in nearly two years since Red Velvet in 2014 and SM Entertainment's first boy group to debut since Exo in 2012.
== History ==
=== 2013–2016: Formation and pre-debut activities ===
Prior to joining SM Entertainment, some of the members were already involved in the entertainment industry. Jeno appeared in various commercials as a child. Jisung was a child actor and filmed movies such as Boys, Be Curious (2012) and Go, Stop, Murder (2013). Chenle was active on the Chinese music scene as a singer from 2009 to 2015; he released three albums and headlined a concert in China. In 2011, Yuta participated in the singing competition "Juice Winter Collection" in Japan, while Ten competed on the Thai TV show Teen Superstar under the name TNT. Xiaojun was a singing contestant on the Zhejiang TV program X-Fire in November 2015.
Johnny, Yuta, Ten, Mark and Renjun joined the company via SM Global Auditions, while the remaining members were discovered through street casting, personal recommendation, community entertainment shows, and local auditions. Prior to their debut as members of NCT, 19 of the 23 overall members of NCT were introduced as part of SM Rookies, a group of trainees under SM Entertainment created in December 2013. The first members of NCT to be introduced were Taeyong and Jeno. Sixteen other members were introduced through SM Rookies until early January 2016.
Taeyong released the short rap track "Open the Door" in July 2014 and featured on Red Velvet's second single "Be Natural" in October of the same year. He appeared alongside Johnny, Yuta, Ten, Jaehyun, Mark, Jeno, Haechan, Jaemin and Jisung on the Mnet-produced Exo 90:2014, a show starring labelmates Exo, where they performed dances to K-pop songs from the 1990s. Some members appeared in various Exo music video remakes in the same year. From January through June 2015, Doyoung and Jaehyun were the hosts of the music show Show Champion; from July through December of that year, Yuta was a Japanese representative on Abnormal Summit, a series in which non-Korean men debate Korean culture. Mark, Jeno, Haechan, Jaemin and Jisung were Mouseketeers on Disney Channel Korea's The Mickey Mouse Club. SM Rookies Boys held their first concert, titled SM Rookies Show, which started in Seoul in September 2015 and expanded to Bangkok, Thailand in February 2016. Taeil released his first solo soundtrack "Because Of You" for the series The Merchant: Gaekju 2015 on January 26, 2016. In April 2016, Kun sang with NCT U on the Chinese version of "Without You" and joined them for the song's promotional stages. Winwin performed NCT U's "The 7th Sense" at their first live performance in China at the 16th Music Feng Yun Bang Awards that same month. In October 2016, Johnny participated in the music festival "Spectrum Dance Music Festival" as an SM Dreamstation Crew DJ.
SM Entertainment founder Lee Soo-man held a presentation at the SM Coex Artium titled "SM Town: Neo Culture Technology 2016" on January 28, 2016, where he outlined the company's plans for a new boy group in line with their "culture contents" strategy that would debut different teams based in different cities and countries around the world.
=== 2016–2018: Debut of NCT U, NCT 127 and NCT Dream and first collaborative project ===
On April 4, 2016, SM Entertainment announced NCT's first sub-unit would be NCT U, meaning "NCT United", which then consisted of six members: Taeil, Taeyong, Doyoung, Ten, Jaehyun and Mark. NCT U released the digital singles "The 7th Sense" on April 9 and "Without You" in two versions on April 10 (a Korean version sung by Taeil, Doyoung, and Jaehyun and a Chinese version with the addition of SM Rookies' Kun). On April 9, NCT U made their first broadcast appearance with NCT On Air on V Live hosted by Super Junior's Kim Hee-chul. The same day, they had their first live performance in China at the 16th Music Feng Yun Bang Awards alongside Chinese rookies Kun and Winwin. On April 15, the group made their debut in Korea on Music Bank.
On July 1, SM announced NCT's second sub-unit, NCT 127. The unit would be based in Seoul, the number "127" representing the longitude coordinate of the city. The unit debuted with seven members: Taeil, Taeyong, Yuta, Jaehyun, Winwin, Mark, and Haechan. On July 7, they had their official debut performance on the music program M Countdown, performing debut single "Fire Truck" and "Once Again." Their debut EP, NCT#127, was released digitally on July 10 and physically on July 11. On August 18, SM announced that NCT's third sub-unit would be NCT Dream. The unit debuted with seven members: Mark, Renjun, Jeno, Haechan, Jaemin, Chenle and Jisung. Their first single, "Chewing Gum", was released on August 24, and the group had their debut performance on M Countdown the next day.
On December 27, 2016, NCT 127 announced they would be making a comeback with two new members, Johnny and NCT U's Doyoung. On March 8, NCT 127 members Johnny and Jaehyun were announced as the DJs for SBS Power FM's new program, NCT's Night Night, which began airing on March 20. In January 2018, Taeil, Doyoung, and Jaehyun released the single "Timeless" under NCT U as part of the SM Station project.
Later that month, SM Entertainment unveiled NCT 2018, a project involving all 18 members of NCT at the time. On January 30, SM released a video titled "NCT 2018 Yearbook #1", which featured all prior members and introduced new members Kun, Lucas, and Jungwoo. In February, NCT released a series of online documentary videos titled NCTmentary as part of the NCT 2018 project. NCT released their first full-length album, NCT 2018 Empathy, on March 14. The album featured six singles, showcasing each sub-unit of NCT: "Boss", "Baby Don't Stop", and "Yestoday" by various NCT U lineups; "Go" by NCT Dream; "Touch" by NCT 127; and "Black on Black" with all 18 members. NCT topped Billboard's Emerging Artists chart on May 5, marking the first time that a K-pop act had led the list.
Mark graduated from NCT Dream after the release of their second EP, We Go Up, in September. On September 11, Xiaojun was the first of the then-undebuted WayV members to be introduced through SM Rookies, with Hendery and Yangyang following on September 13 and September 15, respectively. Jungwoo was added to NCT 127 in October, with the release of their first studio album, Regular-Irregular. Winwin did not participate in promotional activities of the album's reissue, Regulate, in order to prepare for his debut with WayV, and his activities in NCT 127 have been discontinued since then.
=== 2019–2020: Debut of WayV, NCT Dream restructure and NCT 2020 Resonance ===
On December 31, 2018, SM Entertainment announced NCT's fourth sub-unit, WayV (Chinese: 威神V; pinyin: Wēi shén V) under Label V. The unit would be based in China and consists of seven members: Kun, Winwin, Ten, Lucas, Hendery, Xiaojun and Yangyang. The sub-unit officially debuted on January 17, 2019, with a Chinese version of NCT 127's "Regular". Their debut single album, The Vision, was released digitally and included a Chinese version of NCT 127's "Come Back" and an original song titled "Dream Launch". On December 13, NCT U (consisting of Taeil, Doyoung, Jaehyun and Haechan) released "Coming Home" as part of the SM Station X project. After wrapping up album promotions for their EP Reload in April, NCT Dream abandoned their original concept in which members "graduate" from the sub-unit upon reaching age of majority (20 in Korean age reckoning, 19 internationally) and continued as seven members, with Mark returning to the lineup.
In September, NCT announced a reunion for a second group project, NCT 2020, in October 2020. The first part of their second album, NCT 2020 Resonance Pt. 1, was released on October 12. The record featured all four existing units and two new members, Shotaro and Sungchan, who are set to debut with a future NCT unit. NCT 2020 Resonance Pt. 1 garnered more than 1.1 million stock pre-orders ahead of release, making it NCT's first million-selling album without repackaging. NCT released NCT 2020 Resonance Pt. 2 on November 23.
On December 4, NCT released the single "Resonance" as the finale of their second group studio album. The single combines the tracks "Make a Wish (Birthday Song)", "90's Love", "Work It", and "Raise the Roof" from their second studio album and features all 23 members. They held their first concert as a full group, titled NCT: Resonance "Global Wave", on December 27 through Beyond Live, which attracted more than 200,000 viewers.
=== 2021–2023: Universe, new sub-units, end of expansion, member departures, and Golden Age ===
On November 13, 2021, NCT announced they would reunite under the name NCT 2021 for their third studio album, Universe, set for release on December 14. The 13-track album included the lead singles "Universe (Let's Play Ball)", which was released on December 10, and "Beautiful". Universe surpassed more than 1.7 million pre-orders on the day of release, breaking their previous record of 1.1 million pre-orders for NCT 2020 Resonance.
On February 4, 2022, the SM Station sub-project NCT Lab was established, dedicated to releasing solo music for NCT members. The first single was "Child" by Mark, followed by "Conextion (Age of Light)", sung by Doyoung, Mark and Haechan. NCT Lab was restructured in 2023 to be independent from SM Station, with SM Entertainment announcing a lineup of new singles beginning with "Horizon" by Jaehyun, released on August 8, 2023.
On February 3, 2023, SM Entertainment announced their producing strategy for 2023, where it was revealed that the group's next unit, NCT Tokyo, will be debuting in the third quarter of 2023. On February 24, SM revealed their plans for the first half of 2023, where they announced that following NCT Tokyo's debut, the group's concept of international expansion would come to an end, permanently fixing the group at five sub-units. On March 8, SM Entertainment announced that members Doyoung, Jaehyun, and Jungwoo would debut as a fixed sub-unit, named NCT DoJaeJung. On April 17, they released their first EP Perfume, alongside its lead single of the same name.
On May 10, 2023, Lucas confirmed his departure from NCT and WayV to pursue individual endeavors, following a 21-month hiatus. On May 24, Sungchan and Shotaro departed from NCT to join SM Entertainment's new boy group Riize. It was also announced that SM Rookies trainees Eunseok and Seunghan, who were expected to debut in NCT Tokyo and had previously appeared in the variety show Welcome to NCT Universe, would join Riize.
On June 5, 2023, Taeyong released his first EP, Shalala, becoming the first member of NCT to debut as a soloist. On July 27, SM Entertainment aired the survival reality show NCT Universe: LASTART, where trainees competed to debut as part of NCT's final sub-unit. Among ten contestants, five were chosen to join SM Rookies trainees Yushi and Sion in the lineup of NCT Tokyo, now known as NCT New Team: Sion, Riku, Yushi, Jungmin, Daeyoung, Ryo, Sakuya.
On August 28, 2023, NCT reunited for their fourth studio album, Golden Age. The album contains two singles, "Golden Age" and "Baggy Jeans", with the latter reuniting the members from NCT U's debut single "The 7th Sense". They later held five full-group concerts, titled NCT Nation: To The World. They performed at the Incheon Munhak Stadium in South Korea and at the Yanmar Stadium Nagai and Ajinomoto Stadium in Japan, with NCT New Team serving as the opening act for the Japan shows. On October 2, Jungmin departed from NCT New Team for health reasons, with the unit's final lineup consisting of six members. On October 8, NCT New Team released their pre-debut single "Hands Up"; the "New Team" subunit later officially debuted as NCT Wish on February 28, 2024.
=== 2024–present: NCT members solo debut and NCT JNJM ===
In 2024, four NCT members made their debut as soloists: Ten released his self-titled EP on February 13, followed by Doyoung with the studio album Youth on April 22, Jaehyun with the studio album J on August 26, and Yuta with the EP Depth on October 5. On August 28, Taeil was removed from NCT following sexual offense allegations.
In 2026, SM Entertainment announced the formation of the seventh NCT sub-unit consisting of members Jeno and Jaemin, named NCT JNJM, and released their first EP Both Sides, on February 23.
== Members ==
Adapted from the group's profile on SM Entertainment's official website.
=== Current members ===
=== Former members ===
=== Timeline ===
== Discography ==
NCT 2018 Empathy (2018)
NCT 2020 Resonance (2020)
Universe (2021)
Golden Age (2023)
== Concerts ==
NCT: Resonance "Global Wave" (2020)
NCT Nation: To the World (2023)
== Filmography ==
NCT Life
NCT World 2.0
Welcome to NCT Universe
NCT Universe: Lastart
== Awards and nominations == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Kane#Early_life | Patrick Kane#Early life | Patrick Timothy Kane II (born November 19, 1988) is an American professional ice hockey player who is a right winger for the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks with the first overall pick in the 2007 NHL entry draft and played for the Blackhawks until February 2023 when he was traded to the New York Rangers. Kane has represented the United States at the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics.
Kane established himself as one of the most productive and decorated players of his era. He won the 2008 Calder Memorial Trophy for NHL's rookie of the year and played a crucial role in the Blackhawks' three championships in 2010, 2013 and 2015. Kane's notable achievements include winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the playoffs in 2013, and later becoming the first American-born player to secure the Hart Memorial Trophy as the most valuable player and the Art Ross Trophy as the scoring champion in the 2015–16 NHL season.
Kane led all NHL players in scoring during the 2010s and was later named as one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players. He is considered one of the best American players of all time. Kane became the youngest American player to reach 1,000 career regular season points in 2020, and holds the record for the most career points by an American-born player.
== Early life ==
Patrick Kane was born to Donna and Patrick "Tiki" Kane in Buffalo, New York. Kane developed an early interest in hockey. His father was a season ticket holder for the Buffalo Sabres, and frequently took his family to games. Kane was inadvertently featured in the background of Sylvain Turgeon's 1994–95 Pinnacle trading card while attending a Sabres' game as a child with his father. Kane's favorite players while growing up were Pat Lafontaine and Joe Sakic. In addition to hockey, he played baseball, soccer, lacrosse, and basketball in grade and middle school.
Kane began playing hockey when he was seven years old. His father allowed Kane to practice stick-handling and shooting in their house's basement, going as far as to set up a miniature rink that featured nets and boards. Kane attended a training camp hosted by Darryl Belfry, and credits Belfry for helping develop his vision and play-making abilities.
== Playing career ==
=== Minor and junior ===
Kane played for the Buffalo Saints 14U AAA hockey club. Donnie Harkins, the head coach of the Honeybaked 16U AAA hockey club, personally recruited Kane to join his team in Michigan after watching him play in a tournament. At the age of 14, Kane relocated to Detroit, Michigan, to play for Honeybaked during the 2003–04 season. He resided with former NHL player Pat Verbeek while living in Detroit, whom Kane regards as a mentor and one of his primary reasons for relocating. Honeybaked posted a 66–3–1 record that season, with Kane tallying 83 goals and 77 assists.
His success caught the attention of the London Knights, who drafted him in the fifth round, 88th overall, of the 2004 Ontario Hockey League (OHL) Midget Draft. Kane did not join the team and instead played for the United States National Team Development Program (NTDP), which was based in Michigan. The US NTDP was initially hesitant to recruit Kane based on his short stature, describing him in a scouting report as, "a little meek—and still has the body of a 12-year-old". Kane spent the next two years playing for the US NTDP, where he was given the chance to train and play a bigger role on a more frequent basis. He reflected on the US NTDP by commenting, "The program really focuses on improving your body, you get a lot of practice time and you really learn how to play the game and how to treat yourself." He led the team in scoring with 102 points during the 2005–06 season, surpassing the previous record holder, Phil Kessel.
Kane joined the London Knights for the 2006–07 OHL season. He skated on a line with future NHL forwards Sergei Kostitsyn and Sam Gagner. Kane appeared in 58 games for Knights, where he recorded 62 goals and 83 assists, while combining with his linemates for 394 points. He accrued an additional 31 points in 16 playoff games as the Knights lost to the Plymouth Whalers in the OHL's Western Conference final. Kane won the Emms Family Award for the OHL rookie of the year, and was the runner-up to John Tavares for the Red Tilson Trophy as league MVP. Kane also won the Canadian Hockey League's (CHL) Top Prospect and Top Scorer awards. His 145 points is the fifth most for a rookie in CHL history. The Knights later retired Kane's No. 88 jersey on January 17, 2020.
=== Professional ===
==== Chicago Blackhawks (2007–2023) ====
Heading into the 2007 NHL entry draft, Kane was ranked second among North American prospects by the NHL Central Scouting Bureau and was chosen first overall by the Chicago Blackhawks. The St. Louis Blues offered to trade the Blackhawks their 9th, 24th and 26th overall picks in the 2007 Draft in order to acquire Chicago's first overall selection and draft Kane. On July 25, 2007, Blackhawks' general manager Dale Tallon announced that they had signed Kane to a three-year contract. Kane threw the ceremonial first pitch at a Chicago Cubs game on June 25, 2007, at Wrigley Field. Kane later joined Denis Savard, the Blackhawks' coach, in singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game". Kane also threw the first pitch at a Buffalo Bisons (AAA) game in August. Kane chose to wear the No. 88 jersey as a reference to his birthyear, a tradition he practiced with his former teammates on the London Knights.
Kane made his NHL debut on October 4, 2007, against the Minnesota Wild. He recorded his first assist and first shootout goal (a game-winner) two days later against Dominik Hašek of the Detroit Red Wings. He scored his first NHL goal on October 19, beating José Théodore of the Colorado Avalanche. With a quick start to his rookie campaign, on November 2, Kane was named the NHL Rookie of the Month for October after scoring 5 goals and 11 assists in 12 games. On December 15, Kane and the Blackhawks visited the Buffalo Sabres to mark Kane's first return to Buffalo as a professional hockey player. Kane received a special cheer from his hometown and a special ceremony was held before the game. The Blackhawks lost the game 3–1, with Kane scoring their lone goal. Kane finished his first NHL campaign atop the rookie scoring race with 72 points. On June 12, 2008, he received the Calder Memorial Trophy, awarded to the NHL's rookie of the year, finishing ahead of teammate Jonathan Toews and Washington Capitals forward Nicklas Bäckström.
The following season, Kane and Toews helped lead a rejuvenated Blackhawks team back to the Stanley Cup playoffs. After recording 70 points in the regular season and eliminating the fifth-seeded Calgary Flames in the opening round of the 2009 playoffs, Kane scored his first career hat-trick in game six of the second round against the third-seeded Vancouver Canucks on May 11, 2009. The Blackhawks won the game 7–5 for a 4–2 victory in the series, clinching their spot in the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 1995. After the game, Kane told the Chicago Sun-Times that he was "fired up" after Canucks defenseman Willie Mitchell claimed that Kane "couldn't play five-on-five". He finished his first NHL playoffs with nine goals, five assists for 14 points in 16 out of 17 games as the Blackhawks were eliminated in the Western Conference Finals by the defending Stanley Cup champion and second-seeded Detroit Red Wings.
Shortly into the 2009 off-season, the Chicago Tribune reported that Kane would be the cover athlete for EA Sports' NHL 10. In the final season of his initial rookie contract, on December 3, 2009, Kane signed a reported five-year, $31.5 million contract extension with Chicago. The deal was announced simultaneously with contract extensions to both Toews and defenseman Duncan Keith. In the 2009–10 season, Kane finished with all 82 games played with a career-high 88 points (30 goals, 58 assists) to rank ninth in the NHL in scoring. The Blackhawks finished first in the Central Division and second in the Western Conference. They advanced to the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals. On June 9, 2010, in game six of the Finals, Kane scored the overtime winner when he shot the puck under the pads of Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Michael Leighton and into the net, winning the Blackhawks the Stanley Cup. The goal ended a 49-year Stanley Cup drought for the Blackhawks. It also made Kane the youngest player in NHL history to score a Stanley Cup-winning goal in overtime; that record previously belonged to Bobby Orr in 1970.
On December 5, 2010, in a 4–2 win over the Calgary Flames, Kane suffered a high-ankle sprain as he was hit by Flames defenseman Cory Sarich, causing him to miss the next nine games. As the 2010–11 season went on, Kane was selected as an alternate captain for the 2011 NHL All-Star Game. On March 14, 2011, in a 6–3 win over the San Jose Sharks, Kane scored his 100th NHL goal on Sharks' goaltender Antero Niittymäki, becoming the third youngest player in NHL history to hit the mark. On April 10 in the last game of the season in a 4–3 loss to the Detroit Red Wings, Kane recorded his 200th career assist on a Michael Frolík goal. This loss put the defending Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks in danger of missing the playoffs with their only hope being that the Dallas Stars lose their final game which came later that same day against the Minnesota Wild which they would go on to lose 5–3 resulting in the Blackhawks clinching the eighth and final playoff spot, two points ahead of the Stars. He finished the season 27 goals and 46 assists for 73 points in 73 games. In the Blackhawks first round exit against the Presidents' Trophy-winning Vancouver Canucks, Kane recorded a goal and five assists for six points in all seven games. Kane revealed he underwent surgery to repair a broken wrist he suffered in the penultimate game on April 8 in a 4–2 win over the Detroit Red Wings that was only discovered during the following offseason after the Blackhawks first round playoff exit.
Kane recorded 66 points on 23 goals and 43 assists for 66 points in all 82 games during the 2011–12 season, marking his lowest offensive output since his rookie season as the Blackhawks finished as the sixth seed in the Western Conference. In the first round of the 2012 playoffs, Kane was held goalless with four assists and points recorded as the Blackhawks would go on to lose the series against the third-seeded Phoenix Coyotes in six games.
Shortly after the Blackhawks elimination from the 2012 playoffs, Kane was criticized after photos surfaced showing him in an intoxicated state at a Cinco de Mayo block party in Madison, Wisconsin during the ensuing offseason. Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman commented, "We are aware of that situation. We followed it closely. It was one of those things where we've discussed it with Patrick. We've handled that internally." While Kane did not face any legal charges or repercussions, he admitted his actions embarrassed the Blackhawks organization, his family, and himself.
Kane played overseas, signing a contract on October 24, 2012, to play for Swiss club EHC Biel during the 2012–13 NHL lockout. In 20 National League A games, Kane scored 13 goals and had 10 assists alongside fellow NHL star forward Tyler Seguin, Biel's second NHL player. Kane also played for HC Davos in the 2012 Spengler Cup. When the lockout ended and play began in the 2012–13 season in January 2013, Jonathan Toews tied Kane for the team lead in goals with 23. Kane finished the season as the team leader in assists (32) and points (55). His 55 points were ranked fifth in the league overall only behind Tampa Bay Lightning winger and Art Ross Trophy winner Martin St. Louis, Tampa Bay Lightning center Steven Stamkos, Washington Capitals winger and captain Alexander Ovechkin and Pittsburgh Penguins center and captain Sidney Crosby, respectively. Kane was named a finalist for the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy as the "player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability." The award would eventually go to Lightning' winger Martin St. Louis and Kane finishing second in the trophy voting. Kane scored his second career playoff hat-trick in the 2013 playoffs against the defending Stanley Cup champion and fifth-seeded Los Angeles Kings, including the series-clinching goal in double overtime of Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals on June 8, 2013. The Blackhawks advanced to the 2013 Stanley Cup Finals against the fourth-seeded Boston Bruins. Kane contributed by scoring three goals, one in Game 4 and two in Game 5, to win the 2013 Conn Smythe Trophy as the Stanley Cup Playoffs MVP. In addition, Kane was the first winger since Claude Lemieux in 1995, and the first number one overall draft pick since Mario Lemieux in 1992, to win the Conn Smythe Trophy.
On March 19, 2014, Kane injured his left leg following a collision with Brenden Morrow in a game against the St. Louis Blues. He missed the remainder of the regular season but returned for the 2014 playoffs. During the playoffs, he recorded a team-high 20 points in all 19 games with 8 goals and 12 assists. As part of that run, on May 2, in Game 1 of Blackhawks' Western Conference Semifinals against the Minnesota Wild, Kane scored two goals, including the game-winning goal while coining his nickname "Showtime". On July 9, 2014, the Blackhawks announced that Kane and Jonathan Toews had both signed eight-year contract extensions, set to start running on July 1, 2015, with an annual average value of $10.5 million.
During the 2014–15 season, Kane emerged as one of the NHL's leading scorers. On January 20, 2015, in a 6–1 victory over the Arizona Coyotes, Kane scored his 200th NHL goal on Coyotes' goaltender Mike Smith. Later the same month, he was elected to the 2015 NHL All-Star Game in Columbus, Ohio. He scored 64 points (27 goals and 37 assists) through the regular season. He injured his left clavicle on February 24, after he was cross-checked into the boards while stumbling towards the ice by Alex Petrovic in a game against the Florida Panthers. Kane underwent surgery and was expected to miss 12 weeks. At the time of his injury, he was leading the NHL in points. However, he recovered weeks earlier than initially projected and returned to the Blackhawks at the start of the 2015 playoffs. After initially playing on the second line with Bryan Bickell and Brad Richards, Chicago head coach Joel Quenneville moved Kane to the Blackhawks' top line alongside Jonathan Toews and Brandon Saad after the Anaheim Ducks took a 3–2 game lead in the Western Conference Finals going into game six. The trio combined for nine points over the final two games against the top-seeded Ducks and propelled the Blackhawks to the Stanley Cup Finals. Kane helped the Blackhawks defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning by assisting on Duncan Keith's game-winning goal in Game 6 and scoring an insurance goal on Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop with the help of linemates Brad Richards and Brandon Saad for his third Stanley Cup championship in six years. Kane played in all 23 playoff games and finished the playoffs with 11 goals and 12 assists, tying the Lightning's Tyler Johnson with a playoff-high 23 points.
Following the 2015 off-season departures of Brandon Saad and Brad Richards to the Columbus Blue Jackets and Detroit Red Wings respectively, the Blackhawks signed rookie winger Artemi Panarin and traded for veteran center Artem Anisimov to join Kane on the second line for the 2015–16 season. Kane recorded a 26-game point streak between October and December, during which he tallied 16 goals and 24 assists. This was the longest streak by any American-born skater, and the longest point-streak in Blackhawks history. Kane was selected to the 2016 NHL All-Star Game as the captain of the Central Division team. On April 1, 2016, Kane reached the 40-goal mark for the first time in his NHL career when he scored a late goal in the second period of a 5–4 overtime victory against the Winnipeg Jets. On April 3, Kane scored his second hat trick in a 6–4 win against the Boston Bruins, reaching 100 points and becoming the first Blackhawks player to score 100 points in a season since Jeremy Roenick in 1993–94, and the first American NHL player to reach 100 points since Doug Weight in 1995–96. He ended the season with a league-high 106 points (46 goals, 60 assists), winning both the Hart Memorial Trophy and the Art Ross Trophy; he is Chicago's first winner of either award since Stan Mikita scored 87 points in 1967–68 and is the first American player in NHL history to capture either trophy since they have been awarded. Kane also won the Ted Lindsay Award, given to the NHL's most outstanding player as voted by the National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA). Kane's 46 goals ranked second overall in the NHL making him the runner up for the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy only behind Washington Capitals forward and captain Alexander Ovechkin who scored 50 goals as the league leader.
Kane continued his success with Panarin and Anisimov during the 2016–17 season. He finished the season playing in all 82 contests with 34 goals, 55 assists 89 points, finishing second in the NHL behind Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid and tied with Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby and was named a finalist for the Ted Lindsay Award for the second straight season and second time in his career which was eventually given to McDavid. Kane was selected to play on the NHL's Central Division team for the 2017 NHL All-Star Game. However, Kane and the top seeded Blackhawks were swept by the eighth seeded Nashville Predators during the first round of the 2017 playoffs. Kane only tallied one goal and assist during the series. During the ensuing off-season, Panarin was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets in a four-player deal in exchange for Brandon Saad returning to the Blackhawks.
In the 2017 off-season, Kane was named in the 100 Greatest NHL Players list for NHL's Centennial Anniversary.
On December 23, 2017, in a 4–1 loss to the New Jersey Devils, Kane scored his 300th NHL goal against Devils' goaltender Cory Schneider. Kane recorded the first five-point game of his NHL career on January 9, 2018, against the Ottawa Senators. He was selected to play in the 2018 NHL All-Star Game. On January 20, in a game against the New York Islanders, Kane recorded his 800th career point, becoming only the fifth player in franchise history to reach that milestone.
The 2018–19 season saw Kane record (44) goals, along with a career high in assists (66) and points (110) while playing with Dylan Strome and Alex DeBrincat on the teams second line. His 44 goals were fifth most in the NHL overall behind Tampa Bay Lightning forward and captain Steven Stamkos with 45 goals, Toronto Maple Leafs forward John Tavares with 47 goals, Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl and the league leading 51 goals from Washington Capitals forward and captain Alexander Ovechkin, respectively. Kane was named a finalist for the Ted Lindsay Award for the third time in his career which would ultimately go to Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov.
Kane led all skaters in scoring between 2010 and 2019 with 807 points and his 315 goals was fourth most goals scored behind Alexander Ovechkin with 437, Steven Stamkos with 363 and John Tavares with 319, respectively. He was named to the 2010–19 NHL All-Decade Team.
On January 19, 2020, against the Winnipeg Jets, Kane scored his 1,000th NHL career point, assisting on a goal by Brandon Saad. In doing so, Kane became the fourth player in Blackhawks franchise history to reach that mark with the club, along with Stan Mikita, Bobby Hull and Denis Savard. During the 2019–20 season, the Blackhawks appointed Kane as an alternate captain after Brent Seabrook missed the remainder of the season due to multiple surgeries.
Kane retained his role as an alternate captain going into 2020–21 season, which shortened to a 56-game schedule due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. He ended the season with 15 goals and tallied 51 assists for a team-high 66 points in all 56 games played. He finished with the fifth-most points among all skaters in the NHL for the season. On February 28, 2021, Kane recorded his 400th career goal against the Detroit Red Wings on Wings' goaltender Thomas Greiss, becoming the 100th player in NHL history to reach 400 career goals. On March 9, Kane played in his 1,000th career game against the Dallas Stars and became only the seventh player in franchise history to reach the milestone. After the season's conclusion, Kane was named the Best NHL Player at the 2021 ESPY Awards.
Kane appeared in 78 games for the Blackhawks during the 2021–22 season where he recorded 26 goals, 66 assists and 92 points, tying his career high in assists from three years prior in the 2018–19 season, despite playing the entire season with a persistent undisclosed injury. Kane's 92 points marked the third-highest scoring season of his career. As he approached the final season of his current contract in Chicago, Kane commented on his future with the team, stating, "I know in the game of hockey there's not many guys that have played their whole career with one team, so it would be a privilege and an honor to do that, but I guess we'll see how it all plays out."
Kane tallied 16 goals and 29 assists for 45 points in 54 games for Chicago during the 2022–23 campaign.
==== New York Rangers (2023) ====
The Blackhawks and Kane parted ways at the trade deadline, with the team opting to acquire future draft capital and initiate a full-scale rebuild. On February 28, 2023, Kane's 16-year tenure with the Blackhawks ended as he and prospect Cooper Zech were traded to the New York Rangers in exchange for a conditional second-round pick in the 2023 NHL entry draft, a fourth-round pick, and defenseman Andy Welinski. To help facilitate the trade, the Rangers sent the Arizona Coyotes a fifth-round selection in the 2025 draft. The move reunited Kane with former Blackhawk teammate Artemi Panarin, who played a major role during Kane's MVP season in 2015-16. Kane put up 12 points for the Rangers in 19 games. He recorded one goal and five assists in the postseason, as the Rangers lost to the New Jersey Devils in seven games. Following the Rangers' first-round playoff exit, Pat Brisson announced that Kane underwent successful hip resurfacing surgery on June 1, and would miss from four to sixth months while recovering.
==== Detroit Red Wings (2023–present) ====
On November 28, 2023, Kane signed a one-year, $2.75 million contract with the Detroit Red Wings. Kane considered Detroit as one of his preferred destinations upon becoming a free agent. He remarked on the signing, "Throughout the whole process, I felt like Detroit was always there. It was always in the back of my mind, kind of in my heart as well, to come join this team." His decision was also influenced by the opportunity to reunite with former Chicago Blackhawks teammate Alex DeBrincat.
Kane made his 2023 debut on December 7. He scored his first goal with the Red Wings in his second game of the season, against the Ottawa Senators. He enjoyed a six-game point streak in late December, where he tallied five goals and six assists. Kane sustained a lower-body injury on January 14, 2024, that caused him to miss seven games.
On February 25, Kane made his return to Chicago and played his first game against the Chicago Blackhawks since being traded a year prior. In overtime, he scored the game-winning goal on a breakaway and received a standing ovation from the fans at the United Center. Kane concluded the season with 20 goals and 27 assists in 50 games as the Red Wings missed the playoffs. He ranked fourth on the team in goals while his 47 points ranked sixth on the team. He also led the team with three overtime goals and seven game-winning goals. Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman commended Kane's contributions to the team, stating "He's like a wizard with the puck -- his skill, his sense, his calmness in high-pressure situations and in the danger areas. He was great for our team, and I think he brought a lot of what I guess they call swag."
On June 30, 2024, Kane signed a one-year contract extension with the Red Wings. On December 29, Kane recorded his 1,300th career point with an assist on an Alex DeBrincat goal in a 4–2 win over the Washington Capitals, becoming the second American-born player and 38th player in league history to hit the mark. He completed the season with 21 goals and 59 points in 72 games for the Red Wings.
On June 30, 2025, Kane signed another one-year contract extension with Detroit. On January 8, 2026, he became the 50th player to score 500 career NHL goals. On January 29, 2026, Kane scored his 1,375th career point to become the all-time leading U.S.-born point scorer, surpassing Mike Modano's record.
== Player profile ==
Kane is regarded as one of the best American-born players of all time. His success is attributed to his vision, accurate shooting, deceptive stick handling, and high hockey IQ. Kane leverages these skills to anticipate how hockey plays will develop and then positions himself to generate offensive opportunities. Pavel Barber commented on Kane's elusiveness, "They call him 'The Waterbug' because he's so good at entering the zone, just weaving, and cutting through and setting up." Kane is also regarded as a "sniper" due to his accurate wrist shot, as well as a playmaker for his passing skills. Kane reflected, "I love scoring for the fans, for the team, for myself. That's not to say that I won't pass if I see a teammate in a better scoring position. But I like to score."
He is an offensive-minded forward. Despite his elite goal scoring and playmaking abilities, Kane has been considered a liability on defense. He practiced generating takeaways and playing defense during his later years in Chicago. Chicago head coach Joel Quenneville, who played in the NHL as a defenseman during his own playing career before coaching, enticed Kane to play more two-way hockey by telling him during the 2015 Stanley Cup Finals, "You're at your best when you have the puck, and we need you to play [defense] if you want to get the puck back from the other team." An analytical model rated Kane as one of the worst defensive players in the NHL during the 2023 off-season.
Kane is also known for his eccentric goal scoring celebrations. Upon scoring the championship-clinching goal in the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals, Kane threw his gloves in the air and began celebrating while most players were still confused or waiting for the referee to officially signal a goal. He performed a "heartbreaker" celebration after scoring the series-winning goal against the defending Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings in June 2013, which would later be performed by Connor Bedard after scoring an over-time game-winning goal against Slovakia in January 2023. During the first round in the 2014 Stanley Cup playoffs, Kane performed a goal celebration after scoring the game winner against the St. Louis Blues, where he pretended to use a payphone. In 2015, he raised his hands and began shouting "Showtime" after scoring a highlight-reel goal against the Minnesota Wild in the second round of the playoffs.
Kane chewed his mouth guard while skating during his early years in the NHL, which became part of his signature on-ice appearance. One of his game-used mouth guards was auctioned for $4,000 at a Blackhawks charity auction, while another is showcased in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Other American-born skaters, including Clayton Keller, Matthew and Brady Tkachuk have also followed suit and chewed their mouth guards while playing.
== International play ==
Kane has competed internationally for the United States. He first represented the United States in the 2006 IIHF U18 Championships, in which he led the tournament in scoring with 12 points (five goals and seven assists) in only six games played. His two points per game pace led the United States to the gold medal and earned him individual all-star team honors.
The next year, he moved onto the United States' U20 team at the 2007 World Juniors. He was one of only three players on the team playing major junior hockey. He continued his international pace with five goals and four assists in seven games to finish second in tournament scoring and, once again, garner an all-star team selection. His team did not perform as well as his U18 team, but they did manage to go home with the bronze medal. After making the NHL and being unable to play in the 2008 WJC due to professional commitments with the Chicago Blackhawks, he played in the 2008 World Championships. He posted 10 points (three goals and seven assists) in seven games as the United States finished sixth.
Kane was selected to represent the United States in the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, where he and the team won the silver medal. During the tournament he scored three goals and two assists in six games. Kane represented the United States again in the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi. He missed two penalty shots in a loss against Finland in the bronze medal game.
On April 9, 2018, Kane was named the captain of Team USA for the 2018 IIHF World Championship. Kane scored two goals including a game winner in a 3–2 victory against the Czech Republic in the quarterfinals. The U.S. team finished the competition with the bronze medal after losing to Sweden in the semifinals but beating Canada. Kane finished the championships as the tournament's leading scorer with eight goals and 12 assists in 10 games. He was named the Most Valuable Player of 2018 Men's World Championship.
== Personal life ==
Kane has three younger sisters. He attended Detroit Country Day School but left before graduating.
During the offseason, he lives in Hamburg, New York in a house on the shores of Lake Erie, which he purchased in March 2012. Kane lived with Stan Bowman, then an assistant general manager for the Blackhawks, when he first arrived in Chicago. Kane resided at the Trump International Hotel and Tower during the NHL season in a two-bedroom condo that he acquired in September 2008. However, Kane listed his Trump Tower condo for sale in the summer of 2016. He purchased a mansion in Lake Forest, Illinois in 2023.
Kane has an endorsement deal with Bauer Hockey. He also appeared in commercials for McDonald's and Gatorade.
Kane and his girlfriend have one son together, born in November 2020.
=== Charities ===
Kane participated in the Denis Savard Charity Golf Tournament in 2016. He played in an ice hockey game, Champs for Charity, which raised $323,000 for the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana in 2012.
=== Misdemeanor charges ===
On August 9, 2009, Kane and his cousin, James M. Kane, were arrested in Buffalo. According to a police report, Kane was apprehended around 5:00 a.m. after allegedly punching cab driver Jan Radecki when he claimed to not have proper change for their trip fare. Kane and his cousin's cab fare came out to be $14.80, and they gave him $15.00.
Kane was charged with second-degree robbery, fourth-degree criminal mischief, and theft of services. He pleaded not guilty. On August 17, Kane apologized for the distress he caused, saying he had been "at the wrong place at the wrong time," and mentioned his family, the Chicago Blackhawks organization, and their fan base—but not Radecki. Kane and his cousin appeared before a grand jury on August 19. While they were cleared of any felony charges, the two were still indicted on less severe misdemeanor assault, theft, and harassment charges. Kane and his cousin reiterated their not guilty pleas when appearing in court the next day. On August 27, Kane and cousin pleaded guilty to noncriminal disorderly conduct charges, and were both given conditional discharges, avoiding any penalties if they stayed out of trouble for a year, and also ordered to apologize to Radecki.
=== 2015 police investigation ===
On August 6, 2015, The Buffalo News reported that Kane was the subject of a sexual assault investigation by police in Hamburg, New York, in connection with an incident that allegedly occurred the previous weekend. The Erie County District Attorney's Office later declined to press charges against him, stating that the complainant's allegation was not sufficiently substantiated by credible evidence. Prior to office's determination that it would not press charges, the mother of his accuser orchestrated a hoax in which she attempted to mislead the public into an impression that critical evidence had been tampered with.
== Career statistics ==
=== Regular season and playoffs ===
Bold indicates led league
=== International ===
== Awards and achievements == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novake,_Polj%C4%8Dane | Novake, Poljčane | Novake (pronounced [nɔˈʋaːkɛ]) is a village on the left bank of the Dravinja River in the Municipality of Poljčane in northeastern Slovenia. The area belongs to the traditional region of Styria. It is now included with the rest of the municipality in the Drava Statistical Region. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chinese_monarchs | List of Chinese monarchs | The Chinese monarchs were the rulers of China during Ancient and Imperial periods. The earliest rulers in traditional Chinese historiography are of mythological origin, and followed by the Xia dynasty of highly uncertain and contested historicity. During the subsequent Shang (c. 1600–1046 BCE) and Zhou (1046–256 BCE) dynasties, rulers were referred to as Wang 王, meaning king. China was fully united for the first time by Qin Shi Huang (r. 259–210 BCE), who established the first Imperial dynasty, adopting the title Huangdi (皇帝), meaning Emperor, which remained in use until the Imperial system's fall in 1912.
At no point during Ancient or Imperial China was there a formalized means to confer legitimate succession between rulers. From the Zhou dynasty onwards, monarchs justified their reigns by claiming the Mandate of Heaven (天命; Tiānmìng). The mandate held that a ruler and their successors had permission from the heavens to rule as long as they did so effectively. It also declared a ruler the Son of Heaven (天子; Tiānzǐ), giving them the right to rule "all under heaven" (天下; Tiānxià). Given the Mandate's subjective nature, rulers also utilized a variety of methods to retain support and justify their accession. This ranged from military enforcement, political patronage, establishing peace and solidity, institutional reform, and historical revisionism to legitimize the dissolution of previous dynasties and their own succession. For most of Imperial China, the wuxing (五行; "Five Elements") philosophical scheme was also central to justify dynastic succession.
Most Chinese monarchs had many names. They were given a personal name (名字; Míngzi) at birth, but later referred to by a posthumous name (謚號; Shìhào)—which memorialized their accomplishments or character—due to a cultural naming taboo. Most emperors of the Imperial period also received a temple name (廟號; Miàohào), used to venerate them in ancestor worship. From the rule of Emperor Wu of Han (r. 141–87 BCE) onwards, emperors also adopted one or several era names (年號; Niánhào), or "reign mottos", to divide their rule by important events or accomplishments. Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1912) rulers are referred to solely by their era names, of which they only had one.
Apart from ethnic Han rulers, China was also ruled by various non-Han monarchs, including Jurchen, Khitan, Manchu, Mongol and Tangut and many others. To justify their reign, non-Han rulers sometimes aligned themselves with the Confucian sages or the Chakravarti of Chinese Buddhism. There are numerous lengthy periods where many competing kingdoms claimed the throne, many of whose legitimacy are still debated by scholars.
== Ancient China ==
=== Mythological rulers ===
In traditional Chinese historiography, various models of mythological founding rulers exist. The relevancy of these figures to the earliest Chinese people is unknown, since most accounts of them were written from the Warring States period (c. 475–221 BCE) onwards. The sinologist Kwang-chih Chang has generalized the typical stages: "the first period was populated by gods, the second by demigods/culture hero, and the third by the legendary kings." The primordial god Pangu is given by many texts as the earliest figure and is credited with forming the world by separating heaven and earth. Other gods include Nüwa, who repaired heaven; Hou Yi, a mythical archer; and Gonggong, a serpent-like water deity.
Demigod and hero rulers from hero myths—the largest group Chinese myths—are attributed the invention of specific items, practices or traditions. Among the more important of them are Fuxi, the inventor of hunting; Suiren, who invented fire; and Shennong, who invented both agriculture and medicine. The subsequent legendary kings began with the Yellow Emperor (黃帝), known as Huangdi, a major culture hero of Chinese civilization whose reign was considered exemplary. Succeeding rulers include some combination of Shaohao, Zhuanxu, Emperor Ku, Emperor Yao and Emperor Shun. Since the late Warring States onwards, early Chinese monarchs have traditionally been ground into the concept of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors; however, the chosen figures of this grouping varies considerably between sources. Generally, most accounts include at least Fuxi and Shennong among the Three Sovereigns as well as the Yellow Emperor, Yao and Shun among the Five Emperors.
=== Xia dynasty ===
The Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors period was followed by the Xia dynasty in traditional historiography. Founded by Yu the Great, both the dynasty and its rulers are of highly uncertain and controversial historicity.
=== Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BCE) ===
Unlike the Xia, the Shang dynasty's historicity is firmly established, due to written records on divination objects known as Oracle bones. The oldest such oracle bones date to the Late Shang (c. 1250—1046 BCE), during the reign of Wu Ding (1250–1192), putting the exact details of earlier rulers into doubt.
=== Zhou dynasty (1046–256 BCE) ===
== Early imperial China ==
=== Qin dynasty (221–207 BCE) ===
=== Han and Xin dynasties (202 BCE – 220 CE) ===
== Six Dynasties ==
=== Three Kingdoms (220–280) ===
==== Cao Wei (220–266) ====
==== Shu Han (221–263) ====
==== Eastern Wu (222–280) ====
=== Jin dynasty (266–420) ===
=== Sixteen Kingdoms (304–439) ===
=== Northern and Southern Dynasties (420–589) ===
==== Northern Dynasties (420–581) ====
==== Southern Dynasties (420–589) ====
== Mid-imperial China ==
=== Sui dynasty (581–619) ===
=== Tang and Zhou dynasties (618–907) ===
=== Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms ===
==== Five Dynasties (907–912) ====
==== Ten Kingdoms (907–979) ====
== Late imperial China ==
=== Song dynasty (960–1279) ===
=== Northern regimes (916–1234) ===
==== Liao dynasty (916–1125) ====
==== Western Xia (1038–1227) ====
==== Jin dynasty (1115–1234) ====
=== Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) ===
=== Ming dynasty (1368–1644) ===
=== Qing dynasty (1644–1912) ===
== Restoration attempts ==
=== Empire of China (1915–1916) ===
=== Manchu Restoration (1917) === |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela#Imprisonment | Nelson Mandela#Imprisonment | Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ( man-DEL-ə, Xhosa: [xolíɬaɬa mandɛ̂ːla]; born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid activist and statesman who was the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first Black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election. His administration focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid by fostering racial reconciliation, a national peace accord and eventual multiracial democracy. Ideologically an African nationalist and socialist, he served as the president of the African National Congress (ANC) party from 1991 to 1997.
Mandela was born into the Thembu royal family in Mvezo, South Africa. He studied law at the University of Fort Hare and the University of Witwatersrand before working as a lawyer in Johannesburg. There he became involved in anti-colonial and African nationalist politics, joining the ANC in 1943 and co-founding its Youth League in 1944. After the National Party's white-only government established apartheid, a system of racial segregation that privileged whites, Mandela and the ANC committed themselves to its overthrow. Rising to prominence for his involvement in the 1952 Defiance Campaign and the 1955 Congress of the People, he was repeatedly arrested for seditious activities and was unsuccessfully prosecuted in the 1956 Treason Trial. Influenced by Marxism, he secretly joined the banned South African Communist Party (SACP). Although initially committed to non-violent protest, in association with the SACP he co-founded the militant uMkhonto we Sizwe in 1961 that led a sabotage campaign against the apartheid government. Following the Rivonia Trial, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for conspiring to overthrow the state.
Mandela served 27 years in prison. Amid growing domestic and international pressure and fears of racial civil war, President F. W. de Klerk released him in 1990. Mandela and de Klerk led efforts to negotiate an end to apartheid, which resulted in the 1994 multiracial general election in which Mandela became president. Leading a broad coalition government which promulgated a new constitution, Mandela created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate past human rights abuses. Economically, his administration retained its predecessor's liberal framework despite his own socialist beliefs, also introducing measures to encourage land reform, combat poverty and expand healthcare services. Internationally, Mandela acted as mediator in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial and served as secretary-general of the Non-Aligned Movement from 1998 to 1999. He declined a second presidential term and was succeeded by Thabo Mbeki. Mandela focused on combating poverty and HIV/AIDS through the charitable Nelson Mandela Foundation.
Mandela was a controversial figure for much of his life. Although critics on the right denounced him as a communist terrorist and those on the far left deemed him too eager to negotiate and reconcile with apartheid's supporters, he gained international acclaim for his activism. Globally regarded as an icon of moral leadership, peace, democracy and social justice, he received more than 250 honours, including the Nobel Peace Prize. He is held in deep respect within South Africa, where he is often referred to by his Thembu clan name, Madiba, and described as the "Father of the Nation". Mandela is widely considered one of the greatest and most admired figures of the 20th century.
== Early life ==
=== Childhood: 1918–1934 ===
Mandela was born on 18 July 1918, in the village of Mvezo in Umtata, then part of South Africa's Cape Province. He was given the forename Rolihlahla, a Xhosa term colloquially meaning "troublemaker", and in later years became known by his clan name, Madiba. His patrilineal great-grandfather, Ngubengcuka, was ruler of the Thembu Kingdom in the Transkeian Territories of South Africa's modern Eastern Cape province. One of Ngubengcuka's sons, named Mandela, was Nelson's grandfather and the source of his surname. Because Mandela was the king's child by a wife of the Ixhiba clan, a so-called "Left-Hand House", the descendants of his cadet branch of the royal family were morganatic, ineligible to inherit the throne but recognised as hereditary royal councillors.
Nelson Mandela's father, Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa Mandela, was a local chief and councillor to the monarch; he was appointed to the position in 1915, after his predecessor was accused of corruption by a governing white magistrate. In 1926, Gadla was also sacked for corruption, but Nelson was told that his father had lost his job for standing up to the magistrate's unreasonable demands. A devotee of the god Qamata, Gadla was a polygamist with four wives, four sons and nine daughters, who lived in different villages. Nelson's mother was Gadla's third wife, Nosekeni Fanny, daughter of Nkedama of the Right Hand House and a member of the amaMpemvu clan of the Xhosa.
Mandela later stated that his early life was dominated by traditional Xhosa custom and taboo. He grew up with two sisters in his mother's kraal in the village of Qunu, where he tended herds as a cattle-boy and spent much time outside with other boys. Both his parents were illiterate, but his mother, being a devout Christian, sent him to a local Methodist school when he was about seven. Baptised a Methodist, Mandela was given the English forename of "Nelson" by his teacher. When Mandela was about nine, his father came to stay at Qunu, where he died of an undiagnosed ailment that Mandela believed to be lung disease. Feeling "cut adrift", he later said that he inherited his father's "proud rebelliousness" and "stubborn sense of fairness".
Mandela's mother took him to the "Great Place" palace at Mqhekezweni, where he was entrusted to the guardianship of the Thembu regent, Chief Jongintaba Dalindyebo. Although he did not see his mother again for many years, Mandela felt that Jongintaba and his wife Noengland treated him as their own child, raising him alongside their children. As Mandela attended church services every Sunday with his guardians, Christianity became a significant part of his life. He attended a Methodist mission school located next to the palace, where he studied English, Xhosa, history and geography. He developed a love of African history, listening to the tales told by elderly visitors to the palace, and was influenced by the anti-imperialist rhetoric of a visiting chief, Joyi. Nevertheless, at the time he considered the European colonizers not as oppressors but as benefactors who had brought education and other benefits to southern Africa. Aged 16, he, his cousin Justice and several other boys travelled to Tyhalarha to undergo the ulwaluko circumcision ritual that symbolically marked their transition from boys to men; afterwards he was given the name Dalibunga.
=== Clarkebury, Healdtown, and Fort Hare: 1934–1940 ===
Intending to gain skills needed to become a privy councillor for the Thembu royal house, Mandela began his secondary education in 1933 at Clarkebury Methodist High School in Engcobo, a Western-style institution that was the largest school for black Africans in Thembuland. Made to socialise with other students on an equal basis, he claimed that he lost his "stuck up" attitude, becoming best friends with a girl for the first time; he began playing sports and developed his lifelong love of gardening. He completed his Junior Certificate in two years, and in 1937 he moved to Healdtown, the Methodist college in Fort Beaufort attended by most Thembu royalty, including Justice. The headmaster emphasised the superiority of European culture and government, but Mandela became increasingly interested in native African culture, making his first non-Xhosa friend, a speaker of Sotho, and coming under the influence of one of his favourite teachers, a Xhosa who broke taboo by marrying a Sotho. Mandela spent much of his spare time at Healdtown as a long-distance runner and boxer, and in his second year he became a prefect.
In 1939, with Jongintaba's backing, Mandela began work on a BA degree at the University of Fort Hare, an elite black institution of approximately 150 students in Alice, Eastern Cape. He studied English, anthropology, politics, "native administration" and Roman-Dutch law in his first year, desiring to become an interpreter or clerk in the Native Affairs Department. Mandela stayed in the Wesley House dormitory, befriending his own kinsman, K. D. Matanzima, as well as Oliver Tambo, who became a close friend and comrade for decades to come. He took up ballroom dancing, performed in a drama society play about Abraham Lincoln, and gave Bible classes in the local community as part of the Student Christian Association. Although he had friends who held connections to the African National Congress (ANC) who wanted South Africa to be independent of the British Empire, Mandela avoided any involvement with the nascent movement, and became a vocal supporter of the British war effort when the Second World War broke out. At the end of his first year he became involved in a students' representative council (SRC) boycott against the quality of food, for which he was suspended from the university; he never returned to complete his degree.
=== Arriving in Johannesburg: 1941–1943 ===
Returning to Mqhekezweni in December 1940, Mandela found that Jongintaba had arranged marriages for him and Justice; dismayed, they fled to Johannesburg via Queenstown, arriving in April 1941. Mandela found work as a night watchman at Crown Mines, his "first sight of South African capitalism in action", but was fired when the induna (headman) discovered that he was a runaway. He stayed with a cousin in George Goch Township, who introduced Mandela to realtor and ANC activist Walter Sisulu. The latter secured Mandela a job as an articled clerk at the law firm of Witkin, Sidelsky and Eidelman, a company run by Lazar Sidelsky, a liberal Jew sympathetic to the ANC's cause. At the firm, Mandela befriended Gaur Radebe—a Hlubi member of the ANC and Communist Party—and Nat Bregman, a Jewish communist who became his first white friend. Mandela attended Communist Party gatherings, where he was impressed that Europeans, Africans, Indians, and Coloureds mixed as equals. He later stated that he did not join the party because its atheism conflicted with his Christian faith, and because he saw the South African struggle as being racially based rather than as class warfare. To continue his higher education, Mandela signed up to a University of South Africa correspondence course, working on his bachelor's degree at night.
Earning a small wage, Mandela rented a room in the house of the Xhoma family in the Alexandra township; despite being rife with poverty, crime and pollution, Alexandra always remained a special place for him. Although embarrassed by his poverty, he briefly dated a Swazi woman before unsuccessfully courting his landlord's daughter. To save money and be closer to downtown Johannesburg, Mandela moved into the compound of the Witwatersrand Native Labour Association, living among miners of various tribes; as the compound was visited by various chiefs, he once met the Queen Regent of Basutoland. In late 1941, Jongintaba visited Johannesburg—there forgiving Mandela for running away—before returning to Thembuland, where he died in the winter of 1942. After he passed his BA exams in early 1943, Mandela returned to Johannesburg to follow a political path as a lawyer rather than become a privy councillor in Thembuland.
== Early revolutionary activity ==
=== Law studies and the ANC Youth League: 1943–1949 ===
Mandela began studying law at the University of the Witwatersrand, where he was the only black African student and faced racism. There, he befriended liberal and communist European, Jewish and Indian students, among them Joe Slovo and Ruth First. Becoming increasingly politicised, Mandela marched in August 1943 in support of a successful bus boycott to reverse fare rises. Joining the ANC, he was increasingly influenced by Sisulu, spending time with other activists at Sisulu's Orlando house, including his old friend Oliver Tambo. In 1943, Mandela met Anton Lembede, an ANC member affiliated with the "Africanist" branch of African nationalism, which was virulently opposed to a racially united front against colonialism and imperialism or to an alliance with the communists. Despite his friendships with non-blacks and communists, Mandela embraced Lembede's views, believing that black Africans should be entirely independent in their struggle for political self-determination. Deciding on the need for a youth wing to mass-mobilise Africans in opposition to their subjugation, Mandela was among a delegation that approached ANC president Alfred Bitini Xuma on the subject at his home in Sophiatown; the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) was founded on Easter Sunday 1944 in the Bantu Men's Social Centre, with Lembede as president and Mandela as a member of its executive committee.
At Sisulu's house, Mandela met Evelyn Mase, a trainee nurse and ANC activist from Engcobo, Transkei. Entering a relationship and marrying in October 1944, they initially lived with her relatives until moving into a rented house in the township of Orlando in early 1946. Their first child, Madiba "Thembi" Thembekile, was born in February 1945; a daughter, Makaziwe, was born in 1947 but died of meningitis nine months later. Mandela enjoyed home life, welcoming his mother and his sister, Leabie, to stay with him. In early 1947, his three years of articles ended at Witkin, Sidelsky and Eidelman, and he decided to become a full-time student, subsisting on loans from the Bantu Welfare Trust.
In July 1947, Mandela rushed Lembede, who was ill, to hospital, where he died; he was succeeded as ANCYL president by the more moderate Peter Mda, who agreed to co-operate with communists and non-blacks, appointing Mandela ANCYL secretary. Mandela disagreed with Mda's approach, and in December 1947 supported an unsuccessful measure to expel communists from the ANCYL, considering their ideology un-African. In 1947, Mandela was elected to the executive committee of the ANC's Transvaal Province branch, serving under regional president C. S. Ramohanoe. When Ramohanoe acted against the wishes of the committee by co-operating with Indians and communists, Mandela was one of those who forced his resignation.
In the South African general election in 1948, in which only whites were permitted to vote, the Afrikaner-dominated Herenigde Nasionale Party under Daniel François Malan took power, soon uniting with the Afrikaner Party to form the National Party. Openly racialist, the party codified and expanded racial segregation with new apartheid legislation. Gaining increasing influence in the ANC, Mandela and his party cadre allies began advocating direct action against apartheid, such as boycotts and strikes, influenced by the tactics already employed by South Africa's Indian community. Xuma did not support these measures and was removed from the presidency in a vote of no confidence, replaced by James Moroka and a more militant executive committee containing Sisulu, Mda, Tambo and Godfrey Pitje. Mandela later related that he and his colleagues had "guided the ANC to a more radical and revolutionary path." Having devoted his time to politics, Mandela failed his final year at Witwatersrand three times; he was ultimately denied his degree in December 1949.
=== Defiance Campaign and Transvaal ANC Presidency: 1950–1954 ===
Mandela took Xuma's place on the ANC national executive in March 1950, and that same year was elected national president of the ANCYL. In March, the Defend Free Speech Convention was held in Johannesburg, bringing together African, Indian and communist activists to call a May Day general strike in protest against apartheid and white minority rule. Mandela opposed the strike because it was multi-racial and not ANC-led, but a majority of black workers took part, resulting in increased police repression and the introduction of the Suppression of Communism Act, 1950, affecting the actions of all protest groups. At the ANC national conference of December 1951, he continued arguing against a racially united front, but was outvoted.
Thereafter, Mandela rejected Lembede's Africanism and embraced the idea of a multi-racial front against apartheid. Influenced by friends like Moses Kotane and by the Soviet Union's support for wars of national liberation, his mistrust of communism broke down and he began reading literature by Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, and Mao Zedong, eventually embracing the Marxist philosophy of dialectical materialism. Commenting on communism, he later stated that he "found [himself] strongly drawn to the idea of a classless society which, to [his] mind, was similar to traditional African culture where life was shared and communal." In April 1952, Mandela began work at the H.M. Basner law firm, which was owned by a communist, although his increasing commitment to work and activism meant he spent less time with his family.
In 1952, the ANC began preparation for a joint Defiance Campaign against apartheid with Indian and communist groups, founding a National Voluntary Board to recruit volunteers. The campaign was designed to follow the path of nonviolent resistance influenced by Mahatma Gandhi; some supported this for ethical reasons, but Mandela instead considered it pragmatic. At a Durban rally on 22 June, Mandela addressed an assembled crowd of 10,000 people, initiating the campaign protests for which he was arrested and briefly interned in Marshall Square prison. These events established Mandela as one of the best-known black political figures in South Africa. With further protests, the ANC's membership grew from 20,000 to 100,000 members; the government responded with mass arrests and introduced the Public Safety Act, 1953 to permit martial law. In May, authorities banned Transvaal ANC president J. B. Marks from making public appearances; unable to maintain his position, he recommended Mandela as his successor. Although Africanists opposed his candidacy, Mandela was elected to be regional president in October.
In July 1952, Mandela was arrested under the Suppression of Communism Act and stood trial as one of the 21 accused—among them Moroka, Sisulu and Yusuf Dadoo—in Johannesburg. Found guilty of "statutory communism", a term that the government used to describe most opposition to apartheid, their sentence of nine months' hard labour was suspended for two years. In December, Mandela was given a six-month ban from attending meetings or talking to more than one individual at a time, making his Transvaal ANC presidency impractical, and during this period the Defiance Campaign petered out. In September 1953, Andrew Kunene read out Mandela's "No Easy Walk to Freedom" speech at a Transvaal ANC meeting; the title was taken from a quote by Indian independence leader Jawaharlal Nehru, a seminal influence on Mandela's thought. The speech laid out a contingency plan for a scenario in which the ANC was banned. This Mandela Plan, or M-Plan, involved dividing the organisation into a cell structure with a more centralised leadership.
Mandela obtained work as an attorney for the firm Terblanche and Brigish, before moving to the liberal-run Helman and Michel, passing qualification exams to become a full-fledged attorney. In August 1953, Mandela and Tambo opened their own law firm, Mandela and Tambo, operating in downtown Johannesburg. The only African-run law firm in the country, it was popular with aggrieved black people, often dealing with cases of police brutality. Disliked by the authorities, the firm was forced to relocate to a remote location after their office permit was removed under the Group Areas Act; as a result, their clientele dwindled. As a lawyer of aristocratic heritage, Mandela was part of Johannesburg's elite black middle-class, and accorded much respect from the black community. Although a second daughter, Makaziwe Phumia, was born in May 1954, Mandela's relationship with Evelyn became strained, and she accused him of adultery. He may have had affairs with ANC member Lillian Ngoyi and secretary Ruth Mompati; various individuals close to Mandela in this period have stated that the latter bore him a child. Disgusted by her son's behaviour, Nosekeni returned to Transkei, while Evelyn embraced the Jehovah's Witnesses and rejected Mandela's preoccupation with politics.
=== Congress of the People and the Treason Trial: 1955–1961 ===
After taking part in the unsuccessful protest to prevent the forced relocation of all black people from the Sophiatown suburb of Johannesburg in February 1955, Mandela concluded that violent action would prove necessary to end apartheid and white minority rule. On his advice, Sisulu requested weaponry from the People's Republic of China, which was denied. Although the Chinese government supported the anti-apartheid struggle, they believed the movement insufficiently prepared for guerrilla warfare. With the involvement of the South African Indian Congress, the Coloured People's Congress, the South African Congress of Trade Unions and the Congress of Democrats, the ANC planned a Congress of the People, calling on all South Africans to send in proposals for a post-apartheid era. Based on the responses, a Freedom Charter was drafted by Rusty Bernstein, calling for the creation of a democratic, non-racialist state with the nationalisation of major industry. The charter was adopted at a June 1955 conference in Kliptown, which was forcibly closed down by police. The tenets of the Freedom Charter remained important for Mandela, and in 1956 he described it as "an inspiration to the people of South Africa".
Following the end of a second ban in September 1955, Mandela went on a working holiday to Transkei to discuss the implications of the Bantu Authorities Act, 1951 with local Xhosa chiefs, also visiting his mother and Noengland before proceeding to Cape Town. In March 1956, he received his third ban on public appearances, restricting him to Johannesburg for five years, but he often defied it. Mandela's marriage broke down and Evelyn left him, taking their children to live with her brother. Initiating divorce proceedings in May 1956, she claimed that Mandela had physically abused her; he denied the allegations and fought for custody of their children. She withdrew her petition of separation in November, but Mandela filed for divorce in January 1958; the divorce was finalised in March, with the children placed in Evelyn's care. During the divorce proceedings, he began courting a social worker, Winnie Madikizela, whom he married in Bizana in June 1958. She later became involved in ANC activities, spending several weeks in prison. Together they had two children: Zenani, born in February 1959, and Zindziswa (1960–2020).
In December 1956, Mandela was arrested alongside most of the ANC national executive and accused of "high treason" against the state. Held in Johannesburg Prison amid mass protests, they underwent a preparatory examination before being granted bail. The defence's refutation began in January 1957, overseen by defence lawyer Vernon Berrangé, and continued until the case was adjourned in September. In January 1958, Oswald Pirow was appointed to prosecute the case, and in February the judge ruled that there was "sufficient reason" for the defendants to go on trial in the Transvaal Supreme Court. The formal Treason Trial began in Pretoria in August 1958, with the defendants successfully applying to have the three judges—all linked to the governing National Party—replaced. In August, one charge was dropped, and in October the prosecution withdrew its indictment, submitting a reformulated version in November which argued that the ANC leadership committed high treason by advocating violent revolution, a charge the defendants denied.
In April 1959, Africanists dissatisfied with the ANC's united front approach founded the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC); Mandela disagreed with the PAC's racially exclusionary views, describing them as "immature" and "naïve". Both parties took part in an anti-pass campaign in early 1960, in which Africans burned the passes that they were legally obliged to carry. One of the PAC-organised demonstrations was fired upon by police, resulting in the deaths of 69 protesters in the Sharpeville massacre. The incident brought international condemnation of the government and resulted in rioting throughout South Africa, with Mandela publicly burning his pass in solidarity.
Responding to the unrest, the government implemented state of emergency measures, declaring martial law and banning the ANC and PAC; in March, they arrested Mandela and other activists, imprisoning them for five months without charge in the unsanitary conditions of the Pretoria Local prison. Imprisonment caused problems for Mandela and his co-defendants in the Treason Trial; their lawyers could not reach them, and so it was decided that the lawyers would withdraw in protest until the accused were freed from prison when the state of emergency was lifted in late August 1960. Over the following months, Mandela used his free time to organise an All-In African Conference near Pietermaritzburg, Natal, in March 1961, at which 1,400 anti-apartheid delegates met, agreeing on a stay-at-home strike to mark 31 May, the day South Africa became a republic. On 29 March 1961, six years after the Treason Trial began, the judges produced a verdict of not guilty, ruling that there was insufficient evidence to convict the accused of "high treason", since they had advocated neither communism nor violent revolution; the outcome embarrassed the government.
=== MK, the SACP, and African tour: 1961–1962 ===
Disguised as a chauffeur, Mandela travelled around the country incognito, organising the ANC's new cell structure and the planned mass stay-at-home strike. Referred to as the "Black Pimpernel" in the press—a reference to Emma Orczy's 1905 novel The Scarlet Pimpernel—a warrant for his arrest was put out by the police. Mandela held secret meetings with reporters, and after the government failed to prevent the strike, he warned them that many anti-apartheid activists would soon resort to violence through groups like the PAC's Poqo. He believed that the ANC should form an armed group to channel some of this violence in a controlled direction, convincing both ANC leader Albert Luthuli—who was morally opposed to violence—and allied activist groups of its necessity.
Inspired by the actions of Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement in the Cuban Revolution, in 1961, Mandela, Sisulu and Slovo co-founded Umkhonto we Sizwe ("Spear of the Nation", abbreviated MK). Becoming chairman of the militant group, Mandela gained ideas from literature on guerrilla warfare by Marxist militants Mao and Che Guevara as well as from the military theorist Carl von Clausewitz. Although initially declared officially separate from the ANC so as not to taint the latter's reputation, MK was later widely recognised as the party's armed wing. Most early MK members were white communists who were able to conceal Mandela in their homes; after hiding in communist Wolfie Kodesh's flat in Berea, Mandela moved to the communist-owned Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia, there joined by Raymond Mhlaba, Slovo and Bernstein, who put together the MK constitution. Although in later life Mandela denied, for political reasons, ever being a member of the Communist Party, historical research published in 2011 strongly suggested that he had joined in the late 1950s or early 1960s. This was confirmed by both the SACP and the ANC after Mandela's death. According to the SACP, he was not only a member of the party, but also served on its Central Committee.
Operating through a cell structure, MK planned to carry out acts of sabotage that would exert maximum pressure on the government with minimum casualties; they sought to bomb military installations, power plants, telephone lines, and transport links at night, when civilians were not present. Mandela stated that they chose sabotage because it was the least harmful action, did not involve killing, and offered the best hope for racial reconciliation afterwards; he nevertheless acknowledged that should this have failed then guerrilla warfare might have been necessary. Soon after ANC leader Luthuli was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, MK publicly announced its existence with 57 bombings on Dingane's Day (16 December) 1961, followed by further attacks on New Year's Eve.
The ANC decided to send Mandela as a delegate to the February 1962 meeting of the Pan-African Freedom Movement for East, Central and Southern Africa (PAFMECSA) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Leaving South Africa in secret via Bechuanaland, on his way Mandela visited Tanganyika and met with its president, Julius Nyerere. Arriving in Ethiopia, Mandela met with Emperor Haile Selassie I, and gave his speech after Selassie's at the conference. After the symposium, he travelled to Cairo, Egypt, admiring the political reforms of President Gamal Abdel Nasser, and then went to Tunis, Tunisia, where President Habib Bourguiba gave him £5,000 for weaponry. He proceeded to Morocco, Mali, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Senegal, receiving funds from Liberian president William Tubman and Guinean president Ahmed Sékou Touré. He left Africa for London, England, where he met anti-apartheid activists, reporters and prominent politicians. Upon returning to Ethiopia, he began a six-month course in guerrilla warfare, but completed only two months before being recalled to South Africa by the ANC's leadership.
== Imprisonment ==
=== Arrest and Rivonia trial: 1962–1964 ===
On 5 August 1962, police captured Mandela along with fellow activist Cecil Williams near Howick. Many MK members suspected that the authorities had been tipped off with regard to Mandela's whereabouts, although Mandela himself gave these ideas little credence. In later years, Donald Rickard, a former American diplomat, revealed that the Central Intelligence Agency, which feared Mandela's associations with communists, had informed the South African police of his location. Jailed in Johannesburg's Marshall Square prison, Mandela was charged with inciting workers' strikes and leaving the country without permission. Representing himself with Slovo as legal advisor, Mandela intended to use the trial to showcase "the ANC's moral opposition to racism" while supporters demonstrated outside the court. Moved to Pretoria, where Winnie could visit him, he began correspondence studies for a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from the University of London International Programmes. His hearing began in October, but he disrupted proceedings by wearing a traditional kaross, refusing to call any witnesses, and turning his plea of mitigation into a political speech. Found guilty, he was sentenced to five years' imprisonment; as he left the courtroom, supporters sang "Nkosi Sikelel iAfrika".
On 11 July 1963, police raided Liliesleaf Farm, arresting those that they found there and uncovering paperwork documenting MK's activities, some of which mentioned Mandela. The Rivonia Trial began at Pretoria Supreme Court in October, with Mandela and his comrades charged with four counts of sabotage and conspiracy to violently overthrow the government; their chief prosecutor was Percy Yutar. Judge Quartus de Wet soon threw out the prosecution's case for insufficient evidence, but Yutar reformulated the charges, presenting his new case from December 1963 until February 1964, calling 173 witnesses and bringing thousands of documents and photographs to the trial.
Although four of the accused denied involvement with MK, Mandela and the other five accused admitted sabotage but denied that they had ever agreed to initiate guerrilla war against the government. They used the trial to highlight their political cause; at the opening of the defence's proceedings, Mandela gave his three-hour "I Am Prepared to Die" speech. That speech—which was inspired by Castro's "History Will Absolve Me"—was widely reported in the press despite official censorship. The speech had been polished and edited by Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer, a South African Jewish novelist, and British journalist Anthony Sampson, both of whom cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society, following Mandela's direction. The trial gained international attention; there were global calls for the release of the accused from the United Nations and World Peace Council, while the University of London Union voted Mandela to its presidency. On 12 June 1964, justice De Wet found Mandela and two of his co-accused guilty on all four charges; although the prosecution had called for the death sentence to be applied, the judge instead condemned them to life imprisonment.
=== Robben Island: 1964–1982 ===
In 1964, Mandela and his co-accused were transferred from Pretoria to the prison on Robben Island, remaining there for the next 18 years. Isolated from non-political prisoners in Section B, Mandela was imprisoned in a damp concrete cell measuring 8 feet (2.4 m) by 7 feet (2.1 m), with a straw mat on which to sleep. Verbally and physically harassed by several white prison wardens, the Rivonia Trial prisoners spent their days breaking rocks into gravel, until being reassigned in January 1965 to work in a lime quarry. Mandela was initially forbidden to wear sunglasses, and the glare from the lime permanently damaged his eyesight. At night, he worked on his LLB degree, which he was obtaining from the University of London through a correspondence course with Wolsey Hall, Oxford, but newspapers were forbidden, and he was locked in solitary confinement on several occasions for the possession of smuggled news clippings. He was initially classified as the lowest grade of prisoner, Class D, meaning that he was permitted one visit and one letter every six months, although all mail was heavily censored.
The political prisoners took part in work and hunger strikes—the latter considered largely ineffective by Mandela—to improve prison conditions, viewing this as a microcosm of the anti-apartheid struggle. ANC prisoners elected him to their four-man "High Organ" along with Sisulu, Govan Mbeki and Raymond Mhlaba, and he involved himself in a group, named Ulundi, that represented all political prisoners (including Eddie Daniels) on the island, through which he forged links with PAC and Yu Chi Chan Club members. Initiating the "University of Robben Island", whereby prisoners lectured on their own areas of expertise, he debated socio-political topics with his comrades.
Though attending Christian Sunday services, Mandela studied Islam. He also studied Afrikaans, hoping to build a mutual respect with the warders and convert them to his cause. Various official visitors met with Mandela, most significantly the liberal parliamentary representative Helen Suzman of the Progressive Party, who championed Mandela's cause outside of prison. In September 1970, he met British Labour Party politician Denis Healey. South African Minister of Justice Jimmy Kruger visited in December 1974, but he and Mandela did not get along with each other. His mother visited in 1968, dying shortly after, and his firstborn son Thembi died in a car accident the following year; Mandela was forbidden from attending either funeral. His wife was rarely able to see him, being regularly imprisoned for political activity, and his daughters first visited in December 1975. Winnie was released from prison in 1977 but was forcibly settled in Brandfort and remained unable to see him.
From 1967 onwards, prison conditions improved. Black prisoners were given trousers rather than shorts, games were permitted, and the standard of their food was raised. In 1969, an escape plan for Mandela was developed by Gordon Bruce, but it was abandoned after the conspiracy was infiltrated by an agent of the South African Bureau of State Security (BOSS), who hoped to see Mandela shot during the escape. In 1970, Commander Piet Badenhorst became commanding officer. Mandela, seeing an increase in the physical and mental abuse of prisoners, complained to visiting judges, who had Badenhorst reassigned. He was replaced by Commander Willie Willemse, who developed a co-operative relationship with Mandela and was keen to improve prison standards.
By 1975, Mandela had become a Class A prisoner, which allowed him greater numbers of visits and letters. He corresponded with anti-apartheid activists like Mangosuthu Buthelezi and Desmond Tutu, and wrote to Albert Luthuli's widow Nokukhanya Bhengu to offer his condolences when he died. Also in 1975, he began his autobiography, which was smuggled to London, but remained unpublished at the time; prison authorities discovered several pages, and his LLB study privileges were revoked for four years. Instead, he devoted his spare time to gardening and reading until the authorities permitted him to resume his LLB degree studies in 1980.
By the late 1960s, Mandela's fame had been eclipsed by Steve Biko and the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM). Seeing the ANC as ineffectual, the BCM called for militant action, but, following the Soweto uprising of 1976, many BCM activists were imprisoned on Robben Island. Mandela tried to build a relationship with these young radicals, although he was critical of their racialism and contempt for white anti-apartheid activists. Renewed international interest in his plight came in July 1978, when he celebrated his 60th birthday. He was awarded an honorary doctorate in Lesotho, the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding in India in 1979, and the Freedom of the City of Glasgow, Scotland in 1981. In March 1980, the slogan "Free Mandela!" was developed by journalist Percy Qoboza, sparking an international campaign that led the UN Security Council to call for his release. Despite increasing foreign pressure, the government refused, relying on its Cold War allies US president Ronald Reagan and British prime minister Margaret Thatcher; both considered Mandela's ANC a terrorist organisation sympathetic to communism and supported its suppression.
=== Pollsmoor Prison: 1982–1988 ===
In April 1982, Mandela was transferred to Pollsmoor Prison in Tokai, Cape Town, along with senior ANC leaders Walter Sisulu, Andrew Mlangeni, Ahmed Kathrada and Raymond Mhlaba; they believed that they were being isolated to remove their influence on younger activists at Robben Island. Conditions at Pollsmoor were better than at Robben Island, although Mandela missed the camaraderie and scenery of the island. Getting on well with Pollsmoor's commanding officer, Brigadier Munro, Mandela was permitted to create a roof garden; he also read voraciously and corresponded widely, now being permitted 52 letters a year. He was appointed patron of the multi-racial United Democratic Front (UDF), founded to combat reforms implemented by South African president P. W. Botha. Botha's National Party government had permitted Coloured and Indian citizens to vote for their own parliaments, which had control over education, health and housing, but black Africans were excluded from the system. Like Mandela, the UDF saw this as an attempt to divide the anti-apartheid movement on racial lines.
The early 1980s witnessed an escalation of violence across the country, and many predicted civil war. This was accompanied by economic stagnation as various multinational banks—under pressure from an international lobby—had stopped investing in South Africa. Numerous banks and Thatcher asked Botha to release Mandela—then at the height of his international fame—to defuse the volatile situation. Although considering Mandela a dangerous "arch-Marxist", Botha offered him, in February 1985, a release from prison if he "unconditionally rejected violence as a political weapon". Mandela spurned the offer, releasing a statement through his daughter Zindzi stating, "What freedom am I being offered while the organisation of the people [ANC] remains banned? Only free men can negotiate. A prisoner cannot enter into contracts."
In 1985, Mandela underwent surgery on an enlarged prostate gland before being given new solitary quarters on the ground floor. He was met by an international delegation sent to negotiate a settlement, but Botha's government refused to co-operate, calling a state of emergency in June and initiating a police crackdown on unrest. The anti-apartheid resistance fought back, with the ANC committing 231 attacks in 1986 and 235 in 1987. The violence escalated as the government used the army and police to combat the resistance and provided covert support for vigilante groups and the Zulu nationalist movement Inkatha, which was involved in an increasingly violent struggle with the ANC. Mandela requested talks with Botha but was denied, instead secretly meeting with Minister of Justice Kobie Coetsee in 1987, and having a further 11 meetings over the next three years. Coetsee organised negotiations between Mandela and a team of four government figures starting in May 1988; the team agreed to the release of political prisoners and the legalisation of the ANC on the condition that they permanently renounce violence, break links with the Communist Party, and not insist on majority rule. Mandela rejected these conditions, insisting that the ANC would end its armed activities only when the government renounced violence.
Mandela's 70th birthday in July 1988 attracted international attention, including a tribute concert at London's Wembley Stadium that was televised and watched by an estimated 200 million viewers. Although presented globally as a heroic figure, he faced personal problems when ANC leaders informed him that Winnie had set herself up as head of a gang, the "Mandela United Football Club", which had been responsible for torturing and killing opponents—including children—in Soweto. Though some encouraged him to divorce her, he decided to remain loyal until she was found guilty by trial.
=== Victor Verster Prison and release: 1988–1990 ===
Recovering from tuberculosis exacerbated by the damp conditions in his cell, Mandela was moved to Victor Verster Prison, near Paarl, in December 1988. He was housed in the relative comfort of a warder's house with a personal cook, and he used the time to complete his LLB degree. While there, he was permitted many visitors and organised secret communications with exiled ANC leader Oliver Tambo.
In 1989, Botha suffered a stroke; although he retained the state presidency, he stepped down as leader of the National Party, to be replaced by F. W. de Klerk. In a surprise move, Botha invited Mandela to a meeting over tea in July 1989, an invitation Mandela considered genial. Botha was replaced as state president by de Klerk six weeks later; the new president believed that apartheid was unsustainable and released a number of ANC prisoners. Following the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, de Klerk called his cabinet together to debate legalising the ANC and freeing Mandela. Although some were deeply opposed to his plans, de Klerk met with Mandela in December to discuss the situation, a meeting both men considered friendly, before legalising all formerly banned political parties in February 1990 and announcing Mandela's unconditional release. Shortly thereafter, for the first time in 20 years, photographs of Mandela were allowed to be published in South Africa.
Leaving Victor Verster Prison on 11 February, Mandela held Winnie's hand in front of amassed crowds and the press; the event was broadcast live across the world. Driven to Cape Town's City Hall through crowds, he gave a speech declaring his commitment to peace and reconciliation with the white minority, but he made it clear that the ANC's armed struggle was not over and would continue as "a purely defensive action against the violence of apartheid". He expressed hope that the government would agree to negotiations, so that "there may no longer be the need for the armed struggle", and insisted that his main focus was to bring peace to the black majority and give them the right to vote in national and local elections. Staying at Tutu's home, in the following days Mandela met with friends, activists, and press, giving a speech to an estimated 100,000 people at Johannesburg's FNB Stadium.
Mandela was a planned target of Project Coast with the intention to poison him with toxic agents to damage his mental capacities whilst he was incarcerated during the Botha regime. According to later witnesses during the trial of Dr. Wouter Basson in 2002, the initial plan was to poison Mandela with thallium shortly before his release in 1990.
== End of apartheid and elections ==
=== Early negotiations: 1990–1991 ===
Mandela proceeded on an African tour, meeting supporters and politicians in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Libya and Algeria, and continuing to Sweden, where he was reunited with Tambo, and London, where he appeared at the Nelson Mandela: An International Tribute for a Free South Africa concert at Wembley Stadium. Encouraging foreign countries to support sanctions against the apartheid government, he met President François Mitterrand in France, Pope John Paul II in the Vatican, and Thatcher in the United Kingdom. In the United States, he met President George H. W. Bush, addressed both Houses of Congress and visited eight cities, being particularly popular among the African American community. In Cuba, he became friends with President Castro, whom he had long admired. He met President R. Venkataraman in India, President Suharto in Indonesia, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in Malaysia, and Prime Minister Bob Hawke in Australia. He visited Japan, but not the Soviet Union, a longtime ANC supporter.
In May 1990, Mandela led a multiracial ANC delegation into preliminary negotiations with a government delegation of 11 Afrikaner men. Mandela impressed them with his discussions of Afrikaner history, and the negotiations led to the Groot Schuur Minute, in which the government lifted the state of emergency. In August, Mandela—recognising the ANC's severe military disadvantage—offered a ceasefire, the Pretoria Minute, for which he was widely criticised by MK activists. He spent much time trying to unify and build the ANC, appearing at a Johannesburg conference in December attended by 1,600 delegates, many of whom found him more moderate than expected. At the ANC's July 1991 national conference in Durban, Mandela admitted that the party had faults and wanted to build a task force for securing majority rule. At the conference, he was elected ANC President, replacing the ailing Tambo, and a 50-strong multiracial, mixed gendered national executive was elected.
Mandela was given an office in the newly purchased ANC headquarters at Shell House, Johannesburg, and moved into Winnie's large Soweto home. Their marriage was increasingly strained as he learned of her affair with Dali Mpofu, but he supported her during her trial for kidnapping and assault. He gained funding for her defence from the International Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa and from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, but, in June 1991, she was found guilty and sentenced to six years in prison, reduced to two on appeal. On 13 April 1992, Mandela publicly announced his separation from Winnie. The ANC forced her to step down from the national executive for misappropriating ANC funds; Mandela moved into the mostly white Johannesburg suburb of Houghton. Mandela's prospects for a peaceful transition were further damaged by an increase in "black-on-black" violence, particularly between ANC and Inkatha supporters in KwaZulu-Natal, which resulted in thousands of deaths. Mandela met with Inkatha leader Buthelezi, but the ANC prevented further negotiations on the issue. Mandela argued that there was a "third force" within the state intelligence services fuelling the "slaughter of the people" and openly blamed de Klerk—whom he increasingly distrusted—for the Sebokeng massacre. In September 1991, a national peace conference was held in Johannesburg at which Mandela, Buthelezi and de Klerk signed a peace accord, though the violence continued.
=== CODESA talks: 1991–1992 ===
The Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) began in December 1991 at the Johannesburg World Trade Centre, attended by 228 delegates from 19 political parties. Although Cyril Ramaphosa led the ANC's delegation, Mandela remained a key figure. After de Klerk used the closing speech to condemn the ANC's violence, Mandela took to the stage to denounce de Klerk as the "head of an illegitimate, discredited minority regime". Dominated by the National Party and ANC, little negotiation was achieved. CODESA 2 was held in May 1992, at which de Klerk insisted that post-apartheid South Africa must use a federal system with a rotating presidency to ensure the protection of ethnic minorities; Mandela opposed this, demanding a unitary system governed by majority rule. Following the Boipatong massacre of ANC activists by government-aided Inkatha militants, Mandela called off the negotiations, before attending a meeting of the Organisation of African Unity in Senegal, at which he called for a special session of the UN Security Council and proposed that a UN peacekeeping force be stationed in South Africa to prevent "state terrorism". Calling for domestic mass action, in August the ANC organised the largest-ever strike in South African history, and supporters marched on Pretoria.
Following the Bisho massacre, in which 28 ANC supporters and one soldier were shot dead by the Ciskei Defence Force during a protest march, Mandela realised that mass action was leading to further violence and resumed negotiations in September. He agreed to do so on the conditions that all political prisoners be released, that Zulu traditional weapons be banned, and that Zulu hostels would be fenced off; de Klerk reluctantly agreed. The negotiations agreed that a multiracial general election would be held, resulting in a five-year coalition government of national unity and a constitutional assembly that gave the National Party continuing influence. The ANC also conceded to safeguarding the jobs of white civil servants; such concessions brought fierce internal criticism. The duo agreed on an interim constitution based on a liberal democratic model, guaranteeing separation of powers, creating a constitutional court, and including a US-style bill of rights; it also divided the country into nine provinces, each with its own premier and civil service, a concession between de Klerk's desire for federalism and Mandela's for unitary government.
The democratic process was threatened by the Concerned South Africans Group (COSAG), an alliance of black ethnic-secessionist groups like Inkatha and far-right Afrikaner parties; in June 1993, one of the latter—the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB)—attacked the Kempton Park World Trade Centre. Following the murder of ANC activist Chris Hani, Mandela made a publicised speech to calm rioting, soon after appearing at a mass funeral in Soweto for Tambo, who had died of a stroke. In July 1993, both Mandela and de Klerk visited the United States, independently meeting President Bill Clinton, and each receiving the Liberty Medal. Soon after, Mandela and de Klerk were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway. Influenced by Thabo Mbeki, Mandela began meeting with big business figures, and he played down his support for nationalisation, fearing that he would scare away much-needed foreign investment. Although criticised by socialist ANC members, he had been encouraged to embrace private enterprise by members of the Chinese and Vietnamese Communist parties at the January 1992 World Economic Forum in Switzerland.
=== General election: 1994 ===
With the election set for 27 April 1994, the ANC began campaigning, opening 100 election offices and orchestrating People's Forums across the country at which Mandela could appear, as a popular figure with great status among black South Africans. The ANC campaigned on a Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) to build a million houses in five years, introduce universal free education and extend access to water and electricity. The party's slogan was "a better life for all", although it was not explained how this development would be funded. With the exception of the Weekly Mail and the New Nation, South Africa's press opposed Mandela's election, fearing continued ethnic strife, instead supporting the National or Democratic Party. Mandela devoted much time to fundraising for the ANC, touring North America, Europe and Asia to meet wealthy donors, including former supporters of the apartheid regime. He also urged a reduction in the voting age from 18 to 14; rejected by the ANC, this policy became the subject of ridicule.
Concerned that COSAG would undermine the election, particularly in the wake of the conflict in Bophuthatswana and the Shell House massacre—incidents of violence involving the AWB and Inkatha, respectively—Mandela met with Afrikaner politicians and generals, including P. W. Botha, Pik Botha and Constand Viljoen, persuading many to work within the democratic system. With de Klerk, he also convinced Inkatha's Buthelezi to enter the elections rather than launch a war of secession. As leaders of the two major parties, de Klerk and Mandela appeared on a televised debate; Mandela's offer to shake his hand surprised him, leading some commentators to deem it a victory for Mandela. The election went ahead with little violence, although an AWB cell killed 20 with car bombs. As widely expected, the ANC won a sweeping victory, taking 63% of the vote, just short of the two-thirds majority needed to unilaterally change the constitution. The ANC was also victorious in seven provinces, with Inkatha and the National Party each taking one. Mandela voted at the Ohlange High School in Durban, and though the ANC's victory assured his election as president, he publicly accepted that the election had been marred by instances of fraud and sabotage.
== Presidency of South Africa: 1994–1999 ==
The newly elected National Assembly's first act was to formally elect Mandela as South Africa's first black chief executive. His inauguration took place in Pretoria on 10 May 1994, televised to a billion viewers globally. The event was attended by four thousand guests, including world leaders from a wide range of geographic and ideological backgrounds. Mandela headed a Government of National Unity dominated by the ANC—which had no experience of governing by itself—but containing representatives from the National Party and Inkatha. Under the Interim Constitution, Inkatha and the National Party were entitled to seats in the government by virtue of winning at least 20 seats. In keeping with earlier agreements, both de Klerk and Thabo Mbeki were given the position of Deputy President. Although Mbeki had not been his first choice for the job, Mandela grew to rely heavily on him throughout his presidency, allowing him to shape policy details. Moving into the presidential office at Tuynhuys in Cape Town, Mandela allowed de Klerk to retain the presidential residence in the Groote Schuur estate, instead settling into the nearby Westbrooke manor, which he renamed "Genadendal", meaning "Valley of Mercy" in Afrikaans. Retaining his Houghton home, he also had a house built in his home village of Qunu, which he visited regularly, meeting with locals, and judging tribal disputes.
Aged 76, he faced various ailments, and although exhibiting continued energy, he felt isolated and lonely. He often entertained celebrities, such as Michael Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg and the Spice Girls, and befriended wealthy businessmen, like Harry Oppenheimer of Anglo American. He also met with Queen Elizabeth II on her March 1995 state visit to South Africa, which earned him strong criticism from ANC anti-capitalists. Despite his opulent surroundings, Mandela lived simply, donating a third of his R 552,000 annual income to the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, which he had founded in 1995. Although dismantling press censorship, speaking out in favour of freedom of the press and befriending many journalists, Mandela was critical of much of the country's media, noting that it was overwhelmingly owned and run by middle-class whites and believing that it focused too heavily on scaremongering about crime.
In December 1994, Mandela published Long Walk to Freedom, an autobiography based around a manuscript he had written in prison, augmented by interviews conducted with American journalist Richard Stengel. In late 1994, he attended the 49th conference of the ANC in Bloemfontein, at which a more militant national executive was elected, among them was his wife, Winnie Mandela; although she expressed an interest in reconciling, Nelson initiated divorce proceedings in August 1995. By 1995, he had entered into a relationship with Graça Machel, a Mozambican political activist 27 years his junior who was the widow of former president Samora Machel. They had first met in July 1990 when she was still in mourning, but their friendship grew into a partnership, with Machel accompanying him on many of his foreign visits. She turned down Mandela's first marriage proposal, wanting to retain some independence and dividing her time between Maputo and Johannesburg.
=== National reconciliation ===
Presiding over the transition from apartheid minority rule to a multicultural democracy, Mandela saw national reconciliation as the primary task of his presidency. Having seen other post-colonial African economies damaged by the departure of white elites, Mandela worked to reassure South Africa's white population that they were protected and represented in "the Rainbow Nation". Although his Government of National Unity would be dominated by the ANC, he attempted to create a broad coalition by appointing de Klerk as Deputy President and appointing other National Party officials as ministers for Agriculture, Environment, and Minerals and Energy, as well as naming Buthelezi as Minister for Home Affairs. The other cabinet positions were taken by ANC members, many of whom—like Joe Modise, Alfred Nzo, Joe Slovo, Mac Maharaj and Dullah Omar—had long been comrades of Mandela, although others, such as Tito Mboweni and Jeff Radebe, were far younger. Mandela's relationship with de Klerk was strained; Mandela thought that de Klerk was intentionally provocative, and de Klerk felt that he was being intentionally humiliated by the president. In January 1995, Mandela heavily chastised de Klerk for awarding amnesty to 3,500 police officers just before the election, and later criticised him for defending former Minister of Defence Magnus Malan when the latter was charged with murder.
Mandela personally met with senior figures of the apartheid regime, including lawyer Percy Yutar and Hendrik Verwoerd's widow, Betsie Schoombee, also laying a wreath by the statue of Afrikaner hero Daniel Theron. Emphasising personal forgiveness and reconciliation, he announced that "courageous people do not fear forgiving, for the sake of peace." He encouraged black South Africans to get behind the previously hated national rugby team, the Springboks, as South Africa hosted the 1995 Rugby World Cup. Mandela wore a Springbok shirt at the final against New Zealand, and after the Springboks won the match, Mandela presented the trophy to captain Francois Pienaar, an Afrikaner. This was widely seen as a major step in the reconciliation of white and black South Africans; as de Klerk later put it, "Mandela won the hearts of millions of white rugby fans." Mandela's efforts at reconciliation assuaged the fears of white people, but also drew criticism from more militant black people. Among the latter was his estranged wife, Winnie, who accused the ANC of being more interested in appeasing the white community than in helping the black majority.
Mandela oversaw the formation of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate crimes committed under apartheid by both the government and the ANC, appointing Tutu as its chair. To prevent the creation of martyrs, the commission granted individual amnesties in exchange for testimony of crimes committed during the apartheid era. Dedicated in February 1996, it held two years of hearings detailing rapes, torture, bombings and assassinations before issuing its final report in October 1998. Both de Klerk and Mbeki appealed to have parts of the report suppressed, though only de Klerk's appeal was successful. Mandela praised the commission's work, stating that it "had helped us move away from the past to concentrate on the present and the future".
=== Domestic programmes ===
Mandela's administration inherited a country with a huge disparity in wealth and services between white and black communities. Of a population of 40 million, around 23 million lacked electricity or adequate sanitation, and 12 million lacked clean water supplies, with 2 million children not in school and a third of the population illiterate. There was 33% unemployment, and just under half of the population lived below the poverty line. Government financial reserves were nearly depleted, with a fifth of the national budget being spent on debt repayment, meaning that the extent of the promised Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) was scaled back, with none of the proposed nationalisation or job creation. In 1996, the RDP was replaced with a new policy, Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR), which maintained South Africa's mixed economy but placed an emphasis on economic growth through a framework of market economics and the encouragement of foreign investment; many in the ANC derided it as a neo-liberal policy that did not address social inequality, no matter how Mandela defended it. In adopting this approach, Mandela's government adhered to the "Washington consensus" advocated by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
Under Mandela's presidency, welfare spending increased by 13% in 1996/97, 13% in 1997/98, and 7% in 1998/99. The government introduced parity in grants for communities, including disability grants, child maintenance grants and old-age pensions, which had previously been set at different levels for South Africa's different racial groups. In 1994, free healthcare was introduced for children under six and pregnant women, a provision extended to all those using primary level public sector health care services in 1996. By the 1999 election, the ANC could boast that due to their policies, 3 million people were connected to telephone lines, 1.5 million children were brought into the education system, 500 clinics were upgraded or constructed, 2 million people were connected to the electricity grid, water access was extended to 3 million people, and 750,000 houses were constructed, housing nearly 3 million people.
The Land Reform Act 3 of 1996 safeguarded the rights of labour tenants living on farms where they grew crops or grazed livestock. This legislation ensured that such tenants could not be evicted without a court order or if they were over the age of 65. Recognising that arms manufacturing was a key industry for the South African economy, Mandela endorsed the trade in weapons but brought in tighter regulations surrounding Armscor to ensure that South African weaponry was not sold to authoritarian regimes. Under Mandela's administration, tourism was increasingly promoted, becoming a major sector of the South African economy.
Critics like Edwin Cameron accused Mandela's government of doing little to stem the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the country; by 1999, 10% of South Africa's population were HIV positive. Mandela later admitted that he had personally neglected the issue, in part due to public reticence in discussing issues surrounding sex in South Africa, and that he had instead left the issue for Mbeki to deal with. Mandela also received criticism for failing to sufficiently combat crime; South Africa had one of the world's highest crime rates, and the activities of international crime syndicates in the country grew significantly throughout the decade. Mandela's administration was also perceived as having failed to deal with the problem of corruption.
Further problems were caused by the exodus of thousands of skilled white South Africans from the country, who were escaping the increasing crime rates, higher taxes and the impact of positive discrimination toward black people in employment. This exodus resulted in a brain drain, and Mandela criticised those who left. At the same time, South Africa experienced an influx of millions of illegal migrants from poorer parts of Africa; although public opinion toward these illegal immigrants was generally unfavourable, characterising them as disease-spreading criminals who were a drain on resources, Mandela called on South Africans to embrace them as "brothers and sisters".
=== Foreign affairs ===
Mandela expressed the view that "South Africa's future foreign relations [should] be based on our belief that human rights should be the core of international relations". Following the South African example, Mandela encouraged other nations to resolve conflicts through diplomacy and reconciliation. In September 1998, Mandela was appointed secretary-general of the Non-Aligned Movement, who held their annual conference in Durban. He used the event to criticise the "narrow, chauvinistic interests" of the Israeli government in stalling negotiations to end the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and urged India and Pakistan to negotiate to end the Kashmir conflict, for which he was criticised by both Israel and India. Inspired by the region's economic boom, Mandela sought greater economic relations with East Asia, in particular with Malaysia, although this was prevented by the 1997 Asian financial crisis. He extended diplomatic recognition to the People's Republic of China (PRC), who were growing as an economic force, and initially also to Taiwan, who were already longstanding investors in the South African economy. However, under pressure from the PRC, he cut recognition of Taiwan in November 1996, and he paid an official visit to Beijing in May 1999.
Mandela attracted controversy for his close relationship with Indonesian president Suharto, whose regime was responsible for mass human rights abuses, although on a July 1997 visit to Indonesia he privately urged Suharto to withdraw from the occupation of East Timor. He also faced similar criticism from the West for his government's trade links to Syria, Cuba and Libya and for his personal friendships with Castro and Gaddafi. Castro visited South Africa in 1998 to widespread popular acclaim, and Mandela met Gaddafi in Libya to award him the Order of Good Hope. When Western governments and media criticised these visits, Mandela lambasted such criticism as having racist undertones, and stated that "the enemies of countries in the West are not our enemies." Mandela hoped to resolve the long-running dispute between Libya and the United States and Britain over bringing to trial the two Libyans, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and Lamin Khalifah Fhimah, who were indicted in November 1991 and accused of sabotaging Pan Am Flight 103. Mandela proposed that they be tried in a third country, which was agreed to by all parties; governed by Scots law, the trial was held at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands in April 1999, and found one of the two men guilty.
Mandela echoed Mbeki's calls for an "African Renaissance", and he was greatly concerned with issues on the continent. He took a soft diplomatic approach to removing Sani Abacha's military junta in Nigeria but later became a leading figure in calling for sanctions when Abacha's regime increased human rights violations. In 1996, he was appointed chairman of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and initiated unsuccessful negotiations to end the First Congo War in Zaire. He also played a key role as a mediator in the ethnic conflict between Tutsi and Hutu political groups in the Burundian Civil War, helping to initiate a settlement which brought increased stability to the country but did not end the ethnic violence. In South Africa's first post-apartheid military operation, troops were ordered into Lesotho in September 1998 to protect the government of Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili after a disputed election had prompted opposition uprisings. The action was not authorised by Mandela himself, who was out of the country at the time, but by Buthelezi, who was serving as acting president during Mandela's absence, with the approval of Mandela and Mbeki.
=== Withdrawing from politics ===
The new Constitution of South Africa was agreed upon by parliament in May 1996, enshrining a series of institutions to place checks on political and administrative authority within a constitutional democracy. De Klerk opposed the implementation of this constitution, and that month he and the National Party withdrew from the coalition government in protest, claiming that the ANC were not treating them as equals. The ANC took over the cabinet positions formerly held by the Nationals, with Mbeki becoming sole Deputy President. Inkatha remained part of the coalition, and when both Mandela and Mbeki were out of the country in September 1998, Buthelezi was appointed "Acting President", marking an improvement in his relationship with Mandela. Although Mandela had often governed decisively in his first two years as president, he had subsequently increasingly delegated duties to Mbeki, retaining only a close personal supervision of intelligence and security measures. During a 1997 visit to London, he said that "the ruler of South Africa, the de facto ruler, is Thabo Mbeki" and that he was "shifting everything to him".
Mandela stepped down as ANC President at the party's December 1997 conference. He hoped that Ramaphosa would succeed him, believing Mbeki to be too inflexible and intolerant of criticism, but the ANC elected Mbeki regardless. Mandela and the Executive supported Jacob Zuma, a Zulu who had been imprisoned on Robben Island, as Mbeki's replacement for Deputy President. Zuma's candidacy was challenged by Winnie, whose populist rhetoric had gained her a strong following within the party, although Zuma defeated her in a landslide victory vote at the election.
Mandela's relationship with Machel had intensified; in February 1998, he publicly stated that he was "in love with a remarkable lady", and under pressure from Tutu, who urged him to set an example for young people, he organised a wedding for his 80th birthday, in July that year. The following day, he held a grand party with many foreign dignitaries. Although the 1996 constitution allowed the president to serve two consecutive five-year terms, Mandela had never planned to stand for a second term in office. He gave his farewell speech to Parliament on 29 March 1999 when it adjourned prior to the 1999 general elections, after which he retired. Although opinion polls in South Africa showed wavering support for both the ANC and the government, Mandela himself remained highly popular, with 80% of South Africans polled in 1999 expressing satisfaction with his performance as president.
== Post-presidency and final years ==
=== Continued activism and philanthropy: 1999–2004 ===
Retiring in June 1999, Mandela aimed to lead a quiet family life, divided between Johannesburg and Qunu. Although he set about authoring a sequel to his first autobiography, to be titled The Presidential Years, it remained unfinished and was only published posthumously in 2017. Mandela found such seclusion difficult and reverted to a busy public life involving a daily programme of tasks, meetings with world leaders and celebrities, and—when in Johannesburg—working with the Nelson Mandela Foundation, founded in 1999 to focus on rural development, school construction, and combating HIV/AIDS. Although he had been heavily criticised for failing to do enough to fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic during his presidency, he devoted much of his time to the issue following his retirement, describing it as "a war" that had killed more than "all previous wars"; affiliating himself with the Treatment Action Campaign, he urged Mbeki's government to ensure that HIV-positive South Africans had access to anti-retrovirals. Meanwhile, Mandela was successfully treated for prostate cancer in July 2001.
In 2002, Mandela inaugurated the Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture, and in 2003 the Mandela Rhodes Foundation was created at Rhodes House, University of Oxford, to provide postgraduate scholarships to African students. These projects were followed by the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory and the 46664 campaign against HIV/AIDS. He gave the closing address at the XIII International AIDS Conference in Durban in 2000, and in 2004, spoke at the XV International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, Thailand, calling for greater measures to tackle tuberculosis as well as HIV/AIDS. Mandela publicised AIDS as the cause of his son Makgatho's death in January 2005, to defy the stigma about discussing the disease.
Publicly, Mandela became more vocal in criticising Western powers. He strongly opposed the 1999 NATO intervention in Kosovo and called it an attempt by the world's powerful nations to police the entire world. In 2003, he spoke out against the plans for the United States to launch a war in Iraq, describing it as "a tragedy" and lambasting US president George W. Bush and British prime minister Tony Blair (whom he referred to as an "American foreign minister") for undermining the UN, saying, "All that (Mr. Bush) wants is Iraqi oil". He attacked the United States more generally, asserting that "If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the United States of America", citing the atomic bombing of Japan; this attracted international controversy, although he later improved his relationship with Bush. Retaining an interest in the Lockerbie suspect, he visited Megrahi in Barlinnie prison and spoke out against the conditions of his treatment, referring to them as "psychological persecution".
=== "Retiring from retirement": 2004–2013 ===
In June 2004, aged 85 and amid failing health, Mandela announced that he was "retiring from retirement" and retreating from public life, remarking, "Don't call me, I will call you." Although continuing to meet with close friends and family, the foundation discouraged invitations for him to appear at public events and denied most interview requests.
He retained some involvement in international affairs. In 2005, he founded the Nelson Mandela Legacy Trust, travelling to the United States to speak before the Brookings Institution and the NAACP on the need for economic assistance to Africa. He spoke with US senator Hillary Clinton and President George W. Bush and first met the then-senator Barack Obama. Mandela also encouraged Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe to resign over growing human rights abuses in the country. When this proved ineffective, he spoke out publicly against Mugabe in 2007, asking him to step down "with residual respect and a modicum of dignity". That year, Mandela, Machel and Desmond Tutu convened a group of world leaders in Johannesburg to contribute their wisdom and independent leadership to some of the world's toughest problems. Mandela announced the formation of this new group, The Elders, in a speech delivered on his 89th birthday.
Mandela's 90th birthday was marked across the country on 18 July 2008; a tribute concert was held in Hyde Park, London. Throughout Mbeki's presidency, Mandela continued to support the ANC, usually overshadowing Mbeki at any public events that the two attended. Mandela was more at ease with Mbeki's successor, Zuma, although the Nelson Mandela Foundation was upset when his grandson, Mandla Mandela, flew him out to the Eastern Cape to attend a pro-Zuma rally in the midst of a storm in 2009.
In 2004, Mandela successfully campaigned for South Africa to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup, declaring that there would be "few better gifts for us" in the year marking a decade since the fall of apartheid. Despite maintaining a low profile during the event due to ill health, Mandela made his final public appearance during the World Cup closing ceremony, where he received much applause. Between 2005 and 2013, Mandela, and later his family, were embroiled in a series of legal disputes regarding money held in family trusts for the benefit of his descendants. In mid-2013, as Mandela was hospitalised for a lung infection in Pretoria, his descendants were involved in an intra-family legal dispute relating to the burial place of Mandela's children, and ultimately Mandela himself.
=== Illness and death: 2011–2013 ===
In February 2011, Mandela was briefly hospitalised with a respiratory infection, attracting international attention, before being re-admitted for a lung infection and gallstone removal in December 2012. After a successful medical procedure in early March 2013, his lung infection recurred and he was briefly hospitalised in Pretoria. In June 2013, his lung infection worsened and he was readmitted to a Pretoria hospital in serious condition. The Archbishop of Cape Town Thabo Makgoba visited Mandela at the hospital and prayed with Machel, while Zuma cancelled a trip to Mozambique to visit him the following day. In September 2013, Mandela was discharged from hospital, although his condition remained unstable.
After suffering from a prolonged respiratory infection, Mandela died on 5 December 2013 at the age of 95, at around 20:50 local time at his home in Houghton, surrounded by his family. Zuma publicly announced his death on television, proclaiming ten days of national mourning, a memorial service held at Johannesburg's FNB Stadium on 10 December 2013, and 8 December as a national day of prayer and reflection. Mandela's body lay in state from 11 to 13 December at the Union Buildings in Pretoria and a state funeral was held on 15 December in Qunu. Approximately 90 representatives of foreign states travelled to South Africa to attend memorial events. It was later revealed that 300 million rand (about 20 million dollars) originally earmarked for humanitarian development projects had been redirected to finance the funeral. The media was awash with tributes and reminiscences, while images of tributes to Mandela proliferated across social media. His US$4.1 million estate was left to his widow, other family members, staff, and educational institutions.
== Political ideology ==
Mandela identified as both an African nationalist, an ideological position he held since joining the ANC, and as a socialist. He was a practical politician, rather than an intellectual scholar or political theorist. According to biographer Tom Lodge, "for Mandela, politics has always been primarily about enacting stories, about making narratives, primarily about morally exemplary conduct, and only secondarily about ideological vision, more about means rather than ends."
The historian Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni described Mandela as a "liberal African nationalist–decolonial humanist", while political analyst Raymond Suttner cautioned against labelling Mandela a liberal and stated that Mandela displayed a "hybrid socio-political make-up". Mandela adopted some of his political ideas from other thinkers—among them Indian independence leaders like Gandhi and Nehru, African American civil rights activists, and African nationalists like Nkrumah—and applied them to the South African situation. At the same time, he rejected other aspects of their thought, such as the anti-white sentiment of many African nationalists. In doing so he synthesised both counter-cultural and hegemonic views, for instance by drawing upon ideas from the then-dominant Afrikaner nationalism in promoting his anti-apartheid vision.
His political development was strongly influenced by his legal training and practice, in particular his hope to achieve change not through violence but through "legal revolution". Over the course of his life, he began by advocating a path of non-violence, later embracing violence, and then adopting a non-violent approach to negotiation and reconciliation. When endorsing violence, he did so because he saw no alternative, and was always pragmatic about it, perceiving it as a means to get his opponent to the negotiating table. He sought to target symbols of white supremacy and racist oppression rather than white people as individuals and was anxious not to inaugurate a race war in South Africa. This willingness to use violence distinguishes Mandela from the ideology of Gandhism, with which some commentators have sought to associate him.
=== Democracy ===
Although he presented himself in an autocratic manner in several speeches, Mandela was a devout believer in democracy and abided by majority decisions even when deeply disagreeing with them. He had exhibited a commitment to the values of democracy and human rights since at least the 1960s. He held a conviction that "inclusivity, accountability and freedom of speech" were the fundamentals of democracy, and was driven by a belief in natural and human rights. Suttner argued that there were "two modes of leadership" that Mandela adopted. On one side he adhered to ideas about collective leadership, although on the other believed that there were scenarios in which a leader had to be decisive and act without consultation to achieve a particular objective.
According to Lodge, Mandela's political thought reflected tensions between his support for liberal democracy and pre-colonial African forms of consensus decision making. He was an admirer of British-style parliamentary democracy, stating that, "I regard the British Parliament as the most democratic institution in the world, and the independence and impartiality of its judiciary never fail to arouse my admiration." In this he has been described as being committed to "the Euro-North American modernist project of emancipation", something which distinguishes him from other African nationalist and socialist leaders like Nyerere who were concerned about embracing styles of democratic governance that were Western, rather than African, in origin. Mandela nevertheless also expressed admiration for what he deemed to be indigenous forms of democracy, describing Xhosa traditional society's mode of governance as "democracy in its purest form".
=== Socialism and Marxism ===
Mandela advocated the ultimate establishment of a classless society, with Sampson describing him as being "openly opposed to capitalism, private land-ownership and the power of big money". Mandela was influenced by Marxism, and during the revolution he advocated scientific socialism. He denied being a communist at the Treason Trial, and maintained this stance both when later talking to journalists, and in his autobiography, where he outlined that the cooperation with the SACP was pragmatic, asking rhetorically, "who is to say that we were not using them?" According to the sociologist Craig Soudien, "sympathetic as Mandela was to socialism, a communist he was not." Conversely, the biographer David Jones Smith stated that Mandela "embraced communism and communists" in the late 1950s and early 1960s, while the historian Stephen Ellis commented that Mandela had assimilated much of the Marxist–Leninist ideology by 1960.
Ellis also found evidence that Mandela had been an active member of the South African Communist Party (SACP) during the late 1950s and early 1960s, something that was confirmed after his death by both the ANC and the SACP, the latter of which claimed that he was not only a member of the party, but also served on its Central Committee. His membership had been hidden by the ANC, aware that knowledge of Mandela's former SACP involvement might have been detrimental to his attempts to attract support from Western countries. Mandela's view of these Western governments differed from those of Marxist–Leninists, for he did not believe that they were anti-democratic or reactionary and remained committed to democratic systems of governance.
The 1955 Freedom Charter, which Mandela had helped create, called for the nationalisation of banks, gold mines and land, to ensure equal distribution of wealth. Despite these beliefs, Mandela initiated a programme of privatisation during his presidency in line with trends in other countries of the time. It has been repeatedly suggested that Mandela would have preferred to develop a social democratic economy in South Africa but that this was not feasible as a result of the international political and economic situation during the early 1990s. This decision was in part influenced by the fall of the socialist states in the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc during the early 1990s.
== Personality and personal life ==
Mandela was widely considered a charismatic leader, described by biographer Mary Benson as "a born mass leader who could not help magnetising people". He was highly image conscious and throughout his life always sought out fine quality clothes, with many commentators believing that he carried himself in a regal manner. His aristocratic heritage was repeatedly emphasised by supporters, thus contributing to his "charismatic power". While living in Johannesburg in the 1950s, he cultivated the image of the "African gentleman", having "the pressed clothes, correct manners, and modulated public speech" associated with such a position. In doing so, Lodge argued that Mandela became "one of the first media politicians ... embodying a glamour and a style that projected visually a brave new African world of modernity and freedom". Mandela was known to change his clothes several times a day, and he became so associated with highly coloured Batik shirts after assuming the presidency that they came to be known as "Madiba shirts".
For political scientists Betty Glad and Robert Blanton, Mandela was an "exceptionally intelligent, shrewd, and loyal leader". His official biographer, Anthony Sampson, commented that he was a "master of imagery and performance", excelling at presenting himself well in press photographs and producing sound bites. His public speeches were presented in a formal, stiff manner, and often consisted of clichéd set phrases. He typically spoke slowly, and carefully chose his words. Although he was not considered a great orator, his speeches conveyed "his personal commitment, charm and humour".
Mandela was a private person who often concealed his emotions and confided in very few people. Privately, he lived an austere life, refusing to drink alcohol or smoke, and even as president made his own bed. Renowned for his mischievous sense of humour, he was known for being both stubborn and loyal, and at times exhibited a quick temper. He was typically friendly and welcoming, and appeared relaxed in conversation with everyone, including his opponents. A self-described Anglophile, he claimed to have lived by the "trappings of British style and manners". Constantly polite and courteous, he was attentive to all, irrespective of their age or status, and often talked to children or servants. He was known for his ability to find common ground with very different communities. In later life, he always looked for the best in people, even defending political opponents to his allies, who sometimes thought him too trusting of others. He was fond of Indian cuisine, and had a lifelong interest in archaeology and boxing.
He was raised in the Methodist denomination of Christianity; the Methodist Church of Southern Africa claimed that he retained his allegiance to them throughout his life. On analysing Mandela's writings, the theologian Dion Forster described him as a Christian humanist, adding that his thought relied to a greater extent on the Southern African concept of Ubuntu than on Christian theology. According to Sampson, Mandela never had "a strong religious faith", while Elleke Boehmer stated that Mandela's religious belief was "never robust".
Mandela was very self-conscious about being a man and regularly made references to manhood. He was heterosexual, and biographer Fatima Meer said that he was "easily tempted" by women. Another biographer, Martin Meredith, characterised him as being "by nature a romantic", highlighting that he had relationships with various women. Mandela was married three times, fathered six children, and had seventeen grandchildren and at least seventeen great-grandchildren. He could be stern and demanding of his children, although he was more affectionate with his grandchildren. His first marriage was to Evelyn Ntoko Mase in October 1944; they divorced in March 1958 under the multiple strains of his alleged adultery and constant absences, devotion to revolutionary agitation, and the fact that she was a Jehovah's Witness, a religion requiring political neutrality. Mandela's second wife was the social worker Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, whom he married in June 1958. They divorced in March 1996, following reports of her affairs and her involvement in political corruption and violence. Mandela married his third wife, Graça Machel, on his 80th birthday in July 1998.
Biographers have noted that Mandela's early life included complex and often private relationships. British journalist David James Smith, author of Young Mandela, noted: "He constantly had a multiplicity of relationships in those years... Zindzi [his daughter] told me he was a bit of a player and she wouldn't be surprised if more children came forward".
In 2010, the South African newspaper Mail & Guardian reported the case of Mpho Pule, who believed she was Mandela's daughter and had attempted multiple times to meet Mandela. Pule claimed to have learned in 1998 from her grandmother that she was the result of a brief relationship between Mandela and Seipati Monakali in Cape Town in 1945. She died in 2009. Mandela's grandson, Mandla Mandela, dismissed the claim due to the lack of DNA evidence. Verne Harris of the Nelson Mandela Foundation acknowledged that Pule's account aligned with Mandela's historical timeline but deferred responsibility to the family.
In 2013, Onica Nyembezi Mothoa claimed to be Mandela's daughter, born in 1947 to Sophie Majeni, a domestic worker in Pretoria. Mothoa alleged that her mother had a relationship with Mandela during the 1940s and was forced into hiding due to fears of political repercussions under apartheid. Mothoa claimed to have made several unsuccessful attempts to meet Mandela from as early as 2003.
== Reception and legacy ==
By the time of his death, within South Africa Mandela was widely considered both "the father of the nation" and "the founding father of democracy". Outside of South Africa, he was a "global icon", with the scholar of South African studies Rita Barnard describing him as "one of the most revered figures of our time". One biographer considered him "a modern democratic hero". Some have portrayed Mandela in messianic terms, in contrast to his own statement that "I was not a messiah, but an ordinary man who had become a leader because of extraordinary circumstances." He is often cited alongside Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. as one of the 20th century's exemplary anti-racist and anti-colonial leaders. Boehmer described him as "a totem of the totemic values of our age: toleration and liberal democracy" and "a universal symbol of social justice".
Mandela's international fame emerged during his incarceration in the 1980s, when he became the world's most famous political prisoner, a symbol of the anti-apartheid cause, and an icon for millions who embraced the ideal of human equality. In 1986, Mandela's biographer characterised him as "the embodiment of the struggle for liberation" in South Africa. Meredith stated that in becoming "a potent symbol of resistance" to apartheid during the 1980s, he had gained "mythical status" internationally. Sampson commented that even during his life, this myth had become "so powerful that it blurs the realities", converting Mandela into "a secular saint". Within a decade of the end of his presidency, Mandela's era was widely thought of as "a golden age of hope and harmony", with much nostalgia being expressed for it. His name was often invoked by those criticising his successors like Mbeki and Zuma. Across the world, Mandela earned international acclaim for his activism in overcoming apartheid and fostering racial reconciliation, coming to be viewed as "a moral authority" with a great "concern for truth". Mandela's iconic status has been blamed for concealing the complexities of his life.
Mandela generated controversy throughout his career as an activist and politician, having detractors on both the right and the left. During the 1980s, Mandela was widely labelled a terrorist by prominent political figures in the Western world for his embrace of political violence. According to Thatcher, for instance, the ANC was "a typical terrorist organisation". The US government's State and Defense departments officially designated the ANC as a terrorist organisation, resulting in Mandela remaining on their terrorism watch-list until 2008. On the left, some voices in the ANC—among them Frank B. Wilderson III—accused him of selling out for agreeing to enter negotiations with the apartheid government and for not implementing the reforms of the Freedom Charter during his presidency. According to Barnard, "there is also a sense in which his chiefly bearing and mode of conduct, the very respect and authority he accrued in representing his nation in his own person, went against the spirit of democracy", and concerns were similarly expressed that he placed his own status and celebrity above the transformation of his country. His government would be criticised for its failure to deal with both the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the high levels of poverty in South Africa.
The "Mandela effect" refers to false memories shared by a large group of people. The term originated due to the widespread false memory of Nelson Mandela dying in prison in the 1980s.
=== Orders, decorations, monuments, and honours ===
Over the course of his life, Mandela was given more than 250 awards, accolades, prizes, honorary degrees and citizenships in recognition of his political achievements. Among his awards were the Nobel Peace Prize, the US Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Soviet Union's Lenin Peace Prize, and the Libyan Al-Gaddafi International Prize for Human Rights. In 1990, India awarded him the Bharat Ratna, and in 1992 Pakistan gave him their Nishan-e-Pakistan. The same year, he was awarded the Atatürk Peace Award by Turkey; he at first refused the award, citing human rights violations committed by Turkey at the time, but later accepted the award in 1999. He was appointed to the Order of Isabella the Catholic and the Order of Canada, and was the first living person to be made an honorary Canadian citizen. Queen Elizabeth II appointed him as a Bailiff Grand Cross of the Order of St. John and granted him membership in the Order of Merit.
In 2004, Johannesburg granted Mandela the Freedom of the City, and in 2008 a Mandela statue was unveiled at the spot where Mandela was released from prison. On the Day of Reconciliation 2013, a bronze statue of Mandela was unveiled at Pretoria's Union Buildings. In November 2009, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed Mandela's birthday, 18 July, as "Mandela Day", marking his contribution to the anti-apartheid struggle. It called on individuals to donate 67 minutes to doing something for others, commemorating the 67 years that Mandela had been a part of the movement. In 2015 the UN General Assembly named the amended Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners as "the Mandela Rules" to honour his legacy. Subsequently, the years 2019 to 2028 were also designated the United Nations Nelson Mandela Decade of Peace.
=== Biographies and popular media ===
The first biography of Mandela was based on brief interviews with him that the author, Mary Benson, had conducted in the 1960s. Two authorised biographies were later produced by friends of Mandela. The first was Fatima Meer's Higher Than Hope, which was heavily influenced by Winnie and thus placed great emphasis on Mandela's family. The second was Anthony Sampson's Mandela, published in 1999. Other biographies included Martin Meredith's Mandela, first published in 1997, and Tom Lodge's Mandela, brought out in 2006.
Since the late 1980s, Mandela's image began to appear on a proliferation of items, among them "photographs, paintings, drawings, statues, public murals, buttons, t-shirts, refrigerator magnets, and more", items that have been characterised as "Mandela kitsch". In the 1980s he was the subject of several songs, such as The Specials' "Free Nelson Mandela", Hugh Masekela's "Bring Him Back Home (Nelson Mandela)", and Johnny Clegg's "Asimbonanga (Mandela)", which helped to bring awareness of his imprisonment to an international audience.
Mandela has also been depicted in films on multiple occasions. Some of these, such as the 2013 feature film Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, the 2017 miniseries Madiba and the 1996 documentary Mandela, have focused on covering his adult life in entirety or until his inaugural as president. Others, such as the 2009 feature film Invictus and the 2010 documentary The 16th Man, have focused on specific events in his life. Lukhele has argued that in Invictus and other films, "the America film industry" has played a significant part in "the crafting of Mandela's global image". |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Bowl_XLIII | Super Bowl XLIII | Super Bowl XLIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champions Pittsburgh Steelers and the National Football Conference (NFC) champions Arizona Cardinals to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 2008 season. The Steelers defeated the Cardinals by the score of 27–23. The game was played on February 1, 2009, at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.
With this victory, the Steelers became the first team to win six Super Bowl championships. The win was also the Steelers' second Super Bowl victory in four years, after winning Super Bowl XL at the end of the 2005 season. The Cardinals entered the game seeking their first NFL title since 1947, the longest championship drought in the league. The club became an unexpected winner during the regular season, compiling a 9–7 record, and earning a spot in the playoffs with the aid of head coach Ken Whisenhunt, who was the Steelers' offensive coordinator in Super Bowl XL, and the re-emergence of quarterback Kurt Warner, who was the Super Bowl MVP in Super Bowl XXXIV with his former team, the St. Louis Rams.
The Steelers jumped to a 17–7 halftime lead, aided by linebacker James Harrison's Super Bowl–record 100-yard interception return for a touchdown. Trailing 20–7 at the start of the fourth quarter, the Cardinals scored 16 consecutive points, including a safety that led to wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald's 64-yard touchdown reception, to take their first lead of the game with 2:37 remaining. But the Steelers marched 78 yards to score on wide receiver Santonio Holmes's 6-yard game-winning touchdown catch with 35 seconds left. Holmes, who caught nine passes for 131 yards and a touchdown, including four receptions for 73 yards on that final game-winning drive, was named Super Bowl MVP. He became the sixth wide receiver to win the award, half of whom at the time were Steelers players (Lynn Swann and Hines Ward).
The NBC television network broadcast attracted an average U.S. audience of 98.7 million viewers, making it the most watched Super Bowl in history at that time and the most watched Super Bowl of the 2000s. Many media outlets consider this one of the best Super Bowls from the 2000s, as well as one of the greatest Super Bowls of all time, due to the performance of both teams as well as its thrilling finale. This game was ranked No. 4 on NFL Top 10 on NFL Network for Top 10 Greatest Games of All Time and ranked No. 1 for Top 10 Super Bowls. As of 2025, this is the Steelers' most recent Super Bowl championship, and the last title by a Pennsylvania-based NFL team until their cross-state rival Philadelphia Eagles won Super Bowl LII in 2018. It was also the last time a Phoenix-based team reached the championship round of the four major North American sports leagues until the Phoenix Suns made the NBA Finals in 2021.
This was the last game to feature famed commentator John Madden, who retired two months after the game.
== Background ==
=== Host selection process ===
NFL owners voted to award Super Bowl XLIII to Tampa during their May 25, 2005 meeting held in Washington, D.C. Four cities were part of the bid process: Tampa (Raymond James Stadium), Atlanta (Georgia Dome), Houston (Reliant Stadium), and Miami (Dolphins Stadium). All four cities had previously hosted multiple Super Bowls. New York/New Jersey (Giants Stadium) was also an early candidate to host, a plan that had the support of NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue. NY/NJ had been a candidate for XLII, but decided to withdraw from that game and try for XLIII. Approximately $250-300 million were needed for upgrades and renovations to aging Giants Stadium. Ultimately the plans failed to materialize, and NY/NJ dropped out. At the same time, a separate group led by the Jets embarked on an alternate NY/NJ bid for West Side Stadium for XLIV.
The Atlanta host committee, led by Falcons owner Arthur Blank, made an aggressive bid for XLIII. Of the four finalists, Atlanta had the longest gap since last hosting (XXXIV). They promised $150 million in renovations to the Georgia Dome, and boasted their proximity to major attractions, practice facilities, as well as the ease of travel with Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Atlanta, however, was not without its detractors. The major ice storm that occurred during the days leading up to XXXIV, as well as Atlanta's reputation for traffic congestion were factors.
Miami was thought to be a long shot, as it was already scheduled to host XLI. Tampa promised warm weather, golfing opportunities, and a private league party at Busch Gardens. Meanwhile, Houston had the newest stadium of the four. The selection for XLIII was considered by some as particularly consequential, because with new stadiums planned in Dallas, Indianapolis, and potentially Los Angeles – and with XLIV tentatively assigned to West Side Stadium in Manhattan – it might be several years until another Super Bowl host opportunity would be available.
The vote was scheduled for a maximum of four rounds. A city receiving 3⁄4 of the votes would win outright. If no city received the necessary votes (24 of 32) during the first round, the last place vote-getter would be eliminated, and the process repeated. If the fourth round was reached, the vote would change to a simple majority (17 of 32). Houston was eliminated on the first ballot, and Miami was eliminated on the second. Neither Tampa nor Atlanta received enough votes in the third round, so the fourth round was decided by simple majority. Tampa won the vote, in what was described as a 'narrow' vote and an "upset".
It would be the second Super Bowl at Raymond James Stadium, and the fourth overall in Tampa. After losing out, the city of Atlanta would not land the Super Bowl again for another ten years (LIII). In February 2008, the Tampa Bay Super Bowl Host Committee unveiled the Super Bowl XLIII logo, featuring an abstract representation of a football stadium, with blue and green colors representing the regional waterways and landscapes of Tampa Bay. Eight yards of playing field are shown, alluding to the game's status as the championship of the 2008 NFL season. In a tradition starting with the XL logo, two stars—one red, representing the AFC, and one blue, representing the NFC—are flanked on either side of the XLIII logo. The tagline for Super Bowl XLIII as well as the 2008 NFL season is "Believe In Now".
=== Teams ===
The seeds of Super Bowl XLIII can be traced back to the end of the 2006 season. After winning Super Bowl XL in 2005, the Pittsburgh Steelers fell to an 8–8 record the following year. At the end of 2006, Bill Cowher ended his 15-year tenure as their head coach, leaving with a 149–90–1 regular season record and a 12–9 record in the playoffs. Offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt and assistant head coach Russ Grimm were considered most likely to succeed Cowher in Pittsburgh.
Without waiting to see if he would be hired by the Steelers, Whisenhunt accepted the head coaching job with the Arizona Cardinals, a team that at the time held the second-longest championship drought in U.S. sports (1947, with only the Chicago Cubs having a longer drought, winning their last championship in 1908) and had never advanced to the Super Bowl in their franchise history. In the 60 years since their last national championship, the team had won just one playoff game (20–7 over the Dallas Cowboys in the 1998 NFC Wild Card Game). The Steelers then passed over Grimm and instead hired Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Mike Tomlin. Once Tomlin was hired by the Steelers, Grimm joined Whisenhunt with the Cardinals in the same position as assistant head coach as he had with the Steelers, and the two of them began to remodel the perennial losing club into a winner like the Steelers.
Of historical note the game matched up two franchises previously merged into a single team, "Card-Pitt", for the 1944 season in response to the depleted rosters during World War II. The Steelers were going for their sixth Super Bowl win, which would place it in sole possession of the record for most Super Bowl wins, while the Cardinals were seeking their first league title since 1947 and only the second undisputed league championship in their history. (In 1925, the Pottsville Maroons (who, like Pittsburgh, were based in Pennsylvania) were fined and suspended for playing a game against the Notre Dame football team in another NFL franchise's territory, which resulted in the NFL naming the Cardinals, then based in Chicago, NFL champions in their place, a decision Pottsville disputed). It was the third Super Bowl in history to feature two pre-expansion-era (pre-1960) teams, joining Super Bowl XIV (Steelers vs. Los Angeles Rams, the latter of which coincidentally also went 9–7 in the regular season) and Super Bowl XLI (Indianapolis Colts vs. Chicago Bears). This game also featured the oldest franchise in the NFC playing the oldest franchise in the AFC. The Cardinals were founded in 1898 as an independent amateur team in Chicago. The Steelers, founded in 1933 as the Pittsburgh Pirates, are one of only three AFC teams that pre-date the 1960 NFL season. The Cardinals and Steelers played each other twice per season from 1950 through 1969, first in the American Conference (1950–52), then in the Eastern Conference (1953–66), and finally in the Century Division of the Eastern Conference (1967–69). Both clubs have been owned by the same family since 1933, with Charles Bidwill (Arizona) buying the Cardinals and Art Rooney, Sr. (Pittsburgh) becoming the first owner of the Steelers; as of 2025, the clubs are owned by descendants Michael Bidwill and Art Rooney II.
It also was the first time that two quarterbacks who previously started for a Super Bowl winning team (Kurt Warner and Ben Roethlisberger) opposed one another since Jim Plunkett's Los Angeles Raiders defeated Joe Theismann's Washington Redskins in Super Bowl XVIII. Warner started for the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXIV and Super Bowl XXXVI, winning the first (aided by a heads-up defensive play by linebacker Mike Jones on the final play of the game) and losing the second one (the first of Tom Brady's seven in ten attempts), while Roethlisberger was the winning quarterback in Super Bowl XL.
==== Pittsburgh Steelers ====
Under Tomlin's first season as head coach, the Steelers improved to a 10–6 record in 2007. The Steelers finished the 2008 season with the second best record in the AFC at 12–4, making the playoffs for the sixth time in the last eight seasons, and went on to earn their seventh Super Bowl trip in franchise history, breaking a three-way tie with the New England Patriots and Denver Broncos for second most Super Bowl appearances and most Super Bowl appearances by an AFC team.
The Steelers excelled on defense and led the NFL in fewest points (13.9) and yards (237.2) allowed per game, while also ranking second in sacks with 51. Up front, their line was anchored by defensive end Aaron Smith, who recorded 60 tackles and six sacks. Behind him two of the Steelers starting linebackers ranked among the top-ten sack leaders in the NFL, LaMarr Woodley (11.5 sacks) and Pro Bowler/NFL Defensive Player of the Year James Harrison (16 sacks). Pro Bowl linebacker James Farrior was also a big contributor, recording 3.5 sacks and leading the team with 133 tackles. The Steelers secondary was led by Pro Bowl safety Troy Polamalu, who ranked second in the NFL with a career-high seven interceptions.
For the fifth year in a row the Steelers offense was led by quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who finished the season with 3,301 passing yards and 17 touchdowns, with 15 interceptions. His top target was the Steelers' all-time receiving leader Hines Ward, who recorded his fifth 1,000-yard season with 81 receptions for 1,043 yards and seven touchdowns. Other reliable receiving options included Santonio Holmes (55 receptions for 821 yards), Nate Washington (40 receptions for 631 yards), and tight end Heath Miller (48 receptions for 514 yards). The Steelers' ground game was led by two-time Pro Bowl running back Willie Parker, who had rushed for over 1,200 yards in each of his previous three seasons. Injuries in 2008 limited him to 791 yards in 11 games, but running back Mewelde Moore proved to be a solid replacement, rushing for 588 yards and catching 40 passes for 320 yards.
For their efforts, Tomlin won the 2008 Motorola Coach of the Year Award and Harrison was named the 2008 GMC Sierra Defensive Player of the Year. The Steelers rolled into the post-season as the AFC's second seed, behind only the Tennessee Titans, who would finish 13–3 but lose in their divisional playoff game against the Baltimore Ravens.
==== Arizona Cardinals ====
The Cardinals’ path to their first Super Bowl appearance was extended. After winning the NFL Championship in 1947, the team did not win another postseason game until the 1998 season, following relocations to two different states. Up to that point, they had not returned to the playoffs after that season.
Under Whisenhunt's first season as head coach, the Cardinals finished with an 8–8 record in 2007. The Cardinals then started out the 2008 season strong, winning 7 of their first 10 games. But then things fell apart as the team lost 4 of their last 6, hitting a low point with a brutal 47–7 loss to the New England Patriots in week 16. The Cardinals' 34–21 win over the Seattle Seahawks in the following week was just enough for them to finish with a 9–7 record and earn the #4 seed in the playoffs, where they went on to earn their first trip to the Super Bowl in franchise history, becoming only the second NFL team to do so with nine wins up to that point (the 2011 New York Giants became the third, winning it all).
One reason for the Cardinals' success was the re-emergence of 37-year-old quarterback Kurt Warner. After going undrafted and spending a few years in the Arena Football League, Warner became the St. Louis Rams starting quarterback in 1999 due to a pre-season injury of starter Trent Green. He went on to lead the Rams to two Super Bowls and one Super Bowl win (in which Warner was named MVP), while also winning two NFL MVP Awards. But in 2002, Warner's production was drastically reduced by injuries and he soon lost his starting job to Marc Bulger. He eventually left the team to join the New York Giants, but once again he lost his starting job (replaced by Eli Manning) and signed on with the Cardinals in 2005. For the third time, Warner lost his starting job due to mediocre performances and injuries. After the season, the Cardinals selected Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Matt Leinart with their first round draft pick. This, combined with another mediocre performance in the 2006 season, appeared to severely limit Warner's chances of ever being a permanent starter on the team. However, early in the 2007 season, Warner was thrust into the starting lineup to replace an injured Leinart, and by the end of the team's season, he had re-emerged as one of the top quarterbacks in the league, throwing 27 touchdown passes with a passer rating of 89.8.
With his starting job on the team more secure, Warner posted one of his best seasons in 2008, throwing for 4,583 yards and 30 touchdowns, with only 14 interceptions, giving him an NFC-best 96.9 rating. His top targets were receivers Larry Fitzgerald (96 receptions, 1,431 yards, 12 touchdowns), Anquan Boldin (89 receptions, 1,038 yards, 11 touchdowns), and Steve Breaston (77 receptions, 1,006 yards, three touchdowns, 904 special teams return yards), who made the Cardinals the fifth team ever to feature three players with over 1,000 receiving yards. The Cardinals ground game was led by veteran running back Edgerrin James and rookie Tim Hightower. James led the team with 514 yards, while Hightower rushed for 399 and scored 10 touchdowns. He was also a reliable target out of the backfield, catching 34 passes for another 237 yards. Overall, Arizona's offense ranked fourth in yards per game (365.8) and third in scoring (422 points) in 2008.
The Cardinals' defense, however, had played inconsistently during the regular season, ranking just 28th in points allowed. Up front their line was anchored by defensive lineman Bertrand Berry, who recorded five sacks and forced two fumbles, along with tackle Darnell Dockett, known for his ability to blow up running plays. Linebacker Karlos Dansby was also a solid contributor, recording four sacks, two interceptions, and two forced fumbles, while also leading the team with 119 tackles. The Cardinals' secondary was led by rookie cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie (who led the team with four interceptions) and Pro Bowl safety Adrian Wilson (fourth on the team in tackles, 75).
=== Playoffs ===
The Steelers began their Super Bowl run with a 35–24 win over the fourth-seeded San Diego Chargers, gaining 342 yards, avoiding any turnovers, holding the ball for 36:30 (including for 14:43 in the third quarter alone, an NFL record for a single quarter), and scoring a touchdown in every quarter. Also, Parker appeared to be fully recovered from his regular season injuries, as evidenced by his career postseason high 147-yard, two-touchdown performance against the Chargers. The Steelers then went on to beat, for the third time in the season, their AFC North division archrivals, the sixth-seeded Baltimore Ravens 23–14 in the AFC Championship Game, holding them to 184 yards and forcing five turnovers.
The Cardinals advanced to the Super Bowl by beating the fifth-seeded Atlanta Falcons 30–24, the second-seeded Carolina Panthers, 33–13, and the sixth-seeded Philadelphia Eagles 32–25 in the NFC Championship Game, winning more playoff games this season than they had in their franchise history previously. Warner played exceptionally well in those games, throwing for a total of 661 yards and eight touchdowns, with only two interceptions, giving him a rating of 112.1. The Cardinals also got a big performance out of Larry Fitzgerald, who caught 23 passes for a postseason record 419 yards and five touchdowns. Meanwhile, the Cardinals' 28th-ranked defense showed major improvement in the postseason, forcing twelve turnovers in their three games. This included five interceptions and one fumble from the Panthers' Pro Bowl quarterback Jake Delhomme in the divisional round.
The Cardinals became the third NFL team to advance to the Super Bowl after winning three playoff games despite winning its division; the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl XXXVIII and the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLI were the other two. In addition, they would become the first team to advance to the Super Bowl as both a division winner and a No. 4 seed. The 2000 Baltimore Ravens were the last No. 4 seed to advance to a Super Bowl before this game, as they were the No. 4 seed in the AFC when they went on to win Super Bowl XXXV, but were a wild-card team before the 2002 realignment gave each conference four divisions.
=== Super Bowl pre-game notes ===
The AFC champion Steelers stayed at the InterContinental Tampa and held their pre-game practices at the training facility of the University of South Florida Bulls. The NFC champion Cardinals were based at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay and held their practices at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' training facility. Both teams arrived in the Tampa area on Monday, January 26.
Also on January 26, the NFL announced that the Super Bowl game would be one of the safest places in the United States during game time. Personnel from over 20 different federal agencies were on site to assist in protecting players and fans.
The Steelers entered the game as seven-point favorites over the Cardinals. Major factors for this included the view that the Steelers' defense was better than that of the Cardinals and the feeling that the AFC was an overall better conference than the NFC.
The Cardinals were the designated "home team," as was the case for all NFC champions in odd numbered Super Bowls. The Cardinals wore their red jerseys, which it has done at home since moving into University of Phoenix Stadium in 2006 after predominantly wearing their white jerseys at home for their first 18 years in Arizona to combat the intense heat of September and October. As a result, the Steelers wore white jerseys for their second consecutive Super Bowl.
The Steelers improved to 3–0 lifetime wearing white jerseys in the Super Bowl after the victory in Super Bowl XLIII (the Steelers would eventually lose to the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XLV while wearing white jerseys). The other two times the team wore white was as the "visiting team" against the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IX (during a time when the designated "home" team was required to wear their team-colored jerseys) and against the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XL despite being the "home team" that season but having road success in the playoffs. In addition, teams wearing white jerseys in the Super Bowl extended their winning streak to five games, dating back to Super Bowl XXXIX, currently the longest such streak between white and team colored jerseys in Super Bowl history. The Steelers also improved to 3–0 lifetime against NFC West teams in the Super Bowl, having previously beaten the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl XIV and the Seahawks in XL.
Another pre-game storyline involved backup Steelers tight end/fullback Sean McHugh. McHugh, who had spent the past three seasons with the Detroit Lions, made that team's 53-man roster at the end of the preseason, only to be released 24 hours later alongside linebacker Anthony Cannon in order for the Lions to make room for linebacker Ryan Nece and running back Marcus Thomas. The Steelers promptly signed McHugh after the team traded center Sean Mahan back to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in exchange for a draft pick before the start of the season. The subsequent media attention surrounding McHugh had to do with him being deemed not good enough for the Lions (a team that would finish 0–16, the NFL's first winless season since the expansion 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers), but good enough for a Super Bowl team such as the Steelers and being a valuable blocker for Ben Roethlisberger and Willie Parker. McHugh himself had mixed feelings about the situation, feeling bad for his former Lions teammates, but also feeling it's a little payback for the Lions for releasing him in the first place. McHugh would play in the Super Bowl as a blocker, much like his regular season role.
The Cardinals became the second team to have their city/state location painted in their end zone for a Super Bowl, as their end zone read "Arizona Cardinals." In Super Bowl XL, the Seattle Seahawks became the first team to have this, as their end zone read "Seattle Seahawks." For all other Super Bowl teams, end zones have just featured the team nickname. This was also the first Super Bowl to have the updated NFL logo painted at midfield.
== Economic effects ==
With all the cutbacks resulting from the severe economic downturn in the United States, the game was dubbed "The Recession Bowl." Restaurants were slow in business and many parties, including parties hosted by Playboy and Sports Illustrated were canceled. There were also 200 fewer sports journalists covering the game than at Super Bowl XLII the previous year. According to the online broker StubHub, tickets with a face value of $500 changed hands the week of the Super Bowl for an average $2,500—a 40% drop from Super Bowl XLII in 2008 and 16% lower than Super Bowl XL in 2006. Ford, Chrysler and General Motors, the Big Three automobile makers, decided not to purchase television advertisements following the three companies' business struggles in 2008 and early 2009.
== Broadcasting ==
=== Television ===
==== United States ====
The game was televised live in the United States on NBC, the network's first Super Bowl broadcast since Super Bowl XXXII at the end of the 1997 season.
Play-by-play announcer Al Michaels and color commentator John Madden were in the booth, with Andrea Kremer and Alex Flanagan serving as sideline reporters. Madden became the first person to have announced a Super Bowl for all of the four major U.S. television networks, having called five Super Bowls for CBS, three for Fox, and two for ABC prior to joining NBC in 2006. Meanwhile, Al Michaels was the third man to do play-by-play for a Super Bowl on NBC television (following in the footsteps of Curt Gowdy and Dick Enberg). Also, Michaels (who, like Madden, had moved from ABC to NBC in 2006) was the second person to serve as a Super Bowl play-by-play announcer for two major U.S. television networks (following Pat Summerall of CBS and Fox). This would prove to be the final game Madden would call, as he announced his retirement from broadcasting on April 16, 2009.
The pregame show, a record five hours long at the time, was hosted by the Football Night in America team headed by Bob Costas, and preceded by a two-hour special edition of Today hosted by the regular weekday team live from Tampa and the NFL Films—produced Road to the Super Bowl. Matt Millen was part of the coverage as a studio analyst. The Today contribution included portions of a taped interview with President Barack Obama and pictures of troops viewing the proceedings in Iraq.
The Super Bowl was one of two major professional sports championship series NBC broadcast in 2009, as they would also broadcast the Stanley Cup Finals. Both championship series involved teams from Pittsburgh winning championships. Mike Emrick, Eddie Olczyk, and Pierre McGuire mentioned this when they called the Stanley Cup Finals.
The broadcast was available in 1080i high definition. Super Bowl XLIII was also the final Super Bowl simulcast in the analog television format in the United States before the 2009 completion of nationwide digital television transition. The transition, originally scheduled for February 17 was pushed back to June 12, the same day the Penguins won the Stanley Cup.
In Tucson, Arizona and surrounding areas, the analog but not digital feed of the cable service from Comcast was interrupted by an unknown party, when 30 seconds from Playboy Enterprises-owned adult cable television channel Shorteez was broadcast to homes just after Larry Fitzgerald scored his fourth-quarter touchdown to give the Cardinals a 23–20 lead. Minutes before this occurred, 10 seconds of an end-credit segment from ClubJenna, another Playboy-owned channel, was shown. Comcast offered a $10 credit for customers who claimed to have seen the incident, and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced that it would investigate the cause of the incident. On February 4, 2011, Tucson Police and the FBI arrested Frank Tanori Gonzalez on suspicion of fraud and computer tampering in connection with the porn incident. Gonzalez eventually pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years of probation.
The telecast was also carried to U.S. service personnel stationed around the globe via the American Forces Network.
===== Ratings =====
With an average U.S. audience of 98.7 million viewers (and an estimated total viewership of 151.6 million), this was the third most watched Super Bowl in history, and the fourth most watched U.S. television program of any kind, trailing only Super Bowl XLV in 2011, which drew an average audience of 111 million; Super Bowl XLIV in 2010, average audience 106.5 million; and the final episode of M*A*S*H in 1983, average audience 106 million. However, the national Nielsen ratings of 42.0 was lower than the 43.3 rating for the previous year's game. The telecast drew a 53.6 rating in Pittsburgh and a 47.5 rating in Phoenix, first and ninth, respectively, among local markets.
===== Advertising =====
In addition to featuring the game's first 1-second TV ad (courtesy of Miller High Life), Super Bowl XLIII marked the first time that a 30-second commercial time slot cost up to US$3 million for the airtime alone, excluding production and talent costs. Many traditional advertisers, such as Anheuser-Busch and PepsiCo, bought multiple ads at discounted rates. None of the "Big Three" U.S. automakers (General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler) ran advertisements during the game; coupled with Cash4Gold.com's third-quarter ad, this was seen as a sign of how deep the recession that began in fall 2008 had become. A short trailer for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen premiered during the Super Bowl, a debut which director Michael Bay first revealed would occur in January. A preview of the upcoming Star Trek film also premiered during the game. However, with the weak economy, NBC was thought to have turned to companies already buying ad time for an additional purchase or two as set by the Los Angeles-based Forza Migliozzi agency, which would have eight advertisers simultaneously in one 30-second ad. SoBe and DreamWorks Animation aired a 3-D trailer for the upcoming film Monsters vs. Aliens, along with a 3-D ad for Sobe Life Water that featured Ray Lewis and Matt Light dancing Swan Lake (renamed Lizard Lake for this ad), as well as the promo for the upcoming episode of Chuck in 3-D. About 150 million "ColorCode 3-D" glasses were given away at grocery stores across the country for the ad. Hyundai also advertised its new Genesis Coupe in two 30-second commercials. All advertising slots were sold out one day before the game, resulting in sales of $206 million.
The top five ads as chosen by the USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter were:
Doritos' fan-made ad about "free Doritos" being seen in a "crystal ball", with different results for two co-workers. Joseph and Dave Herbert from Batesville, Indiana, creators of the ad, won US$1,000,000;
Budweiser's Clydesdale love affair with a dancing horse;
Another Budweiser ad seeing another Clydesdale playing fetch showing off after the beer wagon's Dalmatian fetches a small stick;
A Bridgestone ad with Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head driving in a toy car on a twisty road;
Another Doritos ad that shows the power of crunch with a woman being stripped down to her underwear, free money from an ATM and a policeman being turned into a monkey.
YouTube's top five in "Ad Blitz 2009" also saw the two Doritos ads finish first and fifth. The middle three featured E-Trade's Singing Baby ad, CareerBuilder.com's "The Official 2009 Super Bowl Commercial" and Pepsi Max's "I'm Good" finish second through fourth respectively.
Adbowl results reflected the following ranking:
Bridgestone: Taters
Bridgestone: Hot Item
Doritos: Crystal Ball
Coca-Cola: Heist
Pepsi Max: I'm Good
==== International ====
Albania: SuperSport
Australia: NFL Network coverage was simulcasted on ESPN Australia on Foxtel and Austar. NBC commentary and graphics were simulcast free-to-air on Network Ten and Ten HD. The Ten broadcast was anchored by a four-man panel from Melbourne that included analysis from Philadelphia Eagles punter, Australian Sav Rocca. Also shown on SBS starting at 10 am Australian Eastern Standard Time.
Austria: ORF1, ORF1 HD (midnight CET)
Brazil: ESPN Brasil. Paulo Antunes (commentating), Everaldo Marques (play-by-play) and André Kfouri (on field).
Canada: English-language network CTV aired the game live throughout Canada, simulcasting the NBC broadcast, with Canadian law requiring cable and satellite providers to replace NBC's broadcast with CTV's feed (which contains Canadian commercials). The French-language cable channel RDS (also owned by CTV) carried the game using NBC's video feed and its own announcers.
China: CCTV Sports, China Central Television and SMG (7 am, February 2 Beijing Time). Mainland only.
Croatia: SportKlub (11:55 pm CET)
Czech Republic and Slovakia: Nova Sport
Denmark: TV3+
Europe: ESPN America
Finland: Viasat Sport 1, Viasat Sport HD
France: France 2
Germany: ARD Das Erste (12:10 am CET)
Guatemala: ESPN Latin America
Hungary: Sport1 (Hungarian)
Iceland: Stöð 2 Sport
Ireland: TV3 (11 pm GMT)
Italy: Rai Due and Rai Sport Più (midnight CET), with Valerio Iafrate and Roberto Gotta, RAI's NFL hosts, as commentators. The digital transmission was in 16:9 and HD (where available).
Japan: NHK, Nippon Television and Gaora. (8 am, February 2 JST)
Mexico: The game was broadcast on both Televisa and TV Azteca, with both telecasts distributed in HDTV
Montenegro: Sport Klub (cable), Elmag (terrestrial) (11:55 pm CET)
New Zealand: ESPN Australia (NFL Network commentators, graphics/NBC simulcast)
Norway: Viasat Sport, Viasat Sport HD (midnight CET)
Peru: ESPN, Fox Sports Latin America.
Philippines: Balls and Solar Sports (both live using the feed from the NFL Network); C/S 9 (delayed)
Poland: nSport
Portugal: Sport TV. Also in high definition (16:9) (11 pm WET)
Russia: 7TV, NTV Plus Sport and NTV Plus HD Sport
Serbia: SportKlub (11:55 pm CET)
Singapore with Hong Kong, Malaysia and Indonesia: ASN (All Sports Network)
South Korea: SBS Sports (8 am, February 2 KST)
Spain: Digital+ in HD (midnight CET)
Sweden: TV6, Viasat Sport, Viasat Sport HD (midnight CET)
Taiwan: Videoland Television Network aired the game live at 7 am, February 2 UTC +8.
Turkey: Spormax. Also in high definition [16:9] 1 am EET
United Kingdom: The game was broadcast on Sky Sports and on BBC One with programming starting at 10 pm and at 11 pm GMT, respectively. This was one of only two NFL games broadcast on the BBC, the other being the international series. Coverage was presented by Jake Humphrey live from the venue, with summarizers Rod Woodson and Mike Carlson. Sky Sports' NFL host, Kevin Cadle, was in the studio with guests throughout the event, with co-presenter Nick Halling in Tampa providing analysis live from the event.
An international feed featured Bob Papa and Sterling Sharpe announcing, and was seen in 230 countries (including Antarctica) over 61 networks and 34 languages. ESPN Latin America also broadcast across Latin America.
=== Radio ===
On radio, Westwood One had the national English-language broadcast rights to the game in the United States and Canada. It was only made available to local affiliates as part of a 57-game package of regular season and post-season games. Stations were not allowed to stream the broadcast on their web sites. Marv Albert and Boomer Esiason called the game for the network. The teams' flagship stations also carried the game with their respective local announcers: WDVE-FM and WBGG-AM in Pittsburgh (with Bill Hillgrove and Tunch Ilkin announcing), and KTAR-AM/FM in Phoenix (with Dave Pasch and Ron Wolfley announcing). Univision Radio/United Stations carried a Spanish-language feed for Hispanophone American listeners (with Clemson Smith-Muñiz and David Crommett announcing).
Sirius XM Satellite Radio carried 13 game feeds in ten languages to Sirius subscribers, as well as to XM subscribers with the "Best of Sirius" package. In addition to the four US feeds mentioned above, Sirius carried the following international feeds:
United Kingdom: BBC Radio 5 Live (English; Arlo White announcing)
Russia: NTV Plus (Russian)
France: France 2 (French)
Japan: NHK (Japanese)
Germany: ARD (German)
Belgium: Telenet (Flemish)
China: SMG (Mandarin Chinese)
Italy: RAI (Italian; Iafrate-Gotta's TV audio)
Spain: Cadena Ser (Spanish)
FieldPass, the subscription Internet radio service provided by the league at NFL.com, carried most of these feeds, with select international feeds for free. Due to contractual restrictions, only Sirius XM and FieldPass were permitted to carry the local team broadcasts along with WDVE, WBGG, and KTAR, with the teams' other network radio affiliates instead carrying the Westwood One feed.
== Entertainment and other ceremonies ==
=== Pregame ===
Journey and the Bethune-Cookman University Marching Wildcats performed during the pre-game show, while Jennifer Hudson sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" (arranged by Chris Walden) in her first public appearance since the murder of her nephew, brother and mother. Hudson became the second consecutive alumna from the American Idol television series to perform the national anthem at a Super Bowl (Jordin Sparks sang the anthem at Super Bowl XLII). The national anthem was translated into American Sign Language by Kristen Santos. Following the anthem, the United States Air Force Thunderbirds performed a fly-over in their custom painted F-16C Fighting Falcons. John Legend performed a short concert several hours before the game, while Faith Hill performed "America the Beautiful" prior to Hudson's performance of the national anthem. Hill also performed in NBC's opening prior to the game. Also, the crew of US Airways Flight 1549 were recognized on field for their actions.
The NFL saluted four decades of champions during the coin toss ceremony and the Vince Lombardi Trophy presentation. The coin toss featured Roger Craig (Super Bowl XXIII, 1989), John Elway (Super Bowl XXXIII, 1999), and Lynn Swann (Super Bowl XIII, 1979). Craig followed the previous year's participants and fellow San Francisco 49ers Craig Walsh (son of Bill Walsh), Ronnie Lott, Jerry Rice, and Steve Young. General David Petraeus performed the actual coin toss. The Steelers called tails, but it landed on heads, so the Cardinals won the toss. Arizona deferred their choice to the second half, and the Steelers chose to receive, making it the first time in Super Bowl history that the coin toss winner kicked off to start the game. (The NFL had just changed the rule before the start of the season allowing the team that wins the coin toss to defer the choice to the second half, similar to that in college football and Canadian football.) By winning the toss, the Arizona Cardinals were the twelfth consecutive coin toss winner from the NFC, dating back to Super Bowl XXXII. Joe Namath (Super Bowl III, 1969) participated in the Vince Lombardi Trophy presentation and he previously participated in the coin toss in Super Bowl XXVIII. Namath, a native of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, ultimately handed the trophy to his hometown team.
=== Halftime ===
The Super Bowl XLIII halftime show, which was sponsored by Bridgestone for the second consecutive year, featured Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, with the Miami Horns and a gospel choir. Their halftime performance consisted of these songs in the following order:
"Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out"
"Born to Run"
"Working on a Dream"
"Glory Days"
Each of the numbers had at least one verse removed, in order to fit the overall performance in the intended 12-minute time limit. Springsteen had turned down numerous invitations to play at the Super Bowl before this one, unsure of its legitimacy, but finally accepted after realizing the prestige value.
=== Home video ===
The Steelers 2008 season/Super Bowl XLIII championship home video went on sale on DVD on February 24, 2009. One week later on March 3, it was released on Blu-ray, making it the first NFL Films home video release to be on Blu-ray Disc.
== Game summary ==
=== First quarter ===
The Steelers took the opening kickoff and moved down the field on a 71-yard scoring drive, with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger completing a 38-yard pass to wide receiver Hines Ward and a 21-yard strike to tight end Heath Miller, putting the ball on the Cardinals' 1-yard line. The Cardinals' defense kept the Steelers' offense out of the end zone for the first two plays, but on third down, Roethlisberger appeared to score on a 1-yard quarterback draw. However, a replay challenge by the Cardinals determined that his knee hit the ground as he was being tackled by defensive lineman Darnell Dockett before he could stretch the ball over the goal line. Rather than take the risk on fourth down, the Steelers settled for an 18-yard field goal by kicker Jeff Reed to take a 3–0 lead. The Steelers quickly forced a Cardinals punt and then drove back down the field for what would turn into more points. On the first play of their drive, Roethlisberger completed a 25-yard pass to wide receiver Santonio Holmes and followed it up with two 11-yard completions to Miller, the second of which was a 3rd-and-10 conversion.
=== Second quarter ===
On the second play of the second quarter, running back Gary Russell went into the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown run, increasing the Steelers' lead to 10–0. They became the first team to score on its first two drives since the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXXII. On defense, the Steelers held the Cardinals to just one drive and one first down in the first quarter, while gaining 135 yards.
The Cardinals responded with a nine-play, 83-yard scoring drive. First, quarterback Kurt Warner completed three passes to running back Edgerrin James for 26 yards, as well as two passes to wide receiver Steve Breaston for 20. Warner then completed a 45-yard strike to wide receiver Anquan Boldin to reach the Steelers' 1-yard line. On the next play, Warner nearly fell over after taking the snap, but he quickly regained his balance and threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to tight end Ben Patrick, cutting the Cardinals' deficit to 10–7. It was Patrick's only touchdown reception of the season. After an exchange of punts, Roethlisberger threw a pass that was deflected by defensive tackle Bryan Robinson and intercepted by linebacker Karlos Dansby at the Steelers' 34-yard line just before the two-minute warning. Seven plays later, the Cardinals reached the Steelers' 1-yard line with a chance to take the lead before halftime.
But with 18 seconds left, Warner's pass intended for Boldin was intercepted at the goal line by linebacker James Harrison, who then took off down the sideline for the then-longest play in Super Bowl history (having since been passed by Jacoby Jones' 108-yard kickoff return in Super Bowl XLVII), a 100-yard pick-six, increasing the Steelers' lead to 17–7 at halftime. Harrison faked a blitz and quietly moved into coverage to pick off Warner's pass. Cornerback Deshea Townsend asked the slower Harrison for the ball, but Harrison told him to block; Several Steelers defenders made multiple blocks downfield to help get Harrison into the end zone. The Ringer described the play as "like a Fast & Furious crew pulling off a bank heist." A booth review was called to verify that Harrison had broken the plane, as he was tackled at the goal line by Breaston and wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, and the ruling stood.
=== Third quarter ===
After forcing the Cardinals to punt to start the second half, the Steelers put together another long scoring drive. Aided by two 15-yard gains by Holmes and running back Willie Parker, as well as three personal foul penalties against the Cardinals' defense, including one during a field goal attempt, the Steelers moved the ball 79 yards in 15 plays and took 8:39 off the clock. However, despite picking up two first downs inside the Cardinals' 10-yard line, they were unable to get into the end zone, forcing them to settle for Reed's 21-yard field goal to increase their lead to 20–7.
=== Fourth quarter ===
After the teams traded punts again going into the fourth quarter, Warner led the Cardinals down the field on an eight-play, 87-yard scoring drive that took 3:57 off the clock, utilizing a no huddle offense. All eight plays of the drive were consecutive short passes by Warner, half of which were caught by Fitzgerald for a total gain of 31 yards, including a 1-yard touchdown in which Warner threw a fade pass to Fitzgerald, who made a leaping catch through tight coverage by cornerback Ike Taylor. The score cut the Cardinals' deficit to one possession at 20–14 with 7:33 left in the game.
On the Cardinals' next possession, they reached the Steelers' 26-yard line, but a holding penalty pushed them nearly out of field goal range. Warner then threw three consecutive incompletions, and the Cardinals elected to punt rather than risk a 53-yard field goal attempt. Ben Graham's 34-yard punt pinned the Steelers back at their own 1-yard line. After being stopped for no gain on the first two plays, Roethlisberger threw a 19-yard pass to Holmes, but Steelers center Justin Hartwig was flagged for offensive holding in the end zone, which not only nullified the catch, but gave the Cardinals a safety, cutting the Steelers' lead to 20–16 and forcing them to punt the ball away. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin later stated that giving up the safety didn't faze him, as it did not change how his team called plays for the rest of the game on either defense or offense. Taking over on their own 36-yard line after the free kick, the Cardinals took two plays to score, as Warner threw a pass to Fitzgerald on a post route. Fitzgerald caught the ball without breaking stride and took off down the middle of the field past the Steelers' secondary for a 64-yard touchdown reception, giving the Cardinals their first lead of the game, 23–20.
With a chance to mount a game-tying/winning drive, the Steelers got the ball back on their own 22-yard line with 2:37 left in the game and two timeouts remaining. On the first play, a holding penalty pushed them back to their own 12-yard line. Roethlisberger then completed a pass to Holmes for 14 yards. After an incompletion, Roethlisberger threw it to Holmes again for 13 yards. An 11-yard reception by wide receiver Nate Washington followed, and a 4-yard run by Roethlisberger forced the Steelers to burn their second timeout of the half. On the very next play, he completed a pass to Holmes, who took it 40 yards to the Cardinals' 6-yard line after safety Aaron Francisco tripped. Two plays later, Roethlisberger found running back Mewelde Moore covered in the flat, then Ward covered. He looked and then threw to Holmes, who ran a flag route in the right corner. Holmes caught the pass in the back corner of the end zone for a 6-yard touchdown reception, managing to keep both feet in bounds while landing on his toes before falling out of bounds. "My feet never left the ground," said Holmes. "All I did was extend my arms and use my toes as an extension to catch up to the ball." After a booth review, the touchdown stood and put the Steelers back in front with a 27–23 lead and 35 seconds remaining. Following the ensuing kickoff, Warner completed a 20-yard pass to Fitzgerald and a 13-yard pass to running back J. J. Arrington, moving the ball to the Steelers 44-yard line. With 15 seconds left, Warner prepared to attempt a Hail Mary pass, but linebacker LaMarr Woodley strip-sacked Warner, and defensive end Brett Keisel recovered the fumble, giving the ball back to the Steelers with five seconds left. Many viewers assumed that the play had not been reviewed for a possible incomplete pass, but NFL Head of Officiating Mike Pereira later explained that it actually was reviewed, unnoticed by the public: "We confirmed it was a fumble. The replay assistant in the replay booth saw it was clearly a fumble. The ball got knocked loose and was rolling in his hand before it started forward. He has to have total control." It was the first and only Super Bowl in which Warner was involved not to be decided on the final play of the game. Roethlisberger's ensuing kneeldown secured the Steelers' sixth Super Bowl victory, surpassing the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers to set a new NFL record for most Super Bowl wins by a team.
=== Box score ===
=== Statistical overview ===
In Super Bowl XLIII, the Cardinals and Steelers combined for the fewest rushing attempts (38) and the fewest rushing yards (91) in Super Bowl history. The Cardinals outgained the Steelers in both passing yards (374 to 234) and total yards (407 to 292), but were flagged for 11 penalties for 106 yards. The Cardinals' safety in the fourth quarter was only the sixth one scored in Super Bowl history and the first since Super Bowl XXV.
Warner completed 31 of 43 passes for 377 yards and three touchdowns, with one interception. His 377 yards was the second-most in Super Bowl history behind his own record of 414 yards in Super Bowl XXXIV. Eight years later at Super Bowl LI, Tom Brady would break Kurt Warner's record with 466 yards. Warner passed Joe Montana for most career yards in Super Bowl history with 1,156 (Montana threw for 1,142 yards in four games). Brady ultimately reached 2,071 yards in seven Super Bowls. Warner became the fifth quarterback in Super Bowl history to throw three touchdown passes in defeat (the others being Roger Staubach, Brett Favre, Jake Delhomme, and Donovan McNabb). He also became the first quarterback in Super Bowl history to have a pass intercepted and returned for a touchdown in two different Super Bowls and is also the second quarterback to throw a fourth-quarter touchdown in three different Super Bowls (Terry Bradshaw threw a fourth-quarter touchdown in all four of his Super Bowls).
Warner's top target was Fitzgerald, who caught seven passes for 127 yards and two touchdowns. Fitzgerald set a single-postseason record with seven touchdown receptions, passing Jerry Rice, who had six in the 1988 postseason. Fitzgerald as well as Holmes each had 100 yards receiving, marking the fourth time in Super Bowl history, one player from each team had over 100 yards in a Super Bowl. Michael Irvin and Andre Reed were the first in Super Bowl XXVII, followed by Deion Branch and Muhsin Muhammad in Super Bowl XXXVIII and Branch again a year later along with Terrell Owens in Super Bowl XXXIX.
Roethlisberger completed 21 of 30 passes for 256 yards and a touchdown, with one interception. Woodley had two sacks and a forced fumble, thus he continued setting NFL play-off records for consecutive multiple sack games by a player with 4. Cardinals defensive tackle Darnell Dockett had all of the Cardinals' three sacks, tying the Super Bowl record set by Reggie White in Super Bowl XXXI. Harrison's 100-yard interception return is still the longest interception return in Super Bowl history.
With this victory, the Steelers became the first team to win three Super Bowls in the same state. Their victories in Super Bowls X and XIII were both at the Miami Orange Bowl.
== Final statistics ==
Sources: NFL.com Super Bowl XLIII, Super Bowl XLIII Play Finder Pit, Super Bowl XLIII Play Finder Arz, USA Today Super Bowl XLIII Play by Play
=== Statistical comparison ===
=== Individual statistics ===
1Completions/attempts
2Carries
3Long gain
4Receptions
5Times targeted
== Starting lineups ==
Source:
Hall of Fame ‡
== Officials ==
The officials for the game were:
Referee: Terry McAulay, #77; second Super Bowl, refereed Super Bowl XXXIX.
Umpire: Roy Ellison #81; first of four Super Bowls (Super Bowl LII, LVII, LX)
Head linesman: Derick Bowers #74; first Super Bowl
Line judge: Mark Perlman #9; second of three Super Bowls (Super Bowl XL, XLIX)
Field judge: Greg Gautreaux #80; first Super Bowl
Side judge: Michael Banks #72; first Super Bowl
Back judge: Keith Ferguson #61; first of two Super Bowls (Super Bowl 50)
Replay official: Bob McGrath
IR video operator: Clayton Judge
Alternate officials
Referee: Ron Winter, #14
Umpire: Darrell Jenkins #76
Line judge: Darryll Lewis #130
Field judge: Doug Rosenbaum #67
Back judge: Billy Smith #2
== Post-game riots ==
In Pittsburgh, mostly in the South Side and Oakland neighborhoods, riots broke out on the streets after the Steelers' victory. Rioters (mostly college students) caused about $150,000 in estimated damages. More than 60 people were arrested during and after the rioting, and at least two students were suspended.
== Super Bowl ring ==
The ring for the Pittsburgh Steelers was designed and made by Jostens working with Dan Rooney and Art Rooney II. The designs were also shown to James Farrior, Hines Ward, Ben Roethlisberger and James Harrison before a final decision was made. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G_postcode_area | G postcode area | The G postcode area, also known as the Glasgow postcode area, is a group of postcode districts in central Scotland, within six post towns. These districts are primarily centered on Glasgow itself, and West Dunbartonshire (including Dumbarton, Clydebank and Alexandria), plus parts of the council areas of Argyll and Bute (including Arrochar and Helensburgh), East Dunbartonshire, North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire and Stirling.
Mail for the G postcode area is processed at Glasgow Mail Centre, along with mail for the PA, ML, KA and ZE postcode areas.
== Former postal districts and their legacy ==
From 1923 until the introduction of the national postcode system in the late 1960s, Glasgow was divided into (mostly) numbered postal districts for its central and surrounding parts identified by compass-point letters: C1–C5 (corresponding to current postcode districts G1–G5), W1–W5 (G11–G15), NW (G20), N1–N3 (G21–G23), E1–E4 (G31–G34), SE (G40), S1–S6 (G41–G46) and SW1–SW3 (G51–G53).
== Coverage ==
The approximate coverage of the postcode districts:
== Map == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Hemingway_bibliography | Ernest Hemingway bibliography | Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, journalist, and sportsman. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction. Many of his works are considered classics of American literature.
Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the mid-1950s, and he was awarded the 1954 Nobel Prize in Literature. He published seven novels, six short-story collections, and two nonfiction works.
Three of his novels, four short-story collections, and three nonfiction works were published posthumously.
== Works ==
=== Novels and novellas ===
=== Anthologies ===
(1942) Men at War: The Best War Stories of All Time edited, with introduction, by Hemingway, although he is not the primary author.
=== Story collections ===
(1923) Three Stories and Ten Poems
(1924) in our time (Published as a chapbook containing eighteen vignettes.)
(1925) In Our Time (Republished in 1925 with fourteen additional short stories, incorporates the vignettes from the 1924 edition.)
(1927) Men Without Women
(1933) Winner Take Nothing
(1938) The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories (This collection includes the ones in In Our Time and Men Without Women and Winner Take Nothing.)
(1947) The Essential Hemingway
(1961) The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories
(1969) The Fifth Column and Four Stories of the Spanish Civil War
(1972) The Nick Adams Stories
(1979) 88 Poems
(1979) Complete Poems
(1984) The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway
(1987) The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway
(1995) The Collected Stories (Everyman's Library)
(1999) Hemingway on Writing
(2000) Hemingway on Fishing
(2003) Hemingway on Hunting
(2003) Hemingway on War
(2008) Hemingway on Paris
=== Nonfiction titles ===
=== Letters ===
(1981) Ernest Hemingway Selected Letters 1917–1961
(2011–) The Cambridge Edition of the Letters of Ernest Hemingway
(2011) The Letters of Ernest Hemingway: Volume 1, 1907–1922
(2013) The Letters of Ernest Hemingway: Volume 2, 1923–1925
(2015) The Letters of Ernest Hemingway: Volume 3, 1926–1929
(2017) The Letters of Ernest Hemingway: Volume 4, 1929–1931
(2020) The Letters of Ernest Hemingway: Volume 5, 1932–1934
(2024) The Letters of Ernest Hemingway: Volume 6, 1934–1936
=== Play ===
(1938) The Fifth Column (published in the story collection The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories)
== Adaptations ==
=== US/UK film adaptations ===
(1932) A Farewell to Arms (with Gary Cooper, Helen Hayes)
(1943) For Whom the Bell Tolls (with Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman)
(1944) To Have and Have Not (with Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall)
(1946) The Killers (with Burt Lancaster)
(1947) The Macomber Affair (with Gregory Peck, Joan Bennett)
(1950) The Breaking Point (with John Garfield, Patricia Neal)
(1950) Under My Skin (with John Garfield)
(1952) The Snows of Kilimanjaro (with Gregory Peck, Susan Hayward)
(1957) A Farewell to Arms (with Rock Hudson, Jennifer Jones)
(1957) The Sun Also Rises (with Tyrone Power, Ava Gardner)
(1958) The Old Man and the Sea (with Spencer Tracy)
(1962) Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man (with Richard Beymer)
(1964) The Killers (with Lee Marvin)
(1977) Islands in the Stream (with George C. Scott)
(2008) The Garden of Eden (with Mena Suvari, Jack Huston)
(2022) Across the River and into the Trees (with Liev Schreiber, Matilda De Angelis)
=== Television productions ===
(1959) For Whom the Bell Tolls Playhouse 90 (with Jason Robards Jr., Maria Schell)
(1959) The Killers CBS Buick Electra Playhouse (with Ingemar Johansson, Diane Baker)
(1960) The Fifth Column CBS (with Richard Burton, Maximilian Schell)
(1960) The Snows of Kilimanjaro CBS (with Robert Ryan, Ann Todd)
(1960) The Gambler, the Nun, and the Radio CBS (with Richard Conte, Eleanor Parker)
(1960) After the Storm (not completed)
(1965) For Whom the Bell Tolls BBC (with John Ronane, Ann Bell)
(1979) My Old Man (with Warren Oates, Kristy McNichol)
(1984) The Sun Also Rises 20th Century Fox (with Hart Bochner, Jane Seymour)
(1990) The Old Man and the Sea (with Anthony Quinn)
(2001) After the Storm with Benjamin Bratt
In 1958, Hemingway also acquired the rights to Frederick Russell Burnham's memoir, Scouting on Two Continents, to be produced for television by CBS with Gary Cooper, but Hemingway died before production.
=== Other film adaptations ===
(1956) The Killers (directed by Andrei Tarkovsky)
(1999) The Old Man and the Sea (directed by Aleksandr Petrov) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navy_%E2%80%93_Merchant_Marine_Memorial | Navy – Merchant Marine Memorial | |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976%E2%80%9377_Portland_Trail_Blazers_season | 1976–77 Portland Trail Blazers season | The 1976–77 Portland Trail Blazers season was the Portland Trail Blazers' seventh season in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The revamped Trail Blazers had an exceptional start, winning 22 of their first 31 games. The team won their last 5 games to post a record of 49–33. The Trail Blazers reached the playoffs for the first time in franchise history and proceeded to stampede through the postseason. By the time the Blazers had made it to the 1977 NBA Finals, the city of Portland was truly in the grips of "Blazermania". After losing the first two games of the championship series at Philadelphia, the Trail Blazers won four in a row to bring the trophy to Portland. The championship capped the team's first winning season. The Blazers had a 35–6 record at home, which included a perfect 10–0 mark in the playoffs, compared to a 14-27 road record.
As of 2025, this remains the only NBA championship in Blazers franchise history, though they made NBA Finals appearances in 1990 and 1992, losing to the Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls, respectively.
== Offseason ==
=== NBA draft ===
Note: This is not a complete list; only the first three rounds are covered, as well as any other picks by the franchise who played at least one NBA game.
=== ABA Dispersal Draft ===
The American Basketball Association joined the NBA with the ABA–NBA merger in 1976. Of the teams remaining in the ABA, four joined the NBA. The two teams, the Kentucky Colonels and Spirits of St. Louis, which folded had their players assigned to a dispersal draft for draft purposes.
The Trail Blazers selected Malone in the dispersal draft after the New Orleans Jazz forfeited his rights in order to retain their first-round pick in the 1977 NBA Draft. They immediately sent Malone and $232,000 cash to the Buffalo Braves for their 1978 NBA Draft first round pick, which would become the first pick in the draft by which they selected Mychal Thompson.
The Trail Blazers would also acquire point guard Dave Twardzik from the defunct Virginia Squires ABA team as well following the end of the dispersal draft once they entered free agency.
== Roster ==
== Regular season ==
Just months earlier, the American Basketball Association had ended its ninth and last campaign and the two leagues combined. Despite the changes, it would become the season of Bill Walton and the Portland Trail Blazers. Walton's college performance led to predictions that Walton would be pro basketball's next great player. Yet those dreams went largely unfulfilled because of a series of foot injuries that hampered him. But in the 1977 playoffs, a healthy Walton and his teammates found a chemistry that enabled them to be one of the most talented pro teams ever assembled.
For Walton, it wasn't a question of wanting to play but of being able to. Injuries repeatedly interrupted his progress as a pro player. On the court, when he was healthy, he was a key contributor. He missed 17 games over the 1976–77 season; the Blazers lost 12 of them. With Walton in the lineup, the Blazers were 44–21, and their .677 winning percentage during those games was the best in the league.
The dispersal of ABA players had been particularly beneficial to the Blazers. Maurice Lucas was simply the most dominating power forward in the game, and his arrival only boosted Walton's effectiveness in the frontcourt. Lucas led the team in scoring at 20.2 points per game and averaged better than 11 rebounds. Coming over with Lucas from the ABA was lead guard Dave Twardzik. He had four pro seasons with the Virginia Squires of the ABA and was a starter in Ramsay's system. Another key contributor was Lionel Hollins, a second-year player out of Arizona State who averaged nearly 15 points per game.
The Blazers set a team record on November 2, 1976, when they scored 45 points in the first quarter against the Atlanta Hawks in their 129–116 win.
=== Season standings ===
z – clinched division title
y – clinched division title
x – clinched playoff spot
=== Season schedule ===
== Playoffs ==
== NBA Finals ==
The Finals opened in the Spectrum on Sunday, May 22. The 76ers seemed unbeatable after the first two games. Julius Erving opened Game 1 with a stupendous dunk off the opening tip. He finished with 33 points and Doug Collins had 30 as Philadelphia won 107–101. The Blazers were rattled enough to commit 34 turnovers. Walton finished with 28 points and 20 rebounds.
In Game 2 four nights later, the Sixers won handily, 107–89. Caldwell Jones and Darryl Dawkins handled Walton easily, while the Sixers dominated in the second quarter, scoring 14 points in one three-minute stretch on their way to a 61–43 halftime lead. The game became very physical with about five minutes left. First, Portland's Lloyd Neal and George McGinnis squared off, followed by Lucas and Erving trading elbows. Then, Dawkins & Gross got into some extracurricular activity battling for a rebound. Dawkins punched Gross, then Lucas punched Dawkins, resulting in a bench clearing brawl.
In Game 3, played on Sunday, May 29, Lucas strode directly to the Philadelphia bench, then startled everybody, including Dawkins, by sticking out his hand for a shake. The Blazers had a high scoring attack to win the game. Lucas contributed 27 points and 12 rebounds. Walton had nine assists, 20 points, and 18 rebounds. Twardzik, too, had returned to speed, driving the Portland offense along to a 42-point fourth quarter. They won 129–107, closing the series gap to 2–1.
In Game 4, Portland opened up a quick 17-point lead, then cruised to a 130–98 win despite Walton being sent to the bench with five fouls in the third. With a little more than eight minutes left in Game 5, Portland led 91–69 and the crowd was headed home. Erving rallied the Sixers to make it respectable at the end, 110–104. He had managed 37 points in the game. Gross scored 25 points to lead the Blazers, while Lucas had 20 with 13 rebounds. Walton finished with 24 rebounds and 14 points.
In the sixth and deciding game, Portland was up by 12 with half of the fourth quarter left when Erving led his teammates on one final run. At the four-minute mark, the lead was cut to four, 102–98. McGinnis hit a jumper, and the lead was only two points with 18 seconds left. The Sixers needed a turnover, and they finally got it from McGinnis, who was able to force a jump ball with Gross. With eight seconds remaining, Erving put up a jumper in the lane but missed. Free got the ball and lofted a baseline shot and missed too. With a second left, McGinnis tried to force a seventh and deciding game but he missed. Walton, (who had 20 points, 23 rebounds, eight blocks and seven assists) knocked the loose ball away, then when time ran out, ripped off his jersey & hurled it into the crowd.
== Player statistics ==
=== Season ===
=== Playoffs ===
== Awards and records ==
Bill Walton, All-NBA Second Team
Bill Walton, NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Daley | Tom Daley | Thomas Robert Daley (born 21 May 1994) is an English retired diver, YouTuber and television personality. He is an Olympic champion in the men's synchronised 10-metre platform event at the 2020 Olympics and double world champion in the FINA 10-metre platform event, winning in 2009 at the age of fifteen, and again in 2017. He is an Olympic bronze medallist in the 2012 platform event, the 2016 synchronised event, and the 2020 platform event. He won the silver medal in the men's synchronised 10-metre at the 2024 Olympics, making him the first British diver to win 5 Olympic medals. Daley also competed in team events, winning the inaugural mixed team World title in 2015, and repeating the win in 2024, his fourth World title in all. He is an Olympic champion, four-time World Champion, a two-time junior World Champion, a five-time European champion and four-time Commonwealth champion.
Daley started diving at the age of eight and is a member of Plymouth Diving Club, where his talent was identified early, and made an impact in national and international competitions from age nine. He represented Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Olympics where he was Britain's youngest competitor, age fourteen, and the youngest from any nation to participate in a final. In 2009, Daley reached a career-best ranking of number one in the FINA World Aquatics Championships Diving Rankings for the 10 m platform. He won two gold medals for England at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, in the 10 m synchro diving (with Max Brick) and the 10 m Individual Platform competition.
After the 2012 Summer Olympics and a summer of increased sporting interest amongst the UK public, television network ITV approached Daley to have a role in their new celebrity diving reality TV show Splash! Daley made his debut in the show's premiere on 5 January 2013 as a mentor to the celebrity competitors taking part. In 2023 Daley became an assistant diving coach at UCLA. In August 2024, a day after the 2024 Summer Olympics concluded, Daley announced his retirement from professional diving.
== Early life ==
Thomas Robert Daley was born on 21 May 1994 at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, Devon, England, the son of Debbie (née Selvester) and Robert Daley. He has two brothers – William who is three years younger, and Ben who is five years younger. Their father, Robert, died from a brain tumour on 27 May 2011, aged 40, a few days after Daley's 17th birthday.
Daley's interest in diving began at the age of eight after his father took him to he local pool and Daley noticed divers there. He began diving soon after. His talent was quickly spotted by his coach, Andy Banks. His early diving heroes were Canadian diver Alexandre Despatie, who won gold at the 1998 Commonwealth Games at the age of 13, and British diver Leon Taylor, who later mentored him.
Daley was spotted by a coach taking part in regular diving lessons and was placed in a competitive squad in September 2002. His first competition was the National Novice Championships in April 2003 where he won a medal in the 8/9-year-old boys category. In September 2003, he took part in an invitational event in Southampton where he won the 1 m, 3 m and platform events, and first made his mark on the wider audience. Daley won his age group at the British Championships in the 1 m springboard, the 3 m springboard, and platform in 2004, 2005, and 2006.
In June 2004, the month after his 10th birthday, he won the platform competition in the National Junior (under-18) group, making him the youngest winner of that event. In 2005, Daley competed as a guest competitor in the Australian Elite Junior Nationals and placed first in platform and second in 3 m springboard in the 14–15 age group event. He also competed in the 14–15 category at the 2005 Aachen Junior International, placing second in platform and third in 3 m springboard. He met the qualification standard for the 2006 Commonwealth Games, but was not selected for the England team because of his age. In 2006, he was the under-18 British champion in platform and 3 m springboard, and he placed second in the 10 m platform at the 2007 senior British Championships, which were held in December 2006.
=== Education ===
From age 11 to 14, Daley attended Eggbuckland Community College in Plymouth. At 13, he became a celebrity supporter of Childline, a children's helpline run by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), and at that time it was revealed that he had been bullied eighteen months earlier. In April 2009, Daley told Plymouth's main local newspaper The Herald that he had been bullied at school since the Olympics, and his father told the BBC that he had temporarily withdrawn him from that school because its response to the problem had been "ineffective". Daley was praised in the media for speaking out about his problem.
Daley was offered a full scholarship to board at independent school Brighton College, but his father turned this down due to the distance from home, and instead accepted a "very significant scholarship" from local independent school Plymouth College.
Daley took his GCSEs in small batches to fit around his diving commitments. He persuaded supermodel Kate Moss to pose for a recreation of an original portrait by David Hockney, as part of a GCSE photography project recreating great works of art, after meeting her on a photo shoot for Italian Vogue.
In 2012, Daley finished his two-year A-level studies in mathematics, Spanish and photography. Daley decided not to undertake an International Baccalaureate course because of the pressures he faced in his preparation for the 2012 Olympics. He passed all GCSE and A-level exams with A or A*.
== International competitions ==
=== 2007 ===
In January 2007, at the age of twelve, Daley was given a special dispensation to compete at the 2007 Australian Youth Olympic Festival. The usual minimum age is fifteen. Competing with a persistent thumb injury, Daley won the silver medal with synchro-partner Callum Johnstone in the 10 m synchronised diving final.
Daley, who trained at the Central Park Pool in Plymouth, was given National Lottery funding to help him in covering his training and competition expenses, and the cost of related support services.
Later in 2007, he won the senior platform title at the Amateur Swimming Association (ASA) National Championships, the national championship for English divers. In 2007, he also began to compete on International Swimming Federation's (FINA) international diving circuit of Grand Prix and World Series events, twice finishing fourth in individual competition. Daley won the 2007 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Young Personality award. He was considered a medal prospect for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London from this time, and was one of the British Olympians being tracked through the years leading up to London 2012 by the BBC television series Olympic Dreams.
=== 2008 ===
In January 2008, Daley won the 10 m platform event at the British Championships and became the youngest winner of the senior British 10 m title. He also won the 10 m platform synchro title with new partner Blake Aldridge.
Two weeks later, Daley won his first medals on the FINA circuit, winning a bronze in the individual platform competition and a silver in synchro at the Madrid Grand Prix. Daley and Aldridge won bronze in synchro at the 2008 FINA Diving World Cup. Their score was a British record and Daley became the youngest ever male medallist in a world diving event. Daley came seventh in the individual competition. In March 2008, Daley became the youngest person to win a gold medal at the European Championships, held in Eindhoven. The previous youngest winner was the Scottish swimmer Ian Black, who won a European gold in 1958 at the age of 17.
Daley qualified for the Beijing 2008 Olympics in the individual 10 m dive competition and, following the retirement of 2004 silver medallist Leon Taylor, in the 10 m platform synchro competition. Some in the British media reported that in competing he would become the youngest-ever male British Olympian, until it was ascertained that Ken Lester, cox to the rowing pair at the 1960 Summer Olympics, had been 13 years and 144 days old at the time. In the Olympic synchronized 10 m platform competition, they placed eighth, while in the individual 10 m platform competition, he finished seventh.
A month after his appearance at the Olympics, Daley participated in the FINA Junior World Championships for the first time (being too young to enter before). He finished second in the category "B" platform competition (for 14- and 15-year-old boys) with 549.60 points, between China's Qiu Bo (551.85 points) and Wu Dongliang (474.00 points). He came second in the 3-metre springboard competition in the same category with 485.25 points, sandwiched between the two Chinese divers, Wu Dongliang (510.25 points) and Wang Peng (470.40 points).
=== 2009 ===
In February 2009, Daley retained his individual British 10 m championship, setting a competition personal best score of 517.55 points, 133.45 points ahead of the second-placed diver. He was unable to defend his 10 m synchronized title, as his dive partner Blake Aldridge had been injured in a brawl at a nightclub several days before the championships and was unable to dive. In March 2009, he improved his personal best to 540.70 in coming third at a Diving World Series event in China, and the following month he improved it to 540.85 while finishing second at the World Series event in Sheffield.
During the Olympics, Daley had a row with diving partner Blake Aldridge when the latter phoned his mother between rounds. When Aldridge missed the British Championships because of the injury sustained in the nightclub incident, Daley's father said he would like his son to have a different diving partner. In April 2009, he started to dive with Max Brick, who is two years his senior, compared with the twelve-year gap with Aldridge. The pair achieved a silver medal in the 10 m synchronized event at Fort Lauderdale on 8 May 2009. Daley won the individual event in a new personal best of 554.90, scoring a perfect set of seven 10s for one of his dives.
In the 2009 FINA World Championships, held in Rome, Daley unexpectedly won the individual platform title despite his lower tariff, with a score of 539.85 points, when his opponents had poor final dives – Qiu Bo finished on 532.20 points, Zhou Luxin on 530.55. In the 10 m platform synchronized event at the World Championships, Daley and Brick finished in 9th place following an inconsistent series of dives by the new pairing.
=== 2010 ===
In the February 2010 British Championships individual 10 m competition, Daley unveiled his 5255B dive (back two-and-a-half somersault, one-and-a-half twists, with pike) in competition for the first time, giving him a 3.6 tariff dive (reduced from 3.8 in FINA's September 2009 DD tables). In this competition Daley finished in second place, 40.05 points behind Peter Waterfield.
In the March 2010 FINA Diving World Series event in Qingdao individual 10 m competition, Daley showcased his two new dives and finished in 4th place, 520.35 points (his best score of the year).
In the first April 2010 FINA Diving World Series event held in Veracruz, Mexico, Daley failed to qualify for the final round of the individual 10 m competition. A second event was held in the same venue three days later to replace the Sheffield DWS event which was cancelled because of the eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull. Daley finished in fourth place, with a score of 519.70 points – his second highest score of the season (just 0.8 points away from bronze).
In August 2010, Daley attended the European Championships in Budapest, Hungary, intending to defend his individual 10 m title. However, an injury to his triceps muscle in the 10 m synchro competition forced his withdrawal from the synchro and individual 10 m competitions, and placed his participation in the inaugural Youth Olympics in Singapore in the following two weeks in doubt. It was later announced that Daley would dive in the 3 m springboard but not in the 10 m platform. Daley took part in the 3 m springboard diving competition and finished in 9th place.
On 12 October 2010, Daley attended the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India. He and his teammate Max Brick won the gold medal for Synchronized 10 m Platform Competition. The following day he also won gold in the 10 m Individual Platform competition.
In November 2010, Daley was announced as a nominated sportsman for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2010 and the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year 2010. He won BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year 2010 for the third time in his career, and is the first person to receive this award three times.
=== 2011 ===
For the 2011 season, Daley was paired in the synchronized competitions with 2004 Athens Olympic silver medallist Peter Waterfield in British Swimming's continuing efforts to find the best synchro pairing for the 2012 Olympics. At the 2011 National Cup, the British Championship was held in the new Southend Swimming and Diving Centre on 28–30 January and Daley came second in the 3m springboard competition behind Jack Laugher. With Waterfield, he won the 10 m platform synchronized competition. The following day, Waterfield beat Daley to the individual 10 m platform title for the second successive year, by 494.25 points to 472.35, with Max Brick third with 399.80.
In the 2011 World Championships, held in Shanghai, China, he was again paired with Waterfield in the 10 m synchro event. In the week before the competition, Waterfield was struck by a flu-like illness for five days, and consequently they finished in sixth place. In the individual event, Daley finished in fifth place on 505.10 points, behind Qiu Bo (585.45), David Boudia (544.25), Sascha Klein (534.50), and Viktor Minibaev (527.50).
On 27 July 2011, Daley took the first dive in London's newly built Olympic Park Aquatics Centre marking the one-year countdown until the games begin. It was broadcast live on BBC One and when interviewed he said "Marking the one year to go, by diving in the Aquatics Centre is an incredible honour. Only a few years ago, this was a distant dream. The fact that I qualified at the weekend and am taking the first dive is a complete privilege. I can't wait for next year and the honour of representing Team GB."
=== 2012 ===
In the 2012 season, a thumb injury forced Daley's withdrawal from the National Cup a few days before the competition (the 10 m platform title was won by Max Brick). In February 2012, British Diving's Performance Director Alexei Evangulov criticised Daley's work ethic, stating that he feared Daley's media and commercial activities were to the detriment of his training for the Olympics – a comment which was seemingly backed up when Daley and Pete Waterfield could only finish 7th in the 10 m synchro competition in the FINA World Cup event held at the London Aquatics Centre.
Following a clear-the-air meeting between Daley, Evangulov, and Daley's representatives, Daley participated in the 2012 FINA Diving World Series. In the first event held in Dubai, Daley and Waterfield finished 4th in the 10 m synchro event, while Daley won silver in the individual 10 m event. In the event held in Beijing a week later, Daley and Waterfield won the silver medal in the 10 m synchro event, while in the individual event Daley won silver and Waterfield the bronze. Three weeks later, in the Moscow event, Daley won silver in the individual platform event, while the pairing finished fifth in the synchro. In the final DWS meet of the year, in Tijuana, Mexico, Daley won gold in the individual platform event, and the pairing with Waterfield won bronze in the synchro event, although the Chinese did not compete in these events at this meet. Over the whole 2012 Diving World Series, Daley and the Daley/Waterfield pairing won both the overall individual and synchro 10-metre competitions.
In April 2012, Daley won the British elite juniors 10-metre platform title by a margin of 140 points at the Plymouth Life Centre.
In May 2012, Daley regained the European 10-metre platform title when he won gold at the Eindhoven championships with a score of 565.05 points, 49.65 ahead of Viktor Minibaev in silver position.
In the British Gas Diving Championships held in Sheffield in June 2012, which were also the Olympic trials, Daley and Waterfield won the 10 m synchro platform title with a new British record score of 475.77, more than 140 points ahead of silver medallists Daniel Goodfellow and Ross Haslam on 333.72. In the individual 10 m championship, Daley regained the title for the first time since 2009 with a score of 547.60, ahead of Peter Waterfield on 452.80 and James Denny on 390.20.
==== Olympics ====
In Britain, Daley had long been considered one of the "poster boys" of the 2012 Summer Olympics, (literally – an 80-foot tall banner depicting him adorned the John Lewis department store in Cardiff, while a 40-foot tall banner of his female equivalent, heptathlete Jessica Ennis, was on the Sheffield branch of the store chain.)
It was hoped that the 10 m men's synchronized platform event, on the first Monday of the Games, would provide Daley and Waterfield with an opportunity to supply Team GB's first medal of the Games. However, while the pairing was leading the competition after three dives, a poor reverse 3 1/2 somersaults with tuck in the fourth round put them out of contention and they ended the competition in fourth place on 454.65 points, behind the Chinese pairing of Cao Yuan and Zhang Yanquan on 486.78 points, the Mexican pairing of Iván García and Germán Sánchez on 468.90 points, and the US pairing of David Boudia and Nick McCrory on 463.47 points.
Following this disappointment, there was controversy when Daley was the subject of some abusive Twitter messages, which resulted in the police arresting a 17-year-old boy in Weymouth, Dorset, and a 28-year-old professional footballer for publishing offensive messages.
Returning to the Aquatics Centre on the final Friday of the Games for the 10 m men's platform event, Daley initially gave his fans cause for concern with a poor performance in the preliminary round where he was ranked 15th of the 18 qualifying divers for the semi-final with 448.45 points (the eventual gold medal winner, David Boudia, ranked 18th). A much better performance in the semi-finals the next morning left Daley in fourth position on 521.10 points, behind Qiu Bo on 563.55, Lin Yue on 541.80, and Boudia on 531.15. The final round began in dramatic form when Daley's star status almost led to his undoing – a large number of camera flashes while he was diving distracted him and he only scored 75 points; a protest to the referee resulted in him being allowed to retake the dive, when he scored 91.80. By the beginning of the final round of dives in an enthralling contest, Daley was in the lead over Qiu Bo and David Boudia by 0.15 points, but Daley's final dive had a degree of difficulty of only 3.3 while his rivals both had 3.6 dives, and Daley won the bronze medal with 556.95 points while Boudia won gold with 568.65 points and Qiu Bo won silver with 566.85 points.
==== World Junior Diving Championships ====
At the 19th FINA World Junior Diving Championships, held in October 2012 in Adelaide, Australia, Daley led a strong British team and rather unexpectedly won the Boys "A" 3 m synchronized springboard competition together with Jack Laugher, who had won the individual 3 m competition, they had had little practice together. Daley and Laugher scored 338.85 points, over 30 points ahead of Ilia Kuzmin and Maxim Popkov.
In the 10 m individual platform event, Daley won the competition with a score of 663.95, ahead of Yang Jian on 611.95 and Chen Aisen on 597.20, scoring five 10's and two 9.5's on his fifth dive.
=== 2013 ===
In January 2013, Daley was involved in the ITV celebrity diving show Splash!, where he was an expert adviser to the celebrity contestants. While the show got a largely negative critical response, it nevertheless got the largest ratings on each of the five Saturday nights it was broadcast, and was renewed for a second season in 2014. Daley was warned by British Swimming chief executive David Sparkes that taking part in the series would risk damaging his chances of winning an Olympic gold medal in the future.
At the British Gas Diving Championships held at his home pool in Plymouth on 8–10 February, Daley only competed in the individual 10-metre platform event, which he won with 501.00 points, ahead of James Denny on 374.90 points and Daniel Goodfellow on 340.25 points. Daley did not compete in the 10 m synchro platform event, as his partner Peter Waterfield had lost his funding following this Olympiad, and his future synchro partner had yet to be determined.
Daley's participation in competitive diving in 2013 was seriously restricted by an injury in May. In April he won the 10 m competition at the Edinburgh leg of the Diving World Series, but while subsequently training for the Diving Grand Prix event at Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Daley injured his elbow and was forced to withdraw from the Fort Lauderdale competition and the subsequent DWS event in Mexico. In training for the 2013 World Championships, in Barcelona, Daley suffered a torn triceps for the third time, and only competed following intense medical attention and painkilling injections; he finished the individual 10 m competition in 6th place.
=== 2014 ===
At the beginning of 2014, Daley moved his training base from the Life Centre in Plymouth to the London Aquatics Centre at the Olympic Park in east London, with a new coach, Jane Figueiredo.
In January 2014 Daley was involved in the second series of Splash!. Ratings were not as good as the first season, and the show was cancelled.
In the FINA Diving World Series, Daley came third in the 10 m platform competition at the Beijing round, scoring 525.05 points, behind China's Cao Yuan on 579.45 and Qiu Bo on 534.05 points.
In 2014, Daley hosted a six-part travel series for ITV2 called Tom Daley Goes Global.
At the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Daley won a silver medal in the men's synchronized 10 m platform with diving partner James Denny and gold in the men's 10 m platform, with 516.55 points, retaining his title from the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in 2010.
In August 2014 at the European Championships in Berlin, the Daley/Denny partnership finished fourth in the 10 m platform synchro competition, in only their second competition, while Daley won the silver medal in the 10 m platform competition, with 535.45 points, behind Russia's Viktor Minibaev who had 586.10 points.
=== 2015 ===
For the 2015 season, Daley dropped the "demon dive" (backward 2.5 somersault with 2.5 twists, piked) which he had experienced difficulty with for several years, and replaced it with a forward 3.5 somersaults with one twist, which he called his "firework" dive and displayed for the first time at the British championships in Plymouth in February.
At the British championships held in his old home pool in Plymouth, Daley won the individual 10 m platform title for the fifth time, with 493.70 points, ahead of 14-year-old Matthew Dixon on 427.15, and Matty Lee on 413.20.
In the season's opening meet of the FINA Diving World Series, in Beijing, Daley conceded that the new dive still needed "work to be done" on it, as he failed to qualify for the final round. Overall, throughout the years' DWS meets, in the 10 m platform competition Daley won the silver medal in the Dubai, Windsor, Ontario, and Mérida, Mexico legs, and gold in London, whilst with Alicia Blagg he won bronze in the mixed synchronized 3m springboard at Windsor and at Mérida.
At the World Championships held in Kazan, Russia, Daley won the gold medal with Rebecca Gallantree in the inaugural team event competition (Daley diving twice from the 10 m platform and once from the 3 m springboard, Gallantree diving once from the platform and twice from the springboard). In the individual 10 m platform event he later won the bronze medal with 537.95 points, behind Qiu Bo on 587.00 and David Boudia on 560.20, having recovered from being in ninth place after the second round.
=== 2016 ===
For the 2016 season, Daley was paired with Daniel Goodfellow for the 10 m men's platform synchro competition, with a view to competing in the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics in this sport.
At the British National Diving Cup, the British Championships, held in January, Daley won a gold in the individual 10 m platform competition with 545.80 points, ahead of Matty Lee on 461.00 and Dan Goodfellow on 419.35 points. In the synchronized 10 m platform competition, Daley and Goodfellow won the competition, but they were the only entrants in the competition after Lee and James Denny withdrew following a power cut at the venue.
Daley and Goodfellow got bronze at the 2016 FINA Diving World Cup, earning them a spot in the 10 m synchro competition at the Olympic Games.
At the 2016 FINA Diving World Series, which consisted of four competitions, Daley earned six medals. In the synchro event, he and Goodfellow medalled at each of the four competitions, earning two silver and two bronze medals. In the individual event, Daley earned a silver and a bronze medal.
At the 2016 Summer Olympics, Daley and Goodfellow won a bronze medal in the synchronized 10 m platform. In the individual 10 m platform, Daley placed first in the preliminaries (with an Olympic record score of 571.85 points, which was later broken by Chen Aisen in the finals). However, he had difficulties the next day, placing 18th in the semi-finals and failing to qualify for the finals.
=== 2017 ===
In the 2017 FINA World Series, Daley took home 1 bronze medal in Beijing (10 m Platform), 3 bronze medals in Kazan (10 m Platform, 10 m Synchro, and 3 m Mixed), and one silver medal in Guangzhou (10 m Platform). On 22 July 2017, he won the gold medal in the 10 m platform event at the FINA World Championships held in Budapest.
=== 2018–2019 ===
In the 2018 FINA Diving World Series, Daley won 1 silver medal and 1 bronze medal in Beijing (3 m Mixed and 10 m Synchro), 1 silver medal in Fuji (3 m Mixed), 1 silver medal in Montreal (3 m Mixed), and 1 silver medal in Kazan (3 m Mixed).
At the 2018 Commonwealth Games held at the Gold Coast, Australia, Daley and Goodfellow won gold on the men's synchronized 10-metre platform.
Daley partnered with Matty Lee starting in October 2018 in the men's synchronized 10-metre platform. At the 2019 World Aquatics Championships held in Gwangju, South Korea, Daley and Lee finished in the bronze position in the 10 m synchro.
=== 2021 ===
At the 2021 FINA Diving World Cup, which was held in Japan as an official test event for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Daley won his first World Cup gold with Matty Lee in synchronized 10 m platform. He also won gold in the individual 10 m platform. At the European Championships held in Budapest, Daley and Lee also won gold in synchronized 10 m platform, and a silver in the individual 10 m platform.
On 26 July, Daley and Lee won the 2020 Olympic gold medal in the Men's synchronized 10 m platform diving event.
On 7 August, Daley qualified for the final of Men's individual 10 m platform diving, improving on his performance in the individual event at Rio 2016. He went on to win bronze in the final.
=== 2024 ===
Daley was selected to take part in the 10 metre platform synchronised event at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris with Noah Williams; the pair went on to win the silver medal. He was also chosen to be one of Team GB's flag-bearers at the opening ceremony alongside rower Helen Glover. The day after the closing ceremony, Daley announced his official retirement from diving.
== Competitive history ==
British champion in all events (1 m, 3 m, platform) in 2004, 2005 and 2006 in the relevant age group.
† with Blake Aldridge
§ with Max Brick
@ with Peter Waterfield
? with Jack Laugher
% with James Denny
& with Rebecca Gallantree
* with Alicia Blagg
= with Daniel Goodfellow
♠ with Grace Reid
£ with Matty Lee
# with Noah Williams
** semi-final result
Daley's current dives are:
307C: Reverse 3 1/2 Somersault Tucked (3.4 Tariff)
407C: Inward 3 1/2 Somersault Tucked (3.2 Tariff)
5172B: Forward 3 1/2 Somersault w/ 1 Twist Piked (3.6 Tariff)
626B: Armstand Back Triple Somersault Piked (3.5 Tariff)
109C: Forward 4 1/2 Somersault Tucked (3.7 Tariff)
207B: Back 3 1/2 Somersault Piked (3.6 Tariff)
== Media activities ==
In October 2017, Daley hosted the Virgin Holidays Attitude Awards for the first time.
On 30 September 2018, he was the guest on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. His favourite choice was "How Long Will I Love You" by Ellie Goulding. His book choice was Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling and his luxury item was an oven.
On 25 December 2021, he delivered the Alternative Christmas message for Channel 4.
Since 2023, Daley has been one of several British Olympians and Paralympians to feature in adverts for British Gas.
In July 2024, it was announced that Daley would join Eurosport as part of its on-screen team of pundits for its coverage at the Paris Olympics. In August of the same year, Daley partnered with Malibu and the Royal Life Saving Society UK (RLSS UK) as part of their "Drink Don't Dive" campaign, with Daley creating and modelling a range of knitted swim briefs, sunglasses, a bucket hat and sliders to raise funds for RLSS UK, and raise awareness of the dangers of swimming after drinking. Malibu and RLSS UK repeated their partnership with Daley at Christmas 2024, with Daley designing a knitted Christmas jumper reading "Drink Don't Drive" to raise awareness of the dangers of drink-driving.
In May 2025, Daley was announced as a contestant on the first series of The Celebrity Traitors. He competed as a faithful but was ultimately the second player to be "murdered" in episode 3.
In June 2025, the documentary Tom Daley: 1.6 seconds, directed by Vaughan Sivell, was released, exploring Daley's life and career. The 90-minute programme, a collaboration between Warner Bros. Discovery and the Olympic Channel, premiered on HBO Max on 1 June, after a world premiere in Lyon, France, and was subsequently broadcast on Eurosport on 23 June. The documentary explores his journey from his first Olympics in 2008 to his final appearance in Paris 2024, delving into his personal challenges and featuring interviews with his family and coaches.
In November 2025, Daley started presenting Game of Wool: Britain's Best Knitter, a Channel 4 craft competition about knitting and crochet.
== Personal life ==
Daley created a YouTube channel on 23 August 2010. His channel covers various topics such as vlogs, exercise and food. As of August 2024, Daley has over 1.2 million subscribers with over 180 million views.
On 2 December 2013, Daley released a YouTube video announcing that he had been in a relationship with a man since early that year. He said: "I've never been happier." Daley said that it had been a tough decision to speak out about his private life, but he had never before felt that feeling of love, which happened very quickly when he met his husband, American film screenwriter, director and producer Dustin Lance Black. Daley and Black met at an industry event, with Daley later saying that it was "a real love-at-first-sight thing". He announced their engagement on 1 October 2015. Daley and Black married at Bovey Castle in Devon on 6 May 2017. Their first child, a son, was born through surrogacy in June 2018. The couple's second son was born in March 2023. The couple moved from London to Los Angeles in 2024.
When asked about his sexual orientation in a July 2015 interview with The Guardian, Daley said: "I don't put a particular label on any of it because right now I'm in a relationship with a guy, but I still have sexual feelings towards girls". He said in another interview that he had been in sexual relationships with girls, but his sexual feelings became "much more intense" when he met Lance. In July 2021, Daley referred to himself as a "gay man".
Daley likes to knit and crochet, hobbies he took up when the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown began. During the 2020 and 2024 Summer Olympics television coverage of diving events, Daley was frequently shown knitting in the stands while he watched other athletes compete. He maintains a separate Instagram account dedicated to his knitting and crochet projects. In November 2024 an exhibition of his knitting work in Japan was announced, which would be part of his campaign for the rights of LGBTQ+ people.
=== Activism ===
In August 2014, Daley was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that issue.
In 2015, Daley became a patron of the LGBT+ charity Switchboard and collaborated with YouTuber Calum McSwiggan to relaunch the charity under its new name.
In a statement made on the eve of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2018, Daley called on Commonwealth countries to repeal their anti-gay laws. In response, the-then UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson told BBC Radio 1's Newsbeat that he would raise concerns about gay rights with leaders of countries where homosexuality is illegal. There have been repeated calls from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights for governments to safeguard the rights of their vulnerable LGBT minorities.
In October 2021, Daley said he would make it his "mission" to campaign for countries where homosexuality is punishable by death to be banned from the next Olympics.
== Honours and awards ==
Daley was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to diving, LGBTQ+ rights and charity.
Named Youngster of the Year by BBC South West in 2005.
Named BBC South West Sports Personality of the Year, 2009.
Short-listed to the final ten for the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award in 2006.
Short-listed to the final three for the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award in 2008.
Named BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year 2007, 2009 and 2010 (only person ever to win this award more than once).
Short-listed to the final ten for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award in 2009 and 2010.
Ranked No. 63 in Time's 2008 edition of 100 Olympic Athletes To Watch.
Won LEN Magazine's "Athlete of the Year" award for men's divers, 2009, on behalf of the European Swimming Federation. The award is voted for by representatives of all European Aquatic Federations and the media.
Nominated for the 2010 Laureus World Sports Award for Breakthrough of the Year.
Included in The Sunday Times' "100 Makers of the 21st Century" list.
He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate on 27 September 2017 by the University of St Mark and St John in Plymouth, Devon.
He was awarded the Honorary Freedom of the City of Plymouth, Devon by the Plymouth City Council on 13 September 2021.
For the 2020 Summer Olympics, FINA named Daley winning the gold medal in the synchronized 10 metre platform event with his diving partner Matty Lee as the number three moment from the Olympic Games.
A 2024 YouGov survey asked young LGBTQ+ Britons (16–25) which public figures made a "positive impression" on them growing up in terms of making them feel more comfortable and less alone in their identities. Though the list was "long and widely varied", Daley came third. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_(novel) | Dune (novel) | Dune is a 1965 epic science fiction novel by American author Frank Herbert, originally published as two separate serials (1963–64 novel Dune World and 1965 novel Prophet of Dune) in Analog magazine. It tied with Roger Zelazny's This Immortal for the Hugo Award for Best Novel and won the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1966. It is the first installment of the Dune Chronicles. It is one of the world's best-selling science fiction novels.
Dune is set in the distant future in a feudal interstellar society, descended from terrestrial humans, in which various noble houses control planetary fiefs. It tells the story of young Paul Atreides, whose family reluctantly accepts the stewardship of the planet Arrakis. While the planet is an inhospitable and sparsely populated desert wasteland, it is the only source of melange or "spice", an enormously valuable drug that extends life and enhances mental abilities. Melange is also necessary for space navigation, which requires a kind of multidimensional awareness and foresight that only the drug provides. As melange can only be produced on Arrakis, control of the planet is a coveted and dangerous undertaking. The story explores the multilayered interactions of politics, religion, ecology, technology, and human emotion as the factions of the empire confront each other in a struggle for the control of Arrakis and its spice.
Herbert wrote five sequels: Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune, and Chapterhouse: Dune. Following Herbert's death in 1986, his son Brian Herbert and author Kevin J. Anderson continued the series in over a dozen additional novels since 1999.
Adaptations of the novel to cinema have been notoriously difficult and complicated. In the 1970s, cult filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky attempted to make a film based on the novel. After three years of development, the project was canceled due to a constantly growing budget. In 1984, a film adaptation directed by David Lynch was released to mostly negative responses from critics and failure at the box office, although it later developed a cult following. The book was also adapted into the 2000 Sci-Fi Channel miniseries Frank Herbert's Dune and its 2003 sequel, Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (the latter of which combines the events of Dune Messiah and Children of Dune). A second film adaptation, directed by Denis Villeneuve, was released on October 21, 2021, to positive reviews. It went on to be nominated for ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture, ultimately winning six. Villeneuve's film covers roughly the first half of the original novel; a sequel, which covers the second half, was released on March 1, 2024, to critical acclaim.
The series has also been used as the basis for several board, role-playing, and video games.
Since 2009, the names of planets from the Dune novels have been adopted for the real-life nomenclature of plains and other features on Saturn's moon Titan.
== Origins ==
After his novel The Dragon in the Sea was published in 1957, Herbert traveled to Florence, Oregon, at the north end of the Oregon Dunes. Here, the United States Department of Agriculture was attempting to use poverty grasses to stabilize the sand dunes. Herbert claimed in a letter to his literary agent, Lurton Blassingame, that the moving dunes could "swallow whole cities, lakes, rivers, highways." Herbert's article on the dunes, "They Stopped the Moving Sands", was never completed (and only published decades later in The Road to Dune), but its research sparked Herbert's interest in ecology and deserts.
Herbert further drew inspiration from Native American mentors like "Indian Henry" (the name Herbert’s son recalls him using for a man otherwise likely called Henry Martin, of the Hoh tribe) and Howard Hansen. Both Martin and Hansen grew up on the Quileute reservation near Herbert's hometown. According to historian Daniel Immerwahr, Hansen regularly shared his writing with Herbert. "White men are eating the earth," Hansen told Herbert in 1958, after sharing a piece on the effect of logging on the Quileute reservation. "They're gonna turn this whole planet into a wasteland, just like North Africa." The world could become a "big dune," Herbert responded in agreement.
Herbert was also interested in the idea of the superhero mystique and messiahs. He believed that feudalism was a natural condition humans fell into, where some led and others gave up the responsibility of making decisions and just followed orders. He found that desert environments have historically given birth to several major religions with messianic impulses. He decided to join his interests together so he could play religious and ecological ideas against each other. In addition, he was influenced by the story of T. E. Lawrence and the "messianic overtones" in Lawrence's involvement in the Arab Revolt during World War I. In an early version of Dune, the hero was actually very similar to Lawrence of Arabia, but Herbert decided the plot was too straightforward and added more layers to his story.
Herbert drew heavy inspiration also from Lesley Blanch's The Sabres of Paradise (1960), a narrative history recounting a mid-19th-century conflict in the Caucasus between rugged caucasian Muslim tribes and the expanding Russian Empire. Language used on both sides of that conflict become terms in Herbert's world—chakobsa, a Caucasian hunting language, becomes a battle language of humans spread across the galaxy; kanly, a word for blood feud in the 19th-century Caucasus, represents a feud between Dune's noble Houses; sietch and tabir are both words for camp borrowed from Ukrainian Cossacks (of the Pontic–Caspian steppe).
Herbert also borrowed some lines which Blanch stated were Caucasian proverbs. "To kill with the point lacked artistry", used by Blanch to describe the Caucasus peoples' love of swordsmanship, becomes in Dune "Killing with the tip lacks artistry", a piece of advice given to a young Paul during his training. "Polish comes from the city, wisdom from the hills", a Caucasian aphorism, turns into a desert expression: "Polish comes from the cities, wisdom from the desert".
Another significant source of inspiration for Dune was Herbert's experiences with psilocybin and his hobby of cultivating mushrooms, according to mycologist Paul Stamets's account of meeting Herbert in the 1980s:Frank went on to tell me that much of the premise of Dune—the magic spice (spores) that allowed the bending of space (tripping), the giant sand worms (maggots digesting mushrooms), the eyes of the Freman (the cerulean blue of Psilocybe mushrooms), the mysticism of the female spiritual warriors, the Bene Gesserits (influenced by the tales of Maria Sabina and the sacred mushroom cults of Mexico)—came from his perception of the fungal life cycle, and his imagination was stimulated through his experiences with the use of magic mushrooms.Herbert spent the next five years researching, writing, and revising. He published a three-part serial Dune World in the monthly Analog, from December 1963 to February 1964. The serial was accompanied by several illustrations that were not published again. After an interval of a year, he published the much slower-paced five-part The Prophet of Dune in the January–May 1965 issues. The first serial became "Book One: Dune" in the final published Dune novel, and the second serial was divided into "Book Two: Muad'dib" and "Book Three: The Prophet". The serialized version was expanded, reworked, and submitted to more than twenty publishers, each of whom rejected it. The novel, Dune, was finally accepted and published in August 1965 by Chilton Books, a printing house better known for publishing auto repair manuals. Sterling Lanier, an editor at Chilton, had seen Herbert's manuscript and had urged his company to take a risk in publishing the book. However, the first printing, priced at $5.95 (equivalent to $60.79 in 2025), did not sell well and was poorly received by critics as being atypical of science fiction at the time. Chilton considered the publication of Dune a write-off and Lanier was fired. Over the course of time, the book gained critical acclaim, and its popularity spread by word-of-mouth to allow Herbert to start working full time on developing the sequels to Dune, elements of which were already written alongside Dune.
At first Herbert considered using Mars as setting for his novel, but eventually decided to use a fictional planet instead. His son Brian said that "Readers would have too many preconceived ideas about that planet, due to the number of stories that had been written about it."
Herbert dedicated his work "to the people whose labors go beyond ideas into the realm of 'real materials'—to the dry-land ecologists, wherever they may be, in whatever time they work, this effort at prediction is dedicated in humility and admiration."
== Plot ==
Duke Leto Atreides of House Atreides, ruler of the ocean world Caladan, is assigned by the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV to serve as fief ruler of the planet Arrakis. Although Arrakis is a harsh and inhospitable desert planet, it is of enormous importance because it is the only planetary source of melange, or the "spice", a unique and incredibly valuable substance that extends human youth, vitality and lifespan. It is also through the consumption of spice that Spacing Guild Navigators are able to effect safe interstellar travel through a limited ability to see into the future. The Emperor is jealous of the Duke's rising popularity in the Landsraad, the council of Great Houses, and sees House Atreides as a potential rival and threat. He conspires with House Harkonnen, the former stewards of Arrakis and the longstanding enemies of the Atreides, to destroy Leto and his family after their arrival. Leto is aware his assignment is a trap of some kind, but is compelled to obey the Emperor's orders anyway.
Leto's concubine Lady Jessica is an acolyte of the Bene Gesserit, an exclusively female group that pursues mysterious political aims and wields seemingly superhuman physical and mental abilities, such as the ability to control their bodies down to the cellular level, and also decide the sex of their children. Though Jessica was instructed by the Bene Gesserit to bear a daughter as part of their breeding program, out of love for Leto she bore him a son, Paul. From a young age, Paul is trained in warfare by Leto's aides, the elite soldiers Duncan Idaho and Gurney Halleck. Thufir Hawat, the Duke's Mentat (human computers, able to store vast amounts of data and perform advanced calculations on demand), has instructed Paul in the ways of political intrigue. Jessica has also trained her son in Bene Gesserit disciplines.
Paul's prophetic dreams interest Jessica's superior, the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam. She subjects Paul to a deadly test. She holds a poisoned needle, the gom jabbar, to his neck, ready to strike should he withdraw his hand from a box which creates extreme pain by nerve induction but causes no physical damage. This is to test Paul's ability to endure the pain and override his animal instincts, proving that he is, in Bene Gesserit eyes, human. Paul passes, enduring greater pain than any woman has ever been subjected to in the test.
Paul and his parents travel with their household to occupy Arrakeen, the capital on Arrakis. Leto learns of the dangers involved in harvesting the spice, which is protected by giant sandworms, and seeks to negotiate with the planet's indigenous Fremen people, seeing them as a valuable ally rather than foes. Soon after the Atreides' arrival, Harkonnen forces attack, joined by the Emperor's ferocious Sardaukar troops in disguise. Leto is betrayed by his personal physician, the Suk doctor Wellington Yueh, who delivers a drugged Leto to the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen and his twisted Mentat, Piter De Vries.
Yueh, who delivered Leto under duress, arranges for Jessica and Paul to escape into the desert. Duncan is killed helping them flee, and they are subsequently presumed dead in a sandstorm by the Harkonnens. Yueh replaces one of Leto's teeth with a poison gas capsule, hoping Leto can kill Baron Harkonnen during their encounter. Piter kills Yueh, and the Baron narrowly avoids the gas (due to his defensive shield), which kills Leto, Piter, and the others in the room. The Baron seduces Thufir Hawat to become his replacement mentat by promising him "the most efficient spices" and denigrating Leto as "one whose reason was clouded by emotion," while secretly dosing him with an unremovable fatal poison, providing a daily antidote via his food, as security.
Having fled into the desert, Paul is exposed to high concentrations of spice and has visions through which he realizes he has significant powers (as a result of the Bene Gesserit breeding scheme). He foresees potential futures in which he lives among the Fremen before leading them on a holy war across the known universe. Paul reveals that Jessica's father is Baron Harkonnen, a secret kept from her by the Bene Gesserit.
Paul and Jessica traverse the desert in search of Fremen people. After being captured by a Fremen band, Paul and Jessica agree to teach the Fremen the Bene Gesserit fighting technique known to the Fremen as the "weirding way" and are accepted into the community of Sietch Tabr. Paul proves his manhood by killing a Fremen man named Jamis in a ritualistic crysknife fight and chooses the Fremen name Muad'Dib, while Jessica opts to undergo a ritual to become a Reverend Mother by drinking and neutralizing the poisonous Water of Life. Pregnant with Leto's daughter, she inadvertently causes her unborn daughter Alia to become infused with the same powers in the womb. Paul takes a Fremen lover, Chani, who gives birth to his son Leto.
Two years pass, and Paul's powerful prescience manifests, which confirms to the Fremen that he is their prophesied "Lisan al-Gaib" messiah, a legend planted by the Bene Gesserit's Missionaria Protectiva. Paul embraces his father's belief that the Fremen could be a powerful fighting force to take back Arrakis, but also sees that if he does not control them, their jihad could consume the entire universe. Word of the new Fremen leader reaches both the Baron and the Emperor as spice production falls due to their increasingly destructive raids. The Baron encourages his brutish nephew Glossu "Beast" Rabban to rule with an iron fist, hoping the contrast with his shrewder nephew Feyd-Rautha will make the latter popular among the people of Arrakis when he eventually replaces Rabban. The Emperor, suspecting the Baron of trying to create troops more powerful than the Sardaukar to seize power, sends spies to Arrakis. Thufir uses the opportunity to sow seeds of doubt in the Baron about the Emperor's true plans, putting further strain on their alliance.
Gurney, who survived the Harkonnen coup and became a smuggler, reunites with Paul and Jessica after a Fremen raid on his harvester. Believing Jessica to be a traitor, Gurney threatens to kill her but is stopped by Paul. Paul did not foresee Gurney's attack and concludes he must increase his prescience by drinking the Water of Life, which is fatal to males. Paul falls into unconsciousness for three weeks after drinking the poison, but when he wakes, he has clairvoyance across time and space: he is the Kwisatz Haderach, the ultimate goal of the Bene Gesserit breeding program.
Paul senses the Emperor and the Baron are amassing fleets around Arrakis to quell the Fremen rebellion, and prepares the Fremen for a major offensive. The Emperor arrives with the Baron on Arrakis. The Sardaukar seize a Fremen outpost, killing many, including young Leto, while Alia is captured and taken to the Emperor. Under cover of an electric storm, which shorts out the Sardaukar's defensive shields, Paul and the Fremen, riding giant sandworms, destroy the capital's natural rock fortifications with atomics and attack, while Alia assassinates the Baron and escapes. The Fremen quickly defeat both the Harkonnen and Sardaukar troops, killing Rabban in the process. Thufir is ordered to assassinate Paul, who gives him the opportunity to take anything that Thufir wishes of him. Thufir chooses to stab himself with the poisoned needle intended for Paul.
Paul faces the Emperor, threatening to destroy spice production forever unless Shaddam abdicates the throne. Feyd-Rautha challenges Paul to a knife fight, during which he cheats and tries to kill Paul with a poison spur in his belt. Paul gains the upper hand and kills him. The Emperor reluctantly cedes the throne to Paul and promises his daughter Princess Irulan's hand in marriage. Paul takes control of the Empire, but realizes that he cannot stop the Fremen jihad, as their belief in him is too powerful to restrain.
== Characters ==
House Atreides
Duke Leto Atreides, head of House Atreides
Lady Jessica, Bene Gesserit and concubine of the Duke, mother of Paul and Alia
Paul Atreides, son of Leto and Jessica
Alia Atreides, Paul's younger sister
Thufir Hawat, Mentat and Master of Assassins to House Atreides
Gurney Halleck, staunchly loyal troubadour warrior of the Atreides
Duncan Idaho, Swordmaster for House Atreides, graduate of the Ginaz School
Wellington Yueh, Suk doctor for the Atreides who is secretly working for House Harkonnen
House Harkonnen
Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, head of House Harkonnen
Piter De Vries, twisted Mentat
Feyd-Rautha, nephew and heir-presumptive of the Baron
Glossu "Beast" Rabban, also called Rabban Harkonnen, older nephew of the Baron
Iakin Nefud, Captain of the Guard
House Corrino
Shaddam IV, Padishah Emperor of the Known Universe (the Imperium)
Princess Irulan, Shaddam's eldest daughter and heir, also a historian
Count Fenring, the Emperor's closest friend, advisor, and "errand boy"
Bene Gesserit
Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam, Proctor Superior of the Bene Gesserit school and the Emperor's Truthsayer
Lady Margot Fenring, Bene Gesserit wife of Count Fenring
Fremen
The Fremen, native inhabitants of Arrakis
Stilgar, Fremen leader of Sietch Tabr
Chani, Paul's Fremen concubine and a Sayyadina (female acolyte) of Sietch Tabr
Dr. Liet-Kynes, the Imperial Planetologist on Arrakis and father of Chani, as well as a revered figure among the Fremen
The Shadout Mapes, head housekeeper of imperial residence on Arrakis
Jamis, Fremen killed by Paul in ritual duel
Harah, wife of Jamis and later servant to Paul who helps raise Alia among the Fremen
Reverend Mother Ramallo, religious leader of Sietch Tabr
Smugglers
Esmar Tuek, a powerful smuggler and the father of Staban Tuek
Staban Tuek, the son of Esmar Tuek and a powerful smuggler who befriends and takes in Gurney Halleck and his surviving men after the attack on the Atreides
== Themes and influences ==
The Dune series is a landmark of science fiction. Herbert deliberately suppressed technology in his Dune universe so he could address the politics of humanity, rather than the future of humanity's technology. For example, a key pre-history event to the novel's present is the "Butlerian Jihad", in which all robots and computers were destroyed, eliminating these common elements to science fiction from the novel as to allow focus on humanity. Dune considers the way humans and their institutions might change over time. Director John Harrison, who adapted Dune for Syfy's 2000 miniseries, called the novel a universal and timeless reflection of "the human condition and its moral dilemmas", and said:
A lot of people refer to Dune as science fiction. I never do. I consider it an epic adventure in the classic storytelling tradition, a story of myth and legend not unlike the Morte d'Arthur or any messiah story. It just happens to be set in the future ... The story is actually more relevant today than when Herbert wrote it. In the 1960s, there were just these two colossal superpowers duking it out. Today we're living in a more feudal, corporatized world more akin to Herbert's universe of separate families, power centers and business interests, all interrelated and kept together by the one commodity necessary to all.
But Dune has also been called a mix of soft and hard science fiction since "the attention to ecology is hard, the anthropology and the psychic abilities are soft." Hard elements include the ecology of Arrakis, suspensor technology, weapon systems, and ornithopters, while soft elements include issues relating to religion, physical and mental training, cultures, politics, and psychology.
Herbert said Paul's messiah figure was inspired by the Arthurian legend, and that the scarcity of water on Arrakis was a metaphor for oil, as well as air and water itself, and for the shortages of resources caused by overpopulation. Novelist Brian Herbert, his son and biographer, wrote:
Dune is a modern-day conglomeration of familiar myths, a tale in which great sandworms guard a precious treasure of melange, the geriatric spice that represents, among other things, the finite resource of oil. The planet Arrakis features immense, ferocious worms that are like dragons of lore, with "great teeth" and a "bellows breath of cinnamon." This resembles the myth described by an unknown English poet in Beowulf, the compelling tale of a fearsome fire dragon who guarded a great treasure hoard in a lair under cliffs, at the edge of the sea. The desert of Frank Herbert's classic novel is a vast ocean of sand, with giant worms diving into the depths, the mysterious and unrevealed domain of Shai-hulud. Dune tops are like the crests of waves, and there are powerful sandstorms out there, creating extreme danger. On Arrakis, life is said to emanate from the Maker (Shai-hulud) in the desert-sea; similarly all life on Earth is believed to have evolved from our oceans. Frank Herbert drew parallels, used spectacular metaphors, and extrapolated present conditions into world systems that seem entirely alien at first blush. But close examination reveals they aren't so different from systems we know ... and the book characters of his imagination are not so different from people familiar to us.
Each chapter of Dune begins with an epigraph excerpted from the fictional writings of the character Princess Irulan. In forms such as diary entries, historical commentary, biography, quotations and philosophy, these writings set tone and provide exposition, context and other details intended to enhance understanding of Herbert's complex fictional universe and themes. They act as foreshadowing and invite the reader to keep reading to close the gap between what the epigraph says and what is happening in the main narrative. The epigraphs also give the reader the feeling that the world they are reading about is epically distanced, since Irulan writes about an idealized image of Paul as if he had already passed into memory. Brian Herbert wrote: "Dad told me that you could follow any of the novel's layers as you read it, and then start the book all over again, focusing on an entirely different layer. At the end of the book, he intentionally left loose ends and said he did this to send the readers spinning out of the story with bits and pieces of it still clinging to them, so that they would want to go back and read it again."
=== Middle-Eastern and Islamic references ===
Due to the similarities between some of Herbert's terms and ideas and actual words and concepts in the Arabic language, as well as the series' "Islamic undertones" and themes, a Middle-Eastern influence on Herbert's works has been noted repeatedly. In his descriptions of the Fremen culture and language, Herbert uses both authentic Arabic words and Arabic-sounding words. For example, one of the names for the sandworm, Shai-hulud, is derived from شيء خلود, šayʾ ḫulūd, 'immortal thing' or شيخ خلود, šayḫ ḫulūd, 'old man of eternity'. The title of the Fremen housekeeper, the Shadout Mapes, is borrowed from the شادوف, šādūf, the Egyptian term for a device used to raise water. In particular, words related to the messianic religion of the Fremen, first implanted by the Bene Gesserit, are taken from Arabic, including Muad'Dib (from مؤدب, muʾaddib, 'educator'), Lisan al-Gaib (from لسان الغيب, lisān al-ġayb, 'voice of the unseen'), Usul (from أصول, ʾuṣūl, 'fundamental principles'), Shari-a (from شريعة, šarīʿa, 'sharia; path'), Shaitan (from شيطان, šayṭān, 'Shaitan; devil; fiend'), and jinn (from جن, ǧinn, 'jinn; spirit; demon; mythical being'). It is likely Herbert relied on second-hand resources such as phrasebooks and desert adventure stories to find these Arabic words and phrases for the Fremen. They are meaningful and carefully chosen, and help create an "imagined desert culture that resonates with exotic sounds, enigmas, and pseudo-Islamic references" and has a distinctly Bedouin aesthetic.
As a foreigner who adopts the ways of a desert-dwelling people and then leads them in a military capacity, Paul Atreides bears many similarities to the historical T. E. Lawrence. His 1962 biopic Lawrence of Arabia has also been identified as a potential influence. The Sabres of Paradise (1960) has also been identified as a potential influence upon Dune, with its depiction of Imam Shamil and the Islamic culture of the Caucasus inspiring some of the themes, characters, events and terminology of Dune.
The environment of the desert planet Arrakis was primarily inspired by the environments of the Middle East. Similarly Arrakis as a bioregion is presented as a particular kind of political site. Herbert has made it resemble a desertified petrostate area. The Fremen people of Arrakis were influenced by the Bedouin tribes of Arabia, and the Mahdi prophecy originates from Islamic eschatology. Inspiration is also adopted from medieval historian Ibn Khaldun's cyclical history and his dynastic concept in North Africa, hinted at by Herbert's reference to Khaldun's book Kitāb al-ʿibar ("The Book of Lessons"). The fictionalized version of the "Kitab al-ibar" in Dune is a combination of a Fremen religious manual and a desert survival book.
==== Additional language and historic influences ====
In addition to Arabic, Dune derives words and names from a variety of other languages, including Navajo, Latin, Old Scandinavian ("Landsraad"), Romani, Hebrew ("Kefitzat haderech", קפיצת הדרך, contracting of the path), Serbo-Croatian, Nahuatl, Greek, Persian, Sanskrit ("prana bindu", "prajna"), Russian, Turkish, Finnish, and Old English. Bene Gesserit is part of the Latin legal phrase quamdiu se bene gesserit "as long as he shall behave himself well" seen in grants of certain offices (such as judgeships) meaning that the appointee shall remain in office so long as he shall not be guilty of abusing it. Some critics miss the connotation of the phrase, misled by the Latin future perfect gesserit, taking it over-literally (and adding an unwarranted passive) to mean "it will have been well borne", an interpretation which is not well supported by the Bene Gesserit doctrine in the story.
Through the inspiration from The Sabres of Paradise, there are also allusions to the tsarist-era Russian nobility and Cossacks. Frank Herbert stated that bureaucracy that lasted long enough would become a hereditary nobility, and a significant theme behind the aristocratic families in Dune was "aristocratic bureaucracy" which he saw as analogous to the Soviet Union.
=== Environmentalism and ecology ===
Dune has been called the "first planetary ecology novel on a grand scale". Herbert hoped it would be seen as an "environmental awareness handbook" and said the title was meant to "echo the sound of 'doom'". It was reviewed in the best-selling countercultural Whole Earth Catalog in 1968 as a "rich re-readable fantasy with clear portrayal of the fierce environment it takes to cohere a community".
After the publication of Silent Spring by Rachel Carson in 1962, science fiction writers began treating the subject of ecological change and its consequences. Dune responded in 1965 with its complex descriptions of Arrakis life, from giant sandworms (for whom water is deadly) to smaller, mouse-like life-forms adapted to live with limited water. Dune was followed in its creation of complex and unique ecologies by other science fiction books such as A Door into Ocean (1986) and Red Mars (1992). Environmentalists have pointed out that Dune's popularity as a novel depicting a planet as a complex—almost living—thing, in combination with the first images of Earth from space being published in the same time period, strongly influenced environmental movements such as the establishment of the international Earth Day.
While the genre of climate fiction was popularized in the 2010s in response to real global climate change, Dune as well as other early science fiction works from authors like J. G. Ballard (The Drowned World) and Kim Stanley Robinson (the Mars trilogy) have retroactively been considered pioneering examples of the genre.
=== Declining empires ===
The Imperium in Dune contains features of various empires in Europe and the Near East, including the Roman Empire, Holy Roman Empire, and Ottoman Empire. Lorenzo DiTommaso compared Dune's portrayal of the downfall of a galactic empire to Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, which argues that Christianity allied with the profligacy of the Roman elite led to the fall of Ancient Rome. In "The Articulation of Imperial Decadence and Decline in Epic Science Fiction" (2007), DiTommaso outlines similarities between the two works by highlighting the excesses of the Emperor on his home planet of Kaitain and of the Baron Harkonnen in his palace. The Emperor loses his effectiveness as a ruler through an excess of ceremony and pomp. The hairdressers and attendants he brings with him to Arrakis are even referred to as "parasites". The Baron Harkonnen is similarly corrupt and materially indulgent. Gibbon's Decline and Fall partly blames the fall of Rome on the rise of Christianity. Gibbon claimed that this exotic import from a conquered province weakened the soldiers of Rome and left it open to attack. The Emperor's Sardaukar fighters are little match for the Fremen of Dune not only because of the Sardaukar's overconfidence and the fact that Jessica and Paul have trained the Fremen in their battle tactics, but because of the Fremen's capacity for self-sacrifice. The Fremen put the community before themselves in every instance, while the world outside wallows in luxury at the expense of others.
The decline and long peace of the Empire sets the stage for revolution and renewal by genetic mixing of successful and unsuccessful groups through war, a process culminating in the Jihad led by Paul Atreides, described by Frank Herbert as depicting "war as a collective orgasm" (drawing on Norman Walter's 1950 The Sexual Cycle of Human Warfare), themes that would reappear in God Emperor of Dune's Scattering and Leto II's all-female Fish Speaker army.
=== Gender dynamics ===
Gender dynamics are complex in Dune. Herbert offers a multi-layered portrayal of gender roles within the context of a feudal, hierarchical society, particularly through the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood. Although the Bene Gesserit tend to hold roles that are traditionally associated with women, such as wives, concubines, and mothers, their characters transcend stereotypes as they play politics and pursue long-term strategic goals. Full gender equality is not depicted in Dune, but the Bene Gesserit use specialized training and access to high-ranking men to gain agency and power within the constraints of their environment. Their training in prana-bindu allows them to exert control over their minds and bodies, including over pregnancy, and they are skilled in hand-to-hand combat and use of the Voice to command others. Jessica's disobedience in bearing a son instead of daughter and training him in the Bene Gesserit Way is a major plot point that sets in motion the events of the novel. By setting up certain women with leaders of certain Houses in the Imperium, the Bene Gesserit can control bloodlines across generations through their secret breeding program. Even within the male-dominated Imperium, then, the Bene Gesserit wield reproductive power and choose which genetic markers to continue into the future.
Reverend Mother Mohiam uses skills in Truthsaying to act as the Emperor's official Truthsayer and advisor. Her role can be considered similar to that of abbesses in the medieval Church. Before Princess Irulan appears as a character who agrees to a political marriage with Paul, she acts as a historian who shapes the reader's interpretation of the story and Paul's legacy due to the excerpts from her writing that frame each chapter.
Among the Fremen, women have roles as mothers and wives and also exercise agency through combat and religious authority. Fremen women and children have a reputation for being just as violent and dangerous as Fremen men. Chani travels with Stilgar in his military party, armed like the others. After becoming Paul's concubine, she kills one of the men who comes to challenge him. Alia leads an attack against the Emperor's Sardaukar and kills Baron Harkonnen with a gom jabbar. Women also take on the role of religious leaders. Chani is a Sayyadina who presides over tribal rituals such as Paul's worm-riding test, and Reverend Mother Ramallo carries the tribe's memories and passes them along to Jessica through the Water of Life ceremony. Within the male-led sietches, Fremen women find different avenues of authority.
The gom jabbar test of humanity is administered by the female Bene Gesserit order but rarely to males. The Bene Gesserit have seemingly mastered the unconscious and can play on the unconscious weaknesses of others using the Voice, yet their breeding program seeks after a male Kwisatz Haderach. Their plan is to produce a male who can "possess complete racial memory, both male and female," and look into the black hole in the collective unconscious that they fear. A central theme of the book is the connection, in Jessica's son, of this female aspect with his male aspect. This aligns with concepts in Jungian psychology, which features conscious/unconscious and taking/giving roles associated with males and females, as well as the idea of the collective unconscious. Paul's approach to power consistently requires his upbringing under the matriarchal Bene Gesserit, who operate as a long-dominating shadow government behind all of the great houses and their marriages or divisions. He is trained by Jessica in the Bene Gesserit Way, which includes prana-bindu training in nerve and muscle control and precise perception. Paul also receives Mentat training, thus helping prepare him to be a type of androgynous Kwisatz Haderach, a male Reverend Mother.
In a Bene Gesserit test early in the book, it is implied that people are generally "inhuman" in that they irrationally place desire over self-interest and reason. This applies Herbert's philosophy that humans are not created equal, while equal justice and equal opportunity are higher ideals than mental, physical, or moral equality.
=== Heroism ===
I am showing you the superhero syndrome and your own participation in it.
Throughout Paul's rise to superhuman status, he follows a plotline common to many stories describing the birth of a hero. He has unfortunate circumstances forced onto him. After a long period of hardship and exile, he confronts and defeats the source of evil in his tale. As such, Dune is representative of a general trend beginning in 1960s American science fiction in that it features a character who attains godlike status through scientific means. Eventually, Paul Atreides gains a level of omniscience which allows him to take over the planet and the galaxy, and causes the Fremen of Arrakis to worship him like a god. Author Frank Herbert said in 1979, "The bottom line of the Dune trilogy is: beware of heroes. Much better to rely on your own judgment, and your own mistakes." He wrote in 1985, "Dune was aimed at this whole idea of the infallible leader because my view of history says that mistakes made by a leader (or made in a leader's name) are amplified by the numbers who follow without question."
Juan A. Prieto-Pablos says Herbert achieves a new typology with Paul's superpowers, differentiating the heroes of Dune from earlier heroes such as Superman, van Vogt's Gilbert Gosseyn and Henry Kuttner's telepaths. Unlike previous superheroes who acquire their powers suddenly and accidentally, Paul's are the result of "painful and slow personal progress." And unlike other superheroes of the 1960s—who are the exception among ordinary people in their respective worlds—Herbert's characters grow their powers through "the application of mystical philosophies and techniques." For Herbert, the ordinary person can develop incredible fighting skills (Fremen, Ginaz swordsmen and Sardaukar) or mental abilities (Bene Gesserit, Mentats, Spacing Guild Navigators).
=== Zen and religion ===
Early in his newspaper career, Herbert was introduced to Zen by two Jungian psychologists, Ralph and Irene Slattery, who "gave a crucial boost to his thinking". Zen teachings ultimately had "a profound and continuing influence on [Herbert's] work". Throughout the Dune series and particularly in Dune, Herbert employs concepts and forms borrowed from Zen Buddhism. The Fremen are referred to as Zensunni adherents, and many of Herbert's epigraphs are Zen-spirited. In "Dune Genesis", Frank Herbert wrote:
What especially pleases me is to see the interwoven themes, the fugue like relationships of images that exactly replay the way Dune took shape. As in an Escher lithograph, I involved myself with recurrent themes that turn into paradox. The central paradox concerns the human vision of time. What about Paul's gift of prescience—the Presbyterian fixation? For the Delphic Oracle to perform, it must tangle itself in a web of predestination. Yet predestination negates surprises and, in fact, sets up a mathematically enclosed universe whose limits are always inconsistent, always encountering the unprovable. It's like a koan, a Zen mind breaker. It's like the Cretan Epimenides saying, "All Cretans are liars."
Brian Herbert called the Dune universe "a spiritual melting pot", noting that his father incorporated elements of a variety of religions, including Buddhism, Sufi mysticism and other Islamic belief systems, Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism, and Hinduism. He added that Frank Herbert's fictional future in which "religious beliefs have combined into interesting forms" represents the author's solution to eliminating arguments between religions, each of which claimed to have "the one and only revelation."
=== Asimov's Foundation ===
Tim O'Reilly suggests that Herbert also wrote Dune as a counterpoint to Isaac Asimov's Foundation series. In his monograph on Frank Herbert, O'Reilly wrote that "Dune is clearly a commentary on the Foundation trilogy. Herbert has taken a look at the same imaginative situation that provoked Asimov's classic—the decay of a galactic empire—and restated it in a way that draws on different assumptions and suggests radically different conclusions. The twist he has introduced into Dune is that the Mule, not the Foundation, is his hero." According to O'Reilly, Herbert bases the Bene Gesserit on the scientific shamans of the Foundation, though they use biological rather than statistical science. In contrast to the Foundation series and its praise of science and rationality, Dune proposes that the unconscious and unexpected are actually what are needed for humanity.
Both Herbert and Asimov explore the implications of prescience (i.e., visions of the future) both psychologically and socially. The Foundation series deploys a broadly determinist approach to prescient vision rooted in mathematical reasoning on a macroscopic social level. Dune, by contrast, invents a biologically rooted power of prescience that becomes determinist when the user actively relies on it to navigate past an undefined threshold of detail. Herbert's eugenically produced and spice-enhanced prescience is also personalized to individual actors whose roles in later books constrain each other's visions, rendering the future more or less mutable as time progresses. In what might be a comment on Foundation, Herbert's most powerfully prescient being in God Emperor of Dune laments the boredom engendered by prescience, and values surprises, especially regarding one's death, as a psychological necessity.
However, both works contain a similar theme of the restoration of civilization and seem to make the fundamental assumption that "political maneuvering, the need to control material resources, and friendship or mating bonds will be fundamentally the same in the future as they are now."
== Critical reception ==
Dune tied with Roger Zelazny's This Immortal for the Hugo Award in 1966 and won the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel. Reviews of the novel have been largely positive, and Dune is considered by some critics to be the best science fiction book ever written. The novel has been translated into dozens of languages, and has sold almost 20 million copies. Dune has been regularly cited as one of the world's best-selling science fiction novels.
Arthur C. Clarke described Dune as "unique" and wrote, "I know nothing comparable to it except The Lord of the Rings." Robert A. Heinlein described the novel as "powerful, convincing, and most ingenious." It was described as "one of the monuments of modern science fiction" by the Chicago Tribune, and P. Schuyler Miller called Dune "one of the landmarks of modern science fiction ... an amazing feat of creation." The Washington Post described it as "a portrayal of an alien society more complete and deeply detailed than any other author in the field has managed ... a story absorbing equally for its action and philosophical vistas ... An astonishing science fiction phenomenon." Algis Budrys praised Dune for the vividness of its imagined setting, saying "The time lives. It breathes, it speaks, and Herbert has smelt it in his nostrils". He found that the novel, however, "turns flat and tails off at the end. ... [T]ruly effective villains simply simper and melt; fierce men and cunning statesmen and seeresses all bend before this new Messiah". Budrys faulted in particular Herbert's decision to kill Paul's infant son offstage, with no apparent emotional impact, saying "you cannot be so busy saving a world that you cannot hear an infant shriek". After criticizing unrealistic science fiction, Carl Sagan in 1978 listed Dune as among stories "that are so tautly constructed, so rich in the accommodating details of an unfamiliar society that they sweep me along before I have even a chance to be critical".
The Louisville Times wrote, "Herbert's creation of this universe, with its intricate development and analysis of ecology, religion, politics, and philosophy, remains one of the supreme and seminal achievements in science fiction." Writing for The New Yorker, Jon Michaud praised Herbert's "clever authorial decision" to exclude robots and computers ("two staples of the genre") from his fictional universe, but suggested that this may be one explanation why Dune lacks "true fandom among science-fiction fans" to the extent that it "has not penetrated popular culture in the way that The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars have". Tamara I. Hladik wrote that the story "crafts a universe where lesser novels promulgate excuses for sequels. All its rich elements are in balance and plausible—not the patchwork confederacy of made-up languages, contrived customs, and meaningless histories that are the hallmark of so many other, lesser novels."
On November 5, 2019, the BBC News listed Dune on its list of the 100 most inspiring novels.
J. R. R. Tolkien refused to review Dune, on the grounds that he disliked it "with some intensity" and thus felt it would be unfair to Herbert, another working author, if he gave an honest review of the book.
== First edition prints and manuscripts ==
The first edition of Dune is one of the most valuable in science fiction book collecting. Copies have been sold for more than $20,000 at auction.
California State University, Fullerton's Pollak Library has several of Herbert's draft manuscripts of Dune and other works, with the author's notes, in their Frank Herbert Archives.
== Sequels and prequels ==
After Dune proved to be a critical and financial success for Herbert, he was able to devote himself full time to writing additional novels in the series. He had already drafted parts of the second and third while writing Dune. The series included Dune Messiah (1969), Children of Dune (1976), God Emperor of Dune (1981), Heretics of Dune (1984), and Chapterhouse: Dune (1985), each sequentially continuing on the narrative from Dune. Herbert died on February 11, 1986.
Herbert's son, Brian Herbert, had found several thousand pages of notes left by his father that outlined ideas for other narratives related to Dune. Brian Herbert enlisted author Kevin J. Anderson to help build out prequel novels to the events of Dune. Brian Herbert's and Anderson's Dune prequels first started publication in 1999, and have led to additional stories that take place between those of Frank Herbert's books. The notes for what would have been Dune 7 also enabled them to publish Hunters of Dune (2006) and Sandworms of Dune (2007), sequels to Frank Herbert's final novel Chapterhouse: Dune, which complete the chronological progression of his original series, and wrap up storylines that began in Heretics of Dune.
== Adaptations ==
Dune has been considered an "unfilmable" and "uncontainable" work to adapt from novel to film or other visual medium. Described by Wired, "It has four appendices and a glossary of its own gibberish, and its action takes place on two planets, one of which is a desert overrun by worms the size of airport runways. Lots of important people die or try to kill each other, and they're all tethered to about eight entangled subplots." There have been several attempts to achieve this difficult conversion with various degrees of success.
=== Early stalled attempts ===
In 1971, the production company Apjac International (APJ) (headed by Arthur P. Jacobs) optioned the rights to film Dune. As Jacobs was busy with other projects, such as the sequel to Planet of the Apes, Dune was delayed for another year. Jacobs' first choice for director was David Lean, but he turned down the offer. Charles Jarrott was also considered to direct. Work was also under way on a script while the hunt for a director continued. Initially, the first treatment had been handled by Robert Greenhut, the producer who had lobbied Jacobs to make the movie in the first place, but subsequently Rospo Pallenberg was approached to write the script, with shooting scheduled to begin in 1974. However, Jacobs died in 1973.
In December 1974, a French consortium led by Jean-Paul Gibon purchased the film rights from APJ, with Alejandro Jodorowsky set to direct. In 1975, Jodorowsky planned to film the story as a 3-hour feature, set to star his own son Brontis Jodorowsky in the lead role of Paul Atreides, Salvador Dalí as Shaddam IV, Padishah Emperor, Amanda Lear as Princess Irulan, Orson Welles as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, Gloria Swanson as Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam, David Carradine as Duke Leto Atreides, Geraldine Chaplin as Lady Jessica, Alain Delon as Duncan Idaho, Hervé Villechaize as Gurney Halleck, Udo Kier as Piter De Vries, and Mick Jagger as Feyd-Rautha. It was at first proposed to score the film with original music by Karlheinz Stockhausen, Henry Cow, and Magma; later on, the soundtrack was to be provided by Pink Floyd. Jodorowsky set up a pre-production unit in Paris consisting of Chris Foss, a British artist who designed covers for science fiction periodicals, Jean Giraud (Moebius), a French illustrator who created and also wrote and drew for Metal Hurlant magazine, and H. R. Giger. Moebius began designing creatures and characters for the film, while Foss was brought in to design the film's space ships and hardware. Giger began designing the Harkonnen Castle based on Moebius's storyboards. Dan O'Bannon was to head the special effects department.
Dalí was cast as the Emperor. Dalí later demanded to be paid $100,000 per hour; Jodorowsky agreed, but tailored Dalí's part to be filmed in one hour, drafting plans for other scenes of the emperor to use a mechanical mannequin as substitute for Dalí. According to Giger, Dalí was "later invited to leave the film because of his pro-Franco statements". Just as the storyboards, designs, and script were finished, the financial backing dried up. Frank Herbert traveled to Europe in 1976 to find that $2 million of the $9.5 million budget had already been spent in pre-production, and that Jodorowsky's script would result in a 14-hour movie ("It was the size of a phone book", Herbert later recalled). Jodorowsky took creative liberties with the source material, but Herbert said that he and Jodorowsky had an amicable relationship. Jodorowsky said in 1985 that he found the Dune story mythical and had intended to re-create it rather than adapt the novel; though he had an "enthusiastic admiration" for Herbert, Jodorowsky said he had done everything possible to distance the author and his input from the project. Although Jodorowsky was embittered by the experience, he said the Dune project changed his life, and some of the ideas were used in his and Moebius's The Incal. O'Bannon entered a psychiatric hospital after the production failed, then worked on 13 scripts, the last of which became Alien. A 2013 documentary, Jodorowsky's Dune, was made about Jodorowsky's failed attempt at an adaptation.
In 1976, Dino De Laurentiis acquired the rights from Gibon's consortium. De Laurentiis commissioned Herbert to write a new screenplay in 1978; the script Herbert turned in was 175 pages long, the equivalent of nearly three hours of screen time. De Laurentiis then hired director Ridley Scott in 1979, with Rudy Wurlitzer writing the screenplay and H. R. Giger retained from the Jodorowsky production; Scott and Giger had also just worked together on the film Alien, after O'Bannon recommended the artist. Scott intended to split the novel into two movies. He worked on three drafts of the script, using The Battle of Algiers as a point of reference, before moving on to direct another science fiction film, Blade Runner (1982). As he recalls, the pre-production process was slow, and finishing the project would have been even more time-intensive:
But after seven months I dropped out of Dune, by then Rudy Wurlitzer had come up with a first-draft script which I felt was a decent distillation of Frank Herbert's. But I also realised Dune was going to take a lot more work—at least two and a half years' worth. And I didn't have the heart to attack that because my older brother Frank unexpectedly died of cancer while I was prepping the De Laurentiis picture. Frankly, that freaked me out. So I went to Dino and told him the Dune script was his.
—From Ridley Scott: The Making of his Movies by Paul M. Sammon
A draft of the screenplay for the Scott version was discovered in 2024 in the Wheaton College archives.
=== 1984 film by David Lynch ===
In 1981, the nine-year film rights were set to expire. De Laurentiis re-negotiated the rights from the author, adding to them the rights to the Dune sequels (written and unwritten). After seeing The Elephant Man, De Laurentiis' daughter Raffaella decided that David Lynch should direct the movie. Around that time Lynch received several other directing offers, including Return of the Jedi. He agreed to direct Dune and write the screenplay even though he had not read the book, was not familiar with the story, or even been interested in science fiction. Lynch worked on the script for six months with Eric Bergren and Christopher De Vore. The team yielded two drafts of the script before it split over creative differences. Lynch would subsequently work on five more drafts. Production of the work was troubled by problems at the Mexican studio and hampering the film's timeline. Lynch ended up producing a nearly three-hour-long film, but at demands from Universal Pictures, the film's distributor, he cut it back to about two hours, hastily filming additional scenes to make up for some of the cut footage.
This first film of Dune, directed by Lynch, was released in 1984, nearly 20 years after the book's publication. Though Herbert said the book's depth and symbolism seemed to intimidate many filmmakers, he was pleased with the film, saying that "They've got it. It begins as Dune does. And I hear my dialogue all the way through. There are some interpretations and liberties, but you're gonna come out knowing you've seen Dune." Reviews of the film were negative, saying that it was incomprehensible to those unfamiliar with the book, and that fans would be disappointed by the way it strayed from the book's plot. Upon release for television and other forms of home media, Universal opted to reintroduce much of the footage that Lynch had cut, creating an over-three-hour-long version with extensive monologue exposition. Lynch was extremely displeased with this move, and demanded that Universal replace his name on these cuts with the pseudonym "Alan Smithee", and has generally distanced himself from the film since.
=== 2000 miniseries by John Harrison ===
In 2000, John Harrison adapted the novel into Frank Herbert's Dune, a miniseries that premiered on the Sci-Fi Channel. As of 2004, the miniseries was one of the three highest-rated programs broadcast on the Sci-Fi Channel.
=== Further film attempts ===
In 2008, Paramount Pictures announced that they would produce a new film based on the book, with Peter Berg attached to direct. Producer Kevin Misher, who spent a year securing the rights from the Herbert estate, was to be joined by Richard Rubinstein and John Harrison (of both Sci-Fi Channel miniseries) as well as Sarah Aubrey and Mike Messina. The producers stated that they were going for a "faithful adaptation" of the novel and considered "its theme of finite ecological resources particularly timely". Science fiction author Kevin J. Anderson and Frank Herbert's son Brian Herbert, who had together written multiple Dune sequels and prequels since 1999, were attached to the project as technical advisors. In October 2009, Berg dropped out of the project, later saying that it "for a variety of reasons wasn't the right thing" for him. Subsequently, with a script draft by Joshua Zetumer, Paramount reportedly sought a new director who could do the film for under $175 million. In 2010, Pierre Morel was signed on to direct, with screenwriter Chase Palmer incorporating Morel's vision of the project into Zetumer's original draft. By November 2010, Morel left the project. Paramount finally dropped plans for a remake in March 2011.
=== Films by Denis Villeneuve ===
In November 2016, Legendary Entertainment acquired the film and TV rights for Dune. Variety reported in December 2016 that Denis Villeneuve was in negotiations to direct the project, which was confirmed in February 2017. In April 2017, Legendary announced that Eric Roth would write the screenplay. Villeneuve explained in March 2018 that his adaptation will be split into two films, with the first installment scheduled to begin production in 2019. Casting includes Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides, Dave Bautista as Rabban, Stellan Skarsgård as Baron Harkonnen, Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica, Charlotte Rampling as Reverend Mother Mohiam, Oscar Isaac as Duke Leto Atreides, Zendaya as Chani, Javier Bardem as Stilgar, Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck, Jason Momoa as Duncan Idaho, David Dastmalchian as Piter De Vries, Chang Chen as Dr. Yueh, and Stephen Henderson as Thufir Hawat. Warner Bros. Pictures distributed the film, which had its initial premiere on September 3, 2021, at the Venice Film Festival, and wide release in both theaters and streaming on HBO Max on October 21, 2021, as part of Warner Bros.' approach to handling the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the film industry. The film received "generally favorable reviews" on Metacritic. It has gone on to win multiple awards and was named by the National Board of Review as one of the 10 best films of 2021, as well as the American Film Institute in their annual top 10 list. The film went on to be nominated for ten Academy Awards, winning six, the most wins of the night for any film in contention.
A sequel, Dune: Part Two, was scheduled for release on November 3, 2023, but was released on March 1, 2024, due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. It had its world premiere at the Odeon Luxe Leicester Square, London, on February 15, 2024, and opened in the United States on March 1. It received critical acclaim especially for its visual effects and has grossed over $711 million worldwide, making it the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2024.
=== Audiobooks ===
In 1993, Recorded Books released a 20-disc audiobook narrated by George Guidall. In 2007, Macmillan Audio released a full-cast production featuring Scott Brick, Simon Vance, Orlagh Cassidy, Katherine Kellgren, Euan Morton (as Paul Atreides), and others, with sound effects and musical scoring. The production won the Audie Award for Science Fiction in 2008 and received the AudioFile Earphones Award; it was also a finalist in the Audie Award categories for Multi-Voiced Performance and Achievement in Production. As of March 2026, nearly nineteen years after its release, the audiobook ranked #3 on the Audible Best Sellers chart for Space Opera Science Fiction.
== Cultural influence ==
Dune has been widely influential, inspiring numerous novels, music, films, television, games, and comic books. It is considered one of the most influential science fiction novels of all time, with numerous modern science fiction works owing their existence to Dune. Dune has been referenced in numerous works of popular culture, including Star Wars, Star Trek, Chronicles of Riddick, The Kingkiller Chronicle and Futurama. Dune was cited as a source of inspiration for Hayao Miyazaki's anime film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984) for its post-apocalyptic world.
Dune was parodied in 1984's National Lampoon's Doon by Ellis Weiner, which William F. Touponce called "something of a tribute to Herbert's success on college campuses", noting that "the only other book to have been so honored is Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings," which was parodied by The Harvard Lampoon in 1969.
=== Music ===
In 1977, David Matthews became one of the first artists to dedicate an entire composition to Dune, publishing an album of the same name on CTI Records.
In 1978, French electronic musician Richard Pinhas released the nine-track Dune-inspired album Chronolyse, which includes the seven-part Variations sur le thème des Bene Gesserit.
In 1979, German electronic music pioneer Klaus Schulze released an LP titled Dune featuring motifs and lyrics inspired by the novel.
A similar musical project, Visions of Dune, was released also in 1979 by Zed (a pseudonym of French electronic musician Bernard Sjazner).
1981 French zeuhl band Dün released their album Eros which was inspired by the Dune novel, also their band name Dün was a short form from their temporary name Dune.
Heavy metal band Iron Maiden wrote the song "To Tame a Land" based on the Dune story. It appears as the closing track to their 1983 album Piece of Mind. The original working title of the song was "Dune"; however, the band was denied permission to use it, with Frank Herbert's agents stating "Frank Herbert doesn't like rock bands, particularly heavy rock bands, and especially bands like Iron Maiden".
Dune inspired the German happy hardcore band Dune, who have released several albums with space travel-themed songs.
The progressive hardcore band Shai Hulud took their name from Dune.
In 1988, New Zealand rock band Shihad chose their name based on "Jihad", the holy war scene from David Lynch's 1984 film.
"Traveller in Time", from the 1991 Blind Guardian album Tales from the Twilight World, is based mostly on Paul Atreides' visions of future and past.
The title of the 1993 Fear Factory album Fear is The Mindkiller is a quote from the "litany against fear".
The song "Near Fantastica", from the Matthew Good album Avalanche, makes reference to the "litany against fear", repeating "can't feel fear, fear's the mind killer" through a section of the song.
In the Fatboy Slim song "Weapon of Choice", the line "If you walk without rhythm/You won't attract the worm" is a near quotation from the sections of novel in which Stilgar teaches Paul to ride sandworms. Christopher Walken, who would later star in Dune: Part Two as Emperor Shaddam IV, appears in the music video.
Dune also inspired the 1999 album The 2nd Moon by the German death metal band Golem, which is a concept album about the series.
The song "The Eyes of Ibad" from Panchiko's 2000 EP D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L, takes its name from Dune, referencing the blue-in-blue eyes of the Fremen.
Dune influenced Thirty Seconds to Mars on their self-titled debut album.
The Youngblood Brass Band's song "Is an Elegy" on Center:Level:Roar references "Muad'Dib", "Arrakis" and other elements from the novel.
The debut album of Canadian musician Grimes, called Geidi Primes, is a concept album based on Dune.
In 2015, the Baltimore-based band Tendrills released a psych rock album called 10,191. The album's title, sound, emotionality, and some of its lyrics were inspired by the Dune novels.
Japanese singer Kenshi Yonezu, released a song titled "Dune", also known as "Sand Planet". The song was released on 2017, and it was created using the voice synthesizer Hatsune Miku for her 10th anniversary.
Sleep's 2018 album The Sciences features a song, Giza Butler, that references several aspects of Dune.
Tool's 2019 album Fear Inoculum has a song entitled "Litanie contre la peur (Litany against fear)".
"Rare to Wake", from Shannon Lay's album Geist (2019), is inspired by Dune.
Heavy metal band Diamond Head based the song "The Sleeper" and its prelude, both off the album The Coffin Train, on the series.
=== Games ===
There have been a number of games based on the book, starting with the strategy–adventure game Dune (1992). The most important game adaptation is Dune II (1992), which established the conventions of modern real-time strategy games and is considered to be among the most influential video games of all time.
The online game Lost Souls includes Dune-derived elements, including sandworms and melange—addiction to which can produce psychic talents. The 2016 game Enter the Gungeon features the spice melange as a random item which gives the player progressively stronger abilities and penalties with repeated uses, mirroring the long-term effects melange has on users.
Rick Priestley cites Dune as a major influence on his 1987 wargame, Warhammer 40,000.
In 2023, Funcom announced Dune: Awakening, a massively multiplayer online game set in the universe of Dune.
=== Space exploration ===
The Apollo 15 astronauts named a small crater on Earth's Moon after the novel during the 1971 mission, and the name was formally adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1973. Since 2009, the names of planets from the Dune novels have been adopted for the real-world nomenclature of plains and other features on Saturn's moon Titan, like Arrakis Planitia. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween_(1978_film) | Halloween (1978 film) | Halloween is a 1978 American independent slasher film directed and scored by John Carpenter, who co-wrote it with producer Debra Hill. It stars Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis (in her film debut), P. J. Soles, and Nancy Loomis. The film follows escaped mental patient Michael Myers, who was committed to a mental institution for murdering his teenage sister on Halloween in the fictional Illinois town of Haddonfield; 15 years later, he returns to Haddonfield, where he stalks teenage babysitter Laurie Strode and her friends while his psychiatrist Dr. Samuel Loomis pursues him.
The film was shot in Southern California, produced by Compass International Pictures, and Falcon International Productions. The film was released by Compass International and Aquarius Releasing in October and grossed $70 million (equivalent to $346 million in 2025) on a budget of $300,000 (equivalent to $1,480,900 in 2025), becoming one of the most profitable independent films of all time. Primarily praised for Carpenter's direction and score, many critics credit the film as pioneering the slasher genre, alongside other films such as Psycho (1960), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Black Christmas (both 1974). It is considered one of the greatest and most influential horror films ever made. In 2006, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Halloween spawned a film franchise comprising thirteen films, with some sequels narratively diverging entirely from previous installments, as well as a novelization, video game, board game, and comic book series have also been based on the film.
== Plot ==
On Halloween night, 1963, in the suburban Illinois town of Haddonfield, six-year-old Michael Myers brutally stabs his teenage sister Judith to death with a chef's knife. On October 30, 1978, psychiatrist Dr. Samuel Loomis and nurse Marion Chambers drive to the sanitarium where Michael is incarcerated to escort him to a court hearing. During a breakout, Michael jumps on the roof and attacks Marion. She runs from the vehicle, allowing Michael to steal the car and drive away.
Michael returns to Haddonfield, killing a mechanic and taking his coveralls before stealing a white mask, a rope, and two kitchen knives from a hardware store. The next morning, Halloween, he begins stalking a teenage girl, Laurie Strode, when she drops off a key at his abandoned childhood home that her father is trying to sell. Laurie notices Michael throughout the day, but her friends Annie Brackett and Lynda Van Der Klok dismiss her concerns. Loomis arrives in Haddonfield and discovers that Michael has stolen Judith's tombstone from the local cemetery. He meets up with the town sheriff, Annie's father Leigh Brackett, and they visit Michael's home.
That evening, Michael follows Annie and Laurie to their babysitting jobs. Laurie watches Tommy Doyle, while Annie stays with Lindsey Wallace across the street. Michael spies on Annie and kills Lester, the family's German Shepherd. Tommy spots Michael from the windows and thinks he is the boogeyman, but Laurie dismisses him. Annie takes Lindsey to the Doyle house so she can pick up her boyfriend while Laurie watches both of the kids. Michael hides in her car and strangles her before cutting her throat. Lynda and her boyfriend Bob arrive at the Wallace house and have sex. Bob then goes downstairs to get a beer from the kitchen, where Michael pins him to the wall with a chef's knife. Michael poses as Bob in a ghost costume to taunt Lynda, who teases him to no effect. Annoyed, she calls Laurie to find out what happened to Annie, but Michael strangles her with the phone cord while Laurie listens on the other end, not knowing what is happening. Meanwhile, Loomis discovers the stolen car and searches the streets.
Worried by the phone call, Laurie goes to the Wallace house and finds her friends' bodies and Judith's tombstone in one of the upstairs bedrooms. She runs into the hallway cowering in horror where Michael slashes her arm, causing her to fall over the banister. Though injured, she escapes the house and flees back to the Doyle house with Michael in pursuit. Tommy lets her in, and she orders him and Lindsey to hide. Laurie tries to call for help, only to find the phone dead. Michael sneaks in through the window and attempts to attack Laurie again, but Laurie defends herself by stabbing him in the neck with a knitting needle, causing him to collapse to the floor.
Thinking Michael is dead, Laurie staggers upstairs to check on the children, where she tells them that she killed the "boogeyman", but right as she says this, Michael reappears and follows her upstairs, knife in hand. While Tommy and Lindsey hide in the bathroom, Laurie lures Michael to the bedroom closet, and while Michael is barging his way in, Laurie stabs him in the eye with a piece of wire hanger and in the chest with his own knife. After Laurie sends Tommy and Lindsey to a nearby neighbor's house to call the police, Michael rises again and attacks her once more, this time trying to strangle her. Seeing the kids running and screaming from the house, Loomis investigates and walks in on Laurie desperately fighting Michael off by dislodging his mask, revealing his face as he grabs the mask away. As Michael puts his mask back on, Loomis shoots him six times with a revolver, causing him to stagger backward and fall off the balcony. A traumatized Laurie tells Loomis that Michael was, indeed, the boogeyman, to which Loomis calmly attests to her statement. When Loomis goes to check on the body, he is unsurprised to see that Michael has vanished. He stares into the night as Laurie sobs in terror.
== Cast ==
== Analysis ==
=== Themes ===
Scholar Carol J. Clover has argued that the film, and its genre at large, links sexuality with danger, saying that killers in slasher films are fueled by a "psychosexual fury" and that all the killings are sexual in nature. She reinforces this idea by saying that "guns have no place in slasher films" and when examining the film I Spit on Your Grave she notes that "a hands-on killing answers a hands-on rape in a way that a shooting, even a shooting preceded by a humiliation, does not." Equating sex with violence is important in Halloween and the slasher genre according to film scholar Pat Gill, who made a note of this in her essay "The Monstrous Years: Teens, Slasher Films, and the Family". She remarks that Laurie's friends "think of their babysitting jobs as opportunities to share drinks and beds with their boyfriends. One by one they are killed ... by Michael Myers an asylum escapee who years ago at the age of six murdered his sister for preferring sex to taking care of him." Carpenter has distanced himself from these interpretations, saying "It has been suggested that I was making some kind of moral statement. Believe me, I'm not. In Halloween, I viewed the characters as simply normal teenagers." In another interview, Carpenter said that readings of the film as a morality play "completely missed the point," adding, "The one girl who is the most sexually uptight just keeps stabbing this guy with a long knife. She's the most sexually frustrated. She's the one that's killed him. Not because she's a virgin but because all that sexually repressed energy starts coming out. She uses all those phallic symbols on the guy." Debra Hill, who co-wrote and produced the film, also dismissed the idea saying, "There was absolutely no intent for that to be the underlying reason. I was raised a Catholic schoolgirl and what leaked into the script is my Catholic sensibility. It was totally unintentional."
Some feminist critics, according to historian Nicholas Rogers, "have seen the slasher movies since Halloween as debasing women in as decisive a manner as hard-core pornography." Critics such as John Kenneth Muir state that female characters such as Laurie Strode survive not because of "any good planning" or their own resourcefulness, but sheer luck. Although she manages to repel the killer several times, in the end, Strode is rescued in Halloween and Halloween II only when Dr. Loomis arrives to shoot Myers. However, Clover has argued that despite the violence against women, Halloween and other slasher films turned women into heroines. In many pre-Halloween horror films, women are depicted as helpless victims and are not safe until they are rescued by a strong masculine hero. Despite the fact that Loomis saves Strode, Clover asserts that Halloween initiates the role of the "final girl" who ultimately triumphs. Strode fights back against Myers and severely wounds him. Had Myers been a normal man, Strode's attacks would have killed him; even Loomis, the male hero of the story, who shoots Michael repeatedly with a revolver, cannot kill him. Aviva Briefel argued that moments such as when Michael's face was temporarily revealed are meant to give pleasure to the male viewer. Briefel further argues that these moments are masochistic in nature and give pleasure to men because they are willingly submitting themselves to the women of the film; they submit themselves temporarily because it will make their return to authority even more powerful.
Critics, such as Gill, see Halloween as a critique of American social values. She remarks that parental figures are almost entirely absent throughout the film, noting that when Laurie is attacked by Michael while babysitting, "No parents, either of the teenagers or of the children left in their charge, call to check on their children or arrive to keen over them."
According to Gill, the dangers of suburbia is another major theme that runs throughout the film and the slasher genre at large: Gill states that slasher films "seem to mock white flight to gated communities, in particular the attempts of parents to shield their children from the dangerous influences represented by the city." Halloween and slasher films, generally, represent the underside of suburbia to Gill. Myers was raised in a suburban household and after he escapes the mental hospital he returns to his hometown to kill again; Myers is a product of the suburban environment, writes Gill.
Michael is thought by some to represent evil in the film. This is based on the common belief that evil never dies, nor does evil show remorse. This idea is demonstrated in the film when Dr. Loomis discusses Michael's history with the sheriff. Loomis states, "I spent eight years trying to reach him [Michael Myers], and then another seven trying to keep him locked up because I realized that what was living behind that boy's eyes was purely and simply ... evil." Loomis also refers to Michael as "evil" when he steals his car at the sanitarium. This further emphasizes why Michael wears the mask as he " Wears his villainy plainly on his face." Yet we still question how evil Michael is without knowing his true motivation throughout the first film. We come to the end of the film, and Michael once again roams the streets of Haddonfield as evil never dies.
=== Aesthetic elements ===
Historian Nicholas Rogers notes that film critics contend that Carpenter's direction and camera work made Halloween a "resounding success." Roger Ebert remarks, "It's easy to create violence on the screen, but it's hard to do it well. Carpenter is uncannily skilled, for example, at the use of foregrounds in his compositions, and everyone who likes thrillers knows that foregrounds are crucial . ... " The opening title, featuring a jack-o'-lantern placed against a black backdrop, sets the mood for the entire film. The camera slowly moves toward the jack-o'-lantern's left eye as the main title theme plays. After the camera fully closes in, the jack-o'-lantern's light dims and goes out. Film historian J.P. Telotte says that this scene "clearly announces that [the film's] primary concern will be with the way in which we see ourselves and others and the consequences that often attend our usual manner of perception." Carpenter's first-person point-of-view compositions were employed with steadicam; Telotte argues, "As a result of this shift in perspective from a disembodied, narrative camera to an actual character's eye ... we are forced into a deeper sense of participation in the ensuing action." Along with the 1974 Canadian horror film Black Christmas, Halloween made use of seeing events through the killer's eyes.
The first scene of the young Michael's voyeurism is followed by the murder of Judith seen through the eye holes of Michael's clown costume mask. According to scholar Nicholas Rogers, Carpenter's "frequent use of the unmounted first-person camera to represent the killer's point of view ... invited [viewers] to adopt the murderer's assaultive gaze and to hear his heavy breathing and plodding footsteps as he stalked his prey." Film analysts have noted its delayed or withheld representations of violence, characterized as the "false startle" or "the old tap-on-the-shoulder routine" in which the stalkers, murderers, or monsters "lunge into our field of vision or creep up on a person." Critic Susan Stark described the film's opening sequence in her 1978 review:
In a single, wonderfully fluid tracking shot, the camera establishes the quiet character of a suburban street, the sexual hanky-panky going on between a teenage couple in one of the staid-looking homes, the departure of the boyfriend, a hand in the kitchen drawer removing a butcher's knife, the view on the way upstairs from behind the eye-slits of a Halloween mask, the murder of a half-nude young girl seated at her dressing table, the descent downstairs and whammo! The killer stands speechless on the lawn, holding the bloody knife, a small boy in a satin clown suit with a newly-returned parent on each side shrieking in an attempt to find out what the spectacle means.
== Production ==
=== Concept ===
After viewing John Carpenter's film Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) at the Milan Film Festival, independent film producer Irwin Yablans and financier Moustapha Akkad sought out Carpenter to direct a film for them about a psychotic killer that stalked babysitters. In an interview with Fangoria magazine, Yablans stated: "I was thinking what would make sense in the horror genre, and what I wanted to do was make a picture that had the same impact as The Exorcist (1973)". Carpenter agreed to direct the film contingent on his having full creative control, and was paid $10,000 (equivalent to $49,400 in 2025) for his work, which included writing, directing, and scoring the film. He and his then-girlfriend Debra Hill began drafting the story of Halloween. There were claims as early as 1980 that the film at one point was supposed to be called The Babysitter Murders but Yablans has since debunked this stating that it was always intended to be called (and take place on) Halloween. Carpenter said of the basic concept: "Halloween night. It has never been the theme in a film. My idea was to do an old haunted house film."
Film director Bob Clark suggested in an interview released in 2005 that Carpenter had asked him for his own ideas for a sequel to his 1974 film Black Christmas (written by Roy Moore) that featured an unseen and motiveless killer murdering students in a university sorority house. As also stated in the 2009 documentary Clarkworld (written and directed by Clark's former production designer Deren Abram after Clark's tragic death in 2007), Carpenter directly asked Clark about his thoughts on developing the anonymous slasher in Black Christmas:
... I did a film about three years later, started a film with John Carpenter, it was his first film for Warner Bros. (which picked up Black Christmas), he asked me if I was ever gonna do a sequel and I said no. I was through with horror, I didn't come into the business to do just horror. He said, 'Well what would you do if you did do a sequel?' I said it would be the next year and the guy would have actually been caught, escape from a mental institution, go back to the house and they would start all over again. And I would call it Halloween. The truth is John didn't copy Black Christmas, he wrote a script, directed the script, did the casting. Halloween is his movie and besides, the script came to him already titled anyway. He liked Black Christmas and may have been influenced by it, but in no way did John Carpenter copy the idea. Fifteen other people at that time had thought to do a movie called Halloween but the script came to John with that title on it.
=== Screenplay ===
It took approximately 10 days to write the screenplay. Yablans and Akkad ceded most of the creative control to writers Carpenter and Hill (whom Carpenter wanted as producer), but Yablans did offer several suggestions. According to a Fangoria interview with Hill, "Yablans wanted the script written like a radio show, with 'boos' every 10 minutes." By Hill's recollection, the script took three weeks to write, and much of the inspiration behind the plot came from Celtic traditions of Halloween such as the festival of Samhain. Although Samhain is not mentioned in the plot of the first film, Hill asserts that:
... the idea was that you couldn't kill evil, and that was how we came about the story. We went back to the old idea of Samhain, that Halloween was the night where all the souls are let out to wreak havoc on the living, and then came up with the story about the most evil kid who ever lived. And when John came up with this fable of a town with a dark secret of someone who once lived there, and now that evil has come back, that's what made Halloween work.
Hill, who had worked as a babysitter during her teenage years, wrote most of the female characters' dialogue, while Carpenter drafted Loomis' speeches on the soullessness of Michael Myers. Many script details were drawn from Carpenter's and Hill's own backgrounds and early careers: The fictional town of Haddonfield, Illinois was derived from Haddonfield, New Jersey, where Hill was raised, while several of the street names were taken from Carpenter's hometown of Bowling Green, Kentucky. Laurie Strode was allegedly the name of one of Carpenter's old girlfriends, while Michael Myers was the name of an English producer who had previously entered, with Yablans, Assault on Precinct 13 in various European film festivals. Homage is paid to Alfred Hitchcock with two characters' names: Tommy Doyle is named after Lt. Det. Thomas J. Doyle (Wendell Corey) from Rear Window (1954), and Dr. Loomis' name was derived from Sam Loomis (John Gavin) from Psycho, the boyfriend of Marion Crane (Janet Leigh, who is the real-life mother of Jamie Lee Curtis). Sheriff Leigh Brackett shared the name of a Hollywood screenwriter and frequent collaborator of Howard Hawks.
In devising the backstory for the film's villain, Michael Myers, Carpenter drew on "haunted house" folklore that exists in many small American communities: "Most small towns have a kind of haunted house story of one kind or another," he stated. "At least that's what teenagers believe. There's always a house down the lane that somebody was killed in, or that somebody went crazy in." Carpenter also took inspiration from the character of The Gunslinger from Westworld (1973) for Michael Myers. Carpenter's inspiration for the "evil" that Michael embodied came from a visit he had taken during college to a psychiatric institution in Kentucky. There, he visited a ward with his psychology classmates where "the most serious, mentally ill patients" were held. Among those patients was an adolescent boy, who possessed a blank, "schizophrenic stare". Carpenter's experience inspired the characterization that Loomis gave of Michael to Sheriff Brackett in the film. Debra Hill has stated the scene where Michael kills the Wallaces' German Shepherd was done to illustrate how he is "really evil and deadly".
The ending scene of Michael disappearing after being shot six times and falling off the balcony, was meant to terrify the imagination of the audience. Using a montage of the houses as Michael's breathing is heard, Carpenter tried to keep the audience guessing as to who Michael Myers really is—he is gone, and everywhere at the same time; he is more than human; he may be supernatural, and no one knows how he got that way. To Carpenter, keeping the audience guessing was better than explaining away the character with "he's cursed by some..."
Carpenter has described Halloween as: "True crass exploitation. I decided to make a film I would love to have seen as a kid, full of cheap tricks like a haunted house at a fair where you walk down the corridor and things jump out at you."
=== Casting ===
The cast of Halloween included veteran actor Donald Pleasence as Samuel Loomis and then-unknown actress Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode. The low budget limited the number of big names that Carpenter could attract, and most of the actors received very little compensation for their roles. Pleasence was paid the highest amount at $20,000 (equivalent to $98,700 in 2025), Curtis received $8,000, and Nick Castle earned $25 a day. The role of Dr. Loomis was originally intended for Peter Cushing, who had recently appeared as Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars (1977); Cushing's agent rejected Carpenter's offer due to the low salary. Christopher Lee was approached for the role; he too turned it down, although the actor later told Carpenter and Hill that declining the role was the biggest mistake he made during his career. Yablans then suggested Pleasence, who agreed to star because his daughter Lucy, a guitarist, had enjoyed Assault on Precinct 13 for Carpenter's score.
In an interview, Carpenter admits that "Jamie Lee wasn't the first choice for Laurie. I had no idea who she was. She was 19 and in a TV show at the time, but I didn't watch TV." He originally wanted to cast Anne Lockhart, the daughter of June Lockhart from Lassie, as Laurie Strode. However, Lockhart had commitments to several other film and television projects. Hill says of learning that Jamie Lee was the daughter of Psycho actress Janet Leigh: "I knew casting Jamie Lee would be great publicity for the film because her mother was in Psycho." Curtis was cast in the part, though she initially had reservations as she felt she identified more with the other female characters: "I was very much a smart alec, and was a cheerleader in high school, so [I] felt very concerned that I was being considered for the quiet, repressed young woman when in fact I was very much like the other two girls."
Another relatively unknown actress, Nancy Kyes (credited in the film as Nancy Loomis), was cast as Laurie's outspoken friend Annie Brackett, daughter of Haddonfield sheriff Leigh Brackett (Charles Cyphers). Kyes had previously starred in Assault on Precinct 13 (as had Cyphers) and happened to be dating Halloween's art director Tommy Lee Wallace when filming began. Carpenter chose P. J. Soles to play Lynda Van Der Klok, another loquacious friend of Laurie's, best remembered in the film for dialogue peppered with the word "totally." Soles was an actress known for her supporting role in Carrie (1976) and her minor part in The Boy in the Plastic Bubble (1976) and would subsequently play Riff Randall in the 1979 film Rock 'n Roll High School. According to Soles, she was told after being cast that Carpenter had written the role with her in mind. Soles's then-husband, actor Dennis Quaid, was considered for the role of Bob Simms, Lynda's boyfriend, but was unable to perform the role due to prior work commitments.
The role of "The Shape"—as the masked Michael Myers character was billed in the end credits—was played by Nick Castle, who befriended Carpenter while they attended the University of Southern California. After Halloween, Castle became a director, taking the helm of films such as The Last Starfighter (1984), The Boy Who Could Fly (1986), Dennis the Menace (1993), and Major Payne (1995). Tony Moran plays the unmasked Michael at the end of the film. Moran was a struggling actor before he got the role. At the time, he had a job on Hollywood and Vine dressed up as Frankenstein. Moran had the same agent as his sister, Erin, who played Joanie Cunningham on Happy Days. When Moran went to audition for the role of Michael, he met for an interview with Carpenter and Yablans. He later got a call back and was told he had got the part. Moran was paid $250 for his appearance. Will Sandin played the unmasked young Michael in the beginning of the film. Carpenter also provided uncredited voice work as Paul, Annie's boyfriend.
=== Filming ===
Akkad agreed to put up $300,000 (equivalent to $1,480,900 in 2025)) for the film's budget, which was considered low at the time (Carpenter's previous film, Assault on Precinct 13, had an estimated budget of $100,000). Akkad worried over the tight, four-week schedule, low budget, and Carpenter's limited experience as a filmmaker, but told Fangoria: "Two things made me decide. One, Carpenter told me the story verbally and in a suspenseful way, almost frame for frame. Second, he told me he didn't want to take any fees, and that showed he had confidence in the project". Carpenter received $10,000 (equivalent to $49,400 in 2025) for directing, writing, and composing the music, retaining rights to 10 percent of the film's profits.
Because of the low budget, wardrobe and props were often crafted from items on hand or that could be purchased inexpensively. Carpenter hired Tommy Lee Wallace as production designer, art director, location scout and co-editor. Wallace created the trademark mask worn by Michael Myers throughout the film from a Captain Kirk mask purchased for $1.98 (equivalent to $9.77 in 2025) from a costume shop on Hollywood Boulevard. The mask, made by Don Post Studios, used a mold of Shatner's face taken during production of the 1975 horror film The Devil's Rain, although Shatner has stated that the mold was taken during the production of Star Trek. Carpenter recalled how Wallace "widened the eye holes and spray-painted the flesh a bluish white. In the script it said Michael Myers's mask had 'the pale features of a human face' and it truly was spooky looking. I can only imagine the result if they hadn't painted the mask white. Children would be checking their closet for William Shatner after Tommy got through with it." Hill adds that the "idea was to make him almost humorless, faceless—this sort of pale visage that could resemble a human or not." Many of the actors wore their own clothes, and Curtis' wardrobe was purchased at J.C. Penney for around $100. Wallace described the filming process as uniquely collaborative, with cast members often helping move equipment, cameras, and helping facilitate set-ups. The vehicle stolen by Michael Myers from Dr Loomis and Nurse Marion Chambers at the Smith Grove Sanitarium was an Illinois government-owned 1978 Ford LTD station wagon rented for two weeks of filming. When filming was complete, the car was returned to the rental company who put it up for auction. Its next owner left it in a barn for decades until selling it to its new owner who has completely restored both its interior and exterior.
Halloween was filmed in 20 days over a four-week period in May 1978. Much of the filming was completed using a Panaglide, a clone of the Steadicam, the then-new camera that allowed the filmmakers to move around spaces smoothly. Filming locations included South Pasadena, California; Garfield Elementary School in Alhambra, California; and the cemetery at Sierra Madre, California. An abandoned house owned by a church stood in as the Myers house. Two homes on Orange Grove Avenue (near Sunset Boulevard) in the Spaulding Square neighborhood of Hollywood were used for the film's climax, as the street had few palm trees, and thus closely resembled a Midwestern street. Some palm trees, however, are visible in the film's earlier establishing scenes. The crew had difficulty finding pumpkins in the spring, and artificial fall leaves had to be reused for multiple scenes. Local families dressed their children in Halloween costumes for trick-or-treat scenes.
Carpenter worked with the cast to create the desired effect of terror and suspense. According to Curtis, Carpenter created a "fear meter" because the film was shot out-of-sequence and she was not sure what her character's level of terror should be in certain scenes. "Here's about a 7, here's about a 6, and the scene we're going to shoot tonight is about a 91/2", remembered Curtis. She had different facial expressions and scream volumes for each level on the meter. Carpenter's direction for Castle in his role as Myers was minimal. For example, when Castle asked what Myers' motivation was for a particular scene, Carpenter replied that his motivation was to walk from one set marker to another and "not act." By Carpenter's account the only direction he gave Castle was during the murder sequence of Bob, in which he told Castle to tilt his head and examine the corpse as if it "were a butterfly collection."
=== Musical score ===
Carpenter did the score as he was told that the film "wasn't scary" after doing a test screening. Instead of utilizing a more traditional symphonic soundtrack, the film's score consists primarily of a piano melody played in a 10/8 or "complex 5/4" time signature, composed and performed by Carpenter. It took him three days to compose and record the entire score for the film. Following the film's critical and commercial success, the "Halloween Theme" became recognizable apart from the film. Carpenter said it was also done in an hour. Critic James Berardinelli calls the score "relatively simple and unsophisticated", but admits that "Halloween's music is one of its strongest assets". Carpenter once stated in an interview, "I can play just about any keyboard, but I can't read or write a note." In Halloween's end credits, Carpenter bills himself as the "Bowling Green Philharmonic Orchestra", but he also received assistance from composer Dan Wyman, a music professor at San José State University.
Some non-score songs can be heard in the film, one an untitled song performed by Carpenter and a group of his friends in a band called The Coupe De Villes. The song can be heard as Laurie steps into Annie's car on her way to babysit Tommy Doyle. Another song, "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" by classic rock band Blue Öyster Cult, also appears in the film. It plays on the car radio as Annie drives Laurie through Haddonfield with Myers in silent pursuit.
The soundtrack was first released in the United States in October 1983, by Varèse Sarabande/MCA. It was subsequently released on CD in 1985, re-released in 1990, and reissued again in 2000. On the film's 40th anniversary, coinciding with the release of Anthology: Movie Themes 1974–1998, a cover of the theme by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross was released.
== Release ==
=== Theatrical distribution ===
Halloween premiered on October 24, 1978, in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, at the AMC Empire theatre. Regional distribution in the Philadelphia and New York City metropolitan areas was acquired by Aquarius Releasing. It grossed $1,270,000 (equivalent to $6,269,000 in 2025) from 198 theatres across the U.S. (including 72 in New York City and 98 in Southern California) in its opening week. The film grossed $47 million in the United States and an additional $23 million internationally, making the theatrical total $70 million (equivalent to $346 million in 2025), making it one of the most successful independent films of all time; the film sold approximately 20,153,846 tickets during its initial theatrical release, and remains the most successful release of any Halloween film and the third most successful film in the slasher genre behind Scream (1996) and Scream 2 (1997).
On September 7, 2012, the official Halloween Movies Facebook page announced that the original Halloween would be re-released starting October 25, 2013, in celebration of the film's 35th anniversary in 2013. A new documentary was screened before the film at all locations, titled You Can't Kill the Boogeyman: 35 Years of Halloween, written and directed by HalloweenMovies.com webmaster Justin Beahm.
=== Television rights ===
In 1980, the television rights to Halloween were sold to NBC for approximately $3 million (equivalent to $12 million in 2025). After a debate among Carpenter, Hill and NBC's Standards and Practices over censoring of certain scenes, Halloween appeared on television for the first time on October 30, 1981; the broadcast coincided with the release of Halloween II. To fill the two-hour time slot, Carpenter filmed twelve minutes of additional material during the production of Halloween II. The newly filmed scenes include Dr. Loomis at a hospital board review of Michael Myers and Dr. Loomis talking to a then-six-year-old Michael at Smith's Grove, telling him, "You've fooled them, haven't you, Michael? But not me." Another extra scene features Dr. Loomis at Smith's Grove examining Michael's abandoned cell after his escape and seeing the word "Sister" scratched into the door. Finally, a scene was added in which Lynda comes over to Laurie's house to borrow a silk blouse before Laurie leaves to babysit, just as Annie telephones asking to borrow the same blouse. The new scene had Laurie's hair hidden by a towel, since Curtis was by then wearing a much shorter hairstyle than she had worn in 1978.
In August 2006, Fangoria reported that Synapse Films had discovered boxes of negatives containing footage cut from the film. One was labeled "1981" suggesting that it was additional footage for the television version of the film. Synapse owner Don May Jr. said, "What we've got is pretty much all the unused original camera negative from Carpenter's original Halloween. Luckily, Billy [Kirkus] was able to find this material before it was destroyed. The story on how we got the negative is a long one, but we'll save it for when we're able to showcase the materials in some way. Kirkus should be commended for pretty much saving the Holy Grail of horror films". He later claimed: "We just learned from Sean Clark, long time Halloween genius, that the footage found is just that: footage. There is no sound in any of the reels so far, since none of it was used in the final edit".
=== Home media ===
Since Halloween's premiere, it has been released in several home video formats. Early VHS versions were released by Media Home Entertainment. This release subsequently became a collector's item, with one copy from 1979 selling on eBay for $13,220 (equivalent to $18,300 in 2025) in 2013. On August 3, 1995, Blockbuster Video issued a commemorative edition of the film on VHS.
As stated, the film was first released on VHS in 1979 and again in 1981 by Media Home Entertainment. The synopsis on the back misspelled Myers as Meyers. The film was also released on Betamax around that same time. It was not released in CED format (capacitance electronic disc), unlike Halloween II and Halloween III, but it was released on Laser Disc.
The film was released for the first time on DVD in the United States by Anchor Bay Entertainment on October 28, 1997. To date, that DVD release is the only one to feature the original mono audio track as heard in theaters in 1978 and on most home video releases that preceded it. Anchor Bay re-released the film on DVD in various other editions; among these were an "extended edition," which features the original theatrical release with the scenes that were shot for the broadcast TV version edited in at their proper places. In 1999, Anchor Bay issued a two-disc limited edition, which featured both the theatrical and "extended editions," as well as lenticular cover art and lobby cards. In 2003, Anchor Bay released a two-disc "25th Anniversary edition" with improved DiviMax picture and audio, along with an audio commentary by Carpenter, Curtis and Hill, among other features.
On October 2, 2007, the film was released for the first time on Blu-ray by Anchor Bay/Starz Home Entertainment. The following year, a "30th Anniversary Commemorative Set" was issued, containing DVD and Blu-ray versions of the film, the sequels Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers and Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers, and a replica Michael Myers mask. A 35th-anniversary Blu-ray was released in October 2013, featuring a new transfer supervised by cinematographer Dean Cundey. This release earned a Saturn Award for Best Classic Film Release. In September 2014, Scream Factory teamed with Anchor Bay Entertainment to release the film as part of a Blu-ray boxed set featuring every film in the series (up to 2009's Halloween II), made available in a standard and limited edition.
The film was released by Lionsgate Home Entertainment (Anchor Bay's successor) in an Ultra HD Blu-ray and Blu-ray edition for the film's 40th anniversary. It is also available online for computer and other devices viewing (streaming rentals) and downloadable files through Amazon.com, Apple's iTunes Store download application and Vudu.com computer servers.
In September 2021, Scream Factory released a new 4K Ultra HD Dolby Vision scan of the film, as well as its first four sequels.
== Reception ==
=== Critical response ===
==== Contemporary ====
Upon its initial release, Halloween performed well with little advertising, relying mostly on word-of-mouth, and received mostly positive reviews from critics.
The Los Angeles Times deemed the film a "well-made but empty and morbid thriller", while Bill von Maurer of The Miami Times felt it was "surprisingly good", noting: "Taken on its own level, Halloween is a terrifying movie—if you are the right age and the right mood." Susan Stark of the Detroit Free Press branded Halloween a burgeoning cult film at the time of its release, describing it as "moody in the extreme" and praising its direction and music. Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film three and a half stars out of four and called it "a beautifully made thriller" that "works because director Carpenter knows how to shock while making us smile. He repeatedly sets up anticipation of a shock and delays the shock for varying lengths of time. The tension is considerable. More than once during the movie I looked around just to make sure that no one weird was sitting behind me." Tom Allen of The Village Voice praised the film in his November 1978 review, noting it as sociologically irrelevant but praising its Hitchcock-like technique as effective and "the most honest way to make a good schlock film". Allen pointed out the stylistic similarities to Psycho and George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968).
Conversely, Pauline Kael wrote a scathing review in The New Yorker suggesting that "Carpenter doesn't seem to have had any life outside the movies: one can trace almost every idea on the screen to directors such as Hitchcock and Brian De Palma and to the Val Lewton productions" and musing that "Maybe when a horror film is stripped of everything but dumb scariness—when it isn't ashamed to revive the stalest device of the genre (the escaped lunatic)—it satisfies part of the audience in a more basic, childish way than sophisticated horror pictures do." Likewise, Gary Arnold of The Washington Post was negative, writing "Since there is precious little character or plot development to pass the time between stalking sequences, one tends to wish the killer would get on with it. Presumably, Carpenter imagines he's building up spine-tingling anticipation, but his techniques are so transparent and laborious that the result is attenuation rather than tension." Lou Cedrone of The Baltimore Evening Sun referred to it as "tediously familiar" and whose only notable element is "Jamie Lee Curtis, whose performance as the intended fourth victim, is well above the rest of the film."
The following months after release, critics continued to praise the film. Voice lead critic Andrew Sarris wrote a follow-up feature on cult films, citing Allen's appraisal of Halloween and writing in the lead sentence that the film "bids fair to become the cult discovery of 1978. Audiences have been heard screaming at its horrifying climaxes". Roger Ebert gave the film similar praise in his 1979 review in the Chicago Sun-Times, referring to it as "a visceral experience—we aren't seeing the movie, we're having it happen to us. It's frightening. Maybe you don't like movies that are really scary: Then don't see this one." Ebert also selected it as one of his top 10 films of 1978. Once-dismissive critics became impressed by Carpenter's choice of camera angles and simple music and surprised by the lack of blood and graphic violence.
==== Retrospective ====
Years after its debut, Halloween is considered by many critics as one of the best films of 1978. On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, which records both contemporaneous and more recent reviews, Halloween holds a 97% approval rating based on 86 critic reviews, with an average rating of 8.6/10. The consensus reads: "Scary, suspenseful, and viscerally thrilling, Halloween set the standard for modern horror films." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 90 out of 100 based on 21 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
Many compared the film with the work of Alfred Hitchcock, although TV Guide calls comparisons made to Psycho "silly and groundless" and some critics in the late 1980s and early 1990s blamed the film for spawning the slasher subgenre, which they felt had rapidly descended into sadism and misogyny. Scholars such as Adam Rockoff dispute the recurring descriptions of Halloween as overtly violent or gory, commenting that the film is in fact "one of the most restrained horror films", showing very little onscreen violence. Almost a decade after its premiere, Mick Martin and Marsha Porter critiqued the first-person camera shots that earlier film reviewers had praised and later slasher-film directors used for their own films (for example, 1980's Friday the 13th). Claiming it encouraged audience identification with the killer, Martin and Porter pointed to the way "the camera moves in on the screaming, pleading victim, 'looks down' at the knife, and then plunges it into chest, ear, or eyeball. Now that's sick."
=== Accolades ===
Halloween was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Horror Film by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films in 1979, but lost to The Wicker Man (1973). In 2001, Halloween ranked #68 on the American Film Institute TV program 100 Years ... 100 Thrills. The film was #14 on Bravo's The 100 Scariest Movie Moments (2004). Similarly, the Chicago Film Critics Association named it the 3rd scariest film ever made. In 2006, Halloween was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." In 2008, the film was selected by Empire magazine as one of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time. In 2010, Total Film selected the film as one of The 100 Greatest Movies of All Time. In 2017, Complex magazine named Halloween the best slasher film of all time. The following year, Paste listed it the best slasher film of all time, while Michael Myers was ranked the greatest slasher villain of all time by LA Weekly.
American Film Institute lists
AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Thrills – #68
AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Heroes & Villains:
Michael Myers – Nominated Villain
AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) – Nominated
== Legacy ==
Halloween is a widely influential film within the horror genre; it was largely responsible for the popularization of slasher films in the 1980s and helped develop the slasher genre. Halloween popularized many tropes that have become completely synonymous with the slasher genre. Halloween helped to popularize the final girl trope, the killing off of characters who are substance abusers or sexually promiscuous, and the use of a theme song for the killer. Carpenter also shot many scenes from the perspective of the killer in order to build tension. These elements have become so established that many historians argue that Halloween is responsible for the new wave of horror that emerged during the 1980s. Due to its popularity, Halloween became a blueprint for success that many other horror films, such as Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street, followed, and that others like Scream gave nods towards.
The major themes present in Halloween also became common in the slasher films it inspired. Film scholar Pat Gill notes that in Halloween, there is a theme of absentee parents but films such as A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th feature the parents becoming directly responsible for the creation of the killer.
There are slasher films that predated Halloween, such as Silent Night, Bloody Night (1972), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) and Black Christmas (1974) which contained prominent elements of the slasher genre; both involving a group of teenagers being murdered by a stranger as well as having the final girl trope. Halloween, however, is considered by historians as being responsible for the new wave of horror films, because it not only used these tropes but also pioneered many others. Rockoff notes that it is "difficult to overestimate the importance of Halloween," noting its pioneering use of the final girl character, subjective point-of-view shots, and holiday setting. Rockoff considers the film "the blueprint for all slashers and the model against which all subsequent films are judged."
== Related works ==
=== Novelization and video games ===
A mass market paperback novelization of the same name, written by Curtis Richards (a pseudonym that was used by author Richard Curtis), was published by Bantam Books in 1979. It was reissued in 1982. it later went out of print. The novelization adds aspects not featured in the film, such as the origins of the curse of Samhain and Michael Myers' life in Smith's Grove Sanatorium, which contradict its source material. For example, the novel's version of Michael speaks during his time at the sanitarium; in the film, Dr. Loomis states, "He hasn't spoken a word in fifteen years."
In 1983, Halloween was adapted as a video game for the Atari 2600 by Wizard Video. None of the main characters in the game were named. Players take on the role of a teenage babysitter who tries to save as many children as possible from an unnamed, knife-wielding killer. In another effort to save money, most versions of the game did not even have a label on the cartridge. It was simply a piece of tape with "Halloween" written in marker. The game contained more gore than the film, however. When the babysitter is killed, her head disappears and is replaced by blood pulsating from the neck as she runs around exaggeratedly. The game's primary similarity to the film is the theme music that plays when the killer appears onscreen.
In 2016, the Halloween Chapter was released for the asymmetrical multiplayer horror game, Dead by Daylight. It included Michael Myers and Laurie Strode as the Chapter's Killer and Survivor, respectively, with the town of Haddonfield as a map. Named The Shape (after the character's credited name while masked), his Power, called Evil Within, allows Myers to power-up significantly and become stealthy as he stalks Survivors with his Stalker Mode, and become aggressive and quicker with his Pursuer Mode. Once he has stalked enough Survivors, he can activate Evil Incarnate, which grants access to Slaughtering Strike, a dash-like attack that he can use to instantly knock down targets and destroy any obstacle in his way. His Perks sets a random Survivor as an Obsession, granting him different effects based on said Survivor's condition. Laurie Strode's Perks also revolve on the Obsession mechanic, and increases her chances of being the Killer's Obsession, giving her the tools to fight back, and increasing her chances of escape as the other Survivors are sacrificed or killed. Jamie Lee Curtis' likeness and voice were not used for the character.
=== Sequels and remake ===
Halloween spawned nine sequels, an unrelated spin-off film and two films in a remake series.
Of the subsequent films, only the first sequel was written by Carpenter and Hill. It begins exactly where Halloween ends and was intended to finish the story of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode. Carpenter did not direct any of the subsequent films in the Halloween series, although he and Hill did produce Halloween III: Season of the Witch, the plot of which is unrelated to the other films in the series due to the absence of Michael Myers. He, along with Alan Howarth, also composed the music for the second and third films. After the negative critical and commercial reception for Season of the Witch, the studio brought back Michael Myers in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers. Financier Moustapha Akkad continued to work closely with the Halloween franchise, acting as executive producer of every sequel until his death in the 2005 Amman bombings.
With the exception of Halloween III, the sequels further develop the character of Michael Myers and the Samhain theme. Even without considering the third film, the Halloween series contains continuity issues, which some sources attribute to the different writers and directors involved in each film.
A remake was released in 2007, and was followed by a 2009 sequel.
An eleventh installment was released in 2018, as a direct sequel to the original film, disregarding the previous sequels, and retconning the ending of the first film. It was followed by two direct sequels: Halloween Kills (2021) and Halloween Ends (2022). |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population_(United_Nations) | List of countries by population (United Nations) | |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casey_Donovan_(singer) | Casey Donovan (singer) | Casey Donovan (born 13 May 1988) is an Indigenous Australian singer and actress, best known for winning the second season of the singing competition show Australian Idol in 2004. She won the competition at the age of 16, becoming the series' youngest winner. In 2017, Donovan won the third series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here. Donovan also hosted the NITV music show Fusion with Casey Donovan.
== Early life ==
Casey Donovan was born in Bankstown, New South Wales, to a family that included several relatives with musical careers, including her father, who along with his brothers are members of the country band The Donovans. It wasn't until attending Condell Park High that her talent became noticed and was supported especially by both her mother and stepfather.
Donovan is a Gumbaynggirr and Dungari woman.
== Career ==
=== 2004–2006: Australian Idol and For You ===
In 2004, Donovan transferred to the Australian Institute of Music in Sydney and auditioned for the second season of Australian Idol singing Kasey Chambers' "A Million Tears". During the series, Donovan won a Deadly Award for Most Promising New Talent in Music. In November, Donovan was announced the winner of Idol over favourite Anthony Callea. Her success was marred by a typographical mistake by Australian Idol sponsor Telstra, in a half-page nationally run newspaper advertisement including what was assumed to be her website. The link was a memorial for the late American pornography actor of the same name. Telstra apologized for the error.
==== Australian Idol Performances ====
In February 2005, Donovan released "What's Going On" which peaked at number 18 on the ARIA Charts. At the Deadly Awards 2005, Donovan won Single Release of the Year for "Listen with Your Heart" and Artist of the Year. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2005, Donovan was nominated for Highest Selling Single, losing to Anthony Callea's "The Prayer". In 2006, Donovan was dropped from Sony BMG.
=== 2007–2016: Post-Idol Career ===
In 2008, independently released the extended play Eye 2 Eye.
While starring in the successful concept show, Women of Soul, Donovan was approached by director Rhoda Roberts for the theatrical production of Giorgio Battistelli's opera Miracle in Brisbane, which was performed at the Brisbane Festival in October 2009.
Donovan returned to music with the release of her single "Big, Beautiful & Sexy" written with songwriter Beau Golden, released in August 2010. A Facebook named for the song grew to over 10,000 fans shortly after release. Prior to the song's release, Donovan herself lost over 20 kg and continued her support larger men and women. Donovan went on to release another single in November 2010 titled "Last Regret," which gained some commercial airplay.
In December 2010, Donovan was nominated for two awards at the 2010 Sydney Theatre Awards for "Newcomer" and "Supporting Actress", continuing to receive praise and recognition from the industry for her work in The Sapphires. Although she auditioned for a role in the 2011 movie version, Donovan was not cast.
2011 saw Donovan reprise her role of Cynthia Macrae in another tour of The Sapphires. The tour ran during February in ACT and NSW, and was followed by two weeks in the UK in March.
In August/September 2011, Donovan created the role of Mama Cass in the world premiere of new musical Flowerchildren – The Mamas & the Papas Story written by Peter Fitzpatrick and produced by Australian company Magnormos. She was joined by Matt Hetherington as John Phillips, Laura Fitzpatrick as Michelle Phillips, and Dan Humphris as Denny Doherty.
Donovan also played several roles in Shakespeare's As You Like It at Sydney's Belvoir Street Theatre.
=== 2017–2018: I'm a Celebrity, TV Advertisements and "Lonely" ===
In January 2017, Donovan was revealed as a celebrity contestant on the third season of the Australian version of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. On 13 March 2017, Donovan won the series and was announced as the first ever Queen of the Jungle. In April 2017, Donovan became the face of the Coles Supermarket "Down down" campaign. On 23 April 2017, Donovan performed an acoustic version of David Bowie's "Heroes" at the 2017 Logie Awards in which she received a standing ovation.
In May 2017 the Coles, "Down Down" campaign was refreshed with Casey performing a disco version of the advertisement.
Donovan released her first single in seven years, "Lonely" on 19 May 2017 and Off the Grid & Somewhere in Between EP in August 2017.
She performed on New Year's Eve 2017 in Sydney, singing "Lady Marmalade", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and "Nutbush City Limits".
=== 2019–present: Chicago, Australia Decides, and The Space podcast ===
In 2019 Donovan starred as Mama Morton in the Australian revival of the musical, Chicago, which received positive reviews.
In November 2019, Donovan was announced as a participant in Eurovision - Australia Decides; in an attempt to represent Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020. She performed the track "Proud" in the national final on 8 February 2020 and placed second.
In 2020, she became a host on The Space podcast, focused on mindfulness and wellbeing.
In 2021, Donovan appeared as Luna Keys in the third season of the comedy TV series How to Stay Married, alongside Peter Helliar and Lisa McCune.
In 2022, she returned to the stage in the Australian production of the musical 9 to Five, playing the role of Judy Bernly which toured the Capitol Theatre in Sydney, Lyric Theatre in Brisbane, State Theatre in Melbourne and Festival Theatre in Adelaide.
In 2023, it was announced that Donovan would play the role of Angelique/Nurse in the Melbourne production of & Juliet at the Regent Theatre. She then toured with the show to Singapore, Perth and Sydney.
Donovan next performed the role of Aunt Deborah in Kimberly Akimbo in 2025, receiving praise for her "scene-stealer" performance.
Donovan announced that she would be touring Australia in 2026 with a show covering her entire career, This Is Me.
== Personal life ==
From 2004, Donovan was the victim of a six-year-long hoax telephone relationship with a persona named Campbell, constructed by a woman named Olga.
In 2023, Donovan announced she was in a relationship with Renee Sharples, whom she met on a dating app during the COVID-19 lockdowns. The pair became engaged in June 2024. Donovan identifies as a queer woman.
== Discography ==
=== Studio albums ===
=== Extended plays ===
=== Singles ===
== Television ==
== Awards and nominations ==
=== ARIA Music Awards ===
=== Deadly Awards ===
The Deadly Awards, (commonly known simply as The Deadlys), was an annual celebration of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander achievement in music, sport, entertainment and community. They ran from 1996 to 2013. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania_XV#Results | WrestleMania XV#Results | WrestleMania XV was a 1999 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It was the 15th annual WrestleMania and took place on March 28, 1999, at the First Union Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Ten professional wrestling matches were scheduled on the event's card. The ticket sales of 20,276 drew a gross of $1,437,050.
The main event saw the challenger "Stone Cold" Steve Austin face The Rock in a no disqualification match for the WWF Championship. The penultimate match saw The Undertaker wrestle Big Boss Man in a Hell in a Cell match. Lower on the card, six of the promotion's seven active championships were defended, including the first WrestleMania defense of the Hardcore Championship. Also on the undercard was a Brawl for All match, an unscripted type of shootfight between wrestler Bart Gunn and boxer/mixed martial artist Butterbean. This event also marked the final WWF appearance for Gorilla Monsoon, who died in October that same year.
== Production ==
=== Background ===
WrestleMania is the World Wrestling Federation's (WWF, now WWE) flagship professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event, having first been held in 1985. It has become the longest-running professional wrestling event in history and 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 dubbed the "Big Four", and was considered one of the "Big Five" pay-per-views, along with King of the Ring. WrestleMania XV was scheduled on March 28, 1999, at the First Union Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
=== Storylines ===
When Road Dogg Jesse James and "Bad Ass" Billy Gunn lost the WWF Tag Team Championship to The Corporation, they tried their hand at singles wrestling for some time. Gunn failed in his attempts to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship, but Road Dogg would become Hardcore Champion until an injury prevented him from honoring a championship match with Al Snow. Snow ended up fighting himself and then Bob Holly for the vacant belt at St. Valentine's Day Massacre: In Your House, with Holly winning the title at the banks of the Mississippi River. When Road Dogg won the Intercontinental Championship on Raw Is War Gunn fought Holly (now dubbed as Hardcore Holly) and won when Holly crashed into an ad-hoc announcers table Jim Ross had constructed for his pirate broadcast of the show.
In the previous year, due to the suddenly enlarged roster, a shootfighting (unscripted) knockout tournament entitled Brawl for All was organized on a voluntary basis, with Bart Gunn winning the tournament on August 24 after defeating every opponent by knockout aside from his opening-round opponent Bob Holly. When Holly rechristened himself Hardcore Holly on February 15, decrying poor gimmicks and tag-team partners he had been given in the past, Gunn made his first appearance since winning the tournament, to remind Holly that not all his partners were of a poor caliber. This led to a hardcore match between the two, which Gunn dominated until a masked assailant, revealed to be "Dr. Death" Steve Williams, threw him off the stage. Williams claimed he did this out of revenge for losing to Gunn in the Brawl for All. The week after on Raw Is War, Williams' manager Jim Ross announced to Gunn he would be facing noted mixed martial artist and boxer Eric "Butterbean" Esch, who held a 43–1–1 record at the time, who challenged him to a Brawl for All fight.
From November's Survivor Series until the night after St. Valentine's Day Massacre, The Rock and Mankind (Mick Foley) traded the WWF Championship numerous times as Mr. McMahon screwed Mankind time and time again on his quest to headline WrestleMania. In their final match, a ladder match on Raw Is War, Paul Wight delivered the Showstopper to Mankind as he was about to win the match, removing his chances of appearing in the main event of WrestleMania. However, as Mr. McMahon's conspiracy of appointing Big Show as special guest referee to secure The Rock as champion began to fall apart, Mankind constantly offered his services as a second official. With The Rock and Big Show causing infighting in the Corporation, Mankind successfully canvassed for a chance to referee; rather than have two conflicting referees, a match was booked to give the winner the right to officiate the main event match.
When Ryan Shamrock (Alicia Webb) appeared front row on Raw Is War on January 11, she gained attention not only from her (kayfabe) brother Ken Shamrock, but also Val Venis (who performed a flirtatious dance for her) and "Badd Ass" Billy Gunn (who lived up to his moniker by mooning her). Enraged, Ken Shamrock fought Gunn at the Royal Rumble, then Venis at St. Valentine's Day Massacre, with Venis winning the Intercontinental Championship thanks to help from Ryan. Venis soon dumped Ryan, and she began a relationship with Goldust (Dustin Rhodes). Venis also unwittingly lost his championship to Road Dogg on Raw Is War and found himself defending his championship against the important men in Ryan Shamrock's life in a four-corners elimination match.
After The Rock won his "I Quit" match against Mankind at the Royal Rumble by playing a recording of his voice, Triple H demanded an I Quit match of his own, but as he was about to put Rock through the announcers table, The Corporation came to the ring and Kane held his manager/girlfriend Chyna hostage, demanding that he quit the match. As soon as the match was over, Chyna low blowed Triple H and revealed her alliances with The Corporation, promising a Valentine's Day present at the subsequent pay-per-view. Despite almost having the match won, Triple H suffered at the hands of an interfering Shane McMahon and illegal man Kane's chokeslam. Triple H took revenge on the February 22 Raw Is War by interfering in X-Pac's (Sean Waltman) match with Chyna, causing her to lose. Chyna called Triple H out on March 8, but before they could fight, Kane came to the ring. Chyna held up Triple H as Kane shot a fireball at him, though he would duck out of the way causing (kayfabe) severe retinal damage to Chyna. Despite not receiving any damage, Triple H maintained that the fireball was meant for him, an insult he took personally and an intended injury he wanted to return at WrestleMania. On March 22, Kane prepared to have a match against Goldust, but as he threw off his entrance robes and wig, it turned out he was Triple H holding a flamethrower, shooting flames in Kane's face. Meanwhile, X-Pac, who had altercations with Shane McMahon prior to the February event, was frustrated with Shane's interference in the match and goaded into putting his European Championship on the line in a tag-team match with Triple H against Kane and Shane, which Shane won thanks to Triple H being distracted by Chyna. With Shane claiming himself to be a fighting champion, he agreed to a rematch at WrestleMania, but regularly interfered in X-Pac's matches up until that point, culminating in a Greenwich Street Fight on March 22 that ended in a no-contest when the Mean Street Posse ambushed X-Pac and drove off with Shane in their car.
Tori was sitting front row as a plant as early as September 14's Raw Is War, but it was not until late December that she began to act with stalker tendencies, sending flowers and notes to Sable, the Women's Champion and even helping her to defend her title against Luna Vachon at the Royal Rumble. On Raw Is War the night after the previous pay-per-view, Tori invaded the ring again and was publicly shouted at and humiliated by Sable. Vachon then brought Tori to the ring a fortnight after, reprimanding Sable for her ego, but a still-obsessed Tori helped attack Vachon. The following week on March 8's Raw Is War, Tori fought Vachon with Sable in her corner but after receiving a squash from Vachon, Sable also gave Tori a Sable Bomb, leading to Tori interrupting Sable's Playboy interview by demanding a championship match at WrestleMania.
Having been buried alive in a Royal Rumble qualification match at Rock Bottom: In Your House, The Undertaker disappeared from television while The Acolytes, Faarooq (Ron Simmons) and Bradshaw (John Layfield), began to act strangely, eventually abducting Dennis Knight and leaving him tied up in a darkened room. On January 11, The Undertaker returned in slightly new attire, taking a seat in a ceremonial throne on the Raw Is War stage while Paul Bearer stood beside him and The Acolytes brought Knight out and tied him to a table. There, Undertaker performed a ritualistic ceremony, rechristening him as Mideon. Undertaker began delivering ambiguous apocalyptic messages, but after recruiting Mabel, now Viscera (Nelson Frazier, Jr.) and The Brood, he began to be more direct, revealing his plan to attack McMahon and take over the World Wrestling Federation.
The security of Mr. McMahon's Corporation, Big Boss Man, challenged the Ministry to a six-man tag team match, which ended in a no-contest when the Ministry abducted Shane McMahon and took him to Undertaker, who threatened him while choking him then gave him a letter to give to his father. Vince McMahon replied the following week on February 22 by booking The Undertaker in an Inferno match with Kane on Raw Is War, the first network television airing of that type of match. During the match, McMahon provided commentary, nonchalantly revealing he had placed Undertaker in a Hell in a Cell match against Big Boss Man for WrestleMania. During the match, Paul Bearer gave an ominous gift to McMahon, a teddy bear. After Undertaker set Kane on fire, he turned to the enraged McMahon, taking the teddy bear (later revealed to belong to Stephanie McMahon) and setting it alight, reducing Vince to his knees as he burst into tears. Trying to defeat either of his problems, McMahon declared he'd never show such weakness again and put Mankind against Undertaker, which ended with Undertaker almost chokeslamming McMahon through the announcers table until Boss Man saved him.
Undertaker continued with his mind games on March 8, ordering his Ministry to look for Boss Man all night and attacking any innocents in his way, eventually capturing Boss Man and crucifying him. Boss Man managed to escape while police were being beaten off by Undertaker's minions until he offered himself to the police while being derided by McMahon. The following week he continued his assault, with videos playing throughout the evening of the Ministry at McMahon's mansion ending in McMahon coming to the ring while Triple H brawled with Kane, begging Kane to help him. Kane ripped off his mask to reveal it was actually The Undertaker who grabbed McMahon by the throat as the lights turned off in the arena and when they came up, he was gone with McMahon alone in the ring.
The main event of the evening was another chapter in the ongoing rivalry between Stone Cold Steve Austin and McMahon, which dated back to when Austin won the Royal Rumble in 1998. After Austin won the WWF Championship at WrestleMania XIV, McMahon set on a six-month-long quest to take the championship from him. With the exception of a one day reign by Kane, who won the championship in a First Blood Match at King of the Ring when his (kayfabe) brother The Undertaker caused Austin to bleed first, Austin thwarted each attempt by McMahon until Breakdown: In Your House in September 1998 when Austin defended the championship against Undertaker and Kane in what was billed as a triple threat match. McMahon added a stipulation, however, that neither brother could pin the other to win the match; this led to both men simultaneously pinning Austin, causing him to lose the match and the championship. This had been part of a deal McMahon had made with the two men to protect him from Austin, with the reward of the championship if they were successful. However, McMahon went back on his word after Austin attacked him on the next night's Raw and announced he was forcing Undertaker and Kane to wrestle for the vacant championship at Judgment Day: In Your House. He also named Austin the special guest referee, hoping to humiliate him by forcing him to declare a new champion. Austin, however, had other ideas and counted both men out, declaring himself the winner of the match and leaving the championship vacant.
A Deadly Games tournament was scheduled for Survivor Series in November, in which it turned out that The Rock, not Mankind, was McMahon's choice for winner and had the tournament manipulated to his advantage, while Austin lost in a match when McMahon's son Shane, acting as referee, refused to count a pinfall to go to the finals. Knowing Rock would be busy feuding with Mankind, McMahon realized Austin was likely to use the 1999 Royal Rumble, rather than a personal attack, to attempt to reclaim the belt and laid down the stipulation that he must win a Buried Alive match against The Undertaker to be in the Rumble. When he did, with some help from Kane, McMahon further tried to prevent Austin winning back the championship by "randomly" drawing him as the first entrant in the Rumble and drawing himself as the 30th. However, WWF commissioner Shawn Michaels declared that due to entering the Rumble match, McMahon was now an active WWF competitor, meaning Michaels had full reign over him. Michaels then declared that McMahon would be not be entering the Rumble match as the 30th participant, but instead would be entered into the Rumble match as the second entrant, meaning McMahon and Austin would start the match against one another. McMahon would later try to incentivize other wrestlers to eliminate Austin by placing a $100,000 bounty on him during the Royal Rumble match.
Despite this, Austin (and, for that matter, McMahon) managed to stay in the match to the very end, although this was mostly due to him and McMahon leaving the ring at various points to brawl around the arena. At one point during the match, McMahon lured Austin backstage into an ambush from The Corporation, leading Austin to be taken away in an ambulance while McMahon returned ringside and provided commentary. Austin eventually returned to the match, however, and began eliminating other competitors before finally getting his hands on McMahon. Late in the match, The Rock, who earlier in the evening had regained the WWF Championship, came to the ring and started arguing with Austin. McMahon took advantage of the distraction and threw Austin over the top rope, thus winning the match. As he was officially now the winner of the Royal Rumble, McMahon was entitled to face whomever the WWF Champion was at WrestleMania. On the following night's episode of Raw, however, he announced that, since he was only a part-timer and the champion was a fellow Corporation member in The Rock, that he had filed paperwork relinquishing his WrestleMania championship opportunity and that he would be naming a replacement later in the evening. To his chagrin, Austin and Michaels informed him shortly thereafter that, according to the rules, his actions resulted in Austin, as the runner-up in the Royal Rumble, taking his place.
With McMahon irate, Austin revealed he was willing to put his title shot on the line and not headline WrestleMania if McMahon would give him the opportunity to fight him one on one with no interference from The Corporation; if McMahon could beat him, Austin would not go to WrestleMania. Their steel cage match at St. Valentine's Day Massacre mostly consisted of McMahon running away, but eventually the two fought with Austin winning the match under unusual circumstances when Big Show made his debut, coming from under the ring and throwing Austin into the cage with the walls of it coming open, meaning Austin had inadvertently won.
== Event ==
=== Pre-show ===
The event was marked with a Rage Party the preceding evening at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, playing on the tagline of the event, much like Fan Axess that would come in later years. It included music from Isaac Hayes, Big Pun, and the Cherry Poppin' Daddies.
During the Sunday Night Heat pre-show, Jacqueline pinned Ivory after a back suplex. After the match, Terri Runnels burned her cigar into Ivory's cheek. The second Heat match saw a 21-man battle royal match with the last two competitors becoming a tag team for the evening to face the Tag Team Championship holders. In the event, D'Lo Brown and Test were the last two, still fighting without realizing the match was over when Droz and The Godfather eliminated each other. The show officially began with Boyz II Men singing "America the Beautiful" in the ring before the opening video.
=== Preliminary matches ===
The inaugural WrestleMania Hardcore Championship match began with Al Snow striking Billy Gunn as he tried to make a pre-match speech. With Gunn in the corner, Snow fought with Hardcore Holly outside the ring, wrapping his neck in cable but, after some fighting from Gunn, Holly was able to suplex Snow. After Gunn again interjected himself, Snow was able to go underneath the mat to find some weapons including a Philadelphia Flyers hockey stick much to the delight of the crowd. The match ended when Gunn put Snow through a table in the corner, originally intended for Gunn and then used the Fameasser on Snow, driving him into a chair on the mat. As the referee counted, Holly struck Gunn with a weapon, quickly covering Snow to steal his second championship reign.
The WWF Tag Team Championship match began with Jeff Jarrett and D'Lo Brown exchanging running maneuvers before both tagging in their respective partners, at which point Test used a pumphandle slam on Owen Hart, but tried again after a failed pin attempt only to be met with an enziguiri and then the Sharpshooter. Brown came in illegally to break it up but was tagged in straight afterward, dominating both Hart and Jarrett with power slams and dropkicks, almost winning the match after a Sky High that was broken up by Jarrett. Referee Jimmy Korderas was distracted when Debra came to the apron to distract Brown only to be pulled down by Ivory, at which point PMS (Terri and Jacqueline) arrived and all of them began to fight while Test tried to pull them apart. With everyone distracted, Hart missile dropkicked Brown allowing Jarrett to roll Brown up and sit on him, securing a pin count.
The Brawl For All match began with the two meetings in the middle, Gunn running into some blows from Butterbean. The two traded punches, neither man managing to contact properly until Butterbean shook Gunn with a left-hand jab followed by a right hook which stunned Gunn allowing Bean to corner him, giving him another right hook which knocked him down. Gunn immediately came back upon his knees but took advantage of the eight seconds before standing up fully. As the fight resumed, Butterbean jabbed Gunn to the body and followed with a clean overhand right which sent Gunn back to the canvas, giving Butterbean a victory via knockout. The match lasted a total of 34 seconds. This was followed with an appearance from the San Diego Chicken, who mocked special referee Vinny Pazienza and was punched to the floor for it.
On the WWF WrestleMania special on HSN later during the pay per view, after the Shane McMahon match, "Dr. Death" Steve Williams cut a promo on Bart Gunn in a backstage interview with Jim Ross by his side, saying that Butterbean's punch "wasn't lucky" and that "Bart deserved what he got", telling the viewer to keep watching WWF because "the Doctor hasn't finished his job yet". This was in hopes of setting up an angle between Williams and Gunn, and to continue building Williams as a credible midcarder. However, because of Gunn being released, their feud instead carried over to All Japan Pro Wrestling in the early 2000s, where in Japan the Brawl For All was better received.
Next up was the match between Mankind and the Big Show, where the winner would earn the right to officiate the WWF Championship match later in the evening. As Mankind entered the ring he was immediately headbutted out, but as Big Show followed him out, Mankind slammed Show's head into the steel steps. He then tried a double-armed DDT into the steps but was shoved over the steps falling backward. Show dominated Mankind in the ring afterward, using his sheer size to punch and throw Mankind, with Mankind eventually being tied up in the ropes, which allowed him to back body drop Show out of the ring. Mankind then took out Mr. Socko, a smelly gym sock, and stuffed the foul-smelling sock into the Big Show's mouth with the mandible claw three times. The third claw came with a low blow, for which Mankind was not disqualified. When Show stood back up, he had Mankind on his back with the sock in his mouth and jumped backward so that his entire body landed on Mankind, breaking up the hold. As the two recovered, Show kicked his opponent out of the ring, grabbing a steel chair and thrusting it into Mankind's chest then hitting it over his back. Big Show threw that chair and another in the ring, setting them both in seated positions and Show Stopping Mankind through the middle of them. At this point Earl Hebner finally decided to disqualify Big Show, with Show taking out his anger by attacking Mankind more with the chair. Mr. McMahon made his way to the ring afterward, berating Big Show for risking the WWF Championship match at which point Show grabbed him by the throat. He then thought better of it and released him, only to be met with another tirade from McMahon and a slap, causing Show to punch McMahon and knock him out.
The four corners Intercontinental match began with Ken Shamrock and Road Dogg in the ring, with the latter being thrown from corner to corner until Goldust tagged his way in, with running shoulder barges that floored Shamrock. Shamrock tagged in Venis who came in and instantly attacked Shamrock until Goldust backdropped him. Goldust tried the Curtain Call, but Venis flipped over Goldust's back only to be knocked down again by a clothesline from Goldust, who then put Venis on the turnbuckle and attempted a superplex. Venis fought back and replied with a diving bulldog following with a fisherman suplex pin which only resulted in a two count. The two then collided in the turnbuckle, causing Goldust to fall down and Venis to fall on him, headbutting his crotch. Shamrock took a blind tag from Road Dogg, after he replaced Goldust, immediately putting an ankle lock until Venis grabbed the bottom rope. As Venis grabbed the ropes to stand up again, Shamrock charged him but was tossed over the ropes as Ryan Shamrock insulted him. Venis went after Ken Shamrock and the two fought up the walkway with Shamrock running back to the ring, but not fast enough to avoid a double count-out. Shamrock, not accepting the decision belly to belly suplex slammed both competitors before leaving. When they recovered, Goldust Irish whipped Road Dogg but it was reversed. As Goldust ran into the ropes, he had his leg caught by Ryan Shamrock, seemingly trying to grab Road Dogg's leg. Road Dogg charged Goldust and was picked up for a powerslam, but managed to roll Goldust up with a small package, covering him for a successful three count.
Before Kane's match with Triple H, Kane entered the ring only to be attacked while he was performing his signature entrance by the San Diego Chicken. Kane fought back and unmasked the chicken, revealing it to be Pete Rose, trying to gain revenge for the previous year's incident, but receiving a Tombstone piledriver. Triple H also tried to ambush Kane by coming through the crowd while all eyes were on the stage entrance, hitting Kane out of the ring and then throwing him into the ring post and whipping him into the steel steps. Kane then picked Triple H up and straddled him on the crowd barrier, pushing him into the Mean Street Posse who were at ringside, picking him up again to ram his back into the steel post three times. Back inside the ring, Kane dominated Helmsley with his rough fighting style, using his foot to choke Triple H and knocking him down with clotheslines and punches until Triple H gained momentum from a reversal, smashing Kane's face into his knee. Kane was allowed time to recover when Triple H was distracted by Chyna coming to ringside. Triple H tried to Pedigree Kane as he stood up, but failed while Chyna pushed the steel steps into the ring. Kane picked them up and ran into Triple H, who used the turnbuckle to swing his feet up and kicked them back into Kane, causing Kane to stagger backward and drop them before smashing his face into the steps from a drop toe-hold. Triple H then clotheslined Kane out of the ring, following himself and attempting to Pedigree Kane on the steps but was backbody dropped. When they made it back into the ring, Kane chokeslammed Triple H while Chyna entered the ring with a steel chair, telling Kane she wanted to attack Triple H, but as Kane turned, Chyna hit him with the chair, causing him to corner her but again was hit with the chair, this time by Triple H, who followed it up with a Pedigree onto the chair. Chyna and Triple H celebrated the reunion of D-Generation X afterward.
The Women's Championship match began with Tori taking her time to enter the ring, Sable grabbing her hair when she finally did and tossing her back out. Tori regrouped outside and pulled Sable out by her legs, ramming her face into the apron and the barricade. She was whipped into the barrier herself and as she recovered, Sable performed a crossbody from the outside apron. Sable continuously assaulted Tori while down on the mat, but Tori delivered two vicious clotheslines to the corner on Sable, then attempted a sunset flip pin which began a series of pinning reversals ending in a stalemate. Afterward Tori tried a running attack on Sable but took out referee Jimmy Korderas unwittingly. Sable then tried to perform her Sable Bomb but Tori jumped out of it. As she tried to perform her own powerbomb, a muscled woman, later identified as Nicole Bass, came into the ring to gorilla press slam Tori. This allowed Sable to Sable Bomb Tori and pin her to retain the championship.
Before X-Pac could make his way to the ring, Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco attacked him from behind. This ambush backfired, however, as X-Pac easily overcame them before running into the ring, with Shane McMahon fleeing. Shane eventually made his way to the ring and was punched into the corner, escaping a Bronco Buster when Test pulled him out of the ring. Shane tried to escape once again, but X-Pac chased him and threw him back into the ring, only to be struck down by Test and then have his crotch rammed into the ring post. When he returned to the ring, Shane scoop slammed him and attempted a Corporate Elbow, with X-Pac sitting up just before the end, but he was brought back down with a low blow as referee Mike Chioda was distracted by Test. Shane continued to push the disqualification boundaries by whipping X-Pac with his belt several times before being back body dropped out of the ring, recovering only to be met with a flying crossbody. The Mean Street Posse tried to restrain X-Pac, but he fought back only to be floored by Test. After a superplex, the attempted pinfall was broken up by Test, causing referee Mike Chioda to eject him from ringside. X-Pac then whipped McMahon with the belt before roundhouse kicking him into the corner and performing the Bronco Buster. When Chioda checked on McMahon afterward, Test struck X-Pac with the championship belt, but by the time McMahon covered him he managed to kick out. Test tried to interfere once again, but took a Bronco Buster too. Triple H and Chyna then came to the ring to pull Test out. But as McMahon was floored by an X-Factor, Chyna distracted the referee to allow Triple H to Pedigree X-Pac and cover him with Shane, turning heel and allowing Shane to retain the title. The New Age Outlaws ran to the ring and brawled with Triple H and Test until the lights went out and Kane's music began to play. By the time the lights came up, The Corporation had fled the ring. Originally Mean Street Posse was supposed to face the rest of DX in a Greenwich Street fight with the match set in the Mean Streets of Greenwich but the match never aired.
=== Main event matches ===
The Hell in a Cell match began with Big Boss Man punching The Undertaker into the corner until he ducked out and returned the same. Although Boss Man was able to deliver a swinging neckbreaker, Undertaker took control again throwing Boss Man into the cell. Boss Man reversed an Irish whip and threw Undertaker into the cell too, handcuffing one hand to the chain fence. Boss Man taunted Undertaker's lack of control before striking him repeatedly with his night stick causing Undertaker to fall to the floor and rip the handcuffs, though Boss Man carried on using the nightstick and cut Undertaker open. Undertaker fought back by grabbing Boss Man at the throat and throwing him back into the fence again, striking him with a chair and running Boss Man face-first into the chain fence with a fireman's carry. As the two returned to the ring Boss Man tried to clothesline Undertaker but he ducked and performed a leaping flying clothesline of his own before going Old School, ultimately falling into the ropes. The two began a fistfight in the middle of the ring with Undertaker failing a tombstone piledriver attempt, but successfully performing it seconds later and pinned him afterward. Undertaker stood up and looked to the heavens with his hands upwards, signaling The Brood to descend onto the roof of the cell. They cut open the roof of the cell and passed through a noose, securing the other end to the top of the cell. The Brood then ascended back into the rafters as Undertaker put the noose around Boss Man's neck, with Paul Bearer causing the Cell to rise and take a hanging Boss Man with it. Over the years, this post-match segment has been seen as highly controversial, and has been subsequently edited off of various home video releases, as well as on Peacock and Netflix. After the match, a video package of the Rage Party was shown while Boss Man was taken down and carried off on a stretcher.
Before the main event, Michael Cole announced Jim Ross returning to call the match. Mr. McMahon then came to the ring to declare himself as the special guest referee, but was instantly confronted by WWF Commissioner Shawn Michaels, who explained that only the commissioner is entitled to appoint a referee for WrestleMania, ordering McMahon to the back and barring all members of The Corporation from ringside. The main event began with the two wrestlers insulting each other before Austin threw the first punch, The Rock instantly returning. The majority of the early part of the match took place outside the ring, with Austin being choked with a T-shirt before the action spilled into the crowd. When Rock threw Austin back into the ringside area, he choked him with some cable and took him up the entrance ramp, but Austin fought out of his grasp and threw him into the steel barriers, trying to piledrive him but being backbody dropped so that his knee landed onto light support girders. Rock picked up Austin and threw him into the WrestleMania XV sign but Austin reversed and threw Rock into the sign instead, before dragging him back towards the ring and having a suplex reversed on the concrete walkway. Rock then tried to throw Austin back through the crowd at ringside, spitting water in his face, but Austin took control and put him onto the Spanish announce table, performing two elbow drops to break the table and then spat water into Rock's face. Austin threw his opponent into the ring, celebrating to the crowd. But when he entered the ring, Rock sprang up and nailed Austin with a Rock Bottom, following with an unsuccessful pinfall. This would mark the first time that any competitor had kicked out of the Rock Bottom. The Rock grabbed a chair, but Austin took it from him, Rock blocked the oncoming chair shot by pulling referee Mike Chioda in front of him, who took the chair shot.
Rock then caught Austin by surprise with a swinging neckbreaker, taking the chair and driving it into Austin's back several times. After another pin attempt, with Tim White now officiating, Austin still kicked out and Rock used a sitting chin hold to subdue him. After holding him for some time, Austin slowly stood up, elbowing Rock and attempting a running attack but was taken out with a Samoan drop, which Austin again kicked out of. The Rock took his frustration out on White, Rock Bottoming him, which gave Austin the time to recover and nail the champion with a Stone Cold Stunner, with Earl Hebner eventually coming in to officiate but only counting to two before Rock kicked out. Mr. McMahon then came to the ring, distracting Austin while The Rock low-blowed him; the two men kicking away at Austin in the corner and punching Hebner when he tried to stop them. As the two double-teamed Austin, Mankind came running to the ring in his referee's uniform, throwing McMahon straight out the ring and taking over as referee. Austin tried a roll-up pin, following up with a Lou Thesz Press but Rock soon took the advantage with another Rock Bottom. With Austin in the middle of the ring, The Rock tried the Corporate Elbow, but Austin moved out of the way at the last second. Rock caught Austin's foot and spun him around, trying to Rock Bottom him again but Austin elbowed him away and delivered a Stunner, finally securing a pinfall and winning the WWF Championship.
== Reception ==
The event was met with mixed critical response. Canadian Online Explorer's professional wrestling section gave the entire event five out of 10 stars. The main event between The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin for the WWF Championship was rated eight out of 10 stars; the Hell in a Cell match between The Undertaker and Big Boss Man was rated five out of 10 stars; the match between Shane McMahon and X-Pac for the WWF European Championship was rated seven out of 10 stars; the match between Sable and Tori for the WWF Women's Championship was rated one out of 10 stars; the match between Triple H and Kane was rated four out of 10 stars; the referee match between Mankind and Big Show was rated four out of 10; the four-corners elimination match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship between Road Dogg Jesse James, Ken Shamrock, Goldust, and Val Venis was rated five out of 10 stars; the tag team match for the WWF Tag Team Championship between D'Lo Brown and Test against Owen Hart and Jeff Jarrett was rated three out of 10 stars; and the triple threat match for the WWF Hardcore Championship between Hardcore Holly, Billy Gunn, and Al Snow was rated six out of 10 stars.
Writing for 411Mania in 2009, Rob McNew gave the event a rating of 5.5/10, stating, "Like most Attitude Era shows this one doesn't hold up very well ten years later" though he praised the main event bout between Rock and Austin. Similarly, Scott Keith gave the event an overall negative rating, while calling the Rock vs. Austin match "solid by default" and complimenting Shane McMahon's performance given his lack of wrestling experience. In 2012, Bleacher Report ranked the event 25th out of the 27 Wrestlemanias to that point, calling the event "underwhelming" and criticizing the Hell in a Cell match.
== Aftermath ==
Stone Cold Steve Austin's feud with The Corporation continued after WrestleMania with Austin demanding the return of his customized smoking skull belt that was taken from him after losing the WWF Championship at Breakdown: In Your House in 1998. With The Ministry of Darkness continuing to threaten his family, Mr. McMahon was forced to comply with his nemesis' demands and ordered his son Shane to deliver the belt to Austin. Shane, however, refused and took matters with Austin into his own hands by giving the smoking skull belt to The Rock. This culminated in a rematch between Austin and The Rock at Backlash while Shane McMahon served as a special guest referee. Austin defeated The Rock to retain the WWF Championship after Mr. McMahon prevented Shane from screwing him and handed the smoking skull belt back to Austin.
The Ministry of Darkness continued their ongoing war with The Corporation, with The Undertaker going after Mr. McMahon's daughter Stephanie. Along the way, The Undertaker continued to make sacrifices including Ryan Shamrock, leading to a feud between Undertaker and Ken Shamrock who wanted revenge for Undertaker's actions to his family with Undertaker defeating Shamrock at Backlash.
When The Undertaker did successfully find Stephanie, Shamrock, in his quest to get revenge on Undertaker, continued to beat down and interrogate members of The Ministry of Darkness for McMahon's whereabouts. After Christian told Shamrock Stephanie's whereabouts, Undertaker punished Christian by whipping him and have him face crucifixion. Edge and Gangrel, who along with Christian were members of their own stable The Brood and were loyal to Christian, decided to rescue him, betraying The Ministry and turning face in the process. The Ministry got revenge by defeating The Brood in a Six-Man Tag Team Match at Backlash.
Bart Gunn would leave the WWF after his match against Butterbean. On the Dark Side of the Ring episode on the Brawl for All, Gunn said he felt his match against Butterbean was "punishment" for winning the Brawl and knocking out Steve "Dr. Death" Williams during the event (Williams suffered other injuries during the match) which was not what the bookers wanted (they wanted Williams to win to give him a push against "Stone Cold" Steve Austin). Gunn would not return to WWE until 2007.
Nicole Bass continued to accompany Sable to the ring and subsequently destroyed all competition for Sable's WWF Women's Championship. After Triple H washed his hands of D-Generation X and joined Chyna in the Corporation, X-Pac teamed up with Kane to form an unlikely tag team, and the duo captured the WWF Tag Team titles from Owen Hart and Jeff Jarrett.
The City of Philadelphia would later host the event again in 2024 with this time being held at the nearby Lincoln Financial Field in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the event held in the city and the 40th anniversary of WrestleMania.
== Results == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_Service_code_name | Secret Service code name | The United States Secret Service uses code names for U.S. presidents, first ladies, and other prominent persons and locations. The use of such names was originally for security purposes and dates to a time when sensitive electronic communications were not routinely encrypted; today, the names simply serve for purposes of brevity, clarity, and tradition. The Secret Service does not choose these names, however. The White House Communications Agency maintains a list that candidates choose from, often choosing ones that resonate with them personally.
According to an established protocol, good codewords are unambiguous words that can be easily pronounced and readily understood by those who transmit and receive voice messages by radio or telephone regardless of their native language. Traditionally, all family members' code names start with the same letter.
The code names change over time for security purposes, but are often publicly known. For security, code names are generally picked from a list of such 'good' words, but avoiding the use of common words which could likely be intended to mean their normal definitions.
== Presidents and their families ==
== Vice presidents and their families ==
Spiro Agnew – Pathfinder
Judy Agnew – Photograph
Nelson Rockefeller – Sandstorm
Happy Rockefeller – Shooting Star or Stardust
Walter Mondale – Cavalier
Joan Mondale – Cameo
Ted Mondale – Centurion
Eleanor Mondale – Calico
William Mondale – Chessman
Dan Quayle – Scorecard or Supervisor
Marilyn Quayle – Sunshine
Al Gore – Sundance or Sawhorse
Tipper Gore – Skylark
Karenna Gore – Smurfette
Kristin Gore – Silhouette
Sarah Gore – Screwdriver
Albert Gore III – Shortstop
Dick Cheney – Angler
Lynne Cheney – Author
Elizabeth Cheney – Apollo
Mary Cheney – Alpine
Mike Pence – Hoosier
Karen Pence – Hummingbird
Kamala Harris – Pioneer
Douglas Emhoff - Playmaker
Cole Emhoff - Pirate
Ella Emhoff - Pickle
JD Vance – Bobcat
== Political candidates and their spouses ==
U.S. Secret Service codenames are often given to high-profile political candidates (such as presidential and vice presidential candidates), and their respective families and spouses who are assigned U.S. Secret Service protection. These codenames often differ from those held if they are elected or those from prior periods if they held positions needing codenames.
== Government officials ==
Kennedy Administration
Cabinet
Secretary of State Dean Rusk – Freedom
Staff
Rear Adm. George Burkley (Physician to the president) – Market
Senior military aide General Chester Clifton – Watchman
Associate Press Secretary Andrew Hatcher – Winner
Assistant Press Secretary Malcolm Kilduff – Warrior
Personal secretary Evelyn Lincoln – Willow
Air Force aide Godfrey McHugh – Wing
Special assistant and appointments secretary Kenneth O'Donnell – Wand
Naval aide Captain Tazewell Shepard – Witness
White House secretary Priscilla Wear – Fiddle
White House secretary Jill Cowen – Faddle
Lyndon Johnson Administration
Staff
Walter Jenkins – Vigilant
Pierre Salinger – Wayside
Nixon Administration
Cabinet
Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger – Woodcutter
His wife, Nancy Kissinger – Woodlark
Staff
White House photographer Ollie Atkins – Hawkeye
Gulf Coast Regional Chairman James Baker – Fencing Master or Foxtail
Deputy Assistant to the President Dwight Chapin – Watchdog
Domestic Affairs Advisor Kenneth Reese Cole Jr. – Spectator
John Ehrlichman – Wisdom
White House aide Tim Elbourne – Snapshot
Secretary of State Alexander Haig – Claw Hammer
White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman – Welcome
Assistant to Haldeman Lawrence Higby – Semaphore
Air Force aide James D. Hughes – Red Barron
Communications Director Herbert G. Klein – Witness
Dr. William Lukash (Physician to the president) – Sawhorse
Senior assistant Clark MacGregor – Whipcrack
Assistant for Legislative Affairs William Timmons – Windowpane
Dr. Walter Tkach (Physician to the president) – Signature
Director of the White House Office of Presidential Advance, later Director of the National Park Service, Ronald H. Walker – Roadrunner
Personal secretary Rose Mary Woods – Strawberry
Press Secretary and Assistant to the President Ron Ziegler – Whale Boat
Presidential spokesman Ken W. Clawson – Thunderstorm
Ford Administration
Staff
Press Secretary Ron Nessen – Clam Chowder
Deputy Chief of Staff, later Chief of Staff, Dick Cheney – Backseat
Carter Administration
Cabinet
Secretary of State Cyrus Vance – Fade Away
Secretary of Defense Harold Brown – Finley
Staff
National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzeziński – Hawkeye
Director of the Office of Management and Budget Bert Lance – Dumbo
Reagan Administration
Attorney General William French Smith – Flivver
Secretary of Education Terrel Bell – Foxcraft
George W. Bush Administration
Scott McClellan – Matrix (generic name for White House press secretary)
Chief of Staff Andy Card – Potomac, later Patriot
Chief of Staff Josh Bolten – Fatboy
Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao – Firebird
Obama Administration
Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel – Black Hawk
Tim Geithner – Fencing Master (generic codename for Secretary of the Treasury)
First Trump administration
Senior Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway – Blueberry
== Other individuals ==
Israel
Prime Minister Menachem Begin – Cedar
Hasia Begin Milo – Crystal
Commonwealth realms
Queen Elizabeth II – Kittyhawk, Redfern
King Charles III – Principal or Unicorn
United States
Senator Howard Baker (R-Tennessee) – Snapshot
Actor Antonio Banderas – Zorro
Congressman and Speaker of the House Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill – Flag Day
Florida banker and businessman, confidant of President Nixon, Bebe Rebozo – Christopher
Social secretary to First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and mistress to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd – Mrs. Johnson
Singer and actor Frank Sinatra – Napoleon
Senator Strom Thurmond (R-South Carolina) – Footprint
Vatican
Pope John Paul II – Halo
== Locations, objects, places and parts of Secret Service ==
U.S. Secret Service codenames are not only given to people; they are often given to places, locations and even objects, such as aircraft like Air Force One, and vehicles such as the Presidential State Car.
Joint Base Andrews, in Prince George's County, Maryland – Acrobat or Andy
The Presidential Motorcade – Bamboo
The Harry S Truman Building (Department of State headquarters) – Birds-eye
Camp David, presidential retreat in Catoctin Mountain Park, in Frederick County, Maryland – Cactus or Buckeye
The Vice President's office – Cobweb
The Vice President's staff – Pacemaker
The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York City – Roadhouse
Air Force One – Angel or Cowpuncher
The U.S. Presidential State Car – Stagecoach
Follow-up car – Halfback
The White House – Castle (Crown referring to the Executive Mansion, the central representative and office spaces of the White House)
The Capitol – Punch bowl
The White House Situation Room – Cement Mixer
Eisenhower Executive Office Building (part of the White House Complex) – Central
Reagan National Airport – Curbside
The temporary residence of the President – Charcoal or Base
The Pentagon – Calico
White House garage – Carpet
J. Edgar Hoover Building (FBI Headquarters) – Cork
Lyndon Baines Johnson's ranch – Volcano
Secret Service Counterassault Team – Hawkeye
Secret Service Counter-sniper Team – Hercules
== In fiction ==
In popular culture, the practice of assigning codenames is often used to provide additional verisimilitude in fictional works about the executive branch, or high-ranking governmental figures.
1600 Penn
First Son Standrich "Skip" Gilchrist Jr. – Meatball
Air Force One
President James Marshall – Boy Scout
The American President
President Andrew Shepherd – Liberty
Chasing Liberty
First Daughter Anna Foster – Liberty
Designated Survivor
President Tom Kirkman – Phoenix (formerly Glasses during his time as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development)
First Daughter
First Daughter Samantha Mackenzie – Lucky Charm
First Kid
President Paul Davenport – Eagle
First Son Luke Davenport – Prince
House of Cards
President Frank Underwood – Little John
President Claire Underwood – Lone Star
In the Line of Fire
The President – Traveler
Jericho
President Jon Tomarchio – Condor
The Night Agent
Maddie Redfield (VP Daughter) – Badger
Omar Zadar (PIF leader) – Osprey
Paradise
President Cal Bradford – Wildcat
The Prodigal Daughter
President Florentyna Kane – Baroness
Red, White & Royal Blue
First Son Alexander Claremont-Diaz – Barracuda
First Daughter June Claremont-Diaz – Bluebonnet
Prince Henry – Bishop
Scandal
President Fitzgerald Thomas "Fitz" Grant III – Falcon
First Lady Melody Margaret "Mellie" Grant – Foxtail
White House Chief of Staff Abigail "Abby" Whelan – Firebrand
The Sentinel
President John Ballentine – Classic
First Lady Sara Ballentine – Cincinnati
Squeeze Me
The President – Mastodon
The First Lady – Mockingbird
Tom Clancy's novels
Unnamed President in Clear and Present Danger – Wrangler
President Jack Ryan in Debt of Honor and Executive Orders – Swordsman
Dr. Caroline "Cathy" Ryan in Executive Orders – Surgeon
Olivia "Sally" Ryan in Executive Orders – Shadow
Jack Ryan Jr. in Executive Orders – Shortstop
Katie Ryan in Executive Orders – Sandbox
Kyle Daniel Ryan in The Bear and the Dragon – Sprite
George Winston (Secretary of the Treasury) in Executive Orders – Trader
Benjamin Goodley (National Security Advisor) in Executive Orders – Cardsharp
Arnold Van Damm (White House Chief of Staff) in Executive Orders and The Bear and the Dragon – Carpenter
Callie Weston (Chief Speechwriter) in Executive Orders and The Bear and the Dragon – Calliope
Scott Adler (Secretary of State) in Executive Orders and The Bear and the Dragon – Eagle
Veep
Vice President Selina Meyer – Duchess
The West Wing
President Josiah "Jed" Bartlet – Eagle or Liberty
Zoey Bartlet – Bookbag
C. J. Cregg – Flamingo
Sam Seaborn – Princeton
Gus Westin (grandson of Jed Bartlet) – Tonka
Arnold Vinick – Big Sur |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshihiro_Togashi | Yoshihiro Togashi | Yoshihiro Togashi (Japanese: 冨樫 義博, Hepburn: Togashi Yoshihiro; born April 27, 1966) is a Japanese manga artist. He began drawing manga at an early age and was recognized for his talent by the publishing company Shueisha while attending college. Togashi has authored several different manga series in different genres since the 1980s. He is best known for writing and illustrating YuYu Hakusho (1990–1994) and Hunter × Hunter (1998–present), which are two of the best-selling manga series of all time. Togashi is married to Naoko Takeuchi, the author of Sailor Moon.
== Biography ==
=== Early life ===
Born in Shinjō, Yamagata to a family that owned a paper shop, Togashi began drawing manga casually in his first or second year of elementary school. In high school, Togashi joined the fine-arts club, and he later enrolled at Yamagata University, where he studied education in the hope of becoming a teacher. During college, he submitted some of his manga work to Weekly Young Jump, published by Shueisha. In 1986, at age 20, he authored a manga titled Buttobi Straight (ぶっとびストレート, Buttobi Sutorēto) for which he received the Tezuka Award, the most prestigious award for new comic artists in Japan. Another manga by Togashi, titled Jura no Mizuki (ジュラのミヅキ), was an honorable mention in Shueisha's first annual Hop Step Award Selection magazine, published in 1988. After having given up his goal of becoming a teacher, Togashi was contacted by an editor of Weekly Shōnen Jump during his senior year of college, who asked him to move to Tokyo.
=== Career ===
Togashi's earliest published works for Shueisha include Ōkami Nante Kowakunai!! (狼なんて怖くない!!; lit. I'm Not Afraid of the Wolf!!), a collection of comedy manga short-stories. Weekly Shōnen Jump published some of the stories prior to a tankōbon release in 1989. Between 1989 and 1990, Togashi authored Ten de Shōwaru Cupid, a four-volume romance manga depicting the relationship between a normal human boy and a beautiful devil girl.
In 1990, Togashi made a name for himself with his next series, YuYu Hakusho. Based on his interests in the occult and horror films, the plot features the character Yusuke Urameshi, who is killed and brought back to life as an "Underworld Detective". The manga, which lasted 175 chapters over 19 tankōbon from 1990 to 1994, went on to sell over 78 million copies worldwide, earned Togashi a Shogakukan Manga Award in 1994, and received a hit anime adaptation. In 1995, he created Level E, a science fiction-comedy manga. Comprising three volumes, it was first published in Weekly Shōnen Jump in 1995 and ran until 1997. Level E was adapted into an anime television series in 2011.
Togashi's next major manga series, Hunter × Hunter, began serialization in 1998. The story revolves around the protagonist Gon Freecss, a young boy searching for his father, a legendary, elite member of society called a "Hunter". This manga also performed very well commercially, with the first 20 volumes selling nearly 55 million copies in Japan as of August 2011. It has 84 million copies in circulation as of July 4, 2022. In 2008, Togashi tied with One Piece author Eiichiro Oda as the fifth favorite manga artist from a poll posted by the marketing research firm Oricon.
In 2017, Togashi wrote the two-chapter manga Akuten Wars (悪天ウォーズ). It was illustrated by Hachi Mizuno and published in the September and November issues of Grand Jump Premium.
== Personal life ==
Togashi is married to Naoko Takeuchi, the creator of Sailor Moon. The two were introduced at a party hosted by Kazushi Hagiwara in August 1997. The following year, Takeuchi assisted Togashi for a short time by adding screentone to his manga Hunter × Hunter. Togashi and Takeuchi got married on January 6, 1999. In attendance for the ceremony were several fellow manga artists and voice actors from both the Sailor Moon and YuYu Hakusho anime series. The couple have two children and have collaborated on a children's book titled Oobo— Nu— Tochiibo— Nu— (おおぼーぬーとちぃぼーぬー), which Takeuchi wrote and Togashi illustrated.
Togashi enjoys board-game-style video games and bowling with his family. He also likes watching horror movies, and considers Don't Look Up and Dawn of the Dead his favorites. Togashi cites visual effects designer H. R. Giger as a major influence. Togashi suffered from an immense amount of stress while working on YuYu Hakusho, which caused him inconsistent sleep patterns and chest pain. On March 29, 2011, Togashi and his fellow manga artists posted messages on the official Shōnen Jump website in support of the victims of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. He has a younger brother named Hideaki Togashi, who is also a manga artist. The Togashi Paper Store run by his mother is still open in Shinjō, Yamagata.
On May 24, 2022, Togashi created a Twitter account, @Un4v5s8bgsVk9Xp, that was later verified to be legitimate by Shueisha. He gained over one million followers in one day, and two million in 72 hours. He is the most-followed manga artist on the platform, with over three million followers. He posts status updates on his work on Hunter × Hunter on Twitter on an irregular basis.
For years, he has been suffering from chronic back issues, leading to several hiatuses spanning multiple years. Due to these issues, he is only able to draw sporadically and only while lying down.
== Style ==
Manga critic Jason Thompson stated that "Togashi is no ordinary mangaka; he does things his own way", further noting that Togashi's first one-shots were a mix of school comedy and "splatter-film horror references". At age 24, Togashi created a hit with the supernatural fighting comedy YuYu Hakusho, one of the "obvious imitators" of the Dragon Ball formula of "start out as a comedy and then, once the readers like the characters, have them kick the crap out of each other". Then, rather than continue the series for as long as possible to maximize his profit, Togashi ended the series abruptly. He then created the "0% fighting and 100% humor" science-fiction horror manga Level E.
Togashi's style of artwork began with screentone but gradually developed into minimalism. Both Rika Takahashi of EX.org and Claude J. Pelletier of Protoculture Addicts found the art style in Hunter × Hunter much simpler than YuYu Hakusho and Level E. Thompson noted that artwork during Hunter × Hunter's magazine run is often "sketchy" and missing backgrounds, but Togashi goes back and fixes it for its collected tankōbon release. He also wrote that Togashi has a love of gore and noted that some panels in Hunter × Hunter are apparently censored for gore, being covered with screentone.
Since 2006, Togashi has taken numerous lengthy hiatuses while serializing Hunter × Hunter. Some were due to illness and lower back pain, while reasons for others were never disclosed. In 2012, Thompson speculated that Togashi's slow output was "because he's a perfectionist who enjoys his work and wants to do things himself", noting that his assistants could potentially be called upon further. In his 2017 book Sensei Hakusho, which recounts his work as Togashi's assistant from 1990 to 1997, Kunio Ajino stated that Togashi was unusually generous to his staff. In July 2022, Togashi revealed that he was unable to sit in a chair for two years due to his back and hip problems, but was able to resume drawing by doing so while lying down.
Manga artists Nobuhiro Watsuki and Pink Hanamori have cited Togashi and YuYu Hakusho as an influence. He is one of the favorite artists of Naruto author Masashi Kishimoto. Jujutsu Kaisen author Gege Akutami named Togashi as an influence and was inspired by YuYu Hakusho and Hunter × Hunter.
== Works ==
=== Manga ===
Sensēha Toshishita!! (1986, later featured in Ten de Shōwaru Cupid Volume 4)
Jura no Miduki (1987, featured in Hop Step Award Selection Volume 1 and later in Ten de Shōwaru Cupid Volume 4)
Ōkami Nante Kowakunai!! (1989, tankōbon published by Shueisha)
Buttobi Straight (1987)
Tonda Birthday Present (1987, published in Weekly Shōnen Jump)
Occult Tanteidan (1988–1989, two parts published in Weekly Shōnen Jump)
Horror Angel (1988, published in Weekly Shōnen Jump)
Ōkami Nante Kowakunai!! (1989, published in Weekly Shōnen Jump)
Ten de Shōwaru Cupid (1989–1990, serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump)
YuYu Hakusho (1990–1994, serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump)
Level E (1995–1997, serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump)
Hunter × Hunter (1998–present), serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump)
Akuten Wars (2017, published in Grand Jump Premium, story only, illustrated by Hachi Mizuno)
=== Other ===
Yoshirin de Pon! (1994, YuYu Hakusho dōjinshi distributed at 1994 summer Comic Market)
Biohazard 3: The Last Escape Official Guidebook (1999, published by ASCII)
Official Hunter × Hunter Guide (2004, published by Shueisha)
YuYu Hakusho Who's Who Underworld Character Book (2005, published by Shueisha)
YuYu Hakusho Illustrations (2005, published by Shueisha)
Oobo— Nu— To Chiibo— Nu— (2005, published by Kodansha)
Hetappi Manga Kenkyūjo R (2011, published by Shueisha) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Nolan | Christopher Nolan | Sir Christopher Edward Nolan (born 30 July 1970) is a British and American filmmaker. A significant auteur of his generation, he has been a major Hollywood figure in the 21st century. Nolan's films have earned over $6 billion worldwide, making him the seventh-highest-grossing film director. His accolades include two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award and two British Academy Film Awards. Nolan was appointed as a CBE in 2019 and was knighted in 2024 for his contributions to film.
Nolan developed an interest in filmmaking from a young age. After studying English literature at University College London, he made several short films before his feature film debut with Following (1998). Nolan gained international recognition with his second film, Memento (2000), and transitioned into studio filmmaking with Insomnia (2002). He became a high-profile director with The Dark Knight trilogy (2005–2012) and found further success with The Prestige (2006), Inception (2010), Interstellar (2014) and Dunkirk (2017). After the release of Tenet (2020), Nolan parted ways with longtime distributor Warner Bros. Pictures and signed with Universal Pictures for Oppenheimer (2023), which won him Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture.
Three of his films have been inducted into the National Film Registry. Infused with a metaphysical outlook, Nolan's work thematise epistemology, existentialism, ethics, the construction of time and the malleable nature of memory and personal identity. They feature mathematically inspired images and concepts, unconventional narrative structures, practical special effects, experimental soundscapes, large-format film photography and materialistic perspectives. His enthusiasm for the use and preservation of traditional film stock has also garnered significant attention. He has co-written several of his films with his brother, Jonathan, and runs the production company Syncopy Inc. with his wife, Emma Thomas.
== Early life and education ==
Christopher Edward Nolan was born on 30 July 1970 in Westminster, London. His father, Brendan James Nolan (1936–2009), was a British advertising executive of Irish descent who worked as a creative director. His mother, Christina Jensen (born 1942), is a former American flight attendant from Evanston, Illinois; she also worked as a teacher of English. He has an elder brother, Matthew, and a younger brother, Jonathan, also a filmmaker. The three brothers were raised Catholic in Highgate and spent their summers in Evanston. Nolan also spent time living in Chicago during his youth, and he holds both UK and US citizenship.
Growing up, Nolan was particularly influenced by the work of Sir Ridley Scott and the science fiction films 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and Star Wars (1977). He would repeatedly watch the latter film and extensively research its making. Nolan began making films at the age of seven, borrowing his father's Super 8 camera and shooting short films with his action figures. These films included a stop motion animation homage to Star Wars called Space Wars. He cast his brother Jonathan and built sets from "clay, flour, egg boxes and toilet rolls". His uncle, who had worked at NASA building guidance systems for the Apollo rockets, sent him some launch footage: "I re-filmed them off the screen and cut them in, thinking no-one would notice", Nolan later remarked. From the age of 11, he aspired to be a professional filmmaker. Between 1981 and 1983, Nolan enrolled at Barrow Hills, a Catholic prep school in Witley, Surrey. In his teenage years, Nolan started making films with Adrien and Roko Belic. Nolan and Roko co-directed the surreal 8 mm Tarantella (1989), which was shown on Image Union, an independent film and video showcase on the Public Broadcasting Service. In 2021, after a fan posted a copy of Tarantella online, Nolan's production company filed a copyright infringement claim to have the film removed.
Nolan was educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College, an independent school in Hertford Heath, Hertfordshire, and later studied English literature at University College London (UCL). Opting out of a traditional film education, he pursued "a degree in something unrelated", which his father suggested "gives a different take on things". He chose UCL specifically for its filmmaking facilities, which comprised a Steenbeck editing suite and 16 mm film cameras. Nolan was president of the Union's Film Society, and with Emma Thomas (his girlfriend and future wife) he screened feature films in 35mm during the school year and used the money earned to produce 16 mm films over the summers. He graduated in 1993 with a bachelor's degree in English literature; Thomas, who studied history at UCL and was also active in the Film Society, met Nolan on his first day at Ramsay Halls. They later married and co-founded the production company Syncopy. Both have retained strong ties with UCL, receiving honorary fellowships (Nolan in 2006, Thomas in 2013), and in 2017 Nolan was awarded an honorary doctorate.
== Career ==
=== 1993–2003: Early career and breakthrough ===
After earning his bachelor's degree in English literature in 1993, Nolan worked as a script reader, camera operator and director of corporate films and industrial films. He directed, wrote and edited the short film Larceny (1996), which was filmed over a weekend in black and white with limited equipment and a small cast and crew. Funded by Nolan and shot with the UCL Union Film society's equipment, it appeared at the Cambridge Film Festival in 1996 and is considered one of UCL's best shorts. For unknown reasons, the film has since been removed from public view. Nolan filmed a third short, Doodlebug (1997), about a man seemingly chasing an insect with his shoe, only to discover that it is a miniature of himself.
Nolan and Thomas first attempted to make a feature in the mid-1990s titled Larry Mahoney, which they scrapped. During this period in his career, Nolan had little to no success getting his projects off the ground, facing several rejections; he added, "[T]here's a very limited pool of finance in the UK. To be honest, it's a very clubby kind of place ... Never had any support whatsoever from the British film industry."
Shortly after abandoning Larry Mahoney, Nolan conceived the idea for his first feature, Following (1998), which he wrote, directed, photographed and edited. The film depicts an unemployed young writer (Jeremy Theobald) who trails strangers through London, hoping they will provide material for his first novel, but is drawn into a criminal underworld when he fails to keep his distance. It was inspired by Nolan's experience of living in London and having his apartment burgled; he observed that the common attribute between larceny and pursuing someone through a crowd was that they both cross social boundaries. Co-produced by Nolan with Thomas and Theobald, it was made on a budget of around £3,000. Most of the cast and crew were friends of Nolan, and shooting took place on weekends over the course of a year. To conserve film stock, each scene was rehearsed extensively to ensure that the first or second take could be used in the final edit. Following won several awards during its festival run and was well-received by critics who labelled Nolan a majorly talented debutant. Scott Timberg of New Times LA wrote that it "echoed Hitchcock classics", but was "leaner and meaner". Janet Maslin of The New York Times was impressed with its "spare look" and "agile hand-held camerawork", saying, "As a result, the actors convincingly carry off the before, during and after modes that the film eventually, and artfully, weaves together."
Following's success afforded Nolan the opportunity to make Memento (2000), which became his breakthrough film. His brother Jonathan pitched the idea to him, about a man with anterograde amnesia who uses notes and tattoos to hunt for his wife's murderer. Jonathan worked the idea into a short story, "Memento Mori" (2001), and Nolan developed it into a screenplay that told the story in reverse. Aaron Ryder, an executive for Newmarket Films, said it was "perhaps the most innovative script I had ever seen". The film was optioned and given a budget of $4.5 million, with Guy Pearce and Carrie-Anne Moss in the starring roles. Newmarket also distributed the film after it was rejected by studios who feared that it would not attract a wide audience. Following a positive word of mouth and screenings in 500 theatres, it earned $40 million. Memento premiered at the Venice Film Festival in September 2000 to critical acclaim. Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal wrote in his review, "I can't remember when a movie has seemed so clever, strangely affecting and slyly funny at the very same time." In the book The Philosophy of Neo-Noir, Basil Smith drew a comparison with John Locke's An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, which argues that conscious memories constitute our identities – a theme Nolan explores in the film. Memento earned Nolan many accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay, as well as two Independent Spirit Awards: Best Director and Best Screenplay. Six critics listed it as one of the best films of the 2000s. In 2001, Nolan and Emma Thomas founded the production company Syncopy Inc.
Impressed by his work on Memento, filmmaker Steven Soderbergh recommended Nolan to Warner Bros. to direct the psychological thriller Insomnia (2002), although the studio initially wanted a more seasoned director. A remake of the 1997 Norwegian thriller of the same name, the film is viewed as "the outlier of Nolan's filmography" due to its perceived lack of unconventionality he is known for. Starring Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Hilary Swank, Insomnia follows two Los Angeles detectives sent to a northern Alaskan town to investigate the murder of a local teenager. It received positive reviews from critics and earned $113 million against a budget of $46 million. Film critic Roger Ebert praised the film for introducing new perspectives and ideas on the issues of morality and guilt, adding, "Unlike most remakes, the Nolan Insomnia is not a pale retread, but a re-examination of the material, like a new production of a good play." Richard Schickel of Time deemed Insomnia a "worthy successor" to Memento and "a triumph of atmosphere over a none-too-mysterious mystery".
Following, Memento and Insomnia established Nolan's image as an "auteur". After the lattermost, he wrote a screenplay for a Howard Hughes biopic. Nolan reluctantly tabled his script after learning that Martin Scorsese was already making one such film: The Aviator (2004). He was then briefly attached to direct a film adaptation of Ruth Rendell's novel The Keys to the Street for Fox Searchlight Pictures but chose to direct Batman Begins instead. In April 2003, filmmaker David O. Russell put Nolan in a headlock at a Hollywood party after learning that Jude Law, whom Russell wanted to cast, had decided to work with Nolan instead. Russell pressured Nolan to display "artistic solidarity" by relinquishing Law from his cast.
=== 2003–2013: Widespread recognition ===
In early 2003, Nolan was set to direct Troy (2004), based on Homer's the Iliad. After leaving Troy, Nolan approached Warner Bros. with the idea of making a new Batman film, based on the character's origin story. Nolan was fascinated by the notion of grounding it in a more realistic world than a comic-book fantasy. Warner Bros. let Nolan make Batman Begins (2005) to reconcile with him after he was forced out of Troy when that film's prolific producer, Wolfgang Petersen, decided he wanted to direct it. On Batman Begins, Nolan relied heavily on traditional stunts and miniature effects during filming, with minimal use of computer-generated imagery (CGI). That film was the biggest project Nolan had undertaken to that point, and it was released to critical acclaim and commercial success. Starring Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne / Batman—along with Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman and Liam Neeson—Batman Begins revived the franchise. Batman Begins was 2005's ninth-highest-grossing film and was praised for its psychological depth and contemporary relevance; it is cited as one of the most influential films of the 2000s. Film author Ian Nathan wrote that within five years of his career, Nolan "[went] from unknown to indie darling to gaining creative control over one of the biggest properties in Hollywood, and (perhaps unwittingly) fomenting the genre that would redefine the entire industry".
Nolan directed, co-wrote and produced The Prestige (2006), an adaptation of the Christopher Priest novel about two rival 19th-century magicians. The screenplay was the result of an intermittent, five-year collaboration between him and his brother Jonathan, who had begun writing it already in 2001. Nolan initially intended to make the film as early as 2003, but had postponed the project after agreeing to make Batman Begins. Starring Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale in the lead roles of rival magicians, The Prestige received critical acclaim and received two Academy Award nominations. Roger Ebert described it as "quite a movie – atmospheric, obsessive, almost satanic", and Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times called it an "ambitious, unnerving melodrama". The Guardian's Philip French wrote: "In addition to the intellectual or philosophical excitement it engenders, The Prestige is gripping, suspenseful, mysterious, moving and often darkly funny." Despite a negative box-office prognosis, the film earned over $109 million against a budget of $40 million.
The Dark Knight (2008), the follow-up to Batman Begins, was Nolan's next venture. Initially reluctant to make a sequel, he agreed after Warner Bros. repeatedly insisted. Nolan wanted to expand on the noir quality of the first film by broadening the canvas and taking on "the dynamic of a story of the city, a large crime story ... where you're looking at the police, the justice system, the vigilante, the poor people, the rich people, the criminals". Continuing to minimise the use of CGI, Nolan employed high-resolution IMAX cameras, making it the first major motion picture to use this technology. The Dark Knight has been ranked as one of the best films of the 2000s and one of the best superhero films ever made. Many critics declare The Dark Knight to be "the most successful comic book film ever made". Manohla Dargis of The New York Times found the film to be of higher artistic merit than many Hollywood blockbusters: "Pitched at the divide between art and industry, poetry and entertainment, it goes darker and deeper than any Hollywood movie of its comic-book kind." Ebert expressed a similar point of view, describing it as a "haunted film that leaps beyond its origins and becomes an engrossing tragedy". The Dark Knight set many box-office records during its theatrical run, earning over $1 billion worldwide. At the 81st Academy Awards, the film was nominated in eight categories, winning two: Best Sound Editing for Richard King and a posthumous Best Supporting Actor award for Heath Ledger for his portrayal of the Joker. The film's failure to garner a Best Picture nomination was criticised by the media. Beginning in 2010, the Academy increased their Best Picture nominees from five to ten, a change known as "The Dark Knight Rule". Nolan received many awards and nominations for his work on the film. In the late 2000s, Nolan was reported to direct a film adaptation of the 1960s television series The Prisoner.
The success of The Dark Knight allowed Warner Bros. to sign Nolan to write, direct and co-produce Inception (2010) – a film for which he had the idea around nine years before its release. Nolan described the film as "a contemporary sci-fi actioner set within the architecture of the mind". Starring a large ensemble cast led by Leonardo DiCaprio, the film became a critical and commercial success upon its release. Film critic Mark Kermode named it the best film of 2010, stating "Inception is proof that people are not stupid, that cinema is not trash, and that it is possible for blockbusters and art to be the same thing." Philosophy professor David Kyle Johnson wrote that "Inception became a classic almost as soon as it was projected on silver screens", praising its exploration of philosophical ideas, including leap of faith and allegory of the cave. The film grossed over $836 million worldwide. Nominated for eight Academy Awards—including Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay—it won Best Cinematography, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing and Best Visual Effects. Nolan was nominated for a BAFTA Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Director, among other accolades.
Around the release of The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Nolan's third and final Batman film, Joseph Bevan of the British Film Institute wrote a profile on him: "In the space of just over a decade, Christopher Nolan has shot from promising British indie director to undisputed master of a new brand of intelligent escapism." After initial hesitation, Nolan agreed to return to direct The Dark Knight Rises and worked with his brother and David S. Goyer to develop a story that he felt would end the trilogy on a high note. The film was released to positive reviews. Kenneth Turan found the film "potent, persuasive and hypnotic" and "more than an exceptional superhero movie, it is masterful filmmaking by any standard". Christy Lemire of HuffPost wrote in her review that Nolan concluded his trilogy in a "typically spectacular, ambitious fashion", but disliked the "overloaded" story and excessive grimness. The Dark Knight Rises was a box office success, becoming the thirteenth film to gross $1 billion. During a midnight showing of the film in Aurora, Colorado, a gunman opened fire inside the theatre, killing 12 people and injuring 58 others. Nolan released a statement expressing his condolences for the victims of what he described as a "senseless tragedy".
The Dark Knight trilogy inspired a trend in future superhero films seeking to replicate its gritty, realistic tone to little success. The second instalment in particular revitalised the genre at a time when recent superhero films had failed to meet expectations. Ben Child of The Guardian wrote that the three films "will remain thrilling totems of the genre for decades to come". During story discussions for The Dark Knight Rises, Goyer told Nolan of his idea about Man of Steel (2013), which the latter would produce. Impressed with Zack Snyder's work in 300 (2006) and Watchmen (2009), Nolan hired him to direct the film. Starring Henry Cavill as Clark Kent who learns that he is a powerful alien, Man of Steel received mixed reviews and grossed more than $660 million against a budget of $220 million.
=== 2014–2022: Established filmmaker ===
Nolan next directed, wrote and produced the science-fiction film Interstellar (2014). The first drafts of the script were written by Jonathan Nolan, and it was originally to be directed by Steven Spielberg. Based on the scientific theories of theoretical physicist Kip Thorne, the film follows a group of astronauts who travel through a wormhole in search of a new home for humanity. In a 2014 discussion of the film's physics, Nolan expressed his admiration for scientific objectivity, wishing it were applied "in every aspect of our civilisation". Interstellar – starring Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain – was released to positive reviews and grossed $773 million worldwide. Observing its "visual dazzle, thematic ambition", The New York Times's A. O. Scott wrote that Interstellar is a "sweeping, futuristic adventure driven by grief, dread and regret". Documentary filmmaker Toni Myers called the film "a real work of art" and praised it for exploring a story spanning multiple generations. Interstellar was particularly praised for its scientific accuracy, which led to the publication of two academic papers. The American Journal of Physics called for it to be shown in school science lessons. At the 87th Academy Awards, the film won Best Visual Effects and received four other nominations. Also in 2014, Nolan and Emma Thomas served as executive producers on Transcendence, the directorial debut of his longtime cinematographer Wally Pfister.
In the mid-2010s, Nolan took part in several ventures for film preservation and distribution of the work of lesser-known filmmakers. His production company, Syncopy, formed a joint venture with Zeitgeist Films to release Blu-ray editions of Zeitgeist's films. As a part of the Blu-ray release of the animation films of the Brothers Quay, Nolan directed the documentary short Quay (2015). He initiated a theatrical tour, showcasing the Quays' In Absentia, The Comb and Street of Crocodiles. IndieWire wrote that the brothers "will undoubtedly have hundreds, if not thousands more fans because of Nolan, and for that The Quay Brothers in 35mm will always be one of [the] latter's most important contributions to cinema". An advocate for the survival of the analogue medium, Nolan and visual artist Tacita Dean invited representatives from leading American film archives, laboratories and presenting institutions to participate in an informal summit entitled Reframing the Future of Film at the Getty Museum in March 2015. Subsequent events were held at Tate Modern in London, Museo Tamayo in Mexico City and Tata Theatre in Mumbai. In April 2015, Nolan joined the board of directors of The Film Foundation, a non-profitable organisation dedicated to film preservation, and was appointed, along with Martin Scorsese, by the Library of Congress to serve on the National Film Preservation Board as DGA representatives. Nolan serves on the Motion Picture & Television Fund Board of Governors.
After serving as an executive producer on Zack Snyder's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Justice League (2017), Nolan returned to directing with Dunkirk (2017). Based on his own original screenplay and co-produced with Thomas, the film is set amid World War II in 1940 and the evacuation of Allied soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk, France. Describing the film as a survival tale with a triptych structure, Nolan wanted to make a "sensory, almost experimental movie" with minimal dialogue. He said he waited to make Dunkirk until he had earned the trust of a major studio to let him make it as a British film but with an American budget. Before filming, Nolan sought advice from Spielberg, who later said in an interview with Variety, "knowing and respecting that Chris [Nolan] is one of the world's most imaginative filmmakers, my advice to him was to leave his imagination, as I did on Ryan, in second position to the research he was doing to authentically acquit this historical drama". Starring an ensemble cast, Dunkirk was released to widespread critical acclaim and strong box office results. It grossed over $526 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing World War II film of all time. In his review, Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote: "It's one of the best war films ever made, distinct in its look, in its approach and in the effect it has on viewers. There are movies—they are rare—that lift you out of your present circumstances and immerse you so fully in another experience that you watch in a state of jaw-dropped awe. Dunkirk is that kind of movie." The film received many accolades, including Nolan's first Oscar nomination for Best Director.
In 2018, Nolan supervised a new 70 mm print of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), made from the original camera negative; he presented it at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. USA Today observed that festival-goers greeted Nolan "like a rock star with a standing ovation". A year later, Nolan and Thomas received executive producer credits on The Doll's Breath (2019), an animated short directed by the Quay brothers.
Nolan's next film was the science fiction film Tenet (2020), described by Tom Shone of The Sunday Times as "a globe-spinning riff on all things Nolanesque". Nolan had worked on the screenplay for more than five years after deliberating about its central ideas for over a decade. Delayed three times due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Tenet was the first Hollywood tent-pole to open in theatres after the pandemic shutdown. The film tells the story of an unnamed protagonist (played by John David Washington) who travels through time to stop a world-threatening attack. It grossed $363 million worldwide on a production budget of $200 million, becoming Nolan's first to underperform at the box-office. Tenet was described as his most polarising film; critics praised the ambition and technical aspects but found its story confusing. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian awarded it five out of five, calling it "a cerebral cadenza, a deadpan flourish of crazy implausibility—but supercharged with steroidal energy and imagination". Leslie Felperin of The Hollywood Reporter described it as "a chilly, cerebral film—easy to admire, especially since it's so rich in audacity and originality, but almost impossible to love, lacking as it is in a certain humanity". At the 93rd Academy Awards, the film won Best Visual Effects and was nominated for Best Production Design. Following the release of Tenet, Nolan joined the Advisory Board of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. He served as an executive producer on Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021), a director's cut of 2017's Justice League.
=== 2023–present ===
Nolan's 12th film was Oppenheimer (2023), a biopic based on J. Robert Oppenheimer (played by Cillian Murphy) and his role in the development of the atom bomb. It was Nolan's first R-rated film since Insomnia (2002). The film was financed and distributed by Universal Pictures, making it Nolan's first feature film since Memento that was not made for Warner Bros. He disagreed with Warner Bros.' decision to simultaneously release their films in theatres and on HBO Max. Nolan secured the deal with Universal after he was promised a production budget of around $100 million with an equal marketing budget, total creative control, 20% of first-dollar gross, a 100-day theatrical window and a blackout period from the studio wherein the company would not release another film three weeks before or after Oppenheimer's release. The film received critical acclaim. Matthew Jackson of The A.V. Club wrote, "Oppenheimer deserves the title of masterpiece. It's Christopher Nolan's best film so far, a step up to a new level for one of our finest filmmakers, and a movie that burns itself into your brain." Terming it "boldly imaginative and [Nolan's] most mature work yet", BBC Culture's Caryn James added that it combined the "explosive, commercially-enticing action of The Dark Knight trilogy" with the "cerebral underpinnings" of Memento, Inception and Tenet. Oppenheimer grossed over $975 million worldwide, making it the third-highest-grossing film of 2023. Among the film's numerous accolades, Nolan won the Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture. The success of Oppenheimer further highlighted Nolan's status as one of Hollywood's most "bankable" directors.
In 2025, Nolan was elected president of the Directors Guild of America, a labour organisation representing more than 19,500 members. His next directorial effort is The Odyssey, an adaptation of the Ancient Greek epic poem the Odyssey by Homer. It is scheduled to be released in July 2026. It follows Odysseus (portrayed by Matt Damon), the legendary Greek king of Ithaca, on his perilous journey to return home following the Trojan War, his encounters with the cyclops Polyphemus, the Sirens, and the witch goddess Circe, and his reunion with his wife, Penelope. With an estimated production budget of $250 million, it is poised to be the most expensive film of Nolan's career. The film will be the first mainstream blockbuster to be shot entirely on IMAX film.
== Personal life and public image ==
Nolan is married to Emma Thomas, whom he met at University College London when he was 19. She has worked as a producer on all of his films since 1997. The couple have four children and reside in Los Angeles. Nolan and Thomas were included in the Sunday Times Rich List of 2025 with an estimated net worth of £360 million.
Nolan prefers to maintain a certain level of mystery about his work. Refusing to discuss his personal life, he feels that too much biographical information about a filmmaker detracts from the experience of his audiences. He stated, "I actually don't want people to have me in mind at all when they're watching the films." He does not own a smartphone or have an email address, preferring to hand-deliver his scripts to actors instead and have his wife handle outreach with producers and distributors.
== Filmmaking style ==
Nolan's films are largely centred in metaphysical themes, exploring the concepts of time, memory and personal identity. His work is characterised by mathematically inspired ideas and images, unconventional narrative structures, materialistic perspectives, and evocative use of music and sound. Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro called Nolan "an emotional mathematician". BBC's arts editor Will Gompertz described him as "an art house auteur making intellectually ambitious blockbuster movies that can leave your pulse racing and your head spinning". Joseph Bevan wrote, "His films allow arthouse regulars to enjoy superhero flicks and multiplex crowds to engage with labyrinthine plot conceits." Nolan views himself as "an indie filmmaker working inside the studio system".
In the sixteen-essay book The Philosophy of Christopher Nolan, professional philosophers and writers analysed Nolan's work; they identified themes of self-destruction, the nature and value of the truth, and the political mindset of the hero and villain, among others. Robbie B. H. Goh, a professor of English literature, described Nolan as a "philosophical filmmaker" who includes philosophical ideas—existentialism, morality, epistemology and the distinction between appearance and reality—in films that frequently portray suspense, action and violence. Goh appreciated his ability to incorporate such themes in films that possess "elements of the Hollywood blockbuster"—which help keep the audiences engaged—but simultaneously remain "more thoughtful and self-reflexive than the typical consumerist action film". He further wrote that Nolan's body of work reflect "a heterogeneity of conditions of products" extending from low-budget films to lucrative blockbusters, "a wide range of genres and settings" and "a diversity of styles that trumpet his versatility".
David Bordwell, a film theorist, wrote that Nolan has been able to blend his "experimental impulses" with the demands of mainstream entertainment, describing his oeuvre as "experiments with cinematic time by means of techniques of subjective viewpoint and crosscutting". Nolan's use of practical, in-camera effects, miniatures and models, as well as shooting on celluloid film, has been highly influential in early 21st century cinema. IndieWire wrote in 2019 that Nolan "kept a viable alternate model of big-budget filmmaking alive", in an era where blockbuster filmmaking has become "a largely computer-generated art form". Because of Nolan's deep involvement in the technical facet of his films, Stuart Joy described him as a "complete filmmaker", who "oversees all aspects of production while also managing cultural and industrial factors outside of the text".
== Recognition ==
Nolan has made some of the most influential and popular films of his time. Many of his films have been regarded by critics as among the best of their respective decades, and according to The Wall Street Journal, his "ability to combine box-office success with artistic ambition has given him an extraordinary amount of clout in the industry". His films have earned more than $6 billion. Nolan's films Memento, The Dark Knight and Inception have been selected by the US Library of Congress to be preserved in the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant. These films appeared in BBC's 100 Greatest Films of the 21st Century and The Hollywood Reporter's poll of best films ever made. In 2017, The Dark Knight, Inception and Interstellar featured in Empire magazine's poll of "The 100 Greatest Movies". In 2018, The Hollywood Reporter listed Nolan as one of the 100 most powerful people in entertainment and described him as a "franchise unto himself". Parade ranked Nolan number eight in its 2022 list of 75 Best Movie Directors of All Time. Five of his films was included in The New York Times 2025 list of The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century. That same year, Memento, The Dark Knight and Oppenheimer featured in Rolling Stone's list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century."
Nolan's work has been as "intensely embraced, analysed and debated by ordinary film fans as by critics and film academics". Calling him "a persuasively inventive storyteller", Geoff Andrew of the British Film Institute named Nolan one of the few contemporary filmmakers producing highly personal films within the Hollywood mainstream. Andrew wrote that Nolan's films are "not so much [notable] for their considerable technical virtuosity and visual flair as for their brilliant narrative ingenuity and their unusually adult interest in complex philosophical questions". David Bordwell observed that Nolan is "considered one of the most accomplished living filmmakers", citing his ability to turn genre movies into both art and event films, as well as his box office numbers, critical acclaim and popularity among cinemagoers. In 2008, Philip French deemed Nolan "the first major talent to emerge this century". Mark Kermode complimented Nolan for bringing "the discipline and ethics of art-house independent moviemaking and apply[ing] them to Hollywood blockbusters. He's living proof that you don't have to appeal to the lowest common denominator to be profitable". The Observer's Ryan Gilbey described Nolan as a "skillful, stylish storyteller, capable of combining the spectacle of Spielberg with the intellectual intricacy of Nicolas Roeg or Alain Resnais". Mark Cousins applauded Nolan for embracing big ideas, "Hollywood filmmakers generally shy away from ideas—but not Christopher Nolan". Scott Foundas of Variety declared Nolan "the premier big-canvas storyteller of his generation", and Justin Chang of the Los Angeles Times called him "the great proceduralist of 21st century blockbuster filmmaking, a lover of nuts-and-bolts minutiae".
Nolan has been praised by many of his contemporaries, and his work has influenced them. Kenneth Branagh called Nolan's approach to large-scale filmmaking "unique in modern cinema", adding, "regardless of how popular his movies become, he remains an artist and an auteur. I think for that reason he has become a heroic figure for both the audience and the people working behind the camera." Michael Mann complimented Nolan for his "singular vision" and credited with "invent[ing] the post-heroic superhero". Nicolas Roeg said of Nolan, "People talk about 'commercial art' and the term is usually self-negating; Nolan works in the commercial arena and yet there's something very poetic about his work." Martin Scorsese identified Nolan as a filmmaker creating "beautifully made films on a big scale".
Damien Chazelle lauded Nolan for his ability "to make the most seemingly impersonal projects—superhero epics, deep-space mind-benders—feel deeply personal". Discussing the difference between art films and big studio blockbusters, Steven Spielberg referred to Nolan's Dark Knight series as an example of both; he has described Memento and Inception as "masterworks". Denis Villeneuve was impressed by Nolan's ability "to keep his identity and create his own universe in that large scope ... To bring intellectual concepts and to bring them in that scope to the screen right now—it's very rare. Every movie that he comes out with, I have more admiration for his work."
== Filmography ==
== Awards and honours ==
Nolan has been nominated for eight Academy Awards (winning two), eight British Academy Film Awards (winning two) and six Golden Globe Awards (winning one). From 2011 to 2014, he appeared in Forbes Celebrity 100 list based on his income and popularity. Nolan appeared in Time's 100 most influential people in the world in 2015.
Nolan was named an Honorary Fellow of UCL in 2006, and conferred an honorary doctorate in literature in 2017. In 2012, he became the youngest director to receive a hand-and-footprint ceremony at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2019 New Year Honours for services to film. In 2023, he was awarded the Federation of American Scientists' Public Service Award for his depiction of scientists in his film Oppenheimer. In 2024, Nolan received the British Film Institute Fellowship in recognition of his "extraordinary achievements and enormous contribution to cinema," and the Honorary César award from the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma for "continually push[ing] the boundaries of storytelling." In March 2024, Nolan was made a knight bachelor for his contributions to film, while his wife Emma Thomas was honoured with a damehood. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nike,_Inc. | Nike, Inc. | Nike, Inc. is an American athletic footwear and apparel corporation headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon. It is the world's largest supplier of athletic shoes and apparel and a major manufacturer of sports equipment, with revenue in excess of US$46 billion in its fiscal year 2022.
The company was founded on January 25, 1964, as "Blue Ribbon Sports", by Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight, and officially became Nike, Inc. on May 30, 1971. The company takes its name from Nike, the Greek goddess of victory. Nike markets its products under its own brand, as well as Nike Golf, Nike Pro, Nike+, Nike Blazers, Air Force 1, Nike Dunk, Air Max, Foamposite, Nike Skateboarding and Nike CR7. The company also sells products under its Air Jordan brand and its Converse subsidiary. Nike also owned Bauer Hockey from 1995 to 2008, and previously owned Cole Haan, Umbro, and Hurley International. In addition to manufacturing sportswear and equipment, the company operates retail stores under the Niketown name. Nike sponsors many high-profile athletes and sports teams around the world, with the highly recognized trademarks of "Just Do It" and the Swoosh logo.
As of 2024, it employed 83,700 people worldwide. In 2020, the brand alone was valued in excess of $32 billion, making it the most valuable brand among sports businesses. Previously, in 2017, the Nike brand was valued at $29.6 billion. Nike ranked 89th in the 2018 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue. The company ranked 239th in the Forbes Global 2000 companies in 2024.
== History ==
Nike, originally known as Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS), was founded by University of Oregon track athlete Phil Knight and his coach, Bill Bowerman, on January 25, 1964. The company initially operated in Eugene, Oregon as a distributor for Japanese shoemaker Onitsuka Tiger, making most sales at track meets out of Knight's automobile.
According to Otis Davis, a University of Oregon student-athlete coached by Bowerman and Olympic gold medalist at the 1960 Summer Olympics, his coach made the first pair of Nike shoes for him, contradicting a claim that they were made for Phil Knight. According to Davis, "I told Tom Brokaw that I was the first. I don't care what all the billionaires say. Bill Bowerman made the first pair of shoes for me. People don't believe me. In fact, I didn't like the way they felt on my feet. There was no support and they were too tight. But I saw Bowerman made them from the waffle iron, and they were mine".
In its first year in business, BRS sold 1,300 pairs of Japanese running shoes, grossing $8,000. By 1965, sales had reached $20,000. In 1966, BRS opened its first retail store at 3107 Pico Boulevard in Santa Monica, California. In 1967, due to increasing sales, BRS expanded retail and distribution operations on the East Coast, in Wellesley, Massachusetts.
In 1971, Bowerman used his wife's waffle iron to experiment on rubber to create a new sole for track shoes that would grip but be lightweight and increase the runner's speed. Oregon's Hayward Field was transitioning to an artificial surface, and Bowerman wanted a sole which could grip to grass or bark dust without the use of spikes. Bowerman was talking to his wife about this puzzle over breakfast, when the waffle iron idea came into play.
Bowerman's design led to the introduction of the "Moon Shoe" in 1972, so named because the waffle tread was said to resemble the footprints left by astronauts on the Moon. Further refinement resulted in the "Waffle Trainer" in 1974, which helped fuel the explosive growth of Blue Ribbon Sports/Nike.
Tension between BRS and Onitsuka Tiger increased in 1971 as the latter attempted a takeover of BRS by extending an ultimatum proposal that would give the Japanese company 51 percent of BRS. In 1972, the relationship between BRS and Onitsuka Tiger came to an end. BRS prepared to launch its own line of footwear. The previous year, it was already able to place from two Japanese shoe manufacturers the company's first independent order for 20,000, which included 6,000 that had the Nike logo. Runner Jeff Johnson was brought in to help market the new brand and was credited for coining the name “Nike”. It would bear the Swoosh newly designed by Carolyn Davidson. The Swoosh was first used by Nike on June 18, 1971, and was registered with the US Patent and Trademark Office on January 22, 1974.
In 1976, the company hired John Brown and Partners, based in Seattle, as its first advertising agency. The following year, the agency created the first "brand ad" for Nike, called "There is no finish line", in which no Nike product was shown. By 1980, Nike had attained a 50% market share in the US athletic shoe market, and the company went public in December of that year.
Wieden+Kennedy, Nike's primary ad agency, has worked with Nike to create many print and television advertisements, and Wieden+Kennedy remains Nike's primary ad agency. It was agency co-founder Dan Wieden who coined the now-famous slogan "Just Do It" for a 1988 Nike ad campaign, which was chosen by Advertising Age as one of the top five ad slogans of the 20th century and enshrined in the Smithsonian Institution. Walt Stack was featured in Nike's first "Just Do It" advertisement, which debuted on July 1, 1988. Wieden credits the inspiration for the slogan to "Let's do it", the last words spoken by Gary Gilmore before he was executed.
Nike manufactured its first uniforms for a professional sports team in 1979, when its jersey for the Portland Timbers of the North American Soccer League debuted. Throughout the 1980s, Nike expanded its product line to encompass many sports and regions throughout the world. In 1990, Nike moved into its eight-building World Headquarters campus in Beaverton, Oregon. The first Nike retail store, dubbed Niketown, opened in downtown Portland in November of that year.
Phil Knight announced in mid-2015 that he would step down as chairman of Nike in 2016. He officially stepped down from all duties with the company on June 30, 2016.
In a company public announcement on March 15, 2018, Nike CEO Mark Parker said Trevor Edwards, a top Nike executive who was seen as a potential successor to the chief executive, was relinquishing his position as Nike's brand president and would retire in August.
In October 2019, John Donahoe was announced as the next CEO, and succeeded Parker on January 13, 2020. In November 2019, the company stopped selling directly through Amazon, focusing more on direct relationships with customers.
=== Acquisitions ===
Nike has acquired and sold several apparel and footwear companies over the course of its history. Its first acquisition was the upscale footwear company Cole Haan in 1988, followed by the purchase of Bauer Hockey in 1994. In 2002, Nike bought surf apparel company Hurley International from founder Bob Hurley. In 2003, Nike paid US$309 million to acquire sneaker company Converse. The company acquired Starter in 2004 and soccer uniform maker Umbro in 2007.
In order to refocus its business lines, Nike began divesting itself of some of its subsidiaries in the 2000s. It sold Starter in 2007 and Bauer Hockey in 2008. The company sold Umbro in 2012 and Cole Haan in 2013. As of 2020, Nike owns only one subsidiary: Converse Inc.
Nike acquired Zodiac, a consumer data analytics company, in March 2018. In August 2019, the company acquired Celect, a Boston-based predictive analytics company. In December 2021, Nike purchased RTFKT Studios, a virtual shoe company that makes NFTs.
In February 2021, Nike acquired Datalogue, a New York-based company focused on digital sales and machine learning technology.
=== Finance ===
Nike was made a member of the Dow Jones Industrial Average in 2013, when it replaced Alcoa.
On December 19, 2013, Nike's quarterly profit rose due to a 13 percent increase in global orders for merchandise since April of that year. Future orders of shoes or clothes for delivery between December and April, rose to $10.4 billion. Nike shares (NKE) rose 0.6 percent to $78.75 in extended trading.
In November 2015, Nike announced it would initiate a $12 billion share buyback, as well as a two-for-one stock split, with shares to begin trading at the decreased price on December 24. The split will be the seventh in company history.
In June 2018, Nike announced it would initiate a $15 billion share buyback over four years, to begin in 2019 upon completion of the previous buyback program.
For the fiscal year 2018, Nike reported earnings of US$1.933 billion, with annual revenue of US$36.397 billion, an increase of 6.0% over the previous fiscal cycle. Nike's shares traded at over $72 per share, and its market capitalization was valued at over US$114.5 billion in October 2018.
In February 2020, the company said that roughly 75% of Nike stores in Greater China had closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak. In March 2020, Nike reported a 5% drop in Chinese sales associated with stores' closure. It was the first decrease in six years. At the same time, the company's online sales grew by 36% during Q1 of 2020. Also, the sales of personal training apps grew by 80% in China.
In June 2025, Nike warned that President Trump’s new tariffs on key trading partners could add around $1 billion to its costs this year, causing the company to shift some production out of China to reduce its exposure. Despite weaker quarterly revenue, Nike’s shares rose over 10% after a better-than-expected earnings forecast, while the US and China also reached a deal to ease trade tensions.
The key trends of Nike are (as at the financial year ending May 31):
=== Logo evolution ===
Notes
== Products ==
Nike produces a wide range of sports equipment and apparel.
=== Sports apparel ===
Nike's first apparel products were track running shoes. Nike Air Max is a line of shoes first released by Nike, Inc. in 1987. Additional product lines were introduced later, such as Air Huarache, which debuted in 1992. The most recent additions to their line are the Nike 6.0, Nike NYX, and Nike SB shoes, designed for skateboarding. Nike has recently introduced cricket shoes called Air Zoom Yorker, designed to be 30% lighter than their competitors'. In 2008, Nike introduced the Air Jordan XX3, a high-performance basketball shoe designed with the environment in mind.
Nike's range of products include shoes, jerseys, shorts, cleats, baselayers, etc. for sports activities such as soccer, basketball, track and field, combat sports, tennis, American football, athletics, golf, ice hockey, and cross training for men, women, and children. Nike also sells shoes for activities such as skateboarding, baseball, cycling, volleyball, wrestling, cheerleading, lacrosse, cricket, aquatic activities, auto racing, and other athletic and recreational uses. Nike partnered with Apple Inc. to produce the Nike+ product that monitors a runner's performance via a radio device in the shoe that links to the iPod nano. While the product generates useful statistics, it has been criticized by researchers who were able to identify users' RFID devices from 60 feet (18 m) away using small, concealable intelligence motes in a wireless sensor network.
In 2004, Nike launched the SPARQ Training Program/Division. Some of Nike's newest shoes contain Flywire and Lunarlite Foam to reduce weight. The Air Zoom Vomero running shoe, introduced in 2006 and currently in its 11th generation, featured a combination of groundbreaking innovations including a full-length air cushioned sole, an external heel counter, a crashpad in the heel for shock absorption, and Fit Frame technology for a stable fit.
In 2023, Nike told ESPN that it would cease using kangaroo skins in its products by the end of that year and debut "a new Nike-only, proprietary synthetic upper, [with] a new material that is a better performance solution and replaces the use of kangaroo leather."
==== Nike Vaporfly ====
The Nike Vaporfly first came out in 2017 and their popularity, along with its performance, prompted a new series of running shoes. The Vaporfly series has a new technological composition that has revolutionized long-distance running since studies have shown that these shoes can improve marathon race time up to 4.2%. The composition of the sole contains a foamy material, Pebax, that Nike has altered and now calls it ZoomX (which can be found in other Nike products as well). Pebax foam can also be found in airplane insulation and is "squishier, bouncier, and lighter" than foams in typical running shoes. In the middle of the ZoomX foam there is a full-length carbon fiber plate "designed to generate extra spring in every step". At the time of this writing Nike had just released its newest product from the Vaporfly line, the Nike ZoomX Vaporfly NEXT%, which was marketed as "the fastest shoe we’ve ever made" using Nike's "two most innovative technologies, Nike ZoomX foam and VaporWeave material".
=== Street fashions ===
The Nike brand, with its distinctive "Swoosh" logo, quickly became regarded as a status symbol in modern urban fashion and hip-hop fashion due to its association with success in sport. Beginning in the 1980s, various items of Nike clothing became staples of mainstream American youth fashion, especially tracksuits, shell suits, baseball caps, Air Jordans, Air Force 1's, and Air Max running shoes with thick, air cushioned rubber soles and contrasting blue, yellow, green, white, or red trim. Limited edition sneakers and prototypes with a regional early release were known as Quickstrikes, and became highly desirable items for teenage members of the sneakerhead subculture.
By the 1990s and 2000s, American and European teenagers associated with the preppy or popular clique began combining these sneakers, leggings, sweatpants, crop tops, and tracksuits with regular casual chic street clothes such as jeans, skirts, leg warmers, slouch socks, and bomber jackets. Particularly popular were the unisex spandex Nike Tempo compression shorts worn for cycling and running, which had a mesh lining, waterproofing, and, later in the 2000s, a zip pocket for a Walkman or MP3 player.
From the late 2000s into the 2010s, Nike Elite basketball socks began to be worn as everyday clothes by hip-hop fans and young children.
Originally plain white or black, these socks had special shock absorbing cushioning in the sole plus a moisture wicking upper weave. Later, Nike Elite socks became available in bright colors inspired by throwback basketball uniforms, often with contrasting bold abstract designs, images of celebrities, and freehand digital print to capitalize upon the emerging nostalgia for 1990s fashion.
In 2015, a new self-lacing shoe was introduced. Called the Nike Mag, which are replicas of the shoes featured in Back to the Future Part II, it had a preliminary limited release, only available by auction with all proceeds going to the Michael J. Fox Foundation. This was done again in 2016.
Nike have introduced a premium line, focused more on streetwear than sports wear called NikeLab.
In March 2017, Nike announced its launch of a plus-size clothing line, which will feature new sizes 1X through 3X on more than 200 products. Another significant development at this time was the Chuck Taylor All-Star Modern, an update of the classic basketball sneaker that incorporated the circular knit upper and cushioned foam sole of Nike's Air Jordans.
=== Collectibles ===
On July 23, 2019, a pair of Nike Inc. running shoes sold for $437,500 at a Sotheby's auction. The so-called "Moon Shoes" were designed by Nike co-founder and track coach Bill Bowerman for runners participating in the 1972 Olympics trials. The buyer was Miles Nadal, a Canadian investor and car collector, who had just paid $850,000 for a group of 99 rare of limited collection pairs of sport shoes. The purchase price was the highest for one pair of sneakers, the previous record being $190,373 in 2017 for a pair of signed Converse shoes in California, said to have been worn by Michael Jordan during the 1984 basketball final of the Olympics that year.
=== Virtual ===
After acquiring RTFKT, Nike launched the Dunk Genesis Cryptokicks collection, which features over 20,000 NFTs. One design by Takashi Murakami was sold for $134,000 in April 2022.
== Headquarters ==
Nike's world headquarters are surrounded by the city of Beaverton but are within unincorporated Washington County. The city attempted to forcibly annex Nike's headquarters, which led to a lawsuit by Nike, and lobbying by the company that ultimately ended in Oregon Senate Bill 887 of 2005. Under that bill's terms, Beaverton is specifically barred from forcibly annexing the land that Nike and Columbia Sportswear occupy in Washington County for 35 years, while Electro Scientific Industries and Tektronix receive the same protection for 30 years.
Nike is planning to build a 3.2 million square foot expansion to its World Headquarters in Beaverton. The design will target LEED Platinum certification and will be highlighted by natural daylight, and a gray water treatment center.
== Ownership ==
Nike is mainly owned by institutional investors, who hold around 68% of all shares. The 10 largest shareholders of Nike in early 2024 were:
Phil Knight (17.4%)
Vanguard (7.23%)
BlackRock (5.93%)
State Street Global Advisors (3.71%)
Travis Knight (3.14%)
Knight Foundation (1.95%)
Capital Research and Management Company (1.94%)
Geode Capital Management (1.57%)
Wellington Management Company (1.48%)
AllianceBernstein (1.32%)
== Controversies ==
Nike has contracted with more than 700 shops around the world and has offices located in 45 countries outside the United States. Most of the factories are located in Asia, including Indonesia, China, Taiwan, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan, Philippines, and Malaysia. Nike is hesitant to disclose information about the contract companies it works with. However, due to harsh criticism from some organizations like CorpWatch, Nike has disclosed information about its contract factories in its Corporate Governance Report.
=== Sweatshops ===
In the 1990s, Nike received criticism for its use of sweatshops. Beginning in 1990, many protests occurred in big cities such as Los Angeles, Washington, DC and Boston in order to show public outcry for Nike's use of child labor and sweatshops. Nike has been criticized for contracting with factories (known as Nike sweatshops) in countries such as China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Mexico. Vietnam Labor Watch, an activist group, has documented that factories contracted by Nike have violated minimum wage and overtime laws in Vietnam as late as 1996, although Nike claims that this practice has been stopped.
As of July 2011, Nike stated that two-thirds of its factories producing Converse products still do not meet the company's standards for worker treatment. A July 2011 Associated Press article stated that employees at the company's plants in Indonesia reported constant abuse from supervisors.
=== Child labor ===
During the 1990s, Nike faced criticism for the use of child labor in Cambodia and Pakistan in factories it contracted to manufacture soccer balls. Although Nike took action to curb or at least reduce the practice, they continue to contract their production to companies that operate in areas where inadequate regulation and monitoring make it hard to ensure that child labor is not being used.
In 2001, a BBC documentary uncovered occurrences of child labor and poor working conditions in a Cambodian factory used by Nike. The documentary focused on six girls, who all worked seven days a week, often 16 hours a day.
=== Strike in China factory ===
In April 2014, one of the biggest strikes in mainland China took place at the Yue Yuen Industrial Holdings Dongguan shoe factory, producing amongst others for Nike. Yue Yuen did underpay an employee by 250 yuan (40.82 US Dollars) per month. The average salary at Yue Yuen is 3000 yuan per month. The factory employs 70,000 people. This practice was in place for nearly 20 years.
=== Paradise Papers ===
On November 5, 2017, the Paradise Papers, a set of confidential electronic documents relating to offshore investment, revealed that Nike is among the corporations that used offshore companies to avoid taxes.
Appleby documents detail how Nike boosted its after-tax profits by, among other maneuvers, transferring ownership of its Swoosh trademark to a Bermudan subsidiary, Nike International Ltd. This transfer allowed the subsidiary to charge royalties to its European headquarters in Hilversum, Netherlands, effectively converting taxable company profits to an account payable in tax-free Bermuda. Although the subsidiary was effectively run by executives at Nike's main offices in Beaverton, Oregon—to the point where a duplicate of the Bermudan company's seal was needed—for tax purposes the subsidiary was treated as Bermuda. Its profits were not declared in Europe and came to light only because of a mostly unrelated case in US Tax Court, where papers filed by Nike briefly mention royalties in 2010, 2011 and 2012 totaling $3.86 billion. Under an arrangement with Dutch authorities, the tax break was to expire in 2014, so another reorganization transferred the intellectual property from the Bermudan company to a Dutch commanditaire vennootschap or limited partnership, Nike Innovate CV. Dutch law treats income earned by a CV as if it had been earned by the principals, who owe no tax in the Netherlands if they do not reside there.
=== Colin Kaepernick ===
In September 2018, Nike announced it had signed former American football quarterback Colin Kaepernick, noted for his controversial decision to kneel during the playing of the US national anthem, to a long-term advertising campaign. According to Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports, Kaepernick and Nike agreed to a new contract despite the fact Kaepernick has been with the company since 2011 and said that "interest from other shoe companies" played a part in the new agreement. Robinson said the contract is a "wide endorsement" where Kaepernick will have his own branded line including shoes, shirts, jerseys and more. In response, some people set fire to their own Nike-branded clothes and shoes or cut the Nike swoosh logo out of their clothes, and the Fraternal Order of Police called the advertisement an "insult"; others, such as LeBron James, Serena Williams, and the National Black Police Association, praised Nike for its campaign. The College of the Ozarks removed Nike from all their athletic uniforms in response.
During the following week, Nike's stock price fell 2.2%, even as online orders of Nike products rose 27% compared with the previous year. In the following three months, Nike reported a rise in sales.
In July 2019, Nike released a shoe featuring a Betsy Ross flag called the Air Max 1 Quick Strike Fourth of July trainers. The trainers were designed to celebrate Independence Day. The model was subsequently withdrawn after Colin Kaepernick told the brand he and others found the flag offensive because of its association with slavery.
Nike's decision to withdraw the product drew criticism from Arizona's Republican Governor, Doug Ducey, and Texas's Republican Senator Ted Cruz. Nike's decision was praised by others due to the use of the flag by white nationalists.
=== Hong Kong protests ===
US Vice President Mike Pence criticized Nike for "siding with the Chinese Communist Party and silencing free speech". He claimed that after Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey was criticized by the Chinese government for his tweet supporting the 2019 Hong Kong protests, Nike removed Rockets merchandise from its stores in China.
On January 31, 2020, the World Athletics issued new guidelines concerning shoes to be used in the upcoming Tokyo 2020 Olympics. These updates came in response to criticisms concerning technology in the Nike Vaporfly running shoes, which had been submitted beginning around 2017–2018. These criticisms stated that the shoes provided athletes with an unfair advantage over their opponents and some critics considered it to be a form of technology doping. According to Nike funded research, the shoes can improve efficiency by up to 4.2% and runners who have tested the shoe are saying that it causes reduced soreness in the legs; sports technologist Bryce Dyer attributes this to the ZoomX and carbon fiber plate since it absorbs the energy and "spring[s] runners forward". Some athletes, scientists, and fans have compared this to the 2008 LAZR swimsuit controversy.
Some of the major changes in the guidelines that have come about as a result of these criticisms include that the "sole must be no thicker than 40mm" and that "the shoe must not contain more than one rigid embedded plate or blade (of any material) that runs either the full length or only part of the length of the shoe. The plate may be in more than one part but those parts must be located sequentially in one plane (not stacked or in parallel) and must not overlap". The components of the shoes are not the only thing that had major changes; starting April 30, 2020, "any shoe must have been available for purchase by any athlete on the open retail market (online or in store) for a period of four months before it can be used in competition". Prior to these new guidelines World Athletics reviewed the Vaporfly shoes and "concluded that there is independent research that indicates that the new technology incorporated in the soles of road and spiked shoes may provide a performance advantage" and that it recommends further research to "establish the true impact of [the Vaporfly] technology."
=== Forced Uyghur labor allegations ===
In December 2021, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights filed a criminal complaint in a Dutch court against Nike and other brands, alleging that they benefited from the use of forced Uyghur labor in Xinjiang. In July 2023, the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise opened an investigation into Nike to probe allegations of forced Uyghur labor in its supply chain. Research of the social democratic party in the European Parliament, the Sheffield Hallam University and further groups accused Nike in 2023 of using forced labor camps exploiting Muslim Uyghurs in China provided by the Anhui Huamao Group Co., Ltd. for production.
=== Welfare of animals used in sourcing ===
Following criticism from animal rights groups, Nike declared its intent in 2023 to phase out the use of wool sourced from lambs that had been subjected to mulesing, a controversial practice involving the removal of skin from live lambs.
Also in 2023, Nike pledged to eliminate the use of kangaroo leather in favor of a synthetic alternative, in response to animal activists' charge that the killing of kangaroos was unethical.
== Environmental record ==
In 2007, New England–based environmental organization Clean Air-Cool Planet ranked Nike among the top three companies (out of 56) in a survey of climate-friendly companies.
=== Recycling ===
Nike has also been praised for its Nike Grind program, which closes the product lifecycle, by groups such as Climate Counts.
Since 1993, Nike has worked on its Reuse-A-Shoe program. This program is Nike's longest-running program that benefits both the environment and the community by collecting old athletic shoes of any type in order to process and recycle them. The material that is produced is then used to help create sports surfaces such as basketball courts, running tracks, and playgrounds. Nike France made their Reuse-A-Shoe program available online so that they could make it easier for consumers to send in their old shoes. In 2017, it was estimated that 28,000,000 shoes were collected since its start in 1993. Nike limited the mail-in option of the program because they are aware that the emissions from shipping would offset the good, they are trying to do. They work with the National Recycling Coalition to help limit transportation of recycled shoes. During transportation most of the vehicles that are used are using diesel or fuel oil. Diesel oil emits 22.44 pounds of Carbon Dioxide per gallon.
A campaign that Nike began for Earth Day 2008 was a commercial that featured basketball star Steve Nash wearing Nike's Trash Talk Shoe, which had been constructed in February 2008 from pieces of leather and synthetic leather waste from factory floors. The Trash Talk Shoe also featured a sole composed of ground-up rubber from a shoe recycling program. Nike claims this is the first performance basketball shoe that has been created from manufacturing waste, but it only produced 5,000 pairs for sale.
=== Sulfur hexafluoride ===
Sulfur hexafluoride is an extremely potent and persistent greenhouse gas that was used to fill the cushion bags in all "Air"-branded shoes from 1992 to 2006. 277 tons was used during the peak in 1997.
=== Toxic chemicals ===
In 2008, a project through the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found workers were exposed to toxic isocyanates and other chemicals in footwear factories in Thailand. In addition to inhalation, dermal exposure was the biggest problem found. This could result in allergic reactions including asthmatic reactions.
=== Water pollution ===
In July 2011, environmental group Greenpeace published a report regarding water pollution impacting the Yangtze River emitted from a major textile factory operated by Nike supplier Youngor Group. Following the report, Nike, as well as Adidas, Puma, and a number of other brands included in the report announced an agreement to stop discharging hazardous chemicals by 2020. However, in July 2016 Greenpeace released a follow-up report which found that Nike "does not take individual responsibility" for eliminating hazardous chemicals, stating that Nike had not made an explicit commitment to riding itself of perfluorinated compounds, and that "Nike does not ensure its suppliers report their hazardous chemical discharge data and has not made a commitment to do so".
Back in 2016, Nike started to use water free dyeing materials so that they can help reduce their water use in their Southeast Asian factories.
=== Carbon footprint ===
Nike reported Total CO2e emissions (Direct + Indirect) for the twelve months ending June 30, 2020 at 317 Kt (+12/+4% y-o-y) and plans to reduce emissions 65% by 2030 from a 2015 base year. This science-based target is aligned with Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels. According to a study done in 2017, Nike contributed 3,002,529 metric tons of Carbon Dioxide in 2017 combined from different sectors in the company like retail, manufacturing, management, and more.
While emissions of Nike's two corporate jets represent less than 0.1% of its total emissions, they have increased by 20% from 2015 to 2023.
Partnership with Newlight
In 2021, Nike announced they were working with Newlight Technologies to find more eco-friendly materials for their sneakers. They specifically mentioned Newlight's AirCarbon product which is a bioplastic that can be used to make shoes. The bioplastic is used as a replacement to leather, plastic, and other materials that are like that. Newlight was reported saying that the goal is to reduce Nike's carbon footprint.
=== Sustainability ===
Nike has taken steps to reduce its environmental impact. It has worked to reduce carbon emissions nearly 3% across its value chain from its FY11 baseline, and sourced from fewer, higher-performing contract factories.
In 2019, Nike began a program called "Move to Zero" in an effort to achieve zero waste and zero carbon in the organization's supply chain and product lifetime. The men's and women's sections of the collection contain at least 60% organic and recycled materials, including sustainably sourced cotton.
== Marketing strategy ==
Nike promotes its products through sponsorship agreements with celebrity athletes, professional teams and college athletic teams. Nike has endorsement deals with many top sports players such as LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Serena Williams.
=== Advertising ===
In 1982, Nike aired its first three national television ads, created by newly formed ad agency Wieden+Kennedy (W+K), during the broadcast of the New York Marathon. The Cannes Advertising Festival has named Nike its Advertiser of the Year in 1994 and 2003, making it the first company to receive that honor twice.
Nike also has earned the Emmy Award for best commercial in 2000 and 2002. The first was for "The Morning After," a satirical look at what a runner might face on the morning of January 1, 2000, if every dire prediction about the Y2K problem came to fruition. The second was for a 2002 spot called "Move," which featured a series of famous and everyday athletes in a variety of athletic pursuits.
==== Beatles song ====
Nike was criticized for its use of the Beatles song "Revolution" in a 1987 commercial against the wishes of Apple Records, the Beatles' recording company. Nike paid US$250,000 to Capitol Records Inc., which held the North American licensing rights to the recordings, for the right to use the Beatles' rendition for a year.
That same year, Apple Records sued Nike Inc., Capitol Records Inc., EMI Records Inc. and Wieden+Kennedy for $15 million. Capitol-EMI countered by saying the lawsuit was "groundless" because Capitol had licensed the use of "Revolution" with the "active support and encouragement of Yoko Ono, a shareholder and director of Apple Records."
Nike discontinued airing ads featuring "Revolution" in March 1988. Yoko Ono later gave permission to Nike to use John Lennon's "Instant Karma" in another advertisement.
==== New media marketing ====
Nike was an early adopter of internet marketing, email management technologies, and using broadcast and narrowcast communication technologies to create multimedia marketing campaigns.
==== Minor Threat advertisement ====
In late June 2005, Nike received criticism from Ian MacKaye, owner of Dischord Records, guitarist/vocalist for Fugazi and The Evens, and front man of the defunct punk band Minor Threat, for appropriating imagery and text from Minor Threat's 1981 self-titled album's cover art in a flyer promoting Nike Skateboarding's 2005 East Coast demo tour.
On June 27, Nike Skateboarding's website issued an apology to Dischord, Minor Threat, and fans of both and announced that they have tried to remove and dispose of all flyers. They stated that the people who designed it were skateboarders and Minor Threat fans themselves who created the advertisement out of respect and appreciation for the band. The dispute was eventually settled out of court between Nike and Minor Threat.
==== Nike 6.0 ====
As part of the 6.0 campaign, Nike introduced a new line of T-shirts that include phrases such as "Dope", "Get High" and "Ride Pipe" – sports lingo that is also a double entendre for drug use. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino expressed his objection to the shirts after seeing them in a window display at the city's Niketown and asked the store to remove the display. "What we don't need is a major corporation like Nike, which tries to appeal to the younger generation, out there giving credence to the drug issue," Menino told The Boston Herald. A company official stated the shirts were meant to pay homage to extreme sports, and that Nike does not condone the illegal use of drugs. Nike was forced to replace the shirt line.
=== NBA uniform deal ===
In June 2015, Nike signed an 8-year deal with the NBA to become the official uniform supplier for the league, beginning with the 2017–18 season. The brand took over for Adidas, who provided the uniforms for the league since 2006. Unlike previous deals, Nike's logo appear on NBA jerseys – a first for the league. Initially, the Charlotte Hornets, owned by longtime Nike endorser Michael Jordan, were the only team not to sport the Nike swoosh, instead wearing the Jumpman logo associated with Jordan-related merchandise. However, beginning with the 2020–21 season, the Jumpman replaced the swoosh on the NBA's alternate "Statement" uniforms. In October 2024, Nike announced a 12-year global extension of the partnership, retaining exclusive rights to design and manufacture uniforms for the NBA, WNBA and NBA G League through 2037.
== Sponsorship ==
Nike sponsors top athletes in many sports to use their products and promote and advertise their technology and design. Nike's first professional athlete endorser was Romanian tennis player Ilie Năstase. The first track endorser was distance runner Steve Prefontaine. Prefontaine was the prized pupil of the company's co-founder, Bill Bowerman, while he coached at the University of Oregon. Today, the Steve Prefontaine Building is named in his honor at Nike's corporate headquarters. Nike has only made one statue of its sponsored athletes and it is of Steve Prefontaine.
Nike has also sponsored many other successful track and field athletes over the years, such as Sebastian Coe, Carl Lewis, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Michael Johnson and Allyson Felix. The signing of basketball player Michael Jordan in 1984, with his subsequent promotion of Nike over the course of his career, with Spike Lee as Mars Blackmon, proved to be one of the biggest boosts to Nike's publicity and sales.
Nike is a major sponsor of the athletic programs at Penn State University and named its first child care facility after Joe Paterno when it opened in 1990 at the company's headquarters. Nike originally announced it would not remove Paterno's name from the building in the wake of the Penn State sex abuse scandal. After the Freeh Report was released on July 12, 2012, Nike CEO Mark Parker announced the name Joe Paterno would be removed immediately from the child development center. A new name has yet to be announced.
In the early 1990s, Nike made a strong push into the soccer business making endorsement deals with famous and charismatic players such as Romário, Eric Cantona or Edgar Davids. They continued the growth in the sport by signing more top players including: Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Francesco Totti, Thierry Henry, Didier Drogba, Andrés Iniesta, Wayne Rooney and still have many of the sport's biggest stars under their name, with Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Neymar, Harry Kane, Eden Hazard and Kylian Mbappé among others. A Barcelona prodigy, Lionel Messi had been signed with Nike since age 14, but transferred to Adidas after they successfully challenged their rival's claim to his image rights in court.
Nike has been the official ball supplier for the Premier League since the 2000–01 season. In 2012, Nike carried a commercial partnership with the Asian Football Confederation.
In August 2014, Nike announced that they will not renew their kit supply deal with Manchester United after the 2014–15 season, citing rising costs. Since the start of the 2015–16 season, Adidas has manufactured Manchester United's kit as part of a world-record 10-year deal worth a minimum of £750 million.
Nike still has many of the top teams playing in their uniforms, including: FC Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool (the latter from the 2020–21 season), and the national teams of Brazil, France, England, Uruguay and the Netherlands among many others.
Nike has been the sponsor for many top ranked tennis players. Brand's commercial success in the sport went hand in hand with the endorsement deals signed with the biggest and the world's most charismatic stars and number one ranked players of the subsequent eras, including John McEnroe in the 1980s, Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras in the 1990s and Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova with the start of the 21st century.
Nike sponsored Tiger Woods until 2024, and remained on his side amid the controversies that shaped the golfer's career. In January 2013, Nike signed Rory McIlroy, the then No 1 golfer in the world to a 10-year sponsorship deal worth $250 million. Nike has also gone on to sign top players in golf including Scottie Scheffler, Brooks Koepka, Nelly Korda, Tommy Fleetwood, Tony Finau and Cam Davis. Nike’s 2016 decision to exit the golf equipment business–such as club manufacturing–due to an 8.2% decline sales in one year meant sponsored athletes exclusively wore Nike apparel.
Nike was the official kit sponsor for the Indian cricket team from 2005 to 2020. On February 21, 2013, Nike announced it suspended its contract with South African limbless athlete Oscar Pistorius, due to him being charged with premeditated murder.
Nike consolidated its position in basketball in 2015 when it was announced that the company would sign an 8-year deal with the NBA, taking over from the league's previous uniform sponsor, Adidas. The deal required all franchise team members to wear jerseys and shorts with the Swoosh logo, beginning with the 2017/18 season. After the success of partnership with Jordan, which resulted in the creation of the unique Air Jordan brand, Nike has continued to build partnership with the biggest names in basketball. LeBron James was given the Slogan "We are All Witnesses" when he signed with Nike. Similar to "Air Jordan", James' brand became massively popular. Some have had signature shoes designed for them, including Kobe Bryant, Jason Kidd, Vince Carter and more recently, James and Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jayson Tatum, Paul George and Luka Dončić, among others.
Nike recently made signature shoes for WNBA stars as well, as the leagues popularity takes off. Although a dozen women have received signature sneakers in the WNBA's 27-year history, it had been over a decade since a woman had received a signature sneaker. Nike's first signature shoe in the WNBA was with Sheryl Swoops, and since then they have made signature silhouettes for Lisa Leslie, Dawn Staley, Cynthia Cooper, and most recently for Sabrina Ionescu. Caitlin Clark will also receive a signature shoe deal as part of her eight-year, 28 million dollar deal.
A news report originating from CNN reported that Nike spent $11.5 billion, nearly a third of its sales, on marketing and endorsement contracts in the year 2018. Nike and its Jordan brand sponsored 85 men's and women's basketball teams in the NCAA tournament.
== Ties with the University of Oregon ==
Nike maintains strong ties, both directly and through partnerships with Phil Knight, with the University of Oregon. Nike designs the University of Oregon football program's team attire. New unique combinations are issued before every game day. Tinker Hatfield, who also redesigned the university's logo, leads this effort.
More recently, the corporation donated $13.5 million towards the renovation and expansion of Hayward Field.
Phil Knight has invested substantial personal funds towards developing and maintaining the university's athletic apparatus. His university projects often involve input from Nike designers and executives, such as Tinker Hatfield.
== Causes ==
In 2012, Nike is listed as a partner of the (PRODUCT)RED campaign together with other brands such as Girl, American Express, and Converse. The campaign's mission is to prevent the transmission of HIV from mother to child. The campaign's byline is "Fighting For An AIDS Free Generation". The company's goal is to raise and send funds, for education and medical assistance to those who live in areas heavily affected by AIDS. In 2023, Nike became the presenting sponsor of Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities, which encourages youth in underserved communities to participate in baseball and softball.
== Program ==
The Nike Community Ambassador Program, allows Nike employees from around the world to go out and give to their community. Over 3,900 employees from various Nike stores have participated in teaching children to be active and healthy.
== Research ==
In 2016, a study done by RTG Consulting Group reflected that Nike was the 3rd most relevant brand for Gen-Z in China.
Roth MKM's 2023 Millennial survey reported in March that millennials with health and wellness concerns in the aftermath of the pandemic ranked brands like Nike, Adidas and Lululemon as their preferred brands for purchases.
In January 2023, a study by Rakuten concluded that Nike was the most popular sportswear brand in the US, followed by Lululemon and Adidas.
In July 2023, a study by Kantar found that Americans consider Nike as the Most Inclusive Brands (alongside other top brands like Amazon, and Disney).
== Human resources ==
In January 2026, Nike laid off 775 employees primarily from distribution centres in Tennessee and Mississippi, as it looks to automate processes and boost profits. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Dougan | Derek Dougan | Alexander Derek Dougan (20 January 1938 – 24 June 2007) was a Northern Ireland international footballer, football manager, football chairman, pundit, and writer. He was also known by his nickname, "The Doog". He was capped by Northern Ireland at schoolboy, youth, Amateur, and 'B' team level, before he won 43 caps in a 15-year career for the senior team from 1958 to 1973, scoring eight international goals and featuring in the 1958 FIFA World Cup. He also played in the Shamrock Rovers XI v Brazil exhibition match in July 1973, which he also helped to organise.
A strong and physical forward, he began his career at Distillery in his native Belfast. He helped Distillery to win the Irish Cup in 1956, before he won a £4,000 move to English First Division side Portsmouth in August 1957. He was sold on to Blackburn Rovers in March 1959 for a fee of £15,000 and played for the club in the 1960 FA Cup Final despite handing in a transfer request the day before the final. He moved on to Aston Villa for £15,000 in July 1961 but struggled with injuries during a two-season stay at Villa Park. He dropped into the Third Division to join Peterborough United in 1963, who paid a £21,000 transfer fee. He returned to the top flight in November 1965 after being sold to Leicester City for £26,000. He was sold to Wolverhampton Wanderers for a £50,000 fee in March 1967 and helped the club to win promotion out of the Second Division in 1966–67, to lift the Texaco Cup in 1970 and the League Cup in 1974, and also played on the losing side of the 1972 UEFA Cup final. He also spent two summers in the United States playing for the club's sister teams, the Los Angeles Wolves and the Kansas City Spurs, who he helped to win the United Soccer Association and NASL International Cup respectively. He retired in 1975, scoring 279 goals in 661 league and cup appearances across 18 seasons in the Football League.
He was appointed player-manager at Southern League Premier Division side Kettering Town in 1975, a position he retained for two years. He negotiated the first shirt sponsorship deal in English football at the club. He chaired the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) from 1970 to 1978, and helped to further players' rights and set up the first PFA player awards in 1974. Also, throughout the 1970s, he became a football pundit and writer and became particularly well known for his part in ITV's coverage of the 1970 and 1974 FIFA World Cup. After fronting a consortium that took Wolverhampton Wanderers out of liquidation, he served the club as chairman from August 1982 to January 1985. He stood as an independent politician in the Belfast East constituency in 1997 and later became involved in the UK Independence Party.
== Club career ==
=== Distillery ===
Alexander Derek Dougan was born in Belfast on 20 January 1938, the son of Jackie and Josie Dougan. His father worked at Belfast docks. His grandfather, Sandy, had played at half-back for Linfield, and two of Sandy's brothers also played for some of the leading clubs in Belfast. As a child, Dougan would usually spend between four and eight hours a day playing football in the street. His family were poor, and later in life Dougan joked that "on the street where I lived, if you paid your rent three weeks on the trot, the police used to come and see where you got the money from". As a teenager he spent 18 months working at a toy factory whilst playing amateur football for Cregagh Boys. He also trained with Linfield, but could not break into any of their junior teams. He instead joined Distillery in 1953. Manager Jimmy McIntosh handed him his first team debut on 5 February 1955, in a 0–0 Irish Cup first round draw with Glentoran. Maurice Tadman, who succeeded McIntosh as the club's manager in the summer of 1955, preferred to use Dougan as a target man centre-forward, as Dougan's height made him adept at winning and flicking on headers in the opposition penalty area.
Whilst playing part-time for Distillery, he also worked at the Harland and Wolff shipbuilding company. Though the maximum wage in England discouraged many of Belfast's top players from leaving their hometown, Dougan was determined to leave for the English Football League at the earliest opportunity, particularly so following the death of his mother in June 1955. He began to attract scouts from England after helping Distillery beat Glentoran 1–0 in the second replay of the 1956 final of the Irish Cup at Windsor Park. He played mostly at half-back in the 1956–57 season as Distillery finished sixth in the Irish League and ended up as runners-up in the Ulster Cup, City Cup, and County Antrim Shield.
=== Portsmouth ===
Dougan had trials at Preston North End and Bury before he was signed by Portsmouth for a fee of £4,000 in August 1957. "Pompey" struggled to a 20th-place finish in the First Division in the 1957–58 season. Some of his teammates resented Dougan for what he felt was the constructive criticism he offered in the dressing room. He made his first team debut, providing an assist for Jackie Henderson in a 3–0 victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford. He scored his first senior goal for the club in a 1–1 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers. New manager Freddie Cox, who succeeded Eddie Lever at Fratton Park in 1958, took the club to relegation with a last-place finish in 1958–59 season. However, Dougan would miss much of the season with an ankle injury.
=== Blackburn Rovers ===
Dougan was sold to Blackburn Rovers for a fee of £15,000 in March 1959. He scored on his Rovers debut in a 1–1 draw away to Arsenal at Highbury. He scored twice on the opening day of the 1959–60 season, a 4–0 victory over Fulham, which began a sequence of five wins and a draw from Rovers's first six matches, at the end of which the club were in second-place and Dougan tallied eleven goals, four of which came in a 6–2 victory over West Ham United. Though their league campaign petered out to an eventual 17th-place finish, Rovers reached the 1960 FA Cup Final at Wembley after Dougan scored the winning goal past Sheffield Wednesday in the semi-finals. However, he did not enjoy his time at Ewood Park, and later wrote that "the dourness of the club matched that of the town. I could not shake off the depression that caused me to wake each day regretting that I had to go to the ground. Life was grey and monotonous". This led to him handing in a transfer request the day before the final, which he later admitted was an occasion where his "vanity triumphed over common sense". He was not at full fitness in the final itself, and had a quiet game as Blackburn lost 3–0 to Wolverhampton Wanderers. He opened the 1960–61 season with a hat-trick in a 3–0 win over Manchester United and went on to withdraw his transfer request.
=== Aston Villa ===
Dougan was signed by Aston Villa in July 1961 for a fee of £15,000. The 23-year-old was signed by manager Joe Mercer as a replacement for Gerry Hitchens, who had been sold on to Inter Milan earlier in the summer. Teammate Peter McParland later commented that "when Derek came to us at Aston Villa I think it was at a time when he was not taking the game particularly seriously". After returning from watching his "Villans" teammates win the 1961 League Cup Final at Villa Park on 5 September, Dougan was a passenger in a car accident which killed fellow passenger Malcolm Williams and left Dougan with a broken arm and head injuries; driver and teammate Bobby Thomson was charged but found 'Not Guilty' of careless driving. In November 2010 – three years after Dougan's death, Thomson claimed that Dougan had drunkenly pulled a deerstalker hat over his eyes, causing him to crash the car. Dougan recovered after three months on the sidelines and ended the 1961–62 season with 12 goals in 27 matches. He twisted his knee midway through the 1962–63 campaign after slipping in the street, and ended the season with 14 goals from 33 games.
=== Peterborough United ===
Dougan dropped down to the Third Division to join Peterborough United for a £21,000 fee in the summer of 1963. He later admitted that "I had made a mistake in going to the Third Division when I was a First Division player". The move did though have its benefits, as the club's physiotherapist managed to diagnose and eventually correct an ankle injury that had troubled Dougan for the previous five years. He scored 20 goals in 38 league games in the 1963–64 season, and at the end of the campaign manager Jack Fairbrother was replaced by Gordon Clark, who Dougan said "renewed my sense of vocation". He then scored seven goals in the club's 1964–65 run to the sixth round of the FA Cup, including one in their 2–1 win over top-flight Arsenal at London Road. Peterborough's league promotion campaign failed despite their cup exploits, causing Dougan to remark that "after playing at Stamford Bridge it was not easy to go to places like Gillingham on a cold Tuesday evening, where they are waiting for you with their sleeves rolled up".
=== Leicester City ===
Dougan returned to the First Division when he signed for Leicester City in May 1965 for a £26,000 fee. However, he had a difficult relationship with manager Matt Gillies despite being the first choice striker at Filbert Street. He scored 19 goals in 37 league games in the 1965–66 season to help the team to a seventh-place finish. He scored 21 goals in 35 league and cup games in the 1966–67 season, but his 'free spirit' nature frustrated Gillies, who sanctioned Dougan's sale despite his good form.
=== Wolverhampton Wanderers ===
In March 1967, Dougan dropped into the Second Division after being signed by Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Ronnie Allen for a £50,000 fee. He marked his home debut on 25 March by scoring a hat-trick against Hull City. He ended the 1966–67 season with nine goals in 11 games for Wolves, and helped the club to secure promotion to the First Division. He spent the summer of 1967 in the United States playing for the Los Angeles Wolves in the United Soccer Association, scoring three goals in 11 games to help Wolves to win the West Division title and then captained the side and scored a goal as they beat the Washington Whips 6–5 in the USA Final at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Strike partner Ernie Hunt was sold to Everton for £80,000 in September 1967, which reduced the effectiveness of the Wolves attack, though Dougan still managed to finish as the club's top-scorer with 17 goals in 40 appearances across the 1967–68 campaign as Wolves retained their top-flight status with a 17th-place finish. In November 1968, Bill McGarry replaced Allen as manager, and Dougan later described the seven years he spent playing for McGarry as "the most traumatic of my career". Nevertheless, Dougan's form remained good, and he finished the 1968–69 season with 14 goals from 44 games as Wolves posted a 16th-place finish. He spent the summer of 1969 in the United States as the club again entered the American leagues, this time calling themselves the Kansas City Spurs and playing in the North American Soccer League, where they won the NASL International Cup.
Wolves enjoyed an excellent start to the 1969–70 season, winning seven of their opening eight games, but fell away to a mid-table finish after the shock retirement of 24-year old forward Peter Knowles, who left the game to become a full-time Jehovah's Witness volunteer. Dougan had a poor season, limited to just ten goals in 33 games due to injuries and an eight-week suspension, then the longest ban of the post-war era, for verbally abusing a linesman in a home defeat to Everton. The sending off by referee Keith Walker caused upheaval in the stands, occasioning the injury of 84 people. In the return fixture at Goodison Park, he suffered a clash of heads with full-back Keith Newton and had to undergo major reconstructive surgery and was out of action for two months. McGarry did not speak to Dougan during his two-month absence, but Dougan decided against issuing a transfer request as he did not want to further his reputation as a journeyman player.
Wolves finished fourth in the 1970–71 season, with Dougan claiming 12 goals from 25 league games as he was rotated throughout the campaign with Hugh Curran and Bobby Gould. Wolves also won the inaugural Texaco Cup after beating Heart of Midlothian 3–2 on aggregate in the final. The following season, he formed an understanding with John Richards that teammate Derek Parkin described as the "best partnership in Europe", which helped to boost Dougan's scoring tally and make Wolves one of the top teams in the country during the early 1970s. They qualified for the UEFA Cup, and Dougan scored a hat-trick in a first round 7–1 aggregate victory over Portuguese side Académica. Wolves then progressed past Dutch side Den Haag by the same score, beat East German side Carl Zeiss Jena 4–0 on aggregate, and overcome Italian giants Juventus 3–2 on aggregate before knocking out Ferencváro of Hungary 4–3 on aggregate to reach the final. There they lost 3–2 on aggregate to fellow English side Tottenham Hotspur, "Spurs" goalkeeper Pat Jennings putting in many saves at White Hart Lane to deny Dougan and Richards from levelling the tie after the first leg at Molineux ended in a 2–1 defeat. Wolves finished ninth in the league in the 1971–72 season, but managed to beat Leeds United on the final day of the season to prevent them from reaching league champions Derby County's point tally, Dougan scoring his 24th goal of the season to secure a 2–1 win at Molineux.
He scored 19 goals in 51 appearances in the 1972–73 campaign, helping the club to a fifth-place league finish and the semi-finals of the FA Cup and League Cup. They went on to beat Arsenal 3–1 at Highbury in the FA Cup third-place play-off match, which was the penultimate match of an unsuccessful five-year experiment. He scored 15 goals in 50 appearances in the 1973–74 season, and helped Wolves to finally win a trophy. They beat Halifax Town, Tranmere Rovers (after a replay),
Exeter City, Liverpool, and Norwich City to reach the League Cup final. They beat Manchester City 2–1 in the final to secure the club's first trophy in 14 years. Dougan struggled with back injuries in the 1974–75 campaign. After being limited to just six appearances throughout the season, he announced his retirement in 1975. He was granted a testimonial game against a Don Revie International XI in October 1975, which ended in a 0–0 draw.
=== Kettering Town ===
Dougan was appointed player-manager at Southern League Premier Division side Kettering Town in 1975, and immediately set on former Wolves teammate Brian Thompson as his assistant. Goalkeeper Gordon Livsey remembered Dougan as a great motivator, but tactically limited. Dougan negotiated a four-figure shirt sponsorship with Kettering Tyres, which was the first such deal in England. After its use in the Southern League Premier Division match against Bath City on 24 January 1976 the FA demanded that the club remove the sponsor's logo threatening a fine of £1000, and were not impressed when Dougan initially attempted to circumvent the FA's demands by shortening the branding 'Kettering Tyres' to simply 'Kettering T'. The logo was removed, though in June 1977 the FA decreed that a 2.5 square inch logo would be permitted in the future provided it was not "detrimental to the image of the game". He led the "Poppies" to a third-place league finish and the Third Round of the FA Cup in 1976–77. He helped to improve the career prospects of many of his players, particularly Billy Kellock, who went on to play over 250 games in the Football League after leaving Kettering in 1979. Dougan left the club after chairman John Nash resigned in June 1977.
== International career ==
Dougan represented Northern Ireland at schoolboy, youth, amateur and 'B' level as a wing-half and centre-defender. He made his senior international debut under Peter Doherty in a 1–0 win over Czechoslovakia during the 1958 FIFA World Cup on 8 June 1958. He had won nine caps before he joined Peterborough in 1962 when the drop to Third Division football left him out of international contention for the next three years. Bertie Peacock returned him to the team following his transfer to First Division Leicester City in 1965, and he missed just three of the next 37 internationals. He was named as captain when Terry Neill succeeded Billy Bingham as manager in 1971. He made his final appearance for Northern Ireland on 14 February 1973 in a 1974 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Cyprus. He won a total of 43 senior caps and scored eight goals in a 15-year international career. Despite playing alongside George Best for nine years, Northern Ireland did not qualify for a major tournament after the 1958 FIFA World Cup.
An advocate of an All-Ireland soccer team, Dougan was also one of six Northern Ireland internationals to feature in the Shamrock Rovers XI v Brazil exhibition match in July 1973; the "Shamrock Rovers XI" was a pseudonym for an All-Ireland team, which also featured Republic of Ireland internationals. He scored one of the goals for Rovers in the 4–3 defeat. Both the Northern Ireland-based Irish Football Association and the Republic of Ireland-based Football Association of Ireland had been "implacably opposed" to the staging of the game, which was why the team had to be called a "Shamrock Rovers XI". Meanwhile, Dougan, who had helped organise the match, subsequently alleged that his involvement meant that he never played for Northern Ireland again. Though it is arguable that it was at least as much a case of his Northern Ireland career having already effectively been ended, since he had been dropped from the team after a 1–0 defeat away to Cyprus the previous season and hadn't been selected for any of Northern Ireland's subsequent five matches before the Shamrock Rovers XI game, by which time he was already 35.
== Style of play ==
Dougan was a combative centre-forward who relied on his speed, strength and awareness to score and create goals. Former Peterborough United teammate Peter Deakin said that "his biggest strength was his ability in the air. If enough balls went into the area he would be on the end of 80 per cent of them". He had an excellent left-foot and was described as "streetwise" and "crafty", but was not a great passer of the ball. Opposition defenders did not like playing against him as he was strong and very difficult to defend against.
== Media career ==
In 1967, Dougan represented Leicester City on the television show Quizball. A fan of psychedelic rock, he cut his own single, "A Goal for Dougie", in 1968. In 1969 published his first autobiography, Attack!. His media appearances became more frequent in the 1970s, and he was asked to make up part of ITV's four man panel to provide coverage of the 1970 FIFA World Cup, along with Malcolm Allison, Paddy Crerand and Bob McNab. Presenter Brian Moore said that the panel "gave football punditry a fresh intoxicating sparkle". Dougan went on to host a half-hour show on BBC Radio Birmingham, which previewed the weekend's football. He published a second autobiography, The Sash He Never Wore, in 1972 (in 1997, he republished the book under the name The Sash He Never Wore – 25 Years On).
In 1974, he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews for an episode of This Is Your Life. Later in the year he published a novel, The Footballer. Author Melvyn Bragg wrote that The Footballer was "predictable" with "thinly drawn" characters, but praised the dialogue and the "narrative flair". Dougan reprised his role in ITV's World Cup coverage for the 1974 FIFA World Cup, with Brian Clough and Jack Charlton replacing Crerand and McNab. In 1976, Dougan assisted historian Percy M. Young in producing On the Spot: Football as a Profession, a social history book that included anecdotes and insight from Dougan to complement Young's research. He published a third autobiography in 1980, entitled Doog, which revealed his disdain for Bill McGarry. The following year he published How Not to Run Football, which condemned the footballing authorities for what Dougan termed a "Victorian-Edwardian" attitude. In 1983, he co-authored Matches of the Day with Pat Murphy.
== Football administration ==
=== PFA chairmanship ===
Dougan succeeded Terry Neill – his future Northern Ireland manager – as chairman of the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) in 1970. He advocated the belief that players should control their own destiny and used his position as Chairman of the PFA to further players' rights. He oversaw the inaugural PFA awards in 1973–74, which included the PFA Players' Player of the Year, PFA Young Player of the Year, PFA Team of the Year, and PFA Merit Award. He pushed for freedom of contract for players, and in 1978 accepted a compromise deal that allowed players to switch clubs at the end of their contracts, providing that the player's new club and old club could agree on a transfer fee, with a tribunal agreeing on a fee in cases where clubs could not agree.
[Dougan] led the PFA, along with my predecessor Cliff Lloyd, all through negotiations in establishing a constitution and a collective bargaining agreement which have stood the test of time. at times he was a very controversial character, never frightened of taking on authority, which got him into trouble in his playing career and, needless to say, off the field as well. He led as chairman and brought in the players' right to move, which was the frontrunner of Bosman."
=== Chairmanship of Wolves ===
In August 1982, he fronted a consortium – funded by Saudi brothers Mahmud and Mohammad Bhatti of the company Allied Properties – that took Wolverhampton Wanderers out of liquidation, beating a rival bid from Doug Ellis. The brothers wanted anonymity, and were only revealed to the public after investigation by journalists. He sacked manager Ian Greaves. He replaced him with former Wolves teammate Graham Hawkins. However, the council rejected planning permission for the club to construct a supermarket, and the Bhattis were unwilling or unable to provide further funding for the club. Wolves won promotion out of the Second Division in 1982–83, but were relegated out of the First Division in last place in 1983–84, and Dougan sacked Hawkins and replaced him with Tommy Docherty. Dougan resigned mid-season in January 1985 with Wolves going on to suffer a second successive relegation in the 1984–85 season.
== Later life ==
Dougan stood as an independent 'Former Captain NI Football Team' candidate for the East Belfast constituency in the 1997 UK general election, but got only 541 votes and finished seventh out of the nine candidates. In April 2000, he was cleared of aggravated burglary following a trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court; the incident had been alleged to have taken place at the home of Patricia Thompson, a former lover. He was also cleared of assaulting a Vietnam War veteran with a pool cue, who had been at the home with Patricia Thompson at the time of the alleged burglary incident. In another court case, again in April 2000, Dougan failed to attend a hearing where he had been charged with driving carelessly and failing to comply with a red traffic signal; he said he had been unable to attend because he had a dental appointment.
In December 2005, he was a pallbearer at the funeral of George Best. On 14 June 2006, he appeared on the BBC political show Question Time, as a representative of the UK Independence Party. An opinionated and driven man, his partner noted how Dougan "loved a cause", and in his later years spent much of his time organising charity events and legal representation for retired footballers. He married Jutta, a German woman with whom he had two sons: Alexander (born 1965) and Nicholas (born 1967). He separated from Jutta and spent the last three years of his life with Merlyn Humphreys. Dougan died on 24 June 2007 from a heart attack at his home in Wolverhampton, at the age of 69. His funeral was held on 5 July at St Peter's Collegiate Church, and the service was transmitted to a crowd of mourners outside the church with loudspeakers. Speaking at his funeral, Nick Owen described Dougan as "controversial, fiery, humorous and passionate". He was inducted into the Wolverhampton Wanderers Hall of Fame in 2010, alongside former teammate Kenny Hibbitt.
== Career statistics ==
=== Club ===
=== International ===
== Honours ==
Distillery
Irish Cup: 1955–56
Blackburn Rovers
FA Cup runner-up: 1959–60
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Football League Cup: 1973–74
Texaco Cup: 1970–71
UEFA Cup runner-up: 1971–72
Football League Second Division second-place promotion: 1966–67
Los Angeles Wolves
United Soccer Association: 1967
Kansas City Spurs
NASL International Cup: 1969 |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connecticut | Connecticut | Connecticut ( kə-NET-ih-kət) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capital is Hartford, and its most populous city is Bridgeport. Connecticut lies between the major hubs of New York City and Boston along the Northeast Corridor, where the New York-Newark Combined Statistical Area, which includes four of Connecticut's seven largest cities, extends into the southwestern part of the state. Connecticut is the third-smallest state by area after Rhode Island and Delaware, and the 29th-most populous with more than 3.6 million residents as of 2024, ranking it fourth among the most densely populated U.S. states.
The state is named after the Connecticut River, the longest in New England, which roughly bisects the state and drains into the Long Island Sound between the towns of Old Saybrook and Old Lyme. The name of the river is in turn derived from anglicized spellings of Quinnetuket, a Mohegan-Pequot word for "long tidal river". Before the arrival of the first European settlers, the region was inhabited by various Algonquian tribes. In 1633, the Dutch West India Company established a small, short-lived settlement called House of Hope in Hartford. Half of Connecticut was initially claimed by the Dutch colony New Netherland, which included much of the land between the Connecticut and Delaware Rivers, although the first major settlements were established by the English around the same time. Thomas Hooker led a band of followers from the Massachusetts Bay Colony to form the Connecticut Colony, while other settlers from Massachusetts founded the Saybrook Colony and the New Haven Colony; both had merged into the first by 1664.
Connecticut's official nickname, the "Constitution State", refers to the Fundamental Orders adopted by the Connecticut Colony in 1639, which is considered by some to be the first written constitution in Western history. As one of the Thirteen Colonies that rejected British rule during the American Revolution, Connecticut was influential in the development of the federal government of the United States. In 1787, Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth, state delegates to the Constitutional Convention, proposed a compromise between the Virginia and New Jersey Plans; its bicameral structure for Congress, with a respectively proportional and equal representation of the states in the House of Representatives and Senate, was adopted and remains to this day. In January 1788, Connecticut became the fifth state to ratify the Constitution.
Connecticut is a developed and affluent state, performing well on the Human Development Index and on different metrics of income except for equality. It is home to a number of prestigious educational institutions, including Yale University in New Haven, as well as other liberal arts colleges and private boarding schools in and around the "Knowledge Corridor". Due to its geography, Connecticut has maintained a strong maritime tradition; the United States Coast Guard Academy is located in New London by the Thames River. The state is also associated with the aerospace industry through major companies Pratt & Whitney and Sikorsky Aircraft headquartered in East Hartford and Stratford, respectively. Historically a manufacturing center for arms, hardware, and timepieces, Connecticut, as with the rest of the region, had transitioned into an economy based on the financial, insurance, and real estate sectors; many multinational firms providing such services can be found concentrated in the state capital of Hartford and along the Gold Coast in Fairfield County.
== History ==
=== First people ===
The name Connecticut is derived from the Mohegan-Pequot word that has been translated as "long tidal river" and "upon the long river", both referring to the Connecticut River. Evidence of human presence in the Connecticut region dates to as far back as 10,000 years ago. Stone tools were used for hunting, fishing, and woodworking. Semi-nomadic in lifestyle, these peoples moved seasonally to take advantage of various resources in the area. They shared languages based on Algonquian. The Connecticut region was inhabited by many Native American tribes that can be grouped into the Nipmuc, the Sequin or "River Indians" (which included the Tunxis, Schaghticoke, Podunk, Wangunk, Hammonasset, and Quinnipiac), the Mattabesec or "Wappinger Confederacy" and the Pequot-Mohegan. Some of these groups still reside in Connecticut, including the Mohegans, the Pequots, and the Paugusetts.
=== Colonial period ===
Dutchman Adriaen Block was the first European explorer in Connecticut. He explored the region in 1614. Dutch fur traders then sailed up the Connecticut River, calling it Versche Rivier ("Fresh River") and building a fort at Dutch Point in Hartford, which they named "House of Hope" (Dutch: Huis van Hoop).
The Connecticut Colony originally consisted of several smaller settlements in Windsor, Wethersfield, Saybrook, Hartford, and New Haven. The first English settlers came in 1633 and settled at Windsor, then at Wethersfield the following year. John Winthrop the Younger of Massachusetts received a commission to create Saybrook Colony at the mouth of the Connecticut River in 1635.
A large group of Puritans arrived in 1636 from Massachusetts Bay Colony, led by Thomas Hooker, who established the Connecticut Colony at Hartford. The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut were adopted in January 1639, and have been described as the first constitutional document in America.
The Quinnipiack Colony was established by John Davenport, Theophilus Eaton, and others at New Haven in March 1638. The New Haven Colony had its own constitution called "The Fundamental Agreement of the New Haven Colony", signed on June 4, 1639.
Each settlement was an independent political entity, established without official sanction of the English Crown. In 1662, Winthrop traveled to England and obtained a charter from Charles II which united the settlements of Connecticut. Historically significant colonial settlements included Windsor (1633), Wethersfield (1634), Saybrook (1635), Hartford (1636), New Haven (1638), Fairfield (1639), Guilford (1639), Milford (1639), Stratford (1639), Farmington (1640), Stamford (1641), and New London (1646).
The Pequot War marked the first significant clash between colonists and Native Americans in New England. The Pequot had been aggressively extending their area of control at the expense of the Wampanoag to the north, Narragansett (east), Connecticut River Valley Algonquian tribes and the Mohegan (west), and Lenape Algonquian people (south). Meanwhile, the Pequot had been reacting with increasing aggression to colonial territorial expansion. In response to the 1636 murder of an English privateer and his crew, followed by the murder of a trader, colonists raided a Pequot village on Block Island. The Pequots laid siege to Saybrook Colony's garrison that autumn, then raided Wethersfield in the spring of 1637. Organizing a band of militia and allies from the Mohegan and Narragansett tribes, colonists declared war and attacked a Pequot village on the Mystic River. Death toll estimates range between 300 and 700 Pequots. After suffering another major loss at a battle in Fairfield, the Pequots sued for peace.
Connecticut's original Charter in 1662 granted it all the land to the "South Sea"—that is, to the Pacific Ocean. The Hartford Treaty with the Dutch was signed on September 19, 1650, but never ratified by the British, stated the western boundary of Connecticut ran north from Greenwich Bay for a distance of 20 miles (32 km), "provided the said line come not within 10 miles [16 km] of Hudson River". This agreement was observed by both sides until war erupted between England and The Netherlands in 1652. Conflict continued concerning colonial limits until the Duke of York captured New Netherland in 1664.
Most Colonial royal grants were for long east–west strips. Connecticut took its grant seriously and established a ninth county between the Susquehanna River and Delaware River named Westmoreland County. This resulted in the brief Pennamite-Yankee Wars with Pennsylvania.
Yale College was established in 1701, providing Connecticut with an important institution to educate clergy and civil leaders. The Congregational church dominated religious life in the colony and, by extension, town affairs in many parts.
With more than 600 miles (970 km) of coastline including along its navigable rivers, Connecticut developed the antecedents of a maritime tradition during its colonial years that would later produce booms in shipbuilding, marine transport, naval support, seafood production, and leisure boating.
Historical records list the Tryall as the first vessel built in Connecticut Colony, in 1649 at a site on the Connecticut River in modern Wethersfield. In the two decades leading up to 1776 and the American Revolution, Connecticut boatyards launched about 100 sloops, schooners and brigs according to a database of U.S. customs records maintained online by the Mystic Seaport Museum, the largest being the 180-ton Patient Mary launched in New Haven in 1763. Connecticut's first lighthouse was constructed in 1760 at the mouth of the Thames River with the New London Harbor Lighthouse.
==== American Revolution ====
Connecticut designated four delegates to the Second Continental Congress who signed the Declaration of Independence: Samuel Huntington, Roger Sherman, William Williams, and Oliver Wolcott. Connecticut's legislature authorized the outfitting of six new regiments in 1775, in the wake of the clashes between British regulars and Massachusetts militia at Lexington and Concord. There were some 1,200 Connecticut troops on hand at the Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775. In 1775, David Bushnell invented the Turtle which the following year launched the first submarine attack in history, unsuccessfully against a British warship at anchor in New York Harbor.
In 1777, the British got word of Continental Army supplies in Danbury, and they landed an expeditionary force of some 2,000 troops in Westport. This force marched to Danbury, then destroyed homes and much of the depot. Continental Army troops and militia led by General David Wooster and General Benedict Arnold engaged them on their return march at Ridgefield in 1777. For the winter of 1778–79, General George Washington decided to split the Continental Army into three divisions encircling New York City, where British General Sir Henry Clinton had taken up winter quarters. Major General Israel Putnam chose Redding as the winter encampment quarters for some 3,000 regulars and militia under his command. The Redding encampment allowed Putnam's soldiers to guard the replenished supply depot in Danbury and to support any operations along Long Island Sound and the Hudson River Valley. Some of the men were veterans of the winter encampment at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, the previous winter. Soldiers at the Redding camp endured supply shortages, cold temperatures, and significant snow, with some historians dubbing the encampment "Connecticut's Valley Forge".
The state was also the launching site for a number of raids against Long Island orchestrated by Samuel Holden Parsons and Benjamin Tallmadge, and provided soldiers and material for the war effort, especially to Washington's army outside New York City. General William Tryon raided the Connecticut coast in July 1779, focusing on New Haven, Norwalk, and Fairfield. New London and Groton Heights were raided in September 1781 by Benedict Arnold, who had turned traitor to the British.
At the outset of the American Revolution, the Continental Congress assigned Nathaniel Shaw Jr. of New London as its naval agent in charge of recruiting privateers to seize British vessels as opportunities presented, with nearly 50 operating out of the Thames River which eventually drew the reprisal from the British force led by Arnold.
=== Early statehood ===
==== Early national period and industrial revolution ====
Connecticut ratified the U.S. Constitution on January 9, 1788, becoming the fifth state.
The state prospered during the era following the American Revolution, as mills and textile factories were built and seaports flourished from trade and fisheries. After Congress established in 1790 the predecessor to the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service that would evolve into the U.S. Coast Guard, President Washington assigned Jonathan Maltbie as one of seven masters to enforce customs regulations, with Maltbie monitoring the southern New England coast with a 48-foot cutter sloop named Argus.
In 1786, Connecticut ceded territory to the U.S. government that became part of the Northwest Territory. The state retained land extending across the northern part of modern Ohio called the Connecticut Western Reserve. The Western Reserve section was settled largely by people from Connecticut, and they brought Connecticut place names to Ohio.
Connecticut made agreements with Pennsylvania and New York which extinguished the land claims within those states' boundaries and created the Connecticut Panhandle. The state then ceded the Western Reserve in 1800 to the federal government, which brought it to its existing boundaries (other than minor adjustments with Massachusetts).
=== Nineteenth century ===
For the first time in 1800, Connecticut shipwrights launched more than 100 vessels in a single year. Over the following decade up to the doorstep of renewed hostilities with Britain that sparked the War of 1812, Connecticut boatyards constructed close to 1,000 vessels, the most productive stretch of any decade in the nineteenth century.
During the war, the British launched raids in Stonington and Essex and blockaded vessels in the Thames River. Derby native Isaac Hull became Connecticut's best-known naval figure to win renown during the conflict, as captain of the USS Constitution.
The British blockade during the War of 1812 hurt exports and bolstered the influence of Federalists who opposed the war. The cessation of imports from Britain stimulated the construction of factories to manufacture textiles and machinery. Connecticut came to be recognized as a major center for manufacturing, due in part to the inventions of Eli Whitney and other early innovators of the Industrial Revolution.
The war led to the development of fast clippers that helped extend the reach of New England merchants to the Pacific and Indian oceans. The first half of the nineteenth century saw as well a rapid rise in whaling, with New London emerging as one of the New England industry's three biggest home ports after Nantucket and New Bedford.
The state was known for its political conservatism, typified by its Federalist party and the Yale College of Timothy Dwight. The foremost intellectuals were Dwight and Noah Webster, who compiled his great dictionary in New Haven. Religious tensions polarized the state, as the Congregational Church struggled to maintain traditional viewpoints, in alliance with the Federalists. The failure of the Hartford Convention in 1814 hurt the Federalist cause, with the Democratic-Republican Party gaining control in 1817.
Connecticut had been governed under the "Fundamental Orders" since 1639, but the state adopted a new constitution in 1818.
==== Civil war era ====
Connecticut manufacturers played a major role in supplying the Union forces with weapons and supplies during the Civil War. The state furnished 55,000 men, formed into thirty full regiments of infantry, including two in the U.S. Colored Troops, with several Connecticut men becoming generals. The Navy attracted 250 officers and 2,100 men, and Glastonbury native Gideon Welles was Secretary of the Navy. James H. Ward of Hartford was the first U.S. Naval Officer killed in the Civil War. Connecticut casualties included 2,088 killed in combat, 2,801 dying from disease, and 689 dying in Confederate prison camps.
A surge of national unity in 1861 brought thousands flocking to the colors from every town and city. However, as the war became a crusade to end slavery, many Democrats (especially Irish Catholics) pulled back. The Democrats took a pro-slavery position and included many Copperheads willing to let the South secede. The intensely fought 1863 election for governor was narrowly won by the Republicans.
==== Second industrial revolution ====
Connecticut's extensive industry, dense population, flat terrain, and wealth encouraged the construction of railroads starting in 1839. By 1840, 102 miles (164 km) of line were in operation, growing to 402 miles (647 km) in 1850 and 601 miles (967 km) in 1860.
The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, called the New Haven or "The Consolidated", became the dominant Connecticut railroad company after 1872. J. P. Morgan began financing the major New England railroads in the 1890s, dividing territory so that they would not compete. The New Haven purchased 50 smaller companies, including steamship lines, and built a network of light rails (electrified trolleys) that provided inter-urban transportation for all of southern New England. By 1912, the New Haven operated over 2,000 miles (3,200 km) of track with 120,000 employees.
As steam-powered passenger ships proliferated after the Civil War, Noank produced the two largest built in Connecticut during the nineteenth century, with the 332-foot wooden steam paddle wheeler Rhode Island launched in 1882, and the 345-foot paddle wheeler Connecticut seven years later. Connecticut shipyards launched more than 165 steam-powered vessels in the nineteenth century.
In 1875, the first telephone exchange in the world was established in New Haven.
=== Twentieth century ===
==== World War I ====
When World War I broke out in 1914, Connecticut became a major supplier of weaponry to the U.S. military; by 1918, 80% of the state's industries were producing goods for the war effort. Remington Arms in Bridgeport produced half the small-arms cartridges used by the U.S. Army, with other major suppliers including Winchester in New Haven and Colt in Hartford.
Connecticut was also an important U.S. Navy supplier, with Electric Boat receiving orders for 85 submarines, Lake Torpedo Boat building more than 20 subs, and the Groton Iron Works building freighters. On June 21, 1916, the Navy made Groton the site for its East Coast submarine base and school.
The state enthusiastically supported the American war effort in 1917 and 1918 with large purchases of war bonds, a further expansion of industry, and an emphasis on increasing food production on the farms. Thousands of state, local, and volunteer groups mobilized for the war effort and were coordinated by the Connecticut State Council of Defense. Manufacturers wrestled with manpower shortages; Waterbury's American Brass and Manufacturing Company was running at half capacity, so the federal government agreed to furlough soldiers to work there.
==== Interwar period ====
In 1919, J. Henry Roraback started the Connecticut Light & Power Co. which became the state's dominant electric utility. In 1925, Frederick Rentschler spurred the creation of Pratt & Whitney in Hartford to develop engines for aircraft; the company became an important military supplier in World War II and one of the three major manufacturers of jet engines in the world.
On September 21, 1938, the most destructive storm in New England history struck eastern Connecticut, killing hundreds of people. The eye of the "Long Island Express" passed just west of New Haven and devastated the Connecticut shoreline between Old Saybrook and Stonington from the full force of wind and waves, even though they had partial protection by Long Island. The hurricane caused extensive damage to infrastructure, homes, and businesses. In New London, a 500-foot (150 m) sailing ship was driven into a warehouse complex, causing a major fire. Heavy rainfall caused the Connecticut River to flood downtown Hartford and East Hartford. An estimated 50,000 trees fell onto roadways.
==== World War II ====
The advent of lend-lease in support of Britain helped lift Connecticut from the Great Depression, with the state a major production center for weaponry and supplies used in World War II. Connecticut manufactured 4.1% of total U.S. military armaments produced during the war, ranking ninth among the 48 states, with major factories including Colt for firearms, Pratt & Whitney for aircraft engines, Chance Vought for fighter planes, Hamilton Standard for propellers, and Electric Boat for submarines and PT boats.
On May 13, 1940, Igor Sikorsky made an untethered flight of the first practical helicopter. The helicopter saw limited use in World War II, but future military production made Sikorsky Aircraft's Stratford plant Connecticut's largest single manufacturing site by the start of the twenty-first century.
==== Post-World War II economic expansion ====
Connecticut lost some wartime factories following the end of hostilities, but the state shared in a general post-war expansion that included the construction of highways and resulting in middle-class growth in suburban areas.
Prescott Bush represented Connecticut in the U.S. Senate from 1952 to 1963; his son George H. W. Bush and grandson George W. Bush both became presidents of the United States. In 1965, Connecticut ratified its current constitution, replacing the document that had served since 1818.
In 1968, commercial operation began for the Connecticut Yankee Nuclear Power Plant in Haddam; in 1970, the Millstone Nuclear Power Station began operations in Waterford. In 1974, Connecticut elected Democratic Governor Ella T. Grasso, who became the first woman in any state to be elected governor without being the wife or widow of a previous governor.
==== Late twentieth century ====
Connecticut's dependence on the defense industry posed an economic challenge at the end of the Cold War. The resulting budget crisis helped elect Lowell Weicker as governor on a third-party ticket in 1990. Weicker's remedy was a state income tax which proved effective in balancing the budget, but only for the short-term. He did not run for a second term, in part because of this politically unpopular move.
In 1992, initial construction was completed on Foxwoods Casino at the Mashantucket Pequots reservation in eastern Connecticut, which became the largest casino in the Western Hemisphere. Mohegan Sun followed four years later.
=== Early twenty-first century ===
In 2000, presidential candidate Al Gore chose Senator Joe Lieberman as his running mate, marking the first time that a major party presidential ticket included someone of the Jewish faith. Gore and Lieberman fell five votes short of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney in the Electoral College. In the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, 65 state residents were killed, mostly Fairfield County residents who were working in the World Trade Center. In 2004, Republican Governor John G. Rowland resigned during a corruption investigation, later pleading guilty to federal charges.
Connecticut was hit by three major storms in just over 14 months in 2011 and 2012, with all three causing extensive property damage and electric outages. Hurricane Irene struck Connecticut August 28, and damage totaled $235 million. Two months later, the "Halloween nor'easter" dropped extensive snow onto trees, resulting in snapped branches and trunks that damaged power lines; some areas were without electricity for 11 days. Hurricane Sandy hit New Jersey and passed over Connecticut with hurricane-force winds and tides up to 12 feet above normal. Many coastal buildings were damaged or destroyed. Sandy's winds drove storm surges into streets and cut power to 98% of homes and businesses, with more than $360 million in damage.
On December 14, 2012, a 20-year-old man named Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, and then killed himself. The massacre spurred renewed efforts by activists for tighter laws on gun ownership nationally.
In the summer and fall of 2016, Connecticut experienced a drought in many parts of the state, causing some water-use bans. As of November 15, 2016 (2016-11-15), 45% of the state was listed at Severe Drought by the U.S. Drought Monitor, including almost all of Hartford and Litchfield counties. All the rest of the state was in Moderate Drought or Severe Drought, including Middlesex, Fairfield, New London, New Haven, Windham, and Tolland counties. This affected the agricultural economy in the state.
== Geography ==
Connecticut is bordered on the south by Long Island Sound, on the west by New York, on the north by Massachusetts, and on the east by Rhode Island. The state capital and fourth largest city is Hartford, and other major cities and towns (by population) include Bridgeport, New Haven, Stamford, Waterbury, Norwalk, Danbury, New Britain, Greenwich, and Bristol. There are 169 incorporated towns in Connecticut, with cities and villages included within some towns.
The highest peak in Connecticut is Bear Mountain in Salisbury in the northwest corner of the state. The highest point is just east of where Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York meet (42°3′ N, 73°29′ W), on the southern slope of Mount Frissell, whose peak lies nearby in Massachusetts. At the opposite extreme, many of the coastal towns have areas that are less than 20 feet (6.1 m) above sea level.
Connecticut has a long maritime history and a reputation based on that history—yet the state has no direct oceanfront (technically speaking). The coast of Connecticut sits on Long Island Sound, which is an estuary. The state's access to the open Atlantic Ocean is both to the west (toward New York City) and to the east (toward the "race" near Rhode Island). Due to this unique geography, Long Island Sound and the Connecticut shoreline are relatively protected from high waves from storms.
The Connecticut River cuts through the center of the state, flowing into Long Island Sound. The most populous metropolitan region centered within the state lies in the Connecticut River Valley. Despite Connecticut's relatively small size, it features wide regional variations in its landscape; for example, in the northwestern Litchfield Hills, it features rolling mountains and horse farms, whereas in areas to the east of New Haven along the coast, the landscape features coastal marshes, beaches, and large scale maritime activities.
Connecticut's rural areas and small towns in the northeast and northwest corners of the state contrast sharply with its industrial cities such as Stamford, Bridgeport, and New Haven, located along the coastal highways from the New York border to New London, then northward up the Connecticut River to Hartford. Many towns in northeastern and northwestern Connecticut center around a green. Near the green typically stand historical visual symbols of New England towns, such as a white church, a colonial meeting house, a colonial tavern or inn, several colonial houses, and so on, establishing a scenic historical appearance maintained for both historic preservation and tourism. Many of the areas in southern and coastal Connecticut have been built up and rebuilt over the years, and look less visually like traditional New England.
The northern boundary of the state with Massachusetts is marked by the Southwick Jog or Granby Notch, an approximately 2.5 miles (4.0 km) square detour into Connecticut. The origin of this anomaly is clearly established in a long line of disputes and temporary agreements which were finally concluded in 1804, when southern Southwick's residents sought to leave Massachusetts, and the town was split in half.
The southwestern border of Connecticut where it abuts New York State is marked by a panhandle in Fairfield County and the Western Connecticut Planning Region, containing the towns of Greenwich, Stamford, New Canaan, Darien, and parts of Norwalk and Wilton. This irregularity in the boundary is the result of territorial disputes in the late 17th century, culminating with New York giving up its claim to the area, whose residents considered themselves part of Connecticut, in exchange for an equivalent area extending northwards from Ridgefield to the Massachusetts border, as well as undisputed claim to Rye, New York.
Areas maintained by the National Park Service include Appalachian National Scenic Trail, Quinebaug and Shetucket Rivers Valley National Heritage Corridor, and Weir Farm National Historic Site.
=== Climate ===
Connecticut lies at the rough transition zone between the southern end of the humid continental climate and the northern portion of the humid subtropical climate. Northern Connecticut generally experiences a climate with hot, humid summers and moderately cold winters with periodic snowfall. Far southern and coastal Connecticut has a climate with cool winters with a mix of rain and infrequent snow, and the long hot and humid summers typical of the middle and lower East Coast. Coastal Connecticut is the very broad transition zone between the humid continental climate and the humid subtropical climate.
==== Precipitation ====
Connecticut sees a fairly even precipitation pattern spread throughout the 12 months. Connecticut averages 56% of possible sunshine (higher than the U.S. national average), averaging 2,400 hours of sunshine annually. Occasionally, some months may see extremes in precipitation, either much higher or lower than normal, though long term droughts and floods are rare.
Early spring can range from slightly cool (40s to low 50s F) to warm (65 to 70 F), while mid and late spring (late April/May) is warm. By late May, the building Bermuda High creates a southerly flow of warm and humid tropical air, bringing hot weather conditions throughout the state. Average highs are 81 °F (27 °C) in New London and 85 °F (29 °C) in Windsor Locks at the peak of summer in late July. On occasion, heat waves with highs from 90 to 100 °F (38 °C) occur across Connecticut. Connecticut's record high temperature is 106 °F (41 °C) which occurred in Danbury on July 15, 1995. Although summers are sunny in Connecticut, quick moving summer thunderstorms can bring brief downpours with thunder and lightning. Occasionally these thunderstorms can be severe, and the state usually averages one tornado per year. During hurricane season, the remains of tropical cyclones occasionally affect the region, though a direct hit is rare. Some notable hurricanes to impact the state include the 1938 New England hurricane, Hurricane Carol in 1954, Hurricane Sandy in 2012, and Hurricane Isaias in 2020.
Weather commonly associated with the fall season typically begins in October and lasts to the first days of December. Daily high temperatures in October and November range from the 50s to 60s F. Winters (December through mid-March) are moderately generally cold from south to north in Connecticut. The coldest month (January) has average high temperatures ranging from 38 °F (3 °C) in the coastal lowlands to 33 °F (1 °C) in the inland and northern portions on the state.
The lowest temperature recorded in Connecticut is −32 °F (−36 °C) which has been observed twice: in Falls Village on February 16, 1943, and in Coventry on January 22, 1961. The average yearly snowfall ranges from about 60 inches (1,500 mm) in the higher elevations of the northern portion of the state to only 20–25 inches (510–640 mm) along the southeast coast of Connecticut (Branford to Groton). Most of Connecticut has less than 60 days of snow cover, while coastal areas often only see 30 days or so of snowcover. Annually, 95% of seasonal snowfall in Connecticut falls from early December to late March. On occasion in winter, Connecticut can occasionally get heavy snowstorms, called nor'easters, which may produce as much as two feet of snow on rare occasions. Although rare, ice storms also occur on occasion, such as the Southern New England ice storm of 1973.
=== Flora ===
Forests consist of a mix of Northeastern coastal forests of oak in southern areas of the state, to the upland New England-Acadian forests in the northwestern parts of the state. Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia) is the state flower and is native to low ridges in several parts of Connecticut. Rosebay rhododendron (Rhododendron maximum) is also native to eastern uplands of Connecticut and Pachaug State Forest is home to the Rhododendron Sanctuary Trail. Atlantic white cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides), is found in wetlands in the southern parts of the state. Connecticut has one native cactus (Opuntia humifusa), found in sandy coastal areas and low hillsides. Several types of beach grasses and wildflowers are also native to Connecticut. Connecticut spans USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 5b to 7a. Coastal Connecticut is the broad transition zone where more southern and subtropical plants are cultivated.
=== Fauna ===
=== Largest cities and towns ===
== Demographics ==
As of the 2020 United States census, Connecticut has a population of 3,605,944, an increase of 31,847 people (0.9%) from the 2010 United States census. Among the census records, 20.4% of the population was under 18.
In 1790, 97% of the population in Connecticut was classified as "rural". The first census in which less than half the population was classified as rural was 1890. In the 2000 census, only 12.3% was considered rural. Most of western and southern Connecticut (particularly the Gold Coast) is strongly associated with New York City; this area is the most affluent and populous region of the state and has high property costs and high incomes. The center of population of Connecticut is located in the town of Cheshire.
According to HUD's 2022 Annual Homeless Assessment Report, there were an estimated 2,930 homeless people in Connecticut.
In common with the majority of the United States, non-Hispanic whites have remained the dominant racial and ethnic group in Connecticut. From being 98% of the population in 1940, however, they have declined to 63% of the population as of the 2020 census. These statistics have represented fewer Americans identifying as non-Hispanic white, which has given rise to the Hispanic and Latino American population and Asian American population overall. As of 2011, 46.1% of Connecticut's population younger than age 1 were minorities. As of 2004, 11.4% of the population (400,000) was foreign-born. In 1870, native-born Americans had accounted for 75% of the state's population, but that had dropped to 35% by 1918. Also as of 2000, 81.69% of Connecticut residents age 5 and older spoke English at home and 8.42% spoke Spanish, followed by Italian at 1.59%, French at 1.31%, and Polish at 1.20%.
The largest ancestry groups since 2010 were: 19.3% Italian, 17.9% Irish, 10.7% English, 10.4% German, 8.6% Polish, 6.6% French, 3.0% French Canadian, 2.7% American, 2.0% Scottish, and 1.4% Scotch Irish.
Hispanics in Connecticut make up 19.2% of the population, predominantly of Puerto Rican (8.2%) origin, followed by Mexican (1.7%) and Dominican (1.5%). The state has the highest share of Puerto Ricans in the country and the sixth largest Puerto Rican population (301,931) in the country.
Connecticut is one of the most racially segregated states in the nation, with the nonwhite population largely concentrated in major urban areas such as Bridgeport, Hartford, New Haven and Waterbury. In many cases, towns neighboring urban areas are sharply segregated from them.
The top countries of origin for Connecticut's immigrants in 2018 were India, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Poland and Ecuador.
=== Birth data ===
Note: Births in table do not add up because Hispanics are counted both by their ethnicity and by their race, giving a higher overall number.
Since 2016, data for births of White Hispanic origin are not collected, but included in one Hispanic group; persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race.
=== Religion ===
A 2014 Pew survey of Connecticut residents' religious self-identification showed the following distribution of affiliations Protestant 35%, Roman Catholic 33%, non-religious 28%, Jewish 3%, Mormonism 1%, Orthodox 1%, Jehovah's Witness 1%, Hinduism 1%, Buddhism 1% and Islam 1%. Jewish congregations had 108,280 (3.2%) members in 2000.
The Jewish population is concentrated in the towns near Long Island Sound between Greenwich and New Haven, in Greater New Haven and in Greater Hartford, especially the suburb of West Hartford. According to the Association of Religion Data Archives, the largest Christian denominations, by number of adherents, in 2010 were: the Catholic Church, with 1,252,936; the United Church of Christ, with 96,506; and non-denominational Evangelical Protestants, with 72,863.
Recent immigration has brought other non-Christian religions to the state, but the numbers of adherents of other religions are still low. Connecticut is also home to New England's largest Protestant church: The First Cathedral in Bloomfield, Connecticut. Hartford is seat to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford, which is sovereign over the Diocese of Bridgeport and the Diocese of Norwich.
By a 2020 Public Religion Research Institute survey, 71% of the population identified as some form of Christian. It found the state to be 21% non-religious and specifically 19% white mainline Protestant, 19% white Catholic, 9% white evangelical Protestant, 7% black Protestant, and 7% Hispanic Catholic. In contrast to the 2014 Pew survey, the 2020 PRRI survey found Connecticut to be 40% Protestant and 28% Catholic (with the remainder of Christians being Mormon at 2%, and Orthodox at 1%). The PRRI survey found Jewish citizens to be 2% of the population and, like the Pew survey: Hindus, Buddhists, and Muslims to be 1% each.
== Economy ==
The total 2024 gross state product for Connecticut was $365.7 billion, up from $345.9 billion in 2023.
Connecticut's adjusted per capita personal income in 2022 was estimated at $77,940, third-highest among states. There is a large disparity in incomes throughout the state; Connecticut was tied with California and Massachusetts for the second highest (after New York's 0.52) Gini coefficient, at 0.50, as of 2020. As of 2025, it remained tied for second with Louisiana, with only New York having higher levels of inequality. Despite its overall inequality, Connecticut has a relatively low poverty rate. According to a 2018 study by Phoenix Marketing International, Connecticut had the third-largest number of millionaires per capita in the United States, with a ratio of 7.75%. New Canaan is the wealthiest town in Connecticut, with a per capita income of $105,846. Hartford is the poorest municipality in Connecticut, with a per capita income of $16,798 in 2020. At the county level, per capita income ranged from $48,295 in Fairfield County to $26,585 in Windham County, which is close to the United States average.
As of May 2025, Connecticut's unemployment rate was 3.8%, with U.S. unemployment at 4.2% that month. Dating back to 1982, Connecticut recorded its lowest unemployment in 2000 between August and October, at 2.2%. The highest unemployment rate during that period occurred in November and December 2010 at 9.3%, but economists expected record new levels of layoffs as a result of business closures in the spring of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
=== Taxation ===
Tax is collected by the Connecticut Department of Revenue Services and by local municipalities.
As of 2012, Connecticut residents had the second highest rate in the nation of combined state and local taxes after New York, at 12.6% of income compared to the national average of 9.9% as reported by the Tax Foundation.
Before 1991, Connecticut had an investment-only income tax system. Income from employment was untaxed, but income from investments was taxed at 13%, the highest rate in the U.S., with no deductions allowed for costs of producing the investment income, such as interest on borrowing.
In 1991, under Governor Lowell P. Weicker Jr., an independent, the system was changed to one in which the taxes on employment income and investment income were equalized at a maximum rate of 4%. The new tax policy drew investment firms to Connecticut; as of 2019, Fairfield County was home to the headquarters for 16 of the 200 largest hedge funds in the world.
As of 2019, the income tax rates on Connecticut individuals were divided into seven tax brackets of 3% (on income up to $10,000); 5% ($10,000–$50,000); 5.5% ($50,000–$100,000); 6% ($100,000–$200,000); 6.5% ($200,000–$250,000); 6.9% ($250,000–$500,000); and 6.99% above $500,000, with additional amounts owed depending on the bracket.
All wages of Connecticut residents are subject to the state's income tax, even if earned outside the state. However, in those cases, Connecticut income tax must be withheld only to the extent the Connecticut tax exceeds the amount withheld by the other jurisdiction. Since New York has higher income tax rates than Connecticut, this effectively means that Connecticut residents who work in New York have no Connecticut income tax withheld. Connecticut permits a credit for taxes paid to other jurisdictions, but since residents who work in other states are still subject to Connecticut income taxation, they may owe taxes if the jurisdictional credit does not fully offset the Connecticut tax amount.
Connecticut levies a 6.35% state sales tax on the retail sale, lease, or rental of most goods. Some items and services in general are not subject to sales and use taxes unless specifically enumerated as taxable by statute. A provision excluding clothing under $50 from sales tax was repealed as of July 1, 2011. There are no additional sales taxes imposed by local jurisdictions. In 2001, Connecticut instituted what became an annual sales tax "holiday" each August lasting one week, when retailers do not have to remit sales tax on certain items and quantities of clothing that has varied from year to year.
State law authorizes municipalities to tax property, including real estate, vehicles and other personal property, with state statute providing varying exemptions, credits and abatements. All assessments are at 70% of fair market value. The maximum property tax credit is $200 per return and any excess may not be refunded or carried forward. According to the Tax Foundation, on a per capita basis in the 2017 fiscal year Connecticut residents paid the 3rd highest average property taxes in the nation after New Hampshire and New Jersey.
As of January 1, 2020, gasoline taxes and fees in Connecticut were 40.13 cents per gallon, 11th highest in the United States which had a nationwide average of 36.13 cents a gallon excluding federal taxes. Diesel taxes and fees as of January 2020 in Connecticut were 46.50 cents per gallon, ninth highest nationally with the U.S. average at 37.91 cents.
=== Real estate ===
In 2019, sales of single-family homes in Connecticut totaled 33,146 units, a 2.1 percent decline from the 2018 transaction total. The median home sold in 2019 recorded a transaction amount of $260,000, up 0.4 percent from 2018.
Connecticut had the seventh highest rate of home foreclosure activity in the country in 2019 at 0.53 percent of the total housing stock.
=== Industries ===
Finance, insurance and real estate was Connecticut's largest industry in 2018 as ranked by gross domestic product, generating $75.7 billion in GDP that year. Major employers include The Hartford, Travelers, Harman International, Cigna, the Aetna subsidiary of CVS Health, Mass Mutual, People's United Financial, Bank of America, Realogy, Bridgewater Associates, GE Capital, William Raveis Real Estate, and Berkshire Hathaway through reinsurance and residential real estate subsidiaries.
The combined educational, health and social services sector was the largest single industry as ranked by employment, with a combined workforce of 342,600 people at the end of 2019, ranking fourth the year before in GDP at $28.3 billion.
The broad business and professional services sector had the second highest GDP total in Connecticut in 2018 at an estimated $33.7 billion.
Manufacturing was the third biggest industry in 2018 with GDP of $30.8 billion, dominated by Raytheon Technologies formed in the March 2020 merger of Hartford-based United Technologies and Waltham, Mass.-based Raytheon Co. As of the merger, Raytheon Technologies employed about 19,000 people in Connecticut through subsidiaries Pratt & Whitney and Collins Aerospace. Lockheed Martin subsidiary Sikorsky Aircraft operates Connecticut's single largest manufacturing plant in Stratford, where it makes helicopters.
Major audio equipment manufacturing company Harman International is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. It owns many brands like JBL, Akg and Harman kardon.
Other major manufacturers include the Electric Boat division of General Dynamics, which makes submarines in Groton.
Connecticut historically was a center of gun manufacturing, and four gun-manufacturing firms continued to operate in the state as of December 2012, employing 2,000 people: Colt, Stag, Ruger, and Mossberg. Marlin, owned by Remington, closed in April 2011.
Other large components of the Connecticut economy in 2018 included wholesale trade ($18.1 billion in GDP); information services ($13.8 billion); retail ($13.7 billion); arts, entertainment and food services ($9.1 billion); and construction ($8.3 billion).
Tourists spent $9.3 billion in Connecticut in 2017 according to estimates as part of a series of studies commissioned by the state of Connecticut. Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun are the two biggest tourist draws and number among the state's largest employers; both are located on Native American reservations in the southeastern Connecticut.
Connecticut's agricultural production totaled $580 million in 2017, with just over half of that revenue the result of nursery stock production. Milk production totaled $81 million that year, with other major product categories including eggs, vegetables and fruit, tobacco and shellfish.
=== Energy ===
Connecticut's economy uses less energy to produce each dollar of GDP than all other states except California, Massachusetts, and New York. It uses less energy on a per-capita basis than all but six other states. It has no fossil-fuel resources, but does have renewable resources. Average retail electricity prices are the highest among the 48 contiguous states. While most of the state's energy consumption is generated using fossil fuels, nuclear power delivered over 40% of state's electricity generation in 2019. Refuse-derived fuels and other biomass provided the largest share of renewable electricity at about a 3% share. Solar and wind generation have grown in recent years. More than three-quarters of solar generation came from distributed small-scale installations such as rooftop solar in 2019, and there is planning underway to significantly increase renewable generation with the state's offshore wind resource.
== Transport ==
=== Roads ===
The Interstate highways in the state are Interstate 95 (I-95) traveling southwest to northeast along the coast, I-84 traveling southwest to northeast in the center of the state, I-91 traveling north to south in the center of the state, and I-395 traveling north to south near the eastern border of the state. The other major highways in Connecticut are the Merritt Parkway and Wilbur Cross Parkway, which together form Connecticut Route 15 (Route 15), traveling from the Hutchinson River Parkway in New York parallel to I-95 before turning north of New Haven and traveling parallel to I-91, finally becoming a surface road in Berlin. I-95 and Route 15 were originally toll roads; they relied on a system of toll plazas at which all traffic stopped and paid fixed tolls. A series of major crashes at these plazas eventually contributed to the decision to remove the tolls in 1988. Other major arteries in the state include U.S. Route 7 (US 7) in the west traveling parallel to the New York state line, Route 8 farther east near the industrial city of Waterbury and traveling north–south along the Naugatuck River Valley nearly parallel with US 7, and Route 9 in the east.
Between New Haven and New York City, I-95 is one of the most congested highways in the United States. Although I-95 has been widened in several spots, some areas are only three lanes and this strains traffic capacity, resulting in frequent and lengthy rush hour delays. Frequently, the congestion spills over to clog the parallel Merritt Parkway and even US 1. The state has encouraged traffic reduction schemes, including rail use and ride-sharing.
Connecticut also has a very active bicycling community, with one of the highest rates of bicycle ownership and use in the United States, particularly in New Haven. According to the U.S. Census 2006 American Community Survey, New Haven has the highest percentage of commuters who bicycle to work of any major metropolitan center on the East Coast.
=== Rail ===
Rail is a popular travel mode between New Haven and New York City's Grand Central Terminal. Southwestern Connecticut is served by the Metro-North Railroad's New Haven Line, operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Metro-North provides commuter service between New York City and New Haven, with branches to New Canaan, Danbury, and Waterbury. Connecticut lies along Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, which features frequent Northeast Regional and Acela Express service from New Haven south to New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Norfolk, VA, as well as north to New London, Providence and Boston. Since 1990, coastal cities and towns between New Haven and New London are also served by the Shore Line East commuter line.
In June 2018, a commuter rail service called the Hartford Line began operating between New Haven and Springfield on Amtrak's New Haven-Springfield Line. Hartford Line service is provided by both Amtrak and the Connecticut Department of Transportation's CT Rail, and in addition to its termini serves New Haven State Street, Wallingford, Meriden, Berlin, Hartford, Windsor, and Windsor Locks. Several infill stations are planned to be added in the near future as of 2021. Amtrak's Vermonter runs from Washington to St. Albans, Vermont via the same line. In July 2019, Amtrak launched the Valley Flyer, which runs between New Haven and Greenfield, Massachusetts.
A proposed commuter rail service, the Central Corridor Rail Line, would connect New London with Norwich, Willimantic, Storrs via the main campus of the University of Connecticut, and Stafford Springs, with service continuing into Massachusetts and Brattleboro, Vermont. The proposal also adds stops to service popular tourist destinations Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun.
=== Bus ===
Statewide bus service is supplied by Connecticut Transit, owned by the Connecticut Department of Transportation, with smaller municipal authorities providing local service. Bus networks are an important part of the transportation system in Connecticut, especially in urban areas like Hartford, Stamford, Norwalk, Bridgeport and New Haven. Connecticut Transit also operates CTfastrak, a bus rapid transit service between New Britain and Hartford, which opened to the public on March 28, 2015.
=== Air ===
Connecticut's largest airport is Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, 15 miles (24 km) north of Hartford. Many residents of central and southern Connecticut also make heavy use of JFK International Airport and Newark International Airports, especially for international travel. Smaller regional air service is provided at Tweed New Haven Regional Airport. Larger civil airports include Danbury Municipal Airport and Waterbury-Oxford Airport in western Connecticut, Hartford–Brainard Airport in central Connecticut, and Groton-New London Airport in eastern Connecticut. Sikorsky Memorial Airport is located in Stratford and mostly services cargo, helicopter and private aviation.
=== Ferry ===
Several ferry services cross Long Island Sound and connect the state to Long Island. The Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Ferry travels between Bridgeport, Connecticut, and Port Jefferson, New York. Ferry service also operates out of New London to Orient, New York; Fishers Island, New York; and Block Island, Rhode Island, which are popular tourist destinations. Two ferries cross the Connecticut River: the Rocky Hill–Glastonbury ferry and the Chester–Hadlyme ferry, the former of which is the oldest continuously operating ferry in the United States, operating since 1655.
== Law and government ==
Hartford has been the sole capital of Connecticut since 1875. Before then, New Haven and Hartford alternated as dual capitals.
=== Constitutional history ===
Connecticut is known as the "Constitution State". The origin of this nickname is uncertain, but it likely comes from Connecticut's pivotal role in the federal constitutional convention of 1787, during which Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth helped to orchestrate what became known as the Connecticut Compromise, or the Great Compromise. This plan combined the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan to form a bicameral legislature, a form copied by almost every state constitution since the adoption of the federal constitution. Variations of the bicameral legislature had been proposed by Virginia and New Jersey, but Connecticut's plan was the one that was in effect until the early 20th century, when Senators ceased to be selected by their state legislatures and were instead directly elected. Otherwise, it is still the design of Congress.
The nickname also might refer to the Fundamental Orders of 1638–39. These Fundamental Orders represent the framework for the first formal Connecticut state government written by a representative body in Connecticut. The State of Connecticut government has operated under the direction of four separate documents in the course of the state's constitutional history. After the Fundamental Orders, Connecticut was granted governmental authority by King Charles II of England through the Connecticut Charter of 1662.
Separate branches of government did not exist during this period, and the General Assembly acted as the supreme authority. A constitution similar to the modern U.S. Constitution was not adopted in Connecticut until 1818. Finally, the current state constitution was implemented in 1965. The 1965 constitution absorbed a majority of its 1818 predecessor, but incorporated a handful of important modifications.
=== Executive ===
The governor heads the executive branch. As of 2020, Ned Lamont is the Governor and Susan Bysiewicz is the Lieutenant Governor; both are Democrats. From 1639 until the adoption of the 1818 constitution, the governor presided over the General Assembly. In 1974, Ella Grasso was elected as the governor of Connecticut. This was the first time in United States history when a woman was a governor without her husband being governor first.
There are several executive departments: Administrative Services, Agriculture, Banking, Children and Families, Consumer Protection, Correction, Economic and Community Development, Developmental Services, Construction Services, Education, Emergency Management and Public Protection, Energy & Environmental Protection, Higher Education, Insurance, Labor, Mental Health and Addiction Services, Military, Motor Vehicles, Public Health, Public Utility Regulatory Authority, Public Works, Revenue Services, Social Services, Transportation, and Veterans Affairs. In addition to these departments, there are other independent bureaus, offices and commissions.
In addition to the governor and lieutenant governor, there are four other executive officers named in the state constitution that are elected directly by voters: secretary of the state, treasurer, comptroller, and attorney general. All executive officers are elected to four-year terms.
=== Legislative ===
Connecticut's legislative branch is known as the General Assembly. It is a bicameral legislature consisting of an upper body, the State Senate (36 senators); and a lower body, the House of Representatives (151 representatives). Bills must pass each house in order to become law. The governor can veto bills, but this veto can be overridden by a two-thirds majority in both houses. Per Article XV of the state constitution, Senators and Representatives must be at least 18 years of age and are elected to two-year terms in November on even-numbered years. There also must always be between 30 and 50 senators and 125 to 225 representatives. The Lieutenant Governor presides over the Senate, except when absent from the chamber, when the President pro tempore presides. The Speaker of the House presides over the House. As of 2021, Matthew Ritter is the Speaker of the House of Connecticut.
As of 2021, Connecticut's United States Senators are Richard Blumenthal (Democrat) and Chris Murphy (Democrat). Connecticut has five representatives in the U.S. House, all of whom are Democrats.
Locally elected representatives also develop local ordinances to govern cities and towns. The town ordinances often include noise control and zoning guidelines. However, the State of Connecticut also provides statewide ordinances for noise control as well.
=== Judicial ===
The highest court of Connecticut's judicial branch is the Connecticut Supreme Court, headed by the Chief Justice of Connecticut. The Supreme Court is responsible for deciding on the constitutionality of laws, or cases as they relate to the law. Its proceedings are similar to those of the United States Supreme Court: no testimony is given by witnesses, and the lawyers of the two sides each present oral arguments no longer than thirty minutes. Following a court proceeding, the court may take several months to arrive at a judgment. As of 2020, the Chief Justice is Richard A. Robinson.
In 1818, the court became a separate entity, independent of the legislative and executive branches. The Connecticut Appellate Court is a lesser statewide court, and the Superior Courts are lower courts that resemble county courts of other states.
=== Local government ===
Connecticut does not have county government, unlike all other states except Rhode Island. Connecticut county governments were mostly eliminated in 1960, with the exception of sheriffs elected in each county. In 2000, the county sheriff was abolished and replaced with the state marshal system, which has districts that follow the old county territories. The judicial system is divided into judicial districts at the trial-court level which largely follow the old county lines. The eight counties are still widely used for purely geographical and statistical purposes, such as weather reports and census reporting, although the latter ceased to use the counties in 2024.
The state is divided into nine regional councils of government defined by the state Office of Planning and Management, which facilitate regional planning and coordination of services between member towns. The Intragovernmental Policy Division of this Office coordinates regional planning with the administrative bodies of these regions. Each region has an administrative body made up chief executive officers of the member towns. The regions are established for the purpose of planning "coordination of regional and state planning activities; redesignation of logical planning regions and promotion of the continuation of regional planning organizations within the state; and provision for technical aid and the administration of financial assistance to regional planning organizations". By 2015, the State of Connecticut recognized COGs as county equivalents, allowing them to apply for funding and grants made available to county governments in other states. In 2019 the state recommended to the United States Census Bureau that the nine Councils of Governments replace its counties for statistical purposes. This proposal was approved by the Census Bureau in 2022 and was fully implemented by 2024.
Connecticut shares with the rest of New England a governmental institution called the New England town. The state is divided into 169 towns which serve as the fundamental political jurisdictions. There are also 21 cities, most of which simply follow the boundaries of their namesake towns and have a merged city-town government. There are two exceptions: the City of Groton, which is a subsection of the Town of Groton, and the City of Winsted in the Town of Winchester. There are also nine incorporated boroughs which may provide additional services to a section of town. Naugatuck is a consolidated town and borough.
== Politics ==
For many decades, Connecticut has consistently been a blue state. As of 2024, both of its U.S. Senators, all five of its U.S. House representatives, as well as its Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, and Secretary of State, are members of the Democratic Party. The last Republican presidential candidate to win Connecticut's votes in the Electoral College was George H. W. Bush in 1988.
=== Registered voters ===
Connecticut residents who register to vote may declare an affiliation to a political party, may become unaffiliated at will, and may change affiliations subject to certain waiting periods. As of 2022, around 58% of registered voters are enrolled in a political party. The Democratic Party of Connecticut is the largest party in the state by voter registration, with 36% of voters, followed by the Connecticut Republican Party with approximately 21%. An additional 1.6% are registered to third parties. As of 2022, 4 third parties have statewide enrollment privileges (meaning any state resident may register as a member), including the Libertarian Party of Connecticut, the Independent Party of Connecticut, the Connecticut Green Party, and the Connecticut Working Families Party. Connecticut allows electoral fusion, where the same candidate can run on the ballot of more than one political party; this is often used by the Connecticut Working Families Party to cross-endorse Democratic candidates.
=== Voting ===
In July 2009, the Connecticut legislature overrode a veto by Governor M. Jodi Rell to pass SustiNet, the first significant public-option health care reform legislation in the nation.
In April 2012, both houses of the Connecticut state legislature passed a bill (20 to 16 and 86 to 62) that abolished capital punishment for all future crimes, while 11 inmates who were waiting on the death row at the time could still be executed.
== Education ==
Connecticut ranked third in the nation for educational performance, according to Education Week's Quality Counts 2018 report. It earned an overall score of 83.5 out of 100 points. On average, the country received a score of 75.2. Connecticut posted a B-plus in the Chance-for-Success category, ranking fourth on factors that contribute to a person's success both within and outside the K-12 education system. Connecticut received a mark of B-plus and finished fourth for School Finance. It ranked 12th with a grade of C on the K-12 Achievement Index.
=== K–12 ===
==== Public schools ====
Hartford Public High School (1638) is the third-oldest secondary school in the nation after the Collegiate School (1628) in Manhattan and the Boston Latin School (1635). Today, the Connecticut State Board of Education manages the public school system for children in grades K–12. Board of Education members are appointed by the Governor of Connecticut.
==== Private schools ====
Connecticut has a number of private schools. Private schools may file for approval by the state Department of Education, but are not required to. Per state law, private schools must file yearly attendance reports with the state.
Notable private schools include Choate Rosemary Hall, The Hotchkiss School, Loomis Chaffee School, and Taft School.
=== Colleges and universities ===
Connecticut was home to the nation's first law school, Litchfield Law School, which operated from 1773 to 1833 in Litchfield. Well known universities in the state include Yale University, Wesleyan University, Trinity College, Sacred Heart University, Fairfield University, Quinnipiac University, and the University of Connecticut. The Connecticut State University System includes 4 state universities, and the state also has 12 community colleges. The United States Coast Guard Academy is located in New London.
== Sports ==
There are two Connecticut teams in the American Hockey League. The Bridgeport Islanders is a farm team for the New York Islanders which competes at the Total Mortgage Arena in Bridgeport. The Hartford Wolf Pack is an affiliate of the New York Rangers; they play in the PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford.
The Hartford Yard Goats of the Eastern League are a AA affiliate of the Colorado Rockies. Also, the Norwich Sea Unicorns play in the Futures Collegiate Baseball League. The New Britain Bees play in the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. The Connecticut Sun of the WNBA currently play at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville. In soccer, Hartford Athletic began play in the USL Championship in 2019.
The state hosts several major sporting events. Since 1952, a PGA Tour golf tournament has been played in the Hartford area. It was originally called the "Insurance City Open" and later the "Greater Hartford Open" and is now known as the Travelers Championship.
Lime Rock Park in Salisbury is a 1.5-mile (2.4 km) road racing course, home to the International Motor Sports Association, SCCA, United States Auto Club, and K&N Pro Series East races. Thompson International Speedway, Stafford Motor Speedway, and Waterford Speedbowl are oval tracks holding weekly races for NASCAR Modifieds and other classes, including the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. The state also hosts several major mixed martial arts events for Bellator MMA and the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
=== Professional sports teams ===
The Hartford Whalers of the National Hockey League played in Hartford from 1975 to 1997 at the Hartford Civic Center. They departed to Raleigh, North Carolina, after disputes with the state over the construction of a new arena, and they are now known as the Carolina Hurricanes. A baseball team known as the Hartfords (or Hartford Dark Blues) played in the National Association from 1874 to 1875, before becoming charter members of the National League in 1876. The team moved to Brooklyn, New York, and then disbanded one season later. In 1926, Hartford also had a franchise in the National Football League known as the Hartford Blues. From 2000 until 2006 the city was home to the Hartford FoxForce of World TeamTennis.
=== College sports ===
The Connecticut Huskies are the team of the University of Connecticut (UConn); they play NCAA Division I sports. Both the men's basketball and women's basketball teams have won multiple national championships. In 2004, UConn became the first school in NCAA Division I history to have its men's and women's basketball programs win the national title in the same year; they repeated the feat in 2014 and are still the only Division I school to win both titles in the same year. The UConn women's basketball team holds the record for the longest consecutive winning streak in NCAA college basketball at 111 games, a streak that ended in 2017. Both teams play in the historic Harry A. Gampel Pavilion and PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford. The UConn Huskies football team has played its home games at Rentschler Field in East Hartford since 2003.
New Haven biennially hosts "The Game" between the Yale Bulldogs and the Harvard Crimson, the country's second-oldest college football rivalry. Yale alumnus Walter Camp is deemed the "Father of American Football", and he helped develop modern football while living in New Haven. Other Connecticut universities which feature Division I sports teams are Quinnipiac University, Fairfield University, Central Connecticut State University and Sacred Heart University.
== Etymology and symbols ==
The name "Connecticut" originated with the Mohegan word quonehtacut, meaning "place of long tidal river". Connecticut's official nickname is "The Constitution State", adopted in 1959 and based on its colonial constitution of 1638–1639 which was the first in America and, arguably, the world. Connecticut is also unofficially known as "The Nutmeg State", whose origin is unknown. It may have come from its sailors returning from voyages with nutmeg, which was a very valuable spice in the 18th and 19th centuries. It may have originated in the early machined sheet tin nutmeg grinders sold by early Connecticut peddlers. It is also facetiously said to come from Yankee peddlers from Connecticut who would sell small carved knobs of wood shaped to look like nutmeg to unsuspecting customers. George Washington gave Connecticut the title of "The Provisions State" because of the material aid that the state rendered to the American Revolutionary War effort. Connecticut is also known as "The Land of Steady Habits".
According to Webster's New International Dictionary (1993), a person who is a native or resident of Connecticut is a "Connecticuter". There are numerous other terms coined in print but not in use, such as "Connecticotian" (Cotton Mather in 1702) and "Connecticutensian" (Samuel Peters in 1781). Linguist Allen Walker Read suggests the more playful term "Connecticutie". "Nutmegger" is sometimes used, as is "Yankee".
The official state song is "Yankee Doodle". The traditional abbreviation of the state's name is "Conn."; the official postal abbreviation is CT.
Commemorative stamps issued by the United States Postal Service with Connecticut themes include Nathan Hale, Eugene O'Neill, Josiah Willard Gibbs, Noah Webster, Eli Whitney, the whaling ship the Charles W. Morgan, which is docked at Mystic Seaport, and a decoy of a broadbill duck.
== Notable people == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Hines | Jim Hines | James Ray Hines (September 10, 1946 – June 3, 2023) was an American track and field athlete and National Football League (NFL) player, who held the 100-meter world record for 15 years. In 1968, he became the first man to officially break the 10-second barrier in the 100 meters, and won individual and relay gold at the Mexico City Olympics.
== Track career ==
Born in Dumas, Arkansas, Hines was raised in Oakland, California, and graduated from McClymonds High School in 1964. He was a baseball player in his younger years until he was spotted by track coach Jim Coleman as a running talent, and Hines became a sprinter. At the 1968 U.S. national championships in Sacramento, California, Hines became the first man to break the ten second barrier in the 100-metre race, setting 9.9 (manual timing), with an electronic time of 10.03 – two other athletes, Ronnie Ray Smith behind him (electronic time 10.13) and Charles Greene on the other semi-final (electronic time 10.09) having the same official clocking. That evening of June 20, 1968, at Hughes Stadium has been dubbed by track and field historians as the "Night of Speed". Hines attended Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas. He was a member of the Texas Southern University Tigers track team.
A few months later, at the 1968 Summer Olympics, Hines – a black athlete – found himself in a tense situation, with racial riots going on in his home country and a threat of a boycott by the black athletes of the U.S. team, who were disturbed by the controversial idea of admitting apartheid South Africa to the Games and revelations linking the head of the International Olympic Committee, Avery Brundage, to a racist and antisemitic country club. Hines reached the 100 m final, and won it with the time 9.89 appearing on the screen, later corrected to 9.95. The 9.89 was taken from a light beam across the finish line, while the official photographic process used Polaroid film and took a couple of minutes to process and read. There was some controversy over how his (slower appearing) automatic time of 9.95 should compare to the hand timed 9.9 world record (Hines was again recorded at 9.9 in his 9.95 race). Automatic times start instantly with the sound of the gun, while hand times include human reaction time to start the watch. It took until 1977 before fully automatic timing was required of world records. As the fastest electronic time to that point, Hines' mark was recognized exclusively as a new world record. The race was also significant for being the third all-black podium in Olympic history. Hines helped break another world record, when he and his teammates sprinted to the 4 × 100 m relay gold at the same Games.
== Professional football career ==
Hines was drafted by the Miami Dolphins of the NFL in the sixth round of the 1968 NFL/AFL draft. Hines spent the 1968 season on the Dolphins' practice squad. He was given the nickname "Oops". He appeared in ten games with Miami in 1969, accumulating a total of 52 all-purpose yards. Hines' final professional game was his first and only game with the Kansas City Chiefs in 1970. Hines was ranked as the 10th-worst NFL player of all time by Deadspin writer Jeff Pearlman.
In 1977, Hines played football for the Austin Texans of the semi-pro American Football Association.
== Later years ==
For years Hines worked with inner-city youth in Houston, as well as on oil rigs outside the city.
Hines's world record remained unsurpassed until Calvin Smith ran a time of 9.93 in 1983.
Hines competed in the 100 at a 1984 Masters Track and Field Competition at UCLA.
Hines was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame, class of 1994. Hines was also inducted into the Texas Track and Field coaches Hall of Fame, class of 2016.
Hines died in Hayward, California, on June 3, 2023, at the age of 76. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donnie_Darko | Donnie Darko | Donnie Darko is a 2001 American science fiction psychological thriller film written and directed by Richard Kelly in his directorial debut, and produced by Flower Films. It stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Drew Barrymore, Mary McDonnell, Katharine Ross, Patrick Swayze and Noah Wyle. Set in October 1988, the film follows Donnie Darko (Gyllenhaal), a troubled teenager who inadvertently escapes a bizarre accident by sleepwalking. He has visions of Frank, a mysterious figure in a rabbit costume who informs him that the world will end in 28 days.
Development began in late 1997 when Kelly had graduated from film school and started writing scripts. He took an early idea of a jet engine falling onto a house with no one knowing its origin and built the story around it. Kelly insisted on directing the film himself and struggled to secure backing from producers until 2000, when Pandora Cinema and Barrymore's Flower Films agreed to produce it on a $4.5 million budget. Filming took 28 days in the summer of 2000, mostly in California. The soundtrack features a version of the Tears for Fears song, "Mad World" covered by American musicians Gary Jules and Michael Andrews, which went to No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart for three weeks and was the Christmas number 1 in 2003.
Donnie Darko premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2001, followed by a limited theatrical release on October 26. Because the film's advertising featured a crashing plane and the September 11 attacks had occurred a month and a half before, it was scarcely advertised. This affected its box office performance and it grossed just $517,375 in its initial run. However, the film gained a cult following, and after reissues, it went on to gross $7.5 million worldwide, and earned more than $10 million in US home video sales. It was listed No. 2 in Empire's "50 Greatest Independent Films of All Time", and No. 53 in Empire's "500 Greatest Movies of All Time". Kelly released Donnie Darko: The Director's Cut in 2004. The film was adapted into a stage production in 2007 and a sequel, S. Darko, followed in 2009 without Kelly's involvement. In 2021, he announced that work on a new sequel is in progress.
== Plot ==
On October 2, 1988, troubled teenager Donald "Donnie" Darko sleepwalks outside, led by a mysterious voice. Once outside, he meets a figure named Frank in a monstrous rabbit costume. Frank tells Donnie that the world will end in precisely 28 days. Donnie wakes up the next morning on a local golf course and returns home to discover a jet engine has crashed into his bedroom. His older sister Elizabeth tells him the FAA investigators do not know its origin.
Over the next several days, Donnie continues to have visions of Frank, and his parents, Eddie and Rose, send him to psychotherapist Dr. Thurman. Thurman believes Donnie is detached from reality and that his visions of Frank are "daylight hallucinations," symptomatic of paranoid schizophrenia. Frank asks Donnie if he believes in time travel, and Donnie in turn asks his science teacher, Dr. Kenneth Monnitoff. Monnitoff gives Donnie The Philosophy of Time Travel, a book written by Roberta Sparrow, a former science teacher at the school who is now a seemingly senile old woman living outside of town, known to the local teenagers as Grandma Death.
Frank begins to influence Donnie's actions through his sleepwalking episodes, including causing him to flood his high school by breaking a water main, an act for which Donnie almost gets caught. Donnie later starts dating Gretchen Ross, who has recently moved into town with her mother under a new identity to escape her violent stepfather. Gym teacher Kitty Farmer begins teaching "attitude lessons" taken from local motivational speaker Jim Cunningham, but Donnie rebels against these, leading to friction between Kitty and Rose. Kitty arranges for Cunningham to speak at a school assembly, where Donnie insults him. He later finds Cunningham's wallet and address. Gretchen and Donnie go on a movie theater date, where Gretchen falls asleep and Frank reveals himself to be a teenager with his right eye hollow and bleeding. Frank then convinces Donnie to burn down Cunningham's house, which he does while Gretchen is at the theatre. Firefighters discover a hoard of child pornography at the burned remains. Cunningham is arrested, and Kitty, who wishes to testify in his defense, asks Rose to replace her as chaperone for their daughters' dance troupe on its trip to Los Angeles.
With Rose in Los Angeles and Eddie away for business, Donnie and Elizabeth hold a Halloween costume party to celebrate Elizabeth's acceptance to Harvard. At the party, Gretchen arrives distraught as her mother has gone missing, and she and Donnie have sex for the first time. When Donnie realizes that Frank's prophesied end of the world is only hours away, he takes Gretchen and two other friends to see Sparrow. Instead of Sparrow, they find two high school bullies, Seth and Ricky, who are trying to rob Sparrow's home. Donnie, Seth, and Ricky fight in the road in front of her house just as Sparrow returns home. The bullies and Donnie's two friends leave when an oncoming car runs over Gretchen, killing her. The driver turns out to be Elizabeth's boyfriend, Frank Anderson, wearing the same rabbit costume from Donnie's visions. Angered, and realizing what is happening, Donnie shoots Frank in the right eye with his father's gun and walks home carrying Gretchen's body.
Donnie returns home in the morning as a vortex forms over his house. He borrows one of his parents' cars, loads Gretchen's body into it, and drives to a nearby ridge that overlooks the town. There, he watches as the plane carrying Rose and the dance troupe home from Los Angeles gets caught in the vortex's wake, violently ripping off one of its engines and sending it back in time. Events of the previous 28 days unwind. Donnie wakes up in his bedroom, recognizes the date is October 2, and laughs as the jet engine falls into his bedroom, killing him. Around town, those whose lives Donnie would have touched wake up from troubled dreams. Gretchen rides by the Darko home the following day and learns of Donnie's death. Gretchen asks the neighbor, "What was his name?" Gretchen and Rose exchange glances and wave as if they know each other but cannot remember from where.
== Cast ==
== Production ==
=== Writing ===
The film originated in late 1997 when Kelly, aged 22, had graduated from USC School of Cinematic Arts in Los Angeles. While earning money as a client's assistant at a post-production house, he thought about his future and decided to write his first feature-length script. The task frightened Kelly at first because he did not want to produce something that was poor in quality. It was not until October 1998 when Kelly felt the time was right to write a script and wrote Donnie Darko in 28 days, the same time period as the film. The time of year influenced Kelly to set the film around Halloween.
Kelly set out to write something "ambitious, personal, and nostalgic" about the 1980s which "pushed the envelope by combining science fiction with a coming-of-age tale". The New York Times homed in on the 1980s coming-of-age story aspect by observing the influence of John Hughes, noting the "ineffectual" adults and the fact that Donnie's "suffering is a way to make him more sensitive". Kelly summarized the script was to be "an amusing and poignant recollection of suburban America in the Reagan era". He recalled a news story that he had read as a child, which he later called an urban legend, about a large piece of ice falling from the wing of a plane and crashing through a boy's bedroom, who was not there at the time and thus escaped death. Kelly used this to develop an initial idea of a jet engine falling onto a house and no one could determine its origin. He then built the rest of the script with the aim of resolving the mystery at the end while taking a "most interesting voyage" to get there, although at this point he knew the plane was to be one that Donnie's mother was on and was from a different dimension. At one point Kelly considered replacing the jet engine with a piece of ice, like he had read. He based the film's concept of time travel and alternate universes from reading A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking.
Kelly was adamant about setting the film in 1988, thinking it would be fresh to explore the era and depict a society that he had not seen in a film before. Later he admitted that he felt pressured to make the setting more contemporary. However, he could not figure out how to make the story work in such a setting and retained the original setting. The first draft had Donnie originally wake up at a shopping mall, rather than a golf course. Kelly got ideas for Donnie's experiences of paranoid schizophrenia from researching the topic online. He considered such a broad disorder that is difficult to define was "a great way to ground a supernatural story" in a scientific sense. The first draft was between 145–150 pages; Kelly did not change what he had initially written as he was aware that stopping to review it would have caused him to second guess himself. He presented it to producer Sean McKittrick, who recalled he "had never read anything like this before", and helped refine the script while making the story understandable enough. After two more drafts were written, the pair finalized a 128-page script. Kelly felt that had he clarified the film's ending any further, "the film would collapse under its own pretension", and credited McKittrick, Juvonen, and Gyllenhaal, whom he said were "aggressive" and "vocal" in not letting there be one simple answer to the plot.
There are some autobiographical links with Kelly and the film; he said there is "plenty of me" in Donnie's character. Kelly grew up in Midlothian, Virginia, also a suburban town, where a local woman called Grandma Death would stand by the road and constantly open and close her mailbox. Kelly also incorporated the moment he almost ran over a homeless person while driving, arguments with his school teachers over the curriculum, and his personal experiences with sleepwalking into the narrative. The word "fuck-ass", used in the Darko family dinner scene, was something that two of Kelly's film school friends used during their occasional exchange of insults. Frank was to be a rabbit since the beginning, but Kelly was unsure whether the character originated from a dream or his longtime interest in the animal novel Watership Down by Richard Adams. The novel was to be taught in Karen's English class after the school had censored Graham Greene from her curriculum; it was a subplot that was abandoned in the theatrical version but included in the director's cut.
=== Development ===
Kelly knew that the film's complicated story would be difficult to pitch to producers without a script, so he had producers read it first before discussing it with them further. While pitching the script, Kelly and McKittrick insisted that Kelly direct the film, which hindered its chances at being picked up. Kelly recalled 1999 being a year of "meeting after meeting", all of which ended in rejection, and at this point declared the film "dead". McKittrick said Donnie Darko was "the challenging script in town that everybody wanted to make, but was too afraid".
A turning point arrived when agents John Campisi and Rob Paris at the Creative Artists Agency took an interest in the script and signed Kelly on. Kelly said his "jaw was on the floor" at the unexpected offer, which greatly boosted the chances of having the film made with the agency's stamp on the script. This led to further meetings with several prominent individuals, including Francis Ford Coppola, Ben Stiller, William Horberg, and Betty Thomas. Kelly's meeting with Coppola was particularly influential, as Coppola drew his attention to one of Karen's lines after she is fired—"The kids have to figure it all out these days, because the parents, they don't have a clue"—and Kelly recalled: "He slid the binder down the big table and very dramatically said: 'That's what your whole movie's about right there.'" Early on Vince Vaughn was offered the role of Donnie, but he turned it down as he felt he was too old for the part. Mark Wahlberg was also approached, but he insisted that he should play Donnie with a lisp.
Development progressed in early 2000, when actor Jason Schwartzman expressed an interest in the script and agreed to play as Donnie. Kelly said this moment "legitimized me as a director" and recalled "all of a sudden people came out of the woodwork, it was alive again". Around this time Pandora Cinema offered a $2.5 million production budget, and Schwartzman's agent sent the script to Nancy Juvonen, who co-owned Flower Films with actress Drew Barrymore. The pair liked the script and wanted to get involved, which led Kelly and McKittrick to a meeting with the pair in March 2000 on the set of Charlie's Angels (2000), where Barrymore was filming. Barrymore agreed to play as Karen, and Flower Films agreed to increase the budget to $4.5 million. Kelly later called the sum the "bare minimum" to make the film.
After securing enough financial backing, pre-production accelerated and filming was booked for the summer of 2000 and scheduled to accommodate Barrymore, who had just one week's availability. However, by July, Schwartzman had withdrawn due to scheduling conflicts. This led to an "exciting" period for Kelly who met several hopefuls, including Patrick Fugit and Lucas Black. Gyllenhaal, who was in Los Angeles auditioning for parts, was "mesmerised" by the script and recalled pulling over the side of the road to finish reading it. Filming was scheduled to start in one month, during which Kelly worked with Gyllenhaal to amend parts of his dialogue. Gyllenhaal was given "a lot of room" to incorporate his own ideas, including making his voice sound like "a child talking to its blanket" when he talks to Frank as he is a source of comfort for Donnie. Gyllenhaal also had the idea to have his real-life sister Maggie star as Elizabeth Darko. Jolene Purdy's audition for Cherita was the first of her career. Kelly credits Juvonen for being instrumental for getting Wyle and Swayze on board.
=== Design ===
Kelly recalled several people showing him drawings of what they thought Frank should look like, describing them like an Easter bunny. He wanted Frank to be "disturbing and animalistic". He produced initial sketches of Frank's face and presented them to production designer Alex Hammond, who then made front and side drawings of the mask and sketches of the full suit. Kelly also said that the 1972 novel Watership Down was also the inspiration for Frank. The design was given to costume designer April Ferry who built the costume from scratch and hired a sculptor to create Frank's altered grin. Kelly insisted that Frank's face had to disturb people and create an intense response with the audience. The costume was first presented to the cast and crew at Loyola High School, shortly after filming began. Although Duval wore the suit for almost every scene, a director stepped in for the initial shoot. Kelly recalled, "Everyone just got quiet [...] like, this is really intense. So I knew it was working, and I felt the sense of relief." Kelly wanted Frank's voice to sound as if he was speaking through liquid and "has the power of the ocean", and recalled spending a considerable amount of time with the sound designer to achieve the effect on Duval's voice.
There was not enough money in the budget for Ferry to dress everyone in 1980s clothing, so she suggested to Kelly that the pupils should wear school uniforms. Kelly agreed, feeling that it would help to portray the idea of Donnie challenging conformity and the educational system.
Kelly chose Steven Poster as cinematographer from going through a stack of resumes and noted Poster had shot Someone to Watch Over Me (1987) for director Ridley Scott; to Kelly, this meant "you can retire, you made it." Poster had not shot a feature film in two years, and Kelly had to persuade him to accept the job for a reduced fee. Poster had Kelly dissect the script for him at their initial meeting: "We read every word, every sentence, every page, every scene in the movie. I made him justify to me why he wanted that in the movie. I wanted him to be able to tell me what each scene was going to tell the audience." Although the task created arguments between them, once complete the pair knew exactly what was needed to make the film. Poster's reputation and connections with Panavision allowed Kelly to shoot with "an unprecedented amount" of filming equipment from them at a reduced price. For night time shots, Kelly showed the crew scenes from Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) for its "idealised ... burnished nostalgia". The polished cinematography in Donnie Darko "creates a feeling of hyper-reality, suggesting that all is not what it seems."
The film was publicized at the Sundance Film Festival as being the first to feature significant digital effects. Kelly wanted to use them only "when absolutely necessary" and have them relate to the story, such as the water barrier seen between Donnie and Frank in his bathroom. The liquid spears that emerge from people's torsos are reminiscent of the water tentacle in The Abyss (1989), and can be seen as a representation of a character's psyche. Alternatively, they demonstrate the "metaphysical idea of predestination", suggesting Donnie is being guided, perhaps by God. Kelly got the idea from the on-screen chalkboard that American football commentator John Madden used to illustrate the movements of the players during a replay. Incidentally, the spears first appear when Donnie is watching a football game on television. The school flooding was inspired by a surreal photomontage by Scott Mutter, in which a giant escalator descends into a rough sea.
=== Filming ===
Filming was completed in 28 days, the same length of time as the film's events, in July and August 2000. Most of the film was shot in Long Beach, California; Kelly was uninterested in shooting elsewhere because he wanted to portray a strong suburban feel. The ongoing commercial actors strike had created a shortage of work, so additional actors and crew members willing to work for scale were hired for the film. The golf course scenes were filmed at Virginia Country Club and the school scenes were shot at Loyola High School. The opening scene with Donnie waking up was the first to be filmed; it was shot at sunrise on the Angeles Crest Highway. The theatre marquee was shot at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica. Kelly lost 20 lbs from the stress of filming to a tight schedule, plus the pressure of justifying himself to others that he could direct the film. He openly stated to the actors that he was inexperienced and had no idea how to address them properly, so he talked to them like they were his friends.
Production designer Alex Hammond bought the jet engine used in the film for $10,000. The scene where it falls onto Donnie's bedroom was done in one shot. The shell of it was rigged above the set and sent through using an air pressure gun. Poster remembered people telling Kelly that jet engines do not fall off planes, but during production a "dishwasher-sized engine part" fell from the engine of a Boeing 747 and landed on a beach. Swayze frosted his hair specifically for his part and the infomercial clips were filmed at his ranch.
Kelly's goal was to "seduce the audience" from the film's opening shot. He was attentive to details and spoke to his transportation coordinator to ensure all cars in the film were era-specific. He wanted to avoid going "too kitsch" with the style and costumes and retain a conservative style of the Virginia suburb. The long shots at the school with "Head Over Heels" playing angered the production and line managers at first, who thought it was "an indulgent music video" that lacked dialogue and did nothing to advance the story. Upon viewing the finished sequence, they had changed their minds. Kelly choreographed the scene's action to the song before the rights to use it had been acquired. Sparkle Motion's performance scene was one of the more difficult shots for Poster, who used smoke to give the appearance that light is there and to achieve silhouettes of the girls on stage.
The film was shot with a Panavision Panastar camera and in anamorphic format, which involves filming in widescreen onto standard 35 mm film. Despite its setbacks and the need to have twice as much light, Kelly was adamant. Poster suggested using Kodak 800 ASA film stock, which people said looked "terrible and grainy", but he convinced the producers that anamorphic would reduce the amount of work with low ceiling lights that were common in the locations used for filming as they would be cut from the shot. The anamorphic process required Swayze to kneel down for some scenes so he could fit in the image. Early on Kelly made a promise to Sam Bauer that he would edit his first feature film when he had the opportunity, but Pandora Cinema disagreed with the choice initially. Kelly recalled he and McKittrick had to "fight like hell" to get Bauer onboard, and eventually Pandora agreed. The water barrier effects were produced by Kelly Carlton for $5,000.
=== Soundtrack ===
The film's soundtrack was composed by San Diego musician and songwriter Michael Andrews. Kelly knew that the film's limited budget prevented him from hiring either "Thomas Newman or Danny Elfman" to compose the score for the film, so he decided to look for a composer who happens to be someone "very young, hungry, and really talented". Andrews was recommended by Juvonen's brother, Jim.
The film's opening sequence is set to "The Killing Moon" by Echo & the Bunnymen. The continuous shot of introduction of Donnie's high school prominently features the song "Head over Heels" by Tears for Fears. Samantha's dance group "Sparkle Motion" performs to "Notorious" by Duran Duran. When the scene was originally shot, the group danced to "West End Girls" by Pet Shop Boys. However, the rights to the song could not be obtained for the final release. "Under the Milky Way" by The Church is played after Donnie and Gretchen emerge from his bedroom during the party. "Love Will Tear Us Apart" by Joy Division also appears in the film diegetically during the party and shots of Donnie and Gretchen upstairs. Despite the film being set in 1988, the version played was not released until 1995. In the director's cut, the music in the opening sequence is replaced by "Never Tear Us Apart" by INXS; "Under the Milky Way" is moved to the scene of Donnie and Eddie driving home from Donnie's meeting with his therapist; and "The Killing Moon" is played as Gretchen and Donnie return to the party from Donnie's parents' room.
The film's end sequence features a piano-driven cover of "Mad World" by English new wave group Tears for Fears, sung by American musician Gary Jules, a schoolfriend of Andrews. In 2003, the cover of "Mad World" was released as a single that was No. 1 in the United Kingdom for three weeks, during which it was the country's Christmas No. 1 of that year.
== Release ==
=== Theatrical release ===
Donnie Darko premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, on January 19, 2001. Kelly said it took around six months to secure a theatrical release; at one point, he was close to having it on the premium cable and satellite television network Starz. Donnie firing a gun became one of Kelly's biggest problems while finding a distributor, as the Columbine High School massacre from 1999 raised concerns of the film promoting teenage suicide. The licensed songs in the film also presented problems as they had yet to be paid for, causing a risk of them being removed for a wide release. Kelly was also advised to cut 30 minutes from the film. Despite the problems, Newmarket Films agreed to buy the film and organise a theatrical release in a service deal with IFC Films. Kelly involved Barrymore in the negotiations and recalled getting her to "beg" Newmarket for a deal, who had initially considered a straight-to-video release for it. Kelly credits Christopher Nolan and his wife Emma Thomas in securing the deal, after Memento producer Aaron Ryder arranged a private screening of Donnie Darko for Newmarket executives Chris Ball and Will Tyrer and encouraged the pair to distribute it.
With a deal secured, the crew spent the summer of 2001 revisiting the film; Ryder said it was to get the film "in the best possible shape we could", but recalled the difficulty in the task. This involved an additional day of shooting to clarify some plot holes, such as Ryder's suggestion of including shots of Frank in the "Mad World" sequence. Nolan and Thomas had advised Kelly to insert title cards throughout the film to break down the events leading up to October 30, 1988, which he did.
Donnie Darko was theatrically released from October 26, 2001, to its peak of 58 theaters across the United States; its premiere was held at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. The film grossed $110,494 on its opening weekend, ranking No. 34 on the box office. The film was released six weeks after the September 11 attacks and its trailer featured an accident involving an aircraft, which affected its chances of box office success. Kelly said the film was not "attractive to people in that emotional, very deeply traumatizing chapter in our history". Newmarket president Bob Berney said "the bleak mood and the timing" was the cause of the film's failure at the box office, and that critics failed to understand or accept the film for what it is. "The mood filtered through everything." When its theatrical run ended on April 11, 2002, the film had grossed $517,375. After reissues, it went on to gross $7.6 million worldwide, recouping its budget. Despite its initial poor box office showing, the film attracted a devoted fan base and gained a cult following. Following its release on home video in March 2002, the Pioneer Theatre in New York City began midnight screenings of Donnie Darko that ran for 28 consecutive months.
==== UK release ====
In October 2002, the film was released in the UK, which generated renewed critical and commercial interest in the film. It sold 300,000 tickets within the first six weeks of its release, based mostly on word-of-mouth marketing, and grossed the equivalent of $2.5 million in its theatrical run. Its UK distributor Metrodome Distribution organised They Made Me Do It, an art exhibition that ran for 28 days at cafe bar Dream Bags Jaguar Shoes in Shoreditch, London. The project involved several graffiti artists given 6 hours, 42 minutes, and 12 seconds to complete a work inspired by the film.
=== Book ===
Kelly published The Donnie Darko Book in October 2003. Jake Gyllenhaal wrote the foreword, in which he comments on the confusing nature of the film. The book includes an interview with Kelly who discusses the process of making and marketing the film, and questions about his personal life. The full shooting script of the film is included, plus several pages from The Philosophy of Time Travel and photographs and concept sketches such as Frank's mask and slides from Cunningham's school presentation.
=== Promotion ===
The official Donnie Darko website, donniedarko.com (which can still be found archived here), was an interactive experience and marketing tool for the film. The website was riddled with puzzles and secrets and contained never-before-seen information about the universe of the film, including information about the fate of many of the characters after the film ends. James Beck has commented on the website's validity as a narrative in and of itself due to the website's introduction of new content while reinforcing themes from the movie like fluidity of time, exemplified by the website's lack of concern for the chronology of the movie. Beck further argues that the Donnie Darko website differs from most other promotional websites in that it treats the user not as an outside viewer, but rather as someone within the universe of the film, creating an experience rather than an advertisement.
=== Home media ===
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released the film for home video several times. The first was in March 2002 on VHS and DVD formats, of which the latter included bonus material, including audio commentaries, trailers and TV spots, concept art, galleries, and a virtual guide through The Philosophy of Time. Berney declared the film "a runaway hit" on DVD, the sales in the US alone brought in over $10 million.
In 2009, the film was released on Blu-ray, containing the theatrical and director's cuts. This was released in the UK in 2010. A four-disc set was released in 2011 to commemorate its tenth anniversary. In December 2016, Arrow Films released a limited edition Blu-ray and DVD set in the UK, taken from a new 4K scan of the original print, and supervised and approved by Kelly. It was released in the US in 2017.
In April 2021, Arrow Films released a two-disc Ultra HD Blu-ray box set containing both cuts in 4K resolution restorations from the original negatives, supervised by Kelly and Poster. This set includes a poster, postcards, and a 100-page book.
=== Director's cut ===
The idea to produce a director's cut of the film originated in late 2003, when Kelly and Berney attended the first-anniversary screening at the Pioneer Theatre in New York City. Donnie Darko: The Director's Cut premiered on 29 May 2004, at the Seattle International Film Festival, followed by screenings in New York City and Los Angeles on 23 July. The tickets sold out within the day for the Seattle International Film Festival premiere, grossing nearly $33,000 over a five-day period. This cut includes 20 minutes of extra footage and an altered soundtrack.
The director's cut DVD was released on 15 February 2005, in single- and double-disc versions, the latter being available in a standard DVD case or in a limited edition that also features a lenticular slipcase, whose central image alternates between Donnie and Frank depending on the viewing angle. Most additional features are exclusive to the two-DVD set, excerpts from the storyboard, a 52 minute production diary, "#1 fan video", a "cult following" video interviewing British fans, and the new director's cut trailer. The single-DVD edition was also released as a giveaway with copies of the British Sunday Times newspaper on 19 February 2006.
The DVD of the director's cut includes text of the in-universe book, The Philosophy of Time Travel, written by Roberta Sparrow, which Donnie is given and reads in the film. The text expands on the philosophical and scientific concepts much of the film's plot revolves around, and has been seen as a way to understand the film better than from its theatrical release. As outlined by a Salon article, drawing from the book's text, much of the film takes place in an unstable tangent universe that is physically connected to the primary universe by a wormhole (the entrance to which is the vortex seen at the end of the film) and which is an exact duplicate of the primary, except for an extra metal object known as an "artifact" — which in this case is the jet engine. If the artifact is not sent [back] to the primary universe by the designated living receiver (Donnie) within 28 days, the primary universe will be destroyed upon the collapse of the tangent universe into a black hole. To aid in this task, the living receiver is given super-human abilities such as foresight, physical strength, and elemental powers, but at the cost of troubling visions and paranoia, while the manipulated living (all who live around the receiver) support him in unnatural ways, setting up a domino-like chain of events encouraging him to return the artifact. The manipulated dead (those who die within the tangent universe, like Frank and Gretchen) are more aware than the manipulated living, having the ability to travel through time, and will set an ensurance trap: a scenario which leaves the receiver no choice but to save the primary universe.
== Reception ==
=== Critical reception ===
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 88% of critics gave the film a positive review based on 124 reviews, with an average rating of 7.6/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "Richard Kelly's debut feature Donnie Darko is a daring, original vision, packed with jarring ideas and intelligence and featuring a remarkable performance from Jake Gyllenhaal as the troubled title character." Metacritic gives the theatrical version of the film a weighted average score of 71 out of 100 based on 21 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable" reviews.
Andrew Johnson cited the film in Us Weekly, as one of the outstanding films at Sundance in 2001, describing it as "a heady blend of science fiction, spirituality, and teen angst". Jean Oppenheimer of New Times (LA) praised the film, saying, "Like gathering storm clouds, Donnie Darko creates an atmosphere of eerie calm and mounting menace—[and] stands as one of the most exceptional movies of 2001." Writing for ABC Australia, Megan Spencer called the movie "menacing, dreamy and exciting" and noted "it could take you to a deeply emotional place lying dormant in your soul". Roger Ebert gave the theatrical version of the film two and a half stars out of four, but later gave the director's cut three stars out of four.
Other critics like Sam Adams called the movie an apparent "big mess", citing incoherent plot, sloppy writing, and an uneven tone. Adams also took issue with the "seemingly irrelevant" but oft-referenced setting in a suburban America in the 1980s, claiming that it "serves as another example of the movie's struggle to find identity". Another review from the San Antonio Current lauds the build-up, citing vast build of mysteries with compelling characters, but claims the movie's ending "leaves much to be desired", calling it cheap and anti-climactic. The film has been praised for its 1980s nostalgia.
=== Accolades ===
2001: Richard Kelly's Donnie Darko script won "Best Screenplay" at the San Diego Film Critics Society. Donnie Darko also won the "Audience Award" for Best Feature at the Sweden Fantastic Film Festival. The film was nominated for "Best Film" at the Sitges Film Festival and for the "Grand Jury Prize" at the Sundance Film Festival. The film was nominated for three Independent Spirit Awards including Best First Feature, Best First Screenplay and Best Male Lead for Gyllenhaal.
2002: Donnie Darko won the "Special Award" at the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films's 28th Saturn Awards. The movie also won the "Silver Scream Award" at the Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival. The film was also nominated for the "Best Breakthrough Filmmaker" at the Online Film Critics Society Awards.
2005: Donnie Darko ranked in the top five on My Favourite Film, an Australian poll conducted by the ABC.
2006: Donnie Darko ranks #9 in FilmFour's 50 Films to See Before You Die.
Other awards
#14 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 50 Best High School Movies.
#2 in Empire's "50 Greatest Independent Films of All Time" list.
#53 in Empire's "500 Greatest Movies of All Time" 2008 poll.
In 2025, it was one of the films voted for the "Readers' Choice" edition of The New York Times' list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century," finishing at number 113.
== Sequels ==
=== S. Darko ===
A 2009 sequel, S. Darko, set seven years afterwards, centers on the now 18-year-old Sam, Donnie's younger sister. Sam is troubled by her brother's death and begins to have problems with sleepwalking, along with strange dreams that hint at an impending major catastrophe. The sequel received extremely negative reviews. Kelly said he had no involvement in the sequel as he no longer owns the rights to the original. In 2017, Kelly said that he resents being asked about the sequel and that he had never seen it. Actress Daveigh Chase and producer Adam Fields were the only personnel links between S. Darko and the original film.
=== New sequel ===
In 2017, Kelly revealed that he had ideas for a new sequel that is "much bigger and more ambitious" than the original. In January 2021, he announced that "an enormous amount of work" had been done on the script. He was inspired to do so after a 2010 meeting with James Cameron, who found the film "disturbing" and had Kelly explain what happened to Donnie at the end of the film. Cameron suggested to Kelly that he continue working on the project, which made Kelly realize that "there was really something big, something epic that could be done."
== In other media ==
Marcus Stern, associate director of the American Repertory Theater, directed a stage adaptation of Donnie Darko at the Zero Arrow Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the fall of 2007. It ran from October 27 until November 18, 2007, with opening night scheduled near Halloween.
An article written by the production drama team says the director and production team planned to "embrace the challenge to make the fantastical elements come alive on stage". In 2004, Stern adapted and directed Kelly's screenplay for a graduate student production at the American Repertory Theater's Institute for Advanced Theater Training (I.A.T.T./M.X.A.T.).
A playable skin based on Frank was released in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War in October 2021. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression | Great Depression | The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and business failures around the world. The economic contagion began in 1929 in the United States, the largest economy in the world, with the devastating Wall Street crash of 1929 often considered the beginning of the Depression. Among the countries with the most unemployed were the U.S., the United Kingdom, and Germany.
The Depression was preceded by a period of industrial growth and social development known as the "Roaring Twenties". Much of the profit generated by the boom was invested in speculation, such as on the stock market, contributing to growing wealth inequality. Banks were subject to minimal regulation, resulting in loose lending and widespread debt. By 1929, declining spending had led to reductions in manufacturing output and rising unemployment. Share values continued to rise until the October 1929 crash, after which the slide continued until July 1932, accompanied by a loss of confidence in the financial system. By 1933, the U.S. unemployment rate had risen to 25%, about one-third of farmers had lost their land, and 9,000 of its 25,000 banks had gone out of business. President Herbert Hoover was unwilling to intervene heavily in the economy, and in 1930 he signed the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act, which worsened the Depression. In the 1932 presidential election, Hoover was defeated by Franklin D. Roosevelt, who from 1933 pursued a set of expansive New Deal programs in order to provide relief and create jobs. In Germany, which depended heavily on U.S. loans, the crisis caused unemployment to rise to nearly 30% and fueled political extremism, paving the way for Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party to rise to power in 1933.
Between 1929 and 1932, worldwide gross domestic product (GDP) fell by an estimated 15%; in the U.S., the Depression resulted in a 30% contraction in GDP. Recovery varied greatly around the world. Some economies, such as the U.S., Germany, and Japan, started to recover by the mid-1930s; others, like France, did not return to pre-shock growth rates until later in the decade. The Depression had devastating economic effects on both wealthy and poor countries: all experienced drops in personal income, prices (deflation), tax revenues, and profits. International trade fell by more than 50%, and unemployment in some countries rose as high as 33%. Cities around the world, especially those dependent on heavy industry, were heavily affected. Construction virtually halted in many countries, and farming communities and rural areas suffered as crop prices fell by up to 60%. Faced with plummeting demand and few job alternatives, areas dependent on primary sector industries suffered the most. The outbreak of World War II in 1939 ended the Depression, as it stimulated factory production, providing jobs for women as militaries absorbed large numbers of young, unemployed men.
The precise causes for the Great Depression are disputed. One set of historians, for example, focuses on non-monetary economic causes. Among these, some regard the Wall Street crash itself as the main cause; others consider that the crash was a mere symptom of more general economic trends of the time, which had already been underway in the late 1920s. A contrasting set of views, which rose to prominence in the later part of the 20th century, ascribes a more prominent role to failures of monetary policy. According to those authors, while general economic trends can explain the emergence of the downturn, they fail to account for its severity and longevity; they argue that these were caused by the lack of an adequate response to the crises of liquidity that followed the initial economic shock of 1929 and the subsequent bank failures accompanied by a general collapse of the financial markets.
== Overview ==
=== The economic picture at the beginning of the crisis ===
After the Wall Street crash of 1929, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped from 381 to 198 over the course of two months, optimism persisted for some time. The stock market rose in early 1930, with the Dow returning to 294 (pre-depression levels) in April 1930, before steadily declining for years, to a low of 41 in 1932.
At the beginning, governments and businesses spent more in the first half of 1930 than in the corresponding period of the previous year. On the other hand, consumers, many of whom suffered severe losses in the stock market the previous year, cut expenditures by 10%. In addition, beginning in the mid-1930s, a severe drought ravaged the agricultural heartland of the U.S.
Interest rates dropped to low levels by mid-1930, but expected deflation and the continuing reluctance of people to borrow meant that consumer spending and investment remained low. By May 1930, automobile sales had declined to below the levels of 1928. Prices, in general, began to decline, although wages held steady in 1930. Then a deflationary spiral started in 1931. Farmers faced a worse outlook; declining crop prices and a Great Plains drought crippled their economic outlook. At its peak, the Great Depression saw nearly 10% of all Great Plains farms change hands despite federal assistance.
=== Beyond the United States ===
At first, the decline in the U.S. economy was the factor that triggered economic downturns in most other countries due to a decline in trade, capital movement, and global business confidence. Then, internal weaknesses or strengths in each country made conditions worse or better. For example, the U.K. economy, which experienced an economic downturn throughout most of the late 1920s, was less severely impacted by the shock of the depression than the U.S. By contrast, the German economy saw a similar decline in industrial output as that observed in the U.S. Some economic historians attribute the differences in the rates of recovery and relative severity of the economic decline to whether particular countries had been able to effectively devaluate their currencies or not. This is supported by the contrast in how the crisis progressed in, e.g., Britain, Argentina, and Brazil, all of which devalued their currencies early and returned to normal patterns of growth faster than countries that stuck to the gold standard, such as France or Belgium.
Attempts by individual countries to shore up their economies through protectionist policies—such as the 1930 U.S. Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act and retaliatory tariffs in other countries—led to a collapse in global trade, contributing to the depression. By 1933, the economic decline had pushed world trade to one-third of its level compared to four years earlier.
== Course ==
=== Origins ===
While the precise causes for the occurrence of the Great Depression are disputed and can be traced to both global and national phenomena, its immediate origins are most conveniently examined in the context of the U.S. economy, from which the initial crisis spread to the rest of the world.
In the aftermath of World War I, the Roaring Twenties brought considerable wealth to the United States and Western Europe. Initially, the year 1929 dawned with good economic prospects: despite a minor crash on 25 March 1929, the market seemed to gradually improve through September. Stock prices began to slump in September and were volatile at the end of the month. A large sell-off of stocks began in mid-October. Finally, on 24 October, Black Thursday, the American stock market crashed 11% at the opening bell. Actions to stabilize the market failed, and on 28 October, Black Monday, the market crashed another 12%. The panic peaked the next day on Black Tuesday, when the market saw another 11% drop.
Thousands of investors were ruined, and billions of dollars had been lost; many stocks could not be sold at any price. The market recovered 12% on Wednesday, but by then significant damage had been done. Though the market entered a period of recovery from 14 November until 17 April 1930, the general situation had been a prolonged slump. From September 1929 to 8 July 1932, the market lost 85% of its value.
Despite the crash, the worst of the crisis did not reverberate around the world until after 1929. The crisis hit panic levels again in December 1930, with a bank run on the Bank of United States, a former privately run bank bearing no relation to the U.S. government (not to be confused with the Federal Reserve). Unable to pay out to all of its creditors, the bank failed.
Among the 608 American banks that closed in November and December 1930, the Bank of United States accounted for a third of the total $550 million deposits lost, and with its closure, bank failures reached a critical mass.
=== The Smoot–Hawley Act and the Breakdown of International Trade ===
In an initial response to the crisis, the U.S. Congress passed the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act on 17 June 1930. The act was ostensibly aimed at protecting the American economy from foreign competition by imposing high tariffs on foreign imports. The consensus view among economists and economic historians (including Keynesians, Monetarists, and Austrian economists) is that the passage of the Smoot–Hawley Tariff had, in fact, achieved an opposite effect to what was intended. It exacerbated the Great Depression by preventing economic recovery after domestic production recovered, hampering the volume of trade; still, there is disagreement as to the precise extent of the Act's influence.
In a 1995 survey of American economic historians, two-thirds agreed that the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act at least worsened the Great Depression. According to the U.S. Senate website, the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act is among the most catastrophic acts in congressional history.
Many economists have argued that the sharp decline in international trade after 1930 helped to worsen the depression, especially for countries significantly dependent on foreign trade. Most historians and economists blame the act for worsening the depression by seriously reducing international trade and causing retaliatory tariffs in other countries. While foreign trade was a small part of overall economic activity in the U.S. and was concentrated in a few businesses like farming, it was a much larger factor in many other countries. The average ad valorem (value-based) rate of duties on dutiable imports for 1921–1925 was 25.9%, but under the new tariff it jumped to 50% during 1931–1935. In dollar terms, American exports declined over the next four years from about $5.2 billion in 1929 to $1.7 billion in 1933. Hardest hit were farm commodities such as wheat, cotton, tobacco, and lumber.
Governments around the world took various steps into spending less money on foreign goods, such as "imposing tariffs, import quotas, and exchange controls". These restrictions triggered much tension among countries that had large amounts of bilateral trade, causing major export-import reductions during the depression. Not all governments enforced the same measures of protectionism. Some countries raised tariffs drastically and enforced severe restrictions on foreign exchange transactions, while other countries reduced "trade and exchange restrictions only marginally":
"Countries that remained on the gold standard, keeping currencies fixed, were more likely to restrict foreign trade." These countries "resorted to protectionist policies to strengthen the balance of payments and limit gold losses." They hoped that these restrictions and depletions would hold the economic decline.
Countries that abandoned the gold standard allowed their currencies to depreciate which caused their balance of payments to strengthen. It also freed up monetary policy so that central banks could lower interest rates and act as lenders of last resort. They possessed the best policy instruments to fight the Depression and did not need protectionism.
"The length and depth of a country's economic downturn and the timing and vigor of its recovery are related to how long it remained on the gold standard. Countries abandoning the gold standard relatively early experienced relatively mild recessions and early recoveries. In contrast, countries remaining on the gold standard experienced prolonged slumps."
=== The gold standard and the spreading of global depression ===
The gold standard was the primary transmission mechanism of the Great Depression. Even countries that did not face bank failures and a monetary contraction firsthand were forced to join the deflationary policy since higher interest rates in countries that performed a deflationary policy led to a gold outflow in countries with lower interest rates. Under the gold standard's price–specie flow mechanism, countries that lost gold but nevertheless wanted to maintain the gold standard had to permit their money supply to decrease and the domestic price level to decline (deflation).
==== Gold standard ====
Some economic studies have indicated that the rigidities of the gold standard not only spread the downturn worldwide but also suspended gold convertibility (devaluing the currency in gold terms) that did the most to make recovery possible.
Every major currency left the gold standard during the Great Depression. The UK was the first to do so. Facing speculative attacks on the pound and depleting gold reserves, in September 1931 the Bank of England ceased exchanging pound notes for gold and the pound was floated on foreign exchange markets. Japan and the Scandinavian countries followed in 1931. Other countries, such as Italy and the United States, remained on the gold standard into 1932 or 1933, while a few countries in the so-called "gold bloc", led by France and including Poland, Belgium, and Switzerland, stayed on the standard until 1935–36.
According to later analysis, the earliness with which a country left the gold standard reliably predicted its economic recovery. For example, The UK and Scandinavia, which left the gold standard in 1931, recovered much earlier than France and Belgium, which remained on gold much longer. Countries such as China, which had a silver standard, almost avoided the depression entirely. The connection between leaving the gold standard as a strong predictor of that country's severity of its depression and the length of time of its recovery has been shown to be consistent for dozens of countries, including developing countries. This partly explains why the experience and length of the depression differed between regions and states around the world.
==== German banking crisis of 1931 and British crisis ====
The financial crisis escalated out of control in mid-1931, starting with the collapse of the Creditanstalt in Vienna in May. This put heavy pressure on Germany, which was already in political turmoil. With the rise in violence of National Socialist ('Nazi') and Communist movements, as well as investor nervousness at harsh government financial policies, investors withdrew their short-term money from Germany as confidence spiraled downward. The Reichsbank lost 150 million marks in the first week of June, 540 million in the second, and 150 million in two days, 19–20 June. Collapse was at hand. U.S. President Herbert Hoover called for a moratorium on payment of war reparations. This angered Paris, which depended on a steady flow of German payments, but it slowed the crisis down, and the moratorium was agreed to in July 1931. An international conference in London later in July produced no agreements, but on 19 August a standstill agreement froze Germany's foreign liabilities for six months. Germany received emergency funding from private banks in New York as well as the Bank of International Settlements and the Bank of England. The funding only slowed the process. Industrial failures began in Germany; a major bank closed in July, and a two-day holiday for all German banks was declared. Business failures were more frequent in July and spread to Romania and Hungary. The crisis continued to get worse in Germany, bringing political upheaval that finally led to the coming to power of Hitler's Nazi regime in January 1933.
The world financial crisis now began to overwhelm Britain; investors around the world started withdrawing their gold from London at the rate of £2.5 million per day. Credits of £25 million each from the Bank of France and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and an issue of £15 million fiduciary notes slowed, but did not reverse, the British crisis. The financial crisis now caused a major political crisis in Britain in August 1931. With deficits mounting, the bankers demanded a balanced budget; the divided cabinet of Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald agreed; it proposed to raise taxes, cut spending, and most controversially, cut unemployment benefits by 20%. The attack on welfare was unacceptable to the Labour movement. MacDonald wanted to resign, but King George V insisted he remain and form an all-party coalition "National Government". The Conservative and Liberal parties signed on, along with a small cadre of Labour, but the vast majority of Labour leaders denounced MacDonald as a traitor for leading the new government. Britain went off the gold standard, and suffered relatively less than other major countries in the Great Depression. In the 1931 British election, the Labour Party was virtually destroyed, leaving MacDonald as prime minister for a largely Conservative coalition.
=== Turning point and recovery ===
In most countries of the world, recovery from the Great Depression began in 1933. In the U.S., recovery began in early 1933, but the U.S. did not return to 1929 GNP for over a decade and still had an unemployment rate of about 15% in 1940, albeit down from the high of 25% in 1933.
There is no consensus among economists regarding the motive force for the U.S. economic expansion that continued through most of the Roosevelt years (and the 1937 recession that interrupted it). The common view among most economists is that Roosevelt's New Deal policies either caused or accelerated the recovery, although his policies were never aggressive enough to bring the economy completely out of recession. Some economists have also called attention to the positive effects from expectations of reflation and rising nominal interest rates that Roosevelt's words and actions portended. It was the rollback of those same reflationary policies that led to the interruption of a recession beginning in late 1937. One contributing policy that reversed reflation was the Banking Act of 1935, which effectively raised reserve requirements, causing a monetary contraction that helped to thwart the recovery. GDP returned to its upward trend in 1938. A revisionist view among some economists holds that the New Deal prolonged the Great Depression, as they argue that National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 and the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 restricted competition and established price fixing. John Maynard Keynes did not think that the New Deal under Roosevelt single-handedly ended the Great Depression: "It is, it seems, politically impossible for a capitalistic democracy to organize expenditure on the scale necessary to make the grand experiments which would prove my case—except in war conditions."
According to Christina Romer, the money supply growth caused by huge international gold inflows was a crucial source of the recovery of the United States economy, and the economy showed little sign of self-correction. The gold inflows were partly due to the devaluation of the U.S. dollar and partly due to the deterioration of the political situation in Europe. In their book, A Monetary History of the United States, Milton Friedman and Anna J. Schwartz also attributed the recovery to monetary factors and contended that it was much slowed by poor management of money by the Federal Reserve System. Chairman of the Federal Reserve (2006–2014) Ben Bernanke agreed that monetary factors played important roles both in the worldwide economic decline and eventual recovery. Bernanke also saw a strong role for institutional factors, particularly the rebuilding and restructuring of the financial system, and pointed out that the Depression should be examined from an international perspective.
==== Role of women and household economics ====
Women's primary role was as housewives; without a steady flow of family income, their work became much harder in dealing with food, clothing and medical care. Birthrates fell everywhere, as children were postponed until families could financially support them. The average birthrate for 14 major countries fell 12% from 19.3 births per thousand population in 1930 to 17.0 in 1935. In Canada, half of Roman Catholic women defied Church teachings and used contraception to postpone births.
Among the few women in the labor force, layoffs were less common in the white-collar jobs, and they were typically found in light manufacturing work. However, there was a widespread demand to limit families to one paid job so that wives might lose employment if their husband was employed. Across Britain, there was a tendency for married women to join the labor force, competing for part-time jobs especially.
In France, very slow population growth, especially in comparison to Germany, continued to be a serious issue in the 1930s. Support for increasing welfare programs during the depression included a focus on women in the family. The Conseil Supérieur de la Natalité campaigned for provisions enacted in the Code de la Famille (1939) that increased state assistance to families with children and required employers to protect the jobs of fathers, even if they were immigrants.
In rural and small-town areas, women expanded their operation of vegetable gardens to include as much food production as possible. In the United States, agricultural organizations sponsored programs to teach housewives how to optimize their gardens and to raise poultry for meat and eggs. Rural women made feed sack dresses and other items for themselves and their families and homes from feed sacks. In American cities, African American women quiltmakers enlarged their activities, promoted collaboration, and trained neophytes. Quilts were created for practical use from various inexpensive materials and increased social interaction for women and promoted camaraderie and personal fulfillment.
Oral history provides evidence for how housewives in a modern industrial city handled shortages of money and resources. Often they updated strategies their mothers used when they were growing up in poor families. Cheap foods were used, such as soups, beans, and noodles. They purchased the cheapest cuts of meat—sometimes even horse meat—and recycled the Sunday roast into sandwiches and soups. They sewed and patched clothing, traded with their neighbors for outgrown items, and made do with colder homes. New furniture and appliances were postponed until better days. Many women also worked outside the home, or took boarders, did laundry for trade or cash, and did sewing for neighbors in exchange for something they could offer. Extended families used mutual aid—extra food, spare rooms, repair work, cash loans—to help cousins and in-laws.
In Japan, official government policy was deflationary and the opposite of Keynesian spending. Consequently, the government launched a campaign across the country to induce households to reduce their consumption, focusing attention on spending by housewives.
In Germany, the government tried to reshape private household consumption under the Four-Year Plan of 1936 to achieve German economic self-sufficiency. The Nazi women's organizations, other propaganda agencies, and the authorities all attempted to shape such consumption, as economic self-sufficiency was needed to prepare for and to sustain the coming war. The organizations, propaganda agencies, and authorities employed slogans that called up traditional values of thrift and healthy living. However, these efforts were only partly successful in changing the behavior of housewives.
==== World War II and recovery ====
The common view among economic historians is that the Great Depression ended with the advent of World War II. Many economists believe that government spending on the war caused or at least accelerated recovery from the Great Depression, though some consider that it did not play a very large role in the recovery, though it did help in reducing unemployment.
The rearmament policies leading up to World War II helped stimulate the economies of Europe in 1937–1939. By 1937, unemployment in Britain had fallen to 1.5 million. The mobilization of manpower following the outbreak of war in 1939 ended unemployment.
The American mobilization for World War II at the end of 1941 moved approximately 10 million people out of the civilian labor force and into the war. This eliminated the last effects from the Great Depression and brought the U.S. unemployment rate down to below 10%.
World War II had a dramatic effect on many parts of the American economy. Government-financed capital spending accounted for only 5% of the annual U.S. investment in industrial capital in 1940; by 1943, the government accounted for 67% of U.S. capital investment. The massive war spending doubled economic growth rates, either masking the effects of the Depression or essentially ending the Depression. Businessmen ignored the mounting national debt and heavy new taxes, redoubling their efforts for greater output to take advantage of generous government contracts.
== Causes ==
=== Attempts to return to the Gold Standard ===
During World War I, many countries suspended their gold standard in varying ways. There was high inflation from WWI and in the 1920s in the Weimar Republic, Austria, and throughout Europe. In the late 1920s there was a scramble to deflate prices to get the gold standard's conversation rates back on track to pre-WWI levels by causing deflation and high unemployment through monetary policy. In 1933 FDR signed Executive Order 6102 and in 1934 signed the Gold Reserve Act.
=== Keynesian vs Monetarist view ===
The two classic competing economic theories of the Great Depression are the Keynesian (demand-driven) and the Monetarist explanation. There are also various heterodox theories that downplay or reject the explanations of the Keynesians and monetarists. The consensus among demand-driven theories is that a large-scale loss of confidence led to a sudden reduction in consumption and investment spending. Once panic and deflation set in, many people believed they could avoid further losses by keeping clear of the markets. Holding money became profitable as prices dropped lower and a given amount of money bought ever more goods, exacerbating the drop in demand. Monetarists believe that the Great Depression started as an ordinary recession, but the shrinking of the money supply greatly exacerbated the economic situation, causing a recession to descend into the Great Depression.
Economists and economic historians are almost evenly split as to whether the traditional monetary explanation that monetary forces were the primary cause of the Great Depression is right or the traditional Keynesian explanation that a fall in autonomous spending, particularly investment, is the primary explanation for the onset of the Great Depression. Today there is also significant academic support for the debt deflation theory and the expectations hypothesis that—building on the monetary explanation of Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz—add non-monetary explanations.
There is a consensus that the Federal Reserve System should have cut short the process of monetary deflation and banking collapse by expanding the money supply and acting as lender of last resort. If they had done this, the economic downturn would have been far less severe and much shorter.
=== Mainstream explanations ===
Modern mainstream economists see the reasons in
A money supply reduction (Monetarists) and therefore a banking crisis, reduction of credit, and bankruptcies.
Insufficient demand from the private sector and insufficient fiscal spending (Keynesians).
Passage of the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act exacerbated what otherwise might have been a more "standard" recession (both Monetarists and Keynesians).
Insufficient spending, the money supply reduction, and debt on margin led to falling prices and further bankruptcies (Irving Fisher's debt deflation).
==== Monetarist view ====
The monetarist explanation was given by American economists Milton Friedman and Anna J. Schwartz. They argued that the Great Depression was caused by the banking crisis that caused one-third of all banks to vanish, a reduction of bank shareholder wealth, and more importantly, a monetary contraction of 35%, which they called "The Great Contraction". This caused a price drop of 33% (deflation). By not lowering interest rates, by not increasing the monetary base, and by not injecting liquidity into the banking system to prevent it from crumbling, the Federal Reserve passively watched the transformation of a normal recession into the Great Depression. Friedman and Schwartz argued that the downward turn in the economy, starting with the stock market crash, would merely have been an ordinary recession if the Federal Reserve had taken aggressive action. This view was endorsed in 2002 by Federal Reserve Governor Ben Bernanke in a speech honoring Friedman and Schwartz with this statement:
Let me end my talk by abusing slightly my status as an official representative of the Federal Reserve. I would like to say to Milton and Anna: Regarding the Great Depression, you're right. We did it. We're very sorry. But thanks to you, we won't do it again.
The Federal Reserve allowed some large public bank failures—particularly that of the New York-based Bank of United States—which produced panic and widespread runs on local banks, and the Federal Reserve sat idly by while banks collapsed. Friedman and Schwartz argued that, if the Fed had provided emergency lending to these key banks, or simply bought government bonds on the open market to provide liquidity and increase the quantity of money after the key banks fell, all the rest of the banks would not have fallen after the key ones did, and the money supply would not have fallen as far and as fast as it did.
With significantly less money to go around, businesses could not get new loans and could not even get their old loans renewed, forcing many to stop investing. This interpretation blames the Federal Reserve for inaction, especially the New York branch.
One reason why the Federal Reserve did not act to limit the decline of the money supply was the gold standard. At that time, the amount of credit the Federal Reserve could issue was limited by the Federal Reserve Act, which required 40% gold backing of Federal Reserve Notes issued. By the late 1920s, the Federal Reserve had almost hit the limit of allowable credit that could be backed by the gold in its possession. This credit was in the form of Federal Reserve demand notes. A "promise of gold" is not as good as "gold in the hand", particularly when they only had enough gold to cover 40% of the Federal Reserve Notes outstanding. During the bank panics, a portion of those demand notes was redeemed for Federal Reserve gold. Since the Federal Reserve had hit its limit on allowable credit, any reduction in gold in its vaults had to be accompanied by a greater reduction in credit. On 5 April 1933, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 6102, making the private ownership of gold certificates, coins, and bullion illegal, reducing the pressure on Federal Reserve gold.
==== Keynesian view ====
British economist John Maynard Keynes argued in The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money that lower aggregate expenditures in the economy contributed to a massive decline in income and to employment that was well below the average. In such a situation, the economy reached equilibrium at low levels of economic activity and high unemployment.
Keynes's basic idea was simple: to keep people fully employed, governments have to run deficits when the economy is slowing, as the private sector would not invest enough to keep production at the normal level and bring the economy out of recession. Keynesian economists called on governments during times of economic crisis to pick up the slack by increasing government spending or cutting taxes.
As the Depression wore on, Franklin D. Roosevelt tried public works, farm subsidies, and other devices to restart the U.S. economy but never completely gave up trying to balance the budget. According to the Keynesians, this improved the economy, but Roosevelt never spent enough to bring the economy out of recession until the start of World War II.
===== Debt deflation =====
Irving Fisher argued that the predominant factor leading to the Great Depression was a vicious circle of deflation and growing over-indebtedness. He outlined nine factors interacting with one another under conditions of debt and deflation to create the mechanics of boom to bust. The chain of events proceeded as follows:
Debt liquidation and distress selling
Contraction of the money supply as bank loans are paid off
A fall in the level of asset prices
A still greater fall in the net worth of businesses, precipitating bankruptcies
A fall in profits
A reduction in output, in trade and in employment
Pessimism and loss of confidence
Hoarding of money
A fall in nominal interest rates and a rise in deflation-adjusted interest rates
During the Crash of 1929 preceding the Great Depression, margin requirements were only 10%. Brokerage firms, in other words, would lend $9 for every $1 an investor had deposited. When the market fell, brokers called in these loans, which could not be paid back. Banks began to fail as debtors defaulted on debt and depositors attempted to withdraw their deposits en masse, triggering multiple bank runs. Government guarantees and Federal Reserve banking regulations to prevent such panics were ineffective or not used. Bank failures led to the loss of billions of dollars in assets.
Outstanding debts became heavier because prices and incomes fell by 20–50%, but the debts remained at the same dollar amount. After the panic of 1929 and during the first 10 months of 1930, 744 U.S. banks failed. (In all, 9,000 banks failed during the 1930s.) By April 1933, around $7 billion in deposits had been frozen in failed banks or those left unlicensed after the March Bank Holiday. Bank failures snowballed as desperate bankers called in loans that borrowers did not have time or money to repay. With future profits looking poor, capital investment and construction slowed or completely ceased. In the face of bad loans and worsening future prospects, the surviving banks became even more conservative in their lending. Banks built up their capital reserves and made fewer loans, which intensified deflationary pressures. A vicious cycle developed, and the downward spiral accelerated.
The liquidation of debt could not keep up with the fall of prices that it caused. The mass effect of the stampede to liquidate increased the value of each dollar owed, relative to the value of declining asset holdings. The very effort of individuals to lessen their burden of debt effectively increased it. Paradoxically, the more the debtors paid, the more they owed. This self-aggravating process turned a 1930 recession into a 1933 Great Depression.
Fisher's debt-deflation theory initially lacked mainstream influence because of the counterargument that debt-deflation represented no more than a redistribution from one group (debtors) to another (creditors). Pure redistributions should have no significant macroeconomic effects.
Building on both the monetary hypothesis of Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz and the debt deflation hypothesis of Irving Fisher, Ben Bernanke developed an alternative way in which the financial crisis affected output. He builds on Fisher's argument that dramatic declines in the price level and nominal incomes lead to increasing real debt burdens, which in turn lead to debtor insolvency and consequently lower aggregate demand; a further price level decline would then result in a debt deflationary spiral. According to Bernanke, a small decline in the price level simply reallocates wealth from debtors to creditors without doing damage to the economy. But when the deflation is severe, falling asset prices along with debtor bankruptcies lead to a decline in the nominal value of assets on bank balance sheets. Banks will react by tightening their credit conditions, which in turn leads to a credit crunch that seriously harms the economy. A credit crunch lowers investment and consumption, which results in declining aggregate demand and additionally contributes to the deflationary spiral.
===== Expectations hypothesis =====
Since the economic mainstream turned to the new neoclassical synthesis, expectations have been a central element of macroeconomic models. According to Peter Temin, Barry Wigmore, Gauti B. Eggertsson, and Christina Romer, the key to recovery and to ending the Great Depression was brought about by a successful management of public expectations. The thesis is based on the observation that after years of deflation and a very severe recession, important economic indicators turned positive in March 1933 when Franklin D. Roosevelt took office. Consumer prices turned from deflation to a mild inflation, industrial production bottomed out in March 1933, and investment doubled in 1933 with a turnaround in March 1933. There were no monetary forces to explain that turnaround. Money supply was still falling, and short-term interest rates remained close to zero. Before March 1933, people expected further deflation and a recession so that even interest rates at zero did not stimulate investment. But when Roosevelt announced major regime changes, people began to expect inflation and an economic expansion. With these positive expectations, interest rates at zero began to stimulate investment just as they were expected to do. Roosevelt's fiscal and monetary policy regime change helped make his policy objectives credible. The expectation of higher future income and higher future inflation stimulated demand and investment. The analysis suggests that the elimination of the policy dogmas of the gold standard, a balanced budget in times of crisis, and small government led endogenously to a large shift in expectation that accounts for about 70–80% of the recovery of output and prices from 1933 to 1937. If the regime change had not happened and the Hoover policy had continued, the economy would have continued its free fall in 1933, and output would have been 30% lower in 1937 than in 1933.
The recession of 1937–1938, which slowed down economic recovery from the Great Depression, is explained by fears of the population that the moderate tightening of the monetary and fiscal policy in 1937 was the first step to a restoration of the pre-1933 policy regime.
==== Common position ====
There is common consensus among economists today that the government and the central bank should work to keep the interconnected macroeconomic aggregates of gross domestic product and money supply on a stable growth path. When threatened by expectations of a depression, central banks should expand liquidity in the banking system and the government should cut taxes and accelerate spending in order to prevent a collapse in money supply and aggregate demand.
At the beginning of the Great Depression, most economists believed in Say's law and the equilibrating powers of the market and failed to understand the severity of the Depression. Outright leave-it-alone liquidationism was a common position, and was universally held by Austrian School economists. The liquidationist position held that a depression worked to liquidate failed businesses and investments that had been made obsolete by technological development—releasing factors of production (capital and labor) to be redeployed in other more productive sectors of the dynamic economy. They argued that even if self-adjustment of the economy caused mass bankruptcies, it was still the best course.
Economists like Barry Eichengreen and J. Bradford DeLong note that President Herbert Hoover tried to keep the federal budget balanced until 1932, when he lost confidence in his Secretary of the Treasury, Andrew Mellon, and replaced him. An increasingly common view among economic historians is that the adherence of many Federal Reserve policymakers to the liquidationist position led to disastrous consequences. Unlike what liquidationists expected, a large proportion of the capital stock was not redeployed but vanished during the first years of the Great Depression. According to a study by Olivier Blanchard and Lawrence Summers, the recession caused a drop of net capital accumulation to pre-1924 levels by 1933. Milton Friedman called leave-it-alone liquidationism "dangerous nonsense". He wrote:
I think the Austrian business-cycle theory has done the world a great deal of harm. If you go back to the 1930s, which is a key point, here you had the Austrians sitting in London, Hayek and Lionel Robbins, and saying you just have to let the bottom drop out of the world. You've just got to let it cure itself. You can't do anything about it. You will only make it worse. ... I think by encouraging that kind of do-nothing policy both in Britain and in the United States, they did harm.
=== Heterodox theories ===
==== Austrian School ====
Two prominent theorists in the Austrian School on the Great Depression include Austrian economist Friedrich Hayek and American economist Murray Rothbard, who wrote America's Great Depression (1963). In their view, much like the monetarists, the Federal Reserve (created in 1913) shoulders much of the blame; however, unlike the monetarists, they argue that the key cause of the Depression was the expansion of the money supply in the 1920s, which led to an unsustainable credit-driven boom.
In the Austrian view, it was this inflation of the money supply that led to an unsustainable boom in both asset prices (stocks and bonds) and capital goods. Therefore, by the time the Federal Reserve tightened in 1928, it was far too late to prevent an economic contraction. In February 1929 Hayek published a paper predicting the Federal Reserve's actions would lead to a crisis starting in the stock and credit markets.
According to Rothbard, the government support for failed enterprises and efforts to keep wages above their market values actually prolonged the Depression. Unlike Rothbard, after 1970 Hayek believed that the Federal Reserve had further contributed to the problems of the Depression by permitting the money supply to shrink during the earliest years of the Depression. However, during the Depression (in 1932 and in 1934) Hayek had criticized both the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England for not taking a more contractionary stance.
Hans Sennholz argued that most boom and busts that plagued the American economy, such as those in 1819–20, 1837–1843, 1857–1860, 1873–1878, 1893–1897, and 1920–21, were generated by the government creating a boom through easy money and credit, which was soon followed by the inevitable bust.
Ludwig von Mises wrote in the 1930s: "Credit expansion cannot increase the supply of real goods. It merely brings about a rearrangement. It diverts capital investment away from the course prescribed by the state of economic wealth and market conditions. It causes production to pursue paths which it would not follow unless the economy were to acquire an increase in material goods. As a result, the upswing lacks a solid base. It is not real prosperity. It is illusory prosperity. It did not develop from an increase in economic wealth, i.e. the accumulation of savings made available for productive investment. Rather, it arose because the credit expansion created the illusion of such an increase. Sooner or later, it must become apparent that this economic situation is built on sand."
==== Marxist ====
Marxists generally argue that the Great Depression was the result of the inherent instability of the capitalist mode of production. According to Forbes, "The idea that capitalism caused the Great Depression was widely held among intellectuals and the general public for many decades."
==== Inequality ====
Two economists of the 1920s, Waddill Catchings and William Trufant Foster, popularized a theory that influenced many policy makers, including Herbert Hoover, Henry A. Wallace, Paul Douglas, and Marriner Eccles. It held the economy produced more than it consumed, because the consumers did not have enough income. Thus, the unequal distribution of wealth throughout the 1920s caused the Great Depression.
According to this view, the root cause of the Great Depression was a global over-investment in heavy industry capacity compared to wages and earnings from independent businesses, such as farms. The proposed solution was for the government to pump money into the consumers' pockets. That is, it must redistribute purchasing power, maintain the industrial base, and reinflate prices and wages to force as much of the inflationary increase in purchasing power into consumer spending. The economy was overbuilt, and new factories were not needed. Foster and Catchings recommended federal and state governments start large construction projects, a program followed by Hoover and Roosevelt.
==== Productivity shock ====
It cannot be emphasized too strongly that the [productivity, output, and employment] trends we are describing are long-time trends and were thoroughly evident before 1929. These trends are in nowise the result of the present depression, nor are they the result of the World War. On the contrary, the present depression is a collapse resulting from these long-term trends.
The first three decades of the 20th century saw economic output surge with electrification, mass production, and motorized farm machinery, and because of the rapid growth in productivity, there was a lot of excess production capacity, and the workweek was being reduced. The dramatic rise in productivity of major industries in the U.S. and the effects of productivity on output, wages, and the workweek are discussed by Spurgeon Bell in his book Productivity, Wages, and National Income (1940).
== Effects by country ==
The majority of countries set up relief programs, and most underwent some sort of political upheaval, pushing them to the right. Many of the countries in Europe and Latin America that were democracies saw their democratic governments overthrown by some form of dictatorship or authoritarian rule, most famously in Germany in 1933. The Dominion of Newfoundland abandoned its autonomy within the British Empire, becoming the only region ever to voluntarily relinquish democracy. There, too, were severe impacts across the Middle East and North Africa, including economic decline, which led to social unrest.
=== Argentina ===
The decline in foreign trade hit Argentina hard. The British decision to stop importing Argentine beef led to the signing of the Roca–Runciman Treaty, which preserved a quota in exchange for significant concessions to British exports. By 1935, the economy had recovered to 1929 levels, and the same year, the Central Bank of Argentina was formed. However, the Great Depression was the last time when Argentina was one of the richer countries of the world, as it stopped growing in the decades thereafter and became underdeveloped.
=== Australia ===
Australia's dependence on agricultural and industrial exports meant it was one of the hardest-hit developed countries. Falling export demand and commodity prices placed massive downward pressures on wages. Unemployment reached a record high of 29% in 1932, with incidents of civil unrest becoming common. After 1932, an increase in wool and meat prices led to a gradual recovery.
=== Canada ===
Harshly affected by both the global economic downturn and the Dust Bowl, Canadian industrial production had by 1932 fallen to only 58% of its 1929 figure, the second-lowest level in the world after the United States, and well behind countries such as Britain, which fell to only 83% of the 1929 level. Total national income fell to 56% of the 1929 level, again worse than any country apart from the United States. Unemployment reached 27% at the depth of the Depression in 1933.
=== Chile ===
The League of Nations labeled Chile the country hardest hit by the Great Depression because 80% of government revenue came from exports of copper and nitrates, which were in low demand. Chile initially felt the impact of the Great Depression in 1930, when GDP dropped 14%, mining income declined 27%, and export earnings fell 28%. By 1932, GDP had shrunk to less than half of what it had been in 1929, exacting a terrible toll in unemployment and business failures.
Influenced profoundly by the Great Depression, many government leaders promoted the development of local industry in an effort to insulate the economy from future external shocks. After six years of government austerity measures, which succeeded in reestablishing Chile's creditworthiness, Chileans elected to office during the 1938–58 period a succession of center and left-of-center governments interested in promoting economic growth through government intervention.
Prompted in part by the devastating 1939 Chillán earthquake, the Popular Front government of Pedro Aguirre Cerda created the Production Development Corporation (Corporación de Fomento de la Producción, CORFO) to encourage—with subsidies and direct investments—an ambitious program of import substitution industrialization. Consequently, as in other Latin American countries, protectionism became an entrenched aspect of the Chilean economy.
=== China ===
China was largely unaffected by the Depression, mainly by having stuck to the silver standard. However, the U.S. Silver Purchase Act of 1934 created an intolerable demand on China's silver coins, and so, eventually, the silver standard was officially abandoned in 1935 in favor of the four Chinese national banks' "legal note" issues. China and the British colony of Hong Kong, which followed suit in this regard in September 1935, would be the last to abandon the silver standard. In addition, the Nationalist Government also acted energetically to modernize the legal and penal systems, stabilize prices, amortize debts, reform the banking and currency systems, build railroads and highways, improve public health facilities, legislate against traffic in narcotics, and augment industrial and agricultural production. On 3 November 1935, the government instituted the fiat currency (fapi) reform, immediately stabilizing prices and also raising revenues for the government.
=== European African colonies ===
The sharp fall in commodity prices and the steep decline in exports hurt the economies of the European colonies in Africa and Asia. The agricultural sector was especially hard-hit. For example, sisal had recently become a major export crop in Kenya and Tanganyika. During the depression, it suffered severely from low prices and marketing problems that affected all colonial commodities in Africa. Sisal producers established centralized controls for the export of their fibre. There was widespread unemployment and hardship among peasants, labourers, colonial auxiliaries, and artisans. The budgets of colonial governments were cut, which forced the reduction in ongoing infrastructure projects, such as the building and upgrading of roads, ports, and communications. The budget cuts delayed the schedule for creating systems of higher education.
The depression severely hurt the export-based Belgian Congo economy because of the drop in international demand for raw materials and for agricultural products. For example, the price of peanuts fell from 125 to 25 centimes. In some areas, as in the Katanga mining region, employment declined by 70%. In the country as a whole, the wage labour force decreased by 72,000 people, and many men returned to their villages. In Leopoldville, the population decreased by 33% because of this labour migration.
Political protests were not common. However, there was a growing demand that the paternalistic claims be honored by colonial governments to respond vigorously. The theme was that economic reforms were more urgently needed than political reforms. French West Africa launched an extensive program of educational reform, in which "rural schools", designed to modernize agriculture, would stem the flow of underemployed farm workers to cities where unemployment was high. Students were trained in traditional arts, crafts, and farming techniques and were then expected to return to their own villages and towns.
=== France ===
The crisis affected France a bit later than other countries, hitting hard around 1931. While the 1920s saw growth at a strong rate of 4.43% per year, during the 1930s, the rate fell to only 0.63%.
The depression was relatively mild: unemployment levels peaked at less than 5%, and the fall in production was at most 20% below the 1929 output. France also had no major banking crisis.
However, the depression had drastic effects on the local economy and partly explains the February 6, 1934, riots and even more the formation of the Popular Front, led by SFIO socialist leader Léon Blum, which won the elections in 1936. Ultra-nationalist groups also saw increased popularity, though democracy prevailed into World War II.
France's relatively high degree of self-sufficiency meant the damage was considerably less than in neighbouring states like Germany.
=== Germany ===
The Great Depression hit Germany hard. The impact of the Wall Street crash forced American banks to end the new loans that had been funding the repayments under the Dawes Plan and the Young Plan. The financial crisis escalated out of control in mid-1931, starting with the collapse of the Credit Anstalt in Vienna in May. This put heavy pressure on Germany, which was already in political turmoil with the rise in violence of national socialist and communist movements, as well as with investor nervousness at harsh government financial policies, investors withdrew their short-term money from Germany as confidence spiraled downward. The Reichsbank lost 150 million marks in the first week of June, 540 million in the second, and 150 million in two days, 19–20 June. Collapse was at hand. U.S. President Herbert Hoover called for a moratorium on payment of war reparations. This angered Paris, which depended on a steady flow of German payments, but it slowed the crisis down, and the moratorium was agreed to in July 1931. An international conference in London later in July produced no agreements, but on 19 August, a standstill agreement froze Germany's foreign liabilities for six months. Germany received emergency funding from private banks in New York as well as the Bank of International Settlements and the Bank of England. The funding only slowed the process. Industrial failures began in Germany, a major bank closed in July, and a two-day holiday for all German banks was declared. Business failures became more frequent in July and spread to Romania and Hungary.
In 1932, 90% of German reparation payments were cancelled (in the 1950s, Germany repaid all its missed reparations debts). Widespread unemployment reached 25%, as every sector was hurt. The government did not increase government spending to deal with Germany's growing crisis, as they were afraid that a high-spending policy could lead to a return of the hyperinflation that had affected Germany in 1923. Germany's Weimar Republic was hit hard by the depression, as American loans to help rebuild the German economy now stopped. The unemployment rate reached nearly 30% in 1932.
The German political landscape was dramatically altered, leading to Adolf Hitler's rise to power. The Nazi Party rose from being peripheral to winning 18.3% of the vote in the September 1930 election, and the Communist Party also made gains, while moderate forces, like the Social Democratic Party, the Democratic Party, and the People's Party lost seats. The next two years were marked by increased street violence between Nazis and Communists, while governments under President Paul von Hindenburg increasingly relied on rule by decree, bypassing the Reichstag. Hitler ran for the Presidency in 1932, and while he lost to the incumbent Hindenburg in the election, it marked a point during which both Nazi Party and the Communist parties rose in the years following the crash to altogether possess a Reichstag majority following the general election in July 1932. Although the Nazis lost seats in November 1932 election, they remained the largest party, and Hitler was appointed as Chancellor the following January. The government formation deal was designed to give Hitler's conservative coalition partners many checks on his power, but over the next few months, the Nazis manoeuvred to consolidate a single-party dictatorship.
Hitler followed an economic policy of autarky, creating a network of client states and economic allies in central Europe and Latin America. By cutting wages and taking control of labor unions, plus public works spending, unemployment fell significantly by 1935. Large-scale military spending played a major role in the recovery. The policies had the effect of driving up the cost of food imports and depleting foreign currency reserves, leading to economic impasse by 1936. Nazi Germany faced a choice of either reversing course or pressing ahead with rearmament and autarky. Hitler chose the latter route, which, according to Ian Kershaw, "could only be partially accomplished without territorial expansion" and therefore war.
=== Greece ===
The reverberations of the Great Depression hit Greece in 1932. The Bank of Greece tried to adopt deflationary policies to stave off the crises that were going on in other countries, but these largely failed. For a brief period, the drachma was pegged to the U.S. dollar, but this move was unsustainable given the country's large trade deficit, and the only long-term effect of this was Greece's foreign exchange reserves being almost totally wiped out in 1932. Remittances from abroad declined sharply, and the value of the drachma began to plummet from 77 drachmas to the dollar in March 1931 to 111 drachmas to the dollar in April 1931. This transition was especially harmful to Greece, as the country relied on imports from the UK, France, and the Middle East for many necessities. Greece went off the gold standard in April 1932 and declared a moratorium on all interest payments. The country also adopted protectionist policies, such as import quotas, which several European countries also did during the period.
Protectionist policies coupled with a weak drachma and the stifling of imports allowed the Greek industry to expand during the Great Depression. In 1939, the Greek industrial output was 179% that of 1928. These industries were for the most part "built on sand", as one report of the Bank of Greece put it, as without massive protection, they would not have been able to survive. Despite the global depression, Greece managed to suffer comparatively little, averaging a growth rate of 3.5% from 1932 to 1939. The dictatorial regime of Ioannis Metaxas took over the Greek government in 1936, and economic growth was strong in the years leading up to the Second World War.
=== Iceland ===
Iceland's post-World War I prosperity came to an end with the outbreak of the Great Depression. The Depression hit Iceland hard, as the value of exports plummeted. The total value of Icelandic exports fell from 74 million kronur in 1929 to 48 million in 1932 and was not to rise again to the pre-1930 level until after 1939. Government interference in the economy increased: "Imports were regulated, trade with foreign currency was monopolized by state-owned banks, and loan capital was largely distributed by state-regulated funds". Due to the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, which cut Iceland's exports of saltfish by half, the Depression lasted in Iceland until the outbreak of World War II (when prices for fish exports soared).
=== India ===
How much India was affected by the Great Depression has been debated. Historians have argued that it slowed long-term industrial development. Apart from two sectors—jute and coal—the economy was little affected. However, there were major negative impacts on the jute industry, as world demand fell and prices plunged. Otherwise, conditions were fairly stable. Local markets in agriculture and small-scale industry showed modest gains.
=== Ireland ===
Frank Barry and Mary E. Daly have argued that:
Ireland was a largely agrarian economy, trading almost exclusively with the UK at the time of the Great Depression. Beef and dairy products comprised the bulk of exports, and Ireland fared well relative to many other commodity producers, particularly in the early years of the depression.
=== Italy ===
The Great Depression hit Italy very hard. As industries came close to failure, they were bought out by the banks in a largely illusionary bailout—the assets used to fund the purchases were largely worthless. This led to a financial crisis peaking in 1932 and major government intervention. The Industrial Reconstruction Institute (IRI) was formed in January 1933 and took control of the bank-owned companies, suddenly giving Italy the largest state-owned industrial sector in Europe (excluding the USSR). IRI did rather well with its new responsibilities—restructuring, modernising and rationalising as much as it could. It was a significant factor in post-1945 development. But it took the Italian economy until 1935 to recover the manufacturing levels of 1930—a position that was only 60% better than that of 1913.
=== Japan ===
The Great Depression did not strongly affect Japan. The Japanese economy shrank by 8% during 1929–31. Japan's Finance Minister Takahashi Korekiyo was the first to implement what have come to be identified as Keynesian economic policies: first, by large fiscal stimulus involving deficit spending; and second, by devaluing the currency. Takahashi used the Bank of Japan to sterilize the deficit spending and minimize resulting inflationary pressures. Econometric studies have identified the fiscal stimulus as especially effective.
The devaluation of the currency had an immediate effect. Japanese textiles began to displace British textiles in export markets. The deficit spending proved to be most profound and went into the purchase of munitions for the armed forces. By 1933, Japan was already out of the depression. By 1934, Takahashi realized that the economy was in danger of overheating, and to avoid inflation, he moved to reduce the deficit spending that went towards armaments and munitions.
This resulted in a strong and swift negative reaction from nationalists, especially those in the army, culminating in his assassination in the course of the February 26 Incident. This had a chilling effect on all civilian bureaucrats in the Japanese government. From 1934, the military's dominance of the government continued to grow. Instead of reducing deficit spending, the government introduced price controls and rationing schemes that reduced but did not eliminate inflation, which remained a problem until the end of World War II.
The deficit spending had a transformative effect on Japan. Japan's industrial production doubled during the 1930s. Further, in 1929 the list of the largest firms in Japan was dominated by light industries, especially textile companies (many of Japan's automakers, such as Toyota, have their roots in the textile industry). By 1940 light industry had been displaced by heavy industry as the largest firms inside the Japanese economy.
=== Latin America ===
Because of high levels of U.S. investment in Latin American economies, they were severely damaged by the Depression. Within the region, Chile, Bolivia, and Peru were particularly badly affected.
Before the 1929 crisis, links between the world economy and Latin American economies had been established through American and British investment in Latin American exports to the world. As a result, Latin American export industries felt the depression quickly. World prices for commodities such as wheat, coffee, and copper plunged. Exports from all of Latin America to the U.S. fell in value from $1.2 billion in 1929 to $335 million in 1933, rising to $660 million in 1940.
But on the other hand, the Depression led the area governments to develop new local industries and expand consumption and production. Following the example of the New Deal, governments in the area approved regulations and created or improved welfare institutions that helped millions of new industrial workers to achieve a better standard of living.
=== Netherlands ===
From roughly 1931 to 1937, the Netherlands suffered a deep and exceptionally long depression. This depression was partly caused by the after-effects of the American stock market crash of 1929 and partly by internal factors in the Netherlands. Government policy, especially the very late dropping of the gold standard, played a role in prolonging the depression. The Great Depression in the Netherlands led to some political instability and riots and can be linked to the rise of the Dutch fascist political party NSB. The depression in the Netherlands eased off somewhat at the end of 1936, when the government finally dropped the Gold Standard, but real economic stability did not return until after World War II.
=== New Zealand ===
New Zealand was especially vulnerable to worldwide depression, as it relied almost entirely on agricultural exports to the United Kingdom for its economy. The drop in exports led to a lack of disposable income from the farmers, who were the mainstay of the local economy. Jobs disappeared and wages plummeted, leaving people desperate and charities unable to cope. Work relief schemes were the only government support available to the unemployed, the rate of which by the early 1930s was officially around 15%, but unofficially nearly twice that level (official figures excluded Māori and women). In 1932, riots occurred among the unemployed in three of the country's main cities (Auckland, Dunedin, and Wellington). Many were arrested or injured through the tough official handling of these riots by police and volunteer "special constables".
=== Persia ===
In Iran, then known as the Imperial State of Persia, the Great Depression had negative impacts on its exports. In 1933 a new concession was signed with the Anglo-Persian Oil Company.
=== Poland ===
Poland was affected by the Great Depression longer and stronger than other countries due to the inadequate economic response of the government and the pre-existing economic circumstances of the country. At that time, Poland was under the authoritarian rule of Sanacja, whose leader, Józef Piłsudski, was opposed to leaving the gold standard until his death in 1935. As a result, Poland was unable to pursue a more active monetary and fiscal policy. Additionally, Poland was a relatively young country that emerged merely 10 years earlier after being partitioned between German, Russian, and Austro-Hungarian Empires for over a century. Prior to independence, the Russian part exported 91% of its exports to Russia proper, while the German part exported 68% to Germany proper. After independence, these markets were largely lost, as Russia transformed into the USSR, which was mostly a closed economy, and Germany was in a tariff war with Poland throughout the 1920s.
Industrial production fell significantly: in 1932 hard coal production was down 27% compared to 1928, steel production was down 61%, and iron ore production noted an 89% decrease. On the other hand, electrotechnical, leather, and paper industries noted marginal increases in production output. Overall, industrial production decreased by 41%. A distinct feature of the Great Depression in Poland was the de-concentration of industry, as larger conglomerates were less flexible and paid their workers more than smaller ones.
The unemployment rate rose significantly (up to 43%), while nominal wages fell by 51% in 1933 and 56% in 1934, relative to 1928. However, real wages fell less due to the government's policy of decreasing cost of living, particularly food expenditures (food prices were down by 65% in 1935 compared to 1928 price levels). Material conditions deprivation led to strikes, some of them violent or violently pacified—like in Sanok (March of the Hungry in Sanok 6 March 1930), Lesko county (Lesko uprising 21 June–9 July 1932), and Zawiercie (Bloody Friday (1930) 18 April 1930).
To adapt to the crisis, the Polish government employed deflation methods such as high interest rates, credit limits, and budget austerity to keep a fixed exchange rate with currencies tied to the gold standard. Only in late 1932 did the government effect a plan to fight the economic crisis. Part of the plan was a mass public works scheme, employing up to 100,000 people in 1935. After Piłsudski's death, in 1936, the gold standard regime was relaxed, and launching the development of the Central Industrial Region kicked off the economy to over 10% annual growth rate in the 1936–1938 period.
=== Portugal ===
Already under the rule of a dictatorial junta, the Ditadura Nacional, Portugal suffered no turbulent political effects of the Depression, although António de Oliveira Salazar, already appointed Minister of Finance in 1928, greatly expanded his powers and in 1932 rose to Prime Minister of Portugal to found the Estado Novo, an authoritarian corporatist dictatorship. With the budget balanced in 1929, the effects of the depression were relaxed through harsh measures towards budget balance and autarky, causing social discontent but stability and, eventually, an impressive economic growth.
=== Puerto Rico ===
In the years immediately preceding the depression, negative developments in the island and world economies perpetuated an unsustainable cycle of subsistence for many Puerto Rican workers. The 1920s brought a dramatic drop in Puerto Rico's two primary exports, raw sugar and coffee, due to a devastating hurricane in 1928 and the plummeting demand from global markets in the latter half of the decade. 1930 unemployment on the island was roughly 36%, and by 1933 Puerto Rico's per capita income dropped 30% (by comparison, unemployment in the United States in 1930 was approximately 8%, reaching a height of 25% in 1933). To provide relief and economic reform, the United States government and Puerto Rican politicians such as Carlos Chardon and Luis Muñoz Marín created and administered first the Puerto Rico Emergency Relief Administration (PRERA) 1933 and then, in 1935, the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration (PRRA).
=== Romania ===
Romania was also affected by the Great Depression.
=== South Africa ===
As world trade slumped, demand for South African agricultural and mineral exports fell drastically. The Carnegie Commission on Poor Whites had concluded in 1931 that nearly one-third of Afrikaners lived as paupers. The social discomfort caused by the depression was a contributing factor in the 1933 split between the "gesuiwerde" (purified) and "smelter" (fusionist) factions within the National Party and the National Party's subsequent fusion with the South African Party. Unemployment programs were begun that focused primarily on the white population.
=== Soviet Union ===
The Soviet Union was the only major socialist state in the world and had very little international trade. Its economy was not tied to the rest of the world and was mostly unaffected by the Great Depression.
At the time of the Depression, the Soviet economy was growing steadily, fuelled by intensive investment in heavy industry. The apparent economic success of the Soviet Union at a time when the capitalist world was in crisis led many Western intellectuals to view the Soviet system favorably. Jennifer Burns wrote:
As the Great Depression ground on and unemployment soared, intellectuals began unfavorably comparing their faltering capitalist economy to Russian Communism. Karl Marx had predicted that capitalism would fall under the weight of its own contradictions, and now with the economic crisis gripping the West, his predictions seem to be coming true. By contrast Russia seemed an emblematic modern nation, making the staggering leap from a feudal past to an industrial future with ease.
The early years of the Great Depression caused mass immigration to the Soviet Union, including 10,000 to 15,000 from Finland and thousands more from Poland, Sweden, Germany, and other nearby countries. The Kremlin was at first happy to help these immigrants settle, believing that they were victims of capitalism who had come to help the Soviet cause. However, by 1933, the worst of the Depression had come to an end in many countries, and word had been received that illegal migrants to the Soviet Union were being sent to Siberia. These factors caused immigration to the Soviet Union to slow significantly, and roughly a tenth of Finnish migrants returned to Finland, either legally or illegally.
=== Spain ===
Spain had a relatively isolated economy with high protective tariffs and was not one of the main countries affected by the Depression. The banking system held up well, as did agriculture.
By far the most serious negative impact came after 1936 from the heavy destruction of infrastructure and manpower by the civil war, 1936–39. Many talented workers were forced into permanent exile. By staying neutral in the Second World War and selling to both sides, the economy avoided further disasters.
=== Sweden ===
By the 1930s, Sweden had what America's Life magazine called in 1938 the "world's highest standard of living". Sweden was also the first country worldwide to recover completely from the Great Depression. Taking place amid a short-lived government and a less-than-a-decade-old Swedish democracy, events such as those surrounding Ivar Kreuger (who eventually committed suicide) remain infamous in Swedish history. The Social Democrats under Per Albin Hansson formed their first long-lived government in 1932 based on strong interventionist and welfare state policies, monopolizing the office of Prime Minister until 1976 with the sole and short-lived exception of Axel Pehrsson-Bramstorp's "summer cabinet" in 1936. During forty years of hegemony, it was the most successful political party in the history of Western liberal democracy.
=== Thailand ===
In Thailand, then known as the Kingdom of Siam, the Great Depression contributed to the end of the absolute monarchy of King Rama VII in the Siamese revolution of 1932.
=== Turkey ===
The Great Depression came at a time when the relatively newly established Turkish state was still reforming its economic policy following the end of the Ottoman era. As the depression began, the country's trade deficits saw an increase, and the Turkish lira significantly lost value. Turkey's economy was predominantly agrarian, thus the fall in demand, which caused a fall in export prices of many goods, affected the country's economy badly. As a result of the depression, the government, which had been following increasingly more liberal economic policies up until then, started opting for more statist policies.
=== United Kingdom ===
The world depression broke at a time when the United Kingdom had still not fully recovered from the effects of the First World War more than a decade earlier. The country was driven off the gold standard in 1931.
The world financial crisis began to overwhelm Britain in 1931; investors around the world started withdrawing their gold from London at the rate of £2.5 million per day. Credits of £25 million each from the Bank of France and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and an issue of £15 million fiduciary notes slowed, but did not reverse, the British crisis. In August 1931, the financial crisis led to a significant political crisis in Britain. With deficits mounting, the bankers demanded a balanced budget; the divided cabinet of Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald agreed; it proposed to raise taxes, cut spending, and most controversially, cut unemployment benefits by 20%. The attack on welfare was totally unacceptable to the Labour movement. MacDonald wanted to resign, but King George V insisted he remain and form an all-party coalition "National Government". The Conservative and Liberal parties signed on, along with a small cadre of Labour, but the vast majority of Labour leaders denounced MacDonald as a traitor for leading the new government. Britain went off the gold standard and suffered relatively less than other major countries in the Great Depression. In the 1931 British election, the Labour Party was virtually destroyed, leaving MacDonald as prime minister for a largely Conservative coalition.
The effects on the northern industrial areas of Britain were immediate and devastating, as demand for traditional industrial products collapsed. By the end of 1930 unemployment had more than doubled from 1 million to 2.5 million (20% of the insured workforce), and exports had fallen in value by 50%. In 1933, 30% of Glaswegians were unemployed due to the severe decline in heavy industry. In some towns and cities in the Northeast, unemployment reached as high as 70% as shipbuilding fell by 90%. The National Hunger March of September–October 1932 was the largest of a series of hunger marches in Britain in the 1920s and 1930s. About 200,000 unemployed men were sent to the work camps, which continued in operation until 1939.
In the less industrial Midlands and Southern England, the effects were short-lived, and the later 1930s were a prosperous time. Growth in modern manufacture of electrical goods and a boom in the motor car industry was helped by a growing southern population and an expanding middle class. Agriculture also saw a boom during this period.
=== United States ===
Hoover's first measures to combat the depression were based on encouraging businesses not to reduce their workforce or cut wages but businesses had little choice: wages were reduced, workers were laid off, and investments postponed.
In June 1930, Congress approved the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act, which raised tariffs on thousands of imported items. The intent of the Act was to encourage the purchase of American-made products by increasing the cost of imported goods while raising revenue for the federal government and protecting farmers. Most countries that traded with the U.S. increased tariffs on American-made goods in retaliation, reducing international trade and worsening the Depression.
In 1931, Hoover urged bankers to set up the National Credit Corporation so that big banks could help failing banks survive. But bankers were reluctant to invest in failing banks, and the National Credit Corporation did almost nothing to address the problem.
By 1932, unemployment had reached 23.6%, peaking in early 1933 at 25%. Those released from prison during this period had an especially difficult time finding employment given the stigma of their criminal records, which often led to recidivism out of economic desperation. Drought persisted in the agricultural heartland, businesses and families defaulted on record numbers of loans, and more than 5,000 banks had failed. Hundreds of thousands of Americans found themselves homeless and began congregating in shanty towns—dubbed "Hoovervilles"—thatbegan to appear across the country. In response, President Hoover and Congress approved the Federal Home Loan Bank Act, to spur new home construction and reduce foreclosures. The final attempt of the Hoover Administration to stimulate the economy was the passage of the Emergency Relief and Construction Act (ERA), which included funds for public works programs such as dams and the creation of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) in 1932. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation was a federal agency with the authority to lend up to $2 billion to rescue banks and restore confidence in financial institutions. But $2 billion was not enough to save all the banks, and bank runs and bank failures continued. Quarter by quarter the economy went downhill, as prices, profits and employment fell, leading to the political realignment in 1932 that brought to power Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Shortly after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was inaugurated in 1933, drought and erosion combined to cause the Dust Bowl, shifting hundreds of thousands of displaced persons off their farms in the Midwest. From his inauguration onward, Roosevelt argued that restructuring of the economy would be needed to prevent another depression or avoid prolonging the current one. New Deal programs sought to stimulate demand and provide work and relief for the impoverished through increased government spending and the institution of financial reforms.
During a "bank holiday" that lasted five days, the Emergency Banking Act was signed into law. It provided for a system of reopening sound banks under Treasury supervision, with federal loans available if needed. The Securities Act of 1933 comprehensively regulated the securities industry. This was followed by the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which created the Securities and Exchange Commission. Although amended, key provisions of both acts are still in force. Federal insurance of bank deposits was provided by the FDIC and the Glass–Steagall Act.
The Agricultural Adjustment Act provided incentives to cut farm production in order to raise farming prices. The National Recovery Administration (NRA) made a number of sweeping changes to the American economy. It forced businesses to work with the government to set price codes through the NRA to fight deflationary "cut-throat competition" by the setting of minimum prices and wages, labor standards, and competitive conditions in all industries. It encouraged unions that would raise wages to increase the purchasing power of the working class. The NRA was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1935.
These reforms, together with several other relief and recovery measures, are called the First New Deal. Economic stimulus was attempted through a new alphabet soup of agencies set up in 1933 and 1934 and previously extant agencies such as the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. By 1935, the "Second New Deal" added Social Security (which was later considerably extended through the Fair Deal), a jobs program for the unemployed (the Works Progress Administration, WPA) and, through the National Labor Relations Board, a strong stimulus to the growth of labor unions. In 1929, federal expenditures constituted only 3% of the GDP. The national debt as a proportion of GNP rose under Hoover from 20% to 40%. Roosevelt kept it at 40% until the war began, when it soared to 128%.
By 1936, the main economic indicators had regained the levels of the late 1920s, except for unemployment, which remained high at 11%, although this was considerably lower than the 25% unemployment rate seen in 1933. In the spring of 1937, American industrial production exceeded that of 1929 and remained level until June 1937. In June 1937, the Roosevelt administration cut spending and increased taxation in an attempt to balance the federal budget. The American economy then took a sharp downturn, lasting for 13 months through most of 1938. Industrial production fell almost 30% within a few months, and production of durable goods fell even faster. Unemployment jumped from 14.3% in 1937 to 19.0% in 1938, rising from 5 million to more than 12 million in early 1938. Manufacturing output fell by 37% from the 1937 peak and was back to 1934 levels.
Producers reduced their expenditures on durable goods, and inventories declined, but personal income was only 15% lower than it had been at the peak in 1937. As unemployment rose, consumers' expenditures declined, leading to further cutbacks in production. By May 1938 retail sales began to increase, employment improved, and industrial production turned up after June 1938. After the recovery from the recession of 1937–38, conservatives were able to form a bipartisan conservative coalition to stop further expansion of the New Deal, and when unemployment dropped to 2% in the early 1940s, they abolished WPA, CCC and the PWA relief programs. Social Security remained in place.
Between 1933 and 1939, federal expenditure tripled, and Roosevelt's critics charged that he was turning America into a socialist state. The Great Depression was a main factor in the implementation of social democracy and planned economies in European countries after World War II (see Marshall Plan). Keynesianism generally remained the most influential economic school in the United States and in parts of Europe until the periods between the 1970s and the 1980s, when Milton Friedman and other neoliberal economists formulated and propagated the newly created theories of neoliberalism and incorporated them into the Chicago School of Economics as an alternative approach to the study of economics. Neoliberalism went on to challenge the dominance of the Keynesian school of Economics in the mainstream academia and policy-making in the United States, having reached its peak in popularity in the election of the presidency of Ronald Reagan in the United States, and Margaret Thatcher in the United Kingdom.
== Literature ==
The Great Depression has been the subject of much writing, as authors have sought to evaluate an era that caused both financial and emotional trauma. Perhaps the most noteworthy and famous novel written on the subject is The Grapes of Wrath, published in 1939 and written by John Steinbeck, who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for the work and in 1962 was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. The novel focuses on a poor family of sharecroppers who are forced from their home as drought, economic hardship, and changes in the agricultural industry occur during the Great Depression. Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men is another important novella about a journey during the Great Depression. Additionally, Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird is set during the Great Depression. Margaret Atwood's Booker prize-winning The Blind Assassin is likewise set in the Great Depression, centering on a privileged socialite's love affair with a Marxist revolutionary. The era spurred the resurgence of social realism, practiced by many who started their writing careers on relief programs, especially the Federal Writers' Project in the U.S. Nonfiction works from this time also capture important themes. The 1933 memoir Prison Days and Nights by Victor Folke Nelson provides insight into criminal justice ramifications of the Great Depression, especially in regard to patterns of recidivism due to lack of economic opportunity.
Several works for younger audiences are also set during the Great Depression, among them the Kit Kittredge series of American Girl books written by Valerie Tripp and illustrated by Walter Rane, released to tie in with the dolls and playsets sold by the company. The stories, which take place during the early to mid 1930s in Cincinnati, focus on the changes brought by the Depression to the titular character's family and how the Kittredges dealt with it. A theatrical adaptation of the series entitled Kit Kittredge: An American Girl was later released in 2008 to positive reviews. Similarly, Christmas After All, part of the Dear America series of books for older girls, take place in the 1930s Indianapolis; while Kit Kittredge is told in a third-person viewpoint, Christmas After All is in the form of a fictional journal as told by the protagonist Minnie Swift as she recounts her experiences during the era, especially when her family takes in an orphan cousin from Texas.
== Naming ==
The term "The Great Depression" is most frequently attributed to British economist Lionel Robbins, whose 1934 book The Great Depression is credited with formalizing the phrase, though Hoover is widely credited with popularizing the term, informally referring to the downturn as a depression, with such uses as "Economic depression cannot be cured by legislative action or executive pronouncement" (December 1930, Message to Congress), and "I need not recount to you that the world is passing through a great depression" (1931).
The term "depression" to refer to an economic downturn dates to the 19th century, when it was used by varied Americans and British politicians and economists. The first major American economic crisis, the Panic of 1819, was described by then-president James Monroe as "a depression", and the most recent economic crisis, the Depression of 1920–21, had been referred to as a "depression" by then-president Calvin Coolidge.
Financial crises were traditionally referred to as "panics", most recently the major Panic of 1907, and the minor Panic of 1910–11, though the 1929 crisis was called "The Crash", and the term "panic" has since fallen out of use. At the time of the Great Depression, the term "The Great Depression" was already used to refer to the period 1873–96 (in the United Kingdom), or more narrowly 1873–79 (in the United States), which has retroactively been renamed the Long Depression.
=== Other "great depressions" ===
The collapse of the Soviet Union, and the breakdown of economic ties that followed, led to a severe economic crisis and catastrophic fall in the standards of living in the 1990s in post-Soviet states and the former Eastern Bloc, which was even worse than the Great Depression. Even before Russia's financial crisis of 1998, Russia's GDP was half of what it had been in the early 1990s.
== Comparison with the Great Recession ==
The worldwide economic decline after 2008 has been compared to the 1930s.
1928 and 1929 were the times in the 20th century that the wealth gap reached such skewed extremes; half the unemployed had been out of work for over six months, something that was not repeated until the late-2000s recession. 2007 and 2008 eventually saw the world reach new levels of wealth gap inequality that rivalled the years of 1928 and 1929. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Kostritsyn | Alexander Kostritsyn | Alexander Kostritsyn (born 1986) is a Russian professional poker player considered among the best online cash game players in the world. Kostritsyn plays under the alias joiso on PokerStars and PostflopAction on Full Tilt Poker.
In 2010, Kostritsyn won Event No. 9 at the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker for $269,284. Kostritsyn described winning $2.7 million online in 2013 as not a big winning streak for the stakes being played.
Kostritsyn won the 2008 Aussie Millions Main Event for $1,450,396 defeating WSOP bracelet winner Erik Seidel heads up. As of 2015, his total live tournament winnings exceed $3,000,000. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986_NBA_Finals | 1986 NBA Finals | The 1986 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 1985–86 season, and the culmination of the season's playoffs. It pitted the Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics against the Western Conference champion Houston Rockets, in a rematch of the 1981 NBA Finals (though only Allen Leavell and Robert Reid remained from the Rockets' 1981 team). It was the second and last NBA Championship Series of the 1980s not to feature the Los Angeles Lakers, who were eliminated by the Rockets on both occasions. The heavily favored Celtics defeated the Rockets four games to two to win their then-record 16th NBA championship. The championship would be the Celtics' last until 2008. Larry Bird was named the Finals MVP.
On another note, this series marked the first time the "NBA Finals" branding was officially used, as they dropped the "NBA World Championship Series" branding which had been in use since the beginning of the league, though it had been unofficially called the "NBA Finals" for years.
Until the 2011 series, this was the last time the NBA Finals had started before June. Since game three, all NBA Finals games have been played in June. Starting with the following year, the NBA Finals would be held exclusively in the month of June. It was also the last NBA Finals series to schedule a game on a Monday until 1999 and also the last NBA Finals game to be played on Memorial Day. Until the 2018 series, it was the last to conclude before June 10.
CBS Sports used Dick Stockton and Tom Heinsohn as the play-by-play man and color commentator respectively. Meanwhile, Brent Musburger was the host and Pat O'Brien (the Rockets' sideline) and Lesley Visser (the Celtics' sideline) were the sideline reporters.
== Background ==
=== Boston Celtics ===
The Celtics made the 1985 NBA Finals, but lost in six games to the Los Angeles Lakers. The series exposed some of Boston's weaknesses, such as the lack of bench scoring, which was exploited after Kevin McHale moved to the starting lineup with Cedric Maxwell bothered by knee injuries. In addition, Larry Bird played through an elbow injury, which severely affected his shooting. In the offseason, president Red Auerbach decided to tweak the roster, trading Maxwell to the Los Angeles Clippers for oft-injured center Bill Walton. He also made a trade with the Indiana Pacers, acquiring Jerry Sichting for Quinn Buckner. These moves would pave the way for the Celtics' greatest season yet.
Entering the 1985–86 season, the Celtics surged to a league-best 67–15 record, powered by an NBA record 40 victories at home. Their incomparable home record alone (since tied by the San Antonio Spurs in the 2015–2016 regular season) put the Celtics in the conversation among the NBA's greatest teams in a single season.
In the playoffs, Boston needed just three games to defeat the Chicago Bulls in the first round, despite a playoff record 63 points by Michael Jordan in Game 2. When asked about Jordan's performance in Boston's 135-131 2OT victory, Boston's coach K. C. Jones said, "I don't have a word for today." In retrospect, this game is considered to be a classic clash of the NBA's (arguably) greatest player, Jordan, and the NBA's (arguably) greatest team, Bird's 1985–86 Celtics. In the second round, Boston eliminated the Atlanta Hawks in five games, with the clinching Game 5 a no-doubter as Boston outscored Atlanta 36–6 in the third quarter in route to a 132–99 victory. Then in the conference finals, Boston swept the Milwaukee Bucks in four games, a direct reversal of their second round meeting in the 1983 NBA playoffs.
=== Houston Rockets ===
Following their previous Finals appearance in 1981, the Rockets entered a brief rebuilding period. Long-time Rockets Calvin Murphy and Rudy Tomjanovich retired, while Mike Dunleavy, Sr., Bill Willoughby, Tom Henderson and Billy Paultz moved on to different teams. But the biggest move came during the 1982 offseason, when the Rockets traded Moses Malone to the 1983 champions Philadelphia 76ers. The loss of Malone sent the Rockets to a league-worst 14–68 record in the 1982–83 season, after which the Rockets were awarded the top pick of the 1983 NBA draft and selected Ralph Sampson.
After a 29-win season in 1984, the Rockets were once again rewarded with the top pick in the 1984 NBA draft. They selected another center in Akeem Olajuwon, and paired alongside Sampson, they were dubbed as the "Twin Towers". Houston also added some valuable role players to complement the duo and holdovers Allen Leavell and Robert Reid, acquiring Rodney McCray, Lewis Lloyd, Craig Ehlo, Mitchell Wiggins and Jim Petersen.
Under third-year head coach Bill Fitch (the head coach of the 1980–81 Celtics championship team), the Rockets posted a 51–31 record and won the Midwest Division title. In the first round, they swept the Sacramento Kings, then eliminated the Denver Nuggets in six games during the second round. In the conference finals, they were matched up against the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers, and after losing Game 1, the Rockets stunned the Lakers by winning the final four games, highlighted by a series-clinching buzzer beater by Sampson in Game 5.
=== Road to the Finals ===
=== Regular season series ===
The Boston Celtics won both games in the regular season series:
== The Finals ==
The Larry Bird–led Celtics defeated the Rockets again 4 games to 2 in the 1986 NBA Finals. The Celtics won the first two games at the Boston Garden, where they had gone 40–1 during the regular season. The Rockets had been almost as good at home during the regular season, and they defeated the Celtics 106–104 in game three. Game 4 was a tense battle at the Summit, which the Celtics won 106–103, with Bill Walton coming off the bench for a tired Robert Parish to score a crucial basket. The infamous fifth game featured the signature moment of the series, when 7'4" Ralph Sampson ignited a brawl with Jerry Sichting, a player 15 inches (380 mm) shorter than Sampson, leading to his ejection. While Jim Petersen led the Rockets to a decisive victory, Sampson's actions motivated the Celtics to end the series in six. Bird dismantled the young Rockets in game 6; the raucous Garden crowd booed every time Sampson touched the ball. The Celtics eliminated the Rockets 114–97 in a game that wasn't as close as the score would indicate.
With backup forward Scott Wedman sidelined due to a wrist injury, Bird got very little rest during the six-game series, logging 269 out of a possible 288 minutes of floor time. Bird was named the Finals' MVP for that year, averaging 24 points, 9.7 rebounds, 9.7 assists, and 2.7 steals per game for the series. The Celtics' victory capped off a 29-year period that had seen them win 16 championships and it was their last championship until 2008.
== Series summary ==
=== Game 1 ===
The "Twin Towers" Ralph Sampson and Akeem Olajuwon were saddled with foul trouble for much of the game. Sampson got three quick fouls just 4:45 into the game and scored only two points; Olajuwon picked up five fouls despite scoring 33, 25 of which came in the first half. The backcourt tandem of Dennis Johnson and Danny Ainge provided the third quarter spurt for the Celtics, combining for 22 points, while Boston held Houston to just 17 points in an expected victory.
=== Game 2 ===
The third quarter again proved decisive for the Celtics, outscoring the Rockets 34–19 in the quarter. Sampson and Olajuwon combined for 32 points in the first half, but only seven in the second. Larry Bird paced the Celtics with 31 points on 12-for-19 shooting, while Kevin McHale added 25 in another Boston rout. It was Boston's 40th consecutive victory at home, regular season and playoffs combined.
=== Game 3 ===
The Rockets rallied from eight points down in the fourth quarter before escaping to a much-needed two-point win at home, despite another third quarter meltdown. Sampson and Olajuwon combined for 47 points and 30 rebounds, Robert Reid added 20, while reserve guard Mitchell Wiggins tipped in off an Olajuwon miss late in the fourth to put the Rockets ahead for good. The Celtics only managed one more shot in their final two possessions, a missed 5-footer by Robert Parish. Kevin McHale and Larry Bird both scored 28 points in the loss, but Bird was held to 3-for-12 shooting in the second half due to Reid's defense.
=== Game 4 ===
Larry Bird's three-pointer with 2:26 remaining gave Boston the lead for good, while holding the Rockets to just one basket in the final four minutes, keyed by Kevin McHale forcing three turnovers on Houston's final three possessions. Robert Parish scored 22 while hauling 15 rebounds. Dennis Johnson also added 22, while Bird scored 21 and dished out 10 assists. Ralph Sampson led the Rockets with 25 points, while Akeem Olajuwon, Robert Reid and Rodney McCray added 21, 19 and 17 respectively. The Rockets suffered their first home loss of the 1986 playoffs.
=== Game 5 ===
The game was highlighted by Ralph Sampson's ejection early in the second quarter. With 9:40 remaining in the second, Sampson threw punches at the Celtics' reserve guard Jerry Sichting, 16 inches shorter than Sampson, leading to his ejection while the benches were cleared. The Rockets were leading 34–33 at the time of the brawl, and would lead by as many as 25 points in the second half to score a lopsided victory. Akeem Olajuwon scored 32 points while blocking 8 shots. Though Kevin McHale scored 33, Larry Bird was held to only 17 points, ultimately leading to one of the worst losses suffered by the Celtics that season.
As of 2023, this remained the last NBA Finals game to be played by the Celtics in a state other than Massachusetts or California. The next time the Celtics played an NBA Finals game outside those two states also occurred in Texas, during Game Three of the 2024 NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks.
=== Game 6 ===
Larry Bird recorded a triple-double of 29 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists to pace a lopsided Boston win that clinched their 16th NBA championship. Kevin McHale added 29 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks. Olajuwon paced the Rockets with 21 points and 10 rebounds, but Ralph Sampson was held to only eight points on 4-for-12 shooting, visibly distracted by an angry Boston Garden crowd in the aftermath of Game 5. The Celtics led by as much as 30 in the fourth to put away the Rockets.
Following the conclusion of the 1986 NBA Finals, a video documentary of the 1985–86 NBA season, known as "Sweet Sixteen", was released. David Perry was the narrator after Dick Stockton narrated the last three NBA season documentaries.
This would be the city of Boston's last professional sports championship until 2002 when the New England Patriots won Super Bowl XXXVI.
== Player statistics ==
Boston Celtics
Houston Rockets
== Team rosters ==
=== Boston Celtics ===
=== Houston Rockets ===
== Aftermath ==
The 1986-87 version of the Celtics were still a great team, but the death of #2 overall pick Len Bias less than two days after the 1986 NBA draft and injuries loomed heavily over their season. Kevin McHale broke his foot in March and the team was never the same. McHale kept playing on the foot despite being told not to by doctors. The battered and fatigued Celtics – with not just McHale, but also Parish (two sprained ankles), Ainge (leg injury) and Walton (broken foot) playing hurt – lost to the Lakers in six games in the 1987 NBA Finals. Afterwards, the Celtics entered a rare and unusual slump for the next two decades, and would not win the championship again until 2008, in which the Celtics defeated the Lakers in six games.
Years afterward, The Boston Globe sportswriter Bob Ryan would always consider this a win by proxy for the Celtics in their rivalry in the 1980s with the Lakers, as the Rockets had eliminated the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals in a convincing five games. Ryan would also say, “I believe the 1987 Lakers and the 1986 Celtics was the greatest series that never was”.
As of 2026, this is the last time the Rockets lost in the NBA Finals. With a revamped roster around Akeem Olajuwon, they would return to the Finals in 1994 and defeated the New York Knicks in seven games for their first championship. Then, the Rockets would repeat as champions the following season, sweeping the Shaquille O'Neal-led Orlando Magic.
The 1986 NBA Finals was the second of three "Big Four" championship rounds involving Boston-based sports teams to take place in the 1986 calendar year. In January, the New England Patriots lost to the Chicago Bears 46–10 in Super Bowl XX. Then in October, the Boston Red Sox lost in seven games to the New York Mets in the World Series. The Mets' prior victory in the National League Championship Series against the Houston Astros also prevented a second championship series in a calendar year between teams from Boston and Houston.
Kevin McHale would later coach the Rockets from 2011 to 2015. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaMarcus_Aldridge#2013%E2%80%9314_season | LaMarcus Aldridge#2013–14 season | LaMarcus Nurae Aldridge (born July 19, 1985) is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for two seasons with the Texas Longhorns. Aldridge was selected second overall in the 2006 NBA draft. After spending nine seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers, he signed with the San Antonio Spurs in 2015. In March 2021, he signed with the Brooklyn Nets after the Spurs bought out his contract. He retired after two weeks due to an irregular heartbeat, but returned to the Nets the following season after receiving medical clearance.
Widely known for his signature fadeaway jump shot, Aldridge has been selected to five All-NBA teams and is a seven-time NBA All-Star.
== Early life ==
Aldridge's parents divorced when he was in the fifth grade and he was raised thereafter by his mother who worked for an insurance company. Aldridge grew up playing basketball alongside his older brother at parks in Dallas where he was considered to be "the tall kid who couldn't play." Standing at 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) as an eighth grader, Aldridge was recruited by Robert Allen, the head basketball coach at Seagoville High School, because of his height.
== High school career ==
Aldridge attended Seagoville High School, where he became a second-team Parade All-American and Texas Association of Basketball Coaches (TABC) Class 4A Player of the Year.
Considered a five-star recruit by Rivals.com, Aldridge was listed as the no. 4 best center and the no. 16 player in the nation in 2004.
== College career ==
Aldridge attended the University of Texas at Austin. He declared for the 2004 NBA draft but ultimately withdrew his name. According to one report, Aldridge's initial decision to attend college rather than entering the pro ranks directly from high school was influenced by Shaquille O'Neal's personal advice that he should go to college and then evaluate his NBA prospects. However, in April 2006, after the end of his second year with the Longhorns, Aldridge announced that he would leave college to enter the 2006 NBA draft.
== Professional career ==
=== Portland Trail Blazers (2006–2015) ===
==== 2006–07 season ====
Aldridge was drafted second overall in the 2006 NBA draft by the Chicago Bulls, only to have his rights traded to the Portland Trail Blazers for their pick, Tyrus Thomas, and Viktor Khryapa, shortly after. The Bulls acquired the pick from the New York Knicks in the 2005 Eddy Curry trade.
Aldridge missed the first seven games of the 2006–07 NBA season due to off-season shoulder surgery, but returned ahead of schedule due in part to an injury to fellow rookie teammate Brandon Roy. Aldridge made an immediate impact on offense, averaging 8.4 points on 54% shooting from the field through his first 14 games. After the loss of starting center Joel Przybilla, in February 2007 to season-ending knee surgery, Aldridge was awarded the starting center position and improved his scoring to 14.7 points with 8.0 rebounds per game in the month of March. This placed him second in the voting for the Western Conference Rookie of the Month to Roy. On March 31, 2007, in the first quarter against the Los Angeles Clippers, Aldridge was taken to Providence Hospital in Portland for shortness of breath and irregular heartbeat. He was diagnosed with Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome on April 9 and missed the remaining eight games of the 2006–07 season. Aldridge started 22 games in his rookie season.
Aldridge was one of six players named to the 2007 NBA All-Rookie first team; he tied for fifth place with Toronto Raptors player Jorge Garbajosa.
==== 2007–08 season ====
Aldridge elevated his play in his second season, with career highs in points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals, and finished third in voting for the NBA Most Improved Player Award. During this season, Aldridge had injury troubles due to plantar fasciitis, which caused him to miss games from December 11–18, 2007. After the time missed, Aldridge still had some trouble with the foot but was able to play effectively.
==== 2008–09 season ====
Aldridge played inconsistently to start the season, adjusting to more defensive pressure. He called the first 15 games "the worst funk" of his life but gradually improved as the season went on.
Aldridge developed his offensive game over the course of the season, still relying heavily on his midrange fade away shot. He finished the season averaging 18.1 points and 7.5 rebounds. Aldridge scored over 20 points in half of the last 28 games of the season. For his first time in the league Aldridge nearly played a full season, missing only one game.
==== 2009–10 season ====
In late October, Aldridge signed a five-year, $65 million contract extension with Portland. Before committing to Aldridge, the Trail Blazers finalized a five-year, $80 million deal with All-Star Brandon Roy.
Aldridge put up similar numbers to the previous season. Early in December, Greg Oden suffered a season-ending injury. Aldridge received more minutes and offensive opportunities as a result.
==== 2010–11 season ====
Aldridge further emerged as both a player and a leader after Brandon Roy went out with knee problems in December 2010. In spite of Portland's "send LA to LA" program — the NBA All-Star game was in Los Angeles and Aldridge's nickname is "L-A" — Aldridge failed to get named to the Western Conference squad. LeBron James called Aldridge's omission as "the biggest snub in All-Star history." He was, however, awarded the NBA Player of the Week for January 17–23 and February 7–13, and scored a career-high 42 points against the Chicago Bulls on February 7, 2011. On March 2, he joined Clyde Drexler (1991) and Kelvin Ransey (1981) as the only Blazers to ever receive the NBA Player of the Month award. Aldridge was runner-up to Kevin Love for the Most Improved Player Award, and voted to the All-NBA Third Team with 135 votes.
==== 2011–12 season ====
Due to the lockout, the 2011–12 season did not start until Christmas Day 2011. Blazer fans were hopeful that the three players advertised in their "Rise With Us" promotional campaign (Aldridge, Roy, and Greg Oden) would finally have a chance to play together for a "full" season. Those plans evaporated when Roy, who suffered from chronic knee problems due to the lack of cartilage in them, retired and Oden, who had only played in 82 games in the previous four seasons, had yet another setback in his effort to rehabilitate his knees. Aldridge was named a reserve on the Western Conference All-Star team in 2012.
==== 2012–13 season ====
On November 12, 2012, Aldridge recorded a career-high eight assists in a 95–87 loss to the Atlanta Hawks. In 2013, Aldridge was named an All-Star for the second time in his career. He averaged 21.1 points per game, a career-high 9.1 rebounds per game and also recorded a career-high 2.6 assists per game in 37.7 minutes per game. The Trail Blazers went 33–49 and missed the playoffs for the second straight year.
==== 2013–14 season ====
Despite trade rumors during the 2013 offseason, Aldridge voiced his desire to stay put in Portland, while also asking for improvements to the Blazers' roster. Aldridge started out his eighth NBA season strong, recording five straight double-doubles from November 9 to 17. On November 23, 2013, in a game against the Warriors, Aldridge was involved in an altercation after Warriors center Andrew Bogut became entangled with Joel Freeland. On November 25, it was announced that he was fined $45,000 for escalating the incident. The very same day, Aldridge was named Western Conference Player of the Week for the fourth time in his career. The award came in the midst of an 11-game win streak for the Blazers, during which Aldridge averaged 21.1 points, 11.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 2.5 blocks per game. On December 12, 2013, Aldridge scored 31 points and grabbed a career-high 25 rebounds in a 111–104 victory over the Houston Rockets, becoming the first player in Portland Trail Blazers franchise history with at least 30 points and 25 rebounds in a game. On January 23, 2014, Aldridge recorded a career-high 44 points along with 13 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 blocks in a 110–105 victory over the Denver Nuggets.
The Trail Blazers went 31–10 over the first half of the 2014 season, consistently staying near the top of the Western Conference through the first three months of the season, and making a push for a return to the playoffs. Alongside teammate Damian Lillard, Aldridge was voted in as a reserve for the 2014 NBA All-Star Game, his third straight appearance. He finished fifth in the frontcourt fan voting, garnering over 600,000 votes.
Aldridge suffered a lower back contusion during the third quarter of a game versus the San Antonio Spurs on March 12, 2014. He missed the next seven games but returned in time to help the Blazers secure their 30th playoff berth and first since 2011.
On April 20, 2014, Aldridge recorded a new career high and franchise playoff high of 46 points along with 18 rebounds, two assists, and two blocks in Game 1 of the opening round of the playoffs against the Houston Rockets which ended in a 122–120 overtime win for the Portland Trail Blazers. On April 23, 2014, in Game 2 of the Blazers' series against the Houston Rockets, Aldridge tallied 43 points and eight rebounds. He joined Michael Jordan, Jerry West, Allen Iverson, and Tracy McGrady as the only players in NBA history to score 89 or more points in the first two games of a playoff series. Over the entire six-game series with Houston, Aldridge averaged 29.8 points and over 2.5 blocks per game. In the next series against the Spurs, Aldridge struggled, shooting only 41.7 percent from the field, as the Blazers were handily defeated in five games. Ultimately, Aldridge had a career season in 2014, winning three Western Conference Player of the Week awards, and recording career highs in points per game, rebounds per game, free-throw percentage, defensive rebounds, and double-doubles.
==== 2014–15 season ====
On December 9, 2014, in a game against the Detroit Pistons, Aldridge passed Terry Porter for second on the franchise's all-time scoring list with 11,333 career points. After leading Portland over the first half of the season with averages of 23.2 points and 10.2 rebounds per game, Aldridge was ruled out for six to eight weeks on January 23, 2015, after tearing the radial collateral ligament in his left thumb. However, he missed just two games after deciding against surgery and returned to the starting lineup on January 24 against the Washington Wizards, scoring 26 points in a victory that followed two losses with him sidelined. After being selected as a frontcourt reserve to his fourth straight NBA All-Star Game appearance on January 29, Aldridge was named as a starter on February 14 by Western Conference All-Star head coach Steve Kerr, replacing the injured Anthony Davis.
On March 20, 2015, Aldridge became the Trail Blazers' all-time leader in rebounds by recording 10 against the Orlando Magic. Meanwhile, however, the Blazers were cooling off after a 30–11 record through the first 41 games of the season when shooting guard Wesley Matthews, whom Aldridge called "the heart and soul" of the Trail Blazers, tore his Achilles tendon on March 5 against the Dallas Mavericks and missed the rest of the season and playoffs. The Blazers subsequently went 21–20 through their final 41 games. In the playoffs, the short-handed Blazers were outplayed and outmatched by the Memphis Grizzlies in five games. Aldridge averaged a career-best 23.4 points per game, made a league-best 659 field goals, and was voted onto the All-NBA Second Team.
=== San Antonio Spurs (2015–2021) ===
==== 2015–16 season ====
On July 9, 2015, Aldridge signed a four-year, $80 million contract with the San Antonio Spurs. Upon being acquired by the Spurs, Aldridge was granted the number 12 jersey despite it having been retired for Bruce Bowen. Bowen gave Aldridge and the Spurs his blessing to unretire the number for him. He made his debut for the Spurs in the team's season opener on October 28 against the Oklahoma City Thunder. In just under 32 minutes of action, he recorded 11 points and 5 rebounds in a 112–106 loss. On November 11, he returned to Portland for the first time as a Spur, recording 23 points and 6 rebounds in a 113–101 win over his former team. On February 1, 2016, he scored a season-high 28 points in a 107–92 win over the Orlando Magic, helping the Spurs win its 35th straight home game (dating to March 2015), good for the sixth-best streak in league history. He topped his season-high mark two days later, scoring 36 points in a 110–97 win over the New Orleans Pelicans. With the win, the Spurs moved to 27–0 at home to start the season, snapping a tie with the 1977–78 Portland Trail Blazers for the best home start among Western Conference teams. On February 8, he was named the Western Conference Player of the Week for games played Monday, February 1 through Sunday, February 7. He averaged 26.0 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.5 blocks while shooting .597 (37–62) from the field and .909 from the free throw line to help the Spurs go 4–0 for the week.
After dislocating his right pinkie finger on April 7, it bothered him for the rest of the regular season and into the playoffs. As the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, the Spurs faced a depleted Memphis Grizzlies team in the first round. In a Game 1 win, Aldridge scored 17 points. The Spurs went on to sweep the Grizzlies in the first round to move on to the conference semifinals, where they faced the Oklahoma City Thunder. In Game 1 of the series against the Thunder, Aldridge scored a game-high 38 points on 18-of-23 shooting in a 124–92 win. In a Game 2 loss, he bested that mark by scoring 41 points.
==== 2016–17 season ====
In the Spurs' season opener on October 25, 2016, Aldridge recorded 26 points and 14 rebounds in a 129–100 win over the Golden State Warriors. His next best performance came on December 25 against the Chicago Bulls. Aldridge had a season-high 33 points in a 119–110 win over the Bulls, marking his second-highest scoring output as a Spur. He made his first nine attempts while scoring 20 points in the opening period, his most in any quarter with the Spurs. On March 11, 2017, he was ruled out for an indefinite period due to an occurrence of a minor heart arrhythmia. He was medically cleared to return on March 15. In his first game back, Aldridge had 19 points and seven rebounds in a 110–106 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. As a result, Aldridge reached 1,000 points for a 10th straight season, joining LeBron James and Dwyane Wade as the only active players (at the time) with that streak.
On May 11, 2017, the Spurs eliminated the Houston Rockets with a 114–75 victory in Game 6 of their second-round playoff series behind a season-high 34 points from Aldridge. Aldridge had failed to get out of the second round in his previous six postseason trips. He also became the first Spur to score 34 points with 12 rebounds in a playoff game since Tim Duncan against the Phoenix Suns in 2008. The Spurs went on to lose to the Warriors in a clean sweep in the Western Conference Finals. Aldridge closed out a disappointing series with his second eight-point effort against the Warriors. He entered Game 4 averaging 18 points but was held to 4-for-11 shooting in 22 minutes in the series finale.
==== 2017–18 season ====
On October 16, 2017, Aldridge signed a three-year, $72.3 million contract extension with the Spurs, with only $7 million guaranteed in the final year of the extension. Two days later, in the Spurs' season opener, Aldridge had 25 points and 10 rebounds in a 107–99 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. On November 14, 2017, he scored a season-high 32 points in a 97–91 win over the Dallas Mavericks. On November 27, 2017, he set a new season high with 33 points in a 115–108 win over the Mavericks. Two days later, he set his San Antonio high with 41 points in a 104–95 win over the Memphis Grizzlies. On January 23, 2018, he was named a Western Conference All-Star reserve, becoming the first Spurs player who didn't play his rookie season in San Antonio to make the All-Star team since Artis Gilmore in 1986. Three days later, in a 97–78 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, Aldridge grabbed his 7,000th career rebound. On March 17, 2018, he had a 39-point effort in a 117–101 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. On March 21, 2018, in a 98–90 win over the Washington Wizards, Aldridge became the 27th player in league history with 900-plus blocks and 16,000-plus points in his career. Two days later, he had a career-high 45 points in a 124–120 overtime win over the Utah Jazz. His 28 points in the first half were the most by a Spurs in a half since Manu Ginóbili had 28 points against Cleveland in 2008. In Game 2 of the Spurs' first-round playoff series against the Golden State Warriors, Aldridge scored a game-high 34 points in a 116–101 loss. The Spurs went on to lose the series in five games.
==== 2018–19 season ====
In the Spurs' season opener on October 17, Aldridge recorded 21 points and 19 rebounds in a 112–108 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. On October 22, he had 37 points and 10 rebounds in a 143–142 overtime win over the Los Angeles Lakers. On December 29, he scored 38 points in a 122–111 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. On January 10, 2019, he scored a career-high 56 points in a 154–147 double-overtime victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder. On January 31, 2019, he was named a Western Conference All-Star reserve. On February 2, he had 25 points and 14 rebounds in a 113–108 win over the New Orleans Pelicans, thus reaching 18,000 points. On March 24, he had 48 points and 13 rebounds in a 115–98 win over the Boston Celtics.
==== 2019–20 season ====
In a game against the Golden State Warriors, Aldridge collected his 8,000th career rebound. On November 7, 2019, against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Aldridge recorded a season-high 39 points in a winning effort. On June 8, 2020, the San Antonio Spurs announced that Aldridge had undergone an arthroscopic subacromial decompression and rotator cuff debridement on his right shoulder on April 24 and would miss the remainder of the 2019–20 season.
==== 2020–21 season ====
In 2020–21, Aldridge missed eight of San Antonio's final 11 games before the NBA All-Star break due to hip and quadriceps injuries. They were 6–2 in the games that he missed. He was a reserve in the three games that he did play, the first time he came off the bench since he was a rookie with Portland. After the break, Aldridge and the Spurs mutually agreed that he would not return to the team, and he was granted permission to seek out opportunities with other teams. He was averaging 13.7 points and 4.5 rebounds in 25.9 minutes per game for the season. On March 25, 2021, Aldridge reached a contract buyout agreement with San Antonio.
=== Brooklyn Nets (2021–2022) ===
On March 28, 2021, Aldridge signed with the Brooklyn Nets. On April 1, he debuted for the Nets, posting 11 points, nine rebounds and a season-high six assists in a 111–89 win against Charlotte Hornets. On April 15, Aldridge announced his retirement, citing health concerns arising from an irregular heartbeat.
On September 3, 2021, Aldridge re-signed with the Nets after he received medical clearance to return to playing professional basketball. On October 22, Aldridge scored a season-high 23 points in a win against Philadelphia 76ers. On October 29, Aldridge scored 21 points in a 105–98 win over the Indiana Pacers, reaching 20,000 career points.
On March 31, 2023, Aldridge announced his retirement for a second time.
== Career statistics ==
=== NBA ===
==== Regular season ====
==== Playoffs ====
=== College ===
== Awards and honors ==
NBA
NBA All-Star: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019
All-NBA Second Team: 2015, 2018
All-NBA Third Team: 2011, 2014, 2016
NBA All-Rookie First Team: 2007
Western Conference Player of the Week
January 17–23, 2011
February 7–13, 2011
March 11–17, 2013
November 18–24, 2013
December 2–8, 2013
December 9–15, 2013
December 1–7, 2014
December 15–21, 2014
February 1–7, 2016
March 19–25, 2018
Western Conference Player of the Month
February 2011
College
NABC All-American Third Team (2006)
Big-12 Defensive Player of the Year (2006)
First-team All-Big 12 (2006)
Big-12 All-Defensive Team (2006)
Big-12 All-Tournament Team (2006)
== Personal life ==
Aldridge and his ex-partner have a son together, who was born in 2009. His second son was born in 2011.
Aldridge's older brother, LaVontae, played basketball at Howard College until a knee injury ended his career. He died in 2022 at the age of 42. Aldridge's cousin, Marlon Hairston, is a midfielder for Columbus Crew SC of Major League Soccer.
In 2007, Aldridge was diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, a heart ailment. He missed the rest of the 2006–07 regular season in order to monitor the problem and correct it. Prior to the 2011–12 season, Aldridge once again underwent surgery to correct complications associated with his heart condition.
Aldridge has appeared in two episodes of Portlandia — season 2 episode 8, attending the 10th anniversary of the bookstore Women and Women First with Penny Marshall, and season 4 episode 7, "Trail Blazers". |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Scottish_Parliament_election | 2021 Scottish Parliament election | The 2021 Scottish Parliament election took place on 6 May 2021 under the provisions of the Scotland Act 1998. It was the sixth Scottish Parliament election since the devolved parliament was established in 1999. 129 Members of the Scottish Parliament were elected. The election was held alongside the Senedd election in Wales, English local elections, London Assembly and mayoral election and the Hartlepool by-election.
The election campaign started on 25 March 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland. As a result, Parliament went into recess on 5 May, the day before the election. The main parties fielding candidates were: the Scottish National Party (SNP), led by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon; the Scottish Conservatives, led by Douglas Ross; Scottish Labour, led by Anas Sarwar; the Scottish Liberal Democrats, led by Willie Rennie, and the Scottish Greens, jointly led by Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater. Of those five parties, three had changed their leader since the 2016 election.
Newer parties set up since the 2016 election included: Reform UK Scotland, led by Michelle Ballantyne; the Alba Party, led by former First Minister and SNP leader Alex Salmond; and All for Unity, led by George Galloway. These parties only competed for seats on the regional lists. They all failed to win any seats.
The election resulted in the SNP winning a fourth consecutive term in government. They won 64 seats, a net increase of one from the 2016 election. The SNP gained Edinburgh Central, Ayr, and East Lothian, as well as winning the largest share of the popular vote and the largest number of constituency seats in any Scottish Parliament election (62). The Greens won eight seats, their best result to date at a Scottish Parliament election, while the Conservatives retained second place with 31 seats. Labour had its worst-ever result with 22 seats, and the lowest share of the vote in both constituency and list votes for either Westminster or Holyrood since 1910. The Liberal Democrats also had their worst showing at a Holyrood election to date, winning only four seats.
The SNP and the Greens, both of which support Scottish independence, won 72 of the 129 seats in the parliament. Unionist parties (that is, those against independence) achieved a small majority of votes in constituency contests, whilst pro-independence parties achieved a small majority in the regional lists. The turnout was 63.5%, which is the highest ever at a Scottish Parliament election. Following the election, the third Sturgeon government was formed. It initially consisted of just the SNP, but later included Slater and Harvie of the Scottish Greens as junior ministers after the two parties negotiated a power-sharing agreement.
== Background ==
=== Electoral events ===
==== 2016 Scottish Parliament election ====
At the 2016 election, the ruling Scottish National Party (SNP) lost its parliamentary majority but was able to continue governing under Nicola Sturgeon as a minority administration. At the same election, the Conservatives overtook Labour to place second, whilst the Greens overtook the Liberal Democrats to place fourth. No representatives of minor parties were elected to the Parliament.
==== Other elections ====
Four further elections affecting Scotland took place between the 2016 and 2021 Scottish Parliament elections:
May 2017: Scottish local government elections. The SNP retained its position as the largest party in terms of votes and councillors. The Conservatives displaced Labour as the second largest party, while the Liberal Democrats suffered a net loss of councillors despite increasing their share of the vote.
June 2017: United Kingdom general election. The SNP lost 21 of its MPs, winning 35 seats. The Conservatives won 13 seats, with their highest vote share in any election in Scotland since 1979. Labour won seven seats, while the Liberal Democrats won four.
May 2019: European Parliament election. This was dominated by the impending Brexit-deadline. The SNP won three of the six seats in Scotland, with the Brexit Party, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats each winning one seat.
December 2019: United Kingdom general election. The SNP increased its share of the vote, reclaiming thirteen of the seats they lost in 2017. The Conservatives won six Scottish seats with a net lost of seven. The Liberal Democrats won four seats with no net losses, but their leader, Jo Swinson, lost her own seat to the SNP. Labour was reduced to a single Scottish seat, a net loss of six.
=== Leadership changes ===
Three parties had undergone leadership changes since the 2016 election. In August 2017, Kezia Dugdale resigned as leader of Scottish Labour and was replaced by Richard Leonard. In January 2021, less than four months before the election, Leonard resigned. Anas Sarwar won the subsequent leadership election.
In August 2019, Lorna Slater and Patrick Harvie became co-leaders of the Scottish Greens.
Also in August 2019, Ruth Davidson resigned as leader of the Scottish Conservatives and was succeeded by Jackson Carlaw. Carlaw resigned as leader in July 2020, with Douglas Ross winning the subsequent leadership election unopposed.
=== Expansion of the electorate ===
The 2021 election was the first to come after the passage of the Scottish Elections (Franchise and Representation) Act, which extended the franchise to those serving prison sentences of 12 months or less. In 2005, the United Kingdom was found in breach of Protocol 1, Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights in regards to prisoner voting rights in the European Court of Human Rights as a result of Hirst v United Kingdom (No 2); the Act brings Scotland in line with the court ruling.
This act also allows all foreign nationals resident in Scotland to vote and all those with indefinite leave to remain or equivalent status, including pre–settled status in the United Kingdom, to stand as candidates. A BBC News report in April 2021 said that there were around 55,000 foreign nationals who had been given the right to vote as a result of these changes, including 20,000 refugees.
== Date ==
Under the Scotland Act 1998, an ordinary general election to the Scottish Parliament would normally have been held on the first Thursday in May four years after the 2016 election, i.e. in May 2020. This would have clashed with the proposed date of a UK general election, although this became a moot point when a snap UK general election was held in June 2017 (a further UK general election was held in December 2019). In November 2015, the Scottish Government published a Scottish Elections (Dates) Bill, which proposed to extend the term of the Parliament to five years. This was passed by the Scottish Parliament on 25 February 2016 and received Royal Assent on 30 March 2016, setting the new date for the election as 6 May 2021.
The Scottish Elections (Dates) Act did not affect the legal possibilities for the Parliament to be dissolved earlier, those being;
That the date of the poll may be varied by up to one month either way by the monarch, on the proposal of the Presiding Officer.
If Parliament itself resolves that it should be dissolved, with at least two-thirds of the Members (i.e. 86 Members) voting in favour, the Presiding Officer proposes a date for an extraordinary general election and the Parliament is dissolved by the monarch by royal proclamation.
If Parliament fails to nominate one of its members to be First Minister within 28 days, irrespective of whether at the beginning or in the middle of a parliamentary term. Therefore, if the First Minister resigned, Parliament would then have 28 days to elect a successor and if no new First Minister was elected then the Presiding Officer would ask for Parliament to be dissolved. This process could also be triggered if the First Minister lost a vote of confidence by a simple majority, as they must then resign.
Nevertheless, no extraordinary general elections have been held to date. Any extraordinary general election would be in addition to the ordinary general elections, unless held less than six months before the due date of an ordinary general election, in which case it would supplant it. This would not affect the year in which the subsequent ordinary general election would be held.
On 16 November 2020, the Scottish General Election (Coronavirus) Bill was introduced. This draft legislation stated that while the next election was intended to be held on 6 May 2021, the Presiding Officer would gain the power to postpone the election by up to six months if the spread of COVID-19 made that date impractical. The bill also proposed to change the date of dissolution to the day before the election, meaning that the Parliament could be recalled during the election period. The bill was enacted and received Royal Assent on 29 January 2021. Parliament was in fact recalled on 12 April, to allow MSPs to mark the death of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
== Retiring MSPs ==
James Dornan announced in February 2020 his intention to retire at the next Holyrood election, but reversed this decision some months later.
== Parties ==
The SNP, Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats fielded candidates in all 73 constituencies and all eight of the regional ballots. Five other parties contested both all eight regions and at least one constituency: the Scottish Greens (12 constituencies) the Scottish Libertarian Party (9), the Scottish Family Party (7), UKIP (5) and the Freedom Alliance (4). Four parties – Abolish the Scottish Parliament Party, Alba Party, All for Unity, and Reform UK – stood in all eight electoral regions, but did not contest any constituencies.
Six other parties contested some of the regions and at least one constituency: TUSC (3 regions and 3 constituencies), Restore Scotland (2 regions, 4 constituencies), Scotia Future (2 of each), the Communist Party of Britain (2 regions and 1 constituency), the Reclaim Party (1 of each) and the Vanguard Party (also 1 of each). Five other parties – Independent Green Voice (5 regions), Renew (5), the Social Democratic Party (2), Women's Equality (2) and Animal Welfare (1) – contested some of the regions, but not any constituencies.
The Scottish Socialist Party, which participated in the last election as part of the electoral alliance RISE – Scotland's Left Alliance, opted not to participate in this election, for the first time since its inception.
=== List of parties contesting all regional ballots ===
== Election system, seats and regions ==
The total number of Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) elected to the Parliament was 129.
The Scottish Parliament uses an additional member system (AMS), designed to produce approximate proportional representation for each region. There are 8 regions, each sub-divided into 8 to 10 single-member constituencies. There is a total of 73 constituencies. Each constituency elects one MSP by the plurality (first past the post) system of election. Each region elects 7 additional MSPs using an additional member system. A modified D'Hondt method using the constituency results is used to elect these additional MSPs.
The boundaries of the 73 constituencies last changed as of the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, as did the configuration of the electoral regions used to elect "list" members of the Scottish Parliament. These revisions were the outcome of the First Periodical Review of the Scottish Parliament's constituencies and regions conducted by the Boundary Commission for Scotland; the Review was announced on 3 July 2007 and the Commission published its final report on 26 May 2010.
The Scottish Parliament constituencies have not been coterminous with Scottish Westminster constituencies since the 2005 general election, when the 72 former UK Parliament constituencies were replaced with a new set of 59, generally larger, constituencies (see Scottish Parliament (Constituencies) Act 2004). The size difference between Westminster and Holyrood boundaries was due to diverge further upon the implementation of the Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, which has not been voted upon by Parliament. The 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies for a UK total of 650 MPs commenced in England in 2021 and will complete for the UK by 2023.
== Campaign ==
The election campaign started on 25 March 2021. The Scottish Conservatives launched their campaign the same day, with a focus on promoting Scotland's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
On 26 March 2021, the Alba Party was publicly launched by former First Minister of Scotland and SNP leader, Alex Salmond. The party announced plans to stand list-only candidates. Two sitting SNP MPs later defected to the Alba party. The Action for Independence party, which had intended to pursue a similar list-only strategy, announced they would stand down their candidates in favour of Alba. Sturgeon said she would refuse to have any dealings with Salmond unless he apologises to the women who had accused him of harassment. Salmond was ultimately acquitted of all charges.
BBC Scotland announced that it would broadcast two debates between the main parties' leaders; the first was aired on 30 March 2021 and was moderated by the corporation's Scotland editor Sarah Smith. The debate included key questions from the audience on the COVID-19 recovery, climate change, and a second referendum on Scottish independence. The second BBC debate was held on 4 May 2021 and was moderated by BBC Scotland's political editor Glenn Campbell.
Commercial broadcaster STV held their leaders' debate on 13 April, moderated by their political editor Colin Mackay. NUS Scotland held a debate, specifically on student issues, on 20 April; it was moderated by NUS Scotland president Matt Crilly and featured the three main party leaders.
On 1 April, Planet Radio announced that their Clyde 2 station would be hosting a Leaders Phone-In with the main party leaders every Sunday before the election. Douglas Ross was the first to be interviewed on 4 April, with Willie Rennie following on 18 April. Whilst Nicola Sturgeon was set to be interviewed on 11 April, campaigning was delayed following the death of Prince Philip and her phone-in was instead held on 22 April. Patrick Harvie followed on 25 April; and Anas Sarwar had the final phone-in on 2 May.
Following Prince Philip's death on 9 April, the SNP, Conservatives, Labour, Greens and Liberal Democrats said they would suspend election campaigning until further notice. After discussion between the parties, they agreed to resume campaigning after a special parliamentary session on 12 April to make tributes and to pause activities again on the day of the funeral (17 April).
=== Election debates ===
== Opinion polling ==
Graph of opinion poll results prior to the 2021 Scottish Parliament election. Trendlines are 30-day moving averages.
Key
SNP – Scottish National Party
Conservative – Scottish Conservatives
Labour – Scottish Labour
Lib Dem – Scottish Liberal Democrats
Green – Scottish Greens
UKIP – UK Independence Party
Reform – Reform UK
SSP – Scottish Socialist Party
Alba – Alba Party
AFU – All for Unity
== Target seats ==
Below are listed all the constituencies which required a swing of less than 5% from the 2016 result to change hands. The most marginal opportunity for the Greens was in Glasgow Kelvin, which they needed a 7.1% swing to gain. The Liberal Democrats' best bet was Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, which required a 6.1% swing. The SNP ended up holding both of these constituencies.
=== SNP targets ===
=== Conservative targets ===
=== Labour targets ===
== Results ==
=== Overall ===
(Note: no mechanism is used to have the overall seat counts for each party reflect the party share of the overall vote. Each region is taken independently and seats in each region are allocated just as per the region's vote.)
=== Votes summary ===
=== Central Scotland ===
=== Glasgow ===
=== Highlands and Islands ===
=== Lothian ===
=== Mid Scotland and Fife ===
=== North East Scotland ===
=== South Scotland ===
=== West Scotland ===
=== Constituency seat changes compared to 2016 ===
=== MSPs who lost their seats ===
=== Analysis ===
The SNP won 64 seats, falling one seat short of an overall majority. Some commentators put this down to unionists voting tactically for Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat candidates. According to psephologist John Curtice, "Denying the SNP an overall majority was, indeed, a collective effort – at least on the part of Unionist voters, who on the constituency ballot demonstrated a remarkable willingness to back whichever pro-Union party appeared to be best placed locally to defeat the SNP. [...] These patterns had a decisive impact on the outcome." This was apparent in seats like Dumbarton, where incumbent Labour MSP Jackie Baillie saw her 0.3% majority increased to 3.9%, whilst both the Conservative and Lib Dem vote share decreased.
In The National, Emer O'Toole questioned whether social media adverts with "a lack of transparency over funding" may have cost the SNP key seats as well. The day before the election, The Guardian reported that anti-independence groups and campaigners had "spent tens of thousands of pounds in the past week", including on Facebook adverts, calling for tactical voting to prevent the SNP getting a majority. One of these groups was Scotland Matters, whose founder, Professor Hugh Pennington said, "Across the country as a whole, tactical voting is obviously one of the ways forward to basically harm the SNP, not to put too fine a point on it."
Additionally, the Greens claimed that they may have been deprived of two seats because of Independent Green Voice (IGV), a far-right party which has nothing to do with the Scottish Greens (who support Scottish independence). IGV received nearly 10,000 votes, including 2,210 in Glasgow (where the Greens were 1,000 short of gaining a seat) and 1,690 in South Scotland (where the Greens fell 100 short). This potentially prevented pro-independence parties from having a 19-seat majority instead of 15 seats.
The Scottish and Welsh Election Studies 2021, revealed on 13 June, found that around a third of Scottish voters who decided to vote differently in the run-up to the election did so to stop another party, and that 90% of those who did this did so in a bid to prevent the SNP winning the seat. Rob Johns, Professor in Politics at the University of Essex, said: "[W]e found a lot more switching than we had expected. The polls had suggested that not much was changing and obviously the overall election result was almost eerily similar to 2016. That can mean that nobody has changed their mind or it can mean lots of people have changed their mind – but these have cancelled out as people have moved in opposing directions. We found there was quite a lot more of that than we had expected."
=== Voter demographics ===
Data from Savanta ComRes:
== Campaign spending ==
== Aftermath ==
Nicola Sturgeon was nominated as First Minister by a vote held on 18 May 2021. Her cabinet was approved by the parliament two days later and thus the Third Sturgeon government, a minority government, was formed.
On 3 August 2021, it was reported that a co-operation agreement between the SNP and the Greens was "on the brink of being finalised" and could see Green MSPs take ministerial positions in government. On 19 August, the power-sharing agreement between the two parties was announced. Under the terms of the agreement, the Greens have two MSPs appointed as junior ministers in the government who are invited to attend cabinet meetings when their portfolios are being discussed. The Greens signed up to the bulk of the SNP's policies, but in areas of disagreement such as international relations and fee-paying schools the two parties are free to publicly disagree. The agreement states that the Greens support the government on votes of confidence and supply.
A deal that would see Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater made ministers was revealed on 26 August, subject to being voted upon by Green Party members. Two days later, members of both parties overwhelmingly voted in favour of the deal. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweden_Democrats | Sweden Democrats | The Sweden Democrats (Swedish: Sverigedemokraterna [ˈsvæ̂rjɛdɛmʊˌkrɑːtɛɳa] , SD [ˈɛ̂sːdeː] ) is a nationalist and right-wing populist political party in Sweden founded in 1988. As of 2024, it is the largest member of Sweden's right-wing bloc and the second-largest party in the Riksdag. It provides confidence and supply to the right-wing ruling coalition. Within the European Union, the party is a member of the European Conservatives and Reformists Party.
The party describes itself as social conservative with a nationalist foundation. The party has also been variously characterised by universities, political commentators, and international media as economic nationalist, national-conservative, anti-immigration, anti-Islam, anti-gender, Eurosceptic, and right-wing or far-right. The Sweden Democrats reject the far-right label, saying that it no longer represents its political beliefs. Among the party's founders, original leadership and early members were several people that had previously been active in white nationalist and neo-Nazi political parties and organizations. Under the leadership of Jimmie Åkesson since 2005, the SD underwent a process of reform by expelling hardline members and moderating its beliefs, building on a work that had begun during the late 1990s and early 2000s when the party began to distance itself from neo-Nazi activism and sought to position its image as a more mainstream party. Today, the SD officially rejects fascism and Nazism on their platform and since 2012 claims to have maintained a zero-tolerance policy against "extremists", "lawbreakers", and "racists". In 2025, the SD issued an official apology for its previous links to neo-Nazism during its early years.
The Sweden Democrats oppose current Swedish immigration and integration policies, instead supporting stronger restrictions on immigration and measures for immigrants to assimilate into Swedish culture. The Sweden Democrats are critical of multiculturalism and support having a common national and cultural identity, which they believe improves social cohesion. The party supports the Swedish welfare state but is against providing welfare to people who are not Swedish citizens and permanent residents of Sweden. The Sweden Democrats support a mixed market economy combining ideas from the centre-left and centre-right. The party supports same-sex marriage, civil unions for gay couples, and gender-affirming surgery but prefers that children be raised in a traditional nuclear family and argues that churches or private institutions should have the final say on performing a wedding over the state. The SD also calls for a ban on forced, polygamous or child marriages and stricter enforcement of laws against honour violence. The Sweden Democrats support keeping Sweden's nuclear power plants in order to mitigate climate change but argues that other countries should reduce their greenhouse gas emissions instead of Sweden, which the party believes is doing enough to reduce their emissions. The Sweden Democrats support generally increasing minimum sentences for crimes, as well as increasing police resources and personnel. The party also supports increasing the number of Swedish Army brigades and supports raising Sweden's defense spending.
Support for the Sweden Democrats has grown steadily since the 1990s and the party crossed the 4% threshold necessary for parliamentary representation for the first time during the 2010 Swedish general election, polling 5.7% and gaining 20 seats in the Riksdag. This increase in popularity has been compared by international media to other similar anti-immigration movements in Europe. The party received increased support in the 2018 Swedish general election, when it polled 17.5% and secured 62 seats in parliament, becoming the third largest party in Sweden. The Sweden Democrats were formerly isolated in the Riksdag until the late 2010s, with other parties maintaining a policy of refusing cooperation with them. In 2019, the leader of the Christian Democrats, Ebba Busch announced that her party was ready to start negotiations with the Sweden Democrats in the Riksdag, as did Moderate Party leader Ulf Kristersson. In the 2022 Swedish general election, the party ran as part of a broad right-wing alliance with those two parties and the Liberals, and came second overall with 20.5% of the vote. Following the election and the Tidö Agreement, it was negotiated that SD agreed to support a Moderate Party-led government together with the Christian Democrats and the Liberals. It is the first time that SD holds direct influence over the government.
== History ==
=== Early years (1988–1995) ===
The Sweden Democrats party was founded in 1988 as a direct successor to the Sweden Party, which in turn had been formed in 1986 by the merger of the activist group Bevara Sverige Svenskt (BSS; in English: "Keep Sweden Swedish") and a faction of the Swedish Progress Party. The SD continued to use Keep Sweden Swedish as its slogan until the late 1990s. The SD claims 6 February 1988 as the date of its foundation and that the party was formally registered after a meeting in Stockholm designed to bring together various nationalist movements who issued a white paper for a new party, although observers tend to see the party's foundation as part of a complex decade-long series of events, with some even calling into question whether a meeting took place.
Initially, the SD did not have a single centralized leader and was instead fronted by two alternating spokespeople before Anders Klarström became the party's first official chairman and head of the Sweden Democrats' national board in 1989.
According to the anti-racism publication Expo and the political historian Duncan McDonnell, it is generally agreed that the Sweden Democrats have never been a fascist or a neo-Nazi political party, although studies by Expo documented that around 60% of the SD's founders and early members had previously belonged to both Swedish and foreign neo-fascist and white nationalist groups. The party also had a reputation in the late 1980s and early 1990s for attracting skinhead gangs to its public events. The Expo study also claimed that nine of the original 30 people who founded the SD had associations to known Nordic fascist parties such as the New Swedish Movement and the neo-Nazi Nordic Realm Party (Nordiska rikspartiet, abbr. NRP) while another eighteen had been part of the Keep Sweden Swedish organization. The study estimated that around sixty percent of party's national board members between 1989 and 1995 were connected to neo-Nazi movements in various ways both before and during their time in the party. However, the study also noted that a majority of these members were no longer active within the party by the mid-to-late-1990s. The party's first auditor, Gustaf Ekström, was a Waffen-SS veteran and had been a member of the national socialist party Svensk Socialistisk Samling in the 1940s. The SD's first chairman Anders Klarström and party co-founders and first board members Fritz Håkansson, Gösta Bergqvist and Sven Davidson had all been members of the Nordic Realm Party. Klarström later elaborated he had briefly been part of the NRP as a teenager before distancing himself from it by the time he became SD leader. The first version of the SD's old youth-wing, the Sweden Democratic Youth was accused of having dual leadership with neo-Nazi youth movements until 1995 while the SD's logo from the 1990s until 2006 was a version of the torch used by the British National Front. The SD also encountered controversy for some of its early policy ideas before 1999, which included a proposal to repatriate most immigrants who came to Sweden from 1970, banning adoption of foreign born children and reinstating the death penalty.
The party promoted concerts by the Swedish offshoot of Rock Against Communism and sponsored music of the nationalist Viking rock band Ultima Thule. Various party officials today acknowledge that being fans of Ultima Thule's music factored prominently in their decision to become politically engaged. Early on, the party's newspaper SD-Kuriren promoted connections to its readers such as the National Democratic Party of Germany, the American National Association for the Advancement of White People (founded by David Duke), British politician John Tyndall and publications like the Nazi Nation Europa and Nouvelle École, a newspaper that advocates racial biology and the British neo-Nazi Combat 18 movement.
The SD won municipal representation for the first time during the 1991 Swedish local elections in Dals-Ed Municipality and Höör.
=== Moderation and growth (1995–2010) ===
In 1995, Klarström was replaced as SD chairman by Mikael Jansson, a former member of the Centre Party. Jansson strove to make the party more respectable and took a direct stance against displays of extremism within its ranks. In 1995, the SD closed down its youth-wing and after skinheads started to impose on SD meetings, consuming alcohol at party events, displaying fascist imagery and the wearing of any kind of political uniform were formally banned in 1996. Also in 1996, it was revealed that an SD spokeswoman Tina Hallgren, had been to a party meeting of National Socialist Front posing in a Nazi uniform. Opposition to the party have mistakenly mixed these two events together and falsely claim that she was wearing the uniform at a rally of the Sweden Democrats and that it was because of this that the uniform ban came about. During the early 1990s, the SD sought to become a more conventional political party and became more influenced by the French National Rally, as well as the Freedom Party of Austria, the Danish People's Party, German The Republicans and Italian National Alliance. SD received economic support for the 1998 election from the then called French National Front, and became active in Jean-Marie Le Pen's Euronat from the same time. By the end of the decade, the party took further steps to moderate itself by distancing itself from all forms of fascist ideology, softening its policies on immigration and capital punishment and removing party figures deemed to be too radical. In 1999, the SD left Euronat although the youth wing remained affiliated until 2002. In 2001, the most extreme faction was expelled from the party, leading to the formation of the more radical National Democrats which in turn resulted in many of the SD's remaining hardline members leaving for the new party.
During the early 2000s, a reformist faction known as the so-called "Scania gang", also known as the "Gang of Four" or "Fantastic Four", which consisted of the youth wing chairman Jimmie Åkesson, as well as Björn Söder, Mattias Karlsson and Richard Jomshof continued and expanded the moderation policy, which included ousting openly extremist members, banning neo-Nazi activists from attending party events or obtaining membership, and further revising the SD's policy platform. Before the 2002 election, former Member of Parliament (MP) for the Moderate Party, Sten Andersson defected to SD, citing that the party had gotten rid of its extreme-right elements. In 2003, the party declared the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to be a cornerstone of its policies. In 2005, Åkesson defeated Jansson in a leadership contest. Shortly after, the party changed its logo from the flaming torch to one featuring an Anemone hepatica, reminiscent of the party's very first, but short-lived, logo (a stylised Myosotis scorpioides).
=== Entrance into parliament and ideological realignment (2010–2014) ===
In the 2010 Swedish general election, SD won representation in the Swedish Riksdag for the first time, with 5.7% of the vote and 20 MPs.
In 2010, the SD leadership introduced a charter against racism on the party platform and later expanded this into a zero-tolerance policy regarding political extremism and law breaking. After some of the SD's elected members caused controversies during the party's first term in the Riksdag, the SD also stated it would introduce a vetting procedure for its future parliamentary candidates and issued updated guidelines on conduct and communication for party members. In 2011, the party also changed its self-description from "nationalist" to "social conservative".
Sweden Democrat MP William Petzäll was persuaded to leave the party on 26 September 2011 while still retaining his parliamentary seat. This was done because of Petzäll's substance abuse and the problems this might cause for SD's public image. Petzäll later died of an overdose and his seat was turned over to Stellan Bojerud in September 2012.
In November 2012, videos from August 2010 were released, in segments, over the course of three days by Swedish newspaper Expressen (a year earlier, Expressen had released the same videos without making much noise). This came to be known as the Iron pipe scandal, although the same videos had already been released on YouTube by Erik Almqvist in 2010. The videos, recorded by MP Kent Ekeroth, featured him along with fellow Sweden Democrats MP Erik Almqvist and Christian Westling. The videos show Almqvist arguing with comedian Soran Ismail: Almqvist is referring to Sweden as "my country, not your country", as an insult to Ismail. They are also shown arguing with a drunken man. A woman can also be seen approaching Kent Ekeroth while filming; he calls her a whore and pushes her out of the way. A few minutes later they are seen picking up iron bars. Coming only a month after party leader Åkesson had instated a zero-tolerance policy towards racism in the party, the release of the video caused Almqvist to leave his position as the party's economic policy spokesperson and his place in the executive committee on 14 November. He excused himself as having been under a lot of pressure and threats of violence at the time. As more segments of the video were released, revealing the other two men's involvement, the party announced on 15 November that Ekeroth would take a break from his position as the party's justice policy spokesman. Almqvist and Ekeroth both took time off from their parliament seats. Sweden Democratic Youth president Gustav Kasselstrand and vice president William Hahne criticised the decision to remove Almqvist and Ekeroth in an op-ed in Dagens Nyheter, arguing that the party should not give in to media pressure.
Only two weeks after Almqvist and Ekeroth were forced to step down, fellow MP Lars Isovaara reported being robbed of his backpack and pushed out of his wheelchair by "two unknown men of an immigrant background". When trying to get into the Riksdag, Isovaara was himself reported by the police for racial abuse against safety guards. The Sweden Democrats initially defended Isovaara, but backed down when Expressen revealed that Isovaara had actually forgotten his backpack at a restaurant, and that the two men had helped him when he fell out of his wheelchair. He left his seat in the Riksdag on 29 November, and was replaced by Markus Wiechel.
=== Rise in national support (2014–2018) ===
In the European election of 2014, SD received 9.67% of votes, winning two seats in the European Parliament and becoming the fifth largest party in the country. The party later joined the Alliance for Direct Democracy in Europe and the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy group.
In the 2014 election, the Sweden Democrats received 12.9% of the votes, doubling their support and becoming the third-largest party. The party remained big in Scania and Blekinge; for example in Malmö the party received 14% of the votes, in Landskrona it received 19% of the votes and in Sjöbo a total of 30% rendering the party the largest in that municipality. Other parties, however, remained firm in their decision to isolate them from exerting influence. Out of 29 constituencies electing parliamentarians, the party was the second largest in "Scania North & East" while being the third largest party in 25. Although relying heavily on rural areas and the deep south, the party also made strong inroads and results above 15% in some medium-sized central Sweden cities such as Norrköping, Eskilstuna and Gävle, indicating a widening of its voter base in all areas.
Some time after that, Åkesson announced he would go on sick leave due to burnout. Mattias Karlsson was appointed to temporarily take over Åkesson's duties as party leader.
On 23 March 2015, it was announced that Åkesson would return from his leave of absence to resume his duties as party leader following an interview to be broadcast on the Friday, 27 March instalment of the Skavlan program on SVT, and a subsequent press conference with the Swedish media.
Amid media coverage regarding the high immigration figures and the European migrant crisis, the Sweden Democrats soared in all opinion polls during the summer of 2015, even topping web-based polls from YouGov and Sentio in late summer, with a little over a quarter of the vote. The party also saw rising support in phone-based polls, although the swing was lower.
=== Entering mainstream politics (2018–2022) ===
In early 2018, the far-right Alternative for Sweden was founded by members of the Sweden Democratic Youth, who were collectively expelled from the Sweden Democrats in 2015. Three Sweden Democrat members of the Riksdag – Olle Felten, Jeff Ahl and former leader Mikael Jansson – subsequently defected to the party.
On 2 July 2018, the two Sweden Democrats MEPs left the EFDD group and moved to the European Conservatives and Reformists Group.
In the 2018 Swedish general election, the SD increased its support to 17.5% of the vote, though it did not grow as much as most polls had predicted. According to Emily Schultheis of Foreign Policy, the SD won an ideological victory, as it "effectively set the terms for debate" and forced its rivals to adopt immigration policies similar to its own, and other reporters made similar observations. The SD performed particularly well in Skåne County, having the highest number of voters in 21 out of the county's 33 municipalities. An SVT analysis of the results found that at least 22 seats in 17 city councils would be empty as the Sweden Democrats won more seats than the number of candidates it had. The party also received its first mayor, in Hörby Municipality.
Following the election, Christian Democratic leader Ebba Busch announced that her party was willing to enter negotiations with the Sweden Democrats in the Riksdag. In December 2019, Moderate Party leader Ulf Kristersson held an official meeting with the Sweden Democrat leadership for the first time, despite having previously ruled out negotiating with the party. This led to speculation that the SD could be included in a new centre-right grouping to replace the Alliance which had collapsed after the Centre Party and the Liberal Party left to support the Social Democratic led government.
In October 2018, the Sweden Democrats went into a governing coalitions with the Moderate Party and the Christian Democrats for the first time in Staffanstorp Municipality, Sölvesborg Municipality, Herrljunga Municipality and Bromölla Municipality. In Bromölla, coalition felt apart in 2020, while new coalitions with the SD emerged in Svalöv Municipality (2019), Bjuv Municipality (2020) and Surahammar Municipality (2021).
In 2020, Mattias Karlsson, the former group leader of the Sweden Democrats in the Riksdag founded Oikos, a conservative think-tank which has been alleged to be an "extension of the Sweden Democrats' political project", supposedly also receiving funding from the party.
In 2021, the SD was invited to participate in alternative budget agreement talks with the Christian Democrats and the Moderates for the first time. That same year the SD also issued a vote of no confidence against the Löfven II cabinet citing the government's handling on immigration, the economy and housing which was carried by the other opposition parties and led to Löfven's impeachment. The SD had previously issued a vote of no confidence in the government in 2015, albeit without success.
=== 2022 general election (since 2022) ===
Ahead of the 2022 Swedish general election, the SD attempted to form a conservative grouping with the Moderates, Christian Democrats and the Liberals and requested ministerial posts in government should the right-wing bloc form a parliamentary majority. During the election, the SD campaigned to reduce asylum migration close to zero, stricter policies on work permits, lower energy bills and a tougher stance on gang violence with longer prison sentences. Preliminary results indicated that the Sweden Democrats had seen their strongest result to date and had overtaken the Moderates to become the second largest party with 20.6% of the vote. The result was confirmed after the election.
In October 2022, the SD was allocated chairmanship of four parliamentary committees for the first time in the Riksdag with party secretary Richard Jomshof appointed to head the Justice Committee, Aron Emilsson the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Tobias Andersson the Committee on Industry and Trade, and Magnus Persson the Committee on the Labour Market. SD parliamentarians were appointed as international delegation leaders for the first time, with Markus Wiechel becoming chairman of the Swedish delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Björn Söder for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and Adam Marttinen the chairman of the joint-parliamentary group for Europol.
The party also formed a deal with Moderate leader Ulf Kristersson to provide for the first time in their history parliamentary support to a Moderate Party-led government as part of the Tidö Agreement.
== Ideology and political positions ==
The Sweden Democrats' current party programme is based on "democratic nationalism" and social conservatism. The SD platform expresses that the party's core philosophy is inspired by Swedish national conservatism and parts of the social democratic folkhemmet ('the people's home') idea. SD rejects any positioning of the party within the classic left-right scale, instead referring to itself as a "value-oriented" or "value-conservative" party. The party has stated that "basic social justice with traditional conservative ideas", nationalism and desires for democratic and good governance form its main principles. Nevertheless, the party is often described by international commentators as being right-wing to far-right.
In policy, SD articulates its main focus to be the areas of immigration, law and order and the elderly. The party also attaches particular importance to its economic and family policies. The SD criticizes multiculturalism in Sweden and emphasizes preserving national heritage. It is also opposed to what it sees as a constant shift of power from Stockholm to the European Union and campaigns to protect Swedish sovereignty and financial autonomy against the EU.
=== Political analysis ===
The SD's ideology and political identity has evolved significantly in the decades since its founding and entrance into the Riksdag. Labels for the party have consequently been a source of debate by outside observers. Nordic Studies scholar Benjamin R. Teitelbaum called the SD radical nationalist in 2013 and by 2018 said the party has since moved to the "softer side" of European populist parties. The party has been described by sociologist Jens Rydgren and political scientist Cas Mudde variously as xenophobic, far-right, racist or right-wing populist. French newspaper Le Monde profiled the SD as far-right and "a nationalist party with fascist roots". Critics of the SD have argued that it contains a more dangerous or problematic ideology behind a moderate facade, whereas others such as Teitelbaum have argued that research into the SD has been politically biased and that the SD has become more difficult to define due to its beliefs changing over the years. In 2013, a Sveriges Radio journalist called the SD "xenophobic", which resulted in a complaint lodged to the broadcasting regulator by the party. The Swedish Broadcasting Commission determined that this description was acceptable to use. According to Sveriges Radio in 2017, a European research agency classed the party as "extreme" using the Swedish GAL-TAN political scale, arguing that the SD is more traditionalist, socially authoritarian and nationalist and less progressive compared to other Swedish parliamentary parties and described the SD as similar to the French National Rally in some of its policies. In 2019, the polling company Novus said that their opinion polls show that SD is no-longer a "one-issue" party in regards to immigration, having won trust in other political questions too. In 2022, University of Gothenburg political scientist Johan Martinsson described the SD as "anti-immigration, anti-multicultural, nationalist" while stopping short of labelling the SD as a far-right party.
However, the characterization of the SD as radical or extreme far-right has come under dispute in recent years by scholars and political observers. Commentator Kateřina Lišaníková observed that the SD had hardline origins through its founders and initial support network, and notes that the SD's leadership openly acknowledges the party's history, but argues the present version of the SD does not match the description of a radical far-right party but is mistakenly labelled as such by media or opponents who focus on the party's early rather than current beliefs. She stated that the SD is now a national conservative party with populist elements but does not contradict democratic or Swedish constitutional principles. Similar observations were made in 2021 by Swedish political scientist Sören Holmberg that "extreme right" was not a good description for the SD when placed within the traditional left-right scale, since the party contains centre-left and centrist policies on some issues compared to the other centre-right parties in Sweden. Holmberg furthermore argued that while SD can be considered a right-wing populist party, the label "populist" has become unstable due to some of the other parties in the Riksdag adopting populist ideas of their own. He concluded national-conservative was a better term for the SD. Swedish sociologist Göran Adamson has also argued some political opposition conflate the SD's national conservative image as being right-wing extremist, and argued that the SD today is no longer comparable to European extreme-right or neo-fascist parties since the SD has a more liberal direction in several areas, and there is no evidence to suggest that the current incarnation of the party's policies are fascist or anti-democratic.
Describing the party's political trajectory, Johan Martinsson wrote that "culturally nationalist" was the most appropriate label for the Sweden Democrats since the party has continued to change its ideological programs and manifestos since its founding and no longer refer to ethnic nationalism in party literature. Martinsson acknowledged that the SD had links to Nazi movements during its first years before transforming itself in a conventional political party during the 1990s and since the 2010s the term "radical right" is no longer accurate for the SD. Martinsson summarized that while the SD adopts populist and anti-immigration rhetoric, other parties had also adopted more restrictive stances on migration and the SD's support for welfare state policies contrasts it from other right-leaning parties while the term "right" can be used as a pejorative label as opposed to an accurate description. Sweden-based British journalist Richard Orange noted in 2018 that the SD stands out due to its neo-Nazi roots but in the present now endorses more inclusive "cultural nationalism" over ethnic homogeny while calling for stricter immigration policies. In 2022, British political scientist Matthew Goodwin described the SD as having transformed itself from an extreme past to becoming part of a broader European family of national-populist parties which combine social and cultural conservative nationalism and populism but are opposed to fascist, anti-democratic and revolutionary ideas.
Within the party, the SD's leadership have rejected the extreme and "far-right" labels and argue they no longer represent the party. SD also states that its ideas are not racist and maintains that expressions of neo-fascism or Nazism among its membership are historical and no longer tolerated. Oscar Sjöstedt, the SD's financial spokesperson, places the party around the centre on the left–right political spectrum, while leader Jimmie Åkesson has stated that they are parallel with the Moderate Party. A 2016 survey of SD MPs in the Riksdag analyzed the party's voting record as closer to the centre-right Alliance on 44 percent of policy issues and closer to the Red-Greens on 25 percent of issues. SD group leader Mattias Karlsson stated in 2017 that the party is in the middle when it comes to economic redistribution policy and views on the welfare state, but centre-right on certain values such as defense and immigration policy. Swedish political scientist Henrik Ekengren Oscarsson published a similar conclusion about the party's voter base in 2016 which argued SD supporters are less likely to identify with traditional political labels but align to being centrist or to the left on economic matters and conservative on other issues. In addition, the SD has in recent years increasingly distanced itself from other European ultra-nationalist or far-right parties and stated it does not want anything to do with international and Swedish hard-right entities. In spite of this, a 2022 report by Swedish researchers Acta Publica claimed to have found 289 Swedish politicians who expressed racist or neo-Nazi views, with 214 of them being members of the SD. The SD itself has argued that some of these controversies with members have been as a result of the party's rapid growth since the late 2000s rather than the party itself being extremist.
== Policies and beliefs ==
=== Domestic policy ===
The party is a supporter of the Swedish monarchy playing a constitutional and cultural role in Swedish life, but also supports an amendment to the constitution that obligates the Riksdag to elect a new monarch in the event of there being no heir to the throne. In 2025 the party supported changing the citizenship requirements to the conditions of being able to speak Swedish, having education about Swedish culture and having an honest way of life, as well as declaring loyalty to Sweden.
The Sweden Democrats have been critical of the special rights given to the indigenous Sámi people of northern Sweden. In 2008, the party accepted a motion against the rights to reindeer husbandry. They have argued that those "who do not involve themselves with reindeer husbandry are treated as second class citizens" and that the privileges the herders have are "undemocratic". The party has previously wanted to abolish the Sámi Parliament, which it claimed special privileges for an "ethnic minority while the society claims equal rights for others". However, the SD has since disputed that it endorses abolishing the Sámi Parliament with SD spokesman Mattias Karlsson saying in a 2013 interview that "the Sami are an indigenous people with an indisputable right to preserve their identity and culture."
=== National identity and culture ===
The Sweden Democrats value a strong common national and cultural identity, believing these to be the most basic cornerstones of a functioning democracy and successful society. Minimizing linguistic, cultural and religious differences in society and emphasizing a defined sense of Swedish cultural values and social norms has a positive effect on societal cohesion, maintaining a welfare state and encouraging solidarity among the population, according to the party. On its platform, SD states the Swedish nation is defined "in terms of loyalty, a common language and common culture". A requirement for becoming a member of the Swedish nation is to either "be born in it or by actively choosing to be a part of it". For these reasons among others, SD firmly rejects multiculturalism and argues that Sweden should preserve its cultural heritage by assimilating newcomers and maintaining Swedish as the nation's official language.
Until the 2000s, the SD attached ethnopluralist arguments to its defense of a Swedish homeland and culture. The 2005 party handbook called for a "high degree of ethnic and cultural similarity among the population" while the old party platform described the need to preserve the "inherited essence" of ethnic Swedes. However, the SD's official platform since 2018 no longer refers to a Swedish nation and people in an ethnically defined context, but adopts a more moderate cultural conservative policy promoting a shared national identity in which foreign-born people can become Swedish through stricter assimilation policies in exchange for citizenship and by the state asserting a more defined concept of Swedish culture and social values. The SD argues that not having a defined sense of what it means to be Swedish makes it harder for those of non-Western cultures to understand and become part of Swedish society. SD representatives have expressed that lacking a defined Swedish cultural identity and society will leave Sweden vulnerable to takeovers by more defined but aggressive cultures and social attitudes, with members of the party citing Islamic culture as an example. The SD has cited a strong work ethic, respect for nature, appreciation for Lutheran Christian traditions, speaking Swedish and equality between the sexes as important parts of Swedish cultural values that the country should strive to maintain. Nevertheless, the idea of a binding "inherited essence" is still a defining feature of SD supporters' worldview. A 2025 study reveals that supporters of the Sweden Democrats are more likely than those of other parties to believe that social differences (e.g., talents, intelligence, behaviours) between individuals, genders, and groups reflect genetic predispositions.
In a 2014 interview for Dagens Nyheter, Second Deputy Speaker of the Riksdag and then-party secretary Björn Söder elaborated on the SD party programme with respect to its views on national identity and obtaining Swedish citizenship by saying that although an immigrant of any ethnic background in theory can become a Swedish citizen, they would have to adapt and be assimilated in order to be considered Swedish in the cultural sense, since the SD does not view a simple acquisition of Swedish citizenship with no assimilation requirements as the same as becoming part of Swedish society. In the interview, Söder stated that the officially recognised Swedish minority peoples such as Sámi, Tornedalians and Jews in many cases had dual cultural identities and that they probably would be proud of both heritages, and claimed that while these minorities are part of Sweden today, they had to give up part of their own culture in the past to integrate and become culturally Swedish. It was widely interpreted that Söder had stated in the interview that Jews cannot be Swedish unless they abandon their Jewish identity. Söder's comments were accused of being antisemitic and caused Swedish parliamentary groups and party leaders to call for his resignation. The Simon Wiesenthal Center listed the statement as number six on their list of the top ten most anti-semitic events of 2014. Söder responded in an article for The Jerusalem Post, denying the charges of anti-semitism and claiming Dagens Nyheter had taken his statements out of context. In response, the SD also stated that it rejects antisemitism in Sweden and supports Israel in foreign policy, and that its proposed assimilation model is based on recognizing the difference between the concept of nationhood and acquired citizenship as opposed to implying minorities have split loyalties.
The Sweden Democrats advocates a cultural policy that would strip government funding for multicultural initiatives and strengthen support for traditional Swedish culture. This agenda has often manifested itself as opposition to state funding of immigrant cultural organisations and festivals, and more support for traditional Swedish craft, folk music, and folk dance groups. The party also tends to oppose state support for cultural initiatives deemed provocative or elitist. A 2014 letter signed by 52 Swedish anthropologists, criticised the Sweden Democrats' use of the terms "culture" (kultur [kɵlˈtʉːr] ) and "anthropology" (antropologi [antrɔpʊlʊˈɡiː] ), claiming their views on culture were "essentialist and obsolete", clarifying that culture is "dynamic" and "in constant change". The Sweden Democrats themselves maintain that traditional elements of Sweden's culture should not be rendered obsolete in favour of multiculturalism and argue Swedish cultural values contributed to the nation's economic and social successes through the "people's home" (Folkhemmet) concept. According to scholar Bo Nilsson, the party links the adoption of multicultural policies with a subsequent decline in the Folkhemmet model and Sweden's success.
The party has expressed opposition to certain forms of modern architecture and in 2022 called for new housing to reflect traditional architectural styles, with the SD supporting more investment and streamlined planning permission rules into building new homes designed to match the specifications of what the party calls the "Sverigehuset" (the Sweden House), a classic wooden house design in Sweden. In 2025, the SD proposed to the National Board of Housing, Building and Planning to build more affordable housing in traditional designs.
The Sweden Democrats also criticise modern art, and have accused local councils of wasting public money on what it calls "provocative" art. The SD want citizens to be able to vote in local referendums on public art displayed near schools, public transport stations and town centres. "The important thing is that what is expressed in the public environment is anchored to the citizens and especially the local residents who are most often in the environment so that they feel an identification", says the party's cultural spokesperson Aron Emilsson. Sweden Democrats mayor in Sölvesborg Louise Erixon claimed "There's a big division between what the general public thinks is beautiful and interesting and what a tiny cultural elite thinks is exciting".
The Sweden Democrats also support a ban on the burqa and niqāb in public places and are against proposals to publicly broadcast the Islamic call to prayer from minarets. The SD wants tougher enforcement of existing laws against female genital mutilation, honor violence and social segregation. The party also wants Swedish to remain Sweden's main official language in state funded schools, government agencies and public funded media, and for more teaching of Swedish cultural history in schools. It also supports prohibiting the hijab in primary schools, arguing that while it is not opposed to hijabs in general, the choice to wear it should be made on an individual basis when a child reaches adulthood. The SD is strongly opposed to sharia law being incorporated into the Swedish legal system.
Leading party representatives have also spoken out in various contexts against mosques and Islamic centres in Sweden. In 2023, SD leader Jimmie Åkesson argued that Swedish mosques which preach "anti-democratic, anti-Swedish, homophobic, anti-Semitic propaganda" should be closed and demolished and expressed opposition to the construction of new Islamic buildings. SD has also argued that other Swedish parties, particularly those on the left such as the Social Democrats are tolerant of Islamist activities in Sweden to secure votes at the expense of Swedish culture and security. In January 2024, Richard Jomshof, chairman of the Justice Committee in the Riksdag, ignited controversy in Sweden by proposing the prohibition of the Islamic star and crescent. He drew parallels to the ban on the Swastika, claiming that both symbols represent something dangerous.
==== Immigration ====
The Sweden Democrats believe that Sweden's recent immigration and integration policies have been a national failure. In a statement filed before the Riksdag Committee on Migration in August 2020, SD claims that Sweden's "irresponsible" immigration and asylum policies have subjected Sweden to an on-going "long-term, albeit low-intensity crisis". The SD official policy brief states that the party "welcomes those who contribute to our [Sweden's] society, who follow our laws and respect our customs. On the other hand, anyone who comes here and exploits our systems, commits crimes or exposes our citizens to danger is not welcome".
Historically, SD sought to repatriate most immigrants and ban immigration entirely; however, these policies were moderated in the 1990s before being abolished altogether. Presently, SD positions itself against mass immigration and wishes to strongly restrict immigration by instead giving generous support to those who do not want to assimilate into Swedish society to emigrate back to their country of origin. The SD also wants to change laws to allow for wider deportations of foreign residents who engage in illegal activity or are unemployed and abusing state welfare. The Sweden Democrats also call for an expansion of circumstances in which citizenship can be revoked from naturalized citizens, with Jimmie Åkesson mentioning examples of those who commit crimes, engage in delinquency, support terrorism or remain socially unintegrated into society. The Sweden Democrats also support raising the remigration allowance given to migrants and asylum seekers who seek to voluntarily leave the country. The SD argues that its immigration policies are not based on xenophobia and that the party is not opposed to immigration per se, but believe immigration must stay at a level where it does not "threaten national identity, the country's welfare or security". SD has also campaigned to restrict immigration from what it calls "culturally distant" countries and argues that temporary work visas should be limited only to skills that are impossible to find in Sweden. SD are against free movement of labour within the European Union, calling on Sweden to revise its membership of the Schengen agreement, but support free movement between Nordic nations. The SD believes that Sweden will be better able to help refugees and economic migrants in their home areas once more state funds are freed from being directed towards funding immigration in Sweden. SD also favours cultural assimilation over integration of immigrants from non-Western backgrounds, arguing that integration is a meet in the middle approach and that Swedes should not have to bear the burden over what the party claims have been reckless immigration policies. Torbjörn Kastell (former party secretary from 2003 to 2004) said in 2002 that the party wanted "a multicultural world, not a multicultural society".
When handling asylum seekers and refugee cases, the SD supports protecting national sovereignty in regards to Sweden's decisions on migration and border control. The party calls for Sweden to adopt "the principle of first safe country" into its asylum laws, meaning that asylum seekers should only be able to seek refugee status in the first safe country that they arrive in and will be refused refugee status in Sweden if they have already crossed multiple safe countries or their case is already registered in a foreign state. Until such legislation is realized by the Riksdag, SD supports implementing stronger deterrents against asylum migration to Sweden through other countries and setting stricter limits on the right to welfare that asylum seekers are entitled to by the Swedish state and making cultural assimilation of those already in Sweden mandatory. The party opposes offering permanent residency to refugees, believing that temporary residency should be the standard for those who claim asylum in Sweden before a path to full residency or citizenship is considered. SD supports Sweden eventually accepting refugees exclusively through the UNHCR resettlement programme in accordance with a quota based on each municipality's capacity once Sweden's asylum laws are reformed and tightened. SD has also referred to the recommendations from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which state that the return of refugees should be the solution to refugee problems. On asylum cases from the Middle East and Africa, the party supports giving priority to persecuted Christian, former Muslim and other religious or sexual minorities fleeing war or death for apostasy, believing that such individuals are less likely to be offered refuge elsewhere. In 2017, members of the Sweden Democrats' leadership defended comments made by then US President Donald Trump in response to Trump's assertion that Sweden's immigration and asylum policies had led to a rise of terrorism and crime in Sweden. However, following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine the SD supported accepting and accommodating Ukrainian refugees in Sweden. Ahead of the 2022 Swedish general election, the party campaigned to tighten the rules in the Swedish Aliens Act (Utlänningslagen) to the strictest possible level within European law and encourage voluntary remigration of asylum seekers and immigrants who are economically inactive or remain culturally unassimilated.
The SD also wants European governments to construct a security wall along the European border with Turkey in response to illegal immigration, terrorism and incursions by the Grey Wolves into Greece. It also calls on the European Union to commonly adopt a migration system based on the Australian model to prevent human trafficking across the Mediterranean, which the party states enables illegal immigrants and terrorists to reach Sweden. SD calls for compulsory measures for immigrants to be employed, live and work in Sweden for at least ten years, learn the Swedish language, go through a mandatory cultural assimilation program, and be subject to a language and social skills test before becoming eligible for Swedish citizenship. The party also supports increased spending on border patrol forces, zero tolerance laws on illegal immigration and foreign-born criminals, repatriations of Schengen Area migrants who move to Sweden to make a living from street begging, changes in the law to enable the government to strip foreign-born Swedish nationals of their citizenship if found guilty of a crime, penalties against employers who use foreign and undocumented labor to circumvent Swedish working conditions and stricter laws against family migration.
In recent years, the SD has tried to approach the immigration policies of the Danish People's Party, which from 2001 to 2011 provided parliamentary support for the former Danish centre-right governments in return for a tightening of Danish immigration policies and stricter naturalisation laws. Following the 2022 Swedish general election, the Sweden Democrats achieved this objective under the Tidö Agreement with the centre-right Moderate, Christian Democrat and Liberal Party coalition government. In exchange for SD parliamentary support, the Swedish government conceded to some of the SD's immigration policy demands on requirements for obtaining Swedish citizenship and expanding the deportation circumstances for foreign-born residents and asylum seekers.
Following scenes of people in Swedish cities celebrating the October 7 attacks, the SD leadership stated that those who praised the attack should be expelled from the country and that the Tidö Agreement clause on deporting non-citizens on grounds of poor character and not just criminal convictions should be used against those who support Hamas. SD also states that Swedes of foreign backgrounds who leave the country to join legally designated terrorist groups should be stripped of their citizenship or residency and denied re-entry into the country.
=== Society and crime ===
==== Family policy ====
The Sweden Democrats consider children raised in a nuclear family as the preferred option for the child's development. Those not raised by their biological parents should have the right to associate with or at least find out who they were. SD has been critical of adoption and artificial insemination for same-sex couples and polyamorous people.
The party also calls for a ban on child, polygamous and forced marriages, as well as harsher penalties for honor violence. It also supports a zero-tolerance stance against female genital mutilation within Sweden and abroad, and for perpetrators to be prosecuted or if necessary deported. SD also wants certain restrictions on male circumcision, calling for a ban on minors unless its for medical reasons. The party says that while it does support male circumcision for religious reasons, it should be performed at the age of consent and the state should not fund it through the healthcare system.
SD supports abortion being legal in Sweden and free access to abortions up to the legal limit in Sweden which is 22 weeks since 2019.
==== LGBT rights ====
The SD previously opposed government sanctioned adoption to single people and same-sex couples, unless the adopting party are close relatives or already have a close relationship with the child, but has since shifted its stance to permitting same-sex adoption, and supports privately funded insemination for single or gay parents. Historically, members of SD have criticized a so-called "Homosex Lobby", but the party has since changed and moderated its position on LGBT in Swedish society. Party leader Jimmie Åkesson has expressed concerns that what he describes as the gradual Islamisation of Sweden will eventually lead to the rights of sexual minorities being violated.
Throughout the early 2000s, SD-Kuriren (the official SD party newspaper) regularly published articles criticizing LGBT events and describing homosexuality as "perversion", before moderating itself alongside a shift in party ideology. A blog post claiming Stockholm Pride sexualised young children and equating homosexuality with pedophilia titled Botten måste snart vara nådd ("Soon enough we'll hit rock bottom") was published by SD Party secretary Björn Söder on 1 August 2007. The post was widely criticised in the Swedish media as an attack on LGBT people.
An unofficial pride parade called Pride Järva was organised by SD member and former party magazine editor Jan Sjunnesson in the Stockholm suburbs of Tensta and Husby, two areas with large immigrant populations. The event was disavowed by the official Stockholm Pride organisation and the Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights; in a joint statement, both organisations called Sjunnesson "a person who's spreading hatred towards Muslims on social media [and] who's not supporting LGBT rights". Approximately 30 people participated in Pride Järva, with a larger amount of LGBT and heterosexual anti-racist counter-protestors arriving to oppose them. In 2014, the official Stockholm Pride voted to ban the SD from participating that year, which was met with criticism from both within the party and from some opposition politicians, who argued it was undemocratic.
In recent years, the SD has shifted its stance to being more supportive of LGBT rights and same-sex parenting by updating and expanding its policies regarding LGBT issues. In 2010, SD leader Jimmie Åkesson and party vice-president Carina Ståhl Herrstedt published an article apologizing for past homophobic statements made by party members, and arguing that mass immigration risked eroding the rights of Sweden's gay community. In its current platform, the SD states "everyone must be treated equally, regardless of sexual orientation, and discrimination must be combated". In a 2018 interview, SD member of the Riksdag and gender-equality spokesperson Paula Bieler stated that homophobes "are not welcome in our party". Since 2018, the SD party program has been updated to support same-sex adoption and parenting. In 2025, the SD proposed constructing a statue in Örebro, dedicated to Muhsin Hendricks, the world's first openly gay imam, who had been shot dead in his car in South Africa, to honour his work for the LGBTQI movement, as well as constructing a statue in Rinkeby to honour the rights of LGBTQI people in the area.
The SD supports gender-affirming surgery, as long as the motive behind it is mental wellbeing, and permission is given by a medical professional.
Gender studies scholars Karlberg, Korolczuk and Sältenberg note that politicians representing the Sweden Democrats are among "the primary actors advancing anti-gender discourses" in Sweden, a discourse they argue contributes to an "insidious de-democratization" by targeting vulnerable groups.
==== Gender equality ====
SD opposes any "negative or positive special treatment on the basis of gender, age, sexual orientation, nationality or ethnic origin" in the labour market.
The party maintains that, collectively, there are biological differences between men and women, some of which that cannot be "observed with the naked eye". Perceived differences between men and women in regards to preference, behaviour and life choices exist due to each individual's choices and does not necessarily have to be "problematic, the result of discrimination nor the result of an oppressive gender power structure".
==== Church policies ====
The party believes that the Church of Sweden should have a special position in Swedish society. In order to protect Swedish cultural heritage, members of the party want to protect the Lutheran tradition in the church elections and counteract secular party-political control of the Swedish Church. SD supports interfaith dialogue but opposes Qur'an recitals or imams delivering Islamic services in churches which the SD claims to be part of "Islamizing Swedish society". The SD previously called for the Church of Sweden to be reinstated as a state church but no longer supports this policy, however they continue to support holidays in connection with religious occasions to only include traditionally Swedish and Christian holidays with party leader Jimmie Åkesson stating in a 2014 interview that he wants to protect Christianity as a "system of norms". In Swedish Church Assembly election campaigns, the SD has campaigned on the issue of Christians who are subjected to persecution and hate crimes in Sweden and abroad.
==== Law and order and security ====
The Sweden Democrats support generally increased minimum sentences as well as increased resources and personnel for the police. SD wishes to instate the possibility of life imprisonment without parole for the worst crimes and to repatriate foreign citizens found guilty of serious crimes. SD also wants to establish a public register of individuals convicted of certain sexual crimes. The party also supports increased surveillance of those known to be involved in criminal gangs and terrorism. SD argues for a zero-tolerance law for people who physically attack police officers and emergency workers.
SD previously supported the reinstatement of capital punishment before dropping it as an official policy after the party program was updated in 1998, although individuals within the party continue to support the death penalty for serious crimes such as murder and infanticide and have called for chemical castration of convicted child sexual abusers.
The SD opposes allowing Swedish citizens who joined ISIS to return to Sweden and argues that anyone who joins a foreign terrorist group should be denied state funded assistance. In 2023, SD also stated that Swedes who have travelled to the Gaza Strip to support Hamas should be banned from reentering the country. SD has also emphasised a desire to crack down on abuses and crimes of which the elderly are particular targets.
In 2025, the SD supported passing stricter ownership regulations on AR-15 rifles following the 2025 Risbergska school shooting although some senior party spokespeople expressed opposition to amending gun ownership laws citing the impact it could have on farmers and hunters.
=== Economy ===
The Sweden Democrats have described themselves as supporters of the Swedish welfare state, labour rights and the public sector, but argue that welfare should be restricted to Swedish citizens and permanent residents. The party argues that foreign-born nationals must show proof of legal residence, paid taxes and financial self-support for a certain period to become eligible for welfare. In its platform, the SD claims that its economic policies are neither left or right-wing, but designed to improve conditions for small and medium-sized companies, self-employed citizens and entrepreneurs to boost employment and stimulate the economy, as opposed to what it describes as "constructed jobs" created by the state to reduce unemployment but hold no long term benefit for the Swedish economy or career paths for the people who work them. SD wants to abolish the Swedish Employment Service in its current form and replace it with a new authority for the supervision and close regulation of private employment services to ensure large corporations do not exploit or undercut Swedish workers. The party supports affordable and free access to public healthcare for Swedish nationals.
SD supports certain free trade conditions but believe Sweden must exit or revise trade agreements that pose a threat to Sweden's sovereignty and Swedish workers. The party favours certain measures of economic protectionism and support state-ownership of companies that operate Swedish mines, agricultural land and produce energy or defense equipment. However, SD also support abolishing inheritance tax and reducing property tax. Since the 2010s, the SD has been critical of Chinese government involvement in infrastructure projects and trade deals with Sweden. SD wishes to lower the tax rate for the elderly, as well as increase subsidised housing for the elderly. SD also wishes to allocate additional resources to municipalities in order to provide seniors with greater food assistance and, in general, improve their quality of life.
Political author Anders Backlund described the party as "economically centrist", leaning towards economic nationalism (in contrast to the other Swedish conservative parties who tend to favour open free markets and global cosmopolitan philosophies) and supporting a mixed market economy combining centre-left and centre-right ideas, as well as promoting "welfare chauvinist" policies which blend national-populism with socio-economics. According to political scientist Johan Martinsson: "In economic terms, the party is more centrist and pragmatic, with a mixture of left and right-wing proposals".
=== Environment ===
The party argues that, while Sweden should maintain its "active role in global climate cooperation", other countries should reduce their emissions, as it believes Sweden to already be doing enough on that front. The party opposed the Paris agreement, and advocates keeping nuclear power plants as a prominent energy source in Sweden, believing it to be an efficient way to mitigate climate change. They also advocate investing in climate research internationally and funding climate action on a global scale.
==== Agriculture and forestry ====
SD supports creating a specialist law enforcement branch for animal welfare and call for stricter penalties against animal cruelty. In 2017, the SD members of the Riksdag Justice Committee filed a motion calling for extended prison sentences for those found guilty of animal abuse, which was ultimately supported by the other parties. The party opposes EU influence over domestic laws on hunting, farming and forestry within Sweden, calling for such policies to be decided upon by rural Swedes instead of Brussels. SD is also critical of non-stun animal slaughter and want to ban the import of goods that contradict Swedish animal welfare legislation.
=== Foreign policy ===
==== Defense ====
SD wants to increase the number of Swedish Army brigades to seven from 2021's two. The party has stated that it would seek to raise Sweden's defense spending to 2–2.5% of GDP.
The party supports closer military cooperation with neighboring Nordic countries and previously opposed Swedish membership of NATO, instead calling for an alignment without full membership. However, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine the SD leadership announced it would consider changing its policy to endorse NATO membership and support joining if Finland also applied for NATO membership. It subsequently voted in favor for NATO membership in the Riksdag.
==== European Union ====
The Sweden Democrats support close political co-operation within the Nordic sphere, but are Eurosceptic and against further EU integration and cession of Swedish sovereignty to the European Union. The party states that it supports European political and economic co-operation to secure trade and combat cross-border organized crime, illegal immigration, Islamism, terrorism and environmental challenges but strongly opposes creating an EU army or policies that could lead to the creation of a Federal European Superstate. The party generally opposes all EU regulation over Swedish tax, pensions, environmental and domestic affairs and calls for the national sovereignty and cultural identity of European nations to be prioritized above the EU's political ambitions. SD rejects joining the Economic and Monetary Union by opposing the Euro currency and favors keeping the krona. They also seek to reduce Swedish financial contributions to Brussels, end Swedish participation in bailouts for other EU member states, renegotiate Swedish membership of the Schengen Agreement and opt-out of common asylum agreements, protect freedom of speech and the free access to the internet from EU copyright bills, and are against the accession of Turkey to the European Union.
The party has called for Sweden to renegotiate its membership of the EU and seeks an amendment to the Swedish constitution to make it mandatory that proposed EU treaties and financial transfers be first put to a public vote. The SD believes that if the EU cannot be reformed or attempts to transform itself into a Superstate, Sweden must immediately reconsider its membership via a referendum and prepare to leave the EU. The SD's youth-wing, the Young Swedes (Ungsvenskarna), support a Swedish exit from the EU. In 2023, party leader Åkesson and SD European Union spokesman Charlie Weimers unveiled a new EU strategy with the objective of achieving better negotiation results, increasing Swedish influence and stopping the EU from gaining more power by creating a referendum lock based on the UK European Union Act 2011 in the Riksdag to prevent transfer of powers to Brussels without a mandatory public vote. SD argues that a referendum lock should be used to prevent further EU expansion to include Turkey, Albania and Balkan states. The SD has also said it wants a Swedish exit from the EU be made possible by removing all references to membership in the constitution. In 2025, the Sweden Democrats stated that while they remain critical of the EU, they believe EU funds are necessary and pragmatic in the current climate for European military rearmament, with the party citing the war in Ukraine and deteriorating security situation between the United States and Europe.
==== Russia ====
The SD has taken a strongly pro-Ukraine position following the Russian invasion and has called on Sweden and Western governments to help the Ukrainian people defend their homeland. Åkesson said in 2024 that SD stands fully behind Sweden's support for Ukraine, and that; "We will continue to do so as long as the Ukrainian people fight their heroic fight." He also said that sees no limit on how much the EU should send to Ukraine, adding that he supports a future Ukrainian membership in the EU.
In 2022, an analysis of votes relating to Russia in the European Parliament found that the Sweden Democrats were the 10th-most critical party in the parliament having voted against Russian interests 93 percent of the time. The report found that among all Swedish parties the Sweden Democrats were the most critical of Russia. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the party got rid of members who had previously expressed support for Putin.
==== Middle East ====
The Sweden Democrats are supportive of Israel. The party favors recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital and proposes moving the Swedish embassy there. A study by the European Coalition for Israel documented that SD had the most pro-Israel voting record of the Swedish parties in the European Parliament. In 2021, the Israeli government stated that they did not maintain relations with the SD due to "its roots in Nazism" but by 2023 had dropped its non-cooperation stance after SD representatives signed a document of principle with Israeli ministers pledging to combat antisemitism. Between 2023 and 2024, a delegation of senior SD members visited Israel to hold meetings with Knesset politicians and discuss a cooperation pact with the Likud party. The party has also taken a strongly pro-Israel position following the outbreak of the Gaza war, supporting military action to remove Hamas and calling on the Swedish government to review all funding to Palestinian organizations which the SD accuse of spending aid money on terrorism.
SD has advocated a "neutral" position on the Syrian civil war and sent a delegation to meet with Syrian officials in 2017.
==== Other regions ====
In 2011, SD was the only Swedish political party to vote against Swedish involvement in the 2011 military intervention in Libya. SD also supports the creation of an independent Kurdish state and for the Armenian genocide to be formally recognised by the international community. In 2019, SD-member Björn Söder received the Mkhitar Gosh Medal by President Armen Sarksyan and Markus Wiechel received the Medal of Honour of the National Assembly of Armenia. These were the first Sweden Democrats to receive international awards for their political engagement. Since 2022, the SD has participated in bipartisan efforts to give more diplomatic recognition to Taiwan, and supported a motion in the Riksdag to change the name of Sweden's representative office in Taiwan to "House of Sweden". SD politician Markus Wiechel said the name change denotes that Sweden should treat Taiwan as a nation rather than a disputed territory or a province of China. Wiechel also proposed giving military support to Taiwan and said SD sees Taiwan as an independent state. Three SD-members of Parliament (Markus Wiechel, Björn Söder and Nima Gholam Ali Pour) received "Certificate of Appreciation", an award from Taipei Mission in Sweden because of their commitment to strengthen Swedish-Taiwanese relations. SD politician and MEP Charlie Weimers also enhanced Taiwan-EU relations through his motion, which got approval in the European Parliament on closer cooperation between Taiwan and EU.
== Election results ==
=== Riksdag ===
=== European Parliament ===
==== Maps ====
== Organization ==
=== Leadership ===
==== Party leaders ====
==== Deputy Party leaders ====
==== Secretaries ====
==== Parliamentary group leaders ====
==== Party treasurer ====
==== Party spokespeople ====
=== Internal structure ===
The Sweden Democrats are made up of 16 districts of local party associations with executive boards. Each district consists of a number of municipal associations, which may include one or more municipalities. In municipalities that are not covered by a municipal association, the party organises its members as working groups instead. The SD also has a centralized national board permanently chaired by the party leader and party secretary and whose other members are elected by the SD's membership base.
Within the SD there is a women's branch SD-Women and an affiliated youth-wing Young Swedes SDU which was founded in 2015. The SD's first youth-wing was founded in 1993 as the Sweden Democratic Youth Association before it was renamed the Sweden Democratic Youth (SDU). The old SDU was disbanded in 1995 due to extremism problems before it was reconstituted in 1998. Many prominent SD politicians including party leader Jimmie Åkesson were members of the SDU. In 2015, the SD announced it would expel the leadership of the SDU from the mother party and officially sever ties with it due to ongoing controversies with its members. The party subsequently created the Young Swedes SDU as a replacement.
Following the 2010 Swedish general election, the SD created its own security unit which by 2014 consisted of an estimated 60 people. SD states that the unit is intended to handle internal issues within the party, including cybersecurity, to marshal public events and to encourage members to report external threats to the police. The SD has argued the security wing is necessary due to threats against SD politicians and highlighted a 2012 report by the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention which found one in two of every local SD politician had experienced some form of threat, harassment or physical violence, and that SD legislators were statistically twice as more likely to be threatened than members of other parties. SD reported 95 instances of threats or violence against elected officials to the police and Riksdag security in 2012.
=== Associated organisations and media ===
Since its founding, the SD has published its own newspaper SD-Kuriren which was previously known as Sverige-Kuriren and then SD Bulletin until 2003. Party secretary Richard Jomshof currently serves as the paper's editor. In 2014, the party also launched an online magazine Samtiden ('Contemporary'). It is currently edited by Swedish economist Dick Erixon.
In 2020, Mattias Karlsson, the former group leader of the Sweden Democrats in the Riksdag founded Oikos, a conservative think-tank. Expo has alleged the think-tank to be an "extension of the Sweden Democrats' political project" supposedly also receiving funding from the party although the group itself claims to be non-partisan.
In 2020, the party also helped to launch a web based TV channel called Riks, through their wholly owned online magazine Samtiden, with the ambition that the media channel should not be an official party TV. However, in a 2024 investigatory exposé conducted by TV4’s investigatory branch, Kalla fakta, it was discovered that Riks and the SD are in a close-knit relationship with each other. For example, the exposé showed that Riks rents its office spaces from the Sweden Democrats, and that members of the SD and Riks come into frequent contact with one another, moving freely between each other's offices. Moreover, the SD's communications department instructed Riks to hide any connection to SD before an Expressen interview with Dick Erixon in Riks' offices. In addition to that, the programme showed that the SD's communications department used anonymous social media accounts to artificially disseminate Riks' posts and YouTube videos.
=== Voter demography ===
According to Statistics Sweden's (SCB) 2017 party preference survey, the Sweden Democrats (SD) have a stronger support among men than among women. There is no noticeable difference in support for the party among different age groups. The support for SD is greater among native born than among foreign born. Since 2014 the SD has substantially increased its support among both foreign-born and foreign-background voters, becoming the third largest party in Sweden also among this demographic by 2017. Sympathies are greater for the party among persons with primary and secondary education than among those with a higher education.
A study by Aftonbladet in 2010 found that 14% of SD members were of immigrant origin, which matches the share of foreign-born inhabitants of Sweden, while their vote share in this population group has always been lower. For the 2010 election in the municipality of Södertälje (Stockholm County), SD was the only party with a majority of immigrants on its electoral list, mostly Assyrians from the Middle East. Polling 7.31% (3,447 votes), SD's municipal list in Södertälje got 5 of the 65 municipal seats. Since 2014, the SD has seen growing support from foreign-born Swedish voters, and was estimated to have become the third most popular party for voters of immigrant backgrounds by 2017. In recent years, politicians of ethnic minority and immigrant backgrounds have become increasingly active in the party, with notable examples including Nima Gholam Ali Pour, Kent Ekeroth, Sara Gille and Rashid Farivar.
==== Changes in voter base at the general elections, 2006–2022 ====
=== International relations ===
In its early days, the Sweden Democrats was known to associate itself with both native Swedish and wider European extreme-right activist groups and political parties. In 1997, the Sweden Democrats made connections with the French National Front (FN) and Jean-Marie Le Pen after SD spokesman Johan Rinderheim participated in the conference that established Le Pen's Euronat initiative and the SD received support from the FN in 1998. The SD also founded the NordNat alliance of Nordic nationalist parties in 1997 which also contained the Finnish Patriotic People's Movement, the Danish National Party and the Fatherland Party of Norway, but otherwise the SD did not actively seek formal relationships outside of Sweden. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, the SD began distancing itself from extreme-right parties. The SD broke ties with Euronat in 1998 and NordNat in 1999 and became more influenced by the neighboring Danish People's Party (DF). By the late 2000s the SD said it had ceased regarding the National Front as a role model and instead saw the DF as a sister party. In 2010, party secretary Björn Söder published an article disowning the SD's older connections to extreme or neo-fascist groups or individuals like Le Pen and said SD was more focused on Sweden's issues over interacting with foreign parties. The party has also been active within counter-jihad networks, explicitly from 2007 to 2011.
In Europe, SD has had some contacts with the Austrian FPÖ, the Dutch Party for Freedom and Forum for Democracy, the Flemish Vlaams Belang and the now defunct Belgian People's Party over the early 2010s. The Danish People's Party was initially indifferent on collaborating with the SD until 2010 when Pia Kjærsgaard travelled to Sweden to help with the party's general election campaign. Shortly after, Danish People's Party foreign affairs spokesman Søren Espersen hosted the SD's conference and said both parties would work together in the Nordic Council. Before the European election of 2014 there was some speculation that the SD would enter a grouping with other European nationalist parties led by Marine Le Pen. SD politicians confirmed they had had met with representatives from the proposed group but said the talks were informal. The Danish People's Party reportedly threatened to end ties with SD if they joined the group, stating that while they were willing to work with the SD and the Dutch Freedom Party, they opposed inclusion of parties like the National Front and the FPÖ. However, after the election the SD began to distance itself from other European far-right parties and elected to become a member of the more moderate Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD) group with the UK Independence Party. The SD was also active in the European Alliance for Freedom and the Alliance for Direct Democracy in Europe (ADDE) Euro parties with members of the UK Independence Party (UKIP). In 2016, Marine Le Pen stated that the Sweden Democrats were no longer in official cooperation with her party.
In 2015, SD began forging closer relations with the Danish People's Party, and in 2018 announced an official cooperation pact with the Finns Party, which had previously distanced itself from the SD. All three parties are members of the Nordic Freedom group in the Nordic Council. Politicians of the Norwegian Progress Party have called for official collaboration with the SD, although the Progress Party's leadership has traditionally not supported any partnership and turned down joining with the Sweden Democrats on the Nordic Council. In 2022, Progress Party leader Sylvi Listhaug officially endorsed the SD during the 2022 Swedish general election and said that while her party shares common ground with the Sweden Democrats on immigration and law & order policies, differences in economic views prevented her from forming a direct alliance with the SD.
The SD maintained cooperation with the Alternative for Germany party under Frauke Petry's leadership when both parties sat with the EFDD group and were members of the ADDE alliance, with Jimmie Åkesson describing the AfD as the SD's "sister party" in Germany during the 2017 German federal election. However, Åkesson has since distanced the SD from statements made by some AfD politicians and by 2024 said the AfD was no longer ideologically compatible with his party.
Since 2018, the SD has been a member of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR Group) and the European Conservatives and Reformists Party and presently sits alongside Brothers of Italy, the Czech Civic Democratic Party, Spanish Vox party, the Flemish N-VA, Polish Law and Justice, the Finns Party and JA21 from the Netherlands. In 2019, there was discussions on whether the SD would join a new group with the Danish People's Party headed by Matteo Salvini's Lega Nord. However, Åkesson said SD was not invited to join a new European Parliament group and would stay with the ECR but suggested this may have been due to his party's reluctance to cooperate with Le Pen and pro-Putin parties in Europe. In 2024, the SD sought to distance itself from Hungary's Fidesz citing what they perceive as Viktor Orbán's soft stance on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine and threatened to leave the ECR if Fidesz joined unless Orbán demonstrated a more pro-NATO and Putin-critical position. However, the Sweden Democrats later softened its stance against Fidesz and said it was open to working with the party in the European Parliament, but maintained it would not cooperate with Alternative for Germany and cast doubt on an alliance with the French National Rally.
In July 2024, the Sweden Democrats formed the European Parliament 'Nordic Freedom' alliance within the ECR along with the Denmark Democrats and the Finns Party, citing common stances on opposing Russian influence, reducing the EU's intervention into the market, and a desire to participate in governments.
Outside of the EU, SD has had informal contacts with the British Conservative Party and the US Republican Party. Individual politicians of the Norwegian Progress Party have also called for more collaboration with the SD. The SD has also sought to improve and build relations with Israel's Likud which had previously turned down meetings with the SD due to the party's past. In 2024, the SD and Likud began official cooperation with each other.
== Public profile and controversies ==
=== Early image ===
During the 1980s and early 1990s, several outspoken far-right and Nazi advocates were involved with the party. It was founded by, among others, the Swedish Waffen-SS veteran Gustaf Ekström and members of both older Nazi and neo-Nazi organisations. In its early days, the SD also had a reputation for attracting biker and skinhead gangs to its rallies before disconnecting itself with neo-Nazi and skinhead movements in the mid-1990s. The party had flyers printed by the French National Front in the 1998 general election, and was financially backed for the 2004 European election by Belgian businessman and racial conspiracy theorist Bernard Mengal. In the 1990s, the party was a member of the Euronat initiative which was set up by Jean-Marie Le Pen before severing ties with it in 1999. In 1999, the party program was updated to state its opposition to Nazism: "The Sweden Democrats reject with the same contempt Nazism, whose leitmotif is the Fuhrer principle, racial superiority and aggressive war, and which can be seen as a mirror image of and a reaction to Marxism." In 2005, the SD acknowledged that it had contained people with extreme political views at the time of its establishment but denied that it was founded as a neo-Nazi party or had ever endorsed fascist and national socialist ideas in its manifesto. As part of the moderation process, the Sweden Democrats began expelling extreme far-right members from the early 2000s onwards and in 2010 updated the party constitution to include clauses against racism, extremism and criminal behaviour. Since the 2010s, the SD has also sought to distance itself from far-right parties in Europe, including turning down an invitation to join an alliance in the European Parliament with the French National Front in 2014 and choosing to ally themselves with more moderate parties during the 2014 and 2019 European elections.
In June 2025, the SD leadership issued an official apology for the party's historical links to neo-fascist and neo-Nazi figures and groups, with SD spokesman Mattias Karlsson stating "That there have been clear expressions of antisemitism and support for National Socialist ideas in my party's history, I think, is disgusting and reprehensible. I would like to reiterate the party's apology, above all to Swedish citizens of Jewish descent who may have felt a strong sense of insecurity and fear for good reasons."
=== Isolation in parliament ===
Both before and after the 2010 Swedish general election all the major parties, including the Swedish Social Democrats and the Moderate Party, declared they would not collaborate or work with the Sweden Democrats. The move was described by international pundits as an unofficial cordon sanitaire. The policy of non-cooperation was kept in place for the 2014 Swedish general election. Following the 2018 general election, which saw the disintegration of the centre-right Alliance, Christian Democrats leader Ebba Busch and Moderates leader Ulf Kristersson signaled an end to the non-cooperation policy and began talks with the SD. The policy of non-cooperation was officially scrapped by the Moderates, Christian Democrats and The Liberals for the 2022 election when all four parties signed the Tidö Agreement.
=== Media boycotts ===
The Sweden Democrats have complained about difficulties buying advertising space before elections due to the media banning the party from advertising and have accused media outlets of political bias and trying to censor or limit the party's campaign messages during elections. This has been criticised by free speech organisations in Sweden and abroad. On 16 June 2006, Dagens Nyheter and Svenska Dagbladet decided to stop their boycott. Expressen, however, still retains a ban on Sweden Democrat advertising. During the 2010 Swedish general election, broadcaster TV4 refused to air a Sweden Democrats campaign video which depicted a Swedish pensioner being outrun by burka-clad women with prams. TV4's decision was criticized by both free speech advocates and politicians from Denmark, including by Danish People's Party leader Pia Kjærsgaard, Venstre and the Conservative People's Party (the latter of whom reacted to TV4's decision to ban the video by calling for international election observers to be sent to Sweden), and by members of the Norwegian Progress Party who called the decision a "violation of democratic rules". The SD subsequently uploaded the video to YouTube where it was viewed over a million times. Swedish political journalist Hanne Kjöller argued that attempts to censor the SD in 2010 by the media and left-wing protest groups ultimately backfired and ended up emboldening their support by giving them more publicity.
=== Muhammad cartoon debate ===
After the Danish daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten published twelve cartoons depicting Muhammad and ignited a controversy during the 2005 autumn and winter, the Sweden Democrats gave their unreserved support to the publication with reference to the freedom of speech. SD stated that it saw no reason why a Danish newspaper should be forced to abide by Muslim rules and prohibitions regarding expression. When the boycott of Danish products was launched in the Middle East, SD launched a "Buy Danish" campaign in support of Danish workers. In 2006 SD entered the Muhammad cartoon debate by publishing a cartoon depicting Muhammad on its youth league (SDU) and SD-Kuriren (pronounced [ˈɛ̂sːdeːkɵˌriːrɛn] ) websites. The cartoon showed Muhammad from behind holding a mirror in front of his face. However, instead of any facial features, the mirror showed only a blank head. The cartoon was captioned "Muhammad's Face" (Swedish: Muhammeds ansikte [mɵˈhǎmːɛds ˈânːsɪktɛ] ).
The publication attracted the attention of the Swedish government, which informed internet service provider Levonline about the SD's publications. Subsequently, Levonline shut down SD's web page. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Laila Freivalds, denied any direct interference. However, at the same time, Laila Freivalds condemned the publication as a provocation. Freivalds then resigned from the Persson Cabinet after being accused of interference with press freedom and lying about such actions.
This event spurred debate on government censorship in Sweden. The Sweden Democrats also had a hate speech charge filed against them due to the posted caricature. Similar hate speech charges were filed against other Swedish publishers who had depicted Muhammad. However, these charges were immediately deemed to be unfounded by the Swedish Chancellor of Justice.
The Sweden Democrats originally planned to publish a set of cartoons in their newspaper SD-Kuriren. However, after the controversy erupted, Jimmie Åkesson issued a statement on SD's website on 9 February 2006, stating that they would refrain from further publications online and in print, due to concerns that publishing might spur hostile actions against Swedes and Swedish interests.
The shutdown of the Sweden Democrats' websites was reported to the Committee on the Constitution by the Liberal People's Party leader Lars Leijonborg. SD filed complaints against the Security Service (Säpo) and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs with the Justitiekansler and Justitieombudsmannen, alleging that the government's interference was unconstitutional. The spokesperson of the Green Party, Peter Eriksson, also criticised the involvement of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in the event.
=== Racist incidents and expulsions ===
The Sweden Democrats have, among all Swedish parliamentary parties, had the largest share of elected municipal representatives resign since the 2010 elections (27.8%). Many of these resignations were brought on by racist statements or actions by these representatives.
In November 2012, party spokesperson Erik Almqvist resigned after he had been caught on tape making racist and sexist statements. In November 2012, parliamentarian Lars Isovaara resigned after accusing two people of foreign origin of stealing his bag (which Isovaara had left at a restaurant) and then proceeding to verbally abuse a security guard of a foreign background. Isovaara's replacement in parliament, Markus Wiechel, was found in April 2013 to have referred to a group of black people as "monkeys" in a Facebook comment back in 2011. Wiechel later apologised and stated the comment had been in reference to a video of a tribal witch burning in Africa.
In March 2013, 12 individuals were thrown out of the party for their involvement in neo-Nazi or other extremist movements. In November 2013, parliamentarian and then vice party leader Jonas Åkerlund gained attention for having called immigrants "parasites" during a broadcast on SD's own radio station in 2002, after the recording was publicly rediscovered. In his defence, Åkerlund stated that he only said it to provoke people. In September 2014, the party chairman of the local Stockholm branch, Christoffer Dulny was asked to resign from his position after it was found he had previously posted mocking comments about immigrants, calling them "shameless liars" on alternative media sites. He also resigned from parliament on the same day.
In October 2016, a video of the parliamentarian and economic policy spokesperson Oscar Sjöstedt laughing at antisemitic jokes was released by a former school friend of his who also accused Sjöstedt of chanting fascist slogans. Whilst at a party believed to have been organized by the neo-Nazi group Info-14 in 2011 when Sjöstedt was a member of the SD's youth wing, he laughingly told a story about former co-workers with Nazi sympathies mocking Jews and comparing them to sheep. Following an investigation by the SD, Sjöstedt stated that a friend had invited him to the party but he had walked out upon discovering who had organized it and denied expressing fascist statements. During the same month, the parliamentarian and second deputy party leader Carina Herrstedt was confronted with having sent an allegedly racist, antisemitic, homophobic and anti-romanyist email to her then spouse in 2011. The email, which had been leaked from the party's internal servers, for instance contained phrases that referred to black football players from the team Landskrona BoIS as "negroes" whilst also picturing Romani people as thieves. The email was meant to be playful and ironic, Herrstedt said to Aftonbladet.
Between 2015 and 2016, various members of the party were expelled from the SD for expressing extremist or racist views, or because of disagreement with the party's shift towards moderation and social conservatism. In April 2015, the Sweden Democratic Youth leaders were also expelled for these reasons, and the organisation was dissolved shortly after with the mother party issuing a warning for remaining SDU members to leave the youth wing or be expelled from the party. In December 2016, the parliamentarian Anna Hagwall was thrown out of the party after using arguments associated with antisemitism to argue for a bill that she introduced in parliament intended to reduce concentration of media ownership in Sweden.
In September 2017, a report from Dagens ETC found that 14 former municipal representatives of the party had infiltrated the SD in order to financially support the Nordic Resistance Movement, a neo-Nazi organisation, through financial transactions, memberships, or purchases of antisemitic and racist literature or souvenirs. In August 2018, 2 members were kicked out due to purchases of Nazi memorabilia online; following the expulsions, Michael Erlandsson, one of the SD's spokespeople, publicly stated that people who "have these types of views and share these types of materials" have no place in the party and that the SD maintains a zero-tolerance stance on expressing fascist views. 14 candidates were expelled from the party as well after being exposed as former members of neo-Nazi organisations. Referring to the latest expulsions, SD leader Jimmie Åkesson declared that the party "works extremely hard to keep clean".
In 2017, Martin Strid, party spokesman in Borlänge, appeared to state at a televised SD rally that Muslims were not "fully human" and humane. Strid's comments were met with condemnation within the SD. Åkesson and SD party secretary Richard Jomshof described them as racist, with Jomshof stating the SD advocates ideological criticism, but not violating human rights. SD board member Aron Emilsson said that Strid would face a disciplinary meeting for violating the party's code of conduct. In response, Strid said he had expressed himself "clumsily" but chose to quit the party after being given an ultimatum to resign or be expelled.
In March 2022, parliamentarian Roger Richthoff was sacked from his role as party defense spokesman and subsequently expelled from the SD and banned by the party from standing as a candidate for them in the 2022 Swedish general election after posting controversial comments on Twitter, including sharing a video supporting Russia in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine in which several antisemitic conspiracy theories were presented. In December 2025, parliamentarian Göran Hargestam resigned his seat after a scandal in which he was found to have kept a collection of Nazi memorabilia in an office in Valdemarsvik.
Researcher on Nordic nationalism Benjamin R. Teitelbaum described the present day version Sweden Democrats as paradoxical compared to other European nationalist parties on the issues of racism and radicalism among its members. Teitelbaum notes that in contrast to other Nordic and wider European populist parties, the SD differs by having a past rooted in white nationalism and extremism, but in the present day is comparably more proactive in rejecting ethno-nationalism and expelling members who make racist statements to the point where he considers the SD to be on the "softer side" of national-populism. Similar observations were made by British conservative author Douglas Murray who described the SD as undergoing one of the most significant transformations on the European political right from a party on the fringes that openly pushed extreme tendencies to a more mainstream movement that draws on diverse support. Kateřina Lišaníková argued that out of all the parties in Sweden, the SD was more likely to attract individual members who made extreme statements regarding immigrants but this was a consequence of the SD being the only party in the Riksdag willing to challenge the political consensus on immigration for several years as opposed to the SD itself being an extremist or racist party.
Ashley Fox, leader of the British Conservative MEPs, praised the Sweden Democrats regarding the party's policy decisions on the expulsion of extremist and racist members: "Over the past decade the Sweden Democrats have made progress in reforming themselves, expelling any members displaying unacceptable views or behaviour and diversifying their party base."
=== Iron pipe scandal ===
On November 14, 2012, Erik Almqvist, in addition to party spokesperson Kent Ekeroth and party official Christian Westling were filmed arming themselves with iron pipes before they sought out a confrontation with Soran Ismail, a Swedish comedian of Kurdish descent.
=== Splinter parties ===
Since the SD's inception, breakaway parties have been formed by former SD members, many of whom were either removed from the party due to controversial actions or resigned after the SD began to ideologically shift and moderate itself.
In 1995, former SD spokesman Leif Zeilon established the Homeland Party along with other founding members of the SD after Anders Klarström was replaced as party chairman by a less hardline leadership.
In 2001, a major breakaway occurred when the more radical ethno-nationalist faction of the SD's national board and their supporters were collectively expelled and formed the National Democrats party.
On 18 March 2018, Alternative for Sweden (AfS) was formed by former members of the SD's old youth wing after they were kicked out of the party after alleged ties with extremist groups and for coming into conflict with the mother party. Three SD parliamentarians joined Alternative for Sweden but all lost their seats during the 2018 general election. AfS's policies have been criticised as too extreme by members of the SD such as Henrik Vinge.
=== Lobbying ===
The Sweden Democrats came under fire in 2015 for changing their position on profits made by private welfare companies. Before the election in 2014 they favored having restrictions on the amount of profit that welfare companies could take and use for their own gain. Since the election, they have favored the approach of the Alliance parties, that is higher and more restrictive quality standards. This has been suspected to be because of extensive lobbying done by the organisation Svenskt Näringsliv among others. The story was discovered by the Swedish newspaper Dagens Industri on 14 September 2015. SD has denied all accusations of corruption.
=== Anonymous social media accounts ===
On May 7, 2024, one month prior to the 2024 EU elections, the TV4 investigative journalism program Kalla fakta ('Hard Facts') premiered a two-part documentary (Undercover i trollfabriken, 'Undercover in the Troll Factory') revealing that the Sweden Democrats systematically used anonymous accounts on social media platforms such as TikTok, X and Facebook. The scoop was obtained through the use of the wallraff method where a reporter spent five months as an employee at the previously SD-owned YouTube channel Riks as well as the party's communications department, documenting internal discussions on the party's communication strategies. The documentary revealed that at least 23 anonymous social media accounts were actually run from SD's communications department, spreading xenophobic content and satirical attacks on opposing politicians from other parties, including deepfake videos. According to Kalla fakta, posts from these accounts reached 27 million views across social media platforms. SD's head of communication, Joakim Wallerstein, repeated earlier claims that the party does not run any anonymous social media accounts. However, according to Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, internal communication reveals that Wallerstein already in 2012 wanted to include anonymous internet campaigns as part of the party's strategy.
In an official response from the Sweden Democrats' leader Jimmie Åkesson, the Kalla fakta documentary was dismissed as a "gigantic, domestic influence operation by the left-liberal establishment". In numerous interviews, SD representatives toned down the content posted on the anonymous accounts as simple satire and humor material. Following the documentary, and the party's response to it, SD received massive criticism from all other Swedish parliamentary parties. The government parties accused SD of not following the Tidö Agreement, which contains a clause about showing respect towards other parties. After a meeting on May 16, SD agreed that some of the anonymous accounts' posts went against the agreement and agreed to delete 45 posts. They did not agree to stop running anonymous accounts but said they would use a softer tone towards parties in the Tidö coalition. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs | Steve Jobs | Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American businessman, inventor, and investor. A pioneer of the personal computer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, Jobs co-founded Apple Inc. (as Apple Computer Company) with Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne in 1976. After the company's board of directors fired him in 1985, he founded NeXT the same year and purchased Pixar in 1986, becoming its chairman and majority shareholder until 2007. Jobs returned to Apple in 1997 as CEO, where he was closely involved with the creation and promotion of many of the company's most influential products until his resignation in 2011.
Jobs was born in San Francisco in 1955 and adopted shortly afterwards. He attended Reed College in 1972 before withdrawing that same year. In 1974, he traveled through India, seeking enlightenment before later studying Zen Buddhism. He and Wozniak co-founded Apple in 1976 to further develop and sell Wozniak's Apple I personal computer. Together, the duo gained fame and wealth a year later with production and sale of the Apple II, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputers.
Jobs saw the commercial potential of the Xerox Alto in 1979, which was mouse-driven and had a graphical user interface (GUI). This led to the development of the largely unsuccessful Apple Lisa in 1983, followed by the breakthrough Macintosh in 1984, the first mass-produced computer with a GUI. The Macintosh launched the desktop publishing industry in 1985 (for example, the Aldus PageMaker) with the addition of the Apple LaserWriter, the first laser printer to feature vector graphics and PostScript.
In 1985, Jobs departed Apple after a long power struggle with the company's board and its then-CEO, John Sculley. That same year, Jobs took some Apple employees with him to found NeXT, a computer platform development company that specialized in computers for higher-education and business markets, serving as its CEO. In 1986, he bought the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm, which was spun off independently as Pixar. Pixar produced the first computer-animated feature film, Toy Story (1995), and became a leading animation studio, producing dozens of commercially successful and critically acclaimed films.
In 1997, Jobs returned to Apple as CEO after the company's acquisition of NeXT. He was largely responsible for reviving Apple, which was on the verge of bankruptcy. He worked closely with British designer Jony Ive to develop a line of products and services that had larger cultural ramifications, beginning with the "Think different" advertising campaign, and leading to the iMac, iTunes, Mac OS X, Apple Store, iPod, iTunes Store, iPhone, App Store, and iPad. Jobs was also a board member at Gap Inc. from 1999 to 2002. In 2003, Jobs was diagnosed with a pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor. He died of tumor-related respiratory arrest in 2011; in 2022, he was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Since his death, he has won 141 patents; Jobs holds over 450 patents in total.
== Early life ==
=== Family ===
Steven Paul Jobs was born in San Francisco, California, on February 24, 1955, to Joanne Carole Schieble and Abdulfattah "John" Jandali (Arabic: عبد الفتاح الجندلي). Abdulfattah Jandali was born in a Muslim household to wealthy Syrian parents, the youngest of nine siblings. After obtaining his undergraduate degree at the American University of Beirut, Jandali pursued a PhD in political science at the University of Wisconsin. There, he met Joanne Schieble, an American Catholic of Swiss-German descent whose parents owned a mink farm and real estate in Green Bay. The two fell in love but faced opposition from Schieble's father due to Jandali's Muslim faith. When Schieble became pregnant, she arranged for a closed adoption, and travelled to San Francisco to give birth. His cousin Bassma Al Jandaly has claimed that Jobs' birth name (before adoption) was Abdul Lateef Jandali (Arabic: عبد اللطيف الجندلي).
Schieble requested that her son be adopted by college graduates. A lawyer and his wife were selected, but they withdrew after discovering that the baby was a boy, so Jobs was instead adopted by Paul Reinhold Jobs and his wife Clara. Paul Jobs, an American of German descent, was the son of a dairy farmer from Washington County, Wisconsin. After dropping out of high school, Paul Jobs worked as a mechanic, then joined the US Coast Guard. After he was discharged at San Francisco, Paul married Clara Hagopian of Armenian descent in February 1946 and they moved to Wisconsin, then Indiana, where Paul worked as a machinist and later as a car salesman. Since Clara missed San Francisco, she convinced Paul to move back. There, Paul worked as a repossession agent, and Clara became a bookkeeper. In 1955, after having an ectopic pregnancy, the couple looked to adopt a child. Since they lacked a college education, Schieble initially refused to sign the adoption papers, and went to court to request that her son be removed from the Jobs household and placed with a different family, but changed her mind after Paul and Clara promised to pay for their son's college tuition.
=== Infancy ===
In his youth, Jobs's parents took him to a Lutheran church. When Steve was in high school, Clara admitted to Steve's girlfriend, Chrisann Brennan, that she "was too frightened to love [Steve] for the first six months of his life ... I was scared they were going to take him away from me. Even after we won the case, Steve was so difficult a child that by the time he was two I felt we had made a mistake. I wanted to return him." When Chrisann shared this comment with Steve, he stated that he was already aware, and later said that he had been deeply loved and indulged by Paul and Clara. Jobs would "bristle" when Paul and Clara were referred to as his "adoptive parents", and he regarded them as his parents "1,000%". Jobs referred to his biological parents as "my sperm and egg bank. That's not harsh, it's just the way it was, a sperm bank thing, nothing more."
=== Childhood ===
Paul Jobs worked in several jobs that included a try as a machinist, several other jobs, and then "back to work as a machinist". Paul and Clara adopted Jobs's sister Patricia in 1957, and by 1959 the family had moved to the Monta Loma neighborhood in Mountain View, California. Paul built a workbench in his garage for his son in order to "pass along his love of mechanics". Jobs, meanwhile, admired his father's craftsmanship "because he knew how to build anything. If we needed a cabinet, he would build it. When he built our fence, he gave me a hammer so I could work with him ... I wasn't that into fixing cars ... but I was eager to hang out with my dad."
Jobs had difficulty functioning in a traditional classroom, tended to resist authority figures, frequently misbehaved, and was suspended a few times. He frequently played pranks on others at Monta Loma Elementary School in Mountain View. His father Paul (who was abused as a child) never reprimanded him, however, and instead blamed the school for not challenging his brilliant son. Jobs skipped the 5th grade and transferred to the 6th grade at Crittenden Middle School in Mountain View, where he became a "socially awkward loner". Jobs was often "bullied" at Crittenden Middle, and in the middle of 7th grade, he gave his parents an ultimatum: either they would take him out of Crittenden or he would drop out of school.
The Jobs family was not affluent, and only by expending all their savings were they able to buy a new home in 1967, allowing Steve to change schools. The new house (a three-bedroom home on Crist Drive in Los Altos, California) was in the better Cupertino School District, in Cupertino, California. The house was declared a historic site in 2013, as the first site of Apple Computer. As of 2013, it was owned by Jobs's sister, Patty, and occupied by his stepmother, Marilyn. When he was 13, in 1968, Jobs was given a summer job by Bill Hewlett (of Hewlett-Packard) after Jobs cold-called him to ask for parts for an electronics project.
=== Homestead High ===
The location of the Los Altos home meant that Jobs would be able to attend nearby Homestead High School, which had strong ties to Silicon Valley. He began his first year there in late 1968 along with Bill Fernandez, who introduced Jobs to Steve Wozniak, and would become Apple's first employee. Neither Jobs nor Fernandez (whose father was a lawyer) came from engineering households and thus decided to enroll in John McCollum's Electronics I class. Jobs had grown his hair long and become involved in the growing counterculture, and the rebellious youth eventually clashed with McCollum and lost interest in the class.
Jobs underwent a change during mid-1970. He later noted to his official biographer that "I started to listen to music a whole lot, and I started to read more outside of just science and technology — Shakespeare, Plato. I loved King Lear ... when I was a senior I had this phenomenal AP English class. The teacher was this guy who looked like Ernest Hemingway. He took a bunch of us snowshoeing in Yosemite." During his last two years at Homestead High, Jobs developed two different interests: electronics and literature. These dual interests were particularly reflected during Jobs's senior year, as his best friends were Wozniak and his first girlfriend, the artistic Homestead junior Chrisann Brennan.
In 1971, after Wozniak began attending University of California, Berkeley, Jobs would visit him there a few times a week. This experience led him to study in nearby Stanford University's student union. Instead of joining the electronics club, Jobs put on light shows with a friend for Homestead's avant-garde jazz program. He was described by a Homestead classmate as "kind of brain and kind of hippie ... but he never fit into either group. He was smart enough to be a nerd, but wasn't nerdy. And he was too intellectual for the hippies, who just wanted to get wasted all the time. He was kind of an outsider. In high school everything revolved around what group you were in, and if you weren't in a carefully defined group, you weren't anybody. He was an individual, in a world where individuality was suspect." By his senior year in late 1971, he was taking a freshman English class at Stanford and working on a Homestead underground film project with Chrisann Brennan.
Around that time, Wozniak designed a low-cost digital "blue box" to generate the necessary tones to manipulate the telephone network, allowing free long-distance calls. He was inspired by an article titled "Secrets of the Little Blue Box" from the October 1971 issue of Esquire. Jobs decided then to sell them and split the profit with Wozniak. The clandestine sales of the illegal blue boxes went well and perhaps planted the seed in Jobs's mind that electronics could be both fun and profitable. In a 1994 interview, he recalled that it took six months for him and Wozniak to design the blue boxes. Jobs later reflected that had it not been for Wozniak's blue boxes, "there wouldn't have been an Apple". He states it showed them that they could take on large companies and beat them.
By his senior year of high school, Jobs began using LSD. He later recalled that on one occasion he consumed it in a wheat field outside Sunnyvale, and experienced "the most wonderful feeling of my life up to that point". In mid-1972, after graduation and before leaving for Reed College, Jobs and Brennan rented a house from their other roommate, Al.
=== Reed College ===
In September 1972, Jobs enrolled at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. He insisted on applying only to Reed, although it was an expensive school that Paul and Clara could ill afford. Jobs soon befriended Robert Friedland, who was Reed's student body president at that time. Brennan remained involved with Jobs while he was at Reed.
After just one semester, Jobs dropped out of Reed College without telling his parents. Jobs later explained this was because he did not want to spend his parents' money on an education that seemed meaningless to him. He continued to attend by auditing his classes, including a course on calligraphy that was taught by Robert Palladino. In a 2005 commencement speech at Stanford University, Jobs stated that during this period, he slept on the floor in friends' dorm rooms, returned Coke bottles for food money, and got weekly free meals at the local Hare Krishna temple. In that same speech, Jobs said: "If I had never dropped in on that single calligraphy course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts".
== 1974–1985 ==
=== Pre-Apple ===
In February 1974, Jobs returned to his parents' home in Los Altos and began looking for a job. He was soon hired by Atari, Inc. in Los Gatos, California, as a computer technician. Back in 1973, Steve Wozniak designed his own version of the classic video game Pong and gave its electronics board to Jobs. According to Wozniak, Atari only hired Jobs because he took the board down to the company, and they thought that he had built it himself. Atari's cofounder Nolan Bushnell later described him as "difficult but valuable", pointing out that "he was very often the smartest guy in the room, and he would let people know that".
Jobs traveled to India in mid-1974 to visit Neem Karoli Baba at his Kainchi ashram with his Reed College friend and eventual Apple employee Daniel Kottke, searching for spiritual teachings. When they got to the Neem Karoli ashram, it was almost deserted because Neem Karoli Baba had died in September 1973. Then, they made a long trek up a dry riverbed to an ashram of Haidakhan Babaji.
After seven months, Jobs left India and returned to the US ahead of Daniel Kottke. Jobs had changed his appearance; his head was shaved, and he wore traditional Indian clothing. During this time, Jobs experimented with psychedelics, later calling his LSD experiences "one of the two or three most important things [he had] done in [his] life". He spent a period at the All One Farm, a commune in Oregon that was owned by Robert Friedland.
During this time period, Jobs and Brennan both became practitioners of Zen Buddhism through the Zen master Kōbun Chino Otogawa. Jobs engaged in lengthy meditation retreats at the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, the oldest Sōtō Zen monastery in the US. He considered taking up monastic residence at Eihei-ji in Japan, and maintained a lifelong appreciation for Zen, Japanese cuisine, and artists such as Hasui Kawase.
Jobs returned to Atari in early 1975, and that summer, Bushnell assigned him to create a circuit board for the arcade video game Breakout in as few chips as possible, knowing that Jobs would recruit Wozniak for help. During his day job at HP, Wozniak drew sketches of the circuit design; at night, he joined Jobs at Atari and continued to refine the design, which Jobs implemented on a breadboard. According to Bushnell, Atari offered $100 (equivalent to about $600 in 2025) for each TTL chip that was eliminated in the machine. Jobs made a deal with Wozniak to split the fee evenly between them if Wozniak could minimize the number of chips. Much to the amazement of Atari engineers, within four days Wozniak reduced the TTL count to 45, far below the usual 100, though Atari later re-engineered it to make it easier to test and add a few missing features. According to Wozniak, Jobs told him that Atari paid them only $750 (instead of the actual $5,000), and that Wozniak's share was thus $375. Wozniak did not learn about the actual bonus until ten years later but said that if Jobs had told him about it and explained that he needed the money, Wozniak would have given it to him.
Jobs and Wozniak attended meetings of the Homebrew Computer Club in 1975, which was a stepping stone to the development and marketing of the first Apple computer. According to a document released by the United States Department of Defense, Jobs claimed that in 1975, he was arrested in Eugene, Oregon, after being questioned for being a minor in possession of alcohol. Jobs alleged that he "didn't have any alcohol", but police questioned him, and subsequently determined that he had an outstanding arrest warrant for an unpaid speeding ticket. Jobs claimed he then paid the $50 fine. The arrest allegedly occurred "behind a store".
=== Apple (1976–1985) ===
By March 1976, Wozniak completed the basic design of the Apple I computer and showed it to Jobs, who suggested that they sell it; Wozniak was at first skeptical of the idea but later agreed. In April of that same year, Jobs, Wozniak, and administrative overseer Ronald Wayne founded Apple Computer Company (now called "Apple Inc.") as a business partnership in Jobs's parents' Crist Drive home on April 1, 1976. The operation originally started in Jobs's bedroom and later moved to the garage. Wayne stayed briefly, leaving Jobs and Wozniak as the active primary cofounders of the company.
The two decided on the name "Apple" after Jobs returned from the All One Farm commune in Oregon and told Wozniak about his time in the farm's apple orchard. Jobs originally planned to produce bare printed circuit boards of the Apple I and sell them to computer hobbyists for $50 (equivalent to about $280 in 2025) each. To fund the first batch, Wozniak sold his HP scientific calculator and Jobs sold his Volkswagen van. Later that year, computer retailer Paul Terrell purchased 50 fully assembled Apple I units for $500 each. Eventually, about 200 Apple I computers were produced in total.
A neighbor on Crist Drive recalled Jobs as an odd individual who would greet his clients "with his underwear hanging out, barefoot and hippie-like". Another neighbor, Larry Waterland, who had just earned his PhD in chemical engineering at Stanford, recalled dismissing Jobs's budding business compared to the established industry of giant mainframe computers with big decks of punch cards: "Steve took me over to the garage. He had a circuit board with a chip on it, a DuMont TV set, a Panasonic cassette tape deck and a keyboard. He said, 'This is an Apple computer.' I said, 'You've got to be joking.' I dismissed the whole idea." Jobs's friend from Reed College and India, Daniel Kottke, recalled that as an early Apple employee, he "was the only person who worked in the garage ... Woz would show up once a week with his latest code. Steve Jobs didn't get his hands dirty in that sense." Kottke also stated that much of the early work took place in Jobs's kitchen, where he spent hours on the phone trying to find investors for the company.
They received funding from semi-retired Intel product marketing manager and engineer Mike Markkula. Scott McNealy, one of the cofounders of Sun Microsystems, said that Jobs broke a "glass age ceiling" in Silicon Valley because he'd created a very successful company at a young age. Markkula brought Apple to the attention of Arthur Rock, who, after looking at the crowded Apple booth at the Home Brew Computer Show, started with a $60,000 investment and went on the Apple board. Jobs was not pleased when Markkula recruited Mike Scott from National Semiconductor in February 1977 to serve as the first president and CEO of Apple.
After Brennan returned from her own journey to India, she and Jobs fell in love again, as Brennan noted changes in him that she attributes to Kobun (whom she was also still following). It was also at this time that Jobs displayed a prototype Apple II computer to Brennan and his parents in their living room. Brennan notes a shift in this time period, where the two main influences on Jobs were Apple Inc. and Kobun.
In April 1977, Jobs and Wozniak introduced the Apple II at the West Coast Computer Faire. It is the first consumer product to have been sold by Apple Computer. Primarily designed by Wozniak, Jobs oversaw the development of its unusual case and Rod Holt developed the unique power supply. During the design stage, Jobs argued that the Apple II should have two expansion slots, while Wozniak wanted eight. After a heated argument, Wozniak threatened that Jobs should "go get himself another computer". They later agreed on eight slots. The Apple II became one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products in the world.
As Jobs became more successful with his new company, his relationship with Brennan grew more complex. In 1977, the success of Apple was now a part of their relationship, and Brennan, Daniel Kottke, and Jobs moved into a house near the Apple office in Cupertino. Brennan eventually took a position in the shipping department at Apple. Brennan's relationship with Jobs deteriorated as his position with Apple grew, and she began to consider ending the relationship. In October 1977, Brennan was approached by Rod Holt, who asked her to take "a paid apprenticeship designing blueprints for the Apples". Both Holt and Jobs believed that it would be a good position for her, given her artistic abilities. Holt was particularly eager that she take the position and puzzled by her ambivalence toward it. Brennan's decision, however, was overshadowed by the fact that she realized she was pregnant, and that Jobs was the father. It took her a few days to tell Jobs, whose face, according to Brennan, "turned ugly" at the news. At the same time, according to Brennan, at the beginning of her third trimester, Jobs said to her: "I never wanted to ask that you get an abortion. I just didn't want to do that." He also refused to discuss the pregnancy with her.
Brennan turned down the internship and decided to leave Apple. A few weeks before she was due to give birth, Brennan was invited to deliver her baby at the All One Farm. She accepted the offer. When Jobs was 23 (the same age as his biological parents when they had him) Brennan gave birth to her baby, Lisa Brennan, on May 17, 1978. Jobs went there for the birth after he was contacted by Robert Friedland, their mutual friend and the farm owner. While distant, Jobs worked with her on a name for the baby, which they discussed while sitting in the fields on a blanket. Brennan suggested the name "Lisa" which Jobs also liked and notes that Jobs was very attached to the name "Lisa" while he "was also publicly denying paternity". She would discover later that during this time, Jobs was preparing to unveil a new kind of computer that he wanted to give a female name (his first choice was "Claire" after St. Clare). She stated that she never gave him permission to use the baby's name for a computer and he hid the plans from her. Jobs worked with his team to come up with the phrase, "Local Integrated Software Architecture" as an alternative explanation for the Apple Lisa. Decades later, however, Jobs admitted to his biographer Walter Isaacson that "obviously, it was named for my daughter".
When Jobs denied paternity, a DNA test established him as Lisa's father. It required him to pay Brennan $385 (equivalent to about $1,200 in 2025) monthly in addition to returning the welfare money she had received. Jobs paid her $500 (equivalent to about $1,600 in 2025) monthly at the time when Apple went public and made him a millionaire. Later, Brennan agreed to an interview with Michael Moritz for Time magazine for its Time Person of the Year special, released on January 3, 1983, in which she discussed her relationship with Jobs. Rather than name Jobs the Person of the Year, the magazine named the generic personal computer the "Machine of the Year". In the issue, Jobs questioned the reliability of the paternity test, which stated that the "probability of paternity for Jobs, Steven... is 94.1%". He responded by arguing that "28% of the male population of the United States could be the father". Time also noted that "the baby girl and the machine on which Apple has placed so much hope for the future share the same name: Lisa".
In 1978, at age 23, Jobs was worth over $1 million (equivalent to $4.94 million in 2025). By age 25, his net worth grew to an estimated $250 million (equivalent to $885 million in 2025). He was also one of the youngest "people ever to make the Forbes list of the nation's richest people—and one of only a handful to have done it themselves, without inherited wealth". In 1982, Jobs bought an apartment on the top two floors of The San Remo, a Manhattan building with a politically progressive reputation. Although he never lived there, he spent years renovating it thanks to I. M. Pei. In 1983, Jobs lured John Sculley away from Pepsi-Cola to serve as Apple's CEO, asking, "Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water, or do you want a chance to change the world?".
In 1984, Jobs bought the Jackling House and estate and resided there for a decade. Thereafter, he leased it out for several years until 2000 when he stopped maintaining the house, allowing weathering to degrade it. In 2004, Jobs received permission from the town of Woodside to demolish the house to build a smaller, contemporary styled one. After a few years in court, the house was finally demolished in 2011, a few months before he died.
Jobs took over development of the Macintosh in 1981, from early Apple employee Jef Raskin, who had conceived the project. Wozniak and Raskin had heavily influenced the early program, and Wozniak was on leave during this time due to an airplane crash earlier that year, making it easier for Jobs to take over the project. On January 22, 1984, Apple aired a Super Bowl television commercial titled "1984", which ended with the words: "On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you'll see why 1984 won't be like 1984." On January 24, 1984, an emotional Jobs introduced the Macintosh to a wildly enthusiastic audience at Apple's annual shareholders meeting held in the Flint Auditorium at De Anza College. Macintosh engineer Andy Hertzfeld described the scene as "pandemonium". The Macintosh was inspired by the Lisa (in turn inspired by Xerox PARC's mouse-driven graphical user interface), and it was widely acclaimed by the media with strong initial sales. However, its low performance and limited range of available software led to a rapid sales decline in the second half of 1984.
Sculley's and Jobs's respective visions for the company greatly differed. Sculley favored open architecture computers like the Apple II, targeting education, small business, and home markets less vulnerable to IBM. Jobs wanted the company to focus on the closed architecture Macintosh as a business alternative to the IBM PC. President and CEO Sculley had little control over chairman of the board Jobs's Macintosh division; it and the Apple II division operated like separate companies, duplicating services. Although its products provided 85% of Apple's sales in early 1985, the company's January 1985 annual meeting did not mention the Apple II division or employees. Many left, including Wozniak, who stated that the company had "been going in the wrong direction for the last five years" and sold most of his stock. Though frustrated with the company's and Jobs's dismissal of the Apple II in favor of the Macintosh, Wozniak left amicably and remained an honorary employee of Apple, maintaining a lifelong friendship with Jobs.
By early 1985, the Macintosh's failure to defeat the IBM PC became clear, and it strengthened Sculley's position in the company. In May 1985, Sculley—encouraged by Arthur Rock—decided to reorganize Apple, and proposed a plan to the board that would remove Jobs from the Macintosh group and put him in charge of "New Product Development". This move would effectively render Jobs powerless within Apple. In response, Jobs then developed a plan to get rid of Sculley and take over Apple. However, Jobs was confronted after the plan was leaked, and he said that he would leave Apple. The Board declined his resignation and asked him to reconsider. Sculley also told Jobs that he had all of the votes needed to go ahead with the reorganization. A few months later, on September 17, 1985, Jobs submitted a letter of resignation to the Apple Board. Five additional senior Apple employees also resigned and joined Jobs in his new venture, NeXT.
The Macintosh's struggle continued after Jobs left Apple. Though marketed and received in fanfare, the expensive Macintosh was hard to sell. In 1985, Bill Gates's then-developing company, Microsoft, threatened to stop developing Mac applications unless it was granted "a license for the Mac operating system software. Microsoft was developing its graphical user interface ... for DOS, which it was calling Windows and didn't want Apple to sue over the similarities between the Windows GUI and the Mac interface." Sculley granted Microsoft the license which later led to problems for Apple. In addition, cheap IBM PC clones that ran Microsoft software and had a graphical user interface began to appear. Although the Macintosh preceded the clones, it was far more expensive, so "through the late 1980s, the Windows user interface was getting better and better and was thus taking increasingly more share from Apple". Windows-based IBM-PC clones also led to the development of additional GUIs such as IBM's TopView or Digital Research's GEM, and thus "the graphical user interface was beginning to be taken for granted, undermining the most apparent advantage of the Mac...it seemed clear as the 1980s wound down that Apple couldn't go it alone indefinitely against the whole IBM-clone market".
== 1985–1997 ==
=== NeXT computer ===
Following his resignation from Apple in 1985, Jobs founded NeXT Inc. with $7 million. A year later he was running out of money, and he sought venture capital with no product on the horizon. Eventually, Jobs attracted the attention of billionaire Ross Perot, who invested heavily in the company. The NeXT computer was shown to the world in what was considered Jobs's comeback event, a lavish invitation-only gala launch event that was described as a multimedia extravaganza. The celebration was held at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, California, on Wednesday, October 12, 1988. Steve Wozniak said in a 2013 interview that while Jobs was at NeXT he was "really getting his head together".
NeXT workstations were first released in 1990 and priced at $9,999 (equivalent to about $25,000 in 2025). Like the Apple Lisa, the NeXT workstation was technologically advanced and designed for the education sector but was largely dismissed as cost prohibitive. The NeXT workstation was known for its technical strengths, chief among them its object-oriented software development system. Jobs marketed NeXT products to the financial, scientific, and academic community, highlighting its innovative, experimental new technologies, such as the Mach kernel, the digital signal processor chip, and the built-in Ethernet port. Making use of a NeXT computer, English computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1990 at CERN in Switzerland.
The revised, second generation NeXTcube was released in 1990. Jobs touted it as the first "interpersonal" computer that would replace the personal computer. With its innovative NeXTMail multimedia email system, NeXTcube could share voice, image, graphics, and video in email for the first time. "Interpersonal computing is going to revolutionize human communications and groupwork", Jobs told reporters. Jobs ran NeXT with an obsession for aesthetic perfection, as evidenced by the development of and attention to NeXTcube's magnesium case. This put considerable strain on NeXT's hardware division, and in 1993, after having sold only 50,000 machines, NeXT transitioned fully to software development with the release of NeXTSTEP/Intel. The company reported its first yearly profit of $1.03 million in 1994. In 1996, NeXT Software, Inc. released WebObjects, a framework for Web application development. After NeXT was acquired by Apple Inc. in 1997, WebObjects was used to build and run the Apple Store, MobileMe services, and the iTunes Store.
=== Pixar and Disney ===
In 1986, Jobs funded the spinout of The Graphics Group (later renamed Pixar) from Lucasfilm's computer graphics division for the price of $10 million, $5 million of which was given to the company as capital and $5 million of which was paid to Lucasfilm for technology rights.
The first film produced by Pixar with its Disney partnership, Toy Story (1995), with Jobs credited as executive producer, brought financial success and critical acclaim to the studio when it was released. Over the course of Jobs's life, under Pixar's creative chief John Lasseter, the company produced box-office hits A Bug's Life (1998), Toy Story 2 (1999), Monsters, Inc. (2001), Finding Nemo (2003), The Incredibles (2004), Cars (2006), Ratatouille (2007), WALL-E (2008), Up (2009), Toy Story 3 (2010), and Cars 2 (2011). Brave (2012), Pixar's first film to be produced since Jobs's death, honored him with a tribute for his contributions to the studio. Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, WALL-E, Up, Toy Story 3, and Brave each received the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, an award introduced in 2001.
In 2003 and 2004, as Pixar's contract with Disney was running out, Jobs and Disney chief executive Michael Eisner tried but failed to negotiate a new partnership, and in January 2004, Jobs announced that he would never deal with Disney again.
In October 2005, Bob Iger replaced Eisner at Disney, and Iger quickly worked to mend relations with Jobs and Pixar. On January 24, 2006, Jobs and Iger announced that Disney had agreed to purchase Pixar in an all-stock transaction worth $7.4 billion. When the deal closed, Jobs became The Walt Disney Company's largest single shareholder with approximately seven percent of the company's stock. Jobs's holdings in Disney far exceeded those of Eisner, who holds 1.7%, and of Disney family member Roy E. Disney, who until his 2009 death held about 1% of the company's stock and whose criticisms of Eisner—especially that he soured Disney's relationship with Pixar—accelerated Eisner's ousting. Upon completion of the merger, Jobs received 7% of Disney shares, and joined the board of directors as the largest individual shareholder. Upon Jobs's death his shares in Disney were transferred to the Steven P. Jobs Trust led by Laurene Jobs.
After Jobs's death, Iger recalled in 2019 that many warned him about Jobs, "that he would bully me and everyone else". Iger wrote, "Who wouldn't want Steve Jobs to have influence over how a company is run?", and that as an active Disney board member "he rarely created trouble for me. Not never but rarely." He speculated that they would have seriously considered merging Disney and Apple had Jobs lived. Floyd Norman, of Pixar, described Jobs as a "mature, mellow individual" who never interfered with the creative process of the filmmakers. In early June 2014, Pixar cofounder and Walt Disney Animation Studios President Edwin Catmull revealed that Jobs once advised him to "just explain it to them until they understand" in disagreements. Catmull released the book Creativity, Inc. in 2014, in which he recounts numerous experiences of working with Jobs. Regarding his own manner of dealing with Jobs, Catmull writes:
In all the 26 years with Steve, Steve and I never had one of these loud verbal arguments, and it's not my nature to do that. ... but we did disagree fairly frequently about things. ... I would say something to him and he would immediately shoot it down because he could think faster than I could. ... I would then wait a week ... I'd call him up, and I give my counterargument to what he had said, and he'd immediately shoot it down. So I had to wait another week, and occasionally this went on for months. But ultimately one of three things happened. About a third of the time he said, "Oh, I get it, you're right", and that was the end of it. And it was another third of the time in which [I'd] say, "Actually I think he is right". The other third of the time, where we didn't reach consensus, he just let me do it my way, never said anything more about it.
== 1997–2011 ==
=== Return to Apple ===
In 1996, Jobs's former company Apple was struggling and its survival depended on completing its next operating system. After failed negotiations to purchase Be Inc., Apple eventually came to a deal with NeXT in December for $400 million; the deal was finalized in February 1997, bringing Jobs back to the company he had cofounded. Jobs became de facto chief after then-CEO Gil Amelio was ousted in July 1997. He was formally named interim chief executive on September 16. In March 1998, to concentrate Apple's efforts on returning to profitability, Jobs terminated several projects, such as Newton, Cyberdog, and OpenDoc. In the coming months, many employees developed a fear of encountering Jobs while riding in the elevator, "afraid that they might not have a job when the doors opened. The reality was that Jobs's summary executions were rare, but a handful of victims was enough to terrorize a whole company." Jobs changed the licensing program for Macintosh clones, making it too costly for the manufacturers to continue making machines.
With the purchase of NeXT, much of the company's technology found its way into Apple products, most notably NeXTSTEP, which evolved into Mac OS X. Under Jobs's guidance, the company increased sales significantly with the introduction of the iMac and other new products; since then, appealing designs and powerful branding have worked well for Apple. At the 2000 Macworld Expo, Jobs officially dropped the "interim" modifier from his title at Apple and became permanent CEO. Jobs quipped at the time that he would be using the title "iCEO".
The company subsequently branched out, introducing and improving upon other digital appliances. With the introduction of the iPod portable music player, iTunes digital music software, and the iTunes Store, the company made forays into consumer electronics and music distribution. On June 29, 2007, Apple entered the cellular phone business with the introduction of the iPhone, a multi-touch display cell phone, which also included the features of an iPod and, with its own mobile browser, revolutionized the mobile browsing scene. While nurturing open-ended innovation, Jobs also reminded his employees that "real artists ship".
Jobs had a public war of words with Dell Computer CEO Michael Dell, starting in 1987, when Jobs first criticized Dell for making "un-innovative beige boxes". On October 6, 1997, at a Gartner Symposium, when Dell was asked what he would do if he ran the then-troubled Apple Computer company, he said: "I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders". Then, in 2006, Jobs emailed all employees when Apple's market capitalization rose above Dell's. It read:
Team, it turned out that Michael Dell wasn't perfect at predicting the future. Based on today's stock market close, Apple is worth more than Dell. Stocks go up and down, and things may be different tomorrow, but I thought it was worth a moment of reflection today. Steve.
Jobs was both admired and criticized for his consummate skill at persuasion and salesmanship, which has been dubbed the "reality distortion field" and was particularly evident during his keynote speeches (colloquially known as "Stevenotes") at Macworld Expos and at Apple Worldwide Developers Conferences.
Jobs usually went to work wearing a black long-sleeved mock turtleneck made by Issey Miyake, Levi's 501 blue jeans, and New Balance 991 sneakers. Jobs told his biographer Walter Isaacson "...he came to like the idea of having a uniform for himself, both because of its daily convenience (the rationale he claimed) and its ability to convey a signature style".
In 2001, Jobs was granted stock options in the amount of 7.5 million shares of Apple with an exercise price of $18.30. It was alleged that the options had been backdated, and that the exercise price should have been $21.10. It was further alleged that Jobs had thereby incurred taxable income of $20,000,000 that he did not report, and that Apple overstated its earnings by that same amount. As a result, Jobs potentially faced a number of criminal charges and civil penalties. The case was the subject of active criminal and civil government investigations, though an independent internal Apple investigation completed on December 29, 2006, found that Jobs was unaware of these issues and that the options granted to him were returned without being exercised in 2003.
In 2005, Jobs responded to criticism of Apple's poor recycling programs for e-waste in the US by lashing out at environmental and other advocates at Apple's annual meeting in Cupertino in April. A few weeks later, Apple announced it would take back iPods for free at its retail stores. The Computer TakeBack Campaign responded by flying a banner from a plane over the Stanford University graduation at which Jobs was the commencement speaker. The banner read "Steve, don't be a mini-player—recycle all e-waste".
In 2006, he further expanded Apple's recycling programs to any US customer who buys a new Mac. This program includes shipping and "environmentally friendly disposal" of their old systems. The success of Apple's unique products and services provided several years of stable financial returns, propelling Apple to become the world's most valuable publicly traded company in 2011.
Jobs was perceived as a demanding perfectionist who always aspired to position his businesses and their products at the forefront of the information technology industry by foreseeing and setting innovation and style trends. He summed up this self-concept at the end of his keynote speech at the Macworld Conference and Expo in January 2007, by quoting ice hockey player Wayne Gretzky:
There's an old Wayne Gretzky quote that I love. "I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been". And we've always tried to do that at Apple. Since the very, very beginning. And we always will.
On July 1, 2008, a $7 billion class action suit was filed against several members of the Apple board of directors for revenue lost because of alleged securities fraud. In a 2011 interview with biographer Walter Isaacson, Jobs revealed that he had met with US president Barack Obama, complained about the nation's shortage of software engineers, and told Obama that he was "headed for a one-term presidency". Jobs proposed that any foreign student who got an engineering degree at a US university should automatically be offered a Green card. After the meeting, Jobs commented, "The president is very smart, but he kept explaining to us reasons why things can't get done ... It infuriates me".
== Health problems ==
In October 2003, Jobs was diagnosed with cancer. In mid 2004, he announced to his employees that he had a cancerous tumor in his pancreas. The prognosis for pancreatic cancer is very poor; however, Jobs stated that he had a rare, less aggressive type, known as islet cell neuroendocrine tumor.
Jobs resisted his doctors' recommendations for medical intervention for nine months, in favor of alternative medicine. However, cancer researcher and alternative medicine critic David Gorski wrote that "it's impossible to know whether and by how much he might have decreased his chances of surviving his cancer through his flirtation with woo. My best guess was that Jobs probably only modestly decreased his chances of survival, if that." Barrie R. Cassileth, the chief of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center's integrative medicine department, on the other hand, said, "Jobs's faith in alternative medicine likely cost him his life ... He had the only kind of pancreatic cancer that is treatable and curable ... He essentially committed suicide."
According to biographer Walter Isaacson, "for nine months he refused to undergo surgery for his pancreatic cancer – a decision he later regretted as his health declined". "Instead, he tried a vegan diet, acupuncture, herbal remedies, and other treatments he found online, and even consulted a psychic. He was also influenced by a doctor who ran a clinic that advised juice fasts, bowel cleansings and other unproven approaches, before finally having surgery in July 2004." He underwent a pancreaticoduodenectomy (or "Whipple procedure") that appeared to remove the tumor successfully. Jobs did not receive chemotherapy or radiation therapy. During Jobs's absence, Tim Cook, head of worldwide sales and operations at Apple, ran the company.
In January 2006, only Jobs's wife, his doctors, and Iger knew that his cancer had returned. Jobs told Iger privately that he hoped to live to see his own son Reed's high school graduation in 2010. In early August 2006, Jobs delivered the keynote for Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference. His "thin, almost gaunt" appearance and unusually "listless" delivery, together with his choice to delegate significant portions of his keynote to other presenters, inspired a flurry of media and internet speculation about the state of his health. In contrast, according to an Ars Technica journal report, Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) attendees who saw Jobs in person said he "looked fine". Following the keynote, an Apple spokesperson said that "Steve's health is robust".
Two years later, similar concerns followed Jobs's 2008 WWDC keynote address. Apple officials stated that Jobs was victim to a "common bug" and was taking antibiotics, while others surmised his cachectic appearance was due to the Whipple procedure. During a July conference call discussing Apple earnings, participants responded to repeated questions about Jobs's health by insisting that it was a "private matter". Others said that shareholders had a right to know more, given Jobs's hands-on approach to running his company. Based on an off-the-record phone conversation with Jobs, The New York Times reported, "While his health problems amounted to a good deal more than 'a common bug', they weren't life-threatening and he doesn't have a recurrence of cancer".
On August 28, 2008, Bloomberg mistakenly published a 2500-word obituary of Jobs in its corporate news service, containing blank spaces for his age and cause of death. News carriers customarily stockpile up-to-date obituaries to facilitate news delivery in the event of a well-known figure's death. Although the error was promptly rectified, many news carriers and blogs reported on it, intensifying rumors concerning Jobs's health. Jobs responded at Apple's September 2008 Let's Rock keynote by paraphrasing Mark Twain: "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated." At a subsequent media event, Jobs concluded his presentation with a slide reading "110/70", referring to his blood pressure, stating he would not address further questions about his health.
On December 16, 2008, Apple announced that marketing vice-president Phil Schiller would deliver the company's final keynote address at the Macworld Conference and Expo 2009, again reviving questions about Jobs's health. In a statement given on January 5, 2009, on Apple.com, Jobs said that he had been suffering from a "hormone imbalance" for several months.
On January 14, 2009, Jobs wrote in an internal Apple memo that in the previous week he had "learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought". He announced a six-month leave of absence until the end of June 2009, to allow him to better focus on his health. Tim Cook, who previously acted as CEO in Jobs's 2004 absence, became acting CEO of Apple, with Jobs still involved with "major strategic decisions".
In 2009, Tim Cook offered a portion of his liver to Jobs, since both share a rare blood type, and the donor liver can regenerate tissue after such an operation. Jobs yelled, "I'll never let you do that. I'll never do that." In April 2009, Jobs underwent a liver transplantation at Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute in Memphis, Tennessee. Jobs's prognosis was described as "excellent".
=== Resignation ===
On January 17, 2011, a year and a half after Jobs returned to work following the liver transplant, Apple announced that he had been granted another leave of absence. Jobs announced his leave in a letter to employees, stating his decision was made "so he could focus on his health". As it did at the time of his 2009 medical leave, Apple announced that Tim Cook would run day-to-day operations and that Jobs would continue to be involved in major strategic decisions at the company. While on leave, Jobs appeared at the iPad 2 launch event on March 2, the WWDC keynote introducing iCloud on June 6, and before the Cupertino City Council on June 7.
On August 24, 2011, Jobs announced his resignation as Apple's CEO, writing to the board, "I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come." Jobs became chairman of the board and named Tim Cook as his successor as CEO. Jobs continued to work for Apple until the day before his death six weeks later.
== Death ==
Jobs died at his home in Palo Alto, California on October 5, 2011, due to complications from a relapse of his previously treated islet-cell pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor, which resulted in respiratory arrest. He had lost consciousness the day before and died with his wife, children, and sisters at his side. His sister, Mona Simpson, described his death thus: "Steve's final words, hours earlier, were monosyllables, repeated three times. Before embarking, he'd looked at his sister Patty, then for a long time at his children, then at his life's partner, Laurene, and then over their shoulders past them. Steve's final words were: 'Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow.' " He then lost consciousness and died several hours later. A small private funeral was held on October 7, 2011, the details of which, out of respect for Jobs's family, were not made public.
Both Apple and Pixar issued announcements of his death. Apple announced on the same day that they had no plans for a public service, but were encouraging "well-wishers" to send their remembrance messages to an email address created to receive such messages. Apple and Microsoft both flew their flags at half-staff throughout their respective headquarters and campuses.
Bob Iger ordered all Disney properties, including Walt Disney World and Disneyland, to fly their flags at half-staff from October 6 to 12, 2011. For two weeks following his death, Apple displayed on its corporate website a simple page that showed Jobs's name and lifespan next to his portrait in grayscale. On October 19, 2011, Apple employees held a private memorial service for Jobs on the Apple campus in Cupertino. It was attended by Jobs's widow, Laurene, and by Tim Cook, Bill Campbell, Norah Jones, Al Gore, and Coldplay. Some of Apple's retail stores closed briefly so employees could attend the memorial. A video of the service was uploaded to Apple's website.
California Governor Jerry Brown declared Sunday, October 16, 2011, to be "Steve Jobs Day". On that day, an invitation-only memorial was held at Stanford University. Those in attendance included Apple and other tech company executives, members of the media, celebrities, politicians, and family and close friends of Jobs. Bono, Yo-Yo Ma, and Joan Baez performed at the service, which lasted longer than an hour. There was high security with guards at all of the university's gates, and a helicopter overhead from an area news station. Each attendee was given a small brown box as a "farewell gift" from Jobs, containing a copy of the Autobiography of a Yogi (1946) by Paramahansa Yogananda.
Childhood friend and fellow Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, former owner of what would become Pixar, George Lucas, his competitor Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, and President Barack Obama all made statements in response to his death. At his request, Jobs was buried in an unmarked grave at Alta Mesa Memorial Park, the only nonsectarian cemetery in Palo Alto.
== Innovations and designs ==
Jobs's design aesthetic was influenced by philosophies of Zen and Buddhism. In India, he experienced Buddhism while on his seven-month spiritual journey, and his sense of intuition was influenced by the spiritual people with whom he studied. Jobs gained insights regarding industrial designs from Richard Sapper. According to Apple co-founder Wozniak, "Steve didn't ever code. He wasn't an engineer and he didn't do any original design...". Daniel Kottke, one of Apple's earliest employees and a college friend of Jobs, stated: "Between Woz and Jobs, Woz was the innovator, the inventor. Steve Jobs was the marketing person."
He is listed as either primary inventor or co-inventor in 346 United States patents or patent applications related to a range of technologies from actual computer and portable devices to user interfaces (including touch-based), speakers, keyboards, power adapters, staircases, clasps, sleeves, lanyards, and packages. His contributions to most of his patents were to "the look and feel of the product". He and his industrial design chief Jonathan Ive are named for 200 of the patents. Most of these are design patents as opposed to utility patents or inventions; they are specific product designs such as both original and lamp-style iMacs, and PowerBook G4 Titanium. He holds 43 issued US patents on inventions. The patent on the Mac OS X Dock user interface with "magnification" feature was issued the day before he died. Although Jobs had little involvement in the engineering and technical side of the original Apple computers, Jobs later used his CEO position to directly involve himself with product design.
Involved in many projects throughout his career was his long-time marketing executive and confidant Joanna Hoffman, known as one of the few employees at Apple and NeXT who could successfully stand up to Jobs while also engaging with him. Even while terminally ill in the hospital, Jobs sketched new devices that would hold the iPad in a hospital bed. He despised the oxygen monitor on his finger, and suggested ways to revise the design for simplicity.
=== Apple I ===
The Apple I was designed entirely by Wozniak, but Jobs had the idea of selling the computer, which led to the founding of Apple Computer in 1976. Jobs and Wozniak constructed several of the Apple I prototype by hand, funded by selling some of their belongings. Eventually, 200 units were produced. One of the main innovations of the Apple I was that it included video display terminal circuitry on its circuit board, allowing it to connect to a low-cost composite video monitor or television, instead of an expensive computer terminal, compared to most existing computers at the time.
=== Apple II ===
The Apple II is an 8-bit home computer, one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products, designed primarily by Wozniak. Jobs oversaw the development of the Apple II's unusual case and Rod Holt developed the unique power supply. It was introduced in 1977 at the West Coast Computer Faire by Jobs and Wozniak as the first consumer product sold by Apple. The Apple II was first sold on June 10, 1977.
=== Lisa ===
The Lisa is a personal computer developed by Apple from 1978 and sold in the early 1980s to business users. It is the first personal computer with a graphical user interface. The Lisa sold poorly at 100,000 units, but despite being considered a commercial failure, it received technical acclaim, introducing several advanced features that reappeared on the Macintosh and eventually IBM PC compatibles. In 1982, after Jobs was forced out of the Lisa project, he took over the Macintosh project, adding inspiration from Lisa. The final Lisa 2/10 was modified and sold as the Macintosh XL.
=== Macintosh ===
Once he joined the Macintosh team, Jobs took over the project after Wozniak had experienced a traumatic airplane accident and temporarily left the company. Jobs launched the Macintosh on January 24, 1984, as the first mass-market personal computer featuring an integral graphical user interface and mouse. This first model was later renamed to Macintosh 128k among the prolific series. Since 1998, Apple has phased out the Macintosh name in favor of "Mac", though the product family has been nicknamed "Mac" or "the Mac" since inception. The Macintosh was introduced by a US$1.5 million Ridley Scott television commercial, "1984". It aired during the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII on January 22, 1984, received as a "watershed event" and a "masterpiece". Regis McKenna called the ad "more successful than the Mac itself". It uses an unnamed heroine to represent the coming of the Macintosh (indicated by a Picasso-style picture of the computer on her white tank top) to save humanity from the conformity of IBM's domination of the computer industry. The ad alludes to George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, which describes a dystopian future ruled by a televised "Big Brother".
The Macintosh, however, was expensive, which hindered its ability to be competitive in a market already dominated by the Commodore 64 for consumers, and the IBM Personal Computer and its accompanying clone market for businesses. Macintosh systems still found success in education and desktop publishing and kept Apple as the second-largest PC manufacturer for the next decade.
=== NeXT Computer ===
After Jobs was forced out of Apple in 1985, he started NeXT, a workstation computer company. The NeXT Computer was introduced in 1988 at a lavish launch event. Using the NeXT Computer, Tim Berners-Lee created the world's first web browser, the WorldWideWeb. The NeXT Computer's operating system, named NeXTSTEP, begat Darwin, which is now the foundation of most of Apple's operating systems such as Macintosh's macOS and iPhone's iOS.
=== iMac ===
Apple's iMac G3 was introduced in 1998 and its innovative design is directly the result of Jobs's return to Apple. Apple boasted "the back of our computer looks better than the front of anyone else's". Described as "cartoonlike", the first iMac, clad in Bondi Blue plastic, was unlike any personal computer that came before. In 1999, Apple introduced the Graphite gray Apple iMac and since has varied the shape, color and size considerably while maintaining the all-in-one design. Design ideas were intended to create a connection with the user such as the handle and a "breathing" light effect when the computer went to sleep. The Apple iMac sold for $1,299 at that time. The iMac's forward-thinking changes include eschewing the floppy disk drive and moving exclusively to USB for connecting peripherals. Through the iMac's success, USB was popularized among third-party peripheral makers—as evidenced by the fact that many early USB peripherals were made of translucent plastic to match the iMac design.
=== iTunes ===
iTunes is a media player, media library, online radio broadcaster, and mobile device management application developed by Apple. It is used to play, download, and organize digital audio and video on personal computers running the macOS and Microsoft Windows operating systems. The iTunes Store is also available on the iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad.
Through the iTunes Store, users can purchase and download music, music videos, television shows, audiobooks, podcasts, movies, and movie rentals in some countries, and ringtones, available on the iPhone and iPod Touch (fourth generation onward). Application software for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch can be downloaded from the App Store.
=== iPod ===
The first generation of iPod was released October 23, 2001. The major innovation of the iPod was its small size achieved by using a 1.8" hard drive compared to the 2.5" drives common to players at that time. The capacity of the first-generation iPod ranged from 5 GB to 10 GB. The iPod sold for US$399 and more than 100,000 iPods were sold before the end of 2001. The introduction of the iPod resulted in Apple becoming a major player in the music industry. Also, the iPod's success prepared the way for the iTunes music store and the iPhone. After the first few generations of iPod, Apple released the touchscreen iPod Touch, the reduced-size iPod Mini and iPod Nano, and the screenless iPod Shuffle in the following years.
=== iPhone ===
Apple began work on the first iPhone in 2005 and the first iPhone was released on June 29, 2007. The iPhone created such a sensation that a survey indicated six out of ten Americans were aware of its release. Time declared it "Invention of the Year" for 2007 and included it in the All-TIME 100 Gadgets list in 2010, in the category of Communication. The completed iPhone had multimedia capabilities and functioned as a quad-band touch screen smartphone. A year later, the iPhone 3G was released in July 2008 with three key features: support for GPS, 3G data and tri-band UMTS/HSDPA. In June 2009, the iPhone 3GS, whose improvements included voice control, a better camera, and a faster processor, was introduced by Phil Schiller. The iPhone 4 was thinner than previous models, had a five megapixel camera capable of recording video in 720p HD, and added a secondary front-facing camera for video calls. A major feature of the iPhone 4s, introduced in October 2011, was Siri, a virtual assistant capable of voice recognition.
=== iPad ===
The iPad is an iOS-based line of tablet computers designed and marketed by Apple. The first iPad was released on April 3, 2010. The user interface is built around the device's multi-touch screen, including a virtual keyboard. The iPad includes built-in Wi-Fi and cellular connectivity on select models. As of April 2015, more than 250 million iPads have been sold.
== Personal life ==
=== Habits and public image ===
Jobs was known to frequently appear barefoot in public, a habit that stemmed from his countercultural background, and was depicted in the movies Pirates of Silicon Valley and Jobs. It also had an impact on American corporate culture, and was adopted by some other entrepreneurs, most notably Adam Neumann.
=== Marriage ===
In 1989, Jobs first met his future wife, Laurene Powell, when he gave a lecture at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she was a student. Soon after the event, he stated that Laurene "was right there in the front row in the lecture hall, and I couldn't take my eyes off of her ... kept losing my train of thought, and started feeling a little giddy". After the lecture, he met her in the parking lot and invited her out to dinner. From that point forward, they were together, with a few minor exceptions, for the rest of his life.
Jobs proposed on New Year's Day 1990; they married on March 18, 1991, in a Buddhist ceremony at the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park. Fifty people, including Jobs's father, Paul, and his sister Mona, attended. The ceremony was conducted by Jobs's guru, Kobun Chino Otogawa. The vegan wedding cake was in the shape of Yosemite's Half Dome, and the wedding ended with a hike and Laurene's brothers' snowball fight. Jobs reportedly said to Mona: "You see, Mona [...], Laurene is descended from Joe Namath, and we're descended from John Muir".
Jobs's and Powell's first child, a son named Reed, was born in 1991. Jobs's father, Paul, died a year and a half later, on March 5, 1993. Jobs's childhood home remains a tourist attraction and is currently owned by his stepmother (Paul's second wife), Marilyn Jobs. Jobs and Powell had two more children, daughters Erin (b. 1995) and Eve Jobs (b. 1998), who is a fashion model. The family lived in Palo Alto, California. Although a billionaire, Jobs made it known that, like Gates, he had stipulated that most of his monetary fortune would not be left to his children.
=== Family ===
Chrisann Brennan notes that after Jobs was forced out of Apple, "he apologized many times over for his behavior" towards her and Lisa. She said Jobs "said that he never took responsibility when he should have, and that he was sorry". By this time, Jobs had developed a strong relationship with Lisa and when she was nine, Jobs had her name on her birth certificate changed from "Lisa Brennan" to "Lisa Brennan-Jobs". Jobs and Brennan developed a working relationship to co-parent Lisa, a change which Brennan credits to the influence of his newly found biological sister, Mona Simpson, who worked to repair the relationship between Lisa and Jobs. Jobs had found Mona after first finding his birth mother, Joanne Schieble Simpson, shortly after he left Apple.
Jobs did not contact his birth family during his adoptive mother Clara's lifetime, however. He later told his official biographer Walter Isaacson: "I never wanted [Paul and Clara] to feel like I didn't consider them my parents, because they were totally my parents [...] I loved them so much that I never wanted them to know of my search, and I even had reporters keep it quiet when any of them found out". However, in 1986, when Jobs was 31, Clara was diagnosed with lung cancer. He began to spend a great deal of time with her and learned more details about her background and his adoption, information that motivated him to find his biological mother. Jobs found on his birth certificate the name of the San Francisco doctor to whom Schieble had turned when she was pregnant. Although the doctor did not help Jobs while he was alive, he left a letter for Jobs to be opened upon his death. As he died soon afterwards, Jobs was given the letter which stated that "his mother had been an unmarried graduate student from Wisconsin named Joanne Schieble".
Jobs only contacted Schieble after Clara died in early 1986 and after he received permission from his father, Paul. In addition, out of respect for Paul, he asked the media not to report on his search. Jobs stated that he was motivated to find his birth mother out of both curiosity and a need "to see if she was okay and to thank her, because I'm glad I didn't end up as an abortion. She was twenty-three and she went through a lot to have me." Schieble was emotional during their first meeting (though she was not familiar with the history of Apple or Jobs's role in it) and told him that she had been pressured into signing the adoption papers. She said that she regretted giving him up and repeatedly apologized to him for it. Jobs and Schieble developed a friendly relationship throughout the rest of his life and spent Christmas together.
During this first visit, Schieble told Jobs that he had a sister, Mona, who was not aware that she had a brother. Schieble then arranged for them to meet in New York where Mona worked. Her first impression of Jobs was that "he was totally straightforward and lovely, just a normal and sweet guy". Simpson and Jobs then went for a long walk to get to know each other. Jobs later told his biographer that "Mona was not completely thrilled at first to have me in her life and have her mother so emotionally affectionate toward me ... As we got to know each other, we became really good friends, and she is my family. I don't know what I'd do without her. I can't imagine a better sister. My adopted sister, Patty, and I were never close."
Jobs then learned his family history. Six months after he was given up for adoption, Schieble's father died, she wed Jandali, and they had a daughter, Mona. Jandali states that after finishing his PhD he returned to Syria to work, and then Schieble left him. They divorced in 1962 and he said then he lost contact with Mona for a time:
I also bear the responsibility for being away from my daughter when she was four years old, as her mother divorced me when I went to Syria, but we got back in touch after 10 years. We lost touch again when her mother moved and I didn't know where she was, but since 10 years ago we've been in constant contact, and I see her three times a year. I organized a trip for her last year to visit Syria and Lebanon and she went with a relative from Florida.
A few years later, Schieble married an ice-skating teacher, George Simpson. Mona Jandali took her stepfather's last name, as Mona Simpson. In 1970, after divorcing her second husband, Schieble took Mona to Los Angeles and raised her alone.
When Simpson found that their father, Abdulfattah Jandali, was living in Sacramento, California, Jobs had no interest in meeting him as he believed Jandali did not treat his children well and according to the San Francisco Chronicle, this was because of finding a Seattle Times article about Jandali's abandonment of his students on a trip to Egypt in 1974. Simpson went to Sacramento alone and met Jandali, who worked in a small restaurant. They spoke for several hours, and he told her that he had left teaching for the restaurant business. He said he and Schieble had given another child away for adoption but that "we'll never see that baby again. That baby's gone." He said he once managed a Mediterranean restaurant near San Jose and that "all of the successful technology people used to come there. Even Steve Jobs ... oh yeah, he used to come in, and he was a sweet guy and a big tipper". At the request of Jobs, Simpson did not reveal to Jandali that his own story meant that he had actually already met his son.
After hearing about the visit, Jobs recalled that "it was amazing ... I had been to that restaurant a few times, and I remember meeting the owner. He was Syrian. Balding. We shook hands." However, Jobs still did not want to meet Jandali because "I was a wealthy man by then, and I didn't trust him not to try to blackmail me or go to the press about it ... I asked Mona not to tell him about me". Jandali later discovered his relationship to Jobs through an online blog. He then contacted Simpson and asked, "what is this thing about Steve Jobs?". Simpson told him that it was true and later commented, "My father is thoughtful and a beautiful storyteller, but he is very, very passive ... He never contacted Steve". Because Simpson herself researched her Syrian roots and began to meet the family, she assumed that Jobs would eventually want to meet their father, but he never did. Jobs also never showed an interest in his Syrian heritage or the Middle East. Simpson fictionalized the search for their father in her 1992 novel The Lost Father. Malek Jandali is their cousin.
=== Philanthropy ===
Jobs's views and actions on philanthropy and charity are a public mystery. He maintained privacy even over what few of these actions were publicly known. He has been a key figure in public discussions about societal obligations of the wealthy and powerful. Through his career, the media investigated and criticized him and Apple as unusually and inexplicably mysterious or absent among powerful leaders and especially billionaires. His name is absent from the Million Dollar List of all large global philanthropy. Some have speculated about his possible secret role in large anonymous donations.
Mark Vermilion, former charitable leader for Joan Baez, Apple, and Jobs, attributed Jobs's lifelong minimization of direct charity to his perfectionism and limited time. Jobs, Vermilion, and supporters said over the years that corporate products were Jobs's superior contributions to culture and society instead of direct charity. In 1985, Jobs said, "You know, my main reaction to this money thing is that it's humorous, all the attention to it, because it's hardly the most insightful or valuable thing that's happened to me."
Shortly after leaving Apple, he formed the charitable Steven P. Jobs Foundation, led by Mark Vermilion, hired away from Apple's community leadership. Jobs wanted a focus on nutrition and vegetarianism, but Vermilion wanted social entrepreneurship. That year, Jobs soon launched NeXT and closed the foundation with no results. Upon his 1997 return to Apple, Jobs optimized the failing company to the core, such as eliminating all philanthropic programs, never to be restored. In 2007, Stanford Social Innovation Review magazine listed Apple among "America's least philanthropic companies". A few months after another unflattering news report, Apple started a program to match employees' charitable gifts. Jobs declined to sign The Giving Pledge, launched in 2010 by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates for fellow billionaires. He donated $50 million to Stanford hospital and contributed to efforts to cure AIDS. Bono reported "tens of millions of dollars" given by Apple while Jobs was CEO, to AIDS and HIV relief programs in Africa, which inspired other companies to join.
== Honors and awards ==
1985: awarded National Medal of Technology (with Steve Wozniak) by US president Ronald Reagan, the country's highest honor for technological achievements
1987: Jefferson Award for Public Service
1989: Entrepreneur of the Decade by Inc.
1991: Howard Vollum Award from Reed College
2004–2010: listed among the Time 100 Most Influential People in the World on five separate occasions
2007: named the most powerful person in business by Fortune magazine
2007: inducted into the California Hall of Fame, located at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts
2012: Grammy Trustees Award, an award for those who have influenced the music industry in areas unrelated to performance
2012: posthumously honored with an Edison Achievement Award for his commitment to innovation throughout his career
2013: posthumously inducted as a Disney Legend
2017: Steve Jobs Theater opens at Apple Park
2022: posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by US president Joe Biden, the country's highest civilian honor
== In popular culture == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Mar%C3%ADa_Arizmendiarrieta | José María Arizmendiarrieta | José María Arizmendiarrieta Madariaga (Markina-Xemein, Biscay, Spain, April 22, 1915 – Mondragón, Gipuzkoa, Spain, November 29, 1976) was a Spanish Catholic priest and promoter of the cooperative companies of the Mondragon Corporation, originally located in the Basque Country and currently spread throughout the world. As of 2021, it is the second largest social economy business group in Spain, bringing together ninety-eight cooperatives, eight foundations, one mutual, ten coverage entities and seven international delegations, distributed in four areas: finance, industry, distribution and knowledge.
Arizmendiarrieta was a seminarian in Vitoria when the Spanish Civil War began in 1936, and consequently he was mobilized by the Basque Government. Due to his knowledge of the Basque language, he was assigned to the editor of the new newspaper Eguna, where he remained until Francisco Franco’s troops entered Bilbao. He was arrested by them, and again mobilized for the Military Government of Burgos until the end of the war. After finishing his studies and his priestly ordination, he was assigned in 1941 as curate of the parish to the industrial town of Mondragon, located in the Gipuzkoan Deba Valley, where he remained until his death. A pragmatic and hard-working priest, with a great sense of social justice and human dignity, he promoted numerous entities and companies for the good of the workers and the community in what he called the "cooperative experience of Mondragon". Thousands of people visit Mondragon every year to analyze Arizmendiarrieta's self-managed cooperative model for job creation and maintenance. He is considered Venerable in the Catholic Church.
== Biography ==
=== Early years: 1915–1931 ===
Jose Maria Arizmendiarrieta, whose name is often shortened to "Arizmendi", was born on April 22, 1915 in the modest farmhouse called Iturbe, nestled in the Barinaga porch, in the municipality of Markina-Xemein, Biscay. His parents were José Luis and Tomasa. His father had a reputation as a man of peace among his neighbors. Good-natured, cheerful and determined, he had a social life under the wing of friars and brotherhoods. His mother was a housewife in the spirit of biblical womanhood: intelligent, orderly, hard-working and self-sacrificing. She took care of the children's education and the administration of the farmhouse.
Jose Maria was the eldest of four children, the other three being Maria, Francisco and Jesus. When he was three years old he suffered a fall in front of the farmhouse, causing a severe head injury, and was taken to the doctor at Markina. The physical damage to his visual perception was irreparable: he lost his left eye, which was replaced by an artificial one. At the age of four he began to go to the rural school attached to the parish, financed by the farmhouses and the neighbourhood residents. The aftermath of the accident influenced José María's future temperament, as well as the over-protection that his mother devoted to him from then on.
Given his visual impairment and his family upbringing, instead of playing and misbehaving like other children, his character was not very expansive: shy, quiet, and observant. Jose Maria was an intelligent child with little physical strength. The boy consequently began to adopt an austere, modest and practical character, close to his pragmatic mother, who, despite being illiterate, appreciated his penchant for reading and literature, and encouraged him, when he turned twelve, to go to the Minor seminary of Castillo Elejabeitia. There he started wearing the glasses that hid his handicap, and his priestly vocation was strengthened. In the seminary he discovered a new world, but he remained faithful to his origins, to the peasant land in which he had grown up and where he learned from his mother the value of practical work for subsistence in a modest farmhouse. He had come from a monolingual environment based on the use of the Basque language in all social spheres, but in the seminary he studied above all general culture in the two permitted languages, Spanish and Latin. Four years later, he joined the recently inaugurated Diocesan seminary of Vitoria.
=== Seminary of Vitoria: 1931–1936 ===
Arizmendiarrieta was at the seminary at the time of the Second Spanish Republic, precisely when social issues re-emerged. The seminarians, in addition to studying philosophy and theology, studied the social encyclical Quadragessimo Anno by Pius XI. Consequently, he delved into the spirituality of the Priestly Movement of Vitoria, having Joaquin Goikoetxeandia and Juan Thalamas as special tutors. And he assumed the motto of the first: "Be a priest, always and in everything a priest." Great importance was attached to values such as bodily austerity, punctuality, silence, industriousness, hygiene and presentation.
In the seminary there were two groups, the youngest and most unreflective, who played football and Basque pelota, and the mature, serious and responsible group who thought about the problems of the world, about peace and war, or social issues such as hunger and missions. Arizmendiarrieta belonged to the latter. One of the most influential priests was Manuel Lekuona, a professor of languages and art. He defended the view that working for the cultivation of the Basque language was an urgent duty of the diocesan priests, to teach catechesis in the vernacular language. In fact, in 1933 several students in the 2nd year of philosophy decided to found the "Third level of the Kardaberaz Society" (Kardaberaz Bazkunaren hirugarren maila), and they endowed it with the motto "Always forward" (Aurrera beti). They all agreed that the best person to draft its statutes was Arizmendiarrieta, who also drew up his founding manifesto, in which he associated the work of the company with the Renaissance ideology. Likewise, he was appointed deputy director of the Society, that is, the de facto manager, since the Director, known as Lekuona, merely supervised. They held an average of three meetings per month, to which were added ordinary and extraordinary meetings.
Both Lekuona and Jose Miguel Barandiaran conveyed to the seminarians the value of critical observation, being reluctant to promote mere study. In this way they countered the monastic romanticism of the seminary, which tended to cloister the priestly vocation, such that according to Arizmendiarrieta, "from so much talking about the temptations of the world, they were absent and unaware of the real temptations: power and comfort."
=== Civil War and priestly ordination: 1936–1941 ===
At the beginning of the civil war in July 1936, Arizmendiarrieta was in the family farmhouse of Barinaga enjoying his annual vacation from the seminary, and he remained there until he was mobilized by the new Basque Government of José Antonio Aguirre. But the military medical court certified his incapacity for active military service, and assigned him to an auxiliary corps, specifically to the editorial office of the newspaper Eguna (The Day), where he received a monthly salary as a soldier. The newspaper in Basque had been created in January 1937 by the new government to communicate with the Basque-speaking population, and especially with the soldiers at the front. He was a member of the Bilbao Press Association, and in May and June he also wrote in the bilingual newspaper Gudari (Soldier), aimed directly at the Basque militia battalions. In his articles, the anti-fascist, nationalist and Christian-Democratic ideology of Eguna was maintained. With Arizmendiarrieta worked several comrades from the group “Always forward" of the Vitoria seminary, such as Eusebio Erkiaga and Alejandro Mendizabal. The treatment of information sought to defend the Basque homeland and its most important components, language and religion. All this from a Christian-Democratic political orientation, with insistent references to social justice.
In June 1937, the rebel troops invaded Bilbao, and Arizmendiarrieta tried to flee to France. But fearful that they would take reprisals against his family, he returned to Barinaga and was later arrested due to a complaint. He spent a month in jail accused of writing in Eguna and Gudari, and after a summary court-martial against 17 detainees, only 4 were saved from being shot, including Arizmendiarrieta, who declared that he was a soldier and not a journalist. He was finally released without charge, and mobilized by the Francoist army, being posted to the Burgos artillery regiment. He got permission to continue studying theology at the seminary in that city, passing and moving on to a new course. At the end of the year, the Bergara seminary was opened, and Arizmendiarrieta moved there to continue his priestly studies.In September 1939, he returned again to the Vitoria seminary, under the tutelage of professor Rufino Aldabalde, who had created some work groups where he considered that, after the upheaval of the civil war, the social question was the burning task for the new generation of priests. The stages of "Kardaberaz" and the work in "Eguna" had finished, and in December Arizmendiarrieta was appointed by Aldabalde director of the group's sheet, which was called "Pax". In March 1940, the sheet changed its name to "Arises", and the Priestly Movement of Vitoria was created, where the social apostolate, especially that of youth and workers, were the two areas of work in which Arizmendiarrieta participated in the months prior to his ordination.
On January 1, 1941, he celebrated his first mass in the church of San Pedro de Barinaga in the presence of his parents and relatives. A Lorenzo Perosi mass was sung at the ceremony, as well as the Nun duzu amandrea (Where do you have your grandmother) by Resurrección María de Azkue the admired president of Euskaltzaindia (Royal Academy of the Basque Language). He intended to study sociology at the University of Leuven in Belgium, but was assigned as an assistant Curate to the parish Mondragon, 30 miles from his own home town, which suffered from unusual levels of unemployment and social tensions as a result of the civil war.
=== Assigned to Mondragon: 1941–1954 ===
He arrived in Arrasate (in Spanish, Mondragon) in February 1941, as a 26-year-old newly ordained priest. There, since the Middle Ages, iron was worked in its forges and craft workshops. And at the beginning of the 20th century it had an efficient manufacturing, dedicating the companies to the production of laminates, profiles and sheet metal, screws, locksmiths, hardware, metal furniture, malleable iron, home appliances, iron pipe accessories and office furniture. Upon his arrival, these companies employed 1,500 workers, out of a population of 8,800 inhabitants.
The most important company was the Locksmith Union with 800 employees. It was publicly listed and had a commissary for its employees and its own School of Apprentices, where Arizmendiarrieta began to teach a social training class for one hour a week, as chaplain of the San Juan Bautista parish. This relationship with young apprentices led him to revitalize Catholic Action as a center for social, cultural and religious leisure. In addition, he created in 1942 new sections such as the Sports Youth, the Academy of Sociology, and the Hallelujah magazine, intended for new military recruits. In his quest for community welfare, he started to focus his efforts on vocational training, such as the school provided by the Locksmith Union, a flagship factory of Mondragon. However, his attempts to enhance and expand the school were not welcomed by the management. And Arizmendiarrieta wanted to socialize knowledge and extend the possibility of training to the children of all the workers of the town. He visited the Professional School opened in Vitoria by Pedro Anitua, and decided to do the same, creating a Professional School in precarious conditions in 1943, in the name of Catholic Action, for which he relied on donations and popular subscription. It was a private, non-cooperative school, initially governed by a Board of Trustees. During the eleven months of the course, the students had a paid job for four hours in the morning in a local company, and in the afternoon they went to class for six hours.In 1945, at the initiative of Arizmendiarrieta and through Sports Youth, the Iturripe stadium was built, financed with contributions from businesses and the local community through pools, raffles, passes for shows, etc. And continuing with his procedure of institutionalizing social projects, he himself drafted its statutes, turning it into a municipal sports society with a Delegated Board that included the main public, ecclesiastical and economic authorities of Mondragon.
In the year 1946, Arizmendiarrieta made an important qualitative leap in training, by selecting the best eleven young people who had completed their High Level Vocational Cycle studies, to pursue higher studies in Industrial engineering, but enrolled in the University of Zaragoza, located 200 km away. During the day they worked 55 hours a week at the Locksmith Union, and at night they studied under the guidance of teachers from the Professional School. They were examined in person in July, and all passed the five courses. Among them were the five entrepreneurs of what in 1956 was the first cooperative, ULGOR. In addition, the same year and following his thought of "theology of reality", he managed to create an anti-tuberculosis dispensary in the small Mondragon Community health center.
The year 1947 and the following years were socially convulsive, with wage claims from the workers in several companies, with the support and participation of Arizmendiarrieta in the preparation of the writings, as works of social apostolate. All this while maintaining his good relationship with the businessmen, who supported him in the creation of the League of Education and Culture foundation for the promotion of the common good. But over time, clashes arose between the paternalistic leadership of the Locksmith Union and the engineering students.
In 1952 the new Zaldispe Professional School promoted by Arizmendiarrieta was inaugurated. He humbly confined himself to the audience, while the Education minister, the Civil Governor, the Bishop, the President of the Provincial Council and other authorities were on the platform. In the same act, the first class of Industrial Engineers received their titles from Minister Joaquín Ruiz Jiménez. Within its social projects, in August 1953 the first stone of the new housing complex for workers in the Makatzena neighborhood was laid, after creating the charitable construction entity "Mondragon Home Association". Arizmendiarrieta put his working-class ideology into practice through an austere life: without salaries, traveling by train with a third-class ticket or in friends' cars, and moving around Mondragon with his modest bicycle, as the working class did.
=== Illness and death: 1963–1976 ===
In 1963 he began to suffer health problems, surely the result of his intense activity in the previous years: priestly life, classes, talks, conferences, meetings, visits to work centers, attention to people in his office at the School, trips to the ministries and official entities, trips abroad, and his inveterate dedication to training through extensive study. He did not fully recover, and in February 1967 he suffered a heart embolism, for which he underwent surgery in Madrid where an artificial prosthesis was placed in his heart.
After several years of normal life, in January 1973 he was hospitalized for heart problems in Bilbao, where a strict recovery regimen was imposed, and after it he came back to Mondragon in a state of some weakness. His condition was, however, irreversible and in February 1974 he had to go back to the hospital to undergo another operation, given that the previously placed artificial valve had become denatured over time and needed to be replaced. The complex operation went well, but over the following days, Arizmendiarrieta suffered as the wounds became infected and did not heal: it was the so-called "sickness of the operating room". In April, he was discharged to return to Mondragon, where his wounds were treated daily. Only his priestly asceticism explains the silence with which he experienced the physical suffering that accompanied him after this last operation. Cures and medications, especially antibiotics, constituted a painful martyrdom that he endured with resignation, while, still weak, he tried to lead a normal life. After several further hospitalizations and discharges, at the beginning of November 1976 he was admitted to the Mondragon Health Center, where the doctors decided against continued treatment of his wounds, to spare him any further suffering. His death came on November 29.
His body was able to be viewed for two days, and thousands of people paid homage to him. On December 1, the funeral was held, presided over by the minister of labour and officiated by 60 priests.
== Cooperative enterprises: 1955–1976 ==
Until 1955 Arizmendiarrieta developed his work in four different areas, and in all cases with inter-class cooperation criteria:
Parish church, which included the Catholic Action Center and the Spiritual Exercises Work,
Social, with social health assistance works through anti-tuberculosis and children's clinics, or housing construction through the Mondragon Home Association,
Formative, represented by the Professional School, and
Recreational, oriented towards sport and cinema with the Sports Youth.
The business area was pending, with the participation of workers in the capital and management of companies. After thirteen years of creative work in the assistance and training sectors, based more on action than on reflection, and nourished by the social doctrine of the church, Arizmendiarrieta focused his dedication on the creation of social enterprises, which he called the "cooperative experience".
=== Organizational model ===
Arizmendiarrieta promoted an open organizational model without distinction of race, belief, social class or sex, which was both participatory and interdependent. And it had some common elements, but also others specific to each sector of activity.
Among the common elements was the General assembly of partners, where the democracy of one person/one vote prevailed, without assessing seniority or the capital owned by the partner. The Assembly elected the members of the Governing Council, equivalent to the Board of Administration, where any member could present their candidacy. The Governing Council elected the managing director, who in turn would elect his own management team. On the other hand, the workers elected the members of the Social Council, equivalent to the workers unions, in a proportion of one representative for every twenty members. Both the Governing Council and the Social Council internally elected their president.
Depending on the sector, the composition of the partners changed. Thus, in industrial cooperatives only their workers were members. In credit and research cooperatives, workers and companies were partners. In the consumer cooperatives, the workers and the companies were partners, and the clients were user partners. And in the training cooperatives the workers, the companies, and the students were partners. All the cooperatives were private, self-managed and offering their services to the entire marketplace. On the other hand, both research and training cooperatives were non-profit.
=== Consumer cooperatives ===
In July 1955 the houses of the "Mondragon Home Association" had already been completed, and Arizmendiarrieta promoted the creation of the San José Consumer Cooperative among his neighbors in the assembly of partners. It was about creating a community alternative to the exclusive company stores, such as that of the Locksmith Union. He organized everything personally: he participated in the list of founding members, collected the necessary documentation to formalize the statutes, looked for theoretical references about cooperativism to familiarize the members with this business model, took care of the steps to acquire premises in the town that served as a store, and drafted the statutes of the company. They included him as a member of the Governing Board, and to finance his purchase, Arizmendiarrieta negotiated interest-free loans with several companies in exchange for them taking advantage of the cooperative as their own commissary.
The San Jose Consumer Cooperative also served as a work balance by employing mostly women, since Arizmendiarrieta devoted special attention to promoting women. To do this, he expanded a teaching section in the Professional School, focused on the 400 single female workers who existed in Mondragon. Over the years, more consumer cooperatives were created, and in September 1969, as a result of the merger of the San Jose Cooperative, with several cooperatives based in the towns of Arechavaleta, Amorebieta, Marquina, Guernica, Éibar, Ermua, Matiena and Recaldeberri (Bilbo), the new company Eroski Group was created.
=== Industrial cooperatives ===
At the beginning of 1955, Arizmendiarrieta desisted from making any more attempts to promote worker participation in the capital and management of the Locksmith Union. He encouraged five of his closest collaborators to create a new company, ULGOR (name derived from the initials of the five founders: Luis Usatorre, Jesus Larrañaga, Alfonso Gorroñogoitia, Jose Maria Ormaetxea and Javier Ortubay). The authorization for its creation had to be given by the Government in Madrid, and when this was refused, they decided to buy a company in difficulty in Vitoria in October, with its industrial license to manufacture "appliances for domestic use", essentially cooking oil stoves.
In April 1956 Arizmendiarrieta blessed the pavilion where the new company Talleres ULGOR was located in Mondragon, where in addition to continuing to manufacture the previous stoves, they launched a new product: an oil stove copied to the millimeter from an English model unknown in Spain. Likewise, in the summer they obtained a license to manufacture selenium plates under the patent of a German company.
Arizmendiarrieta relied on talented young people he knew from the School, under the premise that "to create cooperatives you have to train cooperative members". On the other hand, the new businesses were promoted with a double logic: that they did not previously exist in the Alto Deba Valley, to avoid entering into competition with them, and that they were linked to their professional knowledge acquired in the Locksmith Union and the Professional School. Thus, Usatorre and Larrañaga took charge of the electrical appliances, Ormaetxea of the foundry, and Gorroñogoitia of the electronics. In August they took advantage of the summer holidays to move the machinery and dies from the Vitoria plant to Mondragon, and in November the workshop was officially opened.
In 1957, after the good start represented by ULGOR, Arizmendiarrieta, with the participation of former students of the Professional School, promoted the creation in Mondragon of Talleres Arrasate Industrial Cooperative to revive the company Aranzabal Workshop, which was in bankruptcy. The statutes were drawn up by himself in collaboration with two lawyers from Madrid, one of whom was responsible for the National Union of Industrial Cooperatives. The object of the new cooperative company was "the manufacture and sale of machines, tools, punching and tooling".
=== Credit unions ===
In August 1958, Arizmendiarrieta went on an excursion of students and professors from the Polytechnic School to the World Exhibition in Brussels, and took advantage of his first trip abroad to visit different automobile, household appliance and machine tool companies in France, Holland, Belgium and Germany. After the trip, he decided to implement an idea that had been maturing in recent years, the creation of cooperative credit entities. At the beginning of 1959, he drafted two preliminary projects which would materialize in the creation of a financial entity and another assistance entity.
==== Financial entity ====
The objective of the "Labour Bank" (Laboral Kutxa, a credit cooperative financial entity) was to cover the industrial and service cooperatives in their investments and growth, and in turn, channel their profits and the savings of their members. The first office was opened in October 1959, and in addition to its financial function, it activated the Social Welfare service to cover the 314 members of ULGOR and the other industrial cooperative "Talleres Arrasate".
In the statutes that he presented for the approval of the Labour Bank, he reinforced mutual cooperation by proposing that the existing cooperatives be members of the credit cooperative and that the new cooperatives be incorporated as members. In this way, they mutually reinforced their solvency. A characteristic of the Labour Bank from its very beginning, and until the creation in 1991 of the Mondragon Corporation, was the existence of two divisions: the Financial Division and the Business Division. While the former performed the ordinary functions of a savings bank, the functions of the Business Division were autonomous. On the one hand, it supported existing cooperatives in matters of internationalization, management and legal advice, and on the other, it promoted the creation of new cooperatives, both in sectors where they already existed and in new ones such as research, the primary sector, and the educational one.
In addition to linking employees and industrial cooperatives as partners, Arizmendiarrieta wanted the rest of the population to get involved, and for this he used simple and popular messages. Thus, at the inauguration in 1960 of a new Labour Bank office, his motto was "O notebook, o suitcase", that is, save to invest and create jobs, or emigrate.
==== Mutual assistance ====
Like the financial entity, in June 1959, the EPSV (Voluntary Social Welfare Entity) known as "Lagun Aro" was created to respond to the cooperative members' need for social protection. The reason for this was that being self-employed workers, as opposed to employees, they were excluded from the General Public Social Security Scheme. Its function was, on the one hand, to provide a mixed coverage system that included benefits from the Public Social Security System through the Self-Employed Regime to which the cooperative members were affiliated, and on the other, to enable access to Lagun Aro's own benefits, such as coverage for illness, unemployment in the event that a cooperative was in difficulty, retirement, widowhood, and complementary health care. As in Laboral Kutxa, the cooperatives were members of Lagun Aro.
=== Agricultural cooperative ===
Arizmendiarrieta came from a family of peasants from Barínaga, and did not understand social development without the primary sector. After the first industrial cooperative, he promoted the LANA cooperative, integrating the livestock, agricultural and forestry sectors of the Alto Deba Valley. It would be a mixed cooperative with two types of partners, the producers of the villages, and the workers of the transformation cooperative. After several years of dynamic growth, specialization took place, creating three divisions: dairy, livestock and forestry. Over the years, the first two were integrated into the Erkop agro-food group, and the forestry activity into the Construction Division.
=== Cooperative university ===
At the beginning of 1961, Arizmendiarrieta began to structure the idea of a new Professional School with a higher academic level in the Alto Deba Valley, with opening centers in the three main towns, Mondragon, Bergara and Oñati, which together had a population of 50,000 inhabitants. As an indispensable condition for the development of industrial cooperatives, he wanted students well trained by the best teachers in workshops and laboratories who were close to the levels of research and development of the leading European countries. And this would facilitate the interrelation with companies.In 1963, work began on the new Professional School in Iturripe, designed to house 1,500 students, who would gradually reach the degree of Official, High Level Vocational Cycle Studies, and Technical Engineering, officially inaugurated in 1967. An important peculiarity was that the school's partners belonged to the cooperative and non-cooperative companies of the valley, the teachers, and also the students, having representation in the Assembly and the Governing Council.
At that time, he developed the MEDUO University Project, involving the School Association of the University of Oñati, made public in 1965, and taking as its historical inspiration the old Sancti Spiritus University, created in 1545 and in operation until 1902. Its decentralizing approach involved locating engineering related to mechanics, electronics and machine tools in Mondragon, commerce and business administration degrees in Oñati, and chemicals linked to the textile industry in Bergara. In addition, he proposed a 'popular and social' university, which should pay attention to the practical application of the principle of equal educational opportunities, so that it would be a driving force for development through the institutionalization of lifelong learning. The project turned out to be too ambitious for the time, and it was not until 1997 that the current Mondragon University was established.
=== County Cooperative Group ===
In the Laboral Kutxa's Annual report of 1961, Arizmendiarrieta explained his ideas on intra- and inter-cooperative cooperation as an element of solidarity to achieve personal and collective advancement. He proposed an adequate process of capitalization by indirect means, and at the same time an indispensable formula of development through industrial concentration.
The directors of ULGOR led and developed the idea, which resulted in the constitution of a co-brand group called Ularco, which included the industrial cooperatives of the Alto Deba Valley. Initially, it would be made up of the industrial companies ULGOR, Arrasate, Copreci and Ederlan, constituting a federal union of cooperatives, with a similar orientation to groups of capitalist companies, with the difference that in these the power was vertical and configured by the arithmetic majority of the capital, while in the Ularco Group the power was rooted in a pact of cession of sovereignty. One of the greatest achievements of collective solidarity of Arizmendiarrieta with the creation of the Group in 1964 was to implement the "reconversion of results" between all the partners of the different cooperative companies, when ULGOR achieved 30% of profits on sales and in Ederlan it was just 3%. The new business group stated in the second article of its regulations that its corporate purpose was to guarantee "the budgets of the modern company with the appropriate technical, financial and commercial deployment".
=== Student's Industrial Cooperative ===
Arizmendiarrieta developed the project to create an industrial cooperative for the students of the Professional School with a double purpose. On the one hand, it would provide students with limited economic resources the possibility of paying for their High Level Vocational Cycle studies. And on the other, it would promote dual training through theoretical and practical classes at the School, and the experience of working in a real company.
In November 1965, he began the procedures for the administrative recognition of the company Alecoop (Cooperative School Labor Activity), which became official in April 1966. The industrial purpose of the company was the manufacture and sale of auxiliary tools for mechanical workshops and electrical installations for industrial assemblies, according to commissions or own study projects. The students would work in a cooperative regime for half a day, which had to be compatible with the school demands of the partners.
=== Women's Industrial Cooperative ===
In all cooperatives, women's participation was subject to rights equal to those of men. But in the mid-1960s, Arizmendiarrieta's concern for the labor emancipation of women became more apparent, since the limit of women's participation in work was marriage. In the cooperatives, the institutional associative link was the "partnership contract" and not the usual work contract, so the single members saw it terminated once they got married. For Arizmendiarrieta, marriage was almost a sentence of exile for women, which separated them from social life, and often tended to increase 'couple problems'.
To improve the situation, Arizmendiarrieta promoted the construction of a female pavilion for classrooms and laboratories at the School, which would allow young female students to study chemistry and electronics, and, in parallel with this, the creation of a women's industrial cooperative, founding the Auzo Lagun company in November 1967. Its activity is the direct catering service, in which meals are prepared on site for schools, companies, residences and hospitals.
=== Cooperative Research Center ===
Arizmendiarrieta was aware of the technological dependency implied by the acquisition of patents abroad, and more specifically that of electronic semiconductors in Germany and that of electrical appliances in Italy. For this reason, on his trips abroad he analyzed the collaboration networks between companies, universities and research centers as a basis for economic and social development. In 1965, he began to include his ideas on the importance of research and technological development in the weekly talks at the Professional School. He considered that the competition between nations was between the companies that collaborated with the laboratories, so it was necessary to invest in human capital and technology. With his usual pragmatism, he convinced several professors at the School to dedicate part of their time to applied technological research, and after a few years of testing, in 1968 a team was created with partial autonomy from the School and with its own projects.
Subsequently, he encouraged the cooperatives of the Alto Deba Valley to contract projects to the research team, and Laboral Kutxa to financially lead the construction of a separate building from the Professional School. The dual objective was to provide it with its own research capacity in the medium and long term in the style of the German Fraunhofers, under the legal tutelage of the Professional School, and eventually to set up the first cooperative company for Applied Research. In 1973 Laboral Kutxa approved the project, and in October 1974 work began on the new building. The tutelage of the teaching center lasted until 1982, when Ikerlan had its own legal personality as a cooperative, with the Valley companies and the researchers themselves being partners. Arizmendiarrieta also involved the Public administration in financing generic projects, being a source of inspiration for public-private collaboration in the field of research in the Basque Country.
=== Cooperative Corporation ===
In 1966, Arizmendiarrieta visited France in February to visit laboratories and factories in Paris, Dijon and Grenoble. In September he toured in Germany visiting different commercial, credit, consumer, and industrial cooperatives in Bonn, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Munich, Hamburg and Berlin. In both cases, he came back with the idea that Mondragon could also reach the degree of harmonic development that he had seen, for which it was necessary to become competitive in increasingly larger areas. All this served to reinforce his permanent discourse of cooperation.
The cooperatives were integrated into Regional Groups such as Ularco, based on their geographical proximity, and it was not until December 1984 that the reorganization pre-congress was undertaken with a more business and less sociological focus, creating the Mondragon Cooperative Group. The process culminated in the first two Congresses of 1987 and 1989, approving the basic principles of what is currently the Mondragon Corporation.
== Thought and practical principles ==
=== Precedents ===
Arizmendiarrieta, in his quest for social justice and human dignity, was not a visionary who created business models by intuition. He had extensive historical, business and ideological knowledge based on many years of observation and reading. His uniqueness was that, with a lot of pragmatism, he knew how to help implement his theoretical ideas in concrete creations.
==== Historical ====
Arizmendiarrieta knew well the cooperative precedents of the Basque Country. In fact, the spirit of cooperation has long been deeply rooted among farmers, popularly known as "Auzolan" (Community Work). It is the performance of free work by neighbours that benefits everyone; through a neighborhood assembly, the place, method and people (one member for each farm) who are going to carry it out are decided, mainly the opening or maintenance of public roads, churches, hermitages or public buildings, or as and when a neighbor needs it.
On the other hand, in the 20th century the first consumer cooperative, promoted by the nationalist union ELA/STV, was created in Bilbao in 1919, followed by others in Vizcaya. These cooperatives were also open to non-members. And they operated according to the cooperative principles of the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers, founded in 1844 in England, and currently maintained by the ICA – International Cooperative Alliance. In the Vitoria Congress in 1933, the union agreed to strengthen the cooperative movement, and the first production and credit cooperatives were also created.
Also, in 1920 the socialist union UGT helped several affiliates, workers of companies in crisis, to achieve self-employment by creating the ALFA cooperative in Eibar. It began manufacturing weapons, and from 1925 also sewing machines. It was the largest industrial cooperative of the time and its managing director, Toribio Echevarria, was admired and loved by Arizmendiarrieta for his professionalism and integrity.
==== Business ====
Since the thirteenth century, the Deba Valley and its seven towns have been linked to forges and metallurgy. Thus, in the 15th century, a large part of the 1,900 inhabitants of Mondragon dedicated themselves to obtaining steel billets, which on the one hand, they sold and exported for the manufacture of weapons, and on the other, they transformed by hand into nails and ironwork. The forges were complex installations that allowed the energy of the water to activate the machinery necessary to produce iron and steel until the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century, when blast furnaces were introduced.
When Arizmendiarrieta arrived in the depressed post-war Mondragon in 1941, the largest company was the "Locksmith S.A.", created in 1906 from the merger of the companies "Vergarajauregui, Resusta y Cia", from 1869, and "The Guipuzcoan Locksmith", from 1901. It had 850 employees at its foundry and machining plants in Mondragon and Bergara, was publicly listed on the Stock exchange of Madrid, and was the driving force behind several smaller locksmith companies. In mid-1948 it had 2,000 workers. The second most important company in Mondragon was the "Modern Locksmith ELMA", with more than 300 employees.
In all the towns of the Deba Valley there were numerous small industrial companies, among which two medium-sized ones stood out. In Bergara there was "La Algodonera San Antonio, S.A.", created in 1846, which had 500 employees and was dedicated to the production of large-scale textiles. In Oñati there was "Hijos de Juan de Garay, S.A.", created in 1864, and dedicated to the production of welded steel tubes, with 400 employees.
==== Ideological ====
Arizmendiarrieta always had a small and austere office in the Professional School, and he was an inveterate reader of unusual topics for a modest priest, such as books by the Labour Party, or the "red bishops" such as Antonio Pildain and Vicente Enrique y Tarancón, or the new Catholic intellectuals of the ecclesia such as the Spanish Episcopal Conference, Iribarren and Rodríguez de Yrre, or the communist manifesto of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.
In his search for a religious solution to social questions, he began to elaborate his own thoughts, which were a conjunction of the classical and social-Catholic sources of the seminary and the new socialist and personalist theories. He bought books by thinkers with the gifts needed to make a real world impact, such as the active Catholic priest Hans Küng, or Jacques Maritain, Emmanuel Mounier, José Ortega y Gasset, Jacques Leclerq and the Labor leaders, and gave copies to his disciples.
For him, reading was an essential source of inspiration, and he underlined the ideas he thought were most interesting in the hundreds of books in his private library. He rigorously wrote his reflections on "pedestrian humanism" in 10,495 files and writings. After his imprisonment during the civil war he only wrote in Spanish, but in August 1968 he began to use Basque again in the magazine TU Lankide, in a total of up to 57 articles, the last three in 1976.
=== Example in austerity ===
Arizmendiarrieta lived his entire life in personal austerity, as a young man out of family necessity and, after the emergence of the cooperatives, out of personal conviction. He lived with the limited salary of curate of the parish. He never received anything from the cooperatives or the entities that he promoted and he worked in a small office of the Professional School. He did not drink, and ate very little. In Mondragon he traveled by bicycle like the workers, until several cooperative leaders "stole" it, replacing it later with a velosolex (bicycle with a small motor). And for trips outside, he would ask friends for favors or take the cheapest tickets.
Despite being the promoter of numerous cooperatives, and often the drafter of the projects and statutes, which he personally defended before the different administrations, he gave up holding any position. In the few individual distinctions that he accepted, he included in them those who had helped him achieve his aims, just as he did in the openings of new pavilions and companies.
He never acted for personal interests, and despite the fact that some class-oriented businessmen from Mondragon were detractors of the popular "priest", and were suspicious of the participation of workers in the capital and management of the new business model, Arizmendiarrieta maintained his ideology of social justice. In 1956 he was threatened by the Civil Governor with transfer, and he replied that he would obey the decision of his superior of the diocese, but that he would not become an accommodating priest.
=== Personal closeness ===
Arizmendiarrieta shaped his ideas into concrete achievements involving many people: politicians, businessmen, teachers, young people, etc. And he did it with empathy and respect for everyone. His daily work was based on an exercise of renunciation, of homage, submission, deference, gratitude and a quiet aura of authority. As a young man he moved around the town on a bicycle, out of affinity with the workers. He ate frugally, and when a charge from Madrid visited Mondragon for an event, Arizmendiarrieta would notify the nuns of the college to receive the visitors with a hot broth.
In 1958, the Director of Professional Education in Madrid Guillermo Reyna visited Mondragon. He was surprised by the casual way the students treated Arizmendiarrieta, and he wrote to him: “It gave me a bad impression that the students did not get up, greet, or offer the slightest sign of deference towards you, who are their Director, when we passed through the room where several were sitting and others were changing their shoes". Arizmendiarrieta, after apologizing, replied "I don't allow them to treat me as a Director, because I am just one amongst the rest in the School. It has been a procedure that has given me good results so far." In fact, Arizmendiarrieta was never listed as Director.
In 1965 the Minister of Labor arrived to award him the gold medal for Merit at Work, and in the speeches, the President of the Mondragon Education League highlighted the desire of the curate to detach his work from any personal interest, "He is still as poor as when he arrived 25 years ago, and just like then, his mother continues to send him beans and potatoes from the farmhouse." To conclude, he said, "He has created a mentality, a way of doing things. People have turned to him for everything, and he always has a free moment, a word of encouragement, an idea to solve a problem." The honoree's answer did not surprise anyone. He had no merit, he always spoke in the plural, losing his individuality in the anonymous work of the hundreds of people who had worked with him in the activities for which he was awarded: “I say without modesty that these merits that have been attributed to me for official purposes are due to each and every one of those who have worked during these past years”.
=== Sowing years ===
From the time Arizmendiarrieta arrived in Mondragon in 1941 with his wooden suitcase, until the first industrial cooperative ULGOR began operating, 15 years of preparation passed. The cycle began with the creation of the precarious Professional School in 1943, where the children of all the workers could study, unlike the Locksmith Union Apprentice School. Arizmendiarrieta did not yet have a defined cooperative model, but he did have a clear idea: that the worker can only emancipate himself through education and his own work. Therefore, he encouraged the spirit of responsibility and cooperation.
Other actions of Arizmendiarrieta were the organization of a library for youth, the organization of study circles for older people, and the foundation in June 1943, under his direction, of a Social or Sociology Academy with the inspiration of Catholic Action. The objective of his circles or meetings was "to train future worker leaders." In addition to his teaching at the Professional School, Arizmendiarrieta taught more than two thousand study circles, some for religious and human formation; others for social formation. This is equivalent to saying that he gave at least one conference every 2.7 days, for fifteen consecutive years, not discounting holidays and vacations.
In any case, the Professional School was his favorite place of catholic and social apostolate. Every day at two in the afternoon he gave his 20-minute talk in the auditorium to professors and students of the 2nd year of Master's and Technical Engineering. The topics were diverse and unknown to the audience, such as Russian kolkhoz peasant cooperatives, Yugoslav self-management or German co-management. In addition to the content, his talks were difficult to understand, due to his monotonous tone and difficult language. Aware of this, he used short quotes that were easy to remember such as "Knowledge is Power", "knowledge must be socialized to democratize power", "it is easier to educate a young person than to reform a man", or "give a fish to a man and he will eat that day; teach him to fish and he will eat for the rest of his life".
In the sermons at his daily mass in the parish he also used short quotations to compensate for his difficult oratory. Once, the parishioners asked the bishopric to replace him because they did not understand him, but the bishop did not agree to do this, valuing his social work more. And in July 1967, when he was invited to Madrid as a speaker in the debates on the future status of Spanish cooperativism, chaired by the General Director of Social Promotion, the attendees listened to him in silence because his oratory was difficult for them. To alleviate the situation, the director told them "Keep in mind that Father Arizmendiarrieta thinks in Basque, and translates it into Spanish."
=== Training and work ===
Arizmendiarrieta led his collaborators by example. His training curriculum vitae, written by himself, shows his dedication to his studies: "Philosophy and Theology" at the seminary of Vitoria, "Ethical-Social" at the University of Comillas, enrolled in special intensive courses. And "Economics" in intensive courses at the Social School of Vitoria, from 1948 to 1952.
He maintained close contact with the Vitoria seminary, where year after year he attended the courses organized at the Social School. His interests ranged from economics and sociology to philosophy and pedagogy. He understood his own role as chaplain of Catholic Action as someone who spurred others to do good, and above all, as an educator. He made an effort to convince others, especially young people, of the importance of training, and often repeated quotes such as "Teaching and education are the first requirements of a community, if you do not want all kinds of companies to become stagnant or half developed", "Man is made through training", "It is better to light a match than to curse the darkness", or "Sowing in time is professionally training our young people. This is the expense that is transformed into seed that produces a hundredfold."
The argument of the profitability of investments made in education appears many times in Arizmendiarrieta's writings. And his insistence on community responsibility for education has two roots. One is his personal experience of the insufficiency of the State, and the other is his general idea that society should tend to self-management in all its forms, solving its own problems on its own. But he advocated dual training, so as not to leave the entire burden of the cost of studies to the community, but rather the student himself had to assume a part. In addition, Arizmendiarrieta was opposed to the division of life into two periods, one of study (at the expense of those who work), and another of work. He thought that study and work, rather than consecutive stages, should constitute combined activities that would last. The young person should combine study and work, and the mature person should have the right and duty to combine work and study.
=== Work and union ===
Arizmendiarrieta created in September 1960 the cooperative magazine that he always edited, "TU-Work and Union", initially called "Cooperation". He said that "Work is the firm basis for development and promotion, the Union is the lever that multiplies the forces of all, and Cooperation is for us a system of solidarity, to make work the appropriate instrument for advancement, personal and collective." Therefore, he insisted on collecting these concepts in the statutes of the cooperatives.
He conceived the magazine as "a constant invitation to dialogue, relationship and cooperation for the practical application of the postulates of social justice in the business environment in a climate of freedom and love, indispensable in a work community". He considered work as a means of personal self-realization and solidarity, of individual improvement and collective improvement, the basis for a more unquestionable humanistic and social conscience.
He repeatedly explained that work dignifies people, and that different levels of development in regions and countries depend on work. He noted that a study by experts showed that in the United States, the contribution of nature, land, forests, rivers, seas, and mines to the level of development was estimated at one-eighth, and that the labour factor was seven-eighths. The Deba Valley itself, where Mondragon is located, is not notable for its natural wealth, but its development is driven and created by the work of its inhabitants.
As for the union, it was seen as a sign of solidarity in a democracy, so cooperatives should be democratic, with each member having only one vote. At the same time, unity demanded the responsibility of all, because unity is the strength of the weak, and solidarity is a powerful lever that multiplies strength.
=== The reform of the company ===
Arizmendiarrieta sought the dignity of workers through the reform of the company, inspired by the postulates of Christian Social doctrine. As early as 1933, the program of the Basque trade union ELA / STV established that the rights of the worker were not limited to a fair wage, so he demanded his participation in the company, making him share in the profits by issuing shares in the capital, as well as recognising him as a co-manager of the company. After the Civil war of 1936 unions were banned, but the Christian Social doctrine was present in Catholic workers' organizations, gaining further development in the 1960s. In fact, it was the Catholic labour movements in Germany and Belgium that, taking advantage of the post-war reconstruction situation, had more vigorously demanded workers' access to the company's management, profits, and shareholding, with harsh criticism of the predominance of capital over man.
In 1956, after fifteen unsuccessful years proposing changes to the leadership of the Locksmith Union, Arizmendiarrieta made the momentous decision to encourage a group of professionally well-trained young people to leave their well-established jobs in the Locksmith Union to create a cooperative. He set out to realize his ideas on the primacy of work over capital, on self-management, and on democracy. Of course, Arizmendiarrieta's relations with some employers worsened markedly, and difficulties arose even in relation to the Professional School, where until then the collaboration had been optimal and generous. After the initial success of the cooperatives, in the following years he wrote that one of the noblest and most spiritual tasks that could be undertaken was to awaken in the people the consciousness of their own potential. It was necessary for the workers to be able to be revitalised with the hope of a true emancipation of their own through work and Christian peace. Henceforth, he stopped alluding explicitly to the reform of the company.
=== Leadership and ascendancy ===
Arizmendiarrieta's working method was based on teaming up with young people he trusted. The teaching work that he carried out in the first Professional School of Zaldispe and the creation of the Sports Youth entity, as well as his participation in Catholic Action, enabled him to get to know many dedicated young people. Thus, in 1946 he selected eleven young people to continue their Industrial engineering studies on their own, but enrolled in the University of Zaragoza, about 200 km. away, and in 1955 five of them who were already outstanding professionals in the Locksmith Union, were encouraged to create the first industrial cooperative, named ULGOR. His success in the creation of new organizations from 1941 to 1955 made the young people involved more secure, paying the mortgage on the houses of newlyweds, so that they would abandon secure jobs in the best company in Mondragon, and embark on an adventure with an uncertain future, but confident in their mentor.
In 1959 ULGOR was growing successfully and had established itself in the market. From the beginning, the partners had elected the electronic engineer Alfonso Gorroñogoitia as president of the Governing Council, and in turn the Council had appointed the chemical engineer José María Ormaetxea as managing director. But Arizmendiarrieta had in mind the idea of creating a cooperative credit entity, and after drafting the project and the statutes of the Labour Bank on his own, he managed to get the ministries to approve its creation. To manage it, he sought honesty above all else, and proposed to Ormaetxea that he should be his director, going from managing director of a large company to a modest office on Ferrerías street, where he began working with another employee. Ormaetxea pointed out that "I accepted, despite being completely unaware of the banking business, and barely knowing how to interpret a balance sheet". Likewise, Arizmendiarrieta convinced Gorroñogoitia to combine the two presidencies, given his high position in the Governing and Social Councils of ULGOR.
In 1965 Arizmendiarrieta personally promoted the Alecop student industrial cooperative. To finance his installations, he requested subsidies from public bodies and a loan from the Labour Bank, which requested guarantors. Arizmendiarrieta approached several professors of the Professional School for this purpose, one of them being the future founder and director of the Ikerlan Research Center, Manolo Quevedo, "I replied that I would sign, but after obtaining the approval of my wife, because we already had three small daughters. Endorsing a company in which the partners and managers were going to be the students, and the guarantors would not have any connection, was certainly unusual".
=== Controversies ===
Arizmendiarrieta developed his concept of human enterprise through action and practice, which generated controversies that can be grouped into five areas:
In 1941 Arizmendiarrieta arrived in Mondragon with his ideology of the social doctrine of the church, where the worker finds satisfaction in his job as an intelligent and responsible human being. He began his career in the Locksmith Union Apprentice School and in Catholic Action, and at that time he wrote that the workers saw the church at the service of the state: "The Army, the clergy and the Falange (the fascist party in the Francoist Spain) are the three claws of the capitalist". Likewise, they saw the church on the side of the winners of the civil war. For this reason, he established a catalogue of three virtues for the priest who wanted to act in the working environment: freedom, austerity and diligence.
In 1956 he was about to be deported by the Civil Governor of Gipuzkoa, as he was considered the main person responsible for the workers' strikes of that year. Also, in 1965 and 1969, when students of the Professional School participated in the "Day of the Basque Homeland" (Aberri Eguna), the Governor accused the School of being a focus of politicization and subversion. And also in 1969, the Governor intended to "put the arrogant cooperativists of Mondragon under pressure and get them to surrender at his feet, engaged as they are in unspeakable and dangerous desires for emancipation, whose rebellious attitude could infect the rest of the Basque Country."
In 1960 the first criticisms from local and regional capitalist businessmen began, directly and also through the Official Chamber of Industry of Gipuzkoa, which was suspicious of the growth of the cooperatives. Arizmendiarrieta had an excellent relationship with many businessmen, whom he encouraged to become members of the Professional School, such as Juan Celaya from the Cegasa company in Oñati and José María Altuna from the JMA company in Mondragon. But the critics argued, on the one hand, that there was a transfer of workers from their companies to the new cooperatives, and, on the other, that the main reason for their growth were the fiscal benefits. The deduction of 10% of corporate tax was dedicated to the Promotion and Employment Fund for the community; this second argument was recurrent for many years.
In the cooperatives there were no trade unions, their functions being assumed by the Social Council, and in 1966 the first criticisms from leftist and union sectors began, maintaining that cooperativism was an insufficient solution for society, being socialism "from the inside". These critics accepted as positive certain aspects of cooperativism such as the democratic government of the company through the principle of one partner/one vote rather than control by capital, the imputation of the surplus value of work to the community, and solidarity through limited salary ranges that prevented the formation of privileged classes. But their principal objection was that cooperativism seemed to be a form of submission to the principles of the free market.
In 1970 other criticisms arose from the new Basque Left, linked to the various ETA groups, and their successive splits. They considered that a leading technocratic class had emerged in the cooperatives, directly including Arizmendiarrieta, who called himself a cooperativist but prevented the liberation of the Basque working class. And that, in fact, was one of the reasons why the Ministry of Labor in Madrid had distributed Medals of Merit for Labor to cooperative members. In 1972 there were controversies of this nature in Alecop and in the "Basque School" (Ikastola) of Mondragon. And in June 1974, a cooperative strike took place for the first time at the ULGOR and Fagor Electronic plants, as a result of new job evaluation regulations. After unpleasant incidents, the strike ended with the expulsion of 24 partners, approved in the General Assembly. Several years later they were given the option of readmission, which some of them accepted.
Cooperativism was also criticised for its lack of sensitivity to the Basque question.
== Influence and legacy ==
1952: Commendation of the Civil Order of Alfonso X el Sabio from the Minister of Education, Mr. Ruiz Giménez, after the inauguration of the new Professional School.
April 1966: Mondragon paid homage to three figures by naming them adoptive sons of the town: the doctor Don Mariano Briones, the parish priest Don Jose Luis Iñarra and Don Jose Maria Arizmendiarrieta. The three honorees were celebrating 25 years of work at Mondragon.
August 1966: Gold Medal for Work awarded by the Minister of Labor, Romero Gorria, after the inauguration of the Alecoop Student Industrial Cooperative.
1972: opening of the Olandixo Hillside Road (where Lagun Aro, Ikerlan and Laboral Kutxa are located) which is called Paseo Jose Maria Arizmendiarrieta.
1992: a monument was inaugurated in his honor in the native district of Barinaga in Markina-Xemein.
1997: the Arizmendi Bakery opened in San Francisco, California, named after Arizmendiarrieta.
6 May 2009: the diocesan phase of his canonization process concluded.
14 December 2015: decreed to be of heroic virtue by Pope Francis and became Venerable in the Catholic Church.
April 2016, the Laubide Square in Mondragon was renamed the Jose Maria Arizmendiarrieta Square, with a plaque in Basque and Spanish inscribed “Jose Maria Arizmendiarrieta (1915–1976). Founder of Arrasate-Mondragon cooperativism. His model for work has spread across the world. Commemorating 100 years since his birth”. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Gayetty | Joseph Gayetty | Joseph C. Gayetty (c. 1817/1827 – May 2, 1895) was an American inventor credited with the invention of commercial toilet paper. It was the first and remained only one of the few commercial toilet papers from 1857 to 1890 remaining in common use until the invention of splinter-free toilet paper in 1935 by the Northern Tissue Company.
== Biography ==
Joseph C. Gayetty's origins remain somewhat obscure. The first record with his name is the 1850 United States Census, which records that he was born in 1817 in Massachusetts. By 1850 he was living in New York City, had married Margaret Louisa Bogart and had two young children. That year he was working at a public house. Ten years later, on the 1860 Census, Gayetty had begun his toilet paper business and was listed as being in the "medicated paper" industry. By this time he and his wife had 5 children, a personal servant, and a modest personal estate valued at $1000. In the 1860 Census, however, he reports that he was born in 1827 in Pennsylvania. Additional records have not been able to clear up his exact birth date or place of birth. Additionally, Gayetty's date and place of death have not been located. Gayetty and his wife had one daughter and four sons. Their youngest son, Henry K. Gayetty, took over his father's business and was in control of the trademarks and licensing by 1891, when the trademark ownership came into question.
== Invention of toilet paper ==
Joseph C. Gayetty first marketed toilet paper on December 9, 1857. Each sheet of pure Manila hemp paper was watermarked "J C Gayetty N Y". The original product contained aloe as a lubricant and was marketed as an anti-hemorrhoid medical product.
Gayetty was attacked as a quack by at least one medical society. Yet his advertisement of the same year called his product "The Greatest Necessity of the Age" and warned against the perils of using toxic inked papers on sensitive body parts. A different advertisement, also printed in 1859, says his business was located at 41 Ann Street, and he was selling 1,000 sheets for one dollar.
The Gayetty name and product were involved in a lawsuit that was filed in 1891, when B.T. Hoogland's Sons, toilet paper dealers, filed suit against the Gayetty Paper Company, specifically Harry K. Gayetty, for trademark infringement. B.T. Hoogland and Son's claim was that they were entitled to the use of the Gayetty name due to an unpaid debt. A paper dated December 5, 1866, was allegedly given to a creditor in lieu of $25 debt and subsequently sold to B.T. Hoogland (senior) for one dollar. However, on January 1, 1866, J.C. Gayetty had entered a ten-year contract for the exclusive right to sell and vend in his name with Demas Barnes and Company, which had taken out a copyright on the product on October 27, 1891. The suit was dismissed in 1894, but another suit was brought. B.T. Hoogland's Sons next sued to stop Harry K. Gayetty and the Diamond Mills Paper Company from using the Gayetty name, and in this case they were successful. Harry Gayetty appealed, but lost at the Appellate Court. Finally, in July 1900, the New York Supreme Court permanently enjoined the Diamond Mills Paper Company and Harry K. Gayetty from using the name on any similar paper product labels.
In 1900, an advertisement shows that B.T. Hoogland's Sons of New York were distributing the watermarked "Papel Medicado De Gayetty" and giving credit to the invention of the paper in 1857 by Joseph C. Gayetty, Inventor. Nearly the same advertisement was run in English in 1907. The product continued to be marketed until the 1920s. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion | Lion | The lion (Panthera leo) is a large cat of the genus Panthera, currently ranging only in Sub-Saharan Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the tip of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adult male lions are larger than females and have a prominent mane that which extends from the head to the shoulders and chest.
The lion inhabits grasslands, savannahs, and shrublands. It is an apex and keystone predator, preying mostly on medium-sized and large ungulates. It is usually more diurnal than other wild cats, but when persecuted, it adapts to being active at night and at twilight. It is a social species, forming groups called prides. A lion pride consists of related females and cubs, and a few or one adult male who is unrelated to the females. Groups of female lions usually hunt together. Adult males often compete to keep or gain their membership in the pride.
During the Neolithic period, the lion ranged throughout Africa and Eurasia, from Southeast Europe to India, but it has been reduced to fragmented populations in sub-Saharan Africa and one population in western India. It has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1996 because populations in African countries have declined by about 43% since the early 1990s. Lion populations are untenable outside designated protected areas. Although the cause of the decline is not fully understood, habitat loss and conflicts with humans are the greatest causes for concern.
The lion has been extensively depicted in sculptures and paintings, on national flags, and in literature and films. It is one of the most widely recognised animal symbols in human culture. Lions have been kept in menageries since the time of the Roman Empire and have been a key species sought for exhibition in zoological gardens across the world since the late 18th century. Cultural depictions of lions have occurred worldwide, particularly as a symbol of power and royalty. They figure prominently as symbols and deities in ancient religions.
== Etymology ==
The English word lion is derived via Anglo-Norman liun from Latin leōnem (nominative: leō), which in turn was a borrowing from Ancient Greek λέων léōn. The Hebrew word לָבִיא lavi may also be related. The generic name Panthera is traceable to the classical Latin word 'panthēra' and the ancient Greek word πάνθηρ 'panther'.
== Taxonomy ==
Felis leo was the scientific name used by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, who described the lion in his work Systema Naturae. The genus name Panthera was coined by Lorenz Oken in 1816. Between the mid-18th and mid-20th centuries, 26 lion specimens were described and proposed as subspecies, of which 11 were recognised as valid in 2005. They were distinguished mostly by the size and colour of their manes and skins.
=== Subspecies ===
In the 19th and 20th centuries, several lion type specimens were described and proposed as subspecies, with about a dozen recognised as valid taxa until 2017. Between 2008 and 2016, IUCN Red List assessors used only two subspecific names: P. l. leo for African lion populations, and P. l. persica for the Asiatic lion population. In 2017, the Cat Classification Task Force of the Cat Specialist Group revised lion taxonomy, and recognises two subspecies based on results of several phylogeographic studies on lion evolution, namely:
P. l. leo (Linnaeus, 1758) − the nominate lion subspecies includes the Asiatic lion, the regionally extinct Barbary lion, and lion populations in West and northern parts of Central Africa. Synonyms include P. l. persica (Meyer, 1826), P. l. senegalensis (Meyer, 1826), P. l. kamptzi (Matschie, 1900), and P. l. azandica (Allen, 1924). It has been called 'northern lion' and 'northern subspecies'.
P. l. melanochaita (Smith, 1842) − includes the extinct Cape lion and lion populations in East and Southern African regions. Synonyms include P. l. somaliensis (Noack 1891), P. l. massaica (Neumann, 1900), P. l. sabakiensis (Lönnberg, 1910), P. l. bleyenberghi (Lönnberg, 1914), P. l. roosevelti (Heller, 1914), P. l. nyanzae (Heller, 1914), P. l. hollisteri (Allen, 1924), P. l. krugeri (Roberts, 1929), P. l. vernayi (Roberts, 1948), and P. l. webbiensis (Zukowsky, 1964). It has been referred to as 'southern subspecies' and 'southern lion'.
Based on nuclear and mitochondrial DNA, the two subspecies can be further divided into seven clades. These clades have been recommended by scientists as basal units for possible translocations of lions between different areas of occurrence.
There is however, some degree of overlap between both groups in northern Central Africa. DNA analysis from a more recent study indicates that Central African lions are derived from both northern and southern lions, as they cluster with P. leo leo in mtDNA-based phylogenies whereas their genomic DNA indicates a closer relationship with P. leo melanochaita.
Lion samples from some parts of the Ethiopian Highlands cluster genetically with those from Cameroon and Chad, while lions from other areas of Ethiopia cluster with samples from East Africa. Researchers, therefore, assume Ethiopia is a contact zone between the two subspecies. Genome-wide data of a wild-born historical lion sample from Sudan showed that it clustered with P. l. leo in mtDNA-based phylogenies, but with a high affinity to P. l. melanochaita; this suggested that the taxonomic position of lions in Central Africa may require revision.
=== Fossil records ===
Other lion subspecies or sister species to the modern lion existed in prehistoric times:
P. fossilis was larger than the modern lion and lived in the Middle Pleistocene. Bone fragments were excavated in caves in the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Czech Republic.
P. spelaea, or the cave lion, lived in Eurasia and Beringia during the Late Pleistocene. It became extinct due to climate warming or human expansion latest by 11,900 years ago. Bone fragments excavated in European, North Asian, Canadian and Alaskan caves indicate that it ranged from Europe across Siberia into western Alaska. It likely derived from P. fossilis, and was genetically isolated and highly distinct from the modern lion in Africa and Eurasia. It is depicted in Paleolithic cave paintings, ivory carvings, and clay busts.
P. atrox, or the American lion, ranged in the Americas from Canada to possibly Patagonia during the Late Pleistocene. It diverged from the cave lion around 165,000 years ago.
Additionally, in 1938 paleontologist Paulus Deraniyagala named a subspecies P. l. sinhaleyus based on two fossils, a lower left carnassial and a damaged right lower canine tooth, both excavated from deposits in Kuruwita, Sri Lanka. He called it "narrower and more elongate" but otherwise failed to distinguish P. l. sinhaleyus from other lion subspecies. A subsequent study of felid fossils from the Kuruwita deposits in 2005 described the fossils in further detail but only assigned to them to P. leo.
=== Evolution ===
The Panthera lineage is estimated to have genetically diverged from the common ancestor of the Felidae around 10.8 million years ago. Hybridisation between lion and snow leopard ancestors possibly continued until about 2.1 million years ago. The lion-leopard clade was distributed in the Asian and African Palearctic since at least the early Pliocene. The earliest fossils recognisable as lions were found at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania and are estimated to be up to 2 million years old.
Estimates for the divergence time of the modern and cave lion lineages range from 529,000 to 392,000 years ago based on mutation rate per generation time of the modern lion. There is no evidence for gene flow between the two lineages, indicating that they did not share the same geographic area. The Eurasian and American cave lions became extinct at the end of the last glacial period without mitochondrial descendants on other continents. The modern lion was probably widely distributed in Africa during the Middle Pleistocene and started to diverge in sub-Saharan Africa during the Late Pleistocene. Lion populations in East and Southern Africa became separated from populations in West and North Africa when the equatorial rainforest expanded 183,500 to 81,800 years ago. They shared a common ancestor probably between 98,000 and 52,000 years ago. Due to the expansion of the Sahara between 83,100 and 26,600 years ago, lion populations in West and North Africa became separated. As the rainforest decreased and thus gave rise to more open habitats, lions moved from West to Central Africa. Lions from North Africa dispersed to southern Europe and Asia between 38,800 and 8,300 years ago.
Extinction of lions in southern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East interrupted gene flow between lion populations in Asia and Africa. Genetic evidence revealed numerous mutations in lion samples from East and Southern Africa, which indicates that this group has a longer evolutionary history than genetically less diverse lion samples from Asia and West and Central Africa. A whole genome-wide sequence of lion samples showed that samples from West Africa shared alleles with samples from Southern Africa, and samples from Central Africa shared alleles with samples from Asia. This phenomenon indicates that Central Africa was a melting pot of lion populations after they had become isolated, possibly migrating through corridors in the Nile Basin during the early Holocene.
=== Hybrids ===
In zoos, lions have been bred with tigers to create hybrids for the curiosity of visitors or for scientific purpose. The liger is bigger than a lion and a tiger, whereas most tigons are relatively small compared to their parents because of reciprocal gene effects. The leopon is a hybrid between a lion and leopard.
== Description ==
The lion is a muscular, broad-chested cat with a short, rounded head, a reduced neck, and round ears; males have broader heads. The fur varies in colour from light buff to silvery grey, yellowish red, and dark brown. The colours of the underparts are generally lighter. A new-born lion has dark spots, which fade as the cub reaches adulthood, although faint spots may still be seen on the legs and underparts. The tail of all lions ends in a dark, hairy tuft that, in some lions, conceals an approximately 5 mm (0.20 in)-long, hard "spine" or "spur" composed of dermal papillae. The functions of the spur are unknown. The tuft is absent at birth, develops at around 5+1⁄2 months of age and is readily identifiable at the age of seven months.
Its skull is very similar to that of the tiger, although the frontal region is usually more depressed and flattened and has a slightly shorter postorbital region and broader nasal openings than those of the tiger. Due to the amount of skull variation in the two species, usually only the structure of the lower jaw can be used as a reliable indicator of species.
The skeletal muscles of the lion make up 58.8% of its body weight and represent the highest percentage of muscles among mammals. The lion has a high concentration of fast twitch muscle fibres, giving them quick bursts of speed but less stamina.
=== Size ===
Among felids, the lion is second only to the tiger in size. The size and weight of adult lions vary across its range and habitats. Accounts of a few individuals that were larger than average exist from Africa and India.
=== Mane ===
The male lion's mane is the most recognisable feature of the species. It may have evolved around 320,000–190,000 years ago. It grows downwards and backwards, covering most of the head, neck, shoulders, and chest. The mane is typically brownish and tinged with yellow, rust, and black hairs. Mutations in the genes microphthalmia-associated transcription factor and tyrosinase are possibly responsible for the colour of manes. It starts growing when lions enter adolescence, when testosterone levels increase, and reach their full size at around four years old. Cool ambient temperatures in European and North American zoos may result in a heavier mane. On average, Asiatic lions have sparser manes than African lions.
This feature likely evolved to signal the fitness of males to females. Males with darker manes appear to have greater reproductive success and are more likely to remain in a pride for longer. They have longer and thicker hair and higher testosterone levels, but they are also more vulnerable to heat stress. The core body temperature does apparently not increase regardless of sex, season, feeding time, length and colour of mane, but only surface temperature is affected. Unlike in other felid species, female lions consistently interact with multiple males at once. Another hypothesis suggests that the mane also serves to protect the neck in fights, but this is disputed. During fights, including those involving maneless females and adolescents, the neck is not targeted as much as the face, back, and hindquarters. Injured lions also begin to lose their manes.
Almost all male lions in Pendjari National Park are either maneless or have very short manes. Maneless lions have also been reported in Senegal, in Sudan's Dinder National Park and in Tsavo East National Park, Kenya. Castrated lions often have little to no mane because the removal of the gonads inhibits testosterone production. Lionesses rarely have manes. Increased testosterone may be the cause of maned lionesses reported in northern Botswana.
=== Colour variation ===
The white lion is a rare morph with a genetic condition called leucism, which is caused by a double recessive allele. It is not albino; it has normal pigmentation in the eyes and skin. White lions have occasionally been encountered in and around Kruger National Park and the adjacent Timbavati Private Game Reserve in eastern South Africa. They were removed from the wild in the 1970s, thus decreasing the white lion gene pool. Nevertheless, 17 births have been recorded in five prides between 2007 and 2015. White lions are selected for breeding in captivity. They have reportedly been bred in camps in South Africa for use as trophies to be killed during canned hunts.
== Distribution and habitat ==
African lions live in scattered populations across sub-Saharan Africa. The lion prefers grassy plains and savannahs, scrub bordering rivers, and open woodlands with bushes. It rarely enters closed forests. On Mount Elgon, the lion has been recorded up to an elevation of 3,600 m (11,800 ft) and close to the snow line on Mount Kenya. Savannahs with an annual rainfall of 300 to 1,500 mm (12 to 59 in) make up the majority of lion habitat in Africa, estimated at 3,390,821 km2 (1,309,203 sq mi) at most, but remnant populations are also present in tropical moist forests in West Africa and montane forests in East Africa. The Asiatic lion now survives only in and around Gir National Park in Gujarat, western India. Its habitat is a mixture of dry savannah forest and very dry, deciduous scrub forest.
=== Historical range ===
In Africa, the range of the lion originally spanned most of the central African rainforest zone and the Sahara desert. In the 1960s, it became extinct in North Africa, except in the southern part of Sudan.
During the mid-Holocene, around 8,000-6,000 years ago, the range of lions expanded into Southeastern and Eastern Europe, partially re-occupying the range of the now extinct cave lion. In Hungary, the modern lion was present from about 4,500 to 3,200 years Before Present. In Ukraine, the modern lion was present from about 6,400 to 2,000 years Before Present. In Greece, it was common, as reported by Herodotus in 480 BC; it was considered rare by 300 BC and extirpated by AD 100.
In Asia the lion once ranged in regions where climatic conditions supported an abundance of prey. It was present in the Caucasus until the 10th century. It lived in the Levant until the Middle Ages and in Southwest Asia until the late 19th century. By the late 19th century, it had been extirpated in most of Turkey. The last live lion in Iran was sighted in 1942, about 65 km (40 mi) northwest of Dezful, although the corpse of a lioness was found on the banks of the Karun river in Khuzestan province in 1944. It once ranged from Sind and Punjab in Pakistan to Bengal and the Narmada River in central India.
== Behaviour and ecology ==
Lions spend much of their time resting; they are inactive for about twenty hours per day. Although lions can be active at any time, their activity generally peaks after dusk with a period of socialising, grooming, and defecating. Intermittent bursts of activity continue until dawn, when hunting most often takes place. They spend an average of two hours a day walking and fifty minutes eating.
=== Group organisation ===
The lion is the most social of all wild felid species, living in groups of related individuals with their offspring. Such a group is called a "pride". Groups of male lions are called "coalitions". Females form the stable social unit in a pride and do not tolerate outside females. The majority of females remain in their birth prides while all males and some females disperse. The average pride consists of around 15 lions, including several adult females and up to four males and their cubs of both sexes. Large prides of up to 30 individuals have been observed. The sole exception to this pattern is the Tsavo lion pride that always had only one adult male. Prides act as fission–fusion societies, and members split into subgroups that keep in contact with roars.
Nomadic lions range widely and move around sporadically, either in pairs or alone. Pairs are more frequent among related males. A lion may switch lifestyles; nomads can become residents and vice versa. Interactions between prides and nomads tend to be hostile, although pride females in estrus allow nomadic males to approach them. Males spend years in a nomadic phase before gaining residence in a pride. A study undertaken in the Serengeti National Park revealed that nomadic coalitions gain residency at between 3.5 and 7.3 years of age. In Kruger National Park, dispersing male lions move more than 25 km (16 mi) away from their natal pride in search of their own territory. Female lions stay closer to their natal pride. Therefore, female lions in an area are more closely related to each other than male lions in the same area.
The evolution of sociability in lions was likely driven both by high population density and the clumped resources of savannah habitats. The larger the pride, the more high-quality territory they can defend; "hotspots" are near river confluences, where they have optimal access to water, prey and vegetation cover. A study on three lion prides in a Zimbabwean wildlife reserve revealed that the dominant pride of 12 lions had the shortest average distance to water and the smallest home range of 130.35 km2 (50.33 sq mi); the smallest pride of four lions had the longest average distance to water and the largest home range of 174.6 km2 (67.4 sq mi).
The area occupied by a pride is called a "pride area" whereas that occupied by a nomad is a "range". Males associated with a pride patrol the fringes. Both males and females defend the pride against intruders, but the male lion is better-suited for this purpose due to its stockier, more powerful build. Some individuals consistently lead the defence against intruders, while others lag behind. Lions tend to assume specific roles in the pride; slower-moving individuals may provide other valuable services to the group. Alternatively, there may be rewards associated with being a leader that fends off intruders; the rank of lionesses in the pride is reflected in these responses. The male or males associated with the pride must defend their relationship with the pride from outside males who may attempt to usurp them.
Asiatic lion prides differ in group composition. Male Asiatic lions are solitary or associate with up to three males, forming a loose pride while females associate with up to 12 other females, forming a stronger pride together with their cubs. Female and male lions associate only when mating. Coalitions of males hold territory for a longer time than single lions. Males in coalitions of three or four individuals exhibit a pronounced hierarchy, in which one male dominates the others and mates more frequently.
=== Hunting and diet ===
The lion is a generalist hypercarnivore and is considered to be both an apex and keystone predator due to its wide prey spectrum. Its prey consists mainly of medium-sized to large ungulates, particularly blue wildebeest, plains zebra, African buffalo, gemsbok and giraffe. It also frequently takes common warthog despite it being much smaller. In India, chital and sambar deer are the most common wild prey, while livestock contributes significantly to lion kills outside protected areas. It usually avoids adult elephants, rhinoceros and hippopotamus and small prey like dik-dik, hyraxes, hares and monkeys, and seldom consumes other predators.
Young lions first display stalking behaviour at around three months of age, although they do not participate in hunting until they are almost a year old and begin to hunt effectively when nearing the age of two. Single lions are capable of bringing down zebra and wildebeest, while larger prey like buffalo and giraffe are riskier. In Chobe National Park, large prides have been observed hunting African bush elephants up to around 15 years old in exceptional cases, with the victims being calves, juveniles, and even subadults. In typical group hunts, each lioness has a favoured position in the group, either stalking prey on the "wing", then attacking, or moving a smaller distance in the centre of the group and capturing prey fleeing from other lionesses. Males attached to prides do not usually participate in group hunting.
Some evidence suggests, however, that males are just as successful as females; they are typically solo hunters who ambush prey in small bushland. They join in the hunting of large, slower-moving prey like buffalo; and even hunt them on their own. Moderately-sized hunting groups generally have higher success rates than lone females and larger groups. Lions studied in Queen Elizabeth National Park increased their chances of success when hunting at night and moonless nights, when the prey was solitary and the cover of bushes dense; the chances of success increased when they attacked from a distance of 20 m (66 ft) and with a grass cover of 80 cm (31 in) tall.
Lions are not particularly known for their stamina. For instance, a lioness's heart comprises only 0.57% of her body weight and a male's is about 0.45% of his body weight, whereas a hyena's heart comprises almost 1% of its body weight. Thus, lions run quickly only in short bursts at about 48–59 km/h (30–37 mph) and need to be close to their prey before starting the attack. They take advantage of factors that reduce visibility; many kills take place near some form of cover or at night. One study in 2018 recorded a lion running at a top speed of 74.1 km/h (46.0 mph). Analysis of films of lion hunting has found that lions have an initial acceleration of 9.5 m/s2, while a Thomson's gazelle has an acceleration of only 4.5 m/s2, even though lions only would reach 50 km/h (31 mph) compared to the gazelles' nearly 97 km/h (60 mph); lions stalk their prey in order to attack them unexpectedly, as their prey begins to run unprepared while the predator is better prepared to start. The lion's attack is short and powerful; it attempts to catch prey with a fast rush and final leap, usually pulls it down by the rump, and kills with a clamping bite to the throat or muzzle. It can hold the prey's throat for up to 13 minutes, until the prey stops moving. A lioness has a bite force of 1593.8 Newtons (162.5 kgf) at the canine teeth.
Lions typically consume prey at the location of the hunt but sometimes drag large prey into cover. They tend to squabble over kills, particularly the males. Cubs suffer most when food is scarce but otherwise all pride members eat their fill, including old and crippled lions, which can live on leftovers. Large kills are shared more widely among pride members. An adult lioness requires an average of about 5 kg (11 lb) of meat per day while males require about 7 kg (15 lb). Lions gorge themselves and eat up to 30 kg (66 lb) in one session. If it is unable to consume all of the kill, it rests for a few hours before continuing to eat. On hot days, the pride retreats to shade with one or two males standing guard. Lions defend their kills from scavengers such as vultures and hyenas.
Lions scavenge on carrion when the opportunity arises, scavenging animals dead from natural causes such as disease or those that were killed by other predators. Scavenging lions keep a constant lookout for circling vultures, which indicate the death or distress of an animal. Most carrion on which both hyenas and lions feed upon are killed by hyenas rather than lions. Carrion is thought to provide a large part of lion diet.
=== Predatory competition ===
Lions and spotted hyenas occupy a similar ecological niche and compete for prey and carrion; a review of data across several studies indicates a dietary overlap of 58.6%. Lions typically ignore hyenas unless they are on a kill or are being harassed, while the latter tend to visibly react to the presence of lions with or without the presence of food. In the Ngorongoro crater, lions subsist largely on kills stolen from hyenas, causing them to increase their kill rate. In Botswana's Chobe National Park, the situation is reversed as hyenas there frequently challenge lions and steal their kills, obtaining food from 63% of all lion kills. When confronted on a kill, hyenas may either leave or wait patiently at a distance of 30–100 m (98–328 ft) until the lions have finished. Hyenas may feed alongside lions and force them off a kill. The two species attack one another even when there is no food involved for no apparent reason. Lions can account for up to 71% of hyena deaths in Etosha National Park. Hyenas have adapted by frequently mobbing lions that enter their home ranges. When the lion population in Kenya's Masai Mara National Reserve declined, the spotted hyena population increased rapidly. However, some experts have found no evidence of competition having a notable impact on either lion or spotted hyena populations. Additionally in Tanzania's Ruaha-Rungwa, the spotted hyena population has been noted to increase with lion populations.
Lions tend to dominate cheetahs and leopards, steal their kills and kill their cubs and even adults when given the chance. Cheetahs often lose their kills to lions or other predators. A study in the Serengeti ecosystem revealed that lions killed at least 17 of 125 cheetah cubs born between 1987 and 1990. Cheetahs avoid their competitors by hunting at different times and habitats. Leopards, by contrast, do not appear to be motivated by an avoidance of lions, as they use heavy vegetation regardless of whether lions are present in an area and both cats are active around the same time of day. In addition, there is no evidence that lions affect leopard abundance. Leopards take refuge in trees, though lionesses occasionally attempt to climb up and retrieve their kills.
Lions similarly dominate African wild dogs, taking their kills and dispatching pups or adult dogs. Population densities of wild dogs are low in areas where lions are more abundant. However, there are a few reported cases of old and wounded lions falling prey to wild dogs.
=== Reproduction and life cycle ===
Most lionesses reproduce by the time they are four years of age. Lions do not mate at a specific time of year and the females are polyestrous. Like other cats, lions have penile spines that rake the walls of the vagina during copulation, which may cause ovulation. A lioness may mate with more than one male when she is in heat. Lions of both sexes may be involved in group homosexual and courtship activities. Males also head-rub and roll around with each other before mounting each other. Generation length of the lion is about seven years. The average gestation period is around 110 days; the female gives birth to a litter of between one and four cubs in a secluded den, which may be a thicket, a reed-bed, a cave, or some other sheltered area, usually away from the pride. She will often hunt alone while the cubs are still helpless, staying relatively close to the den. Lion cubs are born blind, their eyes opening around seven days after birth. They weigh 1.2–2.1 kg (2.6–4.6 lb) at birth and are almost helpless, beginning to crawl a day or two after birth and walking around three weeks of age. To avoid a buildup of scent attracting the attention of predators, the lioness moves her cubs to a new den site several times a month, carrying them one-by-one by the nape of the neck.
Lionesses of reproductive age within a pride have a similar number of surviving cubs, which they initially keep hidden. Lionesses without offspring do not assist in the care of the communal litter.
Usually, the mother does not integrate herself and her cubs back into the pride until the cubs are six to eight weeks old. Sometimes the introduction to pride life occurs earlier, particularly if other lionesses have given birth at about the same time. When first introduced to the rest of the pride, lion cubs lack confidence when confronted with adults other than their mother. They soon begin to immerse themselves in the pride life, however, playing among themselves or attempting to initiate play with the adults. Lionesses with cubs of their own are more likely to be tolerant of another lioness's cubs than lionesses without cubs. Male tolerance of the cubs varies—one male could patiently let the cubs play with his tail or his mane, while another may snarl and bat the cubs away.
Pride lionesses often synchronise their reproductive cycles and communal rearing and suckling of the young, which suckle indiscriminately from any or all of the nursing females in the pride. The synchronisation of births is advantageous because the cubs grow to being roughly the same size and have an equal chance of survival, and sucklings are not dominated by older cubs. Weaning occurs after six or seven months. Male lions reach maturity at about three years of age and at four to five years are capable of challenging and displacing adult males associated with another pride. They begin to age and weaken at between 10 and 15 years of age at the latest.
When one or more new males oust the previous males associated with a pride, the victors often kill any existing young cubs, perhaps because females do not become fertile and receptive until their cubs mature or die. Females often fiercely defend their cubs from a usurping male but are rarely successful unless a group of three or four mothers within a pride join forces against the male. Cubs also die from starvation and abandonment, and predation by leopards, hyenas and wild dogs. Male cubs are excluded from their maternal pride when they reach maturity at around two or three years of age, while some females may leave when they reach the age of two. When a new male lion takes over a pride, adolescents both male and female may be evicted.
=== Health and mortality ===
Lions may live 12–17 years in the wild. Although adult lions have no natural predators, evidence suggests most die violently from attacks by humans or other lions. Lions often inflict serious injuries on members of other prides they encounter in territorial disputes or members of the home pride when fighting at a kill. Crippled lions and cubs may fall victim to hyenas and leopards or be trampled by buffalo or elephants. Careless lions may be maimed when hunting prey. Male lions may suffer more skull and teeth injuries when hunting very large prey than when fighting each other. Nile crocodiles also kill and eat lions, evidenced by the occasional lion claw found in crocodile stomachs.
Ticks commonly infest the ears, neck and groin regions of lions. Adult forms of several tapeworm species of the genus Taenia have been isolated from lion intestines, having been ingested as larvae in antelope meat. Lions in the Ngorongoro Crater were afflicted by an outbreak of stable fly in 1962, resulting in lions becoming emaciated and covered in bloody, bare patches. Lions sought unsuccessfully to evade the biting flies by climbing trees or crawling into hyena burrows; many died or migrated and the local population dropped from 70 to 15 individuals.
Captive lions have been infected with canine distemper virus since at least the mid-1970s. A 1994 outbreak in Serengeti National Park resulted in many lions developing neurological symptoms such as seizures, and several lions died from pneumonia and encephalitis. Feline immunodeficiency virus and lentivirus also affect captive lions.
=== Communication ===
When resting, lion socialisation occurs through a number of behaviours; the animal's expressive movements are highly developed. The most common peaceful, tactile gestures are head rubbing and social licking, which have been compared with the role of allogrooming among primates. Head rubbing, nuzzling the forehead, face and neck against another lion appears to be a form of greeting and is seen often after an animal has been apart from others or after a fight or confrontation. Males tend to rub other males, while cubs and females rub females. Social licking often occurs in tandem with head rubbing; it is generally mutual and the recipient appears to express pleasure. The head and neck are the most common parts of the body licked; this behaviour may have arisen out of utility because lions cannot lick these areas themselves.
Lions have an array of facial expressions and body postures that serve as visual gestures. A common facial expression is the "grimace face" or flehmen response, which a lion makes when sniffing chemical signals and involves an open mouth with bared teeth, raised muzzle, wrinkled nose, closed eyes and relaxed ears. Lions also use chemical and visual marking; males spray urine and scrape plots of ground and objects within the territory.
The lion's repertoire of vocalisations is large; variations in intensity and pitch appear to be central to communication. Most lion vocalisations are variations of roaring, growling and snarling. Other sounds produced include puffing, humming, and exhalations similar to purring, while cubs communicate by meowing and bleating. Roaring is used to advertise the animal's presence. Lions most often roar at night, a sound that can be heard from a distance of 8 km (5.0 mi). A 2025 study identified four stages in a roaring sequence; moaning, full-roaring, intermediary roaring (which is shorter and deeper) and grunting.
== Conservation ==
The lion is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. The Indian population is listed on CITES Appendix I and the African population on CITES Appendix II.
=== In Africa ===
Several large and well-managed protected areas in Africa host large lion populations. Where an infrastructure for wildlife tourism has been developed, cash revenue for park management and local communities is a strong incentive for lion conservation. Most lions now live in East and Southern Africa; their numbers are rapidly decreasing, and fell by an estimated 30–50% in the late half of the 20th century. Primary causes of the decline include disease and human interference. In 1975, it was estimated that since the 1950s, lion numbers had decreased by half to 200,000 or fewer. Estimates of the African lion population range between 16,500 and 47,000 living in the wild in 2002–2004.
In the Republic of the Congo, Odzala-Kokoua National Park was considered a lion stronghold in the 1990s. By 2014, no lions were recorded in the protected area so the population is considered locally extinct. The West African lion population is isolated from the one in Central Africa, with little or no exchange of breeding individuals. In 2015, it was estimated that this population consists of about 400 animals, including fewer than 250 mature individuals. They persist in three protected areas in the region, mostly in one population in the W A P protected area complex, shared by Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger. This population is listed as Critically Endangered. Field surveys in the WAP ecosystem revealed that lion occupancy is lowest in the W National Park, and higher in areas with permanent staff and thus better protection.
A population occurs in Cameroon's Waza National Park, where between approximately 14 and 21 animals persisted as of 2009. In addition, 50 to 150 lions are estimated to be present in Burkina Faso's Arly-Singou ecosystem. In 2015, an adult male lion and a female lion were sighted in Ghana's Mole National Park. These were the first sightings of lions in the country in 39 years. In the same year, a population of up to 200 lions that was previously thought to have been extirpated was filmed in the Alatash National Park, Ethiopia, close to the Sudanese border.
In 2005, Lion Conservation Strategies were developed for West and Central Africa, and East and Southern Africa. The strategies seek to maintain suitable habitat, ensure a sufficient wild prey base for lions, reduce factors that lead to further fragmentation of populations, and make lion–human coexistence sustainable. Lion depredation on livestock is significantly reduced in areas where herders keep livestock in improved enclosures. Such measures contribute to mitigating human–lion conflict.
=== In Asia ===
The last refuge of the Asiatic lion population is the 1,412 km2 (545 sq mi) Gir National Park and surrounding areas in the region of Saurashtra or Kathiawar Peninsula in Gujarat State, India. The population has risen from approximately 180 lions in 1974 to about 400 in 2010. It is geographically isolated, which can lead to inbreeding and reduced genetic diversity. Since 2008, the Asiatic lion has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. By 2015, the population had grown to 523 individuals inhabiting an area of 7,000 km2 (2,700 sq mi) in Saurashtra. In 2017, about 650 individuals were recorded during the Asiatic Lion Census.
The presence of numerous human settlements close to Gir National Park resulted in conflict between lions, local people and their livestock. Some consider the presence of lions a benefit, as they keep populations of crop damaging herbivores in check.
=== Captive breeding ===
Lions imported to Europe before the middle of the 19th century were possibly foremost Barbary lions from North Africa, or Cape lions from Southern Africa. Another 11 animals thought to be Barbary lions kept in Addis Ababa Zoo are descendants of animals owned by Emperor Haile Selassie. WildLink International in collaboration with Oxford University launched an ambitious International Barbary Lion Project with the aim of identifying and breeding Barbary lions in captivity for eventual reintroduction into a national park in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco. However, a genetic analysis showed that the captive lions at Addis Ababa Zoo were not Barbary lions, but rather closely related to wild lions in Chad and Cameroon.
In 1982, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums started a Species Survival Plan for the Asiatic lion to increase its chances of survival. In 1987, it was found that most lions in North American zoos were hybrids between African and Asiatic lions. Breeding programs need to note origins of the participating animals to avoid cross-breeding different subspecies and thus reducing their conservation value. Captive breeding of lions was halted to eliminate individuals of unknown origin and pedigree. Wild-born lions were imported to American zoos from Africa between 1989 and 1995. Breeding was continued in 1998 in the frame of an African lion Species Survival Plan.
About 77% of the captive lions registered in the International Species Information System in 2006 were of unknown origin; these animals might have carried genes that are extinct in the wild and may therefore be important to the maintenance of the overall genetic variability of the lion.
== Interactions with humans ==
=== In zoos and circuses ===
Lions are part of a group of exotic animals that have been central to zoo exhibits since the late 18th century. Although many modern zoos are more selective about their exhibits, there are more than 1,000 African and 100 Asiatic lions in zoos and wildlife parks around the world. They are considered an ambassador species and are kept for tourism, education and conservation purposes. Lions can live over twenty years in captivity; for example, three sibling lions at the Honolulu Zoo lived to the age of 22 in 2007.
The first European "zoos" spread among noble and royal families in the 13th century, and until the 17th century were called seraglios. At that time, they came to be called menageries, an extension of the cabinet of curiosities. They spread from France and Italy during the Renaissance to the rest of Europe. In England, although the seraglio tradition was less developed, lions were kept at the Tower of London in a seraglio established by King John in the 13th century; this was probably stocked with animals from an earlier menagerie started in 1125 by Henry I at his hunting lodge in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, where according to William of Malmesbury lions had been stocked.
Lions were kept in cramped and squalid conditions at London Zoo until a larger lion house with roomier cages was built in the 1870s. Further changes took place in the early 20th century when Carl Hagenbeck designed enclosures with concrete "rocks", more open space and a moat instead of bars, more closely resembling a natural habitat. Hagenbeck designed lion enclosures for both Melbourne Zoo and Sydney's Taronga Zoo; although his designs were popular, the use of bars and caged enclosures prevailed in many zoos until the 1960s. In the late 20th century, larger, more natural enclosures and the use of wire mesh or laminated glass instead of lowered dens allowed visitors to come closer than ever to the animals; some attractions such as the Cat Forest/Lion Overlook of Oklahoma City Zoological Park placed the den on ground level, higher than visitors.
Lion taming has been part of both established circuses and individual acts such as Siegfried & Roy. The practice began in the early 19th century by Frenchman Henri Martin and American Isaac Van Amburgh, who both toured widely and whose techniques were copied by a number of followers. Martin composed a pantomime titled Les Lions de Mysore ("the lions of Mysore"), an idea Amburgh quickly borrowed. These acts eclipsed equestrianism acts as the central display of circus shows and entered public consciousness in the early 20th century with cinema. In demonstrating the superiority of human over animal, lion taming served a purpose similar to animal fights of previous centuries. The ultimate proof of a tamer's dominance and control over a lion is the placing of the tamer's head in the lion's mouth. The lion tamer's chair was possibly first used by American Clyde Beatty (1903–1965).
=== Hunting and games ===
Lion hunting has occurred since ancient times and was often a royal tradition, intended to demonstrate the power of the king over nature. Such hunts took place in a reserved area in front of an audience. The monarch was accompanied by his men and controls were put in place to increase their safety and ease of killing. The earliest surviving record of lion hunting is an ancient Egyptian inscription dated circa 1380 BC that mentions Pharaoh Amenhotep III killing 102 lions in ten years "with his own arrows". The Assyrian emperor Ashurbanipal had one of his lion hunts depicted on a sequence of Assyrian palace reliefs c. 640 BC, known as the Lion Hunt of Ashurbanipal. Lions were also hunted during the Mughal Empire, where Emperor Jahangir is said to have excelled at it. In Ancient Rome, lions were kept by emperors for hunts, gladiator fights and executions.
The Maasai people have traditionally viewed the killing of lions as a rite of passage. Historically, lions were hunted by individuals, however, due to reduced lion populations, elders discourage solo lion hunts. During the Scramble for Africa in the 19th century, the hunting of lions was encouraged because they were considered pests and lion skins were sold for Pound sterling each. The widely reproduced imagery of the heroic hunter chasing lions would dominate a large part of the century. Trophy hunting of lions in recent years has been met with controversy, notably with the killing of Cecil the lion in mid-2015.
=== Man-eating ===
Lions do not usually hunt humans but some (usually males) seem to seek them out. One well-publicised case is the Tsavo maneaters; in 1898, 28 officially recorded workers building the Uganda Railway were taken by lions over nine months during the construction of a bridge in Kenya. The hunter who killed the lions wrote a book detailing the animals' predatory behaviour; they were larger than normal and lacked manes, and one seemed to suffer from tooth decay. The infirmity theory, including tooth decay, is not favoured by all researchers; an analysis of teeth and jaws of man-eating lions in museum collections suggests that while tooth decay may explain some incidents, prey depletion in human-dominated areas is a more likely cause of lion predation on humans. Sick or injured animals may be more prone to man-eating but the behaviour is not unusual, nor necessarily aberrant.
Lions' proclivity for man-eating has been systematically examined. American and Tanzanian scientists report that man-eating behaviour in rural areas of Tanzania increased greatly from 1990 to 2005. At least 563 villagers were attacked and many eaten over this period. The incidents occurred near Selous Game Reserve in Rufiji River and in Lindi Region near the Mozambican border. While the expansion of villages into bush country is one concern, the authors argue conservation policy must mitigate the danger because in this case, conservation contributes directly to human deaths. Cases in Lindi in which lions seize humans from the centres of substantial villages have been documented. Another study of 1,000 people attacked by lions in southern Tanzania between 1988 and 2009 found that the weeks following the full moon, when there was less moonlight, were a strong indicator of increased night-time attacks on people.
According to Robert R. Frump, Mozambican refugees regularly crossing Kruger National Park, South Africa, at night are attacked and eaten by lions. Frump said thousands may have been killed in the decades after apartheid sealed the park and forced refugees to cross the park at night.
=== Cultural significance ===
The lion is one of the most widely recognised animal symbols in human culture. It has been extensively depicted in sculptures and paintings, on national flags, and in contemporary films and literature. It is considered to be the 'King of the Beasts' and has symbolised power, royalty and protection. Several leaders have had "lion" in their name including Sundiata Keita of the Mali Empire, who was called "Lion of Mali", and Richard the Lionheart of England. The male's mane makes it a particularly recognisable feature and thus has been represented more than the female. Nevertheless, the lioness has also had importance as a guardian.
In sub-Saharan Africa, the lion has been a common character in stories, proverbs and dances, but rarely featured in visual arts. In the Swahili language, the lion is known as simba which also means "aggressive", "king" and "strong". In parts of West and East Africa, the lion is associated with healing and provides the connection between seers and the supernatural. In other East African traditions, the lion represents laziness. In much of African folklore, the lion is portrayed as having low intelligence and is easily tricked. In Nubia, the lion-god Apedemak was associated with the flooding of the Nile. In Ancient Egypt, lions were linked both with the sun and the waters of the Nile. Several gods were conceived as being part lion, including the war deities Sekhmet and Maahes, and Tefnut, the goddess of moisture.
The lion was a prominent symbol in ancient Mesopotamia from Sumer up to Assyrian and Babylonian times, where it was strongly associated with kingship. The big cat was a symbol and steed of fertility goddess Inanna. Lions decorate the Processional Way leading to the Ishtar Gate in Babylon which was built by Nebuchadnezzar II in the 6th century BCE. The Lion of Babylon symbolised the power of the king and protection of the land against enemies, but was also invoked for good luck. The constellation Leo the lion was first recognised by the Sumerians around 4,000 years ago and is the fifth sign of the zodiac. In ancient Israel, a lion represented the tribe of Judah. Lions are frequently mentioned in the Bible, notably in the Book of Daniel, in which the eponymous hero is forced to sleep in the lions' den.
Indo-Persian chroniclers regarded the lion as keeper of order in the realm of animals. The Sanskrit word mrigendra signifies a lion as king of animals. In India, the Lion Capital of Ashoka, erected by Emperor Ashoka in the 3rd century BCE, depicts four lions standing back to back. In Hindu mythology, the half-lion Narasimha, an avatar of the deity Vishnu, battles and slays the evil ruler Hiranyakashipu. In Buddhist art, lions are associated with both arhats and bodhisattvas and may be ridden by the Manjushri. Though they were never native to the country, lions have played important roles in Chinese culture. Statues of the beast have guarded the entrances to the imperial palace and many religious shrines. The lion dance has been performed for over a thousand years.
In ancient Greece, the lion is featured in several of Aesop's fables, notably The Lion and the Mouse. In Greek mythology, the Nemean lion is slain by the hero Heracles who then wears its skin. Lancelot and Gawain were also heroes slaying lions in medieval Europe. Lions continue to appear in modern literature such as the Cowardly Lion in L. Frank Baum's 1900 The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and in C. S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. For cinema, the lion was portrayed as the ruler of animals in the 1994 Disney animated feature film The Lion King. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hulk | Hulk | The Hulk is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut issue of The Incredible Hulk (May 1962). In his comic book appearances, the character, who has dissociative identity disorder (DID), is primarily represented by the alter ego Hulk, an immense, green-skinned, hulking brute, possessing a limitless degree of physical strength, and the alter ego Dr. Robert Bruce Banner, a physically weak, socially withdrawn, and emotionally reserved physicist, both of whom typically resent each other. Lee stated that the Hulk's creation was inspired by a combination of Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Following his accidental exposure to gamma rays while saving the life of Rick Jones during the detonation of an experimental bomb, Banner is physically transformed into the Hulk when subjected to emotional stress, at or against his will. This transformation often leads to destructive rampages and conflicts that complicate Banner's civilian life. The Hulk's level of strength is usually conveyed proportionate to his anger level. Commonly portrayed as a raging savage, the Hulk has been represented with other alter egos like a gangster (Joe Fixit), a merged personality (Merged Hulk), a mindless, destructive force (War), a brilliant warrior (World-Breaker), a self-hating protector (Devil Hulk), a genius scientist in his own right (Doc Green), and several minor alter egos.
Despite Hulk and Banner's desire for solitude, the character has a large supporting cast. This includes Banner's love interest Betty Ross, his best friend, Rick Jones, his cousin She-Hulk, and therapist and ally Doc Samson. In addition, the Hulk alter ego has many key supporting characters, like his co-founders of the superhero team the Avengers, his queen Caiera, fellow warriors Korg and Miek, and sons Skaar and Hiro-Kala. However, his uncontrollable power has brought him into conflict with his fellow heroes and others such as General Thunderbolt Ross, Betty's father. Despite this, he tries his best to do what's right while battling villains such as the Leader, the Abomination, the Absorbing Man, and more.
One of the most iconic characters in popular culture, the character has appeared on a variety of merchandise, such as clothing and collectable items that was inspired by real-world structures (such as theme park attractions), and been referenced in several media. Banner and the Hulk have been adapted into live-action, animated, and video game incarnations. The character was first played in live-action by Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno in the 1978 television series The Incredible Hulk and its subsequent television films The Incredible Hulk Returns (1988), The Trial of the Incredible Hulk (1989), and The Death of the Incredible Hulk (1990). In the 2003 film Hulk, the character was played by Eric Bana. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), the character was first portrayed by Edward Norton in the film The Incredible Hulk (2008) and then by Mark Ruffalo in later appearances in the franchise.
== Publication history ==
=== Concept and creation ===
The Hulk first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #1 (cover dated May 1962), written by writer-editor Stan Lee, penciled and co-plotted by Jack Kirby, and inked by Paul Reinman. Lee cites influence from Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in the Hulk's creation:
It was patently apparent that [the monstrous character the] Thing was the most popular character in [Marvel's recently created superhero team the] Fantastic Four. ... For a long time, I'd been aware of the fact that people were more likely to favor someone who was less than perfect. ... It's a safe bet that you remember Quasimodo, but how easily can you name any of the heroic, handsomer, more glamorous characters in The Hunchback of Notre Dame? And then there's Frankenstein ... I've always had a soft spot in my heart for the Frankenstein monster. No one could ever convince me that he was the bad guy. ... He never wanted to hurt anyone; he merely groped his torturous way through a second life trying to defend himself, trying to come to terms with those who sought to destroy him. ... I decided I might as well borrow from Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as well—our protagonist would constantly change from his normal identity to his superhuman alter ego and back again.
Kirby also stated the Frankenstein inspiration stating, "I did a story called "The Hulk"– a small feature, and it was quite different from the Hulk that we know. But I felt that the Hulk had possibilities, and I took this little character from the small feature and I transformed it into the Hulk that we know today.
Of course, I was experimenting with it. I thought the Hulk might be a good-looking Frankenstein. I felt there's a Frankenstein in all of us; I’ve seen it demonstrated. And I felt that the Hulk had the element of truth in it, and anything to me with the element of truth is valid and the reader relates to that. And if you dramatize it, the reader will enjoy it." Kirby also commented upon his influences in drawing the character, and recalled the inspiration of witnessing the hysterical strength of a mother lifting a car off her trapped child.
Lee has also compared Hulk to the golem of Jewish mythology. In The Science of Superheroes, Gresh and Weinberg see the Hulk as a reaction to the Cold War and the threat of nuclear attack, an interpretation shared by Weinstein in Up, Up and Oy Vey. This interpretation corresponds with other popularized fictional media created during this time period, which took advantage of the prevailing sense among Americans that nuclear power could produce monsters and mutants.
In the debut, Lee chose gray for the Hulk because he wanted a color that did not suggest any particular ethnic group. Colorist Stan Goldberg, however, had problems with the gray coloring, resulting in different shades of gray, and even green, in the issue. After seeing the first published issue, Lee chose to change the skin color to green. Green was used in retellings of the origin, with even reprints of the original story being recolored for the next two decades, until The Incredible Hulk vol. 2, #302 (December 1984) reintroduced the gray Hulk in flashbacks set close to the origin story. An exception is the early trade paperback, Origins of Marvel Comics, from 1974, which explains the difficulties in keeping the gray color consistent in a Stan Lee-written prologue, and reprints the origin story keeping the gray coloration. Since December 1984, reprints of the first issue have displayed the original gray coloring, with the fictional canon specifying that the Hulk's skin had initially been gray.
Lee gave the Hulk's alter ego the alliterative name "Bruce Banner" because he found he had less difficulty remembering alliterative names. Despite this, in later stories he misremembered the character's name and referred to him as "Bob Banner", an error which readers quickly picked up on. The discrepancy was resolved by giving the character the official full name "Robert Bruce Banner".
The Hulk got his name from a comic book character named The Heap who was a large green swamp monster.
=== Series history ===
The Hulk's original series was canceled with issue #6 (March 1963). Lee had written each story, with Kirby penciling the first five issues and Steve Ditko penciling and inking the sixth. The character immediately guest-starred in The Fantastic Four #12 (March 1963), and months later became a founding member of the superhero team the Avengers, appearing in the first two issues of the team's eponymous series (Sept. and Nov. 1963), and returning as an antagonist in issue #3 and as an ally in #5 (Jan.–May 1964). He then guest-starred in Fantastic Four #25–26 (April–May 1964), which revealed Banner's full name as Robert Bruce Banner, and The Amazing Spider-Man #14 (July 1964).
Around this time, co-creator Kirby received a letter from a college dormitory stating the Hulk had been chosen as its official mascot. Kirby and Lee realized their character had found an audience in college-age readers.
A year and a half after The Incredible Hulk was canceled, the Hulk became one of two features in Tales to Astonish, beginning in issue #60 (Oct. 1964).
This new Hulk feature was initially scripted by Lee, with pencils by Steve Ditko and inks by George Roussos. Other artists later in this run included Jack Kirby (#68–87, June 1965 – Oct. 1966); Gil Kane (credited as "Scott Edwards", #76, (Feb. 1966)); Bill Everett (#78–84, April–Oct. 1966); John Buscema (#85–87); and Marie Severin. The Tales to Astonish run introduced the super-villains the Leader, who would become the Hulk's nemesis, and the Abomination, another gamma-irradiated being. Marie Severin finished out the Hulk's run in Tales to Astonish. Beginning with issue #102 (April 1968) the book was retitled The Incredible Hulk vol. 2, and ran until 1999, when Marvel canceled the series and launched Hulk #1. Marvel filed for a trademark for "The Incredible Hulk" in 1967, and the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued the registration in 1970.
Len Wein wrote the series from 1974 through 1978, working first with Herb Trimpe, then, as of issue #194 (December 1975), with Sal Buscema, who was the regular artist for ten years. Issues #180–181 (Oct.–Nov. 1974) introduced Wolverine as an antagonist, who would go on to become one of Marvel Comics' most popular characters. In 1977, Marvel launched a second title, The Rampaging Hulk, a black-and-white comics magazine. This was originally conceived as a flashback series, set between the end of his original, short-lived solo title and the beginning of his feature in Tales to Astonish. After nine issues, the magazine was retitled The Hulk! and printed in color.
In 1977, two Hulk television films were aired to strong ratings, leading to an Incredible Hulk TV series that aired from 1978 to 1982. A huge ratings success, the series introduced the popular Hulk catchphrase "Don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry", and broadened the character's popularity from a niche comic book readership into the mainstream consciousness.
Bill Mantlo became the series' writer for five years beginning with issue #245 (March 1980). Mantlo's "Crossroads of Eternity" stories (#300–313 (Oct. 1984 – Nov. 1985)) explored the idea that Banner had suffered child abuse. Later Hulk writers Peter David and Greg Pak have called these stories an influence on their approaches to the character. Mantlo left the series for Alpha Flight and that series' writer John Byrne took over The Incredible Hulk. The final issue of Byrne's six issue run featured the wedding of Bruce Banner and Betty Ross. Writer Peter David began a 12-year run with issue #331 (May 1987). He returned to the Roger Stern and Mantlo abuse storylines, expanding the damage caused, and depicting Banner as suffering dissociative identity disorder (DID).
In 1998, David killed off Banner's long-time love Betty Ross. Marvel executives used Ross' death as an opportunity to pursue the return of the Savage Hulk. David disagreed, leading to his parting ways with Marvel. Also in 1998, Marvel relaunched The Rampaging Hulk as a standard comic book rather than as a comics magazine. The Incredible Hulk was again cancelled with issue #474 of its second volume in March 1999 and was replaced with a new series, Hulk the following month, with returning writer Byrne and art by Ron Garney. New series writer Paul Jenkins developed the Hulk's multiple dissociative identities, and his run was followed by Bruce Jones with his run featuring Banner being pursued by a secret conspiracy and aided by the mysterious Mr. Blue. Jones appended his 43-issue Incredible Hulk run with the limited series Hulk/Thing: Hard Knocks #1–4 (Nov. 2004 – Feb. 2005), which Marvel published after putting the ongoing series on hiatus. Peter David, who had initially signed a contract for the six-issue Tempest Fugit limited series, returned as writer when it was decided to make that story the first five parts of the revived (vol. 3). After a four-part tie-in to the "House of M" storyline and a one-issue epilogue, David left the series once more, citing the need to do non-Hulk work for the sake of his career.
Writer Greg Pak took over the series in 2006, leading the Hulk through several crossover storylines including "Planet Hulk" and "World War Hulk", which left the Hulk temporarily incapacitated and replaced as the series' title character by the demigod Hercules in the retitled The Incredible Hercules (Feb. 2008). The Hulk returned periodically in Hulk, which then starred the new Red Hulk. In September 2009, The Incredible Hulk was relaunched as The Incredible Hulk (vol. 2) #600. The series was retitled The Incredible Hulks with issue #612 (Nov. 2010) to encompass the Hulk's expanded family, and ran until issue #635 (Oct. 2011) when it was replaced with The Incredible Hulk (vol. 3) (15 issues, Dec. 2011 – Dec. 2012) written by Jason Aaron with art by Marc Silvestri. As part of Marvel's 2012 Marvel NOW! relaunch, a series called Indestructible Hulk (Nov. 2012) debuted under the creative team of Mark Waid and Leinil Yu. This series was replaced in 2014 with The Hulk by Waid and artist Mark Bagley.
A new series titled The Immortal Hulk, written by Al Ewing and drawn by Joe Bennett, was launched in 2018 and ran for 50 issues. The series had a spin-off one-shot Immortal She-Hulk and a spin-off series about Gamma Flight in June 2021.
In November 2021, Donny Cates became the new writer of Hulk, with Ryan Ottley joining as artist. In May 2022, the series did a crossover with the Thor series, also written by Cates, entitled Hulk vs Thor: Banner of War. The series ran for 14 issues, with Ottley taking over as writer for the last 4 issues afters Cates left the book.
In March 2023, it was announced that a new volume of The Incredible Hulk would launch in June 2023, written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and drawn by Nic Klein.
== Characterization ==
=== Fictional character biography ===
Robert Bruce Banner's psyche was profoundly affected by his troubled childhood, in which his father, Brian Banner, regarded him as a monster due to his seemingly unnatural intellect from a young age. These experiences caused Bruce to develop a dissociative identity disorder and repress his negative emotions as a coping mechanism. After Brian killed Bruce's mother in a fit of rage, Bruce lived with several relatives up until his high school years, when his intelligence caught the attention of the United States Army. Banner was recruited to develop nuclear weapons under the authority of General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, and soon developed a relationship with the General's daughter Betty Ross.
During the experimental detonation of a gamma bomb, Banner saves teenager Rick Jones, who was dared onto the testing field; Banner pushes Jones into a trench to save him, but is hit with the blast, absorbing massive amounts of gamma radiation. He awakens later seemingly unscathed, but he begins transforming into a powerful and destructive creature upon nightfall, which a pursuing soldier describes as a "hulk". Banner's attempts to cure himself of these transformations alter their conditions, causing Banner to transform as a response to rage or fear. The Hulk is a founding member of the Avengers, but quickly leaves the group due to their distrust of him. Banner maintains the secret of his dual identity with Rick's aid, but Rick reveals his secret following his assumed death to Major Glenn Talbot who subsequently informed his superiors, forcing Banner to become a fugitive upon returning from the future where he was actually thrown to.
Psychiatrist Doc Samson captures the Hulk and manages to physically separate Banner and the Hulk, allowing Banner to marry Betty. However, Banner and the Hulk's molecular structure destabilized and threatened to kill them, requiring Samson to reunite them with the aid of Vision. Samson is later able to merge elements of Banner's fractured psyche to create Professor Hulk, an intelligent but egocentric variation of the Hulk. Professor Hulk soon becomes a key member of the Pantheon, a secretive organization of superpowered individuals. His tenure with the organization brings him into conflict with a tyrannical alternate future version of himself called the Maestro, who rules over a world where many heroes are dead. The Professor Hulk construct ultimately proves unstable, and Banner's psyche eventually splinters once more.
In "Planet Hulk", the Illuminati decide the Hulk is too dangerous to remain on Earth and send him away by rocket ship which crashes on the planet Sakaar. The Hulk finds allies in the Warbound and marries alien queen Caiera, a relationship that bears him two sons: Skaar and Hiro-Kala. After the Illuminati's ship explodes and kills Caiera, the Hulk returns to Earth with the Warbound and declares war on the planet in "World War Hulk". However, after learning that Miek, one of the Warbound, had actually been responsible for the destruction, the Hulk allows himself to be defeated, with Banner subsequently redeeming himself as a hero as he works with and against the new Red Hulk to defeat the new supervillain team the Intelligencia.
Later, the Hulk turns to Doctor Doom to separate himself and Banner, with Doom surgically extracting the elements of the Hulk's brain uniquely belonging to Banner and inserting them into a clone body. Banner eventually re-combines with the Hulk when his cloned body is destroyed in an attempt to recreate his original transformation. Following this, Bruce willingly joins the spy organization S.H.I.E.L.D., allowing them to use the Hulk as a weapon in exchange for providing him with the means and funding to create a lasting legacy for himself. When Banner is shot in the head by an assassin, Tony Stark saves him with a variant of the Extremis virus. This procedure creates a new intelligent persona named Doc Green, who concludes that the world is in danger by Gamma Mutates and thus need to be depowered. He creates a cure and removes the powers of A-Bomb (Rick Jones), Skaar, and Red Hulk. Eventually, Doc Green's intellect fades and his normal Hulk form is restored.
When the vision of the Inhuman Ulysses Cain shows a rampaging Hulk standing over the corpses of many superheroes, Banner gives Hawkeye special arrows capable of killing him during a transformation, which Hawkeye accomplishes. The Hulk was first revived by the Hand, then by Hydra, and finally by the Challenger for a contest against the Grandmaster.
When a new Hulk persona called Fractured Son acted out against Banner's treatment of the other personas, Hulk battles the Eldest, who intends to use Hulk to awaken Vinruviel. After freeing Vinruviel, Eldest separates the Hulk and Bruce Banner, then takes over Hulk's body for her own uses.
=== Personality ===
Like other long-lived characters, the Hulk's character and cultural interpretations have changed with time, adding or modifying character traits. The Hulk is typically seen as an immense, green skin hulking brute with larger jaws, exaggerated brows, black hair like Bruce's (but wilder and messy), a lower voice, and intense eyes, wearing only a pair of torn pants that survive his physical transformation as the character progressed. As Bruce Banner, the character is about 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) tall and weighs 128 lbs (58.05 kg), but when transformed into the Hulk, the character stands between 7 and 8 ft (2.13 - 2.43 m) tall and weighs between 1,040 and 1,400 lbs (471.73 - 635.02 kg). The Gray Hulk stands 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) tall and weighs 900 lbs (408.23 kg); the Merged Hulk stands 7 ft 6 in (2.28 m) tall and weighs 1,150 lbs (521.63 kg); the Green Scar stands 8 ft 8 in (2.64 m) tall and weighs 2,400 lbs (1.08 ton). The Devil Hulk is roughly the same size as Sasquatch, standing around 9 or 10 ft (2.74 / 3.04 m) tall and weighing roughly 2,000 lbs (907.18 kg). Following his debut, Banner's transformations were triggered at nightfall, turning him into a gray-skinned Hulk. In Incredible Hulk #2, the Hulk started to appear with green skin, and in Avengers #3 (1963) Banner realized that his transformations were now triggered by surges of adrenaline in response to feelings of fear, pain or anger. Incredible Hulk #227 (1978) established that the Hulk's separate identity was not due to the mutation affecting his brain, but because Banner was suffering from dissociative identity disorder, with the savage Green Hulk representing Banner's repressed childhood rage and aggression, and the Gray Hulk representing Banner's repressed selfish desires and urges.
==== Identities ====
===== Bruce Banner =====
During his decades of publication, Banner has been portrayed differently, but common themes persist. Banner, a physicist who earned his Ph.D. in nuclear physics from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), is sarcastic and seemingly very self-assured when he first appears in Incredible Hulk #1, but is also emotionally withdrawn. Banner designed the gamma bomb that caused his affliction, and the ironic twist of his self-inflicted fate has been one of the most persistent common themes. Arie Kaplan describes the character thus: "Robert Bruce Banner lives in a constant state of panic, always wary that the monster inside him will erupt, and therefore he cannot form meaningful bonds with anyone." As a child, Banner's father Brian often got mad and physically abused both Banner and his mother, creating the psychological complex of fear, anger, and the fear of anger and the destruction it can cause that underlies the character. Banner has been shown to be emotionally repressed, but capable of deep love for Betty Ross and solving problems posed to him. Under the writing of Paul Jenkins, Banner was shown to be a capable fugitive, applying deductive reasoning and observation to figure out the events transpiring around him. On the occasions that Banner controlled the Hulk's body, he applied principles of physics to problems and challenges and used deductive reasoning. It was shown after his ability to turn into the Hulk was taken away by the red Hulk that Banner has been extremely versatile as well as cunning when dealing with the many situations that followed. When he was briefly separated from the Hulk by Doom, Banner became criminally insane, driven by his desire to regain the power of the Hulk, but once the two recombined he came to accept that he was a better person with the Hulk to provide something for him to focus on controlling rather than allowing his intellect to run without restraint against the world.
===== Hulk =====
The traditional Hulk, often called "Savage Hulk", was originally shown as gray and average in intelligence. He roamed aimlessly and became annoyed at "puny" humans who took him for a dangerous monster. Shortly after becoming the Hulk, his transformation continued turning him green, coinciding with him beginning to display primitive speech. By Incredible Hulk #4, radiation treatments gave Banner's mind complete control of the Hulk's body. While Banner relished his indestructibility and power, he was quick to anger and more aggressive in his Hulk form. He became known as a hero alongside the Avengers, but his increasing paranoia caused him to leave the group. He was convinced that he would never be trusted.
Originally, the Hulk was shown as simple-minded and quick to anger. The Hulk generally divorces his identity from Banner's, decrying Banner as "puny Banner." From his earliest stories, the Hulk has been concerned with finding sanctuary and quiet. He is often shown to quickly react emotionally to situations. Grest and Weinberg call Hulk the "dark, primordial side of Banner's psyche." Even in the earliest appearances, Hulk spoke in the third person. Hulk retains a modest intelligence, thinking and talking in full sentences. Lee even gives the Hulk expository dialogue in issue #6, allowing readers to learn just what capabilities Hulk has, when the Hulk says, "But these muscles ain't just for show! All I gotta do is spring up and just keep goin'!" In the 1970s, Hulk was shown as more prone to anger and rage, and less talkative. Writers played with the nature of his transformations, briefly giving Banner control over the change, and the ability to maintain control of his Hulk form. Artistically and conceptually, the character has become progressively more muscular and powerful in the years since his debut.
===== Joe Fixit =====
Originally, Stan Lee wanted the Hulk to be gray. Due to ink problems, Hulk's color was changed to green. This was later changed in the story to indicate that the Gray Hulk and the Savage Hulk are separate dissociative identities or entities fighting for control in Bruce's subconscious. The Gray Hulk incarnation can do the more unscrupulous things that Banner could not bring himself to do, with many sources comparing the Gray Hulk to the moody teenager that Banner never allowed himself to be. While the Gray Hulk still had the-madder-he-gets, the-stronger-he-gets part that is similar to the Savage Hulk, it is on a much slower rate. It is said by the Leader that the Gray Hulk is stronger on nights of the new moon and weaker on nights of the full moon. Originally, the night is when Bruce Banner became the Gray Hulk and changed back by dawn. In later comics, willpower or stress would have Banner turn into the Gray Hulk. During one storyline where he was placed under a spell to prevent him turning back into Bruce Banner and publicly presumed dead when he was teleported away from a gamma bomb explosion that destroyed an entire town, the Gray Hulk adopted a specific name as Joe Fixit, a security expert for Las Vegas casino owner Michael Berengetti, with the Gray Hulk often being referred to as Joe after these events. Joe Fixit later gained the ability to transform into a version of Red Hulk in the Below-Place.
===== Merged Hulk =====
Convinced that unaided, the Banner, Green Hulk, and Gray Hulk identities would eventually destroy each other, Doc Samson uses hypnosis to merge the three to create a new single identity combining Banner's intelligence with the Gray Hulk's and Banner's attitudes and the Green Hulk's body. This new Merged Hulk, Professor Hulk, or simply Smart Hulk, considered himself cured and began a new life, but the merger was not perfect, and the Hulk sometimes still considered Banner a separate person, and when overcome with rage the Merged Hulk would transform back into Banner's human body while still thinking himself the Hulk. The Merged Hulk is the largest of the three primary Hulk incarnations. While in a calm emotional state, the Merged Hulk is stronger than Savage Hulk when he is calm. Unlike the Savage Hulk and the Gray Hulk, Banner subconsciously installed a type of safeguard within this incarnation. The safeguard is that when the Merged Hulk gets angry, he regresses back to Banner with the mind of the Savage Hulk.
===== Doc Green =====
A variation of the Merged Hulk identity takes on the name Doc Green as the result of Extremis fixing Hulk's brain, becoming powerful enough to destroy Tony Stark's mansion with one thunderclap. This form was also known as Omega Hulk. It was theorized by Doc Green that this form was an earlier incarnation of his possible future form Maestro.
===== The Devil Hulk =====
The Devil Hulk, or simply the Devil, is the result of the Hulk needing a father figure. While the character's physical appearance varies, he is always depicted as having glowing red eyes and reptilian traits. The new form of the Devil Hulk is the result of Banner and Hulk having been through different deaths and rebirths. This incarnation is articulate, smart, and cunning, and does merciless attacks on those who do harm. Unlike the other Hulk incarnations, the Devil Hulk is content with waiting inside Bruce. If Bruce is injured by sunset, the Devil Hulk will emerge with his transformation being limited to night-time. Thanks to the Devil Hulk side and Banner working together, the Devil Hulk can maintain his form in sunlight.
===== Other identities =====
The Gravage Hulk is the result of Banner using the Gamma Projector on himself, fusing his Savage Hulk and Gray Hulk identities. This form possesses the raw power of the Savage Hulk and the cunning intellect of the Gray Hulk. While he does not draw on anger to empower him, the Gravage Hulk identity draws on dimensional nexus energies to increase his strength.
The Dark Hulk identity is the result of Hulk being possessed by Shanzar. This form has black skin and is viciously strong.
The Guilt Hulk is a malevolent representation of Banner's abusive father, Brian Banner, that manifests itself in Banner's childhood memories. Created by writer Peter David and artist Dale Keown, the character first appeared in The Incredible Hulk vol. 2, #377 (January 1991).
The Green Scar identity is unleashed on Sakaar and is an enraged version of the Gravage Hulk. In addition, he is an expert in armed combat like the use of swords and shields. Green Scar is also a capable leader and an expert strategist.
Kluh is a personality of Hulk who is described as the "Hulk's Hulk". This form sports a white mohawk, black skin, and red lines on him.
Titan is a more monstrous and malicious form of Hulk who stands at 30 ft (9.1 m), has black skin, rock-like spikes on his shoulders, and possesses the ability to shoot lasers from his eyes. This personality was planted in Hulk by D'Spayre.
Fractured Son is a form of Hulk that is annoyed with Banner's treatment of the other Hulk personas and makes Bruce's transformations painful.
=== Powers and abilities ===
==== Bruce Banner ====
Considered to be one of the greatest scientific minds on Earth, Banner possesses "a mind so brilliant it cannot be measured on any known intelligence test." Norman Osborn estimates that he is the fourth most-intelligent person on Earth. Banner holds expertise in biology, chemistry, engineering, medicine, physiology, and nuclear physics. Using this knowledge, he creates advanced technology dubbed "Bannertech", which is on par with technological development from Tony Stark or Doctor Doom. These technologies include a teleporter and a force field that can protect him from the attacks of Hulk-level entities.
After becoming a fugitive from the law, Banner is forced to go on the run and over the years learns various skills in order to both survive and remain under radar of those who are hunting him. Banner's most frequent method of travel includes hitchhiking, train hopping or simply just walking as he is unable to travel legally via planes, passenger ships or buses due to being in several travel watchlists. Banner is generally on the move and rarely ever stays in one place for very long and only does so if there's a possibility of curing himself. He will only ever stay in one place for an extended period of time if it provides him with complete solitude and privacy where the Hulk can do little to no harm.
To avoid being tracked, Banner does not use cell phones, debit or credit cards and will only use payphones or cash. He will often use fake identities when staying at motels or working jobs that require identification. Having been on the run for years, Banner can normally tell when he is being followed and will generally make a run for it when he is discovered. Having traveled across the globe, Banner is able to sneak over borders without being detected and can get by, by either knowing or learning the local language. Often traveling light, Banner has little to no possessions that he carries in either a satchel or backpack. Often losing everything he owns after transforming into the Hulk, Banner avoids keeping anything of personal value to him so that he can easily replace the items and clothes that were lost or destroyed.
To support himself financially, Banner will work quick part-time jobs and will only accept payments in cash. These jobs have varied from simply working in low pay diners to working as a local doctor. Banner's work ethic as well as his vast knowledge and skillset in science, medicine and engineering often help him get hired rather quickly. Unless desperate, Banner will generally avoid jobs that are high stress due to the potential danger of transforming into the Hulk.
Banner has little to no memories of the Hulk's actions aside from his initial transformation which he described as being extremely painful. Banner's lack of memories often terrifies him as he has often transformed back to witness the devastating aftermath of the Hulk's battles which both saddens and encourages him to find a way to understand his condition so that he won't cause anymore destruction or harm. During his travels, Banner has developed several different techniques to help suppress or control his transformations when he becomes a little angry or upset. Among the techniques he has learned over the years include meditation and hypnotherapy. While they have helped him to better understand and suppress his transformations, none of the techniques Banner has learned have helped him to gain full control over the Hulk.
==== The Hulk ====
The Hulk possesses the potential for seemingly limitless physical strength that is influenced by his emotional state, particularly his anger. This has been reflected in the repeated comment "The madder Hulk gets, the stronger Hulk gets." The cosmically powerful entity known as the Beyonder once analyzed the Hulk's physiology, and claimed that the Hulk's potential strength had "no finite element inside." Hulk's strength has been depicted as sometimes limited by Banner's subconscious influence; when Jean Grey psionically "shut Banner off", Hulk became strong enough to overpower and destroy the physical form of the villain Onslaught. Writer Greg Pak described the Worldbreaker Hulk shown during World War Hulk as having a level of physical power where "Hulk was stronger than any mortal—and most immortals—who ever walked the Earth" and depicted the character as powerful enough to completely destroy entire planets. His strength allows him to leap into lower Earth orbit or across continents, and he has displayed superhuman speed. Exposure to radiation has also been shown to make the Hulk stronger. It is unknown how he gains biomass during transformation but it may be linked to the One Below All.
His durability, regeneration, and endurance also increase in proportion to his temper. Hulk is resistant to injury or damage, though the degree to which varies between interpretations, but he has withstood the equivalent of solar temperatures, nuclear explosions, and planet-shattering impacts. Despite his remarkable resiliency, continuous barrages of high-caliber gunfire can hinder his movement to some degree while he can be temporarily subdued by intense attacks with chemical weapons such as anesthetic gases, although any interruption of such dosages will allow him to quickly recover. He has been shown to have both regenerative and adaptive healing abilities, including growing tissues to allow him to breathe underwater, surviving unprotected in space for extended periods, and when injured, healing from most wounds within seconds, including, on one occasion, the complete destruction of most of his body mass. His future self, the "Maestro", was even eventually able to recover from being blown to pieces. As an effect, he has an extremely prolonged lifespan.
He also possesses less commonly described powers, including abilities allowing him to "home in" to his place of origin in New Mexico; resist psychic control, or unwilling transformation; grow stronger from radiation or dark magic; punch his way between separate temporal or spatial dimensions; and to see and interact with astral forms. Some of these abilities were in later years explained as being related; his ability to home in on the New Mexico bomb site was due to his latent ability to sense astral forms and spirits, since the bomb site was also the place where the Maestro's skeleton was and the Maestro's spirit was calling out to him in order to absorb his radiation.
Similar to Banner, the Hulk views himself as a separate entity from Banner and often resents Banner's efforts to contain the Hulk within himself. Unable to maintain the same level of control Banner has over the transformations, the Hulk could initially only remain in his form for only short periods of time depending on the source of Banner's aggression that caused the transformation. This changed after the Hulk was exiled into Space by the Illuminati, angering him to the point where the Hulk was able to completely suppress Banner for an extended period of time. He is also shown to have a separate memory to Bruce Banner - when Spider-Man has the knowledge of his secret identity erased during Spider-Man: One More Day, the Hulk later asks how Peter is doing, not Spider-Man; upon questioning, he enigmatically states "Banner forgot. But I don't forget."
In the first Hulk comic series, "massive" doses of gamma rays would cause the Hulk to transform back to Banner, although this ability was written out of the character by the 1970s.
== Supporting characters ==
Over the long publication history of the Hulk's adventures, many recurring characters have featured prominently, including his best friend and sidekick Rick Jones, love interest and wife Betty Ross and her father, the often adversarial General "Thunderbolt" Ross. Both Banner and Hulk have families created in their respective personas. Banner is son to Brian, an abusive father who killed Banner's mother while she tried to protect her son from his father's delusional attacks, and cousin to Jennifer Walters, the She-Hulk, who serves as his frequent ally. Banner had a stillborn child with Betty, while the Hulk has two sons with his deceased second wife Caiera, Skaar and Hiro-Kala, and his DNA was used to create a daughter named Lyra with Thundra.
The Fantastic Four #12 (March 1963), featured the Hulk's first battle with the Thing. Although many early Hulk stories involve Ross trying to capture or destroy the Hulk, the main villain is often a radiation-based character, like the Gargoyle or the Leader, along with other foes such as the Toad Men, or Asian warlord General Fang. Ross' daughter Betty loves Banner and criticizes her father for pursuing the Hulk. General Ross' right-hand man, Major Glenn Talbot, also loves Betty and is torn between pursuing Hulk and trying to gain Betty's love more honorably. Rick Jones serves as the Hulk's friend and sidekick in these early tales. The Hulk's archenemies are the Abomination and the Leader. The Abomination is more monstrous-looking, twice as strong as the Hulk at normal levels (however, the Abomination's strength levels do not increase when he gets angry) and wreaks havoc for fun and pleasure. The Leader is a gamma-irradiated super-genius who has tried plan after plan to take over the world.
== Cultural impact ==
The Hulk character and the concepts behind it have been raised to the level of iconic status by many within and outside the comic book industry. In 2003, Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine claimed the character had "stood the test of time as a genuine icon of American pop culture." In 2008, the Hulk was listed as the 19th greatest comic book character by Wizard magazine. Empire magazine named him as the 14th-greatest comic-book character and the fifth-greatest Marvel character. In 2011, the Hulk placed No. 9 on IGN's list of "Top 100 Comic Book Heroes", and fourth on their list of "The Top 50 Avengers" in 2012.
=== Analysis ===
The Hulk is often viewed as a reaction to war. As well as being a reaction to the Cold War, the character has been a cipher for the frustrations the Vietnam War raised, and Ang Lee said that the Iraq War influenced his direction. In the Michael Nyman edited edition of The Guardian, Stefanie Diekmann explored Marvel Comics' reaction to the September 11 attacks. Diekmann discussed The Hulk's appearance in the 9/11 tribute comic Heroes, claiming that his greater prominence, alongside Captain America, aided in "stressing the connection between anger and justified violence without having to depict anything more than a well-known and well-respected protagonist." In Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics, Les Daniels addresses the Hulk as an embodiment of cultural fears of radiation and nuclear science. He quotes Jack Kirby thus: "As long as we're experimenting with radioactivity, there's no telling what may happen, or how much our advancements in science may cost us." Daniels continues, "The Hulk became Marvel's most disturbing embodiment of the perils inherent in the atomic age."
In Comic Book Nation, Bradford Wright alludes to Hulk's counterculture status, referring to a 1965 Esquire magazine poll amongst college students which "revealed that student radicals ranked Spider-Man and the Hulk alongside the likes of Bob Dylan and Che Guevara as their favorite revolutionary icons." Wright goes on to cite examples of his anti-authority symbol status. Two of these are "The Ballad of the Hulk" by Jerry Jeff Walker, and the Rolling Stone cover for September 30, 1971, a full color Herb Trimpe piece commissioned for the magazine. The Hulk has been caricatured in such animated television series as The Simpsons, Robot Chicken, and Family Guy, and such comedy TV series as The Young Ones. The character is also used as a cultural reference point for someone displaying anger or agitation. For example, in a 2008 Daily Mirror review of an EastEnders episode, a character is described as going "into Incredible Hulk mode, smashing up his flat." In September 2019, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson likened himself to The Hulk in an interview with the Mail On Sunday, as political pressure built on him to request an extension to the date of the UK's withdrawal from the European Union.
The Hulk, especially his alter ego Bruce Banner, is also a common reference in hip hop music. The term was represented as an analogue to marijuana in Dr. Dre's 2001, while more conventional references are made in Ludacris and Jermaine Dupri's popular single "Welcome to Atlanta".
The 2003 Ang Lee-directed Hulk film saw discussion of the character's appeal to Asian Americans. The Taiwanese-born Ang Lee commented on the "subcurrent of repression" that underscored the character of The Hulk, and how that mirrored his own experience: "Growing up, my artistic leanings were always repressed—there was always pressure to do something 'useful,' like being a doctor." Jeff Yang, writing for the San Francisco Chronicle, extended this self-identification to Asian American culture, arguing that "the passive-aggressive streak runs deep among Asian Americans—especially those who have entered creative careers, often against their parents' wishes."
There have been explorations about the real-world possibility of Hulk's gamma-radiation-based origin. In The Science of Superheroes, Lois Grest and Robert Weinberg examined Hulk's powers, explaining the scientific flaws in them. Most notably, they point out that the level of gamma radiation Banner is exposed to at the initial blast would induce radiation sickness and kill him, or if not, create significant cancer risks for Banner, because hard radiation strips cells of their ability to function. They go on to offer up an alternate origin, in which a Hulk might be created by biological experimentation with adrenal glands and GFP. Charles Q. Choi from LiveScience.com further explains that, unlike the Hulk, gamma rays are not green; existing as they do beyond the visible spectrum, gamma rays have no color at all that we can describe. He also explains that gamma rays are so powerful (the most powerful form of electromagnetic radiation and 10,000 times more powerful than visible light) that they can even convert energy into matter – a possible explanation for the increased mass that Bruce Banner takes on during transformations. "Just as the Incredible Hulk 'is the strongest one there is,' as he says himself, so too are gamma-ray bursts the most powerful explosions known."
== Other Marvel Comics characters called the Hulk ==
Prior to the debut of the Hulk in May 1962, Marvel had earlier monster characters that used the name the "Hulk", but had no direct relation.
In Strange Tales #75 (June 1960), Albert Poole built an armor he called the Hulk. In modern-day reprints, the character's name was changed to Grutan.
In Journey into Mystery #62 (Nov. 1960) was Xemnu the Living Hulk, a huge, furry alien monster who went by the name of the Hulk. Coincidentally, the character's debut story was also illustrated by Jack Kirby. The character reappeared in issue #66 (March 1961). Since then the character has been a mainstay in the Marvel Universe, and was renamed Xemnu the Living Titan.
A huge, orange, slimy monster called the Hulk was featured in a movie titled The Hulk in Tales to Astonish #21 (July 1961). In modern-day reprints, the character's name was changed to the Glop.
== Other versions ==
A number of alternate universes and alternate timelines in Marvel Comics publications allow writers to introduce variations on the Hulk, in which the character's origins, behavior, and morality differ from the mainstream setting. In some stories, someone other than Bruce Banner is the Hulk.
In some versions, the Hulk succumbs to the darker side of his nature: in "Future Imperfect" (December 1992), a future version of the Hulk has become the Maestro, the tyrannical and ruthless ruler of a nuclear war-irradiated Earth, and in "Old Man Logan" (2008), an insane Hulk rules over a post-apocalyptic California and leads a gang of his inbred Hulk children created with his first cousin She-Hulk.
=== Age of Apocalypse ===
In the Age of Apocalypse alternative setting, Bruce Banner was never exposed to gamma radiation. Therefore, he did not become the Hulk. Instead he became a member of the Human High Council, where he was a scientist and became a weapons designer. However, he also yearns to gain knowledge and power, something Apocalypse was willing to help with, and so Bruce sold himself to Mikhail Rasputin, one of the Horsemen of Apocalypse, to give him mutants as test subjects. He succeeds in his experiments and can now transform into a creature resembling the Gray Hulk. He was used as a mole in the council, but was discovered by Susan Storm and Ben Grimm because the patterns of Bruce's injuries were identical to those sustained by the Hulk.
Later, Banner attempted to redeem himself by jumping out of the Human High Council ship in an effort to prevent it from getting struck by a gamma missile of his own creation. The missile detonated, allowing the Human High Council to escape Earth. He fell back to Earth, landed in the Colosseum, and emerged as the Green Hulk. There were no further mentions of the Hulk in the Age of Apocalypse material.
=== Age of X ===
In the "Age of X" reality, Bruce Banner was a scientist who was under contract from the United States government to build a device that would depower any mutant. However, during the testing phase one of the mutant volunteers began to panic. Her powers caused the machine to go off prematurely while still in the gamma spectrum. The mutants were killed and Banner was bombarded by gamma radiation. The combination of the radiation and the fact that some of the mutants' genes were imprinted on him as well, caused Banner to transform into the Hulk. Because of his exposure to mutant genes, Banner holds a deep murderous resentment for all mutants to the point that he volunteered for a suicide mission to detonate a chemical bomb that would destroy the entire mutant stronghold, forcing his former teammates to sacrifice their lives to detonate the bomb early. He was incinerated by his own bomb when one of his former teammates named Redback (this reality's Spider-Woman) uses Steel Corpse's (this reality's Iron Man) severed glove to destroy the bomb.
=== Amalgam Comics ===
The Skulk is a hero of the Amalgam Universe. He is amalgamation of the Hulk and DC Comics' Solomon Grundy.
Bruce Banner was a scientist working with gamma rays. He was testing his gamma bomb out in the desert, but a tall figure walked out into the testing area. When Banner went out to see who it was, the man turned out to be Solomon Grundy. The bomb went off fusing Grundy and Banner together. When Banner gets angry he becomes Grundy, but the creature made a name for itself, calling itself Skulk.
=== Breaker-Apart ===
In a potential future, the One Below All is able to destroy Bruce Banner's soul and possesses the body of the Hulk. After which, it went on to kill Franklin Richards, Galactus, Mister Immortal, and many others until it was the only being left in the universe. Taking on Bruce's appearance, the One Below All encounters the Sentience of the Eighth Cosmos/Metatron and is able to trick and devour him, absorbing his powers. In the newly formed Ninth Cosmos, the One Below All used its newly acquired powers to transform Hulk into a Galactus-like being named the 'Breaker-Apart'. Ten billion years later, the Breaker-Apart has destroyed all light, all life, and all planets in the Multiverse. When Par%l tried to make contact and reason with it, the alien instead meets the abstract form of the One Below All which told him it wanted to "Make all hollow as I, dark and dead as I" and killed Par%l.
=== Bullet Points ===
In the Bullet Points mini-series, Peter Parker finds himself on the test site for a Gamma bomb and absorbs a large dose of gamma radiation, becoming the Hulk. In a further twist, later in the series, in an attempt to find a cure for Peter, Bruce Banner examines specimens taken from the test site and is bitten by a radioactive spider, becoming Spider-Man.
=== Deadpool: Samurai (Earth-346) ===
In the Deadpool: Samurai manga series, which takes place on Earth-346, Bruce Banner removes a control collar from the singer Neiro Aratabi, who had been saved from a deranged fan by Deadpool. Banner then attempts to transform into the Hulk to help Deadpool stop Hydra agents from retrieving the Gateway Controller, which had been hidden under the Tokyo Dome, but he was knocked unconscious by a piece of falling debris before he could finish his transformation. Banner did gradually regain consciousness and he then completed transforming into the Hulk, but he was quickly defeated by Thanos, who had been summoned by the Hydra agents.
=== Earth X ===
The Earth X series featured a vastly different take on the character, one in which the Hulk and Bruce Banner have finally achieved separation. However, they still rely on each other with Banner becoming a blind child who sees through the Hulk's eyes. In an interview in Comicology Volume I: The Kingdom Come Companion, Alex Ross said that the design of Earth-X Banner and Hulk was based on the appearance of Moon-Boy and Devil Dinosaur.
=== Exiles ===
Numerous alternate versions of the Hulk appear in the Exiles series.
A crazy version of the Hulk was seen attacking Canada. He was stopped by the Exiles and Alpha Flight. This battle featured the first appearance of the rogue reality jumpers known as Weapon X. The crazy Hulk was presumed dead after this encounter.
Another visually different Hulk appeared in this universe. This version had a long ponytail and wore a "Peace Out" costume, but he still retained his gamma-irradiated appearance, strength and his famous smashing abilities. He teamed up with an evil Firestar and was recruited by the Timebroker to stop an evil Hyperion. The plan succeeded and they both joined Weapon X. When Hyperion had gone even crazier than before, Hulk attacked and Weapon X began to fight with each other. This version of Hulk was killed when Hyperion brutally fought him until he was in a weakened state, Hyperion then used his heat vision on Hulk, melting and destroying him. His body is sent back to his reality, where his funeral is held. Some time after Hulk's death, Firestar committed suicide when she incinerates herself and a teammate.
A conqueror version of the Hulk, in his gladiator outfit, killed Annihilus, most of the superhumans, took full control of the Annihilation Wave, and decimated Earth. He has been apparently knocked unconscious by the Exiles. It is unknown if he survived this incident. This version is even more insane than the other alternate versions of the Hulk. While the Exiles had been dealing with Proteus, Hulk's Annihilation Wave killed many of the superhumans which should not have happened if not for Proteus. A new version of the Exiles have been present showing the surviving superhumans and they all have one goal: to stop Hulk and his Annihilation Wave, in which they apparently succeeded.
=== Hulk: Chapter One ===
In the Hulk 1999 Annual, writer John Byrne revised the Hulk's origin, much like his Spider-Man: Chapter One. In the revised origin, the Gamma Bomb that was being tested is now a gamma laser, and a Skrull was responsible for Rick Jones' presence on the base during the gamma test. The Skrull also disguised himself as Igor Rasminsky (Drenkov in the original stories), a fellow scientist working on the project. The contemporary setting removes the Cold War context of the original story and serves as a tie-in to the Marvel: The Lost Generation maxi-series created by Roger Stern and Byrne, which also brought the origins of many Marvel characters out of the 1960s and into contemporary times. The storyline takes place on Earth-9992 and is not part of mainstream Marvel continuity (Earth-616).
=== The Last Avengers Story ===
In the 1995 miniseries The Last Avengers Story, Hulk was amongst those who joined Thor, The Thing and Hercules in a mysterious conflict known as the "Great Cataclysm" which threatened Olympus and Asgard. The event ended with Hulk holding Hercules's golden mace and his skin temporarily turned gray, suggesting that the Hulk was the only survivor of this conflict. After the Event Hulk was recruited alongside Mockingbird, Tigra, Wonder Man and Hawkeye to fight Ultron. However, Hulk had been seemingly corrupted by the events of the Great Cataclysm and turned on his allies, ripping Tigra in half and puncturing Wonder Man, Wonder Man unleashed his energy against the Hulk, seemingly killing them both and accidentally blinding Hawkeye. Hulk is finally defeated by Thor, which ends the chaos.
=== Infernal Hulk ===
In one alternative reality, Bruce Banner and the Hulk were magically separated. Banner became the new Sorcerer Supreme, and the Hulk was cast into hell. However, while in hell, the Hulk became corrupted by the demonic beings he encountered, transforming him into a demon himself. Now completely evil, he escaped from hell and attempted to kill Banner. With help from the mainstream Hulk, Banner tricked the "infernal" Hulk into shattering the Eye of Agamotto, causing him to be thrown back into hell.
=== Maestro ===
Set in a post apocalyptic future, the Hulk has mutated into the dictator Maestro ruling the remains of humanity with an iron fist. Ruthless, sadistic, violent, and tyrannical, the Maestro was shown to be an example of what would happen if the Hulk ever embraced his darker roots. Maestro was known to be an enemy of the Hulk, as the two alternate versions fought each other on Maestro's world.
=== Marvel 2099 ===
The unified Marvel Noir reality of Earth-2099 featured a version of Hulk 2099. In addition, there was a 2099 version of Gray Hulk who was a member of the 2099 version of the Avengers until he was among those who were killed by the 2099 version of the Masters of Evil. The 2099 version of Moon Knight survived the massacre and formed the 2099 version of the New Avengers with Hulk 2099 as one of its members as they avenged Gray Hulk 2099 and the fallen Avengers by defeating the Masters of Evil and having them remanded to a prison on the planet Wakanda.
=== Otto Banner ===
During the "Devil's Reign" storyline, Doctor Octopus started forming his Superior Four that includes a Hulk who has four extra arms growing from his back. His real name is Otto Banner of Earth-8816 and he was also abused by his Earth's version of Brian Banner.
=== Ruins ===
In the Warren Ellis series Ruins, a dark flip to the Kurt Busiek tale Marvels, the accidents, experiments and mutations that led to the creation of superheroes and super humans, instead led to terrible deformations and painful deaths. Here, Bruce Banner's story goes exactly the same as his 616 counterpart, but when he is caught in the middle of the gamma bomb explosion, instead of transforming into the Incredible Hulk, his whole body opens up from the gigantic tumors that appear inside it, pushing most of his organs and skull outside his body and giving Rick Jones cancer. He did not die, and was put in an underground vault by the CIA, codenamed "the Hulk".
=== Secret Wars (2015) ===
During the Secret Wars storyline, several versions of Hulk reside in each Battleworld domain.
The Battleworld domain of Greenland is filled with an assortment of Hulks ranging from Tribal Hulks (a group of Hulks that live like a tribe), Bull Hulks (a group of gamma-irradiated cattle), Sand Hulks (who evoke the traits of Hulk and Sandman), and a Sea Hulk. This land is a recreation of Earth-71612, rendered a Hulk-filled land by a gamma bomb strike by A.I.M. It was stated that Bruce Banner had started Bannertech Industries and his fate has not been mentioned since A.I.M.'s gamma bomb strike. In addition to the various type of Hulks and a variation of a Red Hulk that rules Greenland as the Red King", a variation of Steve Rogers that was sent into Greenland by God Emperor Doom and Sheriff Strange encountered another variation of Rogers who operated as Doc Green.
The Battleworld domain of Spider-Island, based from the remnants of Earth-19919, underwent an alternate version of the Spider-Island storyline where Hulk was mutated into Spider-Hulk and served as one of Spider-Queen's minions. However, Agent Venom uses Curt Connors' lizard formula to mutate Hulk into a giant lizard monster, which frees him from the Spider Queen's control.
The Battleworld domain of Marville, based on the remnants of Earth-71912, featured a child version of Hulk who is a member of the Avengers.
The Battleworld domain of the Kingdom of Manhattan is based from the remnants of Earth-61610 where variations of characters from Earth-616 and Earth-1610 co-exist on the combined version of both reality's Manhattan. In this case, a variation of Hulk's Doc Green form co-exists with a variation of Earth-1610's Hulk.
The Battleworld domain of Bug World, based from the remnants of Earth-22312, features an anthropomorphic insect version of Hulk called Roly-Poly Hulk.
The Battleworld domain of the Walled City of New York, based on the remnants of Earth-21722, features a version of Hulk who is a member of the Avengers, allied with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s side of the Walled City of New York.
=== Spider-Geddon ===
During the "Spider-Geddon" storyline, a sequel to "Spider-Verse", Robbie Banner is a punk on Earth-138 who is allied with Spider-Punk and can turn into the Hulk while listening to "Atomic Bomb" music. He helped Spider-Punk and Captain Anarchy fight the U-Foes at the Hellfire Club, assisted Spider-Punk and M.C. Strange push the Universal Church of Truth out of Queens, and fought Hydra on the streets. After obtaining the "Atomic Bomb" tape from Captain Anarchy, Spider-Punk visited Robbie to get his help, but the latter was reluctant to listen to the tape. When Kang the Conglomerator went on the attack, Robbie reluctantly listened to the tape and transformed into the Hulk to help Spider-Punk fight Kang.
=== The End ===
In other tales, possible futures for the character have been shown. Using a post apocalyptic wasteland as a backdrop, the Peter David written Hulk: The End one-shot features an elderly Bruce Banner as the last surviving inhabitant of Earth, the Hulk having hidden in a cave during a nuclear war until he was released by the Recorder sent to confirm humanity's demise. After Bruce has spent time traveling Earth, transforming into the Hulk at night and when attacked by the mutated cockroaches that are the only other surviving lifeforms on Earth, the story concludes with Banner dying of a heart attack, thus leaving the Hulk as the last living being on the planet. Acknowledging that he would also die if he changes back into Banner, the Hulk reflects on the fact that he has finally achieved his wish to be alone.
=== Ultimate Marvel ===
An alternate universe variant of Bruce Banner / Hulk from Earth-1610 appears in the Ultimate Marvel imprint. This version is a scientist working for S.H.I.E.L.D. who gained his powers from an attempt to recreate the Super-Soldier Formula that created Captain America. Additionally, Hulk is depicted as more malicious, representing Banner's hidden emotions and id.
=== Ultimate Universe ===
During the "Ultimate Invasion" storyline, Maker visits Earth-6160 and remakes it into his own image. One of the things he could not succeed in was preventing the origin of Hulk, who would later find personal "enlightenment". He and his fellow monks of the Children of the Eternal Light would later attend an international event held by the Maker at the City in Latveria as part of his Council. Hulk and the Children of the Eternal Light are revealed to rule India and parts of Asia.
== In other media ==
The character has been played in live-action and animation by a variety of actors. The character was first played in live-action by Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno in the 1978 television series The Incredible Hulk and its subsequent television films The Incredible Hulk Returns (1988), The Trial of the Incredible Hulk (1989), and The Death of the Incredible Hulk (1990), and Eric Bana in the film Hulk (2003). In the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), the character was first portrayed by Edward Norton in the film The Incredible Hulk (2008) and by Mark Ruffalo in later appearances, including the films The Avengers (2012), Iron Man 3 (2013), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Captain Marvel (2019), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), and Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026), and the television series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022) and What If...? (2021). Fred Tatasciore has voiced Hulk in various television series and video games, including The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes and Avengers Assemble.
== Reception ==
The Hulk was ranked #1 on a listing of Marvel Comics' monster characters in 2015.
In 2018, CBR.com ranked The Thing (Bruce Banner) 2nd in their "Age Of Apocalypse: The 30 Strongest Characters In Marvel's Coolest Alternate World" list.
In 2022, Screen Rant included Hulk in their "10 Most Powerful Hercules Villains In Marvel Comics" list. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wigan_Athletic_F.C. | Wigan Athletic F.C. | Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system.
Founded in 1932, they have played at the 25,138-seat Brick Community Stadium since 1999, before which they played at Springfield Park. Their colours are blue and white stripes, although all-blue shirts have been common throughout the club's history. The club regards Bolton Wanderers as its primary derby rival.
Wigan competed in the Cheshire County League for the first nine seasons of the club's existence, winning three league titles before being placed in the Lancashire Combination in 1947. It spent 14 years in the Lancashire Combination and secured four league titles during this time. It spent 1961 to 1968 back in the Cheshire County League, picking up another league title in 1964–65. Invited to become a founder member of the Northern Premier League in 1968, the club won two league titles and also reached the FA Trophy final in 1973. Wigan was elected to the Football League in 1978 and was promoted out of the Fourth Division in 1981–82. The club won the Associate Members' Cup in 1985, but was relegated back into the fourth tier in 1993. It won the Third Division title in 1996–97, the Football League Trophy in 1999 and the Second Division in 2002–03, before securing promotion out of the Championship in 2004–05.
Wigan lost in the League Cup final in 2006 and won the FA Cup in 2013, beating Manchester City in the final. However, the club was relegated later that year, bringing its eight-season stay in the Premier League to an end. The FA Cup success did, though, gain it a place in the UEFA Europa League group stages the following season. Relegated from the Championship in 2015, the club won the League One title in 2015–16 and repeated this feat in 2017–18 after another relegation. On 1 July 2020, less than a month after a change of ownership, it was placed into administration and was relegated from the Championship due to the subsequent points deduction. After narrowly avoiding relegation to League Two in 2020–21 under new ownership, Wigan won the League One title for a fourth time in 2021–22, but a year later were again relegated from the Championship following two further points deductions. Additional deductions of points were made in May 2023, meaning the club started the 2023–24 League One season with minus eight points.
== History ==
=== Non-League football: 1932–1978 ===
Wigan Athletic was formed in 1932, following the winding-up of Wigan Borough the year before. The establishment of Wigan Athletic was the sixth attempt to create a stable football club in the town following the demise of Wigan A.F.C., Wigan County, Wigan United, Wigan Town and Wigan Borough. The town's die-hard football enthusiasts planned the rebirth of a town team, and a public meeting was held at the Queen's Hall presided over by the then Mayor of Wigan, Councillor W.A. Hipwood, and Callum Roper, who called on the town to keep up its reputation for producing fine sportsmen by keeping intact an Association Football team as well as the Rugby League team. A committee was elected and a new club was formed, Wigan Athletic. Springfield Park, the former home of Wigan Borough, was purchased by the club for £2,850 from the owners of the Woodhouse Lane dog track. Despite their initial application being turned down, Wigan Athletic were elected into the Cheshire County League following the resignation of Manchester Central. The club had also made the first of many attempts to be admitted into the Football League, but failed to receive a single vote. On 27 August 1932, Wigan Athletic played their first-ever league game against Port Vale Reserves. The team played in red and white shirts with black shorts.
Wigan Athletic won its first honours in the 1933–34 season, finishing top of the Cheshire League, despite being based in neighbouring Lancashire. In the following season the club won a second league championship and also entered the FA Cup for the first time, defeating Carlisle United 6–1 in the first round – a cup record for the biggest victory by a non-League club over a League club. In the 1935–36 season, the club won its third consecutive Cheshire League title and the Lancashire Junior Cup.
After the Second World War, Wigan Athletic adopted their present-day blue and white colours. The club struggled to assemble a competitive side and finished bottom of the league in 1946–47 season. Despite their pre-war success, the club failed to gain re-election and was replaced by Winsford United. The club joined the Lancashire Combination, winning the league in their first season. In 1950, Wigan Athletic came close to election to The Football League, narrowly losing out to Scunthorpe United and Shrewsbury Town. The club would frequently apply for election to the Football League over the next 28 years before finally being accepted.
In the 1953–54 season, Wigan played an FA Cup match against Hereford United in front of a crowd of 27,526 – a club record and also a record attendance for a match between two non-League teams at a non-League ground. In the next round of the cup, Wigan Athletic was drawn against First Division side Newcastle United. Wigan Athletic held their top-flight opponents to a 2–2 draw at St James' Park, but went on to lose the replay 3–2. In 1961, the club moved back to the Cheshire League.
In the 1964–65 season, Wigan Athletic won its first Cheshire League title since returning to the league, with top goalscorer Harry Lyon scoring 66 times. He remains the club's greatest goalscorer of all time. Wigan Athletic won four cup titles in the 1966–67 season (Lancashire Floodlit Cup winner, Liverpool Non League Senior Cup winner, Northern Floodlit League winner, Northern Floodlit League Cup winner) and was also Cheshire County League runner-up.
In 1968, Wigan Athletic was a founder member of the Northern Premier League. In winning the league title in 1970–71, the leading goalscorer, with 42 goals including seven hat-tricks, was Geoff Davies, who scored 28 goals in the following 1971–72 season. The team played at Wembley Stadium for the first time in the 1973 FA Trophy final, where they lost 2–1 to Scarborough. After 34 failed election attempts, including one controversial but headline-making application in 1972 to join the Scottish League Second Division, Wigan Athletic was elected to the Football League in 1978.
=== Early League years: 1978–1995 ===
Wigan Athletic finished in second place in the Northern Premier League in the 1977–78 season, behind winners Boston United. But as Boston's ground and facilities did not meet the Football League criteria for a League club, whereas Springfield Park did, Wigan Athletic were put forward for election to the league. There was no automatic promotion to the Football League until 1987, and at that time a club had to be 'voted out' of the League to allow a non-League team to be promoted in their place. At the end of the 1977–78 season, Southport finished next to the bottom of the old Fourth Division, and faced near neighbours Wigan Athletic for their place in the league. The first round of voting was tied, with both clubs receiving 26 votes. After a tense re-vote which Wigan won 29–20, Southport lost their place in the Fourth Division and Wigan Athletic became an English League club on 2 June 1978.
In the club's first season of league football, Wigan Athletic finished in sixth place, just six points off promotion and playing in front of an average crowd of 6,701. Two more top-half finishes came in the following seasons, though a relatively weak 1980–81 season saw the dismissal of long-serving manager Ian McNeill shortly before the end of the season. They gained their first Football League promotion under the management of former Liverpool player Larry Lloyd in 1981–82, when a points tally of 91 saw them join the former Division Three for the first time, beginning a 10-year spell in English football's third tier. The club struggled in their first season in Division Three, which led to Lloyd's sacking in early 1983, at which point Bobby Charlton, a director at the time, took over as temporary manager before being replaced by Harry McNally. Under McNally's management, the club stabilised in Division Three and secured a pair of mid-table finishes, but a dreadful 1984–85 season cost him his job, with Tranmere manager Bryan Hamilton stepping into the breach. Under Hamilton's management, the club's performances went to the next level and they won their first silverware as a league club that season with the Freight Rover Trophy. They were beaten in the Northern final of the same competition the following season by Bolton Wanderers. More importantly, Hamilton achieved Division Three survival, which had looked an impossible task earlier that season.
The 1985–86 season saw a marked improvement in the club's league form, eventually finishing in fourth position, a then-club record high which would stand for 17 years until 2002–03. Wigan Athletic finished the season just one point outside the promotion places in the final season before the Football League introduced the play-off system for promotion and relegation. However, Hamilton's feats attracted the attention of First Division Leicester City and he left to become their manager in the summer of 1986. His assistant, Ray Mathias, who had followed him from Tranmere, stepped up to the Wigan Athletic manager's job. Wigan Athletic managed an identical fourth-place finish in the 1986–87 season, but this time were rewarded with the chance to compete for the final promotion place in the new play-off system. (In the first two years of the play-off system, teams finishing third, fourth and fifth joined the team finishing 20th in the division above to play-off for the promotion place; this was changed to the teams finishing third, fourth, fifth and sixth from the 1988–89 season). The Latics lost at the two-legged semi-final stage to Swindon, who went on to win the final promotion place.
The fourth-place finishes of the 1985–86 and 1986–87 seasons proved to be the high points of Wigan Athletic's first stint in Division 3. For the next five years, they finished mid-table, flirting with relegation in 1988–89 (at which time Mathias was sacked and the previous manager Bryan Hamilton returned) and 1989–90, until they were relegated for the first time in the club's league history in 1992–93. Wigan Athletic finished in 23rd place, amid tumbling attendances which had fallen from averages of 3,000–4,000 in Wigan Athletic's Division 3 years to just 2,593 in 1992–93. Hamilton resigned shortly before the club were relegated, and was replaced by Kenny Swain. A year later, with the club back in the fourth tier of the English League, the Latics finished fourth from bottom, in 19th place. While there was no relegation that season due to the lack of a promotable club in the Football Conference, this remains the club's lowest-ever finish. The following season would prove to be arguably even worse, as Swain was sacked early in the campaign following a horrific start, and former player Graham Barrow took over as manager. Despite the club being rooted to the bottom of the table until the start of December, the second half of the campaign saw a major upturn in form, and they finished well clear of the relegation zone in 15th place. Attendances fell to a lowest-ever Wigan Athletic League average of 1,845 by 1995.
=== Rising through the league: 1995–2005 ===
In February 1995, local millionaire and owner of JJB Sports, Dave Whelan purchased the club. Through Whelan's business connections in Spain he attracted three Spaniards to the club – Roberto Martínez, Isidro Díaz, and Jesus Seba – who became known as the Three Amigos. The trio became the on-pitch symbols of Whelan's ambitious plan to take Wigan Athletic into the Premier League. The Three Amigos were joined at the club by John Deehan, who replaced Barrow as manager during the 1995–96 season following a 6–2 home defeat to Mansfield Town. Deehan took the Latics within two points of a play-off place in his first season; the club had in fact been in the final automatic promotion spot with four games remaining, but lost them all and so failed to even make the playoffs. The following year Wigan Athletic became Division Three champions on the last day of the season, Graeme Jones scoring a club record 31 league goals in the process. In most seasons they would have been runners-up, but a temporary rule change which saw goals scored take precedence over goal difference allowed them to finish above runners-up Fulham, who had the same number of points and a better goal difference.
Following a mid-table finish in Division Two the following season, Deehan quit to become Steve Bruce's assistant at Sheffield United. He was succeeded by Ray Mathias, who returned for his third stint as Wigan Athletic manager. Mathias' team won the Football League Trophy in 1999, beating Millwall 1–0 at Wembley Stadium. The same season the Latics reached the Division Two play-offs, losing 2–1 on aggregate to Manchester City. Mathias was sacked, and replaced by John Benson. He led the team to the top of Division Two in his first six months, but they were only able to qualify for the play-offs. In the last Division Two play-off final played at the old Wembley Stadium, Wigan lost 3–2 after extra time to Gillingham.
Benson moved 'upstairs' to the new post of director of football in the summer of 2000, when former Arsenal manager Bruce Rioch took the manager's job for the 2000–01 season. Rioch was hampered by severe injury problems and after a difficult and often unimpressive first half of the season left the club in February 2001. He was temporarily replaced by club stalwart Colin Greenall, before the surprise appointment of Steve Bruce for the final eight games of the season. His arrival brought renewed vigour to Wigan Athletic performances, but the club ultimately lost in the play-offs again, this time against Reading, and Bruce left for Crystal Palace.
In the summer of 2001, the former Latics forward Paul Jewell took over as manager following an unsuccessful spell at Sheffield Wednesday. His first season in charge saw mixed results and an embarrassing defeat to non-League Canvey Island in the FA Cup first round, although the club eventually finished in mid-table. Jewell's second season in charge was far more successful. Wigan Athletic went on a run to the quarter-finals of the League Cup, beating Premier League opponents West Brom, Manchester City and Fulham en route. Wigan Athletic won the Division Two championship in 2002–03 with a points total of 100, powered by the goals of then-record £1.2 million signing Nathan Ellington, with a run of 10 consecutive wins along the way. The club lost only four times all season, and Wigan Athletic secured promotion to the second tier of the English Football League for the first time in their history.
After losing their first Division One game, Wigan Athletic confounded expectations to go unbeaten for the next 17 games and topped the division by November 2003. A weak finish saw the team win only three of their last 10 games to finish seventh in Division One – a last-minute goal by West Ham's Brian Deane in the final game of the season saw the Latics drop out of the play-off places in favour of eventual play-off winners Crystal Palace.
Hoping to build on the previous season's disappointing finish, the Latics went one better than 2003–04 by remaining unbeaten for the first 17 games of the 2004–05 season. Along with Sunderland and Ipswich, the Latics remained in the promotion hunt all season. By the last day of the season, Sunderland had already won the title and Wigan needed at least a draw against Reading – who themselves needed to win to finish in sixth place – to beat Ipswich to the last automatic promotion spot. A 3–1 victory at the JJB Stadium earned Wigan Athletic promotion to the top division of English football for the first time in their 73-year history.
=== Premier League years and FA Cup victory: 2005–2013 ===
The club's first Premier League game was a sell-out at the JJB Stadium against holders Chelsea, a 1–0 defeat after an injury-time winner by Hernán Crespo. A successful run followed, and by November, Wigan were second in the league. Good league form was coupled with an equally strong performance in the Football League Cup, with Wigan reaching their first ever major cup final after defeating Arsenal on away goals in the semi-final. In the final, Wigan were defeated 4–0 by neighbours Manchester United. Wigan Athletic eventually finished the season in 10th place, which remains the club's highest ever league placing. Defender Pascal Chimbonda was also included in the 2005–06 PFA Team of the Season, capping off his season by being picked for the France squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
During the close season, Wigan sold many players who had starred in their first season in the Premier League, such as Jimmy Bullard, Jason Roberts and Stéphane Henchoz, while bringing in replacements including Emile Heskey, Denny Landzaat, Chris Kirkland and Antonio Valencia. After a mid-table start to the 2006–07 season, Wigan had eight consecutive losses from mid-December, but was 15th in early March. On the final day of the season, Wigan got a 2–1 away win against Sheffield United, which kept them up at the expense of their opponents. The following day, Paul Jewell unexpectedly resigned as manager; his assistant Chris Hutchings was appointed as his replacement.
Wigan's third Premier League campaign saw changes in the squad, with Titus Bramble, Mario Melchiot, Jason Koumas and Marcus Bent among the players brought in, and Melchiot was installed as the new club captain. The 2007–08 season began well for Wigan, with Emile Heskey recalled to the England squad, as the first Wigan player to represent England whilst a full member of the club. However, he broke his foot immediately after his England call-up and was out injured for six weeks. The club's league position subsequently worsened, and on the back of a run of six consecutive defeats, Wigan fell into the relegation zone. Whelan took the decision to sack Hutchings on 5 November 2007, after 12 games in charge, reinstating Steve Bruce, who saved the club from relegation.
In the summer of 2008, Bruce signed Lee Cattermole from Middlesbrough for £3.5 million, and Egyptian striker Amr Zaki sign on an initial one-year loan. Zaki had scored 10 Premier League goals by February 2009, as Wigan reached seventh place in the table with 34 points from 25 games. January saw the departure of two key first team members, Wilson Palacios and Emile Heskey, to Tottenham and Aston Villa respectively. Despite these changes, Wigan finished the season in 11th place with 45 points, their second-best finish ever in the Premier League. On 3 June, Bruce left Wigan for the second time to take over the vacant manager position at Sunderland. July saw the departure of another key first team member Antonio Valencia to Manchester United. Before the 2009–10 season got underway, Cattermole left for Sunderland.
Wigan appointed Roberto Martínez, then manager of Swansea City, as manager prior to the 2009–10 Premier League season. He previously played for Wigan from 1995 to 2001. On 26 September, they claimed their first three points against a "Big 4" team after beating Chelsea 3–1, with goals from Titus Bramble, Hugo Rodallega and Paul Scharner. A late surge that included a 1–0 win over Liverpool and a 3–2 win over Arsenal – the latter of which saw Wigan recover from two goals down with ten minutes remaining to win in injury time – saw the team once more survive relegation. Most notably, having never defeated any of the traditional "Big Four" in the league until their win over Chelsea (and with only one win over any of them in cup competitions), Wigan ended the season having defeated three of them at home. Despite this high, the season also saw two humiliating 8 goal defeats, firstly a 9–1 thrashing at Tottenham in November, and finally an 8–0 defeat to Chelsea on the final day of the season, a match which saw their opponents crowned Premier League champions.
In the 2010–11 season, Wigan fell to the bottom of the league by the end of February, following a 4–0 defeat to Manchester United. However, despite remaining in the bottom three for the majority of the season, they managed to retain their Premier League status on the last day of the season, defeating Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium after a goal from Hugo Rodallega. On 7 May 2012, they simultaneously secured their Premier League status and relegated Blackburn Rovers with a 1–0 victory at Ewood Park.
In 2013, after beating Everton in the quarter-final and Millwall in the semi-final, Wigan reached the FA Cup final for the first time in their history. In the final, played at Wembley Stadium, Wigan beat Manchester City 1–0, with a goal by Ben Watson scored in injury time.
Wigan's first ever major trophy also gave the club a place in the group stage of the Europa League. Following their 4–1 defeat to Arsenal three days later, Wigan Athletic ended their eight-year spell in the Premier League and became the first team to be relegated and win the FA Cup in the same season. On 5 June it was announced that Martínez had left Wigan and had signed for Everton on a four-year deal.
=== End of the Whelan era: 2013–2018 ===
Owen Coyle became the new manager of Wigan Athletic when Martínez left for Everton. The team lost to Manchester United in the Community Shield. Coyle left by mutual agreement on 2 December 2013 after a poor start to the season, and was replaced by Uwe Rösler. On 12 December in his first match, Wigan were eliminated from the Europa League group stage after defeat to Maribor. On 9 March 2014 Wigan beat Manchester City to reach the semi-final of the FA Cup at Wembley for the second successive year, where they played Arsenal, and lost 4–2 on penalties after normal time and extra time resulted in a 1–1 draw. After finishing 5th in the Championship, Wigan lost their play-off semi-final to Queens Park Rangers.
Rösler was sacked in November 2014 with the club in the relegation places, and was replaced by Malky Mackay. Whelan resigned as chairman on 3 March 2015, remaining as owner but handing over the chairmanship to his grandson David Sharpe. The following month, with Wigan in danger of relegation to League One, Mackay was sacked and replaced by former Wigan captain Gary Caldwell, yet the team ended the season with relegation. The squad changed drastically, including the signings of Will Grigg from Brentford and Reece James from Manchester United. The side lost only once in 23 matches in the second half of the season and won the division, with Grigg the league's top scorer with 25 goals.
In October 2016, following a poor start to the season, Caldwell was sacked as manager and replaced by Manchester United coach Warren Joyce. Results did not improve under Joyce, who was sacked in March 2017. Wigan were subsequently relegated back to League One in April and interim manager Graham Barrow left, ending a 15-year association with the club. Paul Cook, who had just won League Two with Portsmouth, was appointed Wigan manager in June 2017.
In the 2017–18 League One season, Wigan finished top winning promotion back to the Championship. Their promotion was sealed by a 4–0 win against Fleetwood Town. In the 2017–18 FA Cup, Wigan beat Manchester City in the fifth round at home, winning 1–0 after Will Grigg scored in the 79th minute. In the quarter-finals, they were knocked out by Southampton in a 2–0 loss. At the end of the season it was announced that the Whelan family had agreed a deal to sell the club, stadium and training facilities to the Hong Kong–based International Entertainment Corporation (IEC) in a £22m deal. On 2 November 2018, IEC received shareholder approval to complete the acquisition of the football club, ending 23 years of Whelan family ownership.
In the 2018–19 season, Wigan finished 18th in the Championship with 52 points, well clear of the relegation zone.
=== Administration, financial instability, and new ownership: Since 2020 ===
On 4 June 2020, IEC sold the majority of Wigan Athletic shareholdings to Hong Kong–based Next Leader Fund; the sale was formally ratified and approved by the shareholders of IEC, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the EFL. On 1 July 2020, the club – standing 14th in the Championship, eight points clear of relegation, in a season delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic – announced it had gone into administration as Next Leader Fund had refused to invest promised money. The insolvency left Wigan facing a 12-point deduction; the sanction would be applied at the end of the 2019–20 season if the club finished outside the bottom three after 46 games. Wigan MP Lisa Nandy and Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham wrote a joint letter to Parry calling for an investigation into the club's takeover. Players had not been paid and there was talk of club staff being made redundant and of players being offered for sale, they said. Wigan's supporters club also called for an investigation and for financial support from the EFL; supporters, backed by Nandy, later launched an online petition to try to trigger a parliamentary debate around the EFL's owners' and directors' test.
On 7 July, 75 (approximately half) of the club's non-playing staff were made redundant by the administrators.
Meanwhile, on 7 July 2020 the club had appealed against the 12-point deduction imposed by the EFL for entering administration. On 14 July, Wigan recorded their biggest League victory, beating Hull City
8–0. This, combined with other results, meant Wigan would not finish in the relegation places, so the 12-point deduction would be applied at the end of the current season with the relegation confirmed on 4 August.
On 17 August 2020, it was reported that Au Yeung Wai Kay, the club's owner, had, on 23 June, asked Begbies Traynor about putting it into administration before completing his takeover. Wigan supporters began a fund-raising effort, initially raising £500,000 to help secure the club's future, and then raising £200,000 more.
Administrators had been confident a sale would be agreed by their deadline, but later revised their opinion.
By early March 2021, the administrators were in advanced talks with a consortium, Phoenix 2021 Ltd, led by Bahrain businessmen Abdulrahman Al-Jasmi and Talal Mubarak al-Hammad, which was confirmed officially on 30 March. In May, the former administrators repaid £171,000 raised by supporters to keep the club going when it first went into administration.
The club finished the 2020–21 season in 20th position, one point above the relegation places. Wigan Athletic won the League One title under Leam Richardson in the following season, earning promotion back to the Championship after a final day 3–0 victory at Shrewsbury Town.
On 7 March 2023, Wigan reported a £7.7m loss for the financial year to June 2022. Four days later, Wigan released a statement saying there would be a temporary delay in meeting wage obligations due to liquidity issues; the EFL was aware of the situation and on 20 March 2023, bottom-of-the-table Wigan were docked three points for failing to pay players, having had a previous EFL sanction for non-payment suspended. At the end of the 2022–23 season, they were relegated from the Championship.
In late May 2023, Wigan were hit with two further points deductions and would therefore start its next season with minus eight points. On 12 June, HMRC lodged a winding-up petition over unpaid tax. On 14 June 2023, Wigan-born billionaire and Wigan Warriors RLFC co-owner Mike Danson bought the club and immediately paid all creditors, including staff.
== Stadium ==
Wigan Athletic's stadium is the 25,138 capacity The Brick Community Stadium, part of the Robin Park complex in Wigan. It has been the club's home since the 1999–2000 season. Wigan Athletic owns the stadium, but leases the ground to rugby league team Wigan Warriors. The stadium cost £30 million to construct. Previously, home games were played at Springfield Park, the former home of Wigan Borough, which was demolished in June 1999; it is now the site of a housing development. The record attendance at The Brick Community Stadium (then known as the JJB Stadium) for Wigan Athletic is 25,133 for a game against Manchester United on 11 May 2008 – the final match of the 2007–08 season.
The stadium, initially known as the JJB Stadium for sponsorship reasons, was the fourth attempt at re-development/re-location for Wigan Athletic, the first coming in 1986 when then-chairman Bill Kenyon revealed plans for a 15,000 all-seater development at Springfield Park including a hotel and shopping facilities. The club was to play at the nearby Woodhouse Stadium (formerly Wigan Municipal Stadium – now demolished) while the building work took place. In 1990, Kenyon submitted his second scheme which would cost £3m, hold 12–15,000 fans and involved moving the pitch nearer to the car park. Neither efforts got past the planning stage. The next chairman, Stephen Gage, spent most of 1993 and 1994 trying to relocate the Latics to the then Robin Park Stadium (now demolished) until his plans were scuppered by Wigan Council when the local council announced plans for their own ground involving Wigan Warriors. Gage finally admitted defeat when he sold the Latics to Dave Whelan on 27 February 1995 for around £1m.
Plans for the JJB Stadium were first published in 1997. Contracts for the new stadium were signed in late 1997 and work began immediately. Originally the ground was to be built for both Wigan Athletic and Orrell R.U.F.C., as grants were only available for multi-use stadia at that time. Wigan Warriors did not figure in the equation until Whelan bought the rugby league club some 12 months later after protracted negotiations with the directors of the rugby league club. The modern all-seater stadium was officially opened on 4 August 1999. Its inauguration was marked with a friendly between Wigan and neighbours Manchester United, who were then reigning European Champions, with Alex Ferguson officially opening the stadium. However, Wigan Athletic hosted Morecambe three days earlier on 1 August as a dress rehearsal for the official opening against Manchester United. The game was played during a violent electrical storm and torrential rain, even so, 4,020 supporters attended and the game ended in a goalless draw. The first competitive football match took place on 7 August 1999, with Wigan Athletic facing Scunthorpe United in a Division 2 match. Simon Haworth scored twice, including the first competitive goal at the new stadium, as Athletic won 3–0.
On 7 March 2005 Greater Manchester Police announced that it would stop policing Wigan Athletic matches at the stadium from 2 April. This move left Wigan Athletic facing the prospect of playing their home games in the Premier League in an empty stadium, so they paid the money they owed to the police. The club appealed against the payments in court and won, with the claims expected to earn the club around £37,000.
On 25 March 2009 it was announced that Wigan Athletic would change the name of their stadium to The DW Stadium, after chairman Dave Whelan's commercial venture, DW Sports Fitness. For 2013–14 Europa League fixtures held at the stadium, the ground was known as The Wigan Athletic Stadium. From 13 May 2024, the stadium was renamed The Brick Community Stadium, in partnership with a local Wigan charity, The Brick, which works to address poverty and homelessness. The name will remain in place until the end of 2025 while Wigan Athletic and Wigan Warriors secure a long-term commercial stadium partner for 2026 and beyond.
== Supporters ==
Wigan Athletic Official Supporters Club (formerly known as Wigan Athletic Supporters Travel Club) is the official supporters' association of Wigan Athletic Football Club. The supporters club are a non-profit organisation run by volunteers and meet before home matches in the South Stand Bar.
The Latics' most vocal supporters can be found in the East Stand of The Brick Community Stadium which houses up to 8,206 fans The South Stand of the ground is the family stand.
A long-standing song sung by fans of the club is "You Are My Sunshine". In more recent times, "I'm a Believer", the Hokey cokey, "We Built This City" and "Gold" are among some of the songs that have been adapted by Wigan supporters.
The club has one unofficial fanzine, The Mudhutter, which is released between 5 and 6 times during the season.
Resulting from a number of incidents at Latics matches where smoke bombs were used by fans (resulting in 17 banning orders as a result of one fixture), several club statements were issued and police presence was increased at some matches. Data from the UK Football Policing Unit found that Wigan Athletic along with Everton and Manchester United had the highest number of incidents involving pyrotechnics.
Wigan's return to the Championship saw an average away following of over 1,200. This figure did not include Europa League, Community Shield, League Cup and FA Cup fixtures, where on average supporters turned up in greater numbers.
In 2013, the club sold out their 25,000 allocation for the FA Cup final and sold 20,000 tickets for the FA Cup semi-final. A total of 5,500 was also sold for the FA Community Shield in the same year.
In 2014, hundreds of fans took part in a charity walk from Wigan to Bolton in aid of local charity Joseph's Goal. Joseph was Wigan's mascot in the 2013 FA Cup final, led out by captain Emmerson Boyce.
On Boxing Day, over the years many fans have chosen to attend Wigan Athletic's match in fancy dress. This is particularly prominent with away fixtures on that day where the fans are known as the 'Banana Army'. However, on Boxing Day in 2014 a boycott of the club's fixture against Leeds United was ordered by some supporters due to the ticket prices for the match at Elland Road. Around 750 away fans attended the match.
During the 2014–15 season, a Fan Advisory Board (FAB) was set up by the club to allow supporters of Wigan Athletic to have a greater say on any issues they may have. The board meets every month to six weeks with the first meeting having taken place in November 2014.
=== Mascot ===
In August 2019, the club announced that a giant pie, called Crusty, would serve as the team's new mascot for the 2019–20 season. Crusty The Pie was chosen following a competition in which more than 90 primary schools were invited to submit ideas, with over half of the entries opting for a pie.
== Rivalries ==
Since Wigan Athletic's admission to the Football League in 1978, the club has built up several rivalries, mainly with Bolton Wanderers, the club's primary derby match. Wigan Athletic have played Bolton on 56 occasions with a win rate of 37%, draw rate of 37% and a loss rate of 26%.
Wigan also have other local rivalries with Blackburn Rovers, Stockport County, Oldham Athletic, Blackpool and Rochdale.
Despite St Helens Town being perhaps more local and comparable, one of the club's longest and recently forgotten rivalries was with nearby Lancashire based club Chorley, although the two clubs have not played a league game since 1971 when they were in the Northern Premier League. The last time Wigan played Chorley was in the first round of the FA Cup in 2020, with non-League Chorley beating an administration-stricken Wigan 3–2 after extra-time.
== European record ==
Wigan's victory in the 2013 FA Cup final qualified them for European football for the first and only time, earning them an automatic place in the group stage of the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League.
== Players ==
=== First team ===
As of 2 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.
=== U21 ===
As of 1 September 2025
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 ===
As of 2 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.
== Club officials ==
Board
As of 22 May 2025
Owner: Mike Danson
Chairman & Senior Non-Executive Director: Ben Goodburn
Director: Lucas Danson
Non-Executive Chair & Honorary President: Brenda Spencer
Sporting Director: Gregor Rioch
Managing Director of Football: Sarah Guilfoyle
Managing Director of the Stadium: Neil Russell
Life President: Dave Whelan
Club Ambassador: Graham Barrow
Coaching & Medical Staff
As of 17 February 2026
Head Coach: Gary Caldwell
Assistant Head Coach: Peter Atherton
First Team Coach: David Perkins
Goalkeeping Coach: Tony Warner
First Team Analyst: Lauren Jones
Head of First Team Performance: Jimmy Barrow
Lead PDP Coach: Frankie Bunn
Kitman: Naz Ali
Academy Manager: Jake Campbell
Under 21s Manager: Chris Brown
Under 18s Manager: Mark Maddock
Chief Scout: Joe Riley
== Notable former players ==
=== Player of the Year ===
== Managers ==
As listed on the official Wigan Athletic website.
== Records ==
Highest league position: 10th in the Premier League (2005–06)
Record League victory: 8–0 vs Hull City (Championship, 14 July 2020)
Record attendance at The Brick Community Stadium: 25,133 v Manchester United, Premier League (11 May 2008)
Record Attendance Springfield Park (Wigan): 27,526, vs Hereford United F.C., FA Cup (1953)
Most League appearances: 317, Kevin Langley (1981–1986, 1990–1994)
Most League goals scored: total, 70, Andy Liddell (1998–2003)
Most League goals scored, season: 31, Graeme Jones (1996–97)
Record consecutive league appearances: 123, Jimmy Bullard (January 2003 – November 2005)
Record transfer fee paid: Charles N'Zogbia, £7 million, from Newcastle United, February 2009
Record transfer fee received: Antonio Valencia, £15 million, to Manchester United, June 2009
== Honours ==
Source:
League
Championship (level 2)
Runners-up: 2004–05
Second Division / League One (level 3)
Champions: 2002–03, 2015–16, 2017–18, 2021–22
Fourth Division / Third Division (level 4)
Champions: 1996–97
Promoted: 1981–82
Northern Premier League (level 5)
Champions: 1970–71, 1974–75
Lancashire Combination
Champions: 1947–48, 1950–51, 1952–53, 1953–54
Northern Floodlit League
Champions: 1966–67
Cheshire League
Champions: 1933–34, 1934–35, 1935–36, 1964–65
Cup
FA Cup
Winners: 2012–13
League Cup
Runners-up: 2005–06
FA Community Shield
Runners-up: 2013
Associate Members' Cup / Football League Trophy
Winners: 1984–85, 1998–99
FA Trophy
Runners-up: 1972–73
Northern Premier League Shield
Winners: 1972–73, 1973–74, 1975–76
Northern Premier League Challenge Cup
Winners: 1971–72
== Notes and references == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Erdrich | Louise Erdrich | Karen Louise Erdrich ( ER-drik; born June 7, 1954) is an American author of novels, short stories, poetry, and children's books featuring Native American characters and settings. She is an enrolled citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians of North Dakota, a federally recognized Ojibwe people.
Erdrich is widely acclaimed as one of the most significant writers of the second wave of the Native American Renaissance. She has written 28 books in all, including fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and children's books. In 2009, her novel The Plague of Doves was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and received an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award. In November 2012, she received the National Book Award for Fiction for her novel The Round House. She is a 2013 recipient of the Alex Awards. She was awarded the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction at the National Book Festival in September 2015. In 2021, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her novel The Night Watchman.
She was married to author Michael Dorris and the two collaborated on a number of works. The couple separated in 1995 and then divorced in 1996. Dorris took his own life in 1997 as allegations that he sexually abused at least three of the daughters whom he raised with Erdrich were under investigation.
She is also the owner of Birchbark Books, a small independent bookstore in Minneapolis that focuses on Native American literature and the Native community in the Twin Cities.
== Personal life ==
Erdrich was born on June 7, 1954, in Little Falls, Minnesota. She was the eldest of seven children born to Ralph Erdrich, a German-American, and Rita (née Gourneau), an Ojibwe woman of French descent. Both parents taught at a boarding school in Wahpeton, North Dakota, set up by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Erdrich's maternal grandfather, Patrick Gourneau, served as tribal chairman for the federally recognized tribe of Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians for many years. Though not raised in a reservation, she often visited relatives there. She was raised "with all the accepted truths" of Catholicism.
While Erdrich was a child, her father paid her a nickel for every story she wrote. Her sister, Heid, became a poet and publishes under the name Heid E. Erdrich. She also lives in Minnesota. Their sister Lise Erdrich has written children's books and collections of fiction and essays.
Erdrich attended Dartmouth College from 1972 to 1976. She was a part of the first class of women admitted to the college and earned a B.A. in English. During her first year, Erdrich met Michael Dorris, an anthropologist, writer, and then-director of the new Native American Studies program. While attending Dorris's class, she began to look into her own ancestry, which inspired her to draw from it for her literary work, such as poems, short stories, and novels. During that time, she worked as a lifeguard, waitress, researcher for films, and as an editor for the Boston Indian Council newspaper The Circle. In addition to these other early career experiences, she also taught poetry and was an aide in a hospital for a period of time.
In 1978, Erdrich enrolled in a Master of Arts program at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. She earned the Master of Arts in the Writing Seminars in 1979. Erdrich later published some of the poems and stories she wrote while in the M.A. program. She returned to Dartmouth as a writer-in-residence.
After graduating from Dartmouth, Erdrich remained in contact with Dorris. He attended one of her poetry readings, became impressed with her work, and developed an interest in working with her. Although Erdrich and Dorris were on two different sides of the world, Erdrich in Boston and Dorris in New Zealand for field research, the two began to collaborate on short stories.
The pair's literary partnership led them to a romantic relationship. They married in 1981, and raised three children whom Dorris had adopted as a single parent (Reynold Abel, Madeline, and Sava) and three biological children together (Persia, Pallas, and Aza Marion). Reynold Abel suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome and in 1991, at age 23, he was killed when he was hit by a car.
In 1995, their son Sava accused Dorris of committing child abuse. Dorris and Erdrich separated in 1995, and divorced in 1996. In 1997, after Dorris's death by suicide, his adopted daughter Madeline claimed that Dorris had sexually abused her also and that Erdrich had neglected to stop the abuse. Dorris's will omitted Erdrich, Sava, and Madeline.
In 2001, at age 47, Erdrich gave birth to a daughter, Azure, whose Native American father Erdrich declines to identify publicly. She discusses her pregnancy with Azure, and Azure's father, in her 2003 nonfiction book, Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country. She uses the name "Tobasonakwut" to refer to him. He is described as a traditional healer and teacher, who is eighteen years Erdrich's senior and a married man. In a number of publications, Tobasonakwut Kinew, who died in 2012, is referred to as Erdrich's partner and the father of Azure.
When asked in an interview if writing is a lonely life for her, Erdrich replied, "Strangely, I think it is. I am surrounded by an abundance of family and friends and yet I am alone with the writing. And that is perfect." Erdrich lives in Minneapolis.
== Work ==
In 1979, she wrote "The World's Greatest Fisherman", a short story about June Kashpaw, a divorced Ojibwe woman whose death by hypothermia brought her relatives home to a fictional North Dakota reservation for her funeral. She wrote this while "barricaded in the kitchen." At her husband's urging, she submitted it to the Nelson Algren Short Fiction competition in 1982, where it won the $5,000 prize. It later became the first chapter of her debut novel, Love Medicine, published by Holt, Rinehart, and Winston in 1984.
"When I found out about the prize I was living on a farm in New Hampshire near the college I'd attended," Erdrich told an interviewer. "I was nearly broke and driving a car with bald tires. My mother knitted my sweaters, and all else I bought at thrift stores ... The recognition dazzled me. Later, I became friends with Studs Terkel and Kay Boyle, the judges, toward whom I carry a lifelong gratitude. This prize made an immense difference in my life."
Love Medicine won the 1984 National Book Critics Circle Award. It is the only debut novel ever to receive that honor. Erdrich later turned Love Medicine into a tetralogy that includes The Beet Queen (1986), Tracks (1988), and The Bingo Palace (1994). It has also been featured on the National Advanced Placement Test for Literature.
In the early years of their marriage, Erdrich and Michael Dorris often collaborated on their work, saying they plotted the books together, "talk about them before any writing is done, and then we share almost every day, whatever it is we've written" but "the person whose name is on the books is the one who's done most of the primary writing." They got started with "domestic, romantic stuff" published under the shared pen name of "Milou North" (Michael + Louise + where they live).
During the publication of Love Medicine, Erdrich produced her first collection of poems, Jacklight (1984), which highlights the struggles between Native and non-Native cultures, as well as celebrating family, ties of kinship, autobiographical meditations, monologues, and love poetry. She incorporates elements of Ojibwe myths and legends. Erdrich continues to write poems, which have been included in her collections.
Erdrich is best known as a novelist, and has published a dozen award-winning and best-selling novels. She followed Love Medicine with The Beet Queen (1986), which continued her technique of using multiple narrators and expanded the fictional reservation universe of Love Medicine to include the nearby town of Argus, North Dakota. The action of the novel takes place mostly before World War II. Leslie Marmon Silko accused Erdrich's The Beet Queen of being more concerned with postmodern technique than with the political struggles of Native peoples.
Tracks (1988) goes back to the early 20th century at the formation of the reservation. It introduces the trickster figure of Nanapush, who owes a clear debt to Ojibwe figure Nanabozho. There are many studies of the trickster figure in Erdrich's novels. Tracks shows early clashes between traditional ways and the Roman Catholic Church. The Bingo Palace (1994), set in the 1980s, describes the effects of a casino and a factory on the reservation community. Tales of Burning Love (1997) finishes the story of Sister Leopolda, a recurring character from all the previous books, and introduces a new set of European-American people into the reservation universe.
The Antelope Wife (1998), Erdrich's first novel after her divorce from Dorris, was the first of her novels to be set outside the continuity of the previous books. Erdrich heavily revised the book in 2009 and published the revision as The Antelope Woman in 2016. Her 2010 work, Shadow Tag, is said to be inspired by the fall out and eventual divorce of their marriage.
She subsequently returned to the reservation and nearby towns. She has published five novels since 1998 dealing with events in that fictional area. Among these are The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse (2001) and The Master Butchers Singing Club (2003). Both novels have geographic and character connections with The Beet Queen. In 2009, Erdrich was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for The Plague of Doves and a National Book Award finalist for The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse. The Plague of Doves focuses on the historical lynching of four Native people wrongly accused of murdering a White family, and the effect of this injustice on the following generations. Her Pulitzer Prize–winning novel The Night Watchman (2020) concerns a campaign to defeat the 'termination bill' (introduced by Senator Arthur Vivian Watkins). Erdrich acknowledged her sources and its inspiration being her maternal grandfather's life. Her most recent novel, The Sentence, tells the fictional story of a haunting at Erdrich's Minneapolis bookstore, set against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, George Floyd's murder, and the resulting protests.
She also writes for younger audiences; she has a children's picture book Grandmother's Pigeon, and her children's book The Birchbark House was a National Book Award finalist. Erdrich illustrated many of the images in The Birchbark House, using animals and objects from her home and photographs of her children and relatives as reference. The crow, Andeg, in The Birchbark House was modeled on a real crow her family raised. She continued the series with The Game of Silence, winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction, The Porcupine Year, Chickadee, and Makoons.
=== Nonfiction and teaching ===
In addition to fiction and poetry, Erdrich has published nonfiction. The Blue Jay's Dance (1995) is about her pregnancy and the birth of her third child. Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country (2003) traces her travels in northern Minnesota and Ontario's lakes following the birth of her youngest daughter.
=== Influence and style ===
Her heritage is influential in her life and prominent in her work. Although many of Erdrich's works explore her Native American heritage, her novel The Master Butchers Singing Club (2003) featured the European, specifically German, side of her ancestry. The novel includes stories of a World War I veteran of the German Army and is set in a small North Dakota town. The novel was a finalist for the National Book Award.
Erdrich's interwoven series of novels have drawn comparisons with William Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha novels. Like Faulkner's, Erdrich's successive novels created multiple narratives in the same fictional area and combined the tapestry of local history with current themes and modern consciousness.
== Birchbark Books ==
Erdrich's bookstore hosts literary readings and other events. Her new works are read here, and events celebrate the works and careers of other writers as well, particularly local Native writers. Erdrich and her staff consider Birchbark Books to be a "teaching bookstore". In addition to books, the store sells Native American art and traditional medicines, and Native American jewelry. Wiigwaas Press, a small nonprofit publisher founded by Erdrich and her sister, is affiliated with the store.
== Awards ==
=== Literary prizes ===
1983 Pushcart Prize in Poetry
1984 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction for Love Medicine
1984 Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction for Love Medicine
1984 Virginia McCormick Scully Literary Award for Best Book of 1984 dealing with Indians or Chicanos for Love Medicine
1985 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction, Love Medicine
1987 O. Henry Award for the short story "Fleur" (published in Esquire, August 1986)
1999 World Fantasy Award—Novel for The Antelope Wife
2006 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction for the children's book "The Game of Silence"
2009 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Plague of Doves
2012 National Book Award for Fiction for The Round House
2013 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction for Chickadee
2014 Dayton Literary Peace Prize, Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award
2016 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction for LaRose
2021 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Night Watchman
2023 Prix Femina étranger for The Sentence (its French translation La Sentence)
=== Honors ===
1975 American Academy of Poets Prize
1980 MacDowell Fellowship
1985 Guggenheim Fellowship in Creative Arts
2000 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers' Circle of the Americas
2005 Associate Poet Laureate of North Dakota
2007 Honorary Doctorate from the University of North Dakota; refused by Erdrich because of her opposition to the university's North Dakota Fighting Sioux mascot
2009 Honorary Doctorate (Doctor of Letters) from Dartmouth College
2009 Kenyon Review Award for Literary Achievement
2013 Rough Rider Award
2014 PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction
2015 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction
2022 Berresford Prize for significant contributions to the advancement and care of artists in society
2025 New York Public Library Library Lion award. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%BCrgen_Warnke | Jürgen Warnke | Jürgen Warnke (20 March 1932 – 27 April 2013) was a German lawyer and politician who served in various capacities at the Bundestag and German cabinets.
== Early life and education ==
Warnke was born in Berlin on 20 March 1932. His family were from Mecklenburg, and in 1945 settled in Upper Franconia. His father was a jurist and served as the chief executive of the association of ceramic industry.
He studied law and economics and held a PhD.
== Career ==
Warnke, a lawyer by profession, was a member of the Christian Social Union. He was a member of the Bavarian Parliament from 1962 to 1970. He entered the Bundestag in 1969 and represented the Hof district from 1983 to 1998. He served as a cabinet member in the governments led by the Prime Minister Helmut Kohl between 1982 and 1991. Warnke was first appointed minister of economic cooperation in 1982 and was in office until 1987. Then he became the minister of transport which he held from 1987 to 1989. Lastly he was reappointed minister of economic cooperation in a cabinet reshuffle in April 1989. His term ended in 1991. In 1998 he retired from politics.
He was also the managing director of the Bavarian chemical industry association and then the chief executive of the association of ceramic industry. In addition, he was on the council of the Evangelical Church of Germany.
== Personal life and death ==
Warnke was married and had six children. He began to live in Dagebüll on the North Sea after retiring from politics.
He died at the age of 81 in Selb on 27 April 2013. A funeral service for him was held in St. Andrew's Church in Selb with the attendance of German politicians and family members.
== Honors ==
Warnke was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit.
=== Foreign honor ===
Malaysia: Honorary Commander of the Order of the Defender of the Realm (P.M.N.) (1986) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_Gosling | Ryan Gosling | Ryan Thomas Gosling ( GOSS-ling; born November 12, 1980) is a Canadian actor. His work includes both independent films and major studio features, and his accolades include a Golden Globe Award, in addition to nominations for three Academy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two British Academy Film Awards.
Gosling began his acting career when he was 13 on Disney Channel's The All New Mickey Mouse Club (1993–1995), and went on to appear in other family entertainment programs, including Are You Afraid of the Dark? (1995) and Goosebumps (1996). His film breakthrough came as a high school football player in Remember the Titans (2000) followed by critical praise for his performance as a Jewish neo-Nazi in The Believer (2001). In 2004, he achieved mainstream popularity for starring in the romantic drama The Notebook.
Gosling earned Academy Award nominations for his performances in the independent drama Half Nelson (2006), the romantic musical La La Land (2016), and the fantasy comedy Barbie (2023); the latter became his highest-grossing release. He also starred in acclaimed films such as Lars and the Real Girl (2007), Blue Valentine (2010), Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011), The Ides of March (2011), Drive (2011), The Big Short (2015), Blade Runner 2049 (2017), and First Man (2018). Gosling made his directorial debut with Lost River (2014).
Gosling's band, Dead Man's Bones, released their self-titled debut album and toured North America in 2009. He is a co-owner of Tagine, a Moroccan restaurant in Beverly Hills, California. Gosling is a supporter of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Invisible Children, and the Enough Project and has traveled to Chad, Uganda and eastern Congo to raise awareness about conflicts in the regions. He has been involved in peace promotion efforts in Africa for over a decade.
== Early life ==
Ryan Thomas Gosling was born on November 12, 1980, at St. Joseph's Hospital in London, Ontario, to Thomas Ray Gosling, a travelling salesman for a paper mill, and Donna Wilson, a secretary. Both of his parents are of part French Canadian descent, along with some German, English, Scottish, and Irish. He and his family were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Gosling has said that the religion influenced every aspect of their lives. Because of his father's work, they "moved around a lot" and Gosling lived in both Cornwall, Ontario, and Burlington, Ontario. His parents divorced when he was 13, and he and his older sister Mandi lived with their mother, an experience Gosling has credited with programming him "to think like a girl".
Gosling was educated at Gladstone Public School, Cornwall Collegiate and Vocational School and Lester B. Pearson High School. As a child, he watched Dick Tracy and was inspired to become an actor. He "hated" being a child, was bullied in elementary school, and had no friends until he was "14 or 15". In school he was always picking fights to impress girls. In grade one, having been heavily influenced by the action film First Blood, he took steak knives to school and threw them at other children during recess. This incident led to a suspension. He was unable to read, and was evaluated for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but was not diagnosed with it and, contrary to false reports, never took medication. His mother left her job and home-schooled him for a year. He has said homeschooling gave him "a sense of autonomy that I've never really lost". Gosling performed in front of audiences from an early age, encouraged by his sister being a performer. He and his sister sang together at weddings; he performed with Elvis Perry, his uncle's Elvis Presley tribute act, and was involved with a local ballet company. Performing boosted his self-confidence as it was the only thing for which he received praise. He developed an idiosyncratic accent because, as a child, he thought having a Canadian accent did not sound "tough". He began to model his accent on that of Marlon Brando. Gosling dropped out of high school at age 17 to focus on his acting career. After he successfully auditioned, he was given a two-year contract as a Mouseketeer and subsequently moved to Orlando, Florida to film the show. He has said he appeared on-screen infrequently because other children were considered more talented. Nonetheless, he has described the job as the greatest two years of his life. Fellow cast members on the show included Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake, Keri Russell, and JC Chasez. Gosling has credited the experience with instilling in him "this great sense of focus." Gosling has said that even though he and Timberlake talk infrequently, they are still supportive of each other.
After the show ended in 1995, Gosling returned to Canada, where he continued to appear in family entertainment television series, including Are You Afraid of the Dark? (1995) and Goosebumps (1996), and starred in Breaker High (1997–98) as Sean Hanlon. When he was 18, he moved to New Zealand to film the Fox Kids adventure series Young Hercules (1998–1999) as the title character. He later said that he initially enjoyed working on the series, but began to care too much about the show, so it was no longer fun for him. He wanted to spend more time sitting with and devising a character as well as play a variety of roles, so he chose to transition into film and not accept any more television work.
== Career ==
=== 2000–2003: Independent films ===
Aged 19, Gosling decided to move into "serious acting". He was dropped by his agent and initially found it difficult to secure work because of the "stigma" attached to children's television. After a supporting role in the football drama Remember the Titans, he secured a lead role as a young Jewish neo-Nazi in 2001's The Believer. Director Henry Bean said he cast Gosling because his Mormon upbringing helped him understand the isolation of Judaism. Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times praised an "electrifying and terrifyingly convincing" performance while Todd McCarthy of Variety felt his "dynamite performance" could "scarcely have been better". The film won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and Gosling has described it as "the film that kind of gift-wrapped for me the career that I have now." Because of the controversial nature of the film, it was difficult to secure financial backing for a full theatrical release, and the film was instead broadcast on Showtime. The film was a commercial failure, grossing $416,925 worldwide from a production budget of $1.5 million.
In 2002, Gosling co-starred in the psychological thriller Murder by Numbers with Sandra Bullock and Michael Pitt, where Gosling and Pitt portrayed a pair of high school seniors who believe they can commit the perfect murder. Bullock played the detective tasked with investigating the crime. Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly described him as "a phenomenal talent even in junk like this" while Todd McCarthy felt that the "strong and "charismatic" young actors were "let down by the screenplay". The film was a minor commercial success, grossing $56 million worldwide from a production budget of $50 million. His second screen appearance of 2002 was in The Slaughter Rule with David Morse which explores the relationship between a high school football player and his troubled coach in rural Montana. Gosling has said that the opportunity to work with Morse made him "a better actor". Stephen Holden of The New York Times described Gosling as "major star material" with a "rawness and an intensity that recall the young Matt Dillon" while Manohla Dargis of the Los Angeles Times was won over by his "raw talent". The film was released in just three US theatres and grossed $13,411.
In 2003, Gosling starred in The United States of Leland as a teenager imprisoned for the murder of a disabled boy. He was drawn to the role because it was unusual to find a character that was "emotionally disconnected for the whole film." Critic Roger Ebert felt that the "gifted actor does everything that can be done with Leland, but the character comes from a writer's conceits, not from life." A. O. Scott of The New York Times noted that he "struggles to rescue Leland from the clutches of cliché" while David Rooney of Variety felt that his "one-note, blankly disturbed act has none of the magnetic edge of his breakthrough work in The Believer". The film grossed $343,847 in the United States and was not released overseas.
=== 2004–2009: The Notebook and Half Nelson ===
Gosling gained mainstream attention in 2004 after starring opposite fellow Canadian Rachel McAdams in the romantic drama film The Notebook, a film adaptation of Nicholas Sparks' novel of the same name, directed by Nick Cassavetes. Gosling played Noah Calhoun and commented on the role: "It gave me an opportunity to play a character over a period of time – from 1940 to 1946 – that was quite profound and formative." He sought to imbue his character with "quiet strength" and was inspired by Sam Shepard's performance in Days of Heaven. Shepard co-starred in The Notebook. Filming took place in Charleston, South Carolina, in late 2002 and early 2003. Although Gosling and McAdams became romantically involved in 2005, they had a combative relationship on the set. "We inspired the worst in each other," Gosling has said. "It was a strange experience, making a love story and not getting along with your co-star in any way." At one point, Gosling asked Cassavetes to "bring somebody else in for my off-camera shot" because he felt McAdams was uncooperative. The New York Times praised the "spontaneous and combustible" performances of the two leads and noted that, "against your better judgment, you root for the pair to beat the odds against them." Desson Thomson of The Washington Post praised Gosling's "beguiling unaffectedness" and noted that "it's hard not to like these two or begrudge them a great love together". The film grossed over $115 million worldwide. Gosling won four Teen Choice Awards and an MTV Movie Award. Entertainment Weekly has said that the movie contains the All-Time Best Movie Kiss while the Los Angeles Times has included a scene from the film in a list of the 50 Classic Movie Kisses. The Notebook has appeared on many Most Romantic Movies lists.
In 2005, Gosling appeared as a disturbed young art student in Stay, a psychological thriller film co-starring Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor. In an uncomplimentary review of the film, Manohla Dargis of The New York Times stated that Gosling, "like his fans, deserves better." Todd McCarthy remarked that the "capable" Gosling and McGregor "deliver nothing new from what they've shown before". The film grossed $8 million worldwide. Gosling was unfazed by the negative reaction: "I had a kid come up to me on the street, 10 years old, and he says, 'Are you that guy from Stay? What the f--- was that movie about?' I think that's great. I'm just as proud if someone says, 'Hey, you made me sick in that movie,' as if they say I made them cry."
Gosling next starred in 2006's Half Nelson as a drug-addicted junior high school teacher who forms a bond with a young student. To prepare for the role, Gosling moved to New York for one month before shooting began. He lived in a small apartment in Brooklyn and spent time shadowing an eighth grade teacher. Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times described it as "a mesmerizing performance ... that shows the kind of deep understanding of character few actors manage." Ruthe Stein of the San Francisco Chronicle drew comparisons with Marlon Brando and asserted that "nobody who cares about great acting will want to miss his performance". Roger Ebert believed that his performance "proves he's one of the finest actors working in contemporary movies." Gosling garnered a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. The film grossed $4 million at the worldwide box office. In 2007, he was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Gosling played an introvert who falls for a sex doll in the 2007 film Lars and the Real Girl. He drew inspiration from James Stewart's performance in Harvey. Roger Ebert felt "a film about a life-sized love doll" had been turned into "a life-affirming statement of hope" because of "a performance by Ryan Gosling that says things that cannot be said". Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post described his performance as "a small miracle ... because he changes and grows so imperceptibly before our eyes." However, Manohla Dargis of The New York Times felt "the performance is a rare miscalculation in a mostly brilliant career." He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role. The film was a box office failure, failing to recoup its $12 million production budget.
Gosling starred opposite Anthony Hopkins in the 2007 courtroom thriller Fracture. He originally turned down the role, but changed his mind when Hopkins signed on. Gosling noted that he was drawn to his character, Willie, because he had flaws and seemed like a real person. He spent time shadowing lawyers and observing courtroom proceedings in preparation for the role. Claudia Puig of USA Today declared that "watching a veteran like Hopkins verbally joust with one of the best young actors in Hollywood is worth the price of admission". Manohla Dargis of The New York Times felt it was a treat to watch "the spectacle of that crafty scene stealer Anthony Hopkins mixing it up with that equally cunning screen nibbler Ryan Gosling ... Each actor is playing a pulp type rather than a fully formed individual, but both fill in the blanks with an alchemical mix of professional and personal charisma." The film grossed over $91 million worldwide.
Gosling was scheduled to begin filming The Lovely Bones in 2007. However, he left the production two days before filming began because of "creative differences" and was replaced by Mark Wahlberg. Gosling was cast as the father of the murdered teenage girl and initially felt he was too young for the role. The director Peter Jackson and the producer Fran Walsh persuaded him that he could be aged with hair and make-up changes. Before shooting began, Gosling gained 60 pounds (27 kilograms) in weight and grew a beard to appear older. Walsh then "began to feel he was not right. It was our blindness, the desire to make it work no matter what." Gosling later said, "We didn't talk very much during the preproduction process, which was the problem ... I just showed up on set, and I had gotten it wrong. Then I was fat and unemployed." He has said the experience was "an important realisation for me: not to let your ego get involved. It's OK to be too young for a role."
=== 2010–2012: Widespread recognition ===
Following a three-year absence from the screen, Gosling starred in five films in 2010 and 2011. "I've never had more energy," Gosling said. "I'm more excited to make films than I used to be. I used to kind of dread it. It was so emotional and taxing. But I've found a way to have fun while doing it. And I think that translates into the films." He has also spoken of feeling depressed when not working. In 2010, he starred opposite Michelle Williams in Derek Cianfrance's directorial debut, the marital drama Blue Valentine. The low-budget film was mainly improvised and Gosling has said "you had to remind yourself you were making a film". Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle felt he "brings a preternatural understanding of people to his performance" while A.O. Scott of The New York Times found him to be "convincing as the run-down, desperate, older Dean, and maybe a bit less so as the younger version". Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly wrote that he "plays Dean as a snarky working-class hipster, but when his anger is unleashed, the performance turns powerful." However, Wesley Morris of The Boston Globe felt the performance was an example of "hipsterism misdirected". He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama. The film was a box office success, grossing over $12 million worldwide from a production budget of $1 million.
Gosling's second on-screen appearance of 2010 was in the mystery film All Good Things with Kirsten Dunst, based on a true story. He played the role of New York real-estate heir David Marks, who was investigated for the disappearance of his wife (played by Dunst). Gosling found the filming process to be a "dark experience" and did not undertake any promotional duties for the film. When asked if he was proud of the film, he said, "I'm proud of what Kirsten does in the movie." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote that he "gets so deep into character you can feel his nerve endings." Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle found the "chameleonic Gosling is completely convincing as this empty shell of a man". Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times felt that the film belonged to Dunst, but praised Gosling's performance. The film grossed $644,535 worldwide. Also in 2010, Gosling narrated and produced ReGeneration, a documentary that explores the cynicism in today's youth towards social and political causes.
2011 saw Gosling expand his horizons by appearing in three diverse, high-profile roles. He co-starred in his first comedic role in the romantic comedy-drama Crazy, Stupid, Love, with Steve Carell and Emma Stone. Gosling took cocktail-making classes at a Los Angeles bar in preparation for his role as a smooth-talking ladies' man. Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post said his "seductive command presence suggests we may have found our next George Clooney". Peter Travers declared him "a comic knockout" while Claudia Puig of USA Today felt he reveals a "surprising" "knack for comedy." He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. The film was a box office success, grossing over $142 million worldwide. With adjustments for inflation, it is the fourth most successful of Gosling's career.
Gosling's first action role was in Drive, based on a novel by James Sallis. Gosling played a Hollywood stunt performer who moonlights as a getaway driver, and he has described the film as a "violent John Hughes movie": "I always thought if Pretty in Pink had head-smashing it would be perfect". Roger Ebert compared Gosling to Steve McQueen and stated that he "embodies presence and sincerity ... he has shown a gift for finding arresting, powerful characters [and] can achieve just about anything. Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal pondered "the ongoing mystery of how he manages to have so much impact with so little apparent effort. It's irresistible to liken his economical style to that of Marlon Brando." The film was a box office success, grossing $81 million worldwide from a production budget of $15 million.
In his final appearance of 2011, Gosling co-starred with Philip Seymour Hoffman in the political drama The Ides of March directed by George Clooney, in which he played an ambitious press secretary. Gosling partly decided to do the film to become more politically aware: "I'm Canadian and so American politics aren't really in my wheelhouse." Joe Morganstern stated that Gosling and Hoffman "are eminently well equipped to play variations on their characters' main themes. Yet neither actor has great material to conjure with in the script." In a generally tepid review, Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times asserted that it was "certainly involving to see the charismatic Gosling verbally spar with superb character actors like Hoffman and [Paul] Giamatti." Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle felt there was "one aspect to the character that Gosling can't quite nail down, that might simply be outside his sphere, which is idealism." He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama. The film grossed $66 million worldwide.
In 2012, Gosling filmed Terrence Malick's Song to Song, but the film would not be released until 2017.
=== 2013–2014: Mixed critical reception and directorial debut ===
In 2013's crime thriller Gangster Squad, Gosling portrayed Sgt. Jerry Wooters, a 1940s LAPD officer who attempts to outsmart mob boss Mickey Cohen (played by Sean Penn). He was reunited with Emma Stone as his love interest, after their earlier pairing in Crazy, Stupid, Love. Stone has said she hopes they will find more projects to work together on. A.O. Scott of The New York Times described the film as an excuse for the cast "to earn some money trying out funny voices and suppressing whatever sense of nuance they might possess." Christy Lemire of The Boston Globe criticized Gosling's "weird, whispery voice" and his "barely developed, one-note" character. However, Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times felt that there was "a seductive power" in the scenes shared by Gosling and Stone: "But like too much else in the film, it's a scenario that is only half played out."
In The Place Beyond the Pines, a generational drama directed by Blue Valentine's Derek Cianfrance, Gosling played Luke, a motorcycle stunt rider who robs banks to provide for his family. The shoot was described by Gosling as "the best experience I have ever had making a film." A. O. Scott of The New York Times praised his performance, writing: "Mr. Gosling's cool self-possession — the only thing he was allowed to display in "Drive" — is complicated, made interesting, by hints of childlike innocence and vulnerability." Scott Foundas of The Village Voice was unimpressed: "Gosling's character verges on parody ... Gosling uses a soft, wounded half-whisper that tells us this is all some kind of put-on ... It's a close variation on the role Gosling played to stronger effect in Nicolas Winding Refn's existential Hollywood thriller, Drive, where it was clear the character was meant to be an abstraction." David Denby of The New Yorker remarked that he "reprises his inexorable-loner routine". The film grossed $35 million worldwide from a production budget of $15 million.
Later in 2013, Gosling starred in the violent revenge drama Only God Forgives, directed by Drive's Nicolas Winding Refn. Gosling undertook Muay Thai training in preparation for the role, and has described the script as "the strangest thing I've ever read". Both the film and his performance drew negative reviews. David Edelstein of New York magazine stated, "Gosling looked like a major actor as a skinhead in The Believer and a star in Half Nelson. Then he stopped acting and started posing. His performance in Only God Forgives (would God forgive that title?) is one long, moist stare". Stephen Holden of the New York Times criticized Gosling's inability "to give his automaton any suggestion of an inner life". Peter Travers of Rolling Stone commented that Gosling, while "meant to be a blank page for us to write on, often looks merely blank".
In early 2013, Gosling announced that he was taking a break from acting, stating, "I've lost perspective on what I'm doing. I think it's good for me to take a break and reassess why I'm doing it and how I'm doing it. And I think this is probably a good way to learn about that." Gosling's directorial debut Lost River competed in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. The "fantasy noir", written by Gosling, stars Christina Hendricks, Ben Mendelsohn, and Matt Smith. The film received largely unfavorable reviews. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian found it "insufferably conceited" and remarked that Gosling had lost "any sense of proportion or humility." Robbie Collin of The Daily Telegraph described Lost River as "mind-bogglingly pleased with itself", while Variety's Justin Chang dismissed the "derivative" film as a "train-wreck."
=== 2015–present: Established actor ===
In 2015, Gosling played a bond salesman in the ensemble financial satire The Big Short, a Best Picture nominee at the 2016 Academy Awards. David Sims of The Atlantic felt that he was "smarmily funny, somehow simultaneously magnetic and repulsive; after years wandering the halls of mediocre art cinema, it's wonderful to see him cut loose again." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone said: "Gosling, a virtuoso of verbal sleaze, talks directly to the camera, and he's volcanically fierce and funny." The following year, Gosling starred in the black comedy The Nice Guys, opposite Russell Crowe, and in Damien Chazelle's musical La La Land, for which he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and received his second Academy Award for Best Actor nomination. Robbie Collin praised his chemistry with co-star Emma Stone, writing: "Both stars are so attuned to each other's pace and flow that their repartee just seems to tumble out, perfectly formed." It emerged as one of his most commercially successful films, with earnings of over $440 million against its $30 million budget.
Gosling was signed on to work with Terrence Malick in 2004 on the biographical film Che, but later dropped out. He later starred in Malick's Song to Song (2017), which had been filmed in 2012, and co-starred Rooney Mara, Michael Fassbender, and Natalie Portman. Also in 2017, he starred in Blade Runner 2049, a sequel to the 1982 science fiction film Blade Runner, directed by Denis Villeneuve and co-starring Harrison Ford, who reprised his role as Rick Deckard. Gosling's role was as Officer K, a "blade runner" working for the LAPD whose job it is to kill rogue bioengineered humans known as replicants. A. O. Scott found him to be perfectly cast, adding that his "ability to elicit sympathy while seeming too distracted to want it – his knack for making boredom look like passion and vice versa – makes him a perfect warm-blooded robot for our time". Despite being Gosling's largest box office opening, grossing $31.5 million domestically, the film generally underperformed at the box office.
In 2018, Gosling portrayed Neil Armstrong, the astronaut who became the first man to walk on the Moon in 1969, in Chazelle's biopic First Man, based on the book First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong. Writing for IndieWire, Michael Nordine commended him for bringing "quiet charisma" and "grace" to his role, while Nicholas Barber of the BBC hailed him as the "best deadpan actor in the business". He received a nomination for the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actor.
After a four-year break from film, Gosling returned starring in the 2022 spy-action thriller The Gray Man, opposite Chris Evans and Ana de Armas. The film had a limited theatrical release and was distributed by Netflix to negative reviews from critics, who described the film as "mediocre" and full of cliches. A sequel has been announced and is in development. In the following year, Gosling starred as Ken in Greta Gerwig's fantasy comedy Barbie, opposite Margot Robbie in the title role. He also sang the song "I'm Just Ken" for the film's accompanying soundtrack as well as a cover of "Push" by Matchbox Twenty. His performance was acclaimed, with Anthony Lane of The New Yorker lauding his comedic performance as "peak Gosling", and Vulture's Alison Willmore wrote that he "comes close to stealing the movie". He received Golden Globe, Critics' Choice, Screen Actors Guild, BAFTA, and Academy Award nominations for his performance. He performed "I'm Just Ken" live at the 96th Academy Awards, where it was nominated for Best Original Song.
Gosling next starred in the action comedy film The Fall Guy alongside Emily Blunt. It received positive reviews from critics but did not perform well commercially.
Gosling will next produce and star in Project Hail Mary, based on Andy Weir's science fiction novel of the same name, star in Shawn Levy's space opera film Star Wars: Starfighter, and will produce Rachel Morrison's romantic drama Love of Your Life starring Margaret Qualley and Patrick Schwarzenegger.
== Music career ==
In 2000, Gosling published a solo album with the misspelled title Angel With Tatooed Wings. The track "Put Me in the Car" from this album was made available for download on the Internet in 2007. Also that year, Gosling and his friend Zach Shields formed the indie rock band Dead Man's Bones. The two first met in 2005 when Gosling was dating Rachel McAdams and Shields was dating her sister, Kayleen. They initially conceived of the project as a monster-themed musical but settled on forming a band when they realized putting on a stage production would be too expensive. They recorded their eponymous debut album with the Silverlake Conservatory's Children's Choir and learned to play all the instruments themselves. Gosling contributed vocals, piano, guitar, bass guitar and cello to the record. The album was released through ANTI- Records on October 6, 2009. Pitchfork Media was won over by the "unique, catchy and lovably weird record" while Prefix felt the album was "rarely kitschy and never inappropriate". However, Spin felt the album "doesn't reverse the rule that actors make dubious pop musicians" and Entertainment Weekly criticized its "cloying, gothic preciousness".
In September 2009, Gosling and Shields had a three-night residency at LA's Bob Baker Marionette Theater where they performed alongside dancing neon skeletons and glowing ghosts. They then conducted a thirteen-date tour of North America in October 2009, using a local children's choir at every show. Instead of an opening act, a talent show was held each night. In September 2010, they performed at Los Angeles' FYF Festival. In 2011, the actor spoke of his intentions to record a second Dead Man's Bones album. No children's choir will be featured on the follow-up album because "it's not very rock 'n' roll".
== Personal life ==
Gosling previously resided in New York City. He co-owns Tagine, a Moroccan restaurant in Beverly Hills, California. He bought the restaurant on an impulse; he said he spent "all [his] money" on it, spent a year doing the renovation work himself, and now oversees the restaurant's menus.
Gosling had a relationship with his The Notebook co-star Rachel McAdams from 2005 to 2008; He has been in a relationship with his The Place Beyond the Pines co-star Eva Mendes since September 2011. They have two daughters, born in 2014 and 2016. When asked in a 2022 interview if she and Gosling had married, Mendes said, "I like to keep it all mysterious".
=== Charity work ===
Gosling supports various social causes. He has worked with PETA to encourage KFC and McDonald's to use improved methods of chicken slaughter, and on a campaign encouraging dairy farmers to stop de-horning cows.
In 2005, Gosling volunteered in Biloxi, Mississippi, in the clean-up effort following Hurricane Katrina. He is a supporter of Invisible Children, Inc., a group that raises awareness about the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in Central Africa. In 2005, he traveled to Darfur refugee camps in Chad. He was a speaker at Campus Progress' National Conference in 2008, where he discussed Darfur. As part of his work with the Enough Project, he visited Uganda in 2007 and eastern Congo in 2010.
In 2017, he participated in the #KeepThePromise campaign, initiated by the film The Promise, a movie about the Armenian genocide.
== Accolades ==
Among his many accolades, Gosling has received three Academy Award nominations, two British Academy Film Award nominations, one Golden Globe Award from six nominations, and six Actor Award nominations.
In 2006, his role as a troubled history teacher in the drama film Half Nelson gained him nominations for an Academy Award and an Actor Award for Best Actor. He received nominations for an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award and Actor Award for La La Land (2016) and Barbie (2023) in the Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor categories respectively, winning a Golden Globe Award for the former. His performances in Lars and the Real Girl (2007), Blue Valentine (2010), The Ides of March, and Crazy, Stupid, Love (both 2011); also earned him Golden Globe nominations. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angus_L._Macdonald_Bridge | Angus L. Macdonald Bridge | The Angus L. Macdonald Bridge is a suspension bridge crossing Halifax Harbour in Nova Scotia, Canada; it opened on April 2, 1955.
The bridge is one of two suspension bridges linking the Halifax Peninsula to Dartmouth in the Halifax Regional Municipality.
It is named after the former premier of Nova Scotia, Angus L. Macdonald, who had died in 1954 and had been instrumental in having the bridge built. The bridge was designed by Philip Louis Pratley, one of Canada's foremost long-span bridge designers who had also been responsible for the Lions Gate Bridge in Vancouver. The bridges have a similar design, which is most notable in the towers. The contractor was Dominion Bridge Company Ltd.
The bridge regularly experiences traffic congestion during rush hours as a result of the structure's proximity to the downtown cores of Halifax and Dartmouth, as well as its narrow width. Large commercial vehicles are not permitted to cross and must use the wider MacKay Bridge to the northwest. Public transit buses are allowed to cross and the bridge links several Halifax Transit routes. In 2014/15 the average number of vehicle crossings per month was 1,183,095.
As of January 3, 2022 the toll charge to cross for regular passenger vehicles was $1.25 cash or $1.00 with the MACPASS electronic toll system. The original toll, when the Macdonald opened in 1955, was 40 cents plus 5 cents per passenger. There was also a separate toll for trucks, cyclists, pedestrians, motorcycles and horses/rider. This bridge is now toll-free (as of March 14, 2025).
== History ==
Construction of the bridge took place between 1952 and 1955. Caissons were used for underwater work. Five workers died falling from catwalks during construction. The bridge opened on April 2, 1955, and originally cost $11.5 million.
== 1999 modernization ==
A modernization project was undertaken in the late 1990s and completed in 1999 which saw the original two lanes and one sidewalk and utility corridor expanded to three lanes, with the centre lane being reversible to assist with traffic flow during peak periods.
To reduce the weight of the roadway, asphalt and concrete were removed and special steel plating (an orthotropic deck) was used in its place. This deck is 35% lighter than the old one. New pedestrian and bicycle lanes were attached to the outside of the structure to replace the original sidewalks.
External aesthetic lights were added during the modernisation project which saw the bridge's towers lit for the first time on a continuous basis every evening from sunset until midnight. Critics derided the effort as a waste of electricity, given Halifax Harbour's frequent foggy weather conditions. The lighting was estimated by the bridge authority to cost in excess of $50,000 a year in 1999.
== Safety barriers ==
The Angus L. Macdonald Bridge has attracted media attention as the spot where well known environmental activist Tooker Gomberg is believed to have committed suicide on March 3, 2004.
In June 2004 the Department of National Defence filed a lawsuit against the Bridge Commission alleging that snow, ice, bottles and other debris rained down on HMC Dockyard below, endangering staff. The DND first sought $527,000 in damages for its efforts to protect employees, an amount that was later increased to $1.04 million. The lawsuit claimed that the issue had been exacerbated when chain link fencing on the bridge had been removed during the 1999 modernization. In July 2007, as part of the settlement, barriers were installed along 22% of the pedestrian lane at the bridge's western end (Halifax abutment) to prevent suicide attempts and protect navy staff below.
Initially, the Halifax-Dartmouth Bridge Commission was concerned that the structure was not capable of handling the additional weight of installing safety barriers along the entire span of the bridge. Subsequent computer modeling eliminated the previous concerns, and on May 13, 2009 the general manager and CEO of the Halifax-Dartmouth Bridge Commission, Steve Snider, announced that a tender for the long-called for extension of the barriers along the full length of the bridge would be issued in June 2009. By March 2010, the remaining sections of the safety barrier had been installed. The bridge now has safety barriers installed along 100% of its pedestrian walkways.
== 2015 "Big Lift" project ==
Beginning in 2015 another major renovation of the bridge started which saw the temporary removal of the pedway and bike lanes. At a cost of $150 million, every piece of steel that makes up the suspended spans, except the towers and two main cables, were replaced; the non-suspended approach spans remained. New vertical cables were required due to the relocation of the stiffening trusses from above deck level to below deck level. Construction mostly occurred overnight with the bridge open to traffic during the day, but many full-weekend closures were necessary. The replacement portion of the project was completed in February 2017.
After the Lion's Gate Bridge, this was only the second time that a suspension bridge had its suspended spans completely replaced while continuing to allow regular traffic flow during the daytime. Principal engineering work for the project was done by the same firm that managed the work on the Lion's Gate Bridge.
During the Big Lift project Halifax Transit continued to run its regularly scheduled conventional bus service across the Macdonald bridge, except during times when the bridge was closed. During scheduled closures, Halifax Transit operated a shuttle service using the MacKay Bridge.
Halifax Harbour Bridges also operated a free, 24-hour-a-day shuttle service during construction to accommodate the bridge's pedestrian and bicycle users. It operated on a load-and-go basis during the weekday morning and afternoon rush hours, and on a 30-minute schedule at all other times of the day and overnight. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England | England | England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. England shares a land border with Scotland to the north and another land border with Wales to the west, and is surrounded by the North Sea to the east, the English Channel to the south, the Celtic Sea to the south-west, and the Irish Sea to the west. Continental Europe lies to the south-east, and Ireland to the west. At the 2021 census, the population was 56,490,048. London is both the largest city and the capital.
The area now called England was first inhabited by modern humans during the Upper Paleolithic. It takes its name from the Angles, a Germanic tribe who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in the 10th century and has had extensive cultural and legal impact on the wider world since the Age of Discovery, which began during the 15th century. The Kingdom of England, which included Wales after 1535, ceased to be a separate sovereign state on 1 May 1707, when the Acts of Union brought into effect a political union with the Kingdom of Scotland that created the Kingdom of Great Britain.
England is the origin of the English language, the English legal system (which served as the basis for the common law systems of many other countries), association football, and the Anglican branch of Christianity; its parliamentary system of government has been widely adopted by other nations. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the world's first industrialised nation. England is home to the two oldest universities in the English-speaking world: the University of Oxford, founded in 1096, and the University of Cambridge, founded in 1209. Both universities are ranked amongst the most prestigious in the world.
England's terrain chiefly consists of low hills and plains, especially in the centre and south. Upland and mountainous terrain is mostly found in the north and west, including Dartmoor, the Lake District, the Pennines, and the Shropshire Hills. The London metropolitan area has a population of over 15 million as of 2025, representing the United Kingdom's largest metropolitan area. England's population of 56.3 million comprises 84% of the population of the United Kingdom, largely concentrated around London, the South East, and conurbations in the Midlands, the North West, the North East, and Yorkshire, which each developed as major industrial regions during the 19th century.
== Toponymy ==
The name "England" is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means "land of the Angles". The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages. They came from the Angeln region of what is now the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. The earliest recorded use of the term, as "Engla londe", is in the late-ninth-century translation into Old English of Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People. The term was then used to mean "the land inhabited by the English", and it included English people in what is now south-east Scotland but was then part of the English kingdom of Northumbria. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle recorded that the Domesday Book of 1086 covered the whole of England, meaning the English kingdom, but a few years later the Chronicle stated that King Malcolm III went "out of Scotlande into Lothian in Englaland", thus using it in the more ancient sense.
The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, in which the Latin word Anglii is used. The etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars; it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. How and why a term derived from the name of this tribe, rather than others such as the Saxons, came to be used for the entire country is not known, but it seems this is related to the custom of calling the Germanic people in Britain Angli Saxones or English Saxons to distinguish them from continental Saxons (Eald-Seaxe) of Old Saxony in Germany. In Scottish Gaelic, the Saxon tribe gave their name to the word for England (Sasunn); similarly, the Welsh name for the English language is Saesneg. A romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, and made popular by its use in Arthurian legend. Albion is also applied to England in a more poetic capacity, though its original meaning is the island of Britain as a whole.
== History ==
=== Prehistory ===
The earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to about 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago. Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years. After the last ice age only large mammals such as mammoths, bison and woolly rhinoceros remained. Roughly 11,000 years ago, when the ice sheets began to recede, humans repopulated the area; genetic research suggests they came from the northern part of the Iberian Peninsula. The sea level was lower than the present day and Britain was connected by land bridge to Ireland and Eurasia.
As the seas rose, it was separated from Ireland 10,000 years ago and from Eurasia two millennia later. Neolithic farmers from the Iberian Peninsula migrated to the region around 4100 BC.
The Beaker culture arrived around 2,500 BC, introducing drinking and food vessels constructed from clay, as well as vessels used as reduction pots to smelt copper ores. It was during this time that major Neolithic monuments such as Stonehenge (phase III) and Avebury were constructed. By heating together tin and copper, which were in abundance in the area, the Beaker culture people made bronze, and later iron from iron ores. The development of iron smelting allowed the construction of better ploughs, advancing agriculture (for instance, with Celtic fields), as well as the production of more effective weapons.
During the Iron Age, Celtic culture, deriving from the Hallstatt and La Tène cultures, arrived from Central Europe. Brythonic was the spoken language during this time. Society was tribal; according to Ptolemy's Geographia there were around 20 tribes in the area. Like other regions on the edge of the Empire, Britain had long enjoyed trading links with the Romans. Julius Caesar of the Roman Republic attempted to invade twice in 55 BC; although largely unsuccessful, he managed to set up a client king from the Trinovantes.
=== Ancient history ===
The Romans invaded Britain in 43 AD during the reign of Emperor Claudius, subsequently conquering much of Britain, and the area was incorporated into the Roman Empire as Britannia province. The best-known of the native tribes who attempted to resist were the Catuvellauni led by Caratacus. Later, an uprising led by Boudica, Queen of the Iceni, ended with Boudica's suicide following her defeat at the Battle of Watling Street. The author of one study of Roman Britain suggested that from 43 AD to 84 AD, the Roman invaders killed somewhere between 100,000 and 250,000 people from a population of perhaps 2,000,000. This era saw a Greco-Roman culture prevail with the introduction of Roman law, Roman architecture, aqueducts, sewers, many agricultural items and silk. In the 3rd century, Emperor Septimius Severus died at Eboracum (now York), where Constantine was subsequently proclaimed emperor a century later.
There is debate about when Christianity was first introduced; it was no later than the 4th century, probably much earlier. According to Bede, missionaries were sent from Rome by Eleutherius at the request of the chieftain Lucius of Britain in 180 AD, to settle differences as to Eastern and Western ceremonials, which were disturbing the church. There are traditions linked to Glastonbury claiming an introduction through Joseph of Arimathea, while others claim through Lucius of Britain. By 410, during the decline of the Roman Empire, Britain was left exposed by the end of Roman rule in Britain and the withdrawal of Roman army units, to defend the frontiers in continental Europe and partake in civil wars. Celtic Christian monastic and missionary movements flourished. This period of Christianity was influenced by ancient Celtic culture in its sensibilities, polity, practices and theology. Local "congregations" were centred in the monastic community and monastic leaders were more like chieftains, as peers, rather than in the more hierarchical system of the Roman-dominated church.
=== Middle Ages ===
Roman military withdrawals left Britain open to invasion by pagan, seafaring warriors from north-western continental Europe, chiefly the Saxons, Angles, Jutes and Frisians who had long raided the coasts of the Roman province. These groups then began to settle in increasing numbers over the course of the fifth and sixth centuries, initially in the eastern part of the country. Their advance was contained for some decades after the Britons' victory at the Battle of Mount Badon, but subsequently resumed, overrunning the fertile lowlands of Britain and reducing the area under Brittonic control to a series of separate enclaves in the more rugged country to the west by the end of the 6th century. Contemporary texts describing this period are extremely scarce, giving rise to its description as a Dark Age. Details of the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain are consequently subject to considerable disagreement; the emerging consensus is that it occurred on a large scale in the south and east but was less substantial to the north and west, where Celtic languages continued to be spoken even in areas under Anglo-Saxon control. Roman-dominated Christianity had, in general, been replaced in the conquered territories by Anglo-Saxon paganism, but was reintroduced by missionaries from Rome led by Augustine from 597. Disputes between the Roman- and Celtic-dominated forms of Christianity ended in victory for the Roman tradition at the Council of Whitby (664), which was ostensibly about tonsures (clerical haircuts) and the date of Easter, but more significantly, about the differences in Roman and Celtic forms of authority, theology, and practice.
During the settlement period the lands ruled by the incomers seem to have been fragmented into numerous tribal territories, but by the 7th century, when substantial evidence of the situation again becomes available, these had coalesced into roughly a dozen kingdoms including Northumbria, Mercia, Wessex, East Anglia, Essex, Kent and Sussex. Over the following centuries, this process of political consolidation continued. The 7th century saw a struggle for hegemony between Northumbria and Mercia, which in the 8th century gave way to Mercian preeminence. In the early 9th century Mercia was displaced as the foremost kingdom by Wessex. Later in that century escalating attacks by the Danes culminated in the conquest of the north and east of England, overthrowing the kingdoms of Northumbria, Mercia and East Anglia. Wessex under Alfred the Great was left as the only surviving English kingdom, and under his successors, it steadily expanded at the expense of the kingdoms of the Danelaw. This brought about the political unification of England, first accomplished under Æthelstan in 927 and definitively established after further conflicts by Eadred in 953. A fresh wave of Scandinavian attacks from the late 10th century ended with the conquest of this united kingdom by Sweyn Forkbeard in 1013 and again by his son Cnut in 1016, turning it into the centre of a short-lived North Sea Empire that also included Denmark and Norway. However, the native royal dynasty was restored with the accession of Edward the Confessor in 1042.
A dispute over the succession to Edward led to an unsuccessful Norwegian Invasion in September 1066 close to York in the North, and the successful Norman Conquest in October 1066, accomplished by an army led by Duke William of Normandy invading at Hastings late September 1066. The Normans themselves originated from Scandinavia and had settled in Normandy in the late 9th and early 10th centuries. This conquest led to the almost total dispossession of the English elite and its replacement by a new French-speaking aristocracy, whose speech had a profound and permanent effect on the English language.
Subsequently, the House of Plantagenet from Anjou inherited the English throne under Henry II, adding England to the budding Angevin Empire of fiefs the family had inherited in France including Aquitaine. They reigned for three centuries, some noted monarchs being Richard I, Edward I, Edward III and Henry V. The period saw changes in trade and legislation, including the signing of Magna Carta, an English legal charter used to limit the sovereign's powers by law and protect the privileges of freemen. Catholic monasticism flourished, providing philosophers, and the universities of Oxford and Cambridge were founded with royal patronage. The Principality of Wales became a Plantagenet fief during the 13th century and the Lordship of Ireland was given to the English monarchy by the Pope. During the 14th century, the Plantagenets and the House of Valois claimed to be legitimate claimants to the House of Capet and of France; the two powers clashed in the Hundred Years' War. The Black Death epidemic hit England; starting in 1348, it eventually killed up to half of England's inhabitants.
Between 1453 and 1487, a civil war known as the War of the Roses waged between the two branches of the royal family, the Yorkists and Lancastrians. Eventually it led to the Yorkists losing the throne entirely to a Welsh noble family the Tudors, a branch of the Lancastrians headed by Henry Tudor who invaded with Welsh and Breton mercenaries, gaining victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field where the Yorkist king Richard III was killed.
=== Early modern period ===
During the Tudor period, England began to develop naval skills, and exploration intensified in the Age of Discovery. Henry VIII broke from communion with the Catholic Church, over issues relating to his divorce, under the Acts of Supremacy in 1534 which proclaimed the monarch head of the Church of England. In contrast with much of European Protestantism, the roots of the split were more political than theological. He also legally incorporated his ancestral land Wales into the Kingdom of England with the 1535–1542 acts. There were internal religious conflicts during the reigns of Henry's daughters, Mary I and Elizabeth I. The former took the country back to Catholicism while the latter broke from it again, forcefully asserting the supremacy of Anglicanism. The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor age of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I ("the Virgin Queen"). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history that represented the apogee of the English Renaissance and saw the flowering of great art, drama, poetry, music and literature. England during this period had a centralised, well-organised, and effective government.
Competing with Spain, the first English colony in the Americas was founded in 1585 by explorer Walter Raleigh in Virginia and named Roanoke. The Roanoke colony failed and is known as the lost colony after it was found abandoned on the return of the late-arriving supply ship. With the East India Company, England also competed with the Dutch and French in the East. During the Elizabethan period, England was at war with Spain. An armada sailed from Spain in 1588 as part of a wider plan to invade England and re-establish a Catholic monarchy. The plan was thwarted by bad coordination, stormy weather and successful harrying attacks by an English fleet under Lord Howard of Effingham. This failure did not end the threat: Spain launched two further armadas, in 1596 and 1597, but both were driven back by storms.
=== Union with Scotland ===
The political structure of the island changed in 1603, when the King of Scots, James VI, a kingdom which had been a long-time rival to English interests, inherited the throne of England as James I, thereby creating a personal union. He styled himself King of Great Britain, although this had no basis in English law. Under the auspices of James VI and I the Authorised King James Version of the Holy Bible was published in 1611. It was the standard version of the Bible read by most Protestant Christians for four hundred years until modern revisions were produced in the 20th century.
Based on conflicting political, religious and social positions, the English Civil War was fought between the supporters of Parliament and those of King Charles I, known colloquially as Roundheads and Cavaliers respectively. This was an interwoven part of the wider multifaceted Wars of the Three Kingdoms, involving Scotland and Ireland. The Parliamentarians were victorious, Charles I was executed and the kingdom replaced by the Commonwealth. Leader of the Parliament forces, Oliver Cromwell declared himself Lord Protector in 1653; a period of personal rule followed. After Cromwell's death and the resignation of his son Richard as Lord Protector, Charles II was invited to return as monarch in 1660, in a move called the Restoration. With the reopening of theatres, fine arts, literature and performing arts flourished throughout the Restoration of the "Merry Monarch" Charles II. After the Glorious Revolution of 1688, it was constitutionally established that King and Parliament should rule together, though Parliament would have the real power. This was established with the Bill of Rights in 1689. Amongst the statutes set down were that the law could only be made by Parliament and could not be suspended by the King, also that the King could not impose taxes or raise an army without the prior approval of Parliament. Also since that time, no British monarch has entered the House of Commons when it is sitting, which is annually commemorated at the State Opening of Parliament by the British monarch when the doors of the House of Commons are slammed in the face of the monarch's messenger, symbolising the rights of Parliament and its independence from the monarch. With the founding of the Royal Society in 1660, science was greatly encouraged.
In 1666 the Great Fire of London gutted the city of London, but it was rebuilt shortly afterward with many significant buildings designed by Sir Christopher Wren. By the mid-to-late 17th century, two political factions had emerged – the Tories and Whigs. Though the Tories initially supported Catholic king James II, some of them, along with the Whigs, during the Revolution of 1688 invited the Dutch Prince William of Orange to defeat James and become the king. Some English people, especially in the north, were Jacobites and continued to support James and his sons. Under the Stuart dynasty England expanded in trade, finance and prosperity. The Royal Navy developed Europe's largest merchant fleet. After the parliaments of England and Scotland agreed, the two countries joined in political union, to create the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. To accommodate the union, institutions such as the law and national churches of each remained separate.
=== Late modern and contemporary periods ===
Under the newly formed Kingdom of Great Britain, output from the Royal Society and other English initiatives combined with the Scottish Enlightenment to create innovations in science and engineering, while the enormous growth in British overseas trade protected by the Royal Navy paved the way for the establishment of the British Empire. Domestically it drove the Industrial Revolution, a period of profound change in the socioeconomic and cultural conditions of England, resulting in industrialised agriculture, manufacture, engineering and mining, as well as new and pioneering road, rail and water networks to facilitate their expansion and development. The opening of Northwest England's Bridgewater Canal in 1761 ushered in the canal age in Britain. In 1825 the world's first permanent steam locomotive-hauled passenger railway – the Stockton and Darlington Railway – opened to the public.
During the Industrial Revolution, many workers moved from England's countryside to new and expanding urban industrial areas to work in factories, for instance at Birmingham and Manchester, with the latter the world's first industrial city. England maintained relative stability throughout the French Revolution, under George III and William Pitt the Younger. The regency of George IV is noted for its elegance and achievements in the fine arts and architecture. During the Napoleonic Wars, Napoleon planned to invade from the south-east; however, this failed to manifest and the Napoleonic forces were defeated by the British: at sea by Horatio Nelson, and on land by Arthur Wellesley. The major victory at the Battle of Trafalgar confirmed the naval supremacy Britain had established during the course of the eighteenth century. The Napoleonic Wars fostered a concept of Britishness and a united national British people, shared with the English, Scots and Welsh.
London became the largest and most populous metropolitan area in the world during the Victorian era, and trade within the British Empire – as well as the standing of the British military and navy – was prestigious. Technologically, this era saw many innovations that proved key to the United Kingdom's power and prosperity. Political agitation at home from radicals such as the Chartists and the suffragettes enabled legislative reform and universal suffrage.
Power shifts in east-central Europe led to World War I; hundreds of thousands of English soldiers died fighting for the United Kingdom as part of the Allies. Two decades later, in World War II, the United Kingdom was again one of the Allies. Developments in warfare technology saw many cities damaged by air-raids during the Blitz. Following the war, the British Empire experienced rapid decolonisation, and there was a speeding-up of technological innovations; automobiles became the primary means of transport and Frank Whittle's development of the jet engine led to wider air travel. Residential patterns were altered in England by private motoring, and by the creation of the National Health Service in 1948, providing publicly funded health care to all permanent residents free at the point of need. Combined, these prompted the reform of local government in England in the mid-20th century.
Since the 20th century, there has been significant population movement to England, mostly from other parts of the British Isles, but also from the Commonwealth, particularly the Indian subcontinent. Since the 1970s there has been a large move away from manufacturing and an increasing emphasis on the service industry. As part of the United Kingdom, the area joined a common market initiative called the European Economic Community which became the European Union.
Since the late 20th century the administration of the United Kingdom has moved towards devolved governance in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. England and Wales continues to exist as a jurisdiction within the United Kingdom. Devolution has stimulated a greater emphasis on a more English-specific identity and patriotism. There is no devolved English government, but an attempt to create a similar system on a sub-regional basis was rejected by referendum.
== Governance ==
=== Politics ===
England is part of the United Kingdom, a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system. There has not been a government of England since 1707, when the Acts of Union 1707, putting into effect the terms of the Treaty of Union, joined England and Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. Before the union England was ruled by its monarch and the Parliament of England.
England is governed directly by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, although other countries of the United Kingdom have devolved governments. There has been debate about how to counterbalance this in England. Originally it was planned that various regions of England would be devolved, but following the proposal's rejection by the North East in a 2004 referendum, this has not been carried out. In 2024, an England-only intergovernmental body, known as the Mayoral Council for England, was established to bring together ministers from the UK Government, the Mayor of London and the leaders of combined authorities.
In the House of Commons which is the lower house of the British Parliament based at the Palace of Westminster, there are 543 members of parliament (MPs) for constituencies in England, out of the 650 total. England is represented by 347 MPs from the Labour Party, 116 from the Conservative Party, 65 from the Liberal Democrats, four for Reform UK and four for the Green Party of England and Wales.
=== Law ===
The English law legal system, developed over the centuries, is the basis of common law legal systems used in most Commonwealth countries and the United States (except Louisiana). Despite now being part of the United Kingdom, the legal system of the Courts of England and Wales continued, under the Treaty of Union, as a separate legal system from the one used in Scotland. The general essence of English law is that it is made by judges sitting in courts, applying their common sense and knowledge of legal precedent – stare decisis – to the facts before them.
The court system is headed by the Senior Courts of England and Wales, consisting of the Court of Appeal, the High Court of Justice for civil cases, and the Crown Court for criminal cases. The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom is the highest court for criminal and civil cases in England and Wales. It was created in 2009 after constitutional changes, taking over the judicial functions of the House of Lords. A decision of the Supreme Court is binding on every other court in the hierarchy, which must follow its directions.
The Secretary of State for Justice is the minister responsible to Parliament for the judiciary, the court system and prisons and probation in England. Crime increased between 1981 and 1995 but fell by 42% in the period 1995–2006. The prison population doubled over the same period, giving it one of the highest incarceration rates in Western Europe at 147 per 100,000. His Majesty's Prison Service, reporting to the Ministry of Justice, manages most prisons, housing 81,309 prisoners in England and Wales as of September 2022.
=== Subdivisions ===
The subdivisions of England consist of up to four levels of subnational division, controlled through a variety of types of administrative entities created for the purposes of local government.
Outside the London region, England's highest tier is the 48 ceremonial counties. These are used primarily as a geographical frame of reference. Of these, 38 developed gradually since the Middle Ages; these were reformed to 51 in 1974 and to their current number in 1996. Each has a Lord Lieutenant and High Sheriff; these posts are used to represent the British monarch locally. Some counties, such as Herefordshire, are only divided further into civil parishes. The royal county of Berkshire and the metropolitan counties have different types of status to other ceremonial counties.
The second tier is made up of combined authorities and the 27 county-tier shire counties. In 1974, all ceremonial counties were two-tier; and with the metropolitan county tier phased out, the 1996 reform separated the ceremonial county and the administrative county tier.
England is also divided into local government districts. The district can align to a ceremonial county, or be a district tier within a shire county, be a royal or metropolitan borough, have borough or city status, or be a unitary authority.
At the community level, much of England is divided into civil parishes with their own councils; in Greater London only one such parish, Queen's Park, exists as of 2014 after they were abolished in 1965 until legislation allowed their recreation in 2007.
==== London ====
From 1994 until the early 2010s England was divided for a few purposes into regions; a 1998 referendum for the London Region created the London Assembly two years later. A failed 2004 North East England devolution referendum cancelled further regional assembly devolution with the regional structure outside London abolished.
Administratively, London is divided between 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs and the City of London. The 32 London boroughs form the ceremonial county of Greater London, with the City of London being a separate ceremonial county.
== Geography ==
=== Landscape and rivers ===
Geographically, England includes the central and southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain, plus such offshore islands as the Isle of Wight and the Isles of Scilly. It is bordered by two other countries of the United Kingdom: to the north by Scotland and to the west by Wales.
England is closer than any other part of mainland Britain to the European continent. It is separated from France (Hauts-de-France) by a 21-mile (34 km) sea gap, though the two countries are connected by the Channel Tunnel near Folkestone. England also has shores on the Irish Sea, North Sea and Atlantic Ocean.
The ports of London, Liverpool, and Newcastle lie on the tidal rivers Thames, Mersey and Tyne respectively. At 220 miles (350 km), the Severn is the longest river flowing through England. It empties into the Bristol Channel and is notable for its Severn Bore (a tidal bore), which can reach 2 metres (6.6 ft) in height. However, the longest river entirely in England is the Thames, which is 215 miles (346 km) in length. There are many lakes in England; the largest is Windermere, within the aptly named Lake District.
Most of England's landscape consists of low hills and plains, with upland and mountainous terrain in the north and west of the country. The northern uplands include the Pennines, a chain of uplands dividing east and west, the Lake District mountains in Cumbria, and the Cheviot Hills, straddling the border between England and Scotland. The highest point in England, at 978 metres (3,209 ft), is Scafell Pike in the Lake District. The Shropshire Hills are near Wales while Dartmoor and Exmoor are two upland areas in the south-west of the country. The approximate dividing line between terrain types is often indicated by the Tees–Exe line.
The Pennines, known as the "backbone of England", are the oldest range of mountains in the country, originating from the end of the Paleozoic Era around 300 million years ago. Their geological composition includes, amongst others, sandstone and limestone, and also coal. There are karst landscapes in calcite areas such as parts of Yorkshire and Derbyshire. The Pennine landscape is high moorland in upland areas, indented by fertile valleys of the region's rivers. They contain two national parks, the Yorkshire Dales and the Peak District. In the West Country, Dartmoor and Exmoor of the Southwest Peninsula include upland moorland supported by granite.
The English Lowlands are in the central and southern regions of the country, consisting of green rolling hills, including the Cotswold Hills, Chiltern Hills, North and South Downs; where they meet the sea they form white rock exposures such as the cliffs of Dover. This also includes relatively flat plains such as the Salisbury Plain, Somerset Levels, South Coast Plain and The Fens.
=== Climate ===
England has a temperate maritime climate: it is mild with temperatures not much lower than 0 °C (32 °F) in winter and not much higher than 32 °C (90 °F) in summer. The weather is damp relatively frequently and is changeable. The coldest months are January and February, the latter particularly on the English coast, while July is normally the warmest month. Months with mild to warm weather are May, June, September and October. Rainfall is spread fairly evenly throughout the year.
Important influences on the climate of England are its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, its northern latitude and the warming of the sea by the Gulf Stream. Rainfall is higher in the west, and parts of the Lake District receive more rain than anywhere else in the country. Since weather records began, the highest temperature recorded was 40.3 °C (104.5 °F) on 19 July 2022 at Coningsby, Lincolnshire, while the lowest was −26.1 °C (−15.0 °F) on 10 January 1982 in Edgmond, Shropshire.
=== Nature and wildlife ===
The fauna of England is similar to that of other areas in the British Isles with a wide range of vertebrate and invertebrate life in a diverse range of habitats. National nature reserves in England are designated by Natural England as key places for wildlife and natural features in England. They were established to protect the most significant areas of habitat and of geological formations. NNRs are managed on behalf of the nation, many by Natural England themselves, but also by non-governmental organisations, including the members of The Wildlife Trusts partnership, the National Trust, and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. There are 221 NNRs in England covering 110,000 hectares (1,100 square kilometres). Often they contain rare species or nationally important populations of plants and animals.
.
The Environment Agency is a non-departmental public body, established in 1995 and sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs with responsibilities relating to the protection and enhancement of the environment in England. The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is the minister responsible for environmental protection, agriculture, fisheries and rural communities in England.
England has a temperate oceanic climate in most areas, lacking extremes of cold or heat, but does have a few small areas of subarctic and warmer areas in the South West. Towards the North of England the climate becomes colder and most of England's mountains and high hills are located here and have a major impact on the climate and thus the local fauna of the areas. Deciduous woodlands are common across all of England and provide a great habitat for much of England's wildlife, but these give way in northern and upland areas of England to coniferous forests (mainly plantations) which also benefit certain forms of wildlife. Some species have adapted to the expanded urban environment, particularly the red fox, which is the most successful urban mammal after the brown rat, and other animals such as common wood pigeon, both of which thrive in urban and suburban areas.
=== Major conurbations ===
The Greater London Built-up Area is by far the largest urban area in England and one of the busiest cities in the world. It is considered a global city and has a population larger than any other country in the United Kingdom besides England itself. Other urban areas of considerable size and influence tend to be in northern England or the English Midlands. There are 50 settlements which have designated city status in England, while the wider United Kingdom has 66.
While many cities in England are quite large, such as Birmingham, Sheffield, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle, Bradford, Nottingham, population size is not a prerequisite for city status. Traditionally the status was given to towns with diocesan cathedrals, so there are smaller cities like Wells, Ely, Ripon, Truro and Chichester.
== Economy ==
England's economy is one of the largest and most dynamic in the world, with a GDP per capita of £37,852 in 2022. HM Treasury, led by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, is responsible for developing and executing the government's public finance policy and economic policy. Usually regarded as a mixed market economy, it has adopted many free market principles, yet maintains an advanced social welfare infrastructure.
The economy of England is the largest part of the UK's economy. England is a leader in the chemical and pharmaceutical sectors and in key technical industries, particularly aerospace, the arms industry, and the software industry. London, home to the London Stock Exchange, the United Kingdom's main stock exchange and the largest in Europe, is England's financial centre, with 100 of Europe's 500 largest corporations being based there. As of 2025, London is the largest financial centre in Europe and the second largest in the world.
London has been named as the fastest growing technology hub in Europe, with England having over 100 unique tech companies with a value of $1 billion or more. The Bank of England, founded in 1694 as private banker to the government of England and a state-owned institution since 1946, is the United Kingdom's central bank. The bank has a monopoly on the issue of banknotes in England and Wales, although not in other parts of the UK. The government has devolved responsibility to the bank's Monetary Policy Committee for managing the monetary policy of the country and setting interest rates.
England is highly industrialised, but since the 1970s there has been a decline in traditional heavy and manufacturing industries, and an increasing emphasis on a more service industry-oriented economy. Tourism has become a significant industry, attracting millions of visitors to England each year. The export part of the economy is dominated by pharmaceuticals, automotives, crude oil and petroleum from the English parts of North Sea oil along with Wytch Farm, aircraft engines and alcoholic beverages. The creative industries accounted for 7 per cent GVA in 2005 and grew at an average of 6 per cent per annum between 1997 and 2005.
Agriculture is intensive, highly mechanised and efficient by European standards, producing 60% of food needs with only 2% of the labour force. Two-thirds of production is devoted to livestock, the remainder to arable crops. The main crops that are grown are wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, and sugar beets. England retains a significant fishing industry. Its fleets bring home a variety of fish, ranging from sole to herring. England is also rich in natural resources including coal, petroleum, natural gas, tin, limestone, iron ore, salt, clay, chalk, gypsum, lead, and silica.
=== Science and technology ===
Prominent English figures from the field of science and mathematics include Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Robert Hooke, Alan Turing, Stephen Hawking, Edward Jenner, Francis Crick, Joseph Lister, Joseph Priestley, Thomas Young, Christopher Wren and Richard Dawkins.
England was a leading centre of the Scientific Revolution from the 17th century. As the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, England was home to many significant inventors during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Famous English engineers include Isambard Kingdom Brunel, best known for the creation of the Great Western Railway, a series of famous steamships, and numerous important bridges, revolutionising public transport and modern-day engineering. Thomas Newcomen's steam engine helped spawn the Industrial Revolution.
The Father of Railways, George Stephenson, built the first public inter-city railway line in the world, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, which opened in 1830. With his role in the marketing and manufacturing of the steam engine, and invention of modern coinage, Matthew Boulton (business partner of James Watt) is regarded as one of the most influential entrepreneurs in history. The physician Edward Jenner's smallpox vaccine is said to have "saved more lives ... than were lost in all the wars of mankind since the beginning of recorded history."
Inventions and discoveries of the English include the jet engine; the first industrial spinning machine; the first computer and the first modern computer; the World Wide Web along with HTML; the first successful human blood transfusion; the motorised vacuum cleaner; the lawn mower; the seat belt; the hovercraft; the electric motor; steam engines; and theories such as the Darwinian theory of evolution and atomic theory. Newton developed the ideas of universal gravitation, Newtonian mechanics, and calculus, and Robert Hooke his eponymously named law of elasticity. Other inventions include the iron plate railway, the thermosiphon, tarmac, the rubber band, the mousetrap, "cat's eye" road marker, joint development of the light bulb, steam locomotives, the modern seed drill and many modern techniques and technologies used in precision engineering.
English innovators made crucial contributions to computing from the earliest concepts to the microchip era. Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace conceived the first programmable computer, while George Boole created the binary logic underlying all digital systems, known as boolean logic. Alan Turing defined the foundations of computing and pioneered artificial intelligence, while Tommy Flowers built Colossus, proving electronic computing feasible. Sir Frederic Williams, Tom Kilburn and Geoff Tootill developed the Manchester Baby, while Sir Maurice Wilkes developed EDSAC contributing to the first stored-program computers that established modern computer architecture. Geoffrey Dummer conceptualised the integrated circuit.
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. Founded on 28 November 1660, It is the oldest national scientific institution in the world. The Royal Institution of Great Britain was founded in 1799 by leading English scientists, including Henry Cavendish. Some experts claim that the earliest concept of a metric system was invented by John Wilkins in 1668.
Scientific research and development remains important in the universities of England, with many establishing science parks to facilitate production and co-operation with industry. Cambridge is the most intensive research cluster for science and technology in the world. In 2022, the UK produced 6.3 per cent of the world's scientific research papers and had a 10.5 per cent share of scientific citations, the third highest in the world (after the United States and China). Scientific journals produced in England include Nature, the British Medical Journal and The Lancet. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, and Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation has responsibility for science in England.
=== Transport ===
The Department for Transport is the government body responsible for overseeing transport in England. The department is run by the Secretary of State for Transport.
England has a dense and modern transportation infrastructure. There are many motorways in England, and many other trunk roads, such as the A1 Great North Road, which runs through eastern England from London to Newcastle (much of this section is motorway) and onward to the Scottish border. The longest motorway in England is the M6, from Rugby through the North West up to the Anglo-Scottish border, a distance of 232 miles (373 km). Other major routes include: the M1 from London to Leeds, the M25 which encircles London, the M60 which encircles Manchester, the M4 from London to South Wales, the M62 from Liverpool via Manchester to East Yorkshire, and the M5 from Birmingham to Bristol and the South West.
Bus transport across the country is widespread; major companies include Arriva, FirstGroup, Go-Ahead Group, Mobico Group, Rotala and Stagecoach Group. Bus rapid transit originated in England with the Runcorn Busway opening in 1971. The red double-decker buses in London have become a symbol of England. National Cycle Route offers cycling routes nationally.
Rail transport in England is the oldest in the world: passenger railways originated in England in 1825. Much of Britain's 10,000 miles (16,000 km) of rail network lies in England, covering the country fairly extensively. There is rail transport access to France and Belgium through an undersea rail link, the Channel Tunnel, which was completed in 1994.
Great British Railways is a planned state-owned public body that will oversee rail transport in Great Britain from 2024. The Office of Rail and Road is responsible for the economic and safety regulation of England's railways. Crossrail was Europe's largest construction project with a £15 billion projected cost, opened in 2022. High Speed 2, a high-speed north–south railway line, is under construction since 2019.
There is a rapid transit network in two English cities: the London Underground, and the Tyne and Wear Metro in Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead and Sunderland. There are several extensive tram networks, such as the Manchester Metrolink, Sheffield Supertram, West Midlands Metro, Nottingham Express Transit, and Tramlink in South London. England also has extensive domestic and international aviation links. The largest airport is Heathrow, which is the world's second busiest airport measured by number of international passengers.
By sea there is ferry transport, both local and international, including from Liverpool to Ireland and the Isle of Man, and Hull to the Netherlands and Belgium. There are around 4,400 miles (7,100 km) of navigable waterways in England, half of which is owned by the Canal & River Trust, however, water transport is very limited. The River Thames is the major waterway in England, with imports and exports focused at the Port of Tilbury in the Thames Estuary, one of the United Kingdom's three major ports.
=== Energy ===
Successive governments have outlined numerous commitments to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Notably, the UK is one of the best sites in Europe for wind energy, and wind power production is its fastest growing supply. Wind power contributed 26.8% of UK electricity generation in 2022. England is home to Hornsea 2, the largest offshore wind farm in the world, situated in waters roughly 89 kilometres off the coast of Yorkshire.
The Climate Change Act 2008 was passed in Parliament with an overwhelming majority across political parties. It sets out emission reduction targets that the UK must comply with legally. It represents the first global legally binding climate change mitigation target set by a country. UK government energy policy aims to play a key role in limiting greenhouse gas emissions, while meeting energy demand. Shifting availabilities of resources and development of technologies also change the country's energy mix through changes in costs.
The current energy policy is the responsibility of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero. The Minister of State for Business, Energy and Clean Growth is responsible for green finance, climate science and innovation, and low carbon generation. In 2024, the United Kingdom was ranked 5 out of 180 countries in the Environmental Performance Index. A law has been passed that UK greenhouse gas emissions will be net zero by 2050.
== Healthcare ==
The National Health Service (NHS), is the publicly funded healthcare system responsible for providing the majority of healthcare in the country. The NHS began on 5 July 1948, putting into effect the provisions of the National Health Service Act 1946. It was based on the findings of the Beveridge Report, prepared by the economist and social reformer, William Beveridge. The NHS is largely funded by general taxation and National Insurance payments; it provides most of its services free at the point of use, although there are charges for some people for eye tests, dental care, prescriptions and aspects of personal care.
The government department responsible for the NHS is the Department of Health, under the Secretary of State for Health. Most of the department's expenses are on the NHS – £98.6 billion was spent in 2008–2009. Regulatory bodies such as the General Medical Council and the Nursing and Midwifery Council are organised on a UK-wide basis, as are non-governmental bodies such as the Royal Colleges.
The average life expectancy is 77.5 years for males and 81.7 years for females, the highest of the four countries of the United Kingdom. The south of England has a higher life expectancy than the north, but regional differences seem to be slowly narrowing: between 1991–1993 and 2012–2014, life expectancy in the North East increased by 6.0 years and in the North West by 5.8 years.
== Demography ==
=== Population ===
With over 56 million inhabitants, England is by far the most populous country of the United Kingdom, accounting for 84% of the combined total. England taken as a unit and measured against international states would be the 26th largest country by population in the world.
The English people are British people. There is an English diaspora in former parts of the British Empire; especially the United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. Since the late 1990s, many English people have migrated to Spain. Due in particular to the economic prosperity of South East England, it has received many economic migrants from the other parts of the United Kingdom. There has been significant Irish migration. The proportion of ethnically European residents totals at 81.7%, including White British, Germans and Poles, down from 94.1% in 1991. Other people from much further afield in the former British colonies have arrived since the 1950s: in particular, about 7% of people living in England have family origins in the Indian subcontinent, mostly India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. About 0.7% are Chinese, 0.6% are Arabs. 4.0% of the population are black, from Africa and the Caribbean, especially former British colonies, and 2.9% identified as multiracial or mixed.
In 2007, 22% of primary school children in England were from ethnic minority families, and in 2011 that figure was 26.5%. About half of the population increase between 1991 and 2001 was due to immigration.
England contains one indigenous national minority, the Cornish people, recognised by the UK government under the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities in 2014.
=== Language ===
English, today widely spoken around the world, originated in what is now England, where it remains the principal tongue. According to a 2011 census, it is spoken well or very well by 98% of the population
English language learning and teaching is an important economic activity. There is no legislation mandating an official language for England, but English is the only language used for official business. Despite the country's relatively small size, there are many distinct regional accents.
Cornish died out as a community language in the 18th century but is being revived, and is now protected under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. It is spoken by 0.1% of people in Cornwall, and is taught to some degree in several primary and secondary schools.
State schools teach students a second language or third language from the ages of seven, most commonly French, Spanish or German. It was reported in 2007 that around 800,000 school students spoke a foreign language at home, the most common being Punjabi and Urdu. However, following the 2011 census data released by the Office for National Statistics, figures now show that Polish is the main language spoken in England after English. In 2022, British Sign Language became an official language of England when the British Sign Language Act 2022 came into effect.
=== Religion ===
In the 2021 census, 46.3% of the population of England specified their religion as Christian, 36.7% answered that they had no religion, 6.7% specified that they were Muslim, while 4.3% of the population belongs to other religions and 6% did not give an answer. Christianity is the most widely practised religion in England. The established church of England is the Church of England, which left communion with Rome in the 1530s when Henry VIII was unable to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. The church regards itself as both Catholic and Protestant.
There are High Church and Low Church traditions and some Anglicans regard themselves as Anglo-Catholics, following the Tractarian movement. The monarch of the United Kingdom is the supreme governor of the Church of England, which has around 26 million baptised members (of whom the vast majority are not regular churchgoers). In 2016, research at St. Mary's University in London reported that 19.8% of the population of England and Wales identified as Anglican. It forms part of the Anglican Communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury acting as its symbolic worldwide head. Many cathedrals and parish churches are historic buildings of significant architectural importance, such as Westminster Abbey, York Minster, Durham Cathedral, and Salisbury Cathedral.
The second-largest Christian denomination is the Catholic Church. Since its reintroduction after the Catholic Emancipation, the Church has organised ecclesiastically on an England and Wales basis where there are 4.5 million members (most of whom are English). In 2016, 8.3% of the population of England and Wales identified as Catholic. There has been one Pope from England to date, Adrian IV, while saints Bede and Anselm are regarded as Doctors of the Church.
A form of Protestantism known as Methodism is the third largest Christian practice and grew out of Anglicanism through John Wesley. It gained popularity in the mill towns of Lancashire and Yorkshire, and amongst tin miners in Cornwall. There are other non-conformist minorities, such as Baptists, Quakers, Congregationalists, Unitarians and The Salvation Army.
The patron saint of England is Saint George; his symbolic cross is included in the flag of England. There are many other English and associated saints, including Cuthbert, Edmund, Alban, Wilfrid, Aidan, Edward the Confessor, John Fisher, Thomas More, Petroc, Piran, Margaret Clitherow and Thomas Becket. There are non-Christian religions practised. Jews have a history of a small minority on the island since 1070. They were expelled from England in 1290 following the Edict of Expulsion, and were allowed back in 1656.
Especially since the 1950s, religions from the former British colonies have grown in numbers, due to immigration. Islam is the most common of these, now accounting for around 5% of the population in England. Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism are next in number, adding up to 2.8% combined, introduced from India and Southeast Asia.
A small minority of the population practise ancient Pagan religions. Neopaganism in the United Kingdom is primarily represented by Wicca and Neopagan witchcraft, Druidry, and Heathenry. According to the 2011 census, there are roughly 53,172 people who identify as Pagan in England, including 11,026 Wiccans. 24.7% of people in England declared no religion, compared with 14.6% in 2001. Norwich had the highest such proportion at 42.5%, followed by Brighton and Hove at 42.4%.
== Education ==
The Department for Education is the government department responsible for issues affecting people in England up to the age of 19, including education. State-funded schools are attended by about 93% of English schoolchildren. Education is the responsibility of the Secretary of State for Education.
Children between the ages of 3 and 5 attend nursery or an Early Years Foundation Stage reception unit within a primary school. Children between the ages of 5 and 11 attend primary school, and secondary school is attended by those aged between 11 and 16. State-funded schools are obliged by law to teach the National Curriculum; basic areas of learning include English literature, English language, mathematics, science, art & design, citizenship, history, geography, religious education, design & technology, computing, ancient & modern languages, music, and physical education. The Programme for International Student Assessment coordinated by the OECD currently ranks the overall knowledge and skills of British 15-year-olds as 13th in the world in literacy, mathematics, and science with the average British student scoring 503.7, well above the OECD average of 493.
Although most English secondary schools are comprehensive, there are selective intake grammar schools to which entrance is subject to passing the eleven-plus exam. Around 7.2 per cent of English schoolchildren attend private schools, which are funded by private sources. Standards in state schools are monitored by the Office for Standards in Education, and in private schools by the Independent Schools Inspectorate.
After finishing compulsory education, students take GCSE examinations. Students may then opt to continue into further education for two years. Further education colleges (particularly sixth form colleges) often form part of a secondary school site. A-level examinations are sat by a large number of further education students, and often form the basis of an application to university. Further education covers a wide curriculum of study and apprenticeships, including T-levels, BTEC, NVQ and others. Tertiary colleges provide both academic and vocational courses.
=== Higher education ===
Higher education students normally attend university from age 18 onwards, where they study for an academic degree. There are over 90 universities in England, all but one of which are public institutions. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is the government department responsible for higher education in England. Students are generally entitled to student loans to cover tuition fees and living costs. The first degree offered to undergraduates is the bachelor's degree, which usually takes three years to complete. Students are then able to work towards a postgraduate degree, which usually takes one year, or a doctorate, which takes three or more years.
England's universities include some of the highest-ranked universities in the world. As of 2024, four England-based universities, the University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, Imperial College London, and University College London, are ranked amongst the top ten in the 2024 QS World University Rankings. The University of Cambridge, founded in 1209, and the University of Oxford, founded in 1096, are the two oldest universities in the English-speaking world.
The London School of Economics has been described as the world's leading social science institution for both teaching and research. The London Business School is considered one of the world's leading business schools and in 2010 its MBA programme was ranked best in the world by the Financial Times. Academic degrees in England are usually split into classes: first class, upper second class, lower second class, third, and unclassified. The King's School, Canterbury and King's School, Rochester are the oldest schools in the English-speaking world. Many of England's most well-known schools, such as Winchester College, Eton, St Paul's School, Harrow School and Rugby School are fee-paying institutions.
== Culture ==
=== Architecture ===
Many ancient standing stone monuments were erected during the prehistoric period; amongst the best known are Stonehenge, Devil's Arrows, Rudston Monolith and Castlerigg. With the introduction of Ancient Roman architecture there was a development of basilicas, baths, amphitheaters, triumphal arches, villas, Roman temples, Roman roads, Roman forts, stockades and aqueducts. It was the Romans who founded the first cities and towns such as London, Bath, York, Chester and St Albans. Perhaps the best-known example is Hadrian's Wall stretching right across northern England. Another well-preserved example is the Roman Baths at Bath, Somerset.
Early medieval architecture's secular buildings were simple constructions mainly using timber with thatch for roofing. Ecclesiastical architecture ranged from a synthesis of Hiberno–Saxon monasticism, to Early Christian basilica and architecture characterised by pilaster-strips, blank arcading, baluster shafts and triangular headed openings. After the Norman conquest in 1066 various castles were created; the best known include the Tower of London, Warwick Castle, Durham Castle and Windsor Castle.
Throughout the Plantagenet era, an English Gothic architecture flourished, with prime examples including the medieval cathedrals such as Canterbury Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and York Minster. Expanding on the Norman base there was also castles, palaces, great houses, universities and parish churches. Medieval architecture was completed with the 16th-century Tudor style; the four-centred arch, now known as the Tudor arch, was a defining feature as were wattle and daub houses domestically. In the aftermath of the Renaissance a form of architecture echoing classical antiquity synthesised with Christianity appeared, the English Baroque style of architect Christopher Wren being particularly championed.
Georgian architecture followed in a more refined style, evoking a simple Palladian form; the Royal Crescent at Bath is one of the best examples of this. With the emergence of romanticism during Victorian period, a Gothic Revival was launched. In addition to this, around the same time the Industrial Revolution paved the way for buildings such as The Crystal Palace. Since the 1930s various modernist forms have appeared whose reception is often controversial, though traditionalist resistance movements continue with support in influential places.
=== Gardens ===
Landscape gardening, as developed by Capability Brown, set an international trend for the English landscape garden. Gardening, and visiting gardens, are regarded as typically English pursuits. The English garden presented an idealised view of nature. At large country houses, the English garden usually included lakes, sweeps of gently rolling lawns set against groves of trees, and recreations of classical temples, Gothic ruins, bridges, and other picturesque architecture, designed to recreate an idyllic pastoral landscape.
By the end of the 18th century, the English garden was being imitated by the French landscape garden, and as far away as Pavlovsk, Saint Petersburg, the gardens of the future Emperor Paul. It also had a major influence on the public parks and gardens which appeared around the world in the 19th century. The English landscape garden was centred on the English country house and manor houses.
English Heritage and the National Trust preserve great gardens and landscape parks throughout the country. The RHS Chelsea Flower Show is held every year by the Royal Horticultural Society and is said to be the largest gardening show in the world.
=== Folklore ===
English folklore developed over many centuries. Some of the characters and stories are present across England, but most belong to specific regions. Common folkloric beings include pixies, giants, elves, bogeymen, trolls, goblins and dwarves. While many legends and folk-customs are thought to be ancient, such as the tales featuring Offa of Angel and Wayland the Smith, others date from after the Norman invasion. The legends featuring Robin Hood and his Merry Men of Sherwood, and their battles with the Sheriff of Nottingham, are amongst the best-known of these.
During the High Middle Ages tales originating from Brythonic traditions entered English folklore and developed into the Arthurian myth. These were derived from Anglo-Norman, Welsh and French sources, featuring King Arthur, Camelot, Excalibur, Merlin and the Knights of the Round Table such as Lancelot. These stories are most centrally brought together within Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain).
Some folk figures are based on semi or actual historical people whose story has been passed down centuries. On 5 November people celebrate Bonfire Night to commemorate the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot centred on Guy Fawkes. There are various national and regional folk activities, participated in to this day, such as Morris dancing, Maypole dancing, Rapper sword in the North East, Long Sword dance in Yorkshire, Mummers Plays, bottle-kicking in Leicestershire, and cheese-rolling at Cooper's Hill. There is no official national costume, but a few are well established such as the Pearly Kings and Queens associated with cockneys, the Royal Guard, the Morris costume and Beefeaters.
=== Cuisine ===
Since the early modern period the food of England has historically been characterised by its simplicity of approach and a reliance on the high quality of natural produce. During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, English cuisine enjoyed an excellent reputation, though a decline began during the Industrial Revolution with increasing urbanisation. The cuisine of England has, however, recently undergone a revival, which has been recognised by food critics with some good ratings in Restaurant's best restaurant in the world charts.
Traditional examples of English food include the Sunday roast, featuring a roasted joint (usually beef, lamb, chicken or pork) served with assorted vegetables, Yorkshire pudding and gravy. Other prominent meals include fish and chips and the full English breakfast (generally consisting of bacon, sausages, grilled tomatoes, fried bread, black pudding, baked beans, mushrooms and eggs). Various meat pies are consumed, such as steak and kidney pie, steak and ale pie, cottage pie, pork pie (usually eaten cold) and the Cornish pasty.
Sausages are commonly eaten, either as bangers and mash or toad in the hole. Lancashire hotpot is a well-known stew originating in the northwest. Some of the more popular cheeses are Cheddar, Red Leicester, Wensleydale, Double Gloucester and Blue Stilton. Many Anglo-Indian hybrid dishes, curries, have been created, such as chicken tikka masala and balti. Traditional English dessert dishes include apple pie or other fruit pies; spotted dick – all generally served with custard; and, more recently, sticky toffee pudding. Sweet pastries include scones served with jam or cream, dried fruit loaves, Eccles cakes and mince pies as well as sweet or spiced biscuits.
Common non-alcoholic drinks include tea and coffee; frequently consumed alcoholic drinks include wine, ciders and English beers, such as bitter, mild, stout and brown ale.
=== Visual arts ===
The earliest known examples are the prehistoric rock and cave art pieces, most prominent in North Yorkshire, Northumberland and Cumbria, but also feature further south, for example at Creswell Crags. With the arrival of Roman culture in the 1st century, various forms of art such as statues, busts, glasswork and mosaics were the norm. There are numerous surviving artefacts, such as those at Lullingstone and Aldborough. During the Early Middle Ages the style favoured sculpted crosses and ivories, manuscript painting, gold and enamel jewellery, demonstrating a love of intricate, interwoven designs such as in the Staffordshire Hoard discovered in 2009. Some of these blended Gaelic and Anglian styles, such as the Lindisfarne Gospels and Vespasian Psalter. Later Gothic art was popular at Winchester and Canterbury, examples survive such as Benedictional of St. Æthelwold and Luttrell Psalter.
The Tudor era saw prominent artists as part of their court; portrait painting, which would remain an enduring part of English art, was boosted by German Hans Holbein, and natives such as Nicholas Hilliard built on this. Under the Stuarts, Continental artists were influential especially the Flemish, examples from the period include Anthony van Dyck, Peter Lely, Godfrey Kneller and William Dobson. The 18th century saw the founding of the Royal Academy; a classicism based on the High Renaissance prevailed, with Thomas Gainsborough and Joshua Reynolds becoming two of England's most treasured artists.
In the 19th century, John Constable and J. M. W. Turner were major landscape artists. The Norwich School continued the landscape tradition, while the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, led by artists such as Holman Hunt, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Everett Millais, revived the Early Renaissance style with their vivid and detailed style. Prominent amongst 20th-century artists was Henry Moore, regarded as the voice of British sculpture, and of British modernism in general. The Royal Society of Arts is an organisation committed to the arts.
=== Literature, poetry, and philosophy ===
Early authors such as Bede and Alcuin wrote in Latin. The period of Old English literature provided the epic poem Beowulf and the secular prose of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, along with Christian writings such as Judith, Cædmon's Hymn and hagiographies. Following the Norman conquest Latin continued amongst the educated classes, as well as an Anglo-Norman literature.
Middle English literature emerged with Geoffrey Chaucer, author of The Canterbury Tales, along with Gower, the Pearl Poet and Langland. William of Ockham and Roger Bacon, who were Franciscans, were major philosophers of the Middle Ages. Julian of Norwich, who wrote Revelations of Divine Love, was a prominent Christian mystic. With the English Renaissance literature in the Early Modern English style appeared. William Shakespeare, whose works include Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and A Midsummer Night's Dream, remains one of the most championed authors in English literature.
Christopher Marlowe, Edmund Spenser, Philip Sydney, Thomas Kyd, John Donne, and Ben Jonson are other established authors of the Elizabethan age. Francis Bacon and Thomas Hobbes wrote on empiricism and materialism, including scientific method and social contract. Filmer wrote on the Divine Right of Kings. Marvell was the best-known poet of the Commonwealth, while John Milton authored Paradise Lost during the Restoration.
Some of the most prominent philosophers of the Enlightenment were John Locke, Thomas Paine, Samuel Johnson and Jeremy Bentham. More radical elements were later countered by Edmund Burke who is regarded as the founder of conservatism. The poet Alexander Pope with his satirical verse became well regarded. The English played a significant role in romanticism: Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lord Byron, John Keats, Mary Shelley, Percy Bysshe Shelley, William Blake and William Wordsworth were major figures.
In response to the Industrial Revolution, agrarian writers sought a way between liberty and tradition; William Cobbett, G. K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc were main exponents, while the founder of guild socialism, Arthur Penty, and cooperative movement advocate G. D. H. Cole are somewhat related. Empiricism continued through John Stuart Mill and Bertrand Russell, while Bernard Williams was involved in analytics. Authors from around the Victorian era include Charles Dickens, the Brontë sisters, Jane Austen, George Eliot, Rudyard Kipling, Thomas Hardy, H. G. Wells and Lewis Carroll. Since then England has continued to produce novelists such as George Orwell, D. H. Lawrence, Virginia Woolf, C. S. Lewis, Enid Blyton, Aldous Huxley, Agatha Christie, Terry Pratchett, J. R. R. Tolkien, and J. K. Rowling.
=== Performing arts ===
The traditional folk music of England is centuries old and has contributed to several genres prominently; mostly sea shanties, jigs, hornpipes and dance music. It has its own distinct variations and regional peculiarities. Ballads featuring Robin Hood, printed by Wynkyn de Worde in the 16th century, are an important artefact, as are John Playford's The Dancing Master and Robert Harley's Roxburghe Ballads collections. Some of the best-known songs are Greensleeves, Pastime with Good Company, Maggie May and Spanish Ladies amongst others. Many nursery rhymes are of English origin such as Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary, Roses Are Red, Jack and Jill, London Bridge Is Falling Down, The Grand Old Duke of York, Hey Diddle Diddle and Humpty Dumpty. Traditional English Christmas carols include "We Wish You a Merry Christmas", "The First Noel", "I Saw Three Ships" and "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen".
Early English composers in classical music include Renaissance artists Thomas Tallis and William Byrd, followed by Henry Purcell from the Baroque period and Thomas Arne who was well known for his patriotic song Rule, Britannia!. German-born George Frideric Handel spent most of his composing life in London and became a national icon in Britain, creating some of the most well-known works of classical music, especially his English oratorios, The Messiah, Solomon, Water Music, and Music for the Royal Fireworks.
Classical music attracted much attention in the 18th century with the formation of the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival, which was the longest running classical music festival of its kind until the final concerts in 1912. The English Musical Renaissance was a hypothetical development in the late 19th and early 20th century, when English composers, often those lecturing or trained at the Royal College of Music, were said to have freed themselves from foreign musical influences. There was a revival in the profile of composers from England in the 20th century led by Edward Elgar, Benjamin Britten, Frederick Delius, Gustav Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams and others. Present-day composers from England include Michael Nyman, best known for The Piano, and Andrew Lloyd Webber, whose musicals have achieved enormous success in the West End and worldwide.
In popular music, many English bands and solo artists have been cited as the most influential and best-selling musicians of all time. Acts such as the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Elton John, Queen, Rod Stewart, David Bowie, the Rolling Stones and Def Leppard are amongst the highest-selling recording artists in the world. Many musical genres have origins in (or strong associations with) England, such as British invasion, progressive rock, hard rock, Mod, glam rock, heavy metal, Britpop, indie rock, gothic rock, shoegazing, acid house, garage, trip hop, drum and bass and dubstep.
Large outdoor music festivals in the summer and autumn are popular, such as Glastonbury, V Festival, and the Reading and Leeds Festivals. England was at the forefront of the illegal, free rave movement from the late 1980s, which inspired the pan-European culture of teknivals. The Boishakhi Mela is a Bengali New Year festival celebrated by the British Bangladeshi community. It is the largest open-air Asian festival in Europe. After the Notting Hill Carnival, it is the second-largest street festival in the UK, attracting over 80,000 visitors.
The most prominent opera house in England is the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden. The Proms is a major annual cultural event in the English calendar. The Royal Ballet is one of the world's foremost classical ballet companies. The Royal Academy of Music is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822, receiving its royal charter in 1830. England is home to numerous major orchestras such as the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, and the London Symphony Orchestra. Other forms of entertainment that originated in England include the circus and the pantomime.
=== Cinema ===
England has had a considerable influence on the history of the cinema, producing some of the greatest actors, directors and motion pictures of all time, including Alfred Hitchcock, Charlie Chaplin, David Lean, Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, John Gielgud, Peter Sellers, Julie Andrews, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Helen Mirren, Kate Winslet and Daniel Day-Lewis. Hitchcock and Lean are amongst the most critically acclaimed filmmakers. Hitchcock's The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1926) helped shape the thriller genre in film, while his 1929 Blackmail is often regarded as the first British sound feature film.
Major film studios in England include Pinewood, Elstree and Shepperton. Some of the most commercially successful films of all time have been produced in England, including two of the highest-grossing film franchises (Harry Potter and James Bond). Ealing Studios in London has a claim to being the oldest continuously working film studio in the world. Famous for recording many motion picture film scores, the London Symphony Orchestra first performed film music in 1935. The Hammer Horror films starring Christopher Lee saw the production of the first gory horror films showing blood and guts in colour.
The BFI Top 100 British films includes Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979), a film regularly voted the funniest of all time by the UK public. English producers are also active in international co-productions and English actors, directors and crew feature regularly in American films. The UK film council ranked David Yates, Christopher Nolan, Mike Newell, Ridley Scott and Paul Greengrass the five most commercially successful English directors since 2001. Other contemporary English directors include Sam Mendes, Guy Ritchie and Richard Curtis. Current actors include Tom Hardy, Daniel Craig, Benedict Cumberbatch, Lena Headey, Felicity Jones, Emilia Clarke, Lashana Lynch, and Emma Watson. Acclaimed for his motion capture work, Andy Serkis opened The Imaginarium Studios in London in 2011. The visual effects company Framestore in London has produced some of the most critically acclaimed special effects in modern film. Many successful Hollywood films have been based on English people, stories or events. The 'English Cycle' of Disney animated films include Alice in Wonderland, The Jungle Book and Winnie the Pooh.
=== Sites and institutions ===
English Heritage is a governmental body with a broad remit of managing the historic sites, artefacts and environments of England. It is currently sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. A non-governmental charity, the National Trust holds a complementary role, focussed on landscapes and country houses. 17 of the 25 United Kingdom UNESCO World Heritage Sites fall within England. Some of the best-known of these are: Hadrian's Wall, Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites, the Tower of London, the Jurassic Coast, Saltaire, Ironbridge Gorge, Blenheim Palace and the Lake District.
London's British Museum holds more than seven million objects, one of the largest and most comprehensive collections in the world, illustrating and documenting global human culture from its beginnings to the present. The British Library in London is the national library and is one of the world's largest research libraries, holding over 150 million items in almost all known languages and formats, including around 25 million books. The National Gallery in Trafalgar Square houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The Tate galleries house the national collections of British and international modern art; they also host the Turner Prize.
The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport has overall responsibility for cultural property and heritage. A blue plaque, the oldest historical marker scheme in the world, is a permanent sign installed in a public place in England to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person or event. In 2011 there were around 1,600 museums in England. Entry to most museums and galleries is free. London is one of the world's most visited cities, regularly taking the top five most visited cities in Europe. It is considered a global centre of finance, art and culture.
=== Media ===
The BBC, founded in 1922, is the UK's publicly funded radio, television and Internet broadcasting corporation, and is the oldest and largest broadcaster in the world. It operates numerous television and radio stations in the UK and abroad and its domestic services are funded by the television licence. The BBC World Service is an international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest of any kind. It broadcasts radio news, speech and discussions in more than 40 languages.
London dominates the media sector in England: national newspapers and television and radio are largely based there, although Manchester is also a significant national media centre. The UK publishing sector, including books, directories and databases, journals, magazines and business media, newspapers and news agencies, has a combined turnover of around £20 billion and employs around 167,000 people. National newspapers produced in England include The Times, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, and the Financial Times.
Magazines and journals published in England that have achieved worldwide circulation include Nature, New Scientist, The Spectator, Prospect, NME and The Economist. The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport has overall responsibility over media and broadcasting in England.
=== Sport ===
England has a strong sporting heritage, and during the 19th century codified many sports that are now played around the world. Sports originating in England include association football, cricket, rugby union, rugby league, tennis, boxing, badminton, squash, rounders, hockey, snooker, billiards, darts, table tennis, bowls, netball, thoroughbred horseracing, greyhound racing and fox hunting. It has helped the development of golf, sailing and Formula One. England has been crowned world champion in several major sports including: Cricket, Rugby and Association Football.
Football is the most popular of these sports. The England national football team, whose home venue is Wembley Stadium, played Scotland in the first-ever international football match in 1872. Referred to as the "home of football" by FIFA, England hosted and won the 1966 FIFA World Cup. With a British television audience peak of 32.30 million viewers, the final is the most watched television event ever in the UK. England is recognised by FIFA as the birthplace of club football: Sheffield F.C., founded in 1857, is the world's oldest club. The England women's national football team won the UEFA Women's Euro 2022, hosted by England. England was also victorious in the UEFA Women's Euro 2025, winning the final in a penalty shootout against Spain.
Cricket is generally thought to have been developed in the early medieval period amongst the farming and metalworking communities of the Weald. The England cricket team is a composite England and Wales team. One of the game's top rivalries is The Ashes series between England and Australia, contested since 1882. Lord's Cricket Ground situated in London is sometimes referred to as the "Mecca of Cricket". After winning the 2019 Cricket World Cup, England became the first country to win the World Cups in football, rugby union, and cricket.
William Penny Brookes was prominent in organising the format for the modern Olympic Games. London has hosted the Summer Olympic Games three times, in 1908, 1948, and 2012. England competes in the Commonwealth Games, held every four years. Sport England is the governing body responsible for distributing funds and providing strategic guidance for sporting activity in England.
Rugby union originated in Rugby School, Warwickshire in the early 19th century. The top level of club participation is the English Premiership. England's Red Roses won the 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup. Rugby league was born in Huddersfield in 1895. Since 2008, the England national rugby league team has been a full test nation in lieu of the Great Britain national rugby league team, which won three World Cups. Club sides play in Super League, the present-day embodiment of the Rugby Football League Championship. Rugby League is most popular amongst towns in the northern English counties of Lancashire, Yorkshire and Cumbria.
Golf has been prominent in England, due in part to its cultural and geographical ties to Scotland. There are professional tours for men and women, in two main tours: the PGA and the European Tour. The world's oldest golf tournament, and golf's first major is The Open Championship, played both in England and Scotland. The biennial golf competition, the Ryder Cup, is named after English businessman Samuel Ryder.
Tennis was created in Birmingham in the late 19th century, and the Wimbledon Championships is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, and widely considered the most prestigious. Wimbledon has a major place in the English cultural calendar.
In boxing, under the Marquess of Queensberry Rules, England has produced many world champions across the weight divisions internationally recognised by the governing bodies.
Originating in 17th and 18th-century England, the thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. The National Hunt horse race the Grand National, is held annually at Aintree Racecourse in early April. It is the most watched horse race in the UK, and three-time winner Red Rum is the most successful racehorse in the event's history.
The 1950 British Grand Prix at Silverstone was the first race in the newly created Formula One World Championship. England has seen the manufacture some of the most technically advanced racing cars, and many of today's racing companies choose England as their base of operations. England also has a rich heritage in Grand Prix motorcycle racing, the premier championship of motorcycle road racing, and has produced several world champions.
Darts is a widely popular sport in England; a professional competitive sport, it is a traditional pub game. Another popular sport commonly associated with pub games is snooker, and England has produced several world champions.
The English are keen sailors and enjoy competitive sailing; founding and winning some of the world's most famous international competitive tournaments across the various race formats, including the match race, a regatta, and the America's Cup.
== National symbols ==
The St George's Cross has been the national flag of England since the 13th century. Originally, the flag was used by the maritime Republic of Genoa. The English monarch paid a tribute to the Doge of Genoa from 1190 onwards so that English ships could fly the flag as a means of protection when entering the Mediterranean.
A red cross was a symbol for many Crusaders in the 12th and 13th centuries, and became associated with Saint George. Since 1606 the St George's Cross has formed part of the design of the Union Flag, a Pan-British flag designed by King James I. During the English Civil War and Interregnum, the New Model Army's standards and the Commonwealth's Great Seal both incorporated the flag of Saint George.
There are numerous other symbols and symbolic artefacts, both official and unofficial, including the Tudor rose, the nation's floral emblem, and the Three Lions featured on the Royal Arms of England. The Tudor rose was adopted as a national emblem of England around the time of the Wars of the Roses as a symbol of peace. It is a syncretic symbol in that it merged the white rose of the Yorkists and the red rose of the Lancastrians. It is also known as the Rose of England. The oak tree is a symbol of England: the Royal Oak symbol and Oak Apple Day commemorate the escape of King Charles II after his father's execution, when he hid in an oak to avoid detection by the parliamentarians before safely reaching exile.
The Royal Arms of England, a national coat of arms featuring three lions, originated with Richard the Lionheart in 1198. It is blazoned as gules, three lions passant guardant or and it provides one of the most prominent symbols of England. England does not have an official national anthem, as the United Kingdom as a whole has God Save the King. However, Jerusalem, Land of Hope and Glory (used for England during the 2002 Commonwealth Games), and I Vow to Thee, My Country are often considered unofficial English national anthems. England's National Day is 23 April which is Saint George's Day: Saint George is the patron saint of England. |
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_female_Nobel_laureates | List of female Nobel laureates | The Nobel Prizes are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to Mankind." Additionally, the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (often referred to as the Nobel Prize in Economics) was established by Sveriges Riksbank in 1968 and is awarded to a "person or persons in the field of economic sciences who have produced work of outstanding importance."
As of 2025, according to the Nobel Foundation, 68 Nobel Prizes and the Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences have been awarded to 67 women (Marie Curie has been honoured twice, first in Physics in 1903, then in Chemistry in 1911). Unique Nobel Prize laureates include 894 men, 64 women, and 27 organizations.
The approximate distribution of Nobel prizes awarded to women is as follows (regularly updated list from the Nobel Foundation can be found on their website at "Nobel-Prize awarded women" ):
twenty women have won the Nobel Peace Prize (16.3% of 110 awarded);
eighteen have won the Nobel Prize in Literature (15% of 120 awarded);
fourteen have won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (5.6% of 230 awarded);
eight have won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (4.1% of 191 awarded);
five have won the Nobel Prize in Physics (1.8% of 224 awarded);
and three (Elinor Ostrom, Esther Duflo and Claudia Goldin) have won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2.17% of 92 awarded).
The first woman to win a Nobel Prize was Marie Skłodowska-Curie, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 with Pierre Curie, and Henri Becquerel. Curie is also the first person and the only woman to have won multiple Nobel Prizes; in 1911, she won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Curie's daughter, Irène Joliot-Curie, won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935, making the two the only mother–daughter pair to have won Nobel Prizes and of Pierre and Irène Curie the only father-daughter pair to have won Nobel Prizes by the same occasion, whilst there are 6 father-son pairs who have won Nobel Prizes by comparison.
The most recent women to be awarded a Nobel Prize were Maria Corina Machado for Peace, Mary Brunkow for Physiology or Medicine (2025), Han Kang in Literature (2024), Claudia Goldin in Economics, Narges Mohammadi for Peace, Anne L'Huillier in Physics and Katalin Karikó in Physiology or Medicine (2023), Annie Ernaux in Literature and Carolyn R. Bertozzi for Chemistry (2022), Maria Ressa for Peace (2021), Louise Glück in Literature, Andrea M. Ghez in Physics, Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna in Chemistry (2020). The most Nobel Prizes awarded to women in a single year was in 2009, when five women became laureates in four categories.
== Female laureates ==
=== Physiology or Medicine ===
=== Physics ===
=== Chemistry ===
=== Literature ===
=== Peace ===
=== Economic Sciences === |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afroasiatic_languages | Afroasiatic languages | The Afroasiatic languages (also known as Afro-Asiatic, Afrasian, Hamito-Semitic, or Semito-Hamitic) are a language family (or "phylum") of about 400 languages spoken predominantly in West Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and parts of the Sahara and Sahel. Over 500 million people are native speakers of an Afroasiatic language, constituting the fourth-largest language family after Indo-European, Sino-Tibetan, and Niger–Congo. Most linguists divide the family into six branches: Berber (Amazigh), Chadic, Cushitic, Egyptian, Omotic, and Semitic. The vast majority of Afroasiatic languages are considered indigenous to the African continent, including all those not belonging to the Semitic branch (which originated in West Asia).
The five most spoken languages in the family are: Arabic (of all varieties), which is by far the most widely spoken within the family, with estimates of the number of native speakers ranging between 300 and 411 million, concentrated primarily in West Asia and North Africa; the Chadic Hausa language, with over 58 million speakers in West Africa; the Cushitic Oromo language, with 45 million native speakers; the Semitic Amharic language, with an estimated 25-35 million; and the Cushitic Somali language with 24 million, all the latter three in the Horn of Africa. Other Afroasiatic languages with millions of native speakers include the Semitic Tigrinya, Tigre and Modern Hebrew, the Cushitic Beja, Sidama and Afar languages, the Berber languages (Shilha, Kabyle, Central Atlas Tamazight, Shawiya and Tarifit), and the Omotic Wolaitta language. Most languages of the non-Semitic branches (especially Chadic and Omotic) have far fewer speakers, and many Afroasiatic languages in Africa are vulnerable or endangered.
There are many well-attested Afroasiatic languages from antiquity that have since died or gone extinct, including Egyptian and the Semitic languages Akkadian, Biblical Hebrew, Phoenician, Amorite, and Ugaritic. There is no consensus among historical linguists as to precisely where or when the common ancestor of all Afroasiatic languages, known as Proto-Afroasiatic, was originally spoken. However, most agree that the Afroasiatic homeland was located somewhere in northeastern Africa, with specific proposals including the Horn of Africa, Egypt, and the eastern Sahara. A significant minority of scholars argues for an origin in the Levant. Even the latest plausible dating for its proto-language makes Afroasiatic the oldest language family accepted by contemporary linguists. Reconstructed timelines of when Proto-Afroasiatic was spoken vary extensively, with dates ranging from 18,000 BC to 8,000 BC.
Comparative study of Afroasiatic is hindered by the massive disparities in textual attestation between its branches: while the Semitic and Egyptian branches are attested in writing as early as the fourth millennium BC, Berber, Cushitic, and Omotic languages were often not recorded until the 19th or 20th centuries. While systematic sound laws have not yet been established to explain the relationships between the various branches of Afroasiatic, the languages share a number of common features. One of the most important for establishing membership in the branch is a common set of pronouns. Other widely shared features include a prefix m- which creates nouns from verbs, evidence for alternations between the vowel "a" and a high vowel in the forms of the verb, similar methods of marking gender and plurality, and some details of phonology such as the presence of pharyngeal fricatives. Other features found in multiple branches include a specialized verb conjugation using suffixes (Egyptian, Semitic, Berber), a specialized verb conjugation using prefixes (Semitic, Berber, Cushitic), verbal prefixes deriving middle (t-), causative (s-), and passive (m-) verb forms (Semitic, Berber, Egyptian, Cushitic), and a suffix used to derive adjectives (Egyptian, Semitic).
== Name ==
In current scholarship, the most common names for the family are Afroasiatic (or Afro-Asiatic), Hamito-Semitic, and Semito-Hamitic. Other proposed names that have yet to find widespread acceptance include Erythraic/Erythraean, Lisramic, Noahitic, and Lamekhite.
Friedrich Müller introduced the name Hamito-Semitic to describe the family in his Grundriss der Sprachwissenschaft (1876). The variant Semito-Hamitic is mostly used in older Russian sources. The elements of the name were derived from the names of two sons of Noah as attested in the Book of Genesis's Table of Nations passage: "Semitic" from the first-born Shem, and "Hamitic" from the second-born Ham (Genesis 5:32). Within the Table of Nations, each of Noah's sons is presented as the common progenitor of various people groups deemed to be closely related: among others Shem was the father of the Jews, Assyrians, and Arameans, while Ham was the father of the Egyptians and Cushites. This genealogy does not reflect the actual origins of these peoples' languages: for example, the Canaanites are descendants of Ham according to the Table, even though Hebrew is now classified as a Canaanite language, while the Elamites are ascribed to Shem despite their language being an isolate, totally unrelated to Hebrew. The term Semitic for the Semitic languages had already been coined in 1781 by August Ludwig von Schlözer, following an earlier suggestion by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in 1710. Hamitic was first used by Ernest Renan in 1855 to refer to languages that appeared similar to the Semitic languages, but were not themselves provably a part of the family. The belief in a connection between Africans and the Biblical Ham, which had existed at least as far back as Isidore of Seville in the 6th century AD, led scholars in the early 19th century to speak vaguely of "Hamian" or "Hamitish" languages.
The term Hamito-Semitic has largely fallen out of favor among linguists writing in English, but is still frequently used in the scholarship of various other languages, such as German. Several issues with the label Hamito-Semitic have led many scholars to abandon the term and criticize its continued use. One common objection is that the Hamitic component inaccurately suggests that a monophyletic "Hamitic" branch exists alongside Semitic. In addition, Joseph Greenberg has argued that Hamitic possesses racial connotations, and that "Hamito-Semitic" overstates the centrality of the Semitic languages within the family. By contrast, Victor Porkhomovsky suggests that the label is simply an inherited convention, and does not imply a duality of Semitic and "Hamitic" any more than Indo-European implies a duality of Indic and "European". Because of its use by several important scholars and in the titles of significant works of scholarship, the total replacement of Hamito-Semitic is difficult.
While Greenberg ultimately popularized the name "Afroasiatic" in 1960, it appears to have been coined originally by Maurice Delafosse, as French afroasiatique, in 1914. The name refers to the fact that it is the only major language family with large populations in both Africa and Asia. Due to concerns that "Afroasiatic" could imply the inclusion of all languages spoken across Africa and Asia, the name "Afrasian" (Russian: afrazijskije) was proposed by Igor Diakonoff in 1980. At present it predominantly sees use among Russian scholars.
The names Lisramic—based on the Afroasiastic root *lis- ("tongue") and the Egyptian word rmṯ ("person")—and Erythraean—referring to the core area around which the languages are spoken, the Red Sea—have also been proposed.
== Distribution and branches ==
Scholars generally consider Afroasiatic to have between five and eight branches. The five that are universally agreed upon are Berber (also called "Libyco-Berber"), Chadic, Cushitic, Egyptian, and Semitic. Most specialists consider the Omotic languages to constitute a sixth branch. Due to the presumed distance of relationship between the various branches, many scholars prefer to refer to Afroasiatic as a "linguistic phylum" rather than a "language family".
M. Victoria Almansa-Villatoro and Silvia Štubňová Nigrelli write that there are about 400 languages in Afroasiatic; Ethnologue lists 375 languages. Many scholars estimate fewer languages; exact numbers vary depending on the definitions of "language" and "dialect".
=== Berber ===
The Berber (or Libyco-Berber) languages are spoken today by perhaps 16 million people. They are often considered to constitute a single language with multiple dialects. Other scholars, however, argue that they are a group of around twelve languages, about as different from each other as the Romance or Germanic languages. In the past, Berber languages were spoken throughout North Africa except in Egypt; since the 7th century CE, however, they have been heavily affected by Arabic and have been replaced by it in many places.
There are two extinct languages potentially related to modern Berber. The first is the Numidian language, represented by over a thousand short inscriptions in the Libyco-Berber alphabet, found throughout North Africa and dating from the 2nd century BCE onward. The second is the Guanche language, which was formerly spoken on the Canary Islands and went extinct in the 17th century CE. The first longer written examples of modern Berber varieties date only from the 16th or 17th centuries CE.
=== Chadic ===
Chadic languages number between 150 and 190, making Chadic the largest family in Afroasiatic by number of extant languages. The Chadic languages are typically divided into three major branches, East Chadic, Central Chadic, and West Chadic. Most Chadic languages are located in the Chad Basin, with the exception of Hausa. Hausa is the largest Chadic language by native speakers, and is spoken by a large number of people as a lingua franca in Northern Nigeria. It may have as many as 80 to 100 million first- and second-language speakers. Eight other Chadic languages have around 100,000 speakers; other Chadic languages often have few speakers and may be in danger of extinction. Only about 40 Chadic languages have been fully described by linguists.
=== Cushitic ===
There are about 30 Cushitic languages, more if Omotic is included, spoken around the Horn of Africa, and in Sudan and Tanzania. The Cushitic family is traditionally split into four branches: the single language of Beja (c. 3 million speakers), the Agaw languages, Eastern Cushitic, and Southern Cushitic. Only one Cushitic language, Oromo, has more than 25 million speakers; other languages with more than a million speakers include Somali, Afar, Hadiyya, and Sidaama. Many Cushitic languages have relatively few speakers. Cushitic does not appear to be related to the written ancient languages known from its area, Meroitic or Old Nubian. The oldest text in a Cushitic language probably dates from around 1770; written orthographies were developed for a select number of Cushitic languages only in the early 20th century.
=== Egyptian ===
The Egyptian branch consists of a single language, Egyptian (often called "Ancient Egyptian"), which was historically spoken in the lower Nile Valley. Egyptian is first attested in writing around 3000 BCE and finally went extinct around 1300 CE, making it the language with the longest written history in the world. Egyptian is usually divided into two major periods, Earlier Egyptian (c. 3000–1300 BCE), which is further subdivided into Old Egyptian and Middle Egyptian, and Later Egyptian (1300 BCE-1300 CE), which is further subdivided into Late Egyptian, Demotic, and Coptic. Coptic is the only stage written alphabetically to show vowels, whereas Egyptian was previously written in Egyptian hieroglyphs, which represent only consonants. In the Coptic period, there is evidence for six major dialects, which presumably existed previously, but are obscured by pre-Coptic writing; additionally, Middle Egyptian appears to be based on a different dialect than Old Egyptian, which in turn shows dialectal similarities to Late Egyptian. Egyptian was replaced by Arabic as the spoken language of Egypt, but Coptic continues to be the liturgical language of the Coptic Orthodox Church.
=== Omotic ===
The c. 30 Omotic languages are still mostly undescribed by linguists. They are all spoken in southwest Ethiopia except for the Ganza language, spoken in Sudan. Omotic is typically split into North Omotic (or Damotic) and South Omotic (or Aroid), with the latter more influenced by the Nilotic languages; it is unclear whether the Dizoid group of Omotic languages belongs to the Northern or Southern group. The two Omotic languages with the most speakers are Wolaitta and Gamo-Gofa-Dawro, with about 1.2 million speakers each.
A majority of specialists consider Omotic to constitute a sixth branch of Afroasiatic. Omotic was formerly considered part of the Cushitic branch; some scholars continue to consider it part of Cushitic. Other scholars have questioned whether it is Afroasiatic at all, due its lack of several typical aspects of Afroasiatic morphology.
=== Semitic ===
There are between 40 and 80 languages in the Semitic family. Today, Semitic languages are spoken across North Africa, West Asia, and the Horn of Africa, as well as on the island of Malta, making them the sole Afroasiatic branch with members originating outside Africa. Arabic, spoken in both Asia and Africa, is by far the most widely spoken Afroasiatic language today, with around 300-411 million native speakers, while the Ethiopian Amharic language has around 25-35 million; collectively, Semitic is the largest branch of Afroasiatic by number of current speakers.
Most authorities divide Semitic into two branches: East Semitic, which includes the extinct Akkadian language, and West Semitic, which includes Arabic, Aramaic, the Canaanite languages (including Hebrew), as well as the Ethiopian Semitic languages such as Geʽez and Amharic. The classification within West Semitic remains contested. The only group with an African origin is Ethiopian Semitic. The oldest written attestations of Semitic languages come from Mesopotamia, Northern Syria, and Egypt and date as early as c. 3000 BCE.
=== Other proposed branches ===
There are also other proposed branches, but none has so far convinced a majority of scholars:
Linguist H. Fleming proposed that the near-extinct Ongota language is a separate branch of Afroasiatic; however, this is only one of several competing theories. About half of current scholarly hypotheses on Ongota's origins align it with Afroasiatic in some way.
Robert Hetzron proposed that Beja is not part of Cushitic, but a separate branch. The prevailing opinion, however, is that Beja is a branch of Cushitic.
The extinct Meroitic language has been proposed to represent a branch of Afroasiatic. Although an Afroasiatic connection is sometimes viewed as refuted, it continues to be defended by scholars such as Edward Lipiński.
The Kujarge language is usually considered part of the Chadic languages; however, Roger Blench has proposed that it may be a separate branch of Afroasiatic.
=== Further subdivisions ===
There is no agreement on the relationships between and subgrouping of the different Afroasiatic branches. Whereas Marcel Cohen (1947) claimed he saw no evidence for internal subgroupings, numerous other scholars have made proposals, with Carsten Peust counting 27 as of 2012.
Common trends in proposals as of 2019 include using common or lacking grammatical features to argue that Omotic was the first language to branch off, often followed by Chadic. In contrast to scholars who argue for an early split of Chadic from Afroasiatic, scholars of the Russian school tend to argue that Chadic and Egyptian are closely related, and scholars who rely on percentage of shared lexicon often group Chadic with Berber. Three scholars who agree on an early split between Omotic and the other subbranches, but little else, are Harold Fleming (1983), Christopher Ehret (1995), and Lionel Bender (1997). In contrast, scholars relying on shared lexicon often produce a Cushitic-Omotic group. Additionally, the minority of scholars who favor an Asian origin of Afroasiatic tend to place Semitic as the first branch to split off. Disagreement on which features are innovative and which are inherited from Proto-Afroasiatic produces radically different trees, as can be seen by comparing the trees produced by Ehret and Igor Diakonoff.
Responding to the above, Tom Güldemann criticizes attempts at finding subgroupings based on common or lacking morphology by arguing that the presence or absence of morphological features is not a useful way of discerning subgroupings in Afroasiatic, because it can not be excluded that families currently lacking certain features did not have them in the past; this also means that the presence of morphological features cannot be taken as defining a subgroup. Peust notes that other factors that can obscure genetic relationships between languages include the poor state of present documentation and understanding of particular language families (historically with Egyptian, presently with Omotic). Gene Gragg likewise argues that more needs to be known about Omotic still, and that Afroasiatic linguists have still not found convincing isoglosses on which to base genetic distinctions.
One way of avoiding the problem of determining which features are original and which are inherited is to use a computational methodology such as lexicostatistics, with one of the earliest attempts by Fleming in 1983. This is also the method used by Alexander Militarev and Sergei Starostin to create a family tree. Fleming (2006) was a more recent attempt by Fleming, with a different result from Militarev and Starostin. Hezekiah Bacovcin and David Wilson argue that this methodology is invalid for discerning linguistic sub-relationship. They note the method's inability to detect various strong commonalities even between well-studied branches of AA.
=== Natufian Spread-Vector Hypothesis ===
It has been suggested that if the original Afroasiatic-speaking people did indeed originate from southern Egypt, Central Sudan and/or Ethiopia, that they might have migrated up the Nile and intermingled with the Natufian population inhabiting the Levant and parts of the Sinai peninsula. This created a spread vector in and outside of Africa proper into the Levant, Middle East and Arabian peninsula which gave rise to a higher-order branch ancestral to both Cushitic and Semitic. As these populations would have "down-poured" down the coast of the Red Sea into the Arab peninsula some crossed over into what is now Djibouti and Ethiopia and throughout the rest of the Horn of Africa, creating yet another spread vector which became the Cushitic branch; this helps explain the seeming dialectal disconnect between other branches on the African mainland and Cushitic, sharing more affinities with the Semitic branch, which wouldn't be the case if the original Proto-Cushitic speaking populations emerged directly from the Afro-Asiatic speakers of East-Central Africa or during a backwards migration from Egypt.
On the other side of the Red Sea, the original Afroasiatic-speaking peoples would have experienced the next major schism with some migrating further west into the Sahara (presumably during its "green period") giving birth to a potential Berbero-Chadic branch, which again had been split two fold between its original speakers and an intermingling population of darker-skinned sub-Saharans. The variety spoken by those who stayed in the Northeast of the continent would become Egyptian over time.
Omotic might have been a divergent "south Cushitic" branch as originally proposed, but in the light of this hypothesis and the aforementioned dialectal disconnect Omotic may have originated from peoples who migrated backwards up the (blue) Nile into Ethiopia before or after the initial Berbero-Chadic split thus potentially creating two branches - Omotic-Egyptian and Berbero-Chadic or Omotic and Berbero-Chadic-Egyptian.
=== Official status ===
== Classification history ==
A relationship between Hebrew, Arabic, and Aramaic and the Berber languages was perceived as early as the 9th century CE by the Hebrew grammarian and physician Judah ibn Quraysh, who is regarded as a forerunner of Afroasiatic studies. The French orientalist Guillaume Postel had also pointed out similarities between Hebrew, Arabic, and Aramaic in 1538, and Hiob Ludolf noted similarities also to Geʽez and Amharic in 1701. This family was formally described and named "Semitic" by August Ludwig von Schlözer in 1781. In 1844, Theodor Benfey first described the relationship between Semitic and the Egyptian language and connected both to the Berber and the Cushitic languages (which he called "Ethiopic"). In the same year T.N. Newman suggested a relationship between Semitic and the Hausa language, an idea that was taken up by early scholars of Afroasiatic. In 1855, Ernst Renan named these languages, related to Semitic but not Semitic, "Hamitic", in 1860 Carl Lottner proposed that they belonged to a single language family, and in 1876 Friedrich Müller first described them as a "Hamito-Semitic" language family. Müller assumed that there existed a distinct "Hamitic" branch of the family that consisted of Egyptian, Berber, and Cushitic. He did not include the Chadic languages, though contemporary Egyptologist Karl Richard Lepsius argued for the relation of Hausa to the Berber languages. Some scholars would continue to regard Hausa as related to the other Afroasiatic languages, but the idea was controversial: many scholars refused to admit that the largely unwritten, "Negroid" Chadic languages were in the same family as the "Caucasian" ancient civilizations of the Egyptians and Semites.
An important development in the history of Afroasiatic scholarship – and the history of African linguistics – was the creation of the "Hamitic theory" or "Hamitic hypothesis" by Lepsius, fellow Egyptologist Christian Bunsen, and linguist Christian Bleek. This theory connected the "Hamites", the originators of Hamitic languages, with (supposedly culturally superior) "Caucasians", who were assumed to have migrated into Africa and intermixed with indigenous "Negroid" Africans in ancient times. The "Hamitic theory" would serve as the basis for Carl Meinhof's highly influential classification of African languages in his 1912 book Die Sprache der Hamiten. On one hand, the "Hamitic" classification was justified partially based on linguistic features: for example, Meinhof split the presently-understood Chadic family into "Hamito-Chadic", and an unrelated non-Hamitic "Chadic" based on which languages possessed grammatical gender. On the other hand, the classification also relied on non-linguistic anthropological and culturally contingent features, such as skin color, hair type, and lifestyle. Ultimately, Meinhof's classification of Hamitic proved to include languages from every presently-recognized language family within Africa.
The first scholar to question the existence of "Hamitic languages" was Marcel Cohen in 1924, with skepticism also expressed by A. Klingenheben and Dietrich Westermann during the 1920s and '30s. However, Meinhof's "Hamitic" classification remained prevalent throughout the early 20th century until it was definitively disproven by Joseph Greenberg in the 1940s, based on racial and anthropological data. Instead, Greenberg proposed an Afroasiatic family consisting of five branches: Berber, Chadic, Cushitic, Egyptian, and Semitic. Reluctance among some scholars to recognize Chadic as a branch of Afroasiatic persisted as late as the 1980s. In 1969, Harold Fleming proposed that a group of languages classified by Greenberg as Cushitic were in fact their own independent "Omotic" branch—a proposal that has been widely, if not universally, accepted. These six branches now constitute an academic consensus on the genetic structure of the family.
Greenberg relied on his own method of mass comparison of vocabulary items rather than the comparative method of demonstrating regular sound correspondences to establish the family. An alternative classification, based on the pronominal and conjugation systems, was proposed by A.N. Tucker in 1967. As of 2023, widely accepted sound correspondences between the different branches have not yet been firmly established. Nevertheless, morphological traits attributable to the proto-language and the establishment of cognates throughout the family have confirmed its genetic validity.
== Origin ==
=== Timeline ===
There is no consensus as to when Proto-Afroasiatic was spoken. The absolute latest date for when Proto-Afroasiatic could have been extant is c. 4000 BCE, after which the existence of the clearly distinct Egyptian and the Semitic languages is firmly attested. However, in all likelihood these languages began to diverge well before this hard boundary. The estimations offered by scholars as to when Proto-Afroasiatic was spoken vary widely, ranging from 18,000 BCE to 8,000 BCE. An estimate at the youngest end of this range still makes Afroasiatic the oldest proven language family. Contrasting proposals of an early emergence, Tom Güldemann has argued that less time may have been required for the divergence than is usually assumed, as it is possible for a language to rapidly restructure due to areal contact, with the evolution of Chadic (and likely also Omotic) serving as pertinent examples.
=== Location ===
Likewise, no consensus exists as to where proto-Afroasiatic originated. Scholars have proposed locations for the Afroasiatic homeland across Africa and West Asia. Roger Blench writes that the debate possesses "a strong ideological flavor", with associations between an Asian origin and "high civilization". An additional complicating factor is the lack of agreement on the subgroupings of Afroasiatic (see Further subdivisions) – this makes associating archaeological evidence with the spread of Afroasiatic particularly difficult. Nevertheless, there is a long-accepted link between the speakers of Proto-Southern Cushitic languages and the East African Savanna Pastoral Neolithic (5,000 years ago), and archaeological evidence associates the Proto-Cushitic speakers with economic transformations in the Sahara dating c. 8,500 years ago, as well as the speakers of the Proto-Zenati variety of the Berber languages with an expansion across the Maghreb in the 5th century CE.
An origin somewhere on the African continent has broad scholarly support, and is seen as being well-supported by the linguistic data. Most scholars more narrowly place the homeland near the geographic center of its present distribution, "in the southeastern Sahara or adjacent Horn of Africa". The Afroasiatic languages spoken in Africa are not more closely related to each other than they are to Semitic, as one would expect if only Semitic had remained in a West Asian homeland while all other branches had spread from there. Likewise, all Semitic languages are fairly similar to each other, whereas the African branches of Afroasiatic are very diverse; this suggests the rapid spread of Semitic out of Africa. Proponents of an origin of Afroasiatic within Africa assume the proto-language to have been spoken by pre-Neolithic hunter-gatherers, arguing that there is no evidence of words in Proto-Afroasiatic related to agriculture or animal husbandry. Christopher Ehret, S.O. Y. Keita, and Paul Newman also argue that archaeology does not support a spread of migrating farmers into Africa, but rather a gradual incorporation of animal husbandry into indigenous foraging cultures. Ehret, in a separate publication, argued that the two principles in linguistic approaches for determining the origin of languages which are the principles of fewest moves and greatest diversity had put "beyond reasonable doubt" that the language family "had originated in the Horn of Africa".
A significant minority of scholars supports an Asian origin of Afroasiatic, most of whom are specialists in Semitic or Egyptian studies. The main proponent of an Asian origin is the linguist Alexander Militarev, who argues that Proto-Afroasiatic was spoken by early agriculturalists in the Levant and subsequently spread to Africa. Militarev associates the speakers of Proto-Afroasiatic with the Levantine Post-Natufian Culture, arguing that the reconstructed lexicon of flora and fauna, as well as farming and pastoralist vocabulary indicates that Proto-AA must have been spoken in this area. Scholar Jared Diamond and archaeologist Peter Bellwood have taken up Militarev's arguments as part of their general argument that the spread of linguistic macrofamilies (such as Indo-European, Bantu, and Austro-Asiatic) can be associated with the development of agriculture; they argue that there is clear archaeological support for farming spreading from the Levant into Africa via the Nile valley.
== Phonological characteristics ==
Afroasiatic languages share a number of phonetic and phonological features.
=== Syllable structure ===
Egyptian, Cushitic, Berber, Omotic, and most languages in the Semitic branch require every syllable to begin with a consonant (with the exception of some grammatical prefixes). Igor Diakonoff argues that this constraint goes back to Proto-Afroasiatic. Some Chadic languages allow a syllable to begin with a vowel; however, in many Chadic languages verbs must begin with a consonant. In Cushitic and Chadic languages, a glottal stop or glottal fricative may be inserted to prevent a word from beginning with a vowel. Typically, syllables begin with only a single consonant. Diakonoff argues that proto-Afroasiatic did not have consonant clusters within a syllable.
With the exception of some Chadic languages, all Afroasiatic languages allow both open syllables (ending in a vowel) and closed syllables (ending in a consonant); many Chadic languages do not allow a syllable to end in a consonant. Most words end in a vowel in Omotic and Cushitic, making syllable-final consonant clusters rare.
Syllable weight plays an important role in Afroasiatic, especially in Chadic; it can affect the form of affixes attached to a word.
=== Consonant systems ===
Several Afroasiatic languages have large consonant inventories, and it is likely that this is inherited from proto-Afroasiatic. All Afroasiatic languages contain stops and fricatives; some branches have additional types of consonants such as affricates and lateral consonants. Afroasiatic languages tend to have pharyngeal fricative consonants, with Egyptian, Semitic, Berber, and Cushitic sharing ħ and ʕ. In all Afroasiatic languages, consonants can be bilabial, alveolar, velar, and glottal, with additional places of articulation found in some branches or languages. Additionally, the glottal stop (ʔ) usually exists as a phoneme, and there tends to be no phonemic contrast between [p] and [f] or [b] and [v]. In Cushitic, the Ethiopian Semitic language Tigrinya, and some Chadic languages, there is no underlying phoneme [p] at all.
Most, if not all branches of Afroasiatic distinguish between voiceless, voiced, and "emphatic" consonants. The emphatic consonants are typically formed deeper in the throat than the others; they can be realized variously as glottalized, pharyngealized, uvularized, ejective, and/or implosive consonants in the different branches. This distinction between three manners of articulation is not generally reconstructed for continuant obstruents (such as fricatives), which are generally reconstructed as being only voiceless in Proto-Afroasiatic.
A form of long-distance consonant assimilation known as consonant harmony is attested in Berber, Chadic, Cushitic, and Semitic: it usually affects features such as pharyngealization, palatalization, and labialization. Several Omotic languages have "sibilant harmony", meaning that all sibilants (s, sh, z, ts, etc.) in a word must match.
=== Consonant incompatibility ===
Restrictions against the co-occurrence of certain, usually similar, consonants in verbal roots can be found in all Afroasiatic branches, though they are only weakly attested in Chadic and Omotic. The most widespread constraint is against two different labial consonants (other than w) occurring together in a root, a constraint which can be found in all branches but Omotic. Another widespread constraint is against two non-identical lateral obstruents, which can be found in Egyptian, Chadic, Semitic, and probably Cushitic. Such rules do not always apply for nouns, numerals, or denominal verbs, and do not affect prefixes or suffixes added to the root. Roots that may have contained sequences that were possible in Proto-Afroasiatic but are disallowed in the daughter languages are assumed to have undergone consonant dissimilation or assimilation.
A set of constraints, developed originally by Joseph Greenberg on the basis of Arabic, has been claimed to be typical for Afroasiatic languages. Greenberg divided Semitic consonants into four types: "back consonants" (glottal, pharyngeal, uvular, laryngeal, and velar consonants), "front consonants" (dental or alveolar consonants), liquid consonants, and labial consonants. He showed that, generally, any consonant from one of these groups could combine with consonants from any other group, but could not be used together with consonants from the same group. Additionally, he showed that Proto-Semitic restricted a sequence of two identical consonants in the first and second position of the triliteral root. These rules also have a number of exceptions:
velar consonants can occur with pharyngeals or laryngeals;
dental consonants can co-occur with sibilants; However, there are no Proto-Semitic verbal roots with ḍ and a sibilant, and roots with d and a sibilant are uncommon. In all attested cases of a dental and a sibilant, the sibilant occurs in first position and the dental in second.
Similar exceptions can be demonstrated for the other Afroasiatic branches that have these restrictions to their root formation. James P. Allen has demonstrated that slightly different rules apply to Egyptian: for instance, Egyptian allows two identical consonants in some roots, and disallows velars from occurring with pharyngeals.
=== Vowel systems ===
There is a large variety of vocalic systems in Afroasiatic, and attempts to reconstruct the vocalic system of Proto-Afroasiatic vary considerably.
All branches of Afroasiatic have a limited number of underlying vowels (between two and seven), but the number of phonetic vowels can be much larger. The quality of the underlying vowels varies considerably by language; the most common vowel throughout Afroasiatic is schwa. In the different languages, central vowels are often inserted to break up consonant clusters (a form of epenthesis). Various Semitic, Cushitic, Berber, and Chadic languages, including Arabic, Amharic, Berber, Somali, and East Dangla, also exhibit various types of vowel harmony.
=== Tones ===
The majority of Afroasiatic languages are tonal languages: phonemic tonality is found in Omotic, Chadic, and Cushitic languages, but absent in Berber and Semitic. There is no information on whether Egyptian had tones. In contemporary Omotic, Chadic, and Cushitic languages, tone is primarily a grammatical feature: it encodes various grammatical functions, only differentiating lexical roots in a few cases. In some Chadic and some Omotic languages every syllable has to have a tone, whereas in most Cushitic languages this is not the case. Some scholars postulate that Proto-Afroasiatic may have had tone, while others believe it arose later from a pitch accent.
== Similarities in grammar, syntax, and morphology ==
At present, there is no generally accepted reconstruction of Proto-Afroasiatic grammar, syntax, or morphology, nor one for any of the sub-branches besides Egyptian. This means that it is difficult to know which features in Afroasiatic languages are retentions, and which are innovations. Moreover, all Afroasiatic languages have long been in contact with other language families and with each other, leading to the possibility of widespread borrowing both within Afroasiatic and from unrelated languages. There are nevertheless a number of commonly observed features in Afroasiatic morphology and derivation, including the use of suffixes, infixes, vowel lengthening and shortening as a morphological change, as well as the use of tone changes to indicate morphology. Further commonalities and differences are explored in more detail below.
=== General features ===
==== Consonantal root structures ====
A widely attested feature in AA languages is a consonantal structure into which various vocalic "templates" are placed. This structure is particularly visible in the verbs, and is particularly noticeable in Semitic. Besides for Semitic, vocalic templates are well attested for Cushitic and Berber, where, along with Chadic, it is less productive; it is absent in Omotic. For Egyptian, evidence for the root-and-template structure exists from Coptic. In Semitic, Egyptian, Berber, verbs have no inherent vowels at all; the vowels found in a given stem are dependent on the vocalic template. In Chadic, verb stems can include an inherent vowel as well.
Most Semitic verbs are triliteral (have three consonants), whereas most Chadic, Omotic, and Cushitic verbs are biliteral (having two consonants). The degree to which the Proto-AA verbal root was triliteral is debated. It may have originally been mostly biconsonantal, to which various affixes (such as verbal extensions) were then added and lexicalized. Although any root could theoretically be used to create a noun or a verb, there is evidence for the existence of distinct noun and verb roots, which behave in different ways.
As part of these templates, the alternation (apophony) between high vowels (e.g. i, u) and a low vowel (a) in verbal forms is usually described as one of the main characteristics of AA languages: this change codes a variety of different functions. It is unclear whether this system is a common AA trait; the Chadic examples, for instance, show signs of originally deriving from affixes, which could explain the origins of the alterations in other languages as well.
==== Word order ====
It remains unclear what word order Proto-Afroasiatic had. Berber, Egyptian, and most Semitic languages are verb-initial languages, whereas Cushitic, Omotic and some Semitic subgroups are verb-final languages. Proto-Chadic is reconstructed as having verb-initial word order, but most Chadic languages have subject-verb-object word order.
==== Reduplication and gemination ====
Afroasiatic Languages use the processes of reduplication and gemination (which often overlap in meaning) to derive nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs throughout the AA language family. Gemination in particular is one of the typical features of AA. Full or partial reduplication of the verb is often used to derive forms showing repeated action (pluractionality), though it is unclear if this is an inherited feature or has been widely borrowed.
=== Nouns ===
==== Grammatical gender and number ====
The assignment of nouns and pronouns to either masculine or feminine gender is present in all branches – but not all languages – of the Afroasiatic family. This sex-based gender system is widely agreed to derive from Proto-Afroasiatic. In most branches, gender is an inherent property of nouns. Additionally, even when nouns are not cognates, they tend to have the same gender throughout Afroasiatic ("gender stability"). In Egyptian, Semitic, and Berber, a feminine suffix -t is attested to mark feminine nouns; in some Cushitic and Chadic languages, a feminine -t suffix or prefix (lexicalized from a demonstrative) is used to mark definiteness. In addition to these uses, -t also functions as a diminutive, pejorative, and/or singulative marker in some languages.
Afroasiatic languages have a variety of ways of marking plurals; in some branches, nouns change gender from singular to plural (gender polarity), while in others, plural forms are ungendered. In addition to marking plurals via a number of affixes (with the suffixes -*uu/-*w and -*n(a) widely attested), several AA languages make use of internal vowel change (apophony) and/or insertion (epenthesis). These so-called "internal-a" or "broken" plurals are securely attested in Semitic, Berber, Cushitic, and Chadic, although it is unclear if the Chadic examples are an independent development. Another common method of forming plurals is reduplication.
==== Noun cases and states ====
Nouns cases are found in the Semitic, Berber, Cushitic, and Omotic branches. They are not found in Chadic languages, and there is no evidence for cases in Egyptian. A common pattern in AA languages with case is for the nominative to be marked by -u or -i, and the accusative to be marked by -a. However, the number and types of cases varies across AA and also within the individual branches. Some languages in AA have a marked nominative alignment, a feature which may date back to Proto-Afroasiatic. Zygmont Frajzyngier states that a general characteristic of case marking in AA languages is that it tends to mark roles such as genitive, dative, locative, etc. rather than the subject and object.
A second category, which partially overlaps with case, is the AA linguistic category of "state". Linguists use the term "state" to refer to different things in different languages. In Cushitic and Semitic, nouns exist in the "free state" or the "construct state". The construct state is a special, usually reduced form of a noun, which is used when the noun is possessed by another noun (Semitic) or is modified by an adjective or relative clause (Cushitic). Edward Lipiński refers to Semitic nouns as having four states: absolute (free/indeterminate), construct, determinate, and predicate. Coptic and Egyptian grammar also refers to nouns having a "free" (absolute) state, a "construct state", and a "pronominal state". The construct state is used when a noun becomes unstressed as the first element of a compound, whereas the pronominal state is used when the noun has a suffixed possessive pronoun. Berber instead contrasts between the "free state" and the "annexed state", the latter of which is used for a variety of purposes, including for subjects placed after a verb and after certain prepositions.
=== Modifiers and agreement ===
There is no strict distinction between adjectives, nouns, and adverbs in Afroasiatic. All branches of Afroasiatic have a lexical category of adjectives except for Chadic; some Chadic languages do have adjectives, however. In Berber languages, adjectives are rare and are mostly replaced by nouns of quality and stative verbs. In different languages, adjectives (and other modifiers) must either precede or follow the noun. In most AA languages, numerals precede the noun.
In those languages that have adjectives, they can take gender and number markings, which, in some cases, agree with the gender and number of the noun they are modifying. However, in Omotic, adjectives do not agree with nouns: sometimes, they take gender and number marking only when they are used as nouns, in other cases, they take gender and number marking only when they follow the noun (the noun then receives no marking).
A widespread pattern of gender and number marking in Afroasiatic, found on demonstratives, articles, adjectives, and relative markers, is a consonant N for masculine, T for feminine, and N for plural. This can be found in Semitic, Egyptian, Beja, Berber, and Chadic. A system K (masculine), T (feminine), and H (plural) can be found in Cushitic, Chadic, with masculine K also appearing in Omotic. The feminine marker T is one of the most consistent aspects across the different branches of AA.
=== Verb forms ===
==== Tenses, aspects, and moods (TAMs) ====
There is no agreement about which tenses, aspects, or moods (TAMs) Proto-Afroasiatic might have had. Most grammars of AA posit a distinction between perfective and imperfective verbal aspects, which can be found in Cushitic, Berber, Semitic, most Chadic languages, and some Omotic languages. The Egyptian verbal system diverges greatly from that found in the other branches. Additionally, it is common in Afroasiatic languages for the present/imperfective form to be a derived (marked) form of the verb, whereas in most other languages and language families the present tense is the default form of the verb. Another common trait across the family is the use of a suppletive imperative for verbs of motion.
==== "Prefix conjugation" ====
Conjugation of verbs using prefixes that mark person, number, and gender can be found
in Semitic, Berber, and in Cushitic, where it is only found on a small set of frequent verbs. These prefixes are clearly cognate across the branches, although their use within the verbal systems of the individual languages varies. There is a general pattern in which n- is used for the first person plural, whereas t- is used for all forms of the second person regardless of plurality or gender, as well as feminine singular. Prefixes of ʔ- (glottal stop) for the first person singular and y- for the third person masculine can also be reconstructed. As there is no evidence for the "prefix conjugation" in Omotic, Chadic, or Egyptian, it is unclear whether this was a Proto-Afroasiatic feature that has been lost in those branches or is a shared innovation among Semitic, Berber, and Cushitic.
==== "Suffix conjugation" ====
Some AA branches have what is called a "suffix conjugation", formed by adding pronominal suffixes to indicate person, gender, and number to a verbal adjective. In Akkadian, Egyptian, Berber, and Cushitic this forms a "stative conjugation", used to express the state or result of an action; the same endings as in Akkadian and Egyptian are also present in the West Semitic perfective verb form. In Akkadian and Egyptian, the suffixes appear to be reduced forms of the independent pronouns (see Pronouns); the obvious correspondence between the endings in the two branches has been argued to show that Egyptian and Semitic are closely related. While some scholars posit an AA origin for this form, it is possible that the Berber and Cushitic forms are independent developments, as they show significant differences from the Egyptian and Semitic forms. The Cushitic forms in particular may be derived from morphology found in subordinate clauses.
=== Common derivational affixes ===
==== M-prefix noun derivation ====
A prefix in m- is the most widely attested affix in AA that is used to derive nouns, and is one of the features Joseph Greenberg used to diagnose membership in the family. It forms agent nouns, place nouns, and instrument nouns. In some branches, it can also derive abstract nouns and participles. Omotic, meanwhile, shows evidence for a non-productive prefix mV- associated with the feminine gender. Christopher Ehret has argued that this prefix is a later development that was not present in Proto-Afro-Asiatic, but rather derived from a PAA indefinite pronoun *m-. Such an etymology is rejected by A. Zaborski and Gábor Takács, the latter of whom argues for a PAA *ma- that unites all or some of the meanings in the modern languages.
==== Verbal extensions ====
Many AA languages use prefixes or suffixes (verbal extensions) to encode various pieces of information about the verb. Three derivational prefixes can be reconstructed for Proto-Afroasiatic: *s- 'causative', *t- 'middle voice' or 'reflexive', and *n- 'passive'; the prefixes appear with various related meanings in the individual daughter languages and branches. Christopher Ehret has proposed that Proto-Afroasiatic originally had as many as thirty-seven separate verbal extensions, many of which then became fossilized as third consonants. This theory has been criticized by some, such as Andrzej Zaborski and Alan Kaye, as being too many extensions to be realistic, though Zygmunt Frajzyngier and Erin Shay note that some Chadic languages have as many as twelve extensions.
==== "Nisba" derivation ====
The so-called "Nisba" is a suffix used to derive adjectives from nouns and, in Egyptian, also from prepositions. It is found in Egyptian, Semitic, and possibly, in some relic forms, Berber. The suffix has the same basic form in Egyptian and Semitic, taking the form -i(y) in Semitic and being written -j in Egyptian. The Semitic and Cushitic genitive case in -i/-ii may be related to "nisba" adjective derivation.
Due to its presence in the oldest attested and best-known AA branches, nisba derivation is often thought of as a "quintessentially Afroasiatic feature". Christopher Ehret argues for its presence in Proto-Afroasiatic and for its attestation in some form in all branches, with a shape -*ay in addition to -*iy in some cases.
== Vocabulary comparison ==
=== Pronouns ===
The forms of the pronouns are very stable throughout Afroasiatic (excluding Omotic), and they have been used as one of the chief tools for determining whether a language belongs to the family. However, there is no consensus on what the reconstructed set of Afroasiatic pronouns might have looked like. A common characteristic of AA languages is the existence of a special set of "independent" pronouns, which are distinct from subject pronouns. They can occur together with subject pronouns but cannot fulfill an object function. Also common are dependent/affix pronouns (used for direct objects and to mark possession). For most branches, the first person pronouns contain a nasal consonant (n, m), whereas the third person displays a sibilant consonant (s, sh). Other commonalities are masculine and feminine forms used in both the second and third persons, except in Cushitic and Omotic. These pronouns tend to show a masculine "u" and a feminine "i". The Omotic forms of the personal pronouns differ from the others, with only the plural forms in North Omotic appearing potentially to be cognate.
=== Numerals ===
Unlike in the Indo-European or Austronesian language families, numerals in AA languages cannot be traced to a proto-system. The Cushitic and Chadic numeral systems appear to have originally been base 5. The system in Berber, Egyptian, and Semitic, however, has independent words for the numbers 6–9. Thus, it is possible that the numerals in Egyptian, Berber, and Semitic are more closely related, whereas the Cushitic and Chadic numerals are more closely related to each other. Modern Chadic numeral systems are sometimes decimal, having separate names for the numbers 1–10, and sometimes base-5, deriving the numbers 6–9 from the numbers 1–5 in some way. Some families show more than one word for a numeral: Chadic, Semitic, and Berber each have two words for two, and Semitic has four words for one. Andrzej Zaborski further notes that the numbers "one", "two", and "five" are particularly susceptible to replacement by new words, with "five" often based on a word meaning "hand".
Another factor making comparisons of AA numeral systems difficult is the possibility of borrowing. Only some Berber languages maintain the native Berber numeral system, with many using Arabic loans for higher numbers and some from any numeral beyond two. In some Berber languages, the roots for one and two are also borrowed from Arabic. Some South Cushitic numerals are borrowed from Nilotic languages, other Cushitic numerals have been borrowed from Ethiopian Semitic languages.
=== Cognates ===
Afroasiatic languages share a vocabulary of Proto-Afroasiatic origin to varying extents. Writing in 2004, John Huehnergard notes the great difficulty in establishing cognate sets across the family. Identifying cognates is difficult because the languages in question are often separated by thousands of years of development and many languages within the family have long been in contact with each other, raising the possibility of loanwords. Work is also hampered because of the poor state of documentation of many languages.
There are two etymological dictionaries of Afroasiatic, one by Christopher Ehret, and one by Vladimir Orel and Olga Stolbova, both from 1995. Both works provide highly divergent reconstructions and have been heavily criticized by other scholars. Andrzej Zaborski refers to Orel and Stolbova's reconstructions as "controversial", and Ehret's as "not acceptable to many scholars". Tom Güldemann argues that much comparative work in Afroasiatic suffers from not attempting first to reconstruct smaller units within the individual branches, but instead comparing words in the individual languages. Nevertheless, both dictionaries agree on some items and some proposed cognates are uncontroversial. Such cognates tend to rely on relatively simple sound correspondences.
Abbreviations: PEC='Proto-Eastern Cushitic'. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_NFL_draft | 1980 NFL draft | The 1980 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 29–30, 1980, at the New York Sheraton Hotel in New York City, New York. The league also held a supplemental draft after the regular draft and before the regular season. With the first overall pick of the draft, the Detroit Lions selected running back Billy Sims.
This draft is notable as the first that the nascent ESPN network (which had first gone on the air seven months earlier) aired in its entirety, and the first to be televised.
== Player selections ==
== Hall of Famers ==
Anthony Muñoz, offensive tackle from Southern California, taken 1st round 3rd overall by Cincinnati Bengals
Inducted: Professional Football Hall of Fame class of 1998.
Dwight Stephenson, center from Alabama, taken 2nd round 48th overall by Miami Dolphins
Inducted: Professional Football Hall of Fame class of 1998.
Art Monk, wide receiver from Syracuse, taken 1st round 18th overall by Washington Redskins
Inducted: Professional Football Hall of Fame class of 2008.
Steve McMichael, defensive tackle from Texas, taken 3rd round 73rd overall by the New England Patriots.
Inducted: Professional Football Hall of Fame Class of 2024.
== Notable undrafted players == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterville,_Maine | Waterville, Maine | Waterville is a city in Kennebec County, Maine, United States, on the west bank of the Kennebec River. A college town, the city is home to Colby College, a NESCAC college, and Thomas College.
As of the 2020 census the population was 15,828. Along with Augusta, Waterville is one of the principal cities of the Augusta-Waterville, ME Micropolitan Statistical Area.
== History ==
The area now known as Waterville was once inhabited by the Canibas tribe of the Abenaki people. Called "Taconnet" after Chief Taconnet, the main village was located on the east bank of the Kennebec River at its confluence with the Sebasticook River at what is now Winslow. Known as "Ticonic" by English settlers, it was burned in 1692 during King William's War, after which the Canibas tribe abandoned the area. Fort Halifax was built by General John Winslow in 1754, and the last skirmish with indigenous peoples occurred on May 18, 1757.
The township would be organized as Kingfield Plantation, then incorporated as Winslow in 1771. When residents on the west side of the Kennebec found themselves unable to cross the river to attend town meetings, Waterville was founded from the western parts of Winslow and incorporated on June 23, 1802. In 1824 a bridge was built joining the communities. Early industries included fishing, lumbering, agriculture and ship building, with larger boats launched in spring during freshets. By the early 1900s, there were five shipyards in the community.
Ticonic Falls blocked navigation farther upriver, so Waterville developed as the terminus for trade and shipping. The Kennebec River and Messalonskee Stream provided water power for mills, including several sawmills, a gristmill, a sash and blind factory, a furniture factory, and a shovel handle factory. There was also a carriage and sleigh factory, boot shop, brickyard, and tannery. On September 27, 1849, the Androscoggin and Kennebec Railroad opened to Waterville. It would become part of the Maine Central Railroad, which in 1870 established locomotive and car repair shops in the thriving mill town. West Waterville (renamed Oakland) was set off as a town in 1873. Waterville was incorporated as a city on January 12, 1888.
The Ticonic Water Power & Manufacturing Company was formed in 1866 and soon built a dam across the Kennebec. After a change of ownership in 1873, the company began construction on what would become the Lockwood Manufacturing Company, a cotton textile plant. A second mill was added, and by 1900 the firm dominated the riverfront and employed 1,300 workers. Lockwood Mills survived until the mid-1950s. The iron Waterville-Winslow Footbridge opened in 1901, as a means for Waterville residents to commute to Winslow for work in the Hollingsworth & Whitney Co. and Wyandotte Worsted Co. mills, but in less than a year was carried away by the highest river level since 1832. Rebuilt in 1903, it would be called the Two Cent Bridge because of its toll. In 1902, the Beaux-Arts style City Hall and Opera House designed by George Gilman Adams was dedicated. In 2002, the C.F. Hathaway Company, one of the last remaining factories in the United States producing high-end dress shirts, was purchased by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway company and was closed after over 160 years of operation in the city.
Waterville also developed as an educational center. In 1813, the Maine Literary and Theological Institution was established. It would be renamed Waterville College in 1821, then Colby College in 1867. Thomas College was established in 1894. The Latin School was founded in 1820 to prepare students to attend Colby and other colleges, and was subsequently named Waterville Academy, Waterville Classical Institute, and Coburn Classical Institute; the Institute merged with the Oak Grove School in Vassalboro in 1970, and remained open until 1989. The first public high school was built in 1877, while the current Waterville Senior High School was built in 1961.
== Geography ==
Waterville is in northern Kennebec County, in central Maine, at 44°33′07″N 69°38′45″W. Its northern boundary is the Somerset County line.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 14.05 square miles (36.39 km2), of which 13.58 square miles (35.17 km2) is land and 0.47 square miles (1.22 km2), or 3.36%, is water. Situated beside the Kennebec River, Waterville is drained by the Messalonskee Stream.
Waterville is served by Interstate 95, U.S. Route 201, and Maine State Routes 137 and 104. It is bordered by Fairfield on the north in Somerset County, Winslow on the east, Sidney on the south and Oakland on the west.
=== Climate ===
This climatic region is typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and cold (sometimes severely cold) winters. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Waterville has a humid continental climate, abbreviated "Dfb" on climate maps.
== Demographics ==
=== 2010 census ===
As of the census of 2010, there were 15,722 people, 6,370 households, and 3,274 families living in the city. The population density was 1,157.7 inhabitants per square mile (447.0/km2). There were 7,065 housing units at an average density of 520.3 per square mile (200.9/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 93.9% White, 1.1% African American, 0.6% Native American, 1.2% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 0.8% from other races, and 2.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.4% of the population.
There were 6,370 households, of which 24.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 32.9% were married couples living together, 13.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.8% had a male householder with no wife present, and 48.6% were non-families. Of all households 38.9% were made up of individuals, and 15.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.13 and the average family size was 2.80.
The median age in the city was 36.8 years. 17.9% of residents were under the age of 18; 18.9% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 21.7% were from 25 to 44; 24.7% were from 45 to 64; and 16.7% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 46.8% male and 53.2% female.
=== 2000 census ===
As of the census of 2000, there were 15,605 people, 6,218 households, and 3,370 families living in the city. The population density was 1,148.7 inhabitants per square mile (443.5/km2). There were 6,819 housing units at an average density of 501.9 per square mile (193.8/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 95.81% White, 0.78% African American, 0.56% Native American, 1.03% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.42% from other races, and 1.36% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.10% of the population. 32% reported French and French Canadian ancestry, 18% English, 11% Irish, and 6% German.
There were 6,218 households, out of which 26.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.2% were married couples living together, 12.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 45.8% were non-families. Of all households 38.6% were made up of individuals, and 16.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.13 and the average family size was 2.84.
In the city, the population was spread out, with 19.7% under the age of 18, 18.5% from 18 to 24, 24.1% from 25 to 44, 19.5% from 45 to 64, and 18.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 85.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.7 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $26,816, and the median income for a family was $38,052. Males had a median income of $30,086 versus $22,037 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,430. 19.2% of the population and 15.1% of families were below the federal poverty level. Statewide, 10.9% of the population was below the poverty level. In Kennebec County, 11.1% of the population was below the federal poverty level. Thus, although the county poverty rate was close to the state poverty rate, the poverty rate for Waterville was higher—typical for a regional center whose suburbs had grown in population.
Out of the total population, 29.7% of those under the age of 18 and 14.7% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.
== Economy and redevelopment ==
Waterville's economy has undergone significant transformation since the decline of traditional manufacturing industries. The city's median household income was $47,489 in 2023, with 17% of families living below the poverty line. The unemployment rate was 2.9% as of recent estimates, though the city faces economic challenges with 24.3% of residents living in poverty classified as unemployed.
=== Major employers ===
Waterville's largest employers include MaineGeneral Medical Center, Colby College, HealthReach Community Health Centers, Northern Light Inland Hospital, Hannaford Supermarket, Shaw's Supermarket, Walmart, Mount St. Joseph Nursing Home, Kennebec Valley Community Action Program, Thomas College, the City of Waterville, The Woodlands Residential Care, and Central Maine Newspapers. The presence of two colleges contributes significantly to the local economy, with Colby College alone investing over $70 million in downtown development since 2015.
=== Suburban development and downtown challenges ===
Like many American cities, Waterville has experienced suburban sprawl and downtown decline in recent decades. New commercial development has concentrated in the northern part of the city, including a Walmart, Home Depot, and strip mall shopping center on Kennedy Memorial Drive. This growth has contributed to the renovation of the existing Elm Plaza shopping center, which has filled previous vacancies.
The downtown area has faced challenges from chain store growth and retail shifts. Historic downtown businesses including Levine's, Butlers, Sterns, Dunhams, Alvina and Delias, and LaVerdieres have closed in recent decades. The Concourse shopping center, which formerly housed Ames and Zayre department stores as well as Brooks Pharmacy, has struggled to find tenants. A CVS pharmacy relocated from its Main Street location to a new building on Kennedy Memorial Drive.
=== Downtown revitalization ===
A comprehensive downtown revitalization effort has transformed Waterville's city center since 2015. The initiative represents a partnership between Colby College, the City of Waterville, and the Maine Department of Transportation, with more than $200 million in combined investment from the college, private investors, and small businesses. The project included an $11.2 million infrastructure improvement that converted one-way streets back to two-way traffic, enhanced walkways, lighting, and landscaping, and created new public spaces.
Key developments include the $26 million Lockwood Hotel, which opened in August 2022 as downtown's first new hotel in over a century. The 53-room hotel, developed by Colby College and managed by Charlestowne Hotels, features the Front & Main restaurant. The $18 million Paul J. Schupf Art Center opened in December 2022 as a 32,000-square-foot facility housing visual and performing arts programs, serving as headquarters for Waterville Creates and operated in partnership with Colby College.
Waterville Main Street, designated as a Main Street Maine community in 2001 and accredited annually by the National Main Street Center, coordinates ongoing revitalization efforts through economic development, design improvement, promotion, and organizational initiatives.
=== Industrial redevelopment ===
The historic Hathaway Mill complex has undergone extensive redevelopment for mixed-use purposes. Developer Paul Boghossian initially converted portions of the former C.F. Hathaway Company textile facility to retail, office, and residential use, with MaineGeneral Health becoming the first tenant in 2007.
North River Co. acquired the Hathaway Creative Center in 2017 for $20.1 million and subsequently purchased additional mill buildings in 2019 for $1.5 million. The company is developing a $40 million project to convert the former Lockwood Mill at 6 Water Street into 65 affordable housing units, funded through low-income housing tax credits, federal and state historic tax credits, and $1 million in American Rescue Plan Act financing. The project is expected to have significant economic impact through increased housing stock, population growth, and downtown foot traffic.
== Government ==
=== Local government ===
Waterville has a mayor and council-manager form of government, led by a mayor and a seven-member city council. The city council is the governing board, and the city manager is the chief administrative officer of the city, responsible for the management of all city affairs.
Waterville adopted a city charter in the 1970s. For some 40 years, the city had a "strong mayor" system in which the mayor enjoyed broad executive powers, including the power to veto measures passed by the city council and to line-item veto budget items passed by the council. In 2005, the charter was substantially revised, changing the city government to a "weak mayor" council-manager system. Under the present system, the city manager is the chief executive. The charter revision was approved by city voters by a 4–1 margin. The city is currently divided into seven geographic wards, each of which elects one member of the Waterville City Council and one member of the Waterville School Board.
Since 1970, the following people have served as mayor of Waterville: Richard "Spike" Carey (1970–1978), Paul Laverdiere (Republican, 1978–1982); Ann Gilbride Hill (Democrat, 1982–1986); Thomas Nale (1986–1987); Judy C. Kany (Democrat, 1988–1989); David E. Bernier (1990–1993); Thomas J. Brazier (1994–1995); Nelson Megna (1995–1996); Ruth Joseph (Democrat, 1996–1998); Nelson Madore (Democrat, 1999–2004); Paul R. LePage (Republican, 2004–2011); Dana W. Sennett (Democrat, 2011); Karen Heck (independent, 2012–2014); Nicholas Isgro (Republican, 2015–2020); Jay Coelho (2021–present).
In 2018, Isgro faced a recall election after he made a Twitter post insulting a gun control activist present during the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida. The recall effort was backed by former Mayor Karen Heck, a Democrat who had previously endorsed Isgro. Isgro later made his Twitter feed private and said that he had deleted the post. During the recall effort, Isgro asserted that outside interests and the City Council were plotting to oust him over disputes over the city budget and taxation. After an acrimonious recall campaign, Waterville voters defeated the recall attempt, with 1,563 "no" votes (51%) to 1,472 "yes" votes (49%).
=== Political makeup ===
Waterville is considered a Democratic stronghold in Maine's 1st congressional district. Barack Obama received 70% of Waterville's votes in the 2008 presidential election.
Voter registration
== Transportation ==
Robert LaFleur Airport
Interstate 95
US Route 201
State Route 100A
State Route 137
State Route 32
State Route 137 Business
State Route 11
State Route 104
Pan Am Railways – Waterville Intermodal Facility
== Education ==
Waterville Public Schools provides the city primary and secondary education. It was a part of Kennebec Valley Consolidated Schools (AOS92) from 2009 to 2018.
Kennebec Valley Community College in Fairfield is the local public community college. Colby College and Thomas College are private 4-year colleges located in the city. Colby is the third highest ranked liberal arts college in Maine, according to U.S. News.
== Media ==
Waterville is home to one daily newspaper, the Morning Sentinel, and a weekly college newspaper, The Colby Echo. The city is also home to Fox affiliate WPFO and Daystar rebroadcaster WFYW-LP, both serving the Portland market, and to several radio stations, including Colby's WMHB, country WEBB, and MPBN on 91.3 FM.
The 2001 satirical comedy movie Wet Hot American Summer is set in a fictional summer camp near Waterville, with some scenes taking place in the city. The movie was filmed in Pennsylvania, but signs displaying "Waterville Maine Est. 1802 Pop. 17,173" and "Waterville C.B. Radio Supply Inc." are shown in these scenes. Gary, a character played by A. D. Miles, asks, "Hey, guys, how was Waterville?" after the group returns to camp from the city.
== Sister cities ==
Kotlas, Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia
== Sites of interest ==
Colby College
Colby College Museum of Art
Thomas College
Atlantic Music Festival
Maine International Film Festival
Old Waterville High School
Old Waterville Post Office
Perkins Arboretum
Waterville Historical Society - Redington Museum
Waterville Public Library
Waterville Opera House
Waterville Main Street
Waterville – Winslow Footbridge (Two Cent Bridge)
== Notable people == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic_(1997_film) | Titanic (1997 film) | Titanic is a 1997 American epic historical romance film written and directed by James Cameron. Incorporating both historical and fictional aspects, it is based on accounts of the sinking of RMS Titanic in 1912. Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet star as members of different social classes who fall in love during the ship's ill-fated maiden voyage. The ensemble cast includes Billy Zane, Kathy Bates, Frances Fisher, Bernard Hill, Jonathan Hyde, Danny Nucci, David Warner and Bill Paxton.
Cameron's inspiration came from his fascination with shipwrecks. He felt a love story interspersed with human loss would be essential to convey the emotional impact of the disaster. Production began on September 1, 1995, when Cameron shot footage of the Titanic wreck. The modern scenes were shot on board the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology research vessel Akademik Mstislav Keldysh, which Cameron had used as a base when filming the wreck. Scale models, computer-generated imagery (CGI), and a reconstruction of the Titanic built at Baja Studios were used to recreate the sinking. Titanic was initially in development at 20th Century Fox, but delays and a mounting budget resulted in Fox partnering with Paramount Pictures for financial help. It was the most expensive film ever made at the time, with a production budget of $200 million. Filming took place from July 1996 to March 1997.
Titanic premiered at the Tokyo International Film Festival on November 1, 1997, and was released in the United States on December 19. It was distributed by Paramount Pictures in the United States and Canada and by 20th Century Fox in other territories. It was praised for its visual effects, performances (particularly those of DiCaprio, Winslet, and Gloria Stuart), production values, direction, score, cinematography, story, and emotional depth. Among other awards, the film received fourteen nominations at the 70th Academy Awards and won eleven, including Best Picture and Best Director. In doing so, it tied both All About Eve (1950) for the record for the most Academy Award nominations, and Ben-Hur (1959) for the most Academy Awards won by a film, making Titanic the most successful individual film in Academy Award history (these records would be matched by 2016's La La Land and 2003's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King respectively, although the nomination record was surpassed by 2025's Sinners in 2026). With an initial worldwide gross of over $1.84 billion, Titanic was the first film to reach the billion-dollar mark (1993's Jurassic Park would later become the earliest film to achieve the feat via re-releases), and was the highest-grossing film of all time until Cameron's next film, Avatar (2009), surpassed it in 2010. Income from the initial theatrical release, retail video, and soundtrack sales and US broadcast rights exceeded $3.2 billion. Releases pushed the worldwide theatrical total to $2.264 billion, making Titanic the second film to gross more than $2 billion worldwide after Avatar; as of 2023, it is the fourth-highest-grossing film. In 2017, the Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
== Plot ==
In 1996, aboard the research vessel Akademik Mstislav Keldysh, treasure hunter Brock Lovett and his team explore the wreck of RMS Titanic, hoping to find a necklace known as the Heart of the Ocean. Instead, they recover a safe containing a drawing of a young woman wearing the necklace. The sketch is dated April 14, 1912, the day the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank, resulting in about 1,500 deaths. After seeing a television report about the discovery, centenarian Rose Dawson Calvert contacts Lovett, revealing she is the woman in the drawing. Hoping she can help locate the necklace, Lovett brings Rose and her granddaughter aboard the Keldysh, where Rose recounts her experience on Titanic.
In 1912, 17-year-old Rose DeWitt Bukater boards the Titanic in Southampton with her wealthy fiancé, Cal Hockley, and her mother, Ruth. Rose is unhappy in the loveless engagement, but Ruth stresses that the marriage will resolve their financial problems. Rose contemplates suicide by jumping from the ship's stern, but is stopped by Jack Dawson, a poor nomadic artist. Jack and Rose form a friendship, and Jack confesses his feelings for her. Though initially resistant, Rose realizes she has fallen in love with Jack, despite Cal's and Ruth's disapproval.
Rose brings Jack to her stateroom and asks him to draw her nude wearing only the necklace. Afterward, they evade Cal's valet, Spicer Lovejoy, and have sex in a car in the cargo hold. On the forward deck, they witness the ship's collision with an iceberg and overhear officers discussing the severity of the situation. When Cal discovers Jack's sketch of Rose, he has Lovejoy plant the necklace on Jack, framing him for theft. Jack is arrested and locked in the master-at-arms' office, and Cal pockets the necklace.
As Titanic sinks, women and children are prioritized for the lifeboats. Rose rescues Jack and they return to the deck, where Cal urges Rose to board a lifeboat, claiming he and Jack will board another. Cal unwittingly wraps his coat, containing the necklace, around her. As her lifeboat is lowered, Rose jumps back onto the ship, unwilling to leave Jack behind. Enraged, Cal grabs a pistol and chases them through the flooding ship, but gives up when they escape. Cal joins a lifeboat by pretending to be a child's father.
As the flooded bow sinks, the stern rises into the air and Jack and Rose cling to the railing. The ship splits in two, and the stern sinks into the freezing water with the remaining passengers. Jack helps Rose onto floating debris and makes her promise to survive and live a full life. Jack dies from hypothermia, but Rose is saved by a returning lifeboat and rescued by the RMS Carpathia. Rose hides from Cal and her mother and gives her name as Rose Dawson on her arrival in New York City.
In the present, Rose reveals that Cal committed suicide after losing his fortune in the 1929 stock market crash. She tells the Keldysh crew that Jack saved her in every possible way, and laments that her memories are all that she has left of him. Touched by her account, Lovett abandons his search for the necklace. Alone at night on the stern of the Keldysh, Rose, who has kept the necklace in her possession, drops it into the sea above the wreck. Later, as she lies in her bed, photographs on her dresser depict a life of freedom and adventure inspired by Jack. Aboard the pristine Titanic, a young Rose reunites with Jack at the Grand Staircase, applauded by the passengers and crew who died in the sinking.
== Cast ==
=== Fictional characters ===
Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, an itinerant, poor orphan from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, who has travelled the world, including Paris. He wins two third-class tickets for the Titanic in a poker game and travels with his friend Fabrizio. He is attracted to Rose at first sight. Her fiancé's invitation to dine with them the next evening enables Jack to mix with first-class passengers for a night. Cameron's original choice for the role was River Phoenix; however, he died in 1993. Although Jack was a fictional character, in Fairview Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where 121 Titanic victims are buried, there is a grave labeled "J. Dawson". The producers did not know of the real J. Dawson until after the film was released.
Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater, a 17-year-old girl from Philadelphia, who is forced into an engagement to billionaire Cal Hockley so she and her mother, Ruth, can maintain their high-class status after her father's death left the family debt-ridden. Rose boards Titanic with Cal and Ruth as a first-class passenger and meets Jack.
Gloria Stuart as the modern-day Rose Dawson Calvert. Rose narrates the film in a framing device. The elderly Rose was partly inspired by the American artist Beatrice Wood.
Billy Zane as Caledon "Cal" Hockley, Rose's arrogant and snobbish 30-year-old fiancé, who is the heir to a Pittsburgh steel fortune. He is resentful of Rose's affection for Jack.
Frances Fisher as Ruth DeWitt Bukater, Rose's widowed mother, who arranges Rose's engagement to Cal to maintain her family's high-society status. Like many aristocratic passengers portrayed in the film, her disposition is elitist and frivolous. She loves her daughter but believes that social position is more important than having a loving marriage. She strongly dislikes Jack, even though he saved her daughter's life.
Bill Paxton as Brock Lovett, a treasure hunter looking for the Heart of the Ocean in the wreck of the Titanic in the present. Time and funding for his expedition are running out. He reflects at the conclusion that, despite thinking about Titanic for three years, he has never understood it until he hears Rose's story.
Suzy Amis as Elizabeth "Lizzy" Calvert, Rose's granddaughter, who accompanies her when she visits Lovett on the ship and learns of her grandmother's romantic past with Jack Dawson.
Danny Nucci as Fabrizio De Rossi, Jack's Italian best friend, who boards Titanic with him after Jack wins two tickets in a poker game. Fabrizio fails to board a lifeboat when the Titanic sinks and is killed when one of the ship's funnels breaks and crashes into the water, crushing him and several other passengers to death.
David Warner as Spicer Lovejoy, an ex-Pinkerton constable and Cal's English valet and bodyguard. He monitors Rose and is suspicious about the circumstances surrounding Jack rescuing her. He dies when the Titanic splits in half, causing him to fall into a massive opening. Warner also appeared in the 1979 TV miniseries S.O.S. Titanic, portraying passenger Lawrence Beesley.
Jason Barry as Tommy Ryan, an Irish third-class passenger who befriends Jack and Fabrizio. Tommy is killed when he is accidentally pushed forward and shot by a panicked First Officer Murdoch.
Alexandrea Owens-Sarno as Cora Cartmell, a young third-class girl who dances with Jack at the Irish party. In a deleted scene, Cora and her family drowned after they were trapped at the locked third-class gate.
Camilla Overbye Roos as Helga Dahl, a Norwegian immigrant and third-class passenger who falls in love with Fabrizio. While most of her scenes were cut and the secondary significance of her character was drastically reduced from the original screenplay to the final theatrical cut, Helga is most notably seen clinging onto the rail of the ship's stern with Jack and Rose before slipping into the frigid waters below.
Amy Gaipa as Trudy Bolt, Rose's personal maid.
=== Historical characters ===
Although not intended to be an entirely accurate depiction of events, the film includes portrayals of various historical figures:
Kathy Bates as Margaret "Molly" Brown. Brown is looked down upon by other first-class women, including Ruth, as "vulgar" and "new money". She is friendly to Jack and lends him a suit of evening clothes (bought for her son) when he is invited to dinner in the first-class dining saloon. She was dubbed the Unsinkable Molly Brown by historians because, with the support of other women, she commandeered Lifeboat 6 from Quartermaster Robert Hichens. Some aspects of this altercation are portrayed in Cameron's film.
Victor Garber as Thomas Andrews, the ship's builder. Andrews is portrayed as a kind, decent man who is modest about his grand achievement. After the collision, he tries to convince the others, particularly Ismay, that it is a "mathematical certainty" that the ship will sink. He is depicted during the sinking of the ship as standing next to the clock in the first-class smoking room, lamenting his failure to build a strong and safe ship. Although this has become one of the most famous legends of the sinking of the Titanic, this story, which was published in a 1912 book (Thomas Andrews: Shipbuilder) and thereafter perpetuated, came from John Stewart, a steward on the ship who in fact left the ship in boat no.15 at approximately 1:40 a.m. There were testimonies of sightings of Andrews after that moment. It appears that Andrews stayed in the smoking room for some time to gather his thoughts; he then continued assisting with the evacuation.
Bernard Hill as Captain Edward John Smith. Smith planned to make the Titanic his final voyage before retiring. He retreats into the wheelhouse on the bridge as the ship sinks, dying when the windows burst from the water pressure whilst he clings to the ship's wheel. There are conflicting accounts as to whether he died in this manner or later froze to death in the water near the capsized collapsible lifeboat B.
Jonathan Hyde as J. Bruce Ismay, White Star Line's ignorant, boorish managing director. With the prospect of an earlier arrival in New York and favorable press attention, Ismay influences Captain Smith to go faster; although this situation appears in popular portrayals of the disaster, it is unsupported by evidence. After the collision, he struggles to comprehend that his "unsinkable" ship is doomed. Ismay later boards Collapsible C (one of the last lifeboats to leave the ship) just before it is lowered. He was branded a coward by the press and public for surviving the disaster while many women and children drowned.
Eric Braeden as John Jacob Astor IV, a first-class passenger and the richest man on the ship. Rose introduces Jack to Astor and his 18-year-old wife, Madeleine (Charlotte Chatton), in the first-class dining saloon. During the introduction, Astor asks whether Jack is connected to the "Boston Dawsons", a question Jack deflects by saying that he is instead affiliated with the Chippewa Falls Dawsons. Astor is last seen as the glass dome over the Grand Staircase implodes and water surges in.
Bernard Fox as Colonel Archibald Gracie IV. The film depicts Gracie making a comment to Cal that "women and machinery don't mix" and congratulating Jack for saving Rose from falling off the ship, unaware that Jack saved Rose from a suicide attempt. He is later seen offering to lead Jack and Rose to the remaining lifeboats during the sinking. Fox portrayed Frederick Fleet in the 1958 film A Night to Remember.
Michael Ensign as Benjamin Guggenheim, a mining magnate traveling in first class. He shows off his French mistress, Madame Aubert (Fannie Brett), to his fellow passengers while his wife and three daughters wait for him at home. When Jack joins the first-class passengers for dinner after rescuing Rose, Guggenheim refers to him as a "bohemian". Guggenheim is seen in the flooding Grand Staircase during the sinking, saying he is prepared to go down as a gentleman.
Jonathan Evans-Jones as Wallace Hartley, the ship's bandmaster and violinist, who plays uplifting music with his colleagues on the boat deck as the ship sinks. As the final plunge begins, he leads the band in a final performance of "Nearer, My God, to Thee", to the tune of "Bethany", and dies in the sinking.
Mark Lindsay Chapman as Chief Officer Henry Wilde, the ship's chief officer, who lets Cal board a lifeboat because he has a child in his arms. Before he dies, he tries to get boats to return to the sinking site to rescue passengers by blowing his whistle. After he freezes to death, Rose uses his whistle to attract the attention of Fifth Officer Lowe, leading to her rescue.
Ewan Stewart as First Officer William Murdoch, the officer in charge of the bridge when the Titanic struck an iceberg. During a rush for the lifeboats, Murdoch shoots Tommy Ryan, as well as another passenger, in a momentary panic, and then commits suicide by shooting himself in the head. When Murdoch's nephew Scott saw the film, he objected to his uncle's portrayal, seeing it as damaging to Murdoch's heroic reputation. A few months later, Fox vice president Scott Neeson went to Dalbeattie, Scotland, where Murdoch lived, to deliver a personal apology, and also presented a £5000 donation to Dalbeattie High School to boost the school's William Murdoch Memorial Prize. Cameron apologized on the DVD commentary, but stated that there were officers who fired gunshots to enforce the "women and children first" policy. According to Cameron, his depiction of Murdoch is that of an "honorable man", not of a man "gone bad" or of a "cowardly murderer". He added, "I'm not sure you'd find that same sense of responsibility and total devotion to duty today. This guy had half of his lifeboats launched before his counterpart on the port side had even launched one. That says something about character and heroism."
Jonathan Phillips as Second Officer Charles Lightoller. Lightoller took charge of the port side evacuation. In the film, Lightoller informs Captain Smith that it will be difficult to see icebergs without breaking water and, after the collision, suggests that the crew begin boarding women and children in the lifeboats. He is seen brandishing a gun and threatening to use it to keep order. He can be seen on top of Collapsible B when the first funnel collapses. Lightoller was the most senior officer to survive the disaster.
Film producer Kevin De La Noy as Third Officer Herbert Pitman, who survived the sinking and manned Lifeboat 5.
Simon Crane as Fourth Officer Joseph Boxhall, the officer in charge of firing flares and manning Lifeboat 2 during the sinking. He is shown on the bridge wings helping the seamen firing the flares.
Ioan Gruffudd as Fifth Officer Harold Lowe, the only officer to lead a lifeboat to retrieve survivors of the sinking from the icy waters. The film depicts Lowe rescuing Rose.
Edward Fletcher as Sixth Officer James Moody, the only junior officer to have died in the sinking. The film depicts Moody admitting Jack and Fabrizio onto the ship only moments before it departs from Southampton. Moody is later shown following Murdoch's orders to put the ship to full speed ahead, and informs Murdoch about the iceberg. He is last seen clinging to one of the davits on the starboard side after having unsuccessfully attempted to launch collapsible A.
James Lancaster as Father Thomas Byles, a second-class passenger and a Catholic priest from England. He is portrayed praying and consoling passengers during the ship's final moments.
Lew Palter and Elsa Raven as Isidor and Ida Straus. Isidor is a former owner of R.H. Macy and Company, a former congressman from New York, and a member of the New York and New Jersey Bridge Commission. During the sinking, the couple were offered seats on a lifeboat together. Isidor refused to go before all women and children had been evacuated, and urged his wife Ida to go ahead. Ida is portrayed refusing to board the lifeboat, saying that she will honor her wedding pledge by staying with Isidor. They are last seen lying on their bed, embracing each other as water fills their stateroom; the real Isidor and Ida Straus were also seen in an embrace, but were actually seated on chairs in the A Deck before being swept by waves as the ship made its final plunge.
Martin Jarvis as Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon, a Scottish baronet who is rescued in Lifeboat 1. Lifeboats 1 and 2 were emergency boats with a capacity of 40. Situated at the forward end of the boat deck, these were kept ready to launch in case of a person falling overboard. On the night of the disaster, Lifeboat 1 was the fourth to be launched, with 12 people aboard, including Duff-Gordon, his wife and her secretary. The baronet was much criticized for his conduct during the incident. It was suggested that he had boarded the emergency boat in violation of the "women and children first" policy, and that the boat had failed to return to rescue those struggling in the water. He offered five pounds to each of the lifeboat's crew, which those critical of his conduct viewed as a bribe. The Duff-Gordons at the time (and his wife's secretary in a letter written at the time and rediscovered in 2007) stated that there had been no women or children waiting to board in the vicinity of the launching of their boat; there is confirmation that lifeboat 1 of the Titanic was almost empty, and that First Officer William Murdoch was apparently glad to offer Duff-Gordon and his wife and her secretary a place (simply to fill it) after they had asked if they could get on. Duff-Gordon denied that his offer of money to the lifeboat crew represented a bribe. The British Board of Trade's inquiry into the disaster accepted Duff-Gordon's denial of bribing the crew, but maintained that, if the emergency boat had rowed towards the people who were in the water, it might very well have been able to rescue some of them.
Rosalind Ayres as Lady Duff-Gordon, a world-famous fashion designer and Sir Cosmo's wife. She is rescued in Lifeboat 1 with her husband. They never lived down rumors that they had forbidden the lifeboat's crew to return to the wreck site in case they would be swamped. Jarvis and Ayres are husband and wife in real life.
Rochelle Rose as Noël Leslie, Countess of Rothes. The Countess is shown to be friendly with Cal and the DeWitt Bukaters. Despite being of a higher status in society than Sir Cosmo and Lady Duff-Gordon, she is kind, and helps row the boat and even looks after the steerage passengers.
Scott G. Anderson as Frederick Fleet, the lookout who saw the iceberg. Fleet escapes the sinking ship aboard Lifeboat 6.
Paul Brightwell as Quartermaster Robert Hichens, one of the six quartermasters and at the ship's wheel at the time of collision. He is in charge of lifeboat 6. He refuses to go back and pick up survivors after the sinking.
Martin East as Reginald Lee, the other lookout in the crow's nest. He survives the sinking.
Gregory Cooke as Jack Phillips, the senior wireless operator whom Captain Smith ordered to send the distress signal upon learning of the ship's foundering.
Craig Kelly as Harold Bride, Titanic's junior wireless operator.
Liam Tuohy as Chief Baker Charles Joughin. The baker appears helping Rose stand up after she falls, following her and Jack to the ship's stern, and finally hanging onto the ship's railing as it sinks, drinking brandy from a flask. According to the real Joughin's testimony, he rode the ship down and stepped into the water without getting his hair wet. He also admitted to hardly feeling the cold, most likely thanks to alcohol. In a deleted scene, he is shown throwing deckchairs overboard, before taking a drink from his bottle.
Terry Forrestal as Chief Engineer Joseph G. Bell: Bell and his men worked throughout the sinking to keep the lights and the power on in order for distress signals to get out. The film portrays Bell and all of the engineers as having died in the bowels of the Titanic; however, there is evidence to suggest that at least some of the engineers were released to come on deck when the flooding became severe. Greaser Frederick Scott testified to seeing eight engineers between approximately 1:50 and 1:55 a.m. standing up against the electric crane on the starboard Boat Deck; by then, all the lifeboats had gone.
Derek Lea as Frederick Barrett: Barrett was the leading stoker aboard the Titanic; he took overall charge of Lifeboat #13, which was nearly crushed by Lifeboat #15 as they were simultaneously lowered.
=== Cameos ===
Several crew members of the Akademik Mstislav Keldysh appear, including Anatoly Sagalevich, the creator and pilot of the Mir self-propelled Deep Submergence Vehicle. Van Ling portrayed real-life Chinese survivor Fang Lang; his backstory inspired Cameron to produce a documentary The Six, based on a group of Chinese survivors who survived the sinking. Anders Falk, who filmed a documentary about the film's sets for the Titanic Historical Society, makes a cameo as a Swedish immigrant whom Jack Dawson meets when he enters his cabin; Edward Kamuda and Karen Kamuda, then President and Vice President of the Society, who served as film consultants, were cast as extras.
== Production ==
=== Pre-production ===
Cameron had long been fascinated by shipwrecks and felt Titanic was "the Mount Everest of shipwrecks". He was almost past the point in his life when he felt he could consider an undersea expedition, but was restless to explore the life he had turned away from when he switched from the sciences to the arts in college. After an IMAX film, Titanica (1992), was made from footage of the Titanic wreck, Cameron sought Hollywood funding for his own expedition. He said he was more motivated by a desire to see the shipwreck than to make a film.
Cameron wrote a scriptment for a Titanic film, met 20th Century Fox executives including Peter Chernin, and pitched it as "Romeo and Juliet on the Titanic". Cameron said the executives were unconvinced of the commercial potential, and had instead hoped for action scenes similar to his previous films. They approved the project as they hoped for a long-term relationship with Cameron.
Cameron convinced Fox to promote the film based on the publicity afforded by shooting the Titanic wreck, and organized several dives over two years. He also convinced Fox that shooting the real wreck, instead of simulating it with special effects, would provide value: "We can either do [the shots] with elaborate models and motion control shots and CG and all that, which will cost X amount of money – or we can spend X plus 30 per cent and actually go shoot it at the real wreck."
=== Undersea footage ===
The crew shot at the wreck, which lies in the Atlantic Ocean, 12 times in 1995. The work was risky, as the water pressure could kill the crew if there were even the tiniest flaw in the submersible structure. Additionally, adverse conditions prevented Cameron from getting footage. During one dive, one of the submersibles collided with Titanic's hull, damaging both and leaving fragments of the submersible's propeller shroud scattered around the superstructure. The external bulkhead of the captain's quarters collapsed, exposing the interior, and the area around the entrance to the Grand Staircase was damaged.
Descending to the site emphasized to the crew that the Titanic disaster was not simply a story of fiction, but a real event with real loss of life. Cameron said: "Working around the wreck for so much time, you get such a strong sense of the profound sadness and injustice of it, and the message of it." He felt a "great mantle of responsibility" to convey the emotional message of the story, as he was aware there might never be another filmmaker to visit the wreck.
=== Writing ===
After filming the underwater shots, Cameron began writing the screenplay. He wanted to honor the people who died, and spent six months researching the Titanic's crew and passengers. He created a detailed timeline of the events of the voyage and sinking and had it verified by historical experts. From the beginning of the shoot, the team had "a very clear picture" of what happened on the ship. Cameron said, "That set the bar higher in a way – it elevated the movie in a sense. We wanted this to be a definitive visualization of this moment in history as if you'd gone back in a time machine and shot it." Cameron was influenced by A Night to Remember, the 1958 British film about the Titanic which he had seen as a youth. He liberally copied some dialogue and scenes, including the lively party of the passengers in steerage, and the musicians playing on the deck during the sinking.
Cameron felt the Titanic sinking was "like a great novel that really happened", but that the event had become a mere morality tale; the film would give audiences the experience of living the history. The treasure hunter Brock Lovett represented those who never connected with the human element of the tragedy. He believed that the romance of Jack and Rose would be the most engaging element: when their love is finally destroyed, the audience would mourn the loss. He said: "All my films are love stories, but in Titanic I finally got the balance right. It's not a disaster film. It's a love story with a fastidious overlay of real history." Cameron created the character of the modern-day Rose, a survivor of the Titanic, to "see the present and the past" and "connects us in a way through history". He framed the romance with the elderly Rose to make the intervening years palpable and poignant. While Winslet and Stuart believed Rose dies at the end, Cameron said, "The answer has to be something you supply personally, individually."
=== Scale modeling ===
Harland & Wolff, Titanic's builders, opened their private archives to the crew, sharing blueprints that were previously thought lost. Fox acquired 40 acres (16 ha) of waterfront south of Playas de Rosarito in Mexico and began building a new studio on May 31, 1996. A horizon tank of 17 million US gallons (64 million litres) was built for the exterior of the reconstructed ship, providing 270 degrees of ocean view. The ship was built to full scale, but Lamont removed redundant sections on the superstructure and forward well deck for the ship to fit in the tank, with the remaining sections filled with digital models. The lifeboats and funnels were shrunk by ten percent. The boat deck and A-deck were working sets, but the rest of the ship was steel plating. Within was a 50-foot (15 m) lifting platform for the ship to tilt during the sinking sequences. The 60-foot (18 m) 1/8th scale model of the stern section was designed by the naval architect Jay Kantola using plans of the Titanic's sister ship RMS Olympic. Above the model was a 162-foot-tall (49 m) tower crane on 600 feet (180 m) of rail track, acting as a combined construction, lighting, and camera platform.
The sets representing the interior rooms of the Titanic were reproduced exactly using photographs and plans from the Titanic's builders. The Grand Staircase, which features prominently in the film, was recreated to a high standard, but widened by 30% and reinforced with steel girders. Craftsmen from Mexico and Britain sculpted the ornate paneling and plasterwork based on Titanic's original designs. The carpeting, upholstery, pieces of furniture, light fixtures, chairs, cutlery and crockery with the White Star Line crest on each piece were among the objects recreated according to original designs. For the ship's interiors, production designer Peter Lamont's team looked for artifacts from the era. The newness of the ship meant every prop had to be made from scratch. Cameron hired two Titanic historians, Don Lynch and Ken Marschall, to authenticate the historical detail.
=== Casting ===
Cameron said he needed the cast to feel they were really on the Titanic, to relive its liveliness, and "to take that energy and give it to Jack ... an artist who is able to have his heart soar". Established actors including Matthew McConaughey, Chris O'Donnell, Billy Crudup, and Stephen Dorff were considered, but Cameron felt they were too old for the part of a 20-year-old. Tom Cruise was interested, but his asking price was too high. Cameron considered Jared Leto, but he refused to audition. Jeremy Sisto filmed a series of screen tests with Winslet and three other actresses vying for the role of Rose. Mark Wahlberg met Cameron to discuss the part but Cameron was not interested. Ethan Hawke, Christian Bale, and Paul Rudd also auditioned.
Leonardo DiCaprio, then 21 years old, was brought to Cameron's attention by the casting director, Mali Finn. Initially, DiCaprio did not want the role and refused to read his first romantic scene. Cameron said, "He read it once, then started goofing around, and I could never get him to focus on it again. But for one split second, a shaft of light came down from the heavens and lit up the forest." Cameron believed in DiCaprio's ability and told him, "Look, I'm not going to make this guy brooding and neurotic. I'm not going to give him a tic and a limp and all the things you want." Cameron envisioned the character as like those played by James Stewart or Gregory Peck. After she screen-tested with DiCaprio, Winslet was so impressed she whispered to Cameron, "He's great. Even if you don't pick me, pick him." DiCaprio turned down the lead role in Boogie Nights (1997) to star in Titanic. In 2025, he said he regretted this decision, saying Boogie Nights was "a profound movie of my generation".
Cameron described Rose as "an Audrey Hepburn type". As with DiCaprio, Finn brought Winslet to Cameron's attention. Gwyneth Paltrow, Winona Ryder, Claire Danes (who had worked with DiCaprio in Romeo + Juliet the previous year), Gabrielle Anwar, and Reese Witherspoon were considered for the role. When they turned it down, Winslet campaigned for the role. She sent Cameron daily notes from England, which led Cameron to invite her to Hollywood for auditions. He was initially uncertain even after her screen test impressed him. Winslet sent Cameron a single rose with a card signed, "From Your Rose", and lobbied him by phone. "You don't understand!" she pleaded one day when she reached him by mobile phone in his Humvee. "I am Rose! I don't know why you're even seeing anyone else!" Her persistence and talent eventually convinced him to cast her. Cameron said Winslet "had the thing that you look for" and that there was "a quality in her face, in her eyes" that he "just knew people would be ready to go the distance with her". Winslet said of Rose: "She has got a lot to give, and she's got a very open heart. And she wants to explore and adventure the world, but she [feels] that's not going to happen."
At 87, Gloria Stuart had to be made up to look older for the role of the elderly Rose. Cameron instructed Finn to "find retired actresses from the Golden Age of the thirties and forties". Cameron did not know who Stuart was. Fay Wray was also considered, but Cameron said, "[Stuart] was just so into it, and so lucid, and had such a great spirit. And I saw the connection between her spirit and [Winslet's] spirit. I saw this joie de vivre in both of them, that I thought the audience would be able to make that cognitive leap that it's the same person."
Cameron considered Michael Biehn for the role of Cal Hockley, whom he had previously collaborated with on The Terminator, Aliens, and The Abyss, before offering it to Matthew McConaughey. Rob Lowe said he also pursued it. Reba McEntire turned down the role of Margaret Brown because it conflicted with her touring schedule.
=== Filming ===
Principal photography began on July 31, 1996, at Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. The modern-day expedition scenes were shot aboard the Akademik Mstislav Keldysh. In September, the production moved to the newly built Fox Baja Studios in Rosarito, Mexico, where a full-scale Titanic replica had been constructed. The poop deck was built on a hinge that could rise from zero to 90 degrees in a few seconds, just as the ship's stern rose during the sinking. For the safety of the stuntmen, many props were made of foam rubber. By November 15, the boarding scenes were being shot. Cameron built his Titanic on the starboard side as a study of weather data revealed it was a prevailing north-to-south wind, which blew the funnel smoke aft. This posed a problem for shooting the ship's departure from Southampton, as it was docked on its port side. Implementation of written directions, as well as props and costumes, had to be reversed; for example, if someone walked to their right in the script, they had to walk left during shooting. In post-production, the film was flipped to the correct direction. A full-time etiquette coach was hired to instruct the cast in the manners of the upper class gentility in 1912. Despite this, several critics noted anachronisms.
Cameron sketched Jack's portrait of Rose; Winslet posed in a bathing suit. Cameron felt the scene had a backdrop of repression and freedom: "You know what it means for her, the freedom she must be feeling. It's kind of exhilarating for that reason," he said. The sketching scene was DiCaprio and Winslet's first scene together. Cameron said: "It wasn't by any kind of design, although I couldn't have designed it better. There's a nervousness and an energy and a hesitance in them. They had rehearsed together, but they hadn't shot anything together. If I'd had a choice, I probably would have preferred to put it deeper into the body of the shoot." Cameron said he and his crew "were just trying to find things to shoot" because the big set "wasn't ready for months, so we were scrambling around trying to fill in anything we could get to shoot." Cameron felt the final scene worked well.
The shoot was an arduous experience that "cemented Cameron's formidable reputation as 'the scariest man in Hollywood". He became known as an "uncompromising, hard-charging perfectionist" and a "300-decibel screamer, a modern-day Captain Bligh with a megaphone and walkie-talkie, swooping down into people's faces on a 162 ft crane." Winslet chipped a bone in her elbow during filming and worried that she would drown in the 17-million-gallon (64-million-litre) water tank in which the ship would sink. She said she was sometimes afraid of Cameron's temper and that he would shout angrily at crew members. Bill Paxton was familiar with Cameron's work ethic from his earlier experience, and said: "There were a lot of people on the set. Jim is not one of those guys who has the time to win hearts and minds." The crew felt Cameron had an evil alter ego and nicknamed him "Mij" (Jim spelled backwards). In response to the criticism, Cameron said, "Film-making is war. A great battle between business and aesthetics." More than 800 crew members worked on the film.
On August 9, 1996, during the Akademik Mstislav Keldysh shoot in Canada, an unknown person, suspected to be a crew member, put the dissociative drug PCP into the soup that Cameron and various others ate one night in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. It sent more than 50 people to the hospital. Paxton and Cameron ate the soup and went to the hospital, however, Paxton decided to leave, telling Cameron, "Jim, I'm not gonna hang out here, this is bedlam. I'm gonna ... wander back down to the set and just drink a case of beer." The actor Lewis Abernathy said "there were people just rolling around, completely out of it. Some of them said they were seeing streaks and psychedelics." Cameron vomited before the drug took a full hold. Abernathy was shocked at the way he looked. "One eye was completely red, like the Terminator eye. A pupil, no iris, beet red. The other eye looked like he'd been sniffing glue since he was four." The Nova Scotia Department of Health confirmed that the soup had contained PCP on August 27, and the Halifax Regional Police Service announced a criminal investigation the next day. The investigation was closed in February 1999. Though Cameron suggest it might have been a fired crew member that was behind the poisoning, the person was never caught.
The filming schedule was intended to last 138 days but grew to 160 (filming officially wrapped on March 23, 1997). Many cast members came down with colds, flu, or kidney infections after spending hours in cold water, including Winslet. She decided she would not work with Cameron again unless she earned "a lot of money". Several others left the production, and three stuntmen broke their bones, but the Screen Actors Guild decided, following an investigation, that nothing was inherently unsafe about the set. DiCaprio said there was no point when he felt he was in danger during filming. Cameron believed in a passionate work ethic and never apologized for the way he ran his sets. He said:I'm demanding, and I'm demanding on my crew. In terms of being kind of militaresque, I think there's an element of that in dealing with thousands of extras and big logistics and keeping people safe. I think you have to have a fairly strict methodology in dealing with a large number of people.
The filming costs reached $200 million, around $1 million per minute of screen time. Fox executives panicked and suggested an hour of cuts from the three-hour film. They argued the extended length would mean fewer showings, thus less revenue, even though long epics are more likely to win Oscars. Cameron refused, telling Fox, "You want to cut my movie? You're going to have to fire me! You want to fire me? You're going to have to kill me!" The executives did not want to start over, because it would mean the loss of their entire investment. They initially rejected Cameron's offer to forfeit his share of the profits as an empty gesture, as they predicted profits would be unlikely. Instead, they accepted his offer to give up his $8 million salary and his share of the initial gross profits. Cameron said: "The short version is that the film cost proportionally much more than T2 and True Lies. Those films went up seven or eight percent from the initial budget. Titanic also had a large budget to begin with, but it went up a lot more. As the producer and director, I take responsibility for the studio that's writing the checks, so I made it less painful for them. I did that on two different occasions. They didn't force me to do it; they were glad that I did." In July 2024, Cameron said that the co-producer Jon Landau "bore the brunt of the studio pressure" when Titanic was made. According to Cameron, Landau "gave his all to provide the time and resources for me to make the film I saw in my head".
Worried about the mounting costs, Fox wanted to find a partner studio to co-finance the film. Fox first approached Universal Pictures, as they had picked up the international distribution rights to Cameron's True Lies (1994) when production costs began to mount; however, Universal would turn Fox down. Instead, Fox and Paramount Pictures came together in May 1996 following the success both studios had collaborating on the distribution for Mel Gibson's Braveheart (1995), and they agreed to co-finance the film and split the distribution rights. In an effort to recoup their $135 million investment, Fox sold the domestic rights to Paramount in return for Paramount providing Fox an additional $65 million for production, while retaining international rights; Fox remained responsible for any further budget overruns, but they would retain all profits from any merchandise as part of the deal with Paramount. Amidst the film's successful box-office run, the Fox executive William Mechanic said: "Jim Cameron told us we could have an expensive bad movie or a more expensive potentially great movie. We made our judgment. And we made the best choice."
=== Post-production ===
==== Effects ====
Cameron wanted to push the boundary of special effects, and enlisted Digital Domain and Pacific Data Images to continue the developments in digital technology he pioneered on The Abyss and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Many previous films about Titanic shot water in slow motion, which did not look wholly convincing. Cameron encouraged his crew to shoot their 45-foot-long (14 m) miniature of the ship as if "we're making a commercial for the White Star Line". Afterwards, digital water and smoke were added, as were extras captured on a motion capture stage. Visual effects supervisor Rob Legato scanned the faces of many actors, including himself and his children, for the digital extras and stuntmen. There was also a 65-foot-long (20 m) model of the ship's stern that could break in two repeatedly, the only miniature to be used in water. For scenes set in the ship's engines, footage of the SS Jeremiah O'Brien's engines were composited with miniature support frames, and actors shot against a greenscreen. To save money, the first-class lounge was a miniature set incorporated into a greenscreen backdrop behind the actors. The miniature of the lounge was crushed to simulate the destruction of the room and a scale model of a first-class corridor flooded with jets of water while the camera pans out.
An enclosed 5,000,000-US-gallon (19,000,000 L) tank was used for sinking interiors, in which the entire set could be tilted into the water. To sink the Grand Staircase, 90,000 US gallons (340,000 L) of water were dumped into the set as it was lowered into the tank. Unexpectedly, the waterfall ripped the staircase from its steel-reinforced foundations, although no one was hurt. The 744-foot-long (227 m) exterior of Titanic had its first half lowered into the tank, but as the heaviest part of the ship it acted as a shock absorber against the water; to get the set into the water, Cameron had much of the set emptied and smashed some of the promenade windows himself. After submerging the dining saloon, three days were spent shooting Lovett's ROV traversing the wreck in the present. The scenes in the freezing Atlantic were shot in a 350,000-US-gallon (1,300,000 L) tank. The frozen corpses were created by applying on actors a powder that crystallized when exposed to water, and wax was coated on hair and clothes.
The climactic scene, which features the breakup of the ship directly before it sinks and its plunge to the bottom of the Atlantic, involved a tilting full-sized set, 150 extras, and 100 stunt performers. Cameron criticized previous Titanic films for depicting the liner's final plunge as a graceful slide underwater. He "wanted to depict it as the terrifyingly chaotic event that it really was". The actors needed to fall off the increasingly tilting deck, plunging hundreds of feet below and bouncing off railings and propellers on the way down. A few attempts to film this sequence with stunt actors resulted in minor injuries, and Cameron halted the more dangerous stunts. The risks were eventually minimized "by using computer-generated people for the dangerous falls". A Linux-based operating system was used for the effects.
==== Editing ====
Cameron said there were aspects of the Titanic story that seemed important in pre- and post-production but became less important as the film evolved. He omitted the SS Californian, the ship that was close to the Titanic the night she sank but had turned off its radio for the night, did not hear her crew's SOS calls, and did not respond to their distress flares. A scene involving the Californian was cut, according to Cameron, "because it focuses you back onto that world. If Titanic is powerful as a metaphor, as a microcosm, for the end of the world in a sense, then that world must be self-contained." He said its omission was not "a compromise to mainstream filmmaking" but "about emphasis, creating an emotional truth to the film".
During the first assembly cut, Cameron altered the ending. In the original version, Brock and Lizzy see the elderly Rose at the stern of the boat and fear she is about to commit suicide. Rose reveals that she has possessed the Heart of the Ocean diamond all along but never sold it, to live on her own without Cal's money. She allows Brock to hold it but tells Brock that life is priceless and throws the diamond into the ocean. After accepting that treasure is worthless, Brock laughs at his stupidity. Cameron decided that the audience would no longer be interested in Lovett and cut the scene, so that Rose is alone when she drops the diamond. He also did not want to disrupt the audience's melancholy after the Titanic's sinking. Paxton agreed that his scene with Brock's epiphany and laugh was unnecessary, saying: "I would have shot heroin to make the scene work better ... Our job was done by then ... If you're smart and you take the ego and the narcissism out of it, you'll listen to the film, and the film will tell you what it needs and what it does not need."
The version used for the first test screening featured a fight between Jack and Lovejoy after Jack and Rose escape into the flooded dining saloon. The scene was written to add suspense, and had Cal offering to give Lovejoy, his valet, the Heart of the Ocean if he can get it from Jack and Rose. Lovejoy goes after the pair in the sinking first-class dining room. Jack attacks him and smashes his head against a window; this is why Lovejoy has a gash later. Cameron cut the scene for pacing reasons, and as test audiences found it unrealistic to risk one's life for wealth. Many other scenes were cut for pacing reasons.
==== Heart of the Ocean ====
For the Heart of the Ocean design, London-based jewelers Asprey & Garrard used cubic zirconias set in white gold to create an Edwardian-style necklace to be used as a prop. The studio designed and produced three variations, very similar but unique and distinguishable in character. The third went unused until after the film had been released. The three necklaces are commonly known as the original prop, the J. Peterman necklace and the Asprey necklace.
The third and final design was not used. After the film's success, Asprey & Garrard were commissioned to create an authentic Heart of the Ocean necklace using the original design. The result was a platinum-set, 171-carat (34.2 g) heart-shaped Ceylon sapphire surrounded by 103 diamonds. This design featured a much larger inverted pear-shaped Ceylon sapphire with a subtle cleft to resemble a heart. The chain for this necklace also featured a mix of round, pear, and marquise cut white diamonds. The bail also featured a heart cut white diamond with another round cut diamond attached to an inverted pear shape diamond which was then attached to the cage of the main stone. The necklace was donated to Sotheby's auction house in Beverly Hills for an auction benefiting the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund and Southern California's Aid For AIDS. It was sold to an unidentified Asprey client for $1.4 million (equivalent to $2.77 million in 2025), under the agreement that Dion would wear it two nights later at the 1998 Academy Awards ceremony. The necklace has not been made available for public viewing.
== Soundtrack ==
Cameron wrote Titanic while listening to the work of the Irish new-age musician Enya. After Enya declined an invitation to compose for the film, Cameron chose James Horner. The two had parted ways after a tumultuous working experience on Aliens, but Titanic cemented a successful collaboration that lasted until Horner's death. For the vocals heard throughout the film, Horner chose the Norwegian singer Sissel Kyrkjebø, commonly known as "Sissel". Horner knew Sissel from her album Innerst i sjelen, and particularly liked how she sang "Eg veit i himmerik ei borg" ("I Know in Heaven There Is a Castle"). He tried around 30 singers before choosing Sissel.
Horner wrote the end theme, "My Heart Will Go On", in secret with Will Jennings, because Cameron did not want any songs in the film. Céline Dion agreed to record a demo at the persuasion of her husband René Angélil. Horner waited until Cameron was in an appropriate mood before presenting him with the song. After playing it several times, Cameron declared his approval, although worried that he would have been criticized for "going commercial at the end of the movie". Cameron also wanted to appease anxious studio executives and "saw that a hit song from his movie could only be a positive factor in guaranteeing its completion". The soundtrack was the best-selling album of 1998, with sales of over 27 million.
== Release ==
=== Theatrical ===
Distribution for Titanic was split between Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox; Paramount handling the domestic distribution, and Fox handling the foreign release. Both studios expected Cameron to complete it for release on July 2, 1997, "to exploit the lucrative summer season ticket sales when blockbuster films usually do better". In April, Cameron said the special effects were too complicated and that releasing the film on that date would not be possible. The studios considered pushing it to late July or the first week of August, but Harrison Ford, whose film Air Force One was to be released on July 25, is reported to have informed Paramount, which had produced his lucrative Indiana Jones and Jack Ryan franchises, that he would never work with them again if they released Titanic so close to his own film. On May 29, 1997, Paramount pushed back the release date to December 19, 1997. The new release date would be shared by Tomorrow Never Dies and Mouse Hunt. This led many to speculate that the film was not very well-done. A preview screening in Minneapolis on July 14 was received positively, and "[c]hatter on the internet was responsible for more favorable word of mouth about the [film]". This eventually led to more positive media coverage.
Cameron refused to hold the world premiere in Los Angeles. Paramount disagreed with Cameron's decision, but Fox acquiesced and went ahead and held the premiere on November 1, 1997, at the Tokyo International Film Festival, where reaction was described as "tepid" by The New York Times. Positive reviews started to appear back in the United States; the official Hollywood premiere occurred on December 14, 1997, where "the big movie stars who attended the opening were enthusiastically gushing about the film to the world media". The film had a London premiere as a Royal Film Performance attended by Prince Charles.
=== Home media ===
Titanic was released worldwide in widescreen and pan and scan formats on VHS on September 1, 1998. There are two separate cassettes on this release, as the film is divided into two parts. More than $50 million was spent to market the home video release. Both VHS formats were also made available in a deluxe boxed gift set with a mounted filmstrip and six lithograph prints from the movie. In the first 3 months, the film sold 25 million copies in North America with a total sales value of $500 million, becoming the best selling live-action video, beating Independence Day. In that time, it sold 58 million copies worldwide, outselling The Lion King for a total worldwide revenue of $995 million. By March 2005, Titanic had sold 8 million DVD and 59 million VHS units. In the United Kingdom, it sold 1.1 million copies on its first day of release, making it the country's fastest-selling home video release. It held this record until May 2002, when Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone sold 1.2 million home video units on its first day. Titanic remained the fastest-selling DVD in the United Kingdom until Mamma Mia! took it in 2008. Within the first week of release, Titanic quickly beat The Full Monty, selling a total of 1.8 million home video copies. NBC acquired the US television broadcast rights for $30 million, which was considered a bargain.
A DVD version was released on August 31, 1999, in a widescreen-only (non-anamorphic) single-disc edition with no special features other than a theatrical trailer. Cameron stated at the time that he intended to release a special edition with extra features later. This release became the best-selling DVD of 1999 and early 2000, becoming the first DVD ever to sell one million copies. At the time, less than 5% of all U.S. homes had a DVD player. "When we released the original Titanic DVD, the industry was much smaller, and bonus features were not the standard they are now," said Meagan Burrows, Paramount's president of domestic home entertainment, which made the DVD performance even more impressive.
Titanic was re-released to DVD on October 25, 2005, when a three-disc Special Collector's Edition was made available in the United States and Canada. This edition contained a newly restored transfer, a 6.1 DTS-ES Discrete surround sound mix and various special features. In PAL regions, two-disc and four-disc variants were released, marketed as the Special Edition and Deluxe Collector's Edition respectively. They were released in the United Kingdom on November 7, 2005. A limited 5-disc Deluxe Limited Edition was also only released in the United Kingdom with only 10,000 copies manufactured. The fifth disc contains Cameron's documentary Ghosts of the Abyss, which was distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. Unlike the individual release of Ghosts of the Abyss, which contained two discs, only the first disc was included in the set. In 2007, for the film's tenth anniversary, a 10th Anniversary Edition was released on DVD, which consists of the first two discs from the three-disc 2005 set containing the movie and the special features on those discs.
Titanic was released by Paramount Home Entertainment on Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D on September 10, 2012. The 3D presentation is split over two discs and is also THX-certified. Special features on another disc included many of those featured on the 2005 Special Collector's Edition DVD along with two new documentaries titled "Reflections on Titanic" and "Titanic: The Final Word with James Cameron". The latter aired on National Geographic on April 9, 2012, and was executively produced by Cameron. A 4K release was released on December 5, 2023, on both digital and Ultra HD Blu-ray.
After being on the Amazon Prime Video streaming service in the U.S. in April 2023, Titanic became available on Netflix in July 2023 shortly after the Titan submersible implosion. It became available on Paramount+ in October 2023 and on Prime Video for a period starting in April 2024 and April 2025. It was announced as coming to Hulu in February 2025. It was available on the free ad-supported streaming service Pluto TV in June 2023.
== Reception ==
=== Box office ===
Including revenue from the 2012, 2017 and 2023 reissues, Titanic earned $674.3 million in North America and $1.590 billion in other countries, for a worldwide total of $2.264 billion. It became the highest-grossing film of all time worldwide in 1998, beating Jurassic Park (1993). The film remained so for twelve years, until Avatar (2009), also written and directed by Cameron, surpassed it in 2010. It would hold the record for being Paramount's highest-grossing film domestically until it was dethroned by Top Gun: Maverick (2022) twenty-five years later. On March 1, 1998, it became the first film to earn more than $1 billion worldwide and on the weekend April 13–15, 2012—a century after the original vessel's foundering, Titanic became the second film to cross the $2 billion threshold during its 3D re-release. Box Office Mojo estimates that Titanic is the fifth-highest-grossing film of all time in North America when adjusting for ticket price inflation. The site also estimates that the film sold over 128 million tickets in the US in its initial theatrical run.
Titanic was the first foreign-language film to succeed in India, which claims to have the largest movie-going audience in the world. A Hindustan Times report attributes this to its similarities and shared themes with most Bollywood films.
==== Initial theatrical run ====
Titanic received steady attendance after opening in North America on Friday, December 19, 1997. By the end of the weekend, theaters were beginning to sell out. The film earned $8,658,814 on its opening day and $28,638,131 over the opening weekend from 2,674 theaters, averaging to about $10,710 per venue, and ranking number one at the box office, ahead of Mouse Hunt, Scream 2 and Tomorrow Never Dies. It would go on to break The Godfather Part III's record for having the highest Christmas Day gross, generating a total of $9.2 million. For its second weekend, the film made $35.6 million, making it the biggest December weekend gross, replacing Scream 2. By New Year's Day, Titanic had made over $120 million, had increased in popularity and theaters continued to sell out. In just 44 days, it became the fastest film to approach the $300 million mark at the domestic box office, surpassing the former record held by Jurassic Park, which took 67 days to do so. Titanic would hold this record until 1999 when it was taken by Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. Additionally, the film reached the $400 million mark within 66 days, which was the fastest at the time, a record matched by Spider-Man in 2002. Both films were surpassed in 2004 by Shrek 2.
Titanic's highest-grossing day was Saturday, February 14, 1998, on which it earned $13,048,711, more than eight weeks after its North American debut. On March 14, it surpassed Star Wars as the highest-grossing film ever in North America. It stayed at number one for 15 consecutive weeks in North America, a record for any film. By April 1998, the film's number one spot was overtaken by Lost in Space. It stayed in theaters in North America for almost 10 months before finally closing on Thursday, October 1, 1998, with a final domestic gross of $600,788,188, equivalent to $1205 million in 2025. Outside North America, the film made double its North American gross, generating $1,242,413,080 and accumulating a grand total of $1,843,201,268 worldwide from its initial theatrical run.
==== Commercial analysis ====
Various film critics predicted Titanic would be a major commercial failure, especially since it was the most expensive film ever made at the time. When it was shown to the press in late 1997, "it was with massive forebodings", since the "people in charge of the screenings believed they were on the verge of losing their jobs – because of this great albatross of a picture on which, finally, two studios had to combine to share the great load of its making". Cameron also thought he was "headed for disaster" at one point during filming. "We labored the last six months on Titanic in the absolute knowledge that the studio would lose $100 million. It was a certainty." As the film neared release, "particular venom was spat at Cameron for what was seen as his hubris and monumental extravagance". A critic for the Los Angeles Times wrote that "Cameron's overweening pride has come close to capsizing this project" and that the film was "a hackneyed, completely derivative copy of old Hollywood romances".
Titanic was playing on 3,200 screens ten weeks after it opened, and out of its fifteen straight weeks on top of the charts, jumped 43% in total sales in its ninth week of release. It earned over $20 million for each of its first 10 weekends, and after 14 weeks was still bringing in more than $1 million on weekdays. 20th Century Fox estimated that seven percent of American teenage girls had seen Titanic twice by its fifth week. Although young women who saw the film several times and subsequently caused "Leo-Mania" were often credited for taking it to its all-time box office record, other reports have attributed the success to positive word of mouth and repeat viewership due to the love story combined with the ground-breaking special effects. The Hollywood Reporter estimated that after a combined production and promotion cost of $487 million, Titanic turned a net profit of $1.4 billion, with a modern profit of as much as $4 billion after ancillary sources.
Titanic's impact on men has also been especially credited. It is considered one of the films that make men cry, with MSNBC's Ian Hodder stating that men admire Jack's sense of adventure and his ambitious behavior to win over Rose, which contributes to their emotional attachment to Jack. This was parodied in the 2009 film Zombieland, where character Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), when recalling the death of his young son, states: "I haven't cried like that since Titanic."
Scott Meslow of The Atlantic stated while Titanic initially seems to need no defense, given its success, it is considered a film "for 15-year-old girls" by its main detractors. He argued that dismissing Titanic as fodder for teenage girls fails to consider the film's accomplishment: "that [this] grandiose, 3+ hour historical romantic drama is a film for everyone—including teenage boys." Meslow stated that though the film is ranked high by males under the age of 18, matching the ratings for teenage boy-targeted films like Iron Man, it is common for boys and men to deny liking Titanic. He acknowledged his own rejection of the film as a child while secretly loving it. "It's this collection of elements—the history, the romance, the action—that made (and continues to make) Titanic an irresistible proposition for audiences of all ages across the globe," he stated. "Titanic has flaws, but for all its legacy, it's better than its middlebrow reputation would have you believe. It's a great movie for 15-year-old girls, but that doesn't mean it's not a great movie for everyone else too."
Quotes in the film aided its popularity. Titanic's catchphrase "I'm the king of the world!" became one of the film industry's more popular quotations. According to Richard Harris, a psychology professor at Kansas State University, who studied why people like to cite films in social situations, using film quotations in everyday conversation is similar to telling a joke and a way to form solidarity with others. "People are doing it to feel good about themselves, to make others laugh, to make themselves laugh", he said.
Cameron explained the success as having significantly benefited from the experience of sharing. "When people have an experience that's very powerful in the movie theatre, they want to go share it. They want to grab their friend and bring them, so that they can enjoy it," he said. "They want to be the person to bring them the news that this is something worth having in their life. That's how Titanic worked." Media Awareness Network stated, "The normal
repeat viewing rate for a blockbuster theatrical film is about 5%. The repeat rate for Titanic was over 20%." The box office receipts "were even more impressive" when factoring in "the film's 3-hour-and-14-minute length meant that it could only be shown three times a day compared to a normal movie's four showings". In response to this, "[m]any theatres started midnight showings and were rewarded with full houses until almost 3:30 am".
Titanic held the record for box office gross for 12 years. Cameron's follow-up film, Avatar, was considered the first film with a genuine chance at surpassing its worldwide gross, and did so in 2010. Various explanations for why Avatar was able to challenge Titanic were given. For one, "Two-thirds of Titanic's haul was earned overseas, and Avatar [tracked] similarly ... Avatar opened in 106 markets globally and was no. 1 in all of them" and the markets "such as Russia, where Titanic saw modest receipts in 1997 and 1998, are white-hot today" with "more screens and moviegoers" than ever before. Brandon Gray, president of Box Office Mojo, said that while Avatar may beat Titanic's revenue record, the film is unlikely to surpass Titanic in attendance. "Ticket prices were about $3 cheaper in the late 1990s." In December 2009, Cameron had stated, "I don't think it's realistic to try to topple Titanic off its perch. Some pretty good movies have come out in the last few years. Titanic just struck some kind of chord." In a January 2010 interview, he gave a different take on the matter once Avatar's performance was easier to predict, saying "It's gonna happen. It's just a matter of time".
Author Alexandra Keller, when analyzing Titanic's success, stated that scholars could agree that its popularity "appears dependent on contemporary culture, on perceptions of history, on patterns of consumerism and globalization, as well as on those elements experienced filmgoers conventionally expect of juggernaut film events in the 1990s – awesome screen spectacle, expansive action, and, more rarely seen, engaging characters and epic drama."
=== Critical response ===
==== Initial ====
Titanic garnered mostly positive reviews from film critics, and was positively reviewed by audiences and scholars, who commented on its cultural, historical, and political impacts. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, it has an approval rating of 88% based on 255 reviews, with an average rating of 8.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A mostly unqualified triumph for James Cameron, who offers a dizzying blend of spectacular visuals and old-fashioned melodrama." Metacritic, which assigned a weighted average score of 75 out of 100, based on 35 critics, reports the film has "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave it a rare "A+" grade, one of fewer than 60 films in the history of the service from 1982 to 2011 to earn the score.
With regard to the overall design, Roger Ebert stated: "It is flawlessly crafted, intelligently constructed, strongly acted, and spellbinding ... Movies like this are not merely difficult to make at all, but almost impossible to make well." He credited the "technical difficulties" with being "so daunting that it's a wonder when the filmmakers are also able to bring the drama and history into proportion" and "found [himself] convinced by both the story and the sad saga". He named it his ninth-best film of 1997. The television program Siskel & Ebert gave Titanic "two thumbs up" and praised its accuracy in recreating the ship's sinking; Ebert described it as "a glorious Hollywood epic" and "well worth the wait," and Gene Siskel found Leonardo DiCaprio "captivating".
James Berardinelli stated: "Meticulous in detail, yet vast in scope and intent, Titanic is the kind of epic motion picture event that has become a rarity. You don't just watch Titanic, you experience it." It was named his second best film of 1997. Joseph McBride of Boxoffice Magazine concluded: "To describe Titanic as the greatest disaster movie ever made is to sell it short. James Cameron's recreation of the 1912 sinking of the 'unsinkable' liner is one of the most magnificent pieces of serious popular entertainment ever to emanate from Hollywood." In a four out of five review, Jay Stone of Ottawa Citizen said, "The verdict: As big and glorious as the ship itself, unwieldy, unstoppable, packed with all the corny histrionics of the grand old Hollywood blockbusters and culminating in the most breathtaking maritime disaster since Waterworld."
The romantic and emotionally charged aspects were equally praised. Andrew L. Urban of Urban Cinefile said: "You will walk out of Titanic not talking about budget or running time, but of its enormous emotive power, big as the engines of the ship itself, determined as its giant propellers to gouge into your heart, and as lasting as the love story that propels it." Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly described the film as "a lush and terrifying spectacle of romantic doom. Writer-director James Cameron has restaged the defining catastrophe of the early 20th century on a human scale of such purified yearning and dread that he touches the deepest levels of popular moviemaking." Janet Maslin of The New York Times commented that "Cameron's magnificent Titanic is the first spectacle in decades that honestly invites comparison to Gone With the Wind." Adrian Turner of Radio Times awarded it four stars out of five, stating "Cameron's script wouldn't have sustained Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh for 80 minutes, but, somehow, he and his magical cast revive that old-style studio gloss for three riveting hours. Titanic is a sumptuous assault on the emotions, with a final hour that fully captures the horror and the freezing, paralysing fear of the moment. And there are single shots, such as an awesome albatross-like swoop past the steaming ship, when you sense Cameron hugging himself with the fun of it all."
Titanic suffered backlash in addition to its success. Some reviewers felt that while the visuals were spectacular, the story and dialogue were weak. Richard Corliss of Time magazine wrote a mostly negative review, criticizing the lack of interesting emotional elements. Kenneth Turan's review in the Los Angeles Times was particularly scathing. Dismissing the emotive elements, he stated, "What really brings on the tears is Cameron's insistence that writing this kind of movie is within his abilities. Not only is it not, it is not even close." He later argued that the only reason that the film won Oscars was because of its box office total. Barbara Shulgasser of The San Francisco Examiner gave Titanic one star out of four, citing a friend as saying, "The number of times in this unbelievably badly written script that the two [lead characters] refer to each other by name was an indication of just how dramatically the script lacked anything more interesting for the actors to say."
==== Retrospective ====
According to Dalin Rowell of /Film, "With complaints about its lengthy runtime, observations that certain characters could have easily fit onto pieces of floating furniture, and jokes about its melodramatic nature, Titanic is no stranger to modern-day criticism." In 2002, filmmaker Robert Altman called it "the most dreadful piece of work I've ever seen in my entire life". Similarly, French New Wave director and former Cahiers du Cinéma editor Jacques Rivette referred to it as "garbage" in a 1998 interview with Frédéric Bonnaud and was particularly critical of Winslet's performance, who he said was "unwatchable, the most slovenly girl to appear on the screen in a long, long time." In 2003, Titanic topped a poll of "Best Film Endings", but it also topped a poll by Film 2003 as "the worst movie of all time".
In his 2012 study of the lives of the passengers on the Titanic, historian Richard Davenport-Hines said, "Cameron's film diabolized rich Americans and educated English, anathematizing their emotional restraint, good tailoring, punctilious manners and grammatical training, while it made romantic heroes of the poor Irish and the unlettered." The British film magazine Empire reduced their rating from the maximum five stars and an enthusiastic review, to four stars with a less positive review in a later edition, to accommodate its readers' tastes, who wanted to disassociate themselves from the hype, and the reported activities of its fans, such as those attending multiple screenings. In addition to this, positive and negative parodies and other such spoofs abounded and circulated on the internet, often inspiring passionate responses from fans of various opinions. Benjamin Willcock of DVDActive.com did not understand the backlash or the passionate hatred. "What really irks me ...," he said, "are those who make nasty stabs at those who do love it." Willcock stated, "I obviously don't have anything against those who dislike Titanic, but those few who make you feel small and pathetic for doing so (and they do exist, trust me) are way beyond my understanding and sympathy."
In 1998, Cameron responded to the backlash, and Kenneth Turan's review in particular, by writing "Titanic is not a film that is sucking people in with flashy hype and spitting them out onto the street feeling let down and ripped off. They are returning again and again to repeat an experience that is taking a 3-hour and 14-minute chunk out of their lives, and dragging others with them, so they can share the emotion." Cameron emphasized that people from all ages (ranging from 8 to 80) and from all backgrounds were "celebrating their own essential humanity" by seeing it. He described the script as earnest and straightforward, and said it intentionally "incorporates universals of human experience and emotion that are timeless – and familiar because they reflect our basic emotional fabric" and that the film was able to succeed in this way by dealing with archetypes. He did not see it as pandering. "Turan mistakes archetype for cliché," he said. "I don't share his view that the best scripts are only the ones that explore the perimeter of human experience, or flashily pirouette their witty and cynical dialogue for our admiration."
In 2000, Almar Haflidason of the BBC wrote that "the critical knives were out long before James Cameron's Titanic was complete. Spiralling costs that led to it becoming the most expensive motion picture of the 20th Century, and a cast without any big stars seemed to doom the film before release. But box office and audience appreciation proved Cameron right and many critics wrong." He added that "the sinking of the great ship is no secret, yet for many exceeded expectations in sheer scale and tragedy" and that "when you consider that [the film] tops a bum-numbing three-hour running time, then you have a truly impressive feat of entertainment achieved by Cameron". Empire eventually reinstated its original five-star rating, writing: "It should be no surprise then that it became fashionable to bash James Cameron's Titanic at approximately the same time it became clear that this was the planet's favourite film. Ever."
In 2017, on the 20th anniversary of its release, Titanic was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The same year, Cameron reviewed the accuracy of the film for the National Geographic program Titanic: 20 Years Later with James Cameron.
The climax has sparked many debates about whether both Jack and Rose should have been able to fit on the floating door and survive, becoming among the most talked about aspects of the film. At the film's 20th anniversary, Cameron stated that it was "kind of silly, really, that we're having this discussion 20 years later". In 2023 he conducted a study for the film's 25th anniversary that aired as part of an updated National Geographic retrospective, which suggested it was possible but unlikely and depended on numerous variables, after a previous test had been conducted in 2012 by MythBusters.
Titanic was listed among the 100 best films in an Empire poll and in a later poll of members of the film industry. In 2021, Dalin Rowell of /Film ranked it the third-best film of Cameron's career, stating that it is "easily one of his best films, simply because it defied the odds", and considering it "a legitimately remarkable achievement — one that, despite its large budget, has a humble, earnest center. Even with all of the jokes the Internet loves to throw its way, Titanic demonstrates that Cameron is truly capable of everything he can imagine."
In 2024, Looper ranked it number 44 on its list of the "50 Best PG-13 Movies of All Time", writing Cameron's immersive visuals, achieved using groundbreaking special effects, transport viewers back in time to the opulence of the Titanic and the heart-wrenching chaos of its final hours. The sheer grandness of the film, combined with its tragic tale, pushed the boundaries of storytelling and visual effects, paving the way for future blockbusters.
In 1998, the Chinese president Jiang Zemin praised the film during an address to the National People's Congress in order to demonstrate his endorsement of Western cultural imports. In 2025, The Hollywood Reporter listed Titanic as having the best stunts of 1997.
== Accolades ==
At the Golden Globes, Titanic won Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director, Best Original Score, and Best Original Song. Winslet and Stuart were also nominated. At the 70th Academy Awards, Titanic garnered fourteen Academy Award nominations, tying the record set in 1950 by Joseph L. Mankiewicz's All About Eve and won eleven: Best Picture (the second film about the Titanic to win that award, after 1933's Cavalcade), Best Director, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, Best Film Editing, Best Costume Design, Best Sound (Gary Rydstrom, Tom Johnson, Gary Summers, Mark Ulano), Best Sound Effects Editing, Best Original Dramatic Score, Best Original Song. Winslet, Stuart and the make-up artists were nominated, but lost to Helen Hunt in As Good as It Gets, Kim Basinger in L.A. Confidential and Men in Black. Titanic was the second film to receive eleven Academy Awards, after Ben-Hur (1959). The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King matched the record in 2004. In 2017, La La Land would tie the record for having the most Academy Award nominations. The number of nominations would be surpassed by Sinners in 2026.
Titanic won the 1997 Academy Award for Best Original Song, as well as four Grammy Awards for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or Television, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. The soundtrack became the best-selling primarily orchestral soundtrack of all time, spending sixteen weeks at number-one in the United States, and was certified diamond for over eleven million copies sold in the United States alone. It was also the best-selling album of 1998 in the US. "My Heart Will Go On" won the Grammy Awards for Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television.
Titanic also won various awards outside the United States, including the Awards of the Japanese Academy as the Best Foreign Film of the Year. It eventually won nearly ninety awards and had an additional forty-seven nominations from various award-giving bodies around the world. The book about the making of the film was at the top of The New York Times' bestseller list for several weeks, "the first time that such a tie-in book had achieved this status".
Titanic has appeared on the American Film Institute's award-winning 100 Years ... series six times.
== Legacy and re-releases ==
=== 3D conversion ===
A 2012 3D re-release was created by re-mastering the original to 4K resolution and post-converting to stereoscopic 3D format. The Titanic 3D version took 60 weeks and $18 million to produce, including the 4K restoration. The 3D conversion was performed by Stereo D. Digital 2D and 2D IMAX versions were also struck from the new 4K master created in the process. The only scene entirely redone for the re-release was Rose's view of the night sky at sea on the morning of April 15, 1912. The scene was replaced with an accurate view of the night-sky star pattern, including the Milky Way, adjusted for the location in the North Atlantic Ocean in April 1912. The change was prompted by the astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who had criticized the unrealistic star pattern. He agreed to send Cameron a corrected view of the sky, which was the basis of the new scene.
The 3D version of Titanic premiered at the Royal Albert Hall in London on March 27, 2012, with James Cameron and Kate Winslet in attendance, and entered general release on April 4, 2012, six days before the centenary of Titanic embarking on her maiden voyage.
Rolling Stone film critic Peter Travers rated the reissue 3+1⁄2 stars out of 4, explaining he found it "pretty damn dazzling". He said, "The 3D intensifies Titanic. You are there. Caught up like never before in an intimate epic that earns its place in the movie time capsule." Writing for Entertainment Weekly, Owen Gleiberman gave the film an A grade. He wrote, "For once, the visuals in a 3-D movie don't look darkened or distracting. They look sensationally crisp and alive." Richard Corliss of Time, who was very critical in 1997, remained in the same mood: "I had pretty much the same reaction: fitfully awed, mostly water-logged." In regards to the 3D effects, he noted the "careful conversion to 3D lends volume and impact to certain moments ... [but] in separating the foreground and background of each scene, the converters have carved the visual field into discrete, not organic, levels." Ann Hornaday for The Washington Post found herself asking "whether the film's twin values of humanism and spectacle are enhanced by Cameron's 3-D conversion, and the answer to that is: They aren't." She added that the "3-D conversion creates distance where there should be intimacy, not to mention odd moments in framing and composition."
The film grossed an estimated $4.7 million on the first day of its re-release in North America (including midnight preview showings) and went on to make $17.3 million over the weekend, finishing in third place behind The Hunger Games and American Reunion. Outside North America it earned $35.2 million, finishing second, and it improved on its performance the following weekend by topping the box office with $98.9 million. China has proven to be its most successful territory, where it earned $11.6 million on its opening day, going on to earn a record-breaking $67 million in its opening week and taking more money in the process than it did in the entirety of its original theatrical run.
The reissue earned $343.4 million worldwide, with $145 million coming from China and $57.8 million from Canada and the United States. With a worldwide box office of nearly $350 million, the 3D re-release of Titanic remains the highest grossing re-released film of all time, ahead of The Lion King, Star Wars, and Avatar.
The 3D conversion of the film was also released in the 4DX format in selected international territories, which allows the audience to experience the film's environment using motion, wind, fog, lighting, and scent-based special effects.
=== 20th anniversary ===
For the 20th anniversary of the film, Titanic was re-released in cinemas in Dolby Vision (in both 2D and 3D) for one week beginning December 1, 2017.
=== 25th anniversary ===
Titanic was re-released in theaters by Paramount domestically and Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (through the 20th Century Studios and Buena Vista International labels) internationally on February 10, 2023, in a remastered 3D 4K HDR render, with high frame rate, as part of the film's 25th anniversary. For this version, the international prints update 20th Century's logo with the studio's current name, as a result of Disney's 2019 acquisition of the studio.
=== Titanic Live ===
Titanic Live was a live performance of Horner's original score by a 130-piece orchestra, choir and Celtic musicians, accompanying a showing of the film. In April 2015, Titanic Live premiered at the Royal Albert Hall, London, where the 2012 3D re-release had premiered.
== Representation in other media ==
In 1998, an official tie-in computer game was released, titled James Cameron's Titanic Explorer. The educational game covered the history of the vessel's construction, maiden voyage and sinking, as well as the discovery and exploration of the wreck. The game included deleted footage from the film and extensive 360-degree video footage of the film's sets.
In 2020, a board game based on the film, titled Titanic: The Game, was released by Spin Master Games.
Scenes from Titanic have been the basis for multiple Internet memes, including one called "It's been 84 years", which features a screenshot or GIF of a close-up of modern-day, elderly Rose and is used to "express impatience with the pace of things". |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Dohrn | Walt Dohrn | Walter Dohrn (born December 5, 1970) is an American writer, director, animator, musician, and voice actor. He performed the voice of Rumpelstiltskin in Shrek Forever After (2010), as well as various characters in Shrek the Third (2007). He co-directed the film Trolls (2016) and directed its sequels, and voiced various characters in the franchise. With Conrad Vernon, he is co-directing Shrek 5, set for release in 2027.
Dohrn has worked as writer, director, and storyboard director in season 2 of SpongeBob SquarePants, and he also worked on 2 episodes from season 3. In 2020, Dohrn signed a deal with DreamWorks Animation.
== Filmography ==
=== Film ===
=== Television ===
=== Video games === |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_French_Open_%E2%80%93_Men%2527s_singles | 2021 French Open – Men%27s singles | |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnie_Ewing | Winnie Ewing | Winifred Margaret Ewing (née Woodburn; 10 July 1929 – 21 June 2023) was a Scottish lawyer and politician who figured prominently in the Scottish National Party.
Born and raised in Glasgow, Ewing studied law at the University of Glasgow, where she joined the university's Scottish Nationalist Association. After graduating, she worked as a lawyer, serving as secretary of the Glasgow Bar Association from 1962 to 1967. Ewing was elected to the House of Commons in the 1967 Hamilton by-election and her presence at Westminster led to a rise in membership for the SNP. Although she lost her seat in the 1970 election, she was re-elected in February 1974, this time for the Moray and Nairn constituency. Ewing lost her seat in the 1979 election and, after making numerous attempts to seek re-election, failed to do so.
Ewing was elected to the European Parliament in the 1979 elections, representing the Highlands and Islands. In Europe, she acquired the nickname Madame Écosse because of her advocacy of Scottish interests. In 1987, she became the president of the Scottish National Party. She served as vice president of the European Radical Alliance and by 1995 had become Britain's longest serving MEP. In the first elections to the Scottish Parliament, she was elected to represent the Highlands and Islands. As the oldest qualified member, it was her duty to preside over the opening of the Scottish Parliament.
== Early life ==
Ewing was born Winifred Margaret Woodburn on 10 July 1929 in Glasgow, to Christina Bell Anderson and George Woodburn, a small business owner. She was educated at Battlefield School and Queen's Park Secondary School. In 1946 she matriculated at the University of Glasgow where she graduated with an MA and LLB. Although relatively inactive in politics at that time, she joined the Student Nationalists. Following her graduation, she qualified and practised as a solicitor and notary public. She was Secretary of the Glasgow Bar Association from 1962 to 1967.
== Political career ==
=== Election to Westminister ===
Ewing became active in campaigning for Scottish independence through her membership of the Glasgow University Scottish Nationalist Association, and won the 1967 Hamilton by-election as the Scottish National Party (SNP) candidate. She was elected with the help of a team including her election agent, John McAteer. On 16 November, she made her first appearance at Westminster, with her husband and children accompanying her on the journey. She arrived at the parliament in a Scottish-built Hillman Imp and was greeted by a crowd and a pipe band.
Ewing said at the time "stop the world, Scotland wants to get on", and her presence at Westminster led to a rise in membership for the SNP. It was speculated that Ewing's electoral gain led to the establishment of the Kilbrandon Commission by the Labour government of Harold Wilson to look into the viability of a devolved Scottish Assembly. In hindsight it could be said to mark the start of modern politics in Scotland, according to Professor Richard Finlay of Strathclyde University, bringing young people and women from non-political backgrounds into politics for the first time, whilst Labour and Tory party organisation and branch numbers were declining.
Despite her high profile, Ewing was unsuccessful in retaining the Hamilton seat at the 1970 general election. At the following February 1974 election she stood for Moray and Nairn and was returned to Westminster, although another election followed in October of the same year when her already marginal majority declined. Following the October election she was announced as the SNP's spokesperson on external affairs and the EEC.
=== European Parliament ===
She first became an MEP in 1975, at a time when the European Parliament was still composed of representative delegations from national parliaments. She lost her Westminster seat at the May 1979 election, but within weeks had gained a seat in the European Parliament at the first direct elections to the Parliament. Ewing was unsuccessful at seeking to return to Westminster as the SNP candidate for Orkney and Shetland in 1983, coming third.
Ewing was elected the SNP Party President in 1987. It was during her time as an MEP that she acquired the nickname Madame Écosse (French for 'Mrs Scotland') because of her advocacy of Scottish interests in Strasbourg and Brussels. That sobriquet was first used by Le Monde and with Ewing using the term as a badge of pride, it stuck. By 1995 she had become Britain's longest serving MEP. She served as Vice President of the European Radical Alliance, which in addition to the SNP also included French, Belgian, Italian and Spanish MEPs.
=== Scottish Parliament ===
In 1999, she did not stand for the European Parliament, instead becoming a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) in the first session of the Scottish Parliament, representing the Highlands and Islands. As the oldest qualified member, it was her duty to preside over the opening of the Scottish Parliament, a session she opened with the statement: "The Scottish Parliament, adjourned on the 25th day of March in the year 1707, is hereby reconvened". She sat as a member on the European Committee and the Public Petitions Committee.
During the controversy that arose in the early years of the Scottish Parliament surrounding proposals to repeal Clause 28 (a law banning the active promotion of homosexuality in schools), she joined her son Fergus Ewing in abstaining, although her daughter in law Margaret Ewing supported repeal as did the majority of her party's MSPs. In June 2001, having turned 72 years old, she announced that she would retire from Parliament at the end of the session. In January 2003, her husband, Stewart Ewing, died from a heart attack after a fire at their home. He had been active with her in politics for many years, and had himself served as an SNP councillor for the Summerston area in Glasgow, gaining the seat of Dick Dynes, the leader of the Labour Group on Glasgow District Council in 1977, a result described by The Glasgow Herald as "an absolute sensation". Later in 2003 she stood down from being an MSP, although she continued to serve as the SNP's President. On 15 July 2005, she announced she would be stepping down as President of the Scottish National Party at its September Conference, bringing to an end her 38-year career in representative politics.
Nicola Sturgeon said that Ewing had given her "hugely valuable advice" on public speaking, and that Ewing had given her some important advice as a young woman in politics, namely "Stand your ground and believe in yourself" and "a more vibrant, colourful, dynamic, passionate, committed person, you would struggle to meet."
== Outside Parliament ==
Ewing was a vice president of equal rights charity Parity. In April 2009, BBC Alba broadcast a biographical documentary Madame Ecosse, produced by Madmac Productions. It was rebroadcast on BBC Scotland to mark her 80th birthday. Nicola Sturgeon named Ewing as her Political Hero on BBC News in 2018.
== Personal life ==
Winnie and Stewart Ewing had three children, two of whom also went on to a career in politics: their son, Fergus Ewing, was elected to the Scottish Parliament in 1999 and went on to hold several ministerial posts. Their daughter, Annabelle Ewing, was an MP from 2001 to 2005 and was elected an MSP in 2011. Ewing died at her home in Bridge of Weir on 21 June 2023, at age 93.
== Awards and honours ==
In 1990 she was made a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. In 2003 the Law Society of Scotland made her an honorary member. She was awarded honorary LLD degrees from the University of Glasgow in 1995 and the University of Aberdeen in 2004. She was awarded Doctor of the University degrees from the Open University in 1993 and the University of Stirling in 2012. In 2009, a portrait of her painted by David Donaldson in 1970 was lent to the Scottish Parliament and put on display. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leviathan_(Hobbes_book) | Leviathan (Hobbes book) | Leviathan or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Commonwealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil, commonly referred to as Leviathan, is a work of social and political theory by the English empiricist philosopher and political theorist Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679), published in 1651 (revised Latin edition 1668). Its name derives from the chaotic Leviathan sea serpent of the Hebrew Bible and earlier mythologies.
The work concerns the structure of society and legitimate government, and is regarded as one of the earliest and most influential examples of social contract theory.
Written during the English Civil War (1642–1651), it argues for a social contract and rule by an absolute sovereign. Hobbes asserts that civil war and the "nasty, brutish and short" state of nature ("the war of all against all") could be avoided only by a strong, undivided government.
== Content ==
=== Title ===
The title of Hobbes's treatise alludes to the Leviathan mentioned in the Book of Job. In contrast to the simply informative titles usually given to works of early modern political philosophy, such as John Locke's Two Treatises of Government or Hobbes's own earlier work, The Elements of Law, Hobbes selected a poetic name for this more provocative treatise.
Lexicographers in the early modern period supposed that the term "leviathan" was associated with the Hebrew words lavah, meaning "to couple, connect or join", though in other cases meaning "to borrow", and thannin, believed to mean "a serpent or dragon". In the Westminster Assembly's annotations on the Bible, the interpreters thought that the creature was named using these root words "because by his bignesse he seemes not one single creature, but a coupling of divers together; or because his scales are closed, or straitly compacted together." Samuel Mintz suggests that these connotations lend themselves to Hobbes's understanding of political force since both "Leviathan and Hobbes's sovereign are unities compacted out of separate individuals; they are omnipotent; they cannot be destroyed or divided; they inspire fear in men; they do not make pacts with men; theirs is the dominion of power" on pain of death.
=== Frontispiece ===
After lengthy discussion with Thomas Hobbes, the Parisian Abraham Bosse created the etching for the book's famous frontispiece in the géometrique style which Bosse himself had refined. It is similar in organisation to the frontispiece of Hobbes' De Cive (1642), created by Jean Matheus. The frontispiece has two main elements.
In it, a giant crowned figure is seen emerging from the landscape, clutching a sword and a crosier, beneath a quotation from the Book of Job—"Non est potestas Super Terram quae Comparetur ei. Iob. 41 . 24" ("There is no power on earth to be compared to him. Job 41 . 24")—further linking the figure to the monster of the book. (Due to disagreements over the precise location of the chapters and verses when they were divided in the Late Middle Ages, the verse Hobbes quotes is usually given as Job 41:33 in modern Christian translations into English, Job 41:25 in the Masoretic Text, Septuagint, and the Luther Bible; it is Job 41:24 in the Vulgate.) The torso and arms of the figure are composed of over three hundred persons, in the style of Giuseppe Arcimboldo; all are facing away from the viewer, with just the giant's head having visible facial features. (A manuscript of Leviathan created for Charles II in 1651 has notable differences – a different main head but significantly the body is also composed of many faces, all looking outwards from the body and with a range of expressions.)
The lower portion is a triptych, framed in a wooden border. The centre form contains the title on an ornate curtain. The two sides reflect the sword and crosier of the main figure – earthly power on the left and the powers of the church on the right. Each side element reflects the equivalent power – castle to church, crown to mitre, cannon to excommunication, weapons to logic, and the battlefield to the religious courts. The giant holds the symbols of both sides, reflecting the union of secular, and spiritual in the sovereign, but the construction of the torso also makes the figure the state.
=== Part I: Of Man ===
Hobbes begins his treatise on politics with an account of human nature. He presents an image of man as matter in motion, attempting to show through example how everything about humanity can be explained materialistically, that is, without recourse to an incorporeal, immaterial soul or a faculty for understanding ideas that are external to the human mind.
Life is but a motion of limbs. For what is the heart, but a spring; and the nerves, but so many strings; and the joints, but so many wheels, giving motion to the whole body, such as was intended by the Artificer?
Hobbes proceeds by defining terms clearly and unsentimentally. Good and evil are nothing more than terms used to denote an individual's appetites and desires, while these appetites and desires are nothing more than the tendency to move toward or away from an object. Hope is nothing more than an appetite for a thing combined with an opinion that it can be had. He suggests that the dominant political theology of the time, Scholasticism, thrives on confused definitions of everyday words, such as incorporeal substance, which for Hobbes is a contradiction in terms.
Hobbes describes human psychology without any reference to the summum bonum, or greatest good, as previous thought had done. According to Hobbes, not only is the concept of a summum bonum superfluous, but given the variability of human desires, there could be no such thing. Consequently, any political community that sought to provide the greatest good to its members would find itself driven by competing conceptions of that good with no way to decide among them. The result would be civil war.
However, Hobbes states that there is a summum malum, or greatest evil. This is the fear of violent death. A political community can be oriented around this fear.
Since there is no summum bonum, the natural state of man is not to be found in a political community that pursues the greatest good. But to be outside of a political community is to be in an anarchic condition. Given human nature, the variability of human desires, and need for scarce resources to fulfill those desires, the state of nature, as Hobbes calls this anarchic condition, must be a war of all against all. Even when two men are not fighting, neither has a guarantee that the other will not try to kill him for his property or just out of an aggrieved sense of honour, and so they must constantly be on guard against one another. It is even reasonable to preemptively attack one's neighbour.
In such condition there is no place for industry, because the fruit thereof is uncertain, and consequently no culture of the earth, no navigation nor use of the commodities that may be imported by sea, no commodious building, no instruments of moving and removing such things as require much force, no knowledge of the face of the earth, no account of time, no arts, no letters, no society, and which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death, and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.
The desire to avoid the state of nature, as the place where the summum malum of violent death is most likely to occur, forms the polestar of political reasoning. It suggests a number of laws of nature, although Hobbes is quick to point out that they cannot properly speaking be called "laws", since there is no one to enforce them. The first thing that reason suggests is to seek peace, but that where peace cannot be had, to use all of the advantages of war. Hobbes is explicit that in the state of nature nothing can be considered just or unjust, and every man must be considered to have a right to all things. The second law of nature is that one ought to be willing to renounce one's right to all things where others are willing to do the same, to quit the state of nature, and to erect a commonwealth with the authority to command them in all things. Hobbes concludes Part One by articulating an additional seventeen laws of nature that make the performance of the first two possible and by explaining what it would mean for a sovereign to represent the people even when they disagree with the sovereign.
=== Part II: Of Commonwealth ===
The purpose of a commonwealth is given at the start of Part II: THE final cause, end, or design of men (who naturally love liberty, and dominion over others) in the introduction of that restraint upon themselves, in which we see them live in Commonwealths, is the foresight of their own preservation, and of a more contented life thereby; that is to say, of getting themselves out from that miserable condition of war which is necessarily consequent, as hath been shown, to the natural passions of men when there is no visible power to keep them in awe, and tie them by fear of punishment to the performance of their covenants...
The commonwealth is instituted when all agree in the following manner: "I authorise and give up my right of governing myself to this man, or to this assembly of men, on this condition; that thou give up, thy right to him, and authorise all his actions in like manner."
The sovereign has twelve principal rights:
Because a successive covenant cannot override a prior one, the subjects cannot (lawfully) change the form of government.
Because the covenant forming the commonwealth results from subjects giving to the sovereign the right to act for them, the sovereign cannot possibly breach the covenant; and therefore the subjects can never argue to be freed from the covenant because of the actions of the sovereign.
The sovereign exists because the majority has consented to his rule; the minority have agreed to abide by this arrangement and must then assent to the sovereign's actions.
Every subject is author of the acts of the sovereign: hence the sovereign cannot injure any of his subjects and cannot be accused of injustice.
Following this, the sovereign cannot justly be put to death by the subjects.
The purpose of the commonwealth is peace, and the sovereign has the right to do whatever he thinks necessary for the preserving of peace and security and prevention of discord. Therefore, the sovereign may judge what opinions and doctrines are averse, who shall be allowed to speak to multitudes, and who shall examine the doctrines of all books before they are published.
To prescribe the rules of civil law and property.
To be judge in all cases.
To make war and peace as he sees fit and to command the army.
To choose counsellors, ministers, magistrates and officers.
To reward with riches and honour or to punish with corporal or pecuniary punishment or ignominy.
To establish laws about honour and a scale of worth.
In item 6 Hobbes is explicitly in favour of censorship of the press and restrictions on the rights of free speech should they be considered desirable by the sovereign to promote order.
==== Types ====
There are three types of commonwealths: monarchy, aristocracy and democracy.
The difference of Commonwealths consisted in the difference of the sovereign, or the person representative of all and every one of the multitude. And because the sovereignty is either in one man, or in an assembly of more than one; and into that assembly either every man hath right to enter, or not every one, but certain men distinguished from the rest; it is manifest there can be but three kinds of Commonwealth. For the representative must needs be one man, or more; and if more, then it is the assembly of all, or but of a part. When the representative is one man, then is the Commonwealth a monarchy; when an assembly of all that will come together, then it is a democracy, or popular Commonwealth; when an assembly of a part only, then it is called an aristocracy.
And only three; since unlike Aristotle he does not sub-divide them into "good" and "deviant":
Other kind of Commonwealth there can be none: for either one, or more, or all, must have the sovereign power (which I have shown to be indivisible) entire. There be other names of government in the histories and books of policy; as tyranny and oligarchy; but they are not the names of other forms of government, but of the same forms misliked. For they that are discontented under monarchy call it tyranny; and they that are displeased with aristocracy call it oligarchy: so also, they which find themselves grieved under a democracy call it anarchy, which signifies want of government; and yet I think no man believes that want of government is any new kind of government: nor by the same reason ought they to believe that the government is of one kind when they like it, and another when they mislike it or are oppressed by the governors.
And monarchy is the best, on practical grounds:
The difference between these three kinds of Commonwealth consisteth not in the difference of power, but in the difference of convenience or aptitude to produce the peace and security of the people; for which end they were instituted. And to compare monarchy with the other two, we may observe: first, that whosoever beareth the person of the people, or is one of that assembly that bears it, beareth also his own natural person. And though he be careful in his politic person to procure the common interest, yet he is more, or no less, careful to procure the private good of himself, his family, kindred and friends; and for the most part, if the public interest chance to cross the private, he prefers the private: for the passions of men are commonly more potent than their reason. From whence it follows that where the public and private interest are most closely united, there is the public most advanced. Now in monarchy the private interest is the same with the public. The riches, power, and honour of a monarch arise only from the riches, strength, and reputation of his subjects. For no king can be rich, nor glorious, nor secure, whose subjects are either poor, or contemptible, or too weak through want, or dissension, to maintain a war against their enemies; whereas in a democracy, or aristocracy, the public prosperity confers not so much to the private fortune of one that is corrupt, or ambitious, as doth many times a perfidious advice, a treacherous action, or a civil war.
==== Succession ====
The right of succession always lies with the sovereign. Democracies and aristocracies have easy succession; monarchy is harder:
The greatest difficulty about the right of succession is in monarchy: and the difficulty ariseth from this, that at first sight, it is not manifest who is to appoint the successor; nor many times who it is whom he hath appointed. For in both these cases, there is required a more exact ratiocination than every man is accustomed to use.
Because in general people have not thought carefully. However, the succession is definitely in the gift of the monarch:
As to the question who shall appoint the successor of a monarch that hath the sovereign authority ... we are to consider that either he that is in possession has right to dispose of the succession, or else that right is again in the dissolved multitude. ... Therefore it is manifest that by the institution of monarchy, the disposing of the successor is always left to the judgement and will of the present possessor.
But, it is not always obvious who the monarch has appointed:
And for the question which may arise sometimes, who it is that the monarch in possession hath designed to the succession and inheritance of his power ...
However, the answer is:
it is determined by his express words and testament; or by other tacit signs sufficient.
And this means:
By express words, or testament, when it is declared by him in his lifetime, viva voce, or by writing; as the first emperors of Rome declared who should be their heirs.
Note that (perhaps rather radically) this does not have to be any blood relative:
For the word heir does not of itself imply the children or nearest kindred of a man; but whomsoever a man shall any way declare he would have to succeed him in his estate. If therefore a monarch declare expressly that such a man shall be his heir, either by word or writing, then is that man immediately after the decease of his predecessor invested in the right of being monarch.
However, practically this means:
But where testament and express words are wanting, other natural signs of the will are to be followed: whereof the one is custom. And therefore where the custom is that the next of kindred absolutely succeedeth, there also the next of kindred hath right to the succession; for that, if the will of him that was in possession had been otherwise, he might easily have declared the same in his lifetime ...
==== Religion ====
In Leviathan, Hobbes explicitly states that the sovereign has authority to assert power over matters of faith and doctrine and that if he does not do so, he invites discord. Hobbes presents his own religious theory but states that he would defer to the will of the sovereign (when that was re-established: again, Leviathan was written during the Civil War) as to whether his theory was acceptable. Hobbes' materialistic presuppositions also led him to hold a view which was considered highly controversial at the time. Hobbes rejected the idea of incorporeal substances and subsequently argued that even God himself was a corporeal substance. Although Hobbes never explicitly stated he was an atheist, many allude to the possibility that he was.
==== Taxation ====
Hobbes also touched upon the sovereign's ability to tax in Leviathan, although he is not as widely cited for his economic theories as he is for his political theories. Hobbes believed that equal justice includes the equal imposition of taxes. The equality of taxes does not depend on equality of wealth, but on the equality of the debt that every man owes to the commonwealth for his defence and the maintenance of the rule of law. Hobbes also championed public support for those unable to maintain themselves by labour, which would presumably be funded by taxation. He advocated public encouragement of works of navigation etc. to usefully employ the poor who could work.
=== Part III: Of a Christian Commonwealth ===
In Part III Hobbes seeks to investigate the nature of a Christian commonwealth. This immediately raises the question of which scriptures we should trust, and why. If any person may claim supernatural revelation superior to the civil law, then there would be chaos, and Hobbes' fervent desire is to avoid this. Hobbes thus begins by establishing that we cannot infallibly know another's personal word to be divine revelation:
When God speaketh to man, it must be either immediately or by mediation of another man, to whom He had formerly spoken by Himself immediately. How God speaketh to a man immediately may be understood by those well enough to whom He hath so spoken; but how the same should be understood by another is hard, if not impossible, to know. For if a man pretend to me that God hath spoken to him supernaturally, and immediately, and I make doubt of it, I cannot easily perceive what argument he can produce to oblige me to believe it.
This is good, but if applied too fervently would lead to all the Bible being rejected. So, Hobbes says, we need a test: and the true test is established by examining the books of scripture, and is:
So that it is manifest that the teaching of the religion which God hath established, and the showing of a present miracle, joined together, were the only marks whereby the Scripture would have a true prophet, that is to say, immediate revelation, to be acknowledged; of them being singly sufficient to oblige any other man to regard what he saith.
Seeing therefore miracles now cease, we have no sign left whereby to acknowledge the pretended revelations or inspirations of any private man; nor obligation to give ear to any doctrine, farther than it is conformable to the Holy Scriptures, which since the time of our Saviour supply the place and sufficiently recompense the want of all other prophecy
"Seeing therefore miracles now cease" means that only the books of the Bible can be trusted. Hobbes then discusses the various books which are accepted by various sects, and the "question much disputed between the diverse sects of Christian religion, from whence the Scriptures derive their authority". To Hobbes, "it is manifest that none can know they are God's word (though all true Christians believe it) but those to whom God Himself hath revealed it supernaturally". And therefore "The question truly stated is: by what authority they are made law?"
Unsurprisingly, Hobbes concludes that ultimately there is no way to determine this other than the civil power:
He therefore to whom God hath not supernaturally revealed that they are His, nor that those that published them were sent by Him, is not obliged to obey them by any authority but his whose commands have already the force of laws; that is to say, by any other authority than that of the Commonwealth, residing in the sovereign, who only has the legislative power.
He discusses the Ten Commandments, and asks "who it was that gave to these written tables the obligatory force of laws. There is no doubt but they were made laws by God Himself: but because a law obliges not, nor is law to any but to them that acknowledge it to be the act of the sovereign, how could the people of Israel, that were forbidden to approach the mountain to hear what God said to Moses, be obliged to obedience to all those laws which Moses propounded to them?" and concludes, as before, that "making of the Scripture law, belonged to the civil sovereign."
Finally: "We are to consider now what office in the Church those persons have who, being civil sovereigns, have embraced also the Christian faith?" to which the answer is: "Christian kings are still the supreme pastors of their people, and have power to ordain what pastors they please, to teach the Church, that is, to teach the people committed to their charge."
There is an enormous amount of biblical scholarship in this third part. However, once Hobbes' initial argument is accepted (that no-one can know for sure anyone else's divine revelation) his conclusion (the religious power is subordinate to the civil) follows from his logic. The very extensive discussions of the chapter were probably necessary for its time. The need (as Hobbes saw it) for the civil sovereign to be supreme arose partly from the many sects that arose around the civil war, and to quash the Pope of Rome's challenge, to which Hobbes devotes an extensive section.
=== Part IV: Of the Kingdom of Darkness ===
Hobbes named Part IV of his book "Kingdom of Darkness". By this Hobbes does not mean Hell (he did not believe in Hell or Purgatory), but the darkness of ignorance as opposed to the light of true knowledge. Hobbes' interpretation is largely unorthodox and so sees much darkness in what he sees as the misinterpretation of Scripture.
This considered, the kingdom of darkness ... is nothing else but a confederacy of deceivers that, to obtain dominion over men in this present world, endeavour, by dark and erroneous doctrines, to extinguish in them the light...
Hobbes enumerates four causes of this darkness.
The first is by extinguishing the light of scripture through misinterpretation. Hobbes sees the main abuse as teaching that the kingdom of God can be found in the church, thus undermining the authority of the civil sovereign. Another general abuse of scripture, in his view, is the turning of consecration into conjuration, or silly ritual.
The second cause is the demonology of the heathen poets: in Hobbes's opinion, demons are nothing more than constructs of the brain. Hobbes then goes on to criticize what he sees as many of the practices of Catholicism: "Now for the worship of saints, and images, and relics, and other things at this day practiced in the Church of Rome, I say they are not allowed by the word of God".
The third is by mixing with the Scripture diverse relics of the religion, and much of the vain and erroneous philosophy of the Greeks, especially of Aristotle. Hobbes has little time for the various disputing sects of philosophers and objects to what people have taken "From Aristotle's civil philosophy, they have learned to call all manner of Commonwealths but the popular (such as was at that time the state of Athens), tyranny". At the end of this comes an interesting section (darkness is suppressing true knowledge as well as introducing falsehoods), which would appear to bear on the discoveries of Galileo Galilei. "Our own navigations make manifest, and all men learned in human sciences now acknowledge, there are antipodes [i.e., the Earth is round] ... Nevertheless, men ... have been punished for it by authority ecclesiastical. But what reason is there for it? Is it because such opinions are contrary to true religion? That cannot be, if they be true." However, Hobbes is quite happy for the truth to be suppressed if necessary: if "they tend to disorder in government, as countenancing rebellion or sedition? Then let them be silenced, and the teachers punished" – but only by the civil authority.
The fourth is by mingling with both these, false or uncertain traditions, and feigned or uncertain history.
Hobbes finishes by inquiring who benefits from the errors he diagnoses:
Cicero maketh honourable mention of one of the Cassii, a severe judge amongst the Romans, for a custom he had in criminal causes, when the testimony of the witnesses was not sufficient, to ask the accusers, cui bono; that is to say, what profit, honour, or other contentment the accused obtained or expected by the fact. For amongst presumptions, there is none that so evidently declareth the author as doth the benefit of the action.
Hobbes concludes that the beneficiaries are the churches and churchmen.
== Reception ==
The traditional understanding of the reception of Hobbes' work was that it was almost universally rejected, immediately discredited, not seriously read, and resulted in Hobbes being outed as an atheist. However, this was an image created by Hobbes' main intellectual opponents. It is likely that it merited such furious reaction in some circles precisely because it was being read by many and that it was provoking serious debate on a range of contentious issues that it addressed in its day. One early comment on the text came from Brian Duppa, who wrote that "as in the man, so there are strange mixtures in the book; many things said so well that I could embrace him for it, and many things so wildly and unchristianly, that I could scarce have so much charity for him, as to think he was ever Christian". Another came from Alexander Ross, who wrote "I finde him a man of excellent parts, and in this book much gold, and withal much dross; he hath mingled his wine with too much water, and imbittered his pottage with too much Coloquintida". International relations scholar John Mearsheimer's realist theory is largely inspired by Hobbes's work, which argues that states exist in an anarchic world where their primary goal is to survive and become more powerful, in the absence of a higher authority.
== Critical analysis ==
Anthony Gottlieb points out that Hobbes's political philosophy was affected by the prevalence of sectarian conflict in his time, both in the European wars of religion and in the English Civil Wars. These violent events moved him to consider peace and security the ultimate goals of government, to be achieved at all costs. The British historian Hugh Trevor-Roper summarises the book as follows: "The axiom, fear; the method, logic; the conclusion, despotism." |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FGM-148_Javelin | FGM-148 Javelin | The FGM-148 Javelin, or Advanced Anti-Tank Weapon System-Medium (AAWS-M), is an American-made man-portable anti-tank system in service since 1996 and continuously upgraded. It replaced the M47 Dragon anti-tank missile in US service. Its fire-and-forget design features automatic infrared guidance, allowing the user to seek cover immediately after launch, in contrast to wire-guided systems like the system used by the Dragon, which require a user to guide the weapon throughout the engagement. The Javelin's high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) warhead can defeat modern tanks by top-down attack, hitting them from above, where their armor is thinnest, and is useful against fortifications in a direct attack flight. The Javelin uses a tandem charge warhead to circumvent an enemy tank's explosive reactive armor (ERA), which would normally render HEAT warheads ineffective.
As of 2019, according to claims by the manufacturer, the Javelin had been used in around five thousand successful engagements. By August 2021, fifty thousand missiles had been delivered to customers.
The weapon made its combat debut in Iraq in 2003 and rose to prominence in the Russo-Ukrainian War, where it saw extensive usage by Ukrainian forces during the early stages of the 2022 Russian invasion.
== Overview ==
Javelin is a fire-and-forget missile with lock-on before launch and automatic self-guidance. The system employs a top attack flight profile against armored vehicles, attacking the usually thinner top armor, but can also make a direct attack, for use against buildings, targets too close for top attack, targets under obstructions, and helicopters.
It can reach a peak altitude of 150 m (490 ft) in top attack mode and 60 m (200 ft) in direct attack mode. Initial versions had a range of 2,000 m (6,600 ft), later increased to 2,500 m (8,200 ft). It is equipped with an imaging infrared seeker. The tandem warhead is fitted with two shaped charges: a precursor warhead to detonate any explosive reactive armor and a primary warhead to penetrate base armor.
In what is known as a "soft launch arrangement", the missile is ejected from the launcher to a safe distance from the operator before the main rocket motors ignite. This makes it harder to identify the launcher, though backblast from the launch tube still poses a hazard to nearby personnel. The firing team may move as soon as the "fire-and-forget" missile has been launched or immediately prepare to fire on their next target.
The missile system is sometimes carried by two soldiers consisting of a gunner and an ammunition bearer, although one soldier can fire it. While the gunner aims and fires the missile, the ammunition bearer scans for prospective targets, watches for threats like enemy vehicles or troops and ensures that personnel and obstacles are clear of the missile's launch backblast.
== Development ==
In 1983, the United States Army introduced its AAWS-M (Advanced Anti-Tank Weapon System—Medium) requirement. In 1985, the AAWS-M was approved for development. In August 1986, the proof-of-principle (POP) phase of development began, with a US$30 million contract awarded for technical proof demonstrators: Ford Aerospace (laser-beam riding), Hughes Aircraft Missile System Group (imaging infrared combined with a fiber-optic cable link) and Texas Instruments (imaging infrared). In late 1988, the POP phase ended. In June 1989, the full-scale development contract was awarded to a joint venture of Texas Instruments and Martin Marietta, now Raytheon and Lockheed Martin. The AAWS-M received the designation of FGM-148.
In April 1991, the first test-flight of the Javelin succeeded, and in March 1993, the first test-firing from the launcher succeeded. In 1994, low levels of production were authorized, and the first Javelins were deployed with US Army units in 1996.
=== Test and evaluation ===
The General Accounting Office (GAO), since renamed Government Accountability Office, published a report questioning the adequacy of Javelin testing.
involving operational testers early in development;
use of modelling and simulation;
integrating development and operational testing;
combining testing and training.
The late-phase development of the Javelin retroactively benefited from the then-new operational test initiatives set forth by the Secretary of Defense, as well as a further test conducted as a consequence of the Army's response to the GAO report. Before it was fielded to the 3rd Battalion of the 75th Ranger Regiment at Fort Benning (and later Special Forces, airborne, air assault, and light infantry units), the Javelin was subjected to limited parts of the five operational test and evaluation initiatives, as well as a portability operational test program, an additional test phase of the so-called Product Verification Test, which included live firings with the full-rate configuration weapon.
The Institute for Defense Analyses and the Defense Department's Director of Operational Test and Evaluation became involved in three development test activities, including
reviewing initial operational test and evaluation plans;
monitoring initial operational test and evaluation;
structuring follow-on test and evaluation activities.
=== Qualification testing ===
The Javelin Environmental Test System (JETS) is a mobile test set for Javelin All-Up-Round (AUR) and the Command Launch Unit (CLU). It can be configured to functionally test the AUR or the CLU individually or both units in a mated tactical mode. This mobile unit may be repositioned at the various environmental testing facilities. The mobile system is used for all phases of Javelin qualification testing. There is a non-mobile JETS used for stand-alone CLU testing. This system is equipped with an environmental chamber and is primarily used for Product Verification Testing (PRVT). Capabilities include: Javelin CLU testing; Javelin AUR testing; Javelin Mated Mode testing; Javelin testing in various environmental conditions; and CLU PRVT.
The all-up-round test sets include: extreme temperature testing; missile tracker testing (track rate error, tracking sensitivity); seeker/focal plane array testing (cool-down time, dead/defective pixels, seeker identification); pneumatic leakage; continuity measurements; ready time; and guidance sections (guidance commands, fin movement).
== Components ==
The system consists of three main components: the Command Launch Unit, the Launch Tube Assembly and the missile itself. Each missile contains 250 microprocessors.
=== Command launch unit ===
The gunner carries a reusable command launch unit (CLU, pronounced "clue"), which is the targeting component of the two-part system. The CLU has three views, which are used to find, target, and fire the missile and may be used separately from the missile as a portable thermal sight. Infantry personnel are no longer required to stay in constant contact with armored personnel carriers and tanks with thermal sights. This makes them more flexible and able to perceive threats they would not otherwise be able to detect. In 2006, a contract was awarded to Toyon Research Corporation to begin development of an upgrade to the CLU, enabling the transmission of target image and GPS location data to other units.
==== Day field of view ====
The first view is a 4× magnification day view. It is mainly used to scan areas in visible light during daylight operation. It is also used to scan immediately before sunrise and after sunset, when it is difficult to focus the thermal image due to the natural rapid heating or cooling of the environment.
==== Wide field of view ====
The second view is the 4× magnification night view, a wide field of view (WFOV) which shows the gunner a thermal representation of the area viewed. This is the primary view used, due to its ability to detect infrared radiation and find both troops and vehicles otherwise too well hidden to detect. The screen shows a "green scale" view which can be adjusted in both contrast and brightness. The inside of the CLU is cooled by a small refrigeration unit attached to the sight. This greatly increases the sensitivity of the thermal imaging capability, since the temperature inside the sight is much lower than that of the objects it detects.
Due to the sensitivity this causes, the gunner is able to "focus" the CLU to show a detailed image of the area being viewed, by showing temperature differences of only a few degrees. The gunner operates this view with the use of two hand stations similar to the control stick found in modern cockpits. It is from this view that the gunner focuses the image and determines the area that gives the best heat signature on which to lock the missile.
==== Narrow field of view ====
The third field of view is a 12× thermal sight, used to better identify the target vehicle. Once the CLU has been focused in WFOV, the gunner may switch to a narrow field of view (NFOV) for target recognition before activating the seeker FOV.
Once the best target area is chosen, the gunner presses one of the two triggers and is automatically switched to the fourth view, the seeker FOV, which is a 9x magnification thermal view. This process is similar to the automatic zoom feature on most modern cameras. This view is available along with the previously mentioned views, all of which may be accessed with the press of a button. However, it is not as commonly used as a high-magnification view, because it takes longer to scan a wide area.
This view allows the gunner to further aim the missile and set the guidance system housed inside it. It is when in this view that information is passed from the CLU, through the connection electronics of the launch tube assembly, and into the missile's guidance system. If the gunner decides not to fire the missile immediately, they can cycle back to the other views without firing. When the gunner is satisfied with the target picture, a second trigger is pulled to establish a "lock". The missile launches after a short delay.
==== Lightweight CLU ====
The US Army developed a new CLU as an improvement over the Block I version. The new CLU is 70% smaller, 40% lighter and has a 50% battery life increase. Features of the lightweight CLU are: a long-wave infrared (IR) thermographic camera; a high-definition display with improved resolution; integrated handgrips; a five-megapixel color camera; a laser point that can be seen visibly or through IR; a far target locator using GPS, a laser rangefinder, a heading sensor, and modernized electronics. The LW CLU has demonstrated the ability to fire a FIM-92 Stinger anti-aircraft missile, using its superior optics to identify and destroy small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Compared to the Block I Command Launch Unit (CLU), the Lightweight CLU will double target identification range and increase system engagement range from 2.5 kilometers (km) to 4 km.
The Javelin Joint Venture received its first low-rate production contract for the LW CLU in June 2022. 200 units will be delivered before full-rate production is expected to initiate in 2023, which will increase the production rate to 600 per year. First delivery is slated for 2025.
=== Launch tube assembly ===
Both the gunner and the ammunition bearer carry the Launch Tube Assembly, a disposable tube that houses the missile and protects the missile from harsh environments. The tube has built-in electronics and a locking hinge system that makes attachment and detachment of the missile to and from the Command Launch Unit a quick and simple process.
=== Missile ===
==== Warhead ====
The Javelin missile's tandem warhead is a high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) type. This round utilizes an explosive shaped charge to create a stream of superplastically deformed metal, formed from trumpet-shaped metallic liners. The result is a narrow high velocity particle stream that can penetrate armor.
The Javelin counters the advent of explosive reactive armor (ERA). ERA boxes or tiles lying over a vehicle's main armor explode when their explosive filler is penetrated by a high energy projectile. By exploding, the ERA 'feeds' a metal plate into the path of the shaped charge jet, increasing protection significantly. The Javelin uses two shaped-charge warheads to mitigate this. A weak, smaller diameter HEAT precursor charge detonates the ERA, clearing the way for the much larger diameter HEAT warhead, which then penetrates the target's primary armor.
A two-layered molybdenum liner is used for the precursor, and a copper liner for the main warhead.
To protect the main charge from the explosive blast, shock, and debris caused by the impact of the missile's nose and the detonation of the precursor charge, a blast shield is used between the two charges. This was the first composite material blast shield and the first that had a hole through the middle to provide a jet that is less diffuse.
A newer main charge liner produces a higher velocity jet. While making the warhead smaller, this change makes it more effective, leaving more room for propellant for the main rocket motor, increasing the missile's range.
Electronic arming and fusing, called Electronic Safe Arming and Fire (ESAF), is present on the Javelin. The ESAF system enables the firing and arming process to proceed, while imposing a series of safety checks on the missile. ESAF cues the launch motor after the trigger is pulled. When the missile reaches a key acceleration point, indicating that it has cleared the launch tube, the ESAF initiates a second arming signal to fire the flight motor. After another check on missile conditions (target lock check), ESAF initiates final arming to enable the warheads for detonation upon target impact. When the missile strikes the target, ESAF enables the tandem warhead function, to provide appropriate time between the detonation of the precursor charge and the detonation of the main charge.
Though the Javelin's tandem HEAT warhead has proven efficient at destroying tanks, most threats it was employed against in Iraq and Afghanistan were weapon crews and teams, buildings, and lightly armored and unarmored vehicles. To make the Javelin more useful in these scenarios, the Aviation and Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Center developed a multi-purpose warhead (MPWH) for the FGM-148F. While it is still lethal against tanks, the new warhead has a naturally fragmenting steel warhead case, that doubles the effectiveness against personnel due to enhanced fragmentation. The MPWH does not add weight or cost and has a lighter composite missile mid-body to enable drop-in replacement to existing Javelin tubes. The Javelin F-model was planned to begin deliveries in early 2020. The improved missile design, along with new lighter CLU with an improved target tracker, entered production in May 2020.
==== Propulsion ====
Most rocket launchers require a large clear area behind the gunner to prevent injury from backblast. To address this shortcoming without increasing recoil to an unacceptable level, the Javelin system uses a soft launch mechanism. A small launch motor using conventional rocket propellant ejects the missile from the launcher, but stops burning before the missile clears the tube. The flight motor is ignited after a delay to allow sufficient clearance from the operator.
To save weight, the two motors are integrated with a burst disc between them. It is designed to tolerate the pressure of the launch motor from one side, but to easily rupture from the other when the flight motor ignites. The motors use a common nozzle. The flight motor's exhaust flows through the expended launch motor. Because the launch motor casing remains in place, an unusual ring-shaped igniter is used to start it. A normal igniter would be blown out of the back of the missile when the flight motor ignited and could injure the operator.
Since the launch motor uses a standard NATO propellant, the presence of lead beta-resorcylate as a burn rate modifier causes an amount of lead and lead oxide to be present in the exhaust. Gunners are asked to hold their breath after firing for their safety.
In the event that the launch motor malfunctions and the launch tube is overpressurized—for example, if the rocket gets stuck—the Javelin missile includes a pressure release system to prevent the launcher from exploding. The launch motor is held in place by a set of shear pins, which fracture if the pressure rises too high. They allow the motor to be pushed out of the back of the tube.
==== Seeker ====
As a fire-and-forget missile, after launch the missile has to be able to track and destroy its target without assistance from the gunner. This is done by coupling an onboard imaging IR system, separate from CLU imaging system, with an onboard tracking system.
The gunner uses the CLU's IR system to find and identify the target, then switches to the missile's independent IR system to set a track box around the target and establish a lock. The gunner places brackets around the image for locking.
The seeker stays focused on the target's image, continuing to track it as the target moves or the missile's flight path alters, or attack angles change. The seeker consists of three main components: focal plane array image sensor, cooling and calibration, and stabilization.
==== Focal plane array (FPA) ====
The seeker assembly is encased in a dome that is transparent to long-wave infrared radiation. The IR radiation passes through the dome and then through lenses that focus the energy. The IR energy is reflected by mirrors on to the FPA. The seeker is a two-dimensional staring FPA of 64×64 MerCad (HgCdTe) detector elements. The FPA processes the signals from the detectors and relays a signal to the missile's tracker.
The staring array is a photo-voltaic device where the incident photons stimulate electrons and are stored, pixel by pixel, in readout integrated circuits attached at the rear of the detector. These electrons are converted to voltages that are multiplexed out of the ROIC on a frame-by-frame basis.
==== Cooling/calibration ====
To function effectively, the FPA must be cooled and calibrated. In other applications, a CLU's IR detectors are cooled using a Dewar flask and a closed-cycle Stirling engine, but there is insufficient space in the missile for a similar solution. Prior to launch, a cooler mounted on the outside of the launch tube activates the electrical systems in the missile, and supplies cold gas from a Joule-Thomson expander to the missile detector assembly, while the missile is still in the launch tube. When the missile is fired, this external connection is broken and coolant gas is supplied internally by an onboard argon gas bottle. The gas is held in a small bottle at high pressure and contains enough coolant for the duration of the flight of approximately 19 seconds.
The seeker is calibrated using a chopper wheel. This device is a fan of six blades: five black blades with low IR emissivity and one semi-reflective blade. These blades spin in front of the seeker optics in a synchronized fashion such that the FPA is continually provided with points of reference in addition to viewing the scene. These reference points allow the FPA to reduce noise introduced by response variations in the detector elements.
==== Stabilization ====
The platform on which the seeker is mounted must be stabilized with respect to the motion of the missile body, and the seeker must be moved to stay aligned with the target. The stabilization system must cope with rapid acceleration, up/down and lateral movements. This is done by a gimbal system, accelerometers, spinning-mass gyros (or MEMS), and motors to drive changes in position of the platform. The system is basically an autopilot. Information from the gyros is fed to the guidance electronics, which drive a torque motor attached to the seeker platform to keep the seeker aligned with the target. The wires that connect the seeker with the rest of the missile are carefully designed to avoid inducing motion or drag on the seeker platform.
==== Tracker ====
The tracker is key to guidance/control for an eventual hit. The signals from each of the 4,096 detector elements (64×64 pixel array) in the seeker are passed to the FPA readout integrated circuits which reads then creates a video frame that is sent to the tracker system for processing. By comparing the individual frames, the tracker determines the need to correct so as to keep the missile on target. The tracker must be able to determine which portion of the image represents the target.
The target is initially defined by the gunner, who places a configurable frame around it. The tracker then uses algorithms to compare that region of the frame based on image, geometric, and movement data to the new image frames being sent from the seeker, similar to pattern recognition algorithms. At the end of each frame, the reference is updated. The tracker is able to keep track of the target even though the seeker's point of view can change radically in the course of flight.
The missile is equipped with four movable tail fins and eight fixed wings at mid-body. To guide the missile, the tracker locates the target in the current frame and compares this position with the aim point. If this position is off center, the tracker computes a correction and passes it to the guidance system, which makes the appropriate adjustments to the four movable tail fins. This is an autopilot. To guide the missile, the system has sensors that check that the fins are positioned as requested. If not, the deviation is sent back to the controller for further adjustment. This is a closed-loop controller.
There are three stages in the flight managed by the tracker: 1) an initial phase just after launch; 2) a mid-flight phase that lasts for most of the flight; and 3) a terminal phase in which the tracker selects the most effective point of impact. With guidance algorithms, the autopilot uses data from the seeker and tracker, to determine when to transition the missile from one phase of flight to another. Depending on whether the missile is in top attack or direct attack mode, the profile of the flight can change significantly.
The top attack mode requires the missile to climb sharply after launch and cruise at high altitude, then dive on the top of the target (curveball). In direct attack mode (fastball), the missile cruises at a lower altitude directly at the target. The flight path takes into account the range to the target, calculated by the guidance unit.
== Training ==
A great familiarity of each control and swift operation needs to be achieved before the unit can be deployed efficiently. American troops are trained on the system at the Infantry School in Fort Moore, Georgia, for two weeks. The soldiers are taught basic care and maintenance, operation and abilities, assembly and disassembly, and the positions it can be fired from. Soldiers are taught to distinguish between a variety of vehicle types, even when only a rough outline is visible.
The soldiers must accomplish several timed drills with set standards, before being qualified to operate the system in both training and wartime situations. There are smaller training programs set up on most army bases that instruct soldiers on the proper use of the system. At these courses, the training program might be changed in small ways. This is most commonly only minor requirements left out due to budget, the number of soldiers vs. simulation equipment, and available time and resources. Both types of training courses have required proficiency levels that must be met before the soldier can operate the system in training exercises or wartime missions.
== Combat history ==
The Javelin was used by the US Army, the US Marine Corps and the Australian Special Forces in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, on Iraqi Type 69 and Lion of Babylon tanks. During the Battle of Debecka Pass, a platoon of US Army Special Forces operators equipped with Javelins destroyed two T-55 tanks, eight armored personnel carriers, and four troop transport trucks.
During the War in Afghanistan, the Javelin was used effectively in counter-insurgency (COIN) operations. Initially, soldiers perceived the weapon as unsuitable for COIN due to its destructive power, but trained gunners were able to make precision shots against enemy positions with little collateral damage. The Javelin filled a niche in US weapons systems against DShK heavy machine guns and B-10 recoilless rifles—weapons like the AT4 and the M203 grenade launcher were powerful enough, but the ~300 m range was insufficient. Conversely, while medium and heavy machine guns and automatic grenade launchers had the range, they lacked the power, and heavy mortars, which had both a good range and more than enough power, were not accurate enough.
The Javelin had enough range, power, and accuracy for dismounted infantry to counter standoff engagement tactics employed by enemy weapons. With good locks, the missile is most effective against vehicles, caves, fortified positions, and individual personnel. If enemy forces were inside a cave, a Javelin fired into the mouth of the cave would destroy it from the inside, which was not possible from the outside using heavy mortars. The psychological effect of the sound of a Javelin firing, sometimes caused insurgents to disengage and flee their position. Even when not firing, the Javelin's CLU was commonly used as a man-portable surveillance system.
In February 2016, during the al-Shaddadi offensive of the Syrian Civil War, a Javelin was used to blow up an attacking suicide car bomb.
In 2016, claims were posted on social media that the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) may have received Javelin missiles. By June 2018, it was still unconfirmed if the YPG were fielding Javelin missiles, although US Special Forces units were seen operating them in support of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) advances during the Deir ez-Zor campaign in the Middle Euphrates River Valley.
In June 2019, forces of the Libyan Government of National Accord captured four Javelins from the forces of the Libyan National Army. These missiles had been provided by the UAE.
During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, NATO provided thousands of Javelins to Ukraine, where they proved highly effective. Javelins have been responsible for a part of the thousands of Russian armored vehicles that Ukraine has destroyed, captured or damaged. The Pentagon claimed that of the first 112 Javelins fired by the Ukrainians since the start of the war, 100 missiles had hit their target. An image dubbed "Saint Javelin", which shows the Virgin Mary holding a Javelin launcher in the style of an Eastern Orthodox church painting, gained social media attention, and soon became a symbol of the Ukrainian resistance against the Russian invasion.
An unknown number of Javelin launch tube assemblies were captured by the Russian armed forces during the conflict. It is unclear if any of the captured launchers contained live rounds, or were simply tubes discarded after being used. Iran reportedly received an example of the Javelin missile from Russia, along with other Western munitions captured in Ukraine, as part of a larger deal for Shahed and Mohajer drones.
In April 2022 commentary from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), concerns were raised over the US stock of Javelin missiles. According to CSIS, the US had used close to one-third of its Javelin missiles. 7,000 had been supplied, with the United States buying Javelins at the rate of about 1,000 a year. The maximum production rate is 6,480 a year, but it would likely take a year or more to reach that level. Orders take 32 months to deliver. The report concluded that it would take about three or four years to replace the missiles that had been sent to Ukraine. The missile production rate could be increased greatly with a national procurement effort.
In May 2022, Lockheed Martin CEO James Taiclet stated that Lockheed would nearly double the production of Javelins to 4,000 a year. Ukrainian officials estimated that up to 500 missiles per day were being used in the early days of the war. In August 2022, the US committed to sending an additional 1,000 Javelin missiles to Ukraine.
== Variants ==
FGM-148A: Initial small batch in 1996.
FGM-148B: Unclear. Likely the Enhanced Producibility Program (EPP) design introduced before the Javelin's Milestone III.
FGM-148C: 1999, probably the Javelin Enhanced Tandem Integration (JETI) modification. DoD claims "enhancements that alter the missile dome". Described as "Block 0" by Janes.
FGM-148D: Export version.
"Block 1": 2006. Faster and more lethal missiles, a new "Block I CLU" providing increased ID range and surveillance time. Janes claims this is the same as FGM-148E.
FGM-148E: Replaced electronic components in the control actuator section of the missile, for cost and weight savings. Developed as "Spiral 1" in 2013–14. Production started in 2017.
FGM-148F: Fitted with a multi-purpose warhead (MPWH). Developed as "Spiral 2". Production started in May 2020.
FGM-148G: To be developed from project "Spiral 3". Will develop a new launch tube assembly and battery unit, and will replace the current gas-cooled seeker with an uncooled seeker in the guidance section of the missile. Production missiles will be designated FGM-148G.
The LWCLU does not yet have a variant designation.
== Operators ==
=== Current operators ===
Albania: Ordered an Unknown amount in 2022 received its first shipment in December 24, 2025 and a second delivery is expected in 2026,
Australia: 92 launchers.
Bahrain: 13 launchers.
Croatia:
Czech Republic: Purchased 3 launchers and 12 missiles for its special forces, for use in Afghanistan. An additional order totaling US$10.21 million was placed in December 2015 for 50 missiles and 3 launchers.
Estonia: 80 CLU, with option for additional 40, and 350 missiles purchased from the United States. In service from 2016.
France: 76 launchers and 260 missiles for use in Afghanistan. Was replacing MILAN anti-tank missile, no follow-on order in favor of the Missile Moyenne Portée (MMP).
Georgia: 72 CLUs and 410 missiles received in 2018, and the delivery of another 46 CLUs and 82 missiles approved in 2021. The first Foreign Military Sale to the Georgian military consisting of 410 missiles, and 72 CLUs, includes 2 Javelin Block 1 CLUs to be used as spares was approved for US$75 million. In 2021, 46 CLUs and 82 missiles were ordered, for US$30 million.
Indonesia: 25 launchers and 189 missiles of Javelin Block 1 variant, in a US$60 million deal.
Ireland: Irish Army, it replaced the MILAN anti-tank missile.
Jordan: 30 launchers and 116 missiles were received in 2004. 162 CLUs, 18 Fly-to-Buy Missiles, 1,808 Javelin Anti-Tank Guided Missiles and other support equipment was ordered in 2009. The estimated cost is $388 million. Jordan placed another order of $133.9 million in 2017.
Libya: Used by the Libyan National Army
Lithuania: Total: 144 CLU and 871 missiles purchased from the United States. In 2001, 40 launchers and 200 missiles. The first European country to receive this launcher and missile system in 2001. In December 2015 DSCA approved for a possible Foreign Military Sale to Lithuania for another 220 missiles and 74 CLUs for $55 million, plus 30 CLU and 350 missiles in 2026.
New Zealand: 24 launchers and 390 missiles, in batches of 120, then 270.
Norway: 100 launchers and 526 missiles. Delivered from 2006, in use from 2009. In 2017 Norwegian authorities started the process of finding a replacement anti-tank weapon, in order to counter new types of heavy tanks equipped with active protection systems capable of defeating missiles like the Javelin.
Oman: 30 launchers.
Poland: 110 launchers, 680 missiles.
Qatar: In March 2013, Qatar requested the sale of 500 Javelin missiles and 50 command launch units. The deal was signed in March 2014.
Saudi Arabia: 20 launchers and 150 missiles.
Taiwan: In 2002, Taiwan bought 360 missiles and 40 launcher units for $39 million. The contract included training devices, logistics support, associated equipment and training. In 2008, the United States issued a congressional notification for the sale of a further 20 launchers and 182 more missiles.
Turkey
Tunisia
Ukraine: Over 8,000 Javelin anti-armor systems.
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom: The UK Ministry of Defence purchased 850 Javelin units and 9,000 missiles for the Light Forces Anti-Tank Guided Weapon System (LFATGWS) requirement. Javelin entered UK service in 2005, replacing the MILAN and Swingfire systems.
United States: Although not officially reported, budget records indicate that the US had 20,000 to 25,000 Javelin units on hand in 2021, prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Russia: Mostly Captured from Ukraine Force.
=== Future operators ===
Brazil: 33 launchers and 222 missiles.
Bulgaria: Bulgaria is buying 218 FGM-148F Javelin missiles and 107 Javelin Lightweight Command Launch Units for its Stryker Dragoon vehicles for $114 million.
Kosovo: In January 2024, the State Department approved a purchase of 246 Javelin FGM-148F anti-tank missiles and 6 testing missiles and 24 Command Launch Units (CLU), worth $75 million.
Latvia: In May 2022, Lockheed Martin received orders from several international customers including Norway, Albania, Latvia and Thailand.
Morocco: In March 2024, the US State Department approved a potential $260 million sale of Javelin missiles and related equipment to Morocco. The deal includes 612 FGM-148F missiles and 200 Lightweight Command Launch Units (LWCLUs).
Romania: In December 2023, the US State Department approved a potential $80 million sale of Javelin missiles and related equipment to Romania. Romania requested to buy 263 Javelin FGM-148F missiles and 26 Javelin Light Weight Command Launch Units.
Thailand: In July 2021, the US State Department announced a possible Foreign Military Sale to Thailand, of 300 Javelin FGM-148 Missiles and 50 Javelin Command Launch Units (CLU), worth $83.5 million.
=== Potential operators ===
Bangladesh: On November 25, 2025, the DGDP officially issued an RFI to evaluate the Javelin system for the Bangladesh Army's special combat units, including Special Forces and airborne elements.
India: In 2010, India considered purchasing some systems off-the-shelf, with a larger number to be license manufactured locally through "transfer of technology" (ToT). The United States was reluctant to provide a full ToT. Eventually, the plan to purchase Javelins was "shelved". In October 2014, India chose to buy the Israeli Spike missile system. However, as of July 2025, India was again considering an emergency procurement of the Javelin ATGM. Negotiations for a larger deal for the ATGM is also underway. On 16 July, it was reported that India has sent a Letter of Request to the US for the co-production of the missile system in India. As of 22 October, the Indian Army is considering the fast track procurement of 12 launchers and 104 missiles. As of 20 November, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) approved the supply of 100 missiles and 25 launcher control units at a cost of $46 million along with 216 Excalibur artillery shells at a cost of $47 million.
Philippines: In a Manila Bulletin article published in August 25, 2025, the Philippine Army chief Lt. Gen. Antonio G. Nafarrete mentioned that the military is in the process of acquiring defense articles, and Javelin anti-tank missile systems is one of the articles mentioned. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wroc%C5%82aw_Dwarfs | Wrocław Dwarfs | Wrocław Dwarves or Wrocław Gnomes (Polish: Wrocławskie krasnale) are small figurines (20–30 cm) that have appeared in the streets of Wrocław, Poland since 2005. The dwarves are a major tourist attraction for the city, which is the third largest in Poland. Tourists often walk around the city with a map trying to find all of them.
As of 2024, there were over 800 dwarves in the city. Six of them are located outside the city at the LG plant in Biskupice Podgórne. As of 2026, the number of dwarves in the city is estimated at around 1,040.
== History ==
In 2001, a monument of a dwarf was placed on Świdnicka Street to commemorate the Orange Alternative, a Polish anti-communist movement, and its symbol. In 2003, the mayor of Wrocław, in an attempt to continue the new tradition, unveiled a small plaque on the door of The Dwarves’ Museum. It is found at knee height on the wall of a historic tenement called Jaś, which is situated between the Market Square and St. Elizabeth’s Church.
The dwarf figures, which are smaller than the Orange Alternative monument on Świdnicka Street, were placed in various locations throughout the city. The first five, designed by Tomasz Moczek, a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław, were installed in August 2005. These included the Fencer near the University of Wrocław, the Butcher in Stare Jatki arcade, two Sisyphuses on Świdnicka Street, and the Oder-Washer-Dwarf, near the Piasek Bridge. The last dwarf's name is related to Pracze Odrzańskie, a district on the outskirts of the city. The number of figures has continued to grow since then.
On June 18, 2008, a ceremony was held to unveil two new dwarves on Świdnicka Street, next to W-skers. The figures represent two disabled dwarves: the Deaf-Mute and the Blind. They are part of the Wrocław Without Barriers campaign, which aims to draw attention to handicapped people living in Wrocław. Five days later, another dwarf was erected at the Hematology and Pediatric Oncology Clinic in Wrocław. The design for this third female dwarf, Marzenka, was based on the logo of the Mam marzenie charity.
The Dwarves' Festival takes place in Wrocław every year in September.
== Gallery ==
== Wrocław Dwarfs in other cities ==
As a sign of friendship, sculptures of a dwarf are installed in Berlin, Kaunas and Lviv. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisconsin_Butter_Fire | Wisconsin Butter Fire | |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Wainwright | Adam Wainwright | Adam Parrish Wainwright (born August 30, 1981), nicknamed "Waino" and "Uncle Charlie", is an American former professional baseball pitcher who spent his entire 18-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Atlanta Braves selected Wainwright 29th overall in the first round of the 2000 MLB draft from Glynn Academy in Brunswick, Georgia. His performance in the minor leagues made him one of the Braves' top pitching prospects. After the 2003 season, the Braves traded him to the Cardinals for outfielder J. D. Drew.
Wainwright made his MLB debut on September 11, 2005, and spent the rest of the season as a relief pitcher. The next year, he briefly assumed closer duties, saving the series-clinching games of the 2006 National League Championship Series and the World Series over the Detroit Tigers. In 2007, he returned to starting pitching, a role in which he would remain for the rest of his career. He missed the 2011 season due to Tommy John surgery, but emerged as an ace, leading the National League multiple times in wins, innings pitched, and games started. He also has multiple top-ten finishes in earned run average, strikeouts, walks plus hits per inning pitched, and complete games. In 2014, Wainwright became the first pitcher in major league history to post nine of his first 18 starts with seven innings pitched and no runs allowed. In his career, Wainwright won 200 games, received three All-Star selections and two Gold Glove Awards, and finished in the top three in the Cy Young Award balloting four times.
With 2,202 career strikeouts, Wainwright is second to Bob Gibson (3,117) in Cardinals franchise history. Wainwright and longtime teammate Yadier Molina are the most successful battery in major league history, having both the most wins and starts together.
On September 18, 2023, Wainwright became the third Cardinals' pitcher to win 200 games, joining Bob Gibson (251), and Jesse Haines (210), and the 122nd in baseball history. That day, he also became the 66th pitcher in baseball history with at least 2,200 strikeouts.
== Early life ==
Wainwright was born in Brunswick, Georgia. His father was an attorney, and his mother was a real estate agent. His parents divorced when he was seven years old, and his father moved to Florida, leaving Wainwright's mother to raise him and his older brother, who grew up to become an attorney in Atlanta. Wainwright credits his older brother with teaching him everything he knows about sports after their father left, including building a pitcher's mound in their back yard to teach him how to pitch. Wainwright also participated in the Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, and numerous church activities. He grew up an Atlanta Braves fan.
=== High school ===
Wainwright attended high school at Glynn Academy in Brunswick, where he was an athletic and academic standout. With a fastball over 90 mph and batting average at times over .500, Wainwright was named Gatorade Georgia Player of the Year in 2000. He also played football, in which he was named to the All-State team as a wide receiver his junior and senior years as well as All-Region honors as a placekicker. Several universities, including Georgia Tech, offered him academic and baseball scholarships.
== Professional career ==
=== Draft and minor leagues (2000–05) ===
==== Atlanta Braves organization (2000–03) ====
The Atlanta Braves selected Wainwright 29th overall in the first round of the 2000 MLB draft, using a compensatory pick from the Arizona Diamondbacks for signing Russ Springer in the offseason. Wainwright chose to forgo college, signing a contract that included a $1.25 million bonus. The Braves had been his favorite team growing up. Less than two weeks after high school graduation, Wainwright reported to the Braves rookie team and soon advanced to Atlanta's Class A Danville Braves in the Appalachian League. He pitched for the Macon Braves in the South Atlantic League in 2001, where he broke the team record for strikeouts, previously held by Bruce Chen, with 184.
Wainwright spent the 2002 season in the Carolina League and also participated in that season's All-Star Futures Game. In 2003, Wainwright advanced to the Double-A Greenville Braves. He was Baseball America's top Braves prospect in 2003.
=== St. Louis Cardinals (2005–2023) ===
In December 2003, the St. Louis Cardinals acquired Wainwright and pitchers Jason Marquis and Ray King in a trade that sent outfielder J. D. Drew and utility player Eli Marrero to Atlanta.
Wainwright pitched just 12 games for the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds in 2004 before he was shut down for nearly the entire rest of the season with an elbow strain. He had a 4–4 win–loss record (W–L) with a 5.37 earned run average (ERA) in 63+2⁄3 innings pitched (IP). He struck out 64 batters and allowed 68 hits and 28 walks (BB). In the Arizona Fall League, he returned to pitch 10 innings. He spent the next season with Memphis, starting 29 games, going 10–10 and allowing 204 hits and 51 walks while striking out 147 in 182 innings. After two somewhat uneven seasons in the Cardinals' minor league system, Wainwright made his MLB debut for St. Louis on September 11, 2005.
==== 2006 ====
Wainwright made the Cardinals' Opening Day roster as a relief pitcher after having been a starter for his entire minor league career. On May 24, 2006, he hit a home run on the first pitch he saw as batter in the major leagues against the San Francisco Giants' Noah Lowry; he became the 22nd batter, and only the seventh pitcher, in Major League history and 11th National Leaguer to hit a home run off the first pitch thrown in his first at-bat.
Wainwright pitched capably as a middle reliever, but when incumbent closer Jason Isringhausen underwent season-ending hip surgery in September, Wainwright was pressed into service as the closer. He saved two crucial games on September 27 and 30 as St. Louis held off the Houston Astros' late charge and won the NL Central Division championship. Despite their unexceptional 83–78 regular-season record, the Cardinals rolled through October to win the 10th world championship in franchise history. As the closer, Wainwright closed out the final game of the Cardinals' National League Division Series, ending the New York Mets' season and propelling the Cardinals to the 2006 National League Championship Series, where he famously struck out Carlos Beltrán in Game 7 to send the Cardinals to the World Series. In Game 5 of the 2006 World Series, Wainwright struck out Detroit Tigers third baseman Brandon Inge to win the championship.
==== 2007 ====
Wainwright moved from the bullpen to the starting rotation for 2007. Shortly after losing ace Chris Carpenter for the year due to elbow surgery, Wainwright emerged as the Cardinals' most reliable starter. On August 10, he threw the first complete game of his career, a 2–1 loss to Los Angeles, and the only nine-inning complete game for the Cardinals that season. By September, Wainwright had established himself as the staff ace in Carpenter's absence, going 9–6 with a 2.94 ERA from mid-May to the end of the season. He finished his first year by leading the club in almost every pitching category—games started, innings pitched, strikeouts, and wins—while compiling a 3.70 ERA and a 14–12 record. His 14 wins were the most in franchise history for a first-year starter. His 2.71 ERA after the All-Star break was third-best in the NL.
==== 2008 ====
In March 2008, Wainwright signed a four-year deal with the Cardinals worth $21 million, with two club options for 2012 and 2013 that made the potential aggregate value $36 million. He gave up four runs or less in each of his first seven starts. However, the Cardinals lost to the Brewers 8–3 in Wainwright's eighth start, on May 13, as Ryan Braun hit two home runs off him. He suffered a strain on the middle finger of his pitching hand in June, causing him to miss 2+1⁄2 months of the season. In 20 starts, he finished 11–3 with a 3.20 ERA.
==== 2009 ====
On August 19, 2009, at Dodger Stadium, Wainwright had a no-hitter going against the Los Angeles Dodgers for 5+1⁄3 innings before Orlando Hudson broke it up with a clean single to left field. In his next start against the Astros, he pitched eight shutout innings to pick up his then-league-leading 15th win in a 1–0 victory. It was Wainwright's 25th straight start with at least six innings pitched. In five August starts that season, he completed 35+2⁄3 IP with just one walk and 22 SO. On September 26, Wainwright pitched eight innings and struck out eleven for a 6–3, NL Central division-clinching victory against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field for his 19th win. Wainwright finished with a 19–8 record and a 2.63 ERA, leading the National League in wins, games started (34), and innings pitched (233). He also struck out a major-league high 140 batters on third-strike curveballs.
On October 28, Wainwright won the Players Choice Award as the NL Most Outstanding Pitcher. He won his first Gold Glove Award on November 11. Wainwright was a top contender for the Cy Young Award along with teammate Chris Carpenter and eventual winner Tim Lincecum. He became only the second pitcher ever, after Trevor Hoffman in 1998, to receive the most first-place votes but not win the award.
==== 2010 ====
Pitching in his first All-Star Game, Wainwright pitched one inning. He faced five batters and allowed no runs with just one hit—a double off the glove of fellow Cardinal Matt Holliday—one walk, and two strikeouts. In one 11-game stretch preceding August 16, he compiled 66+1⁄3 IP in nine of those starts and allowed two earned runs for a 0.27 ERA.
Wainwright finished the 2010 season 20–11 with a 2.42 ERA, five complete games, 213 strikeouts, 56 walks, 15 home runs allowed, and a WHIP of 1.05, in 230+1⁄3 IP. His win, strikeout, complete game, and shutout totals were all career-bests. His win total and ERA were both good for second place in the National League (behind only Josh Johnson's 2.30 ERA and Roy Halladay's 21 wins). He also pitched the first two shutouts of his career in 2010—one against the Milwaukee Brewers on June 4 and a two-hitter against the Florida Marlins on August 6.
Wainwright was the runner-up for the Cy Young Award, finishing second in voting behind unanimous winner Halladay. Wainwright picked up 28 of 32 second-place votes. Near the end of the season, he had experienced elbow discomfort and nerve swelling. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan cleared him after the season.
==== 2011 ====
Shortly after reporting to spring training, Wainwright experienced discomfort in his right elbow while pitching batting practice on February 21. Three days later, the Cardinals announced that Wainwright would miss the entire 2011 season—and possibly the first three months of the next season—after finding that ulnar collateral ligament damage necessitated Tommy John surgery. George Paletta, the team physician, performed the surgery on February 28 in St. Louis and it was deemed "a success". Former clients for the same surgery included teammates Chris Carpenter, Jaime García, and Kyle McClellan. Wainwright's contract featured options for 2012 and 2013 totaling $21 million with a provision that they would not automatically vest if he ended the 2011 season on the disabled list.
The Cardinals made the playoffs as a wild card entry, overtaking the Braves on the final day of the season. They eventually won the World Series, defeating the Texas Rangers four games to three. The Cardinals awarded Wainwright his second World Series ring, despite not pitching the entire season.
==== 2012 ====
Fully recovered after surgery and rehabilitation, Wainwright was ready ahead of schedule for spring training. Statistically, the 2012 season proved to be an overall disappointment by Wainwright's standards, as he wound up 14–13 with a 3.94 ERA. However, it was encouraging in regards to the health of his right arm, as he completed the entire season without any issues. In addition, pitchers recovering from Tommy John surgery often find it challenging at first to throw with the same command as before the surgery, and thus to achieve post-surgery results equal to pre-surgery results. This was the case at first with Wainwright.
On May 22, he threw his first complete-game shutout since August 6, 2010, and the third of his career in his ninth complete game. It was a four-hit, 4–0 win at home against the San Diego Padres, striking out nine and walking only one. Wainwright reached his 1,000th career inning on July 29. The May 22 start marked a turning point in the season. During a 13-start stretch through August 3, he pitched 85+2⁄3 innings, striking out 83 while allowing just four home runs and 17 BB. Wainwright attributed the improvement to be able to sustain the usual finishing movement on his pitches through late innings, which earlier in the season, had eluded him, thus making his pitches easier to hit. He also corrected a subtle flaw that had developed on the grip of his curveball during a bullpen session prior to the start against San Diego. The flaw made it increasingly difficult to throw the curveball for consistent strikes.
==== 2013 ====
On March 28, 2013, the Cardinals announced they and Wainwright had agreed to a five-year contract extension. At the time, he was under the last year of his previous contract, so the new deal extended him through 2018. With a total value of $97.5 million, it was the largest contract ever for a Cardinals pitcher. On April 18, he became the first pitcher in baseball since 1900 to achieve 28 strikeouts and zero walks in his first four starts of a season. Slim Sallee established the franchise record exactly 100 years earlier by not issuing a walk in his first 40 innings. Wainwright's streak ended in a start at Washington on April 23 after 34+2⁄3 innings and 133 batters faced.
The first MLB pitcher to post 10 wins on June 13, Wainwright put up seven scoreless innings in a 2–1 defeat of the Mets at Citi Field. Moreover, his strikeout of David Wright was his first of the game and the 1,000th of his career. He allowed six hits and struck out a total of four. Wainwright became the NL Pitcher of the Month for June with a 4–2 record and 1.77 ERA. With 40 strikeouts for the month, Wainwright issued just six walks while holding opposing batters to a .220 average. Through that point in the season, he was 11–5 with a 2.22 ERA, and was the MLB leader with four complete games and a 9.5 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
In successive starts against the Reds in late August, Wainwright allowed 15 runs, both losses. He struck out eight in seven shutout innings on September 7 at home in a 5–0 win over the first-place Pirates in earning his 16th victory of the season. The Pirates, Reds, and Cardinals were all close contenders for the Central division title in September. The win gave the Cardinals first place over the Pirates by a half-game, and 1+1⁄2 games over the Reds. Wainwright's seven strikeouts increased his career total to 1,103, passing Dizzy Dean (1,095) for second place among Cardinals' pitchers. Only Bob Gibson (3,117 in 528 games) had more.
In a 60-inning stretch following the All-Star break Wainwright had walked 14, compared with 15 in 146+2⁄3 IP before the break. When fellow starter Shelby Miller defeated Nationals' starter Jordan Zimmermann on September 26, he denied Zimmermann his 20th victory. Two days later, Wainwright, who was second in the league with 18 entering the game, defeated the Chicago Cubs in his final start of the season to tie Zimmerman for the lead in wins at 19. Wainwright also became just the third pitcher in franchise history to twice lead the league in wins, joining Dizzy Dean (1934–35) and Mort Cooper (1942–43). He also led the NL in games started (34), innings pitched (241+2⁄3), hits allowed (223), and batters faced (956), and was third in strikeouts.
The Cardinals faced the Boston Red Sox in the World Series, and called upon Wainwright to start Game 1 against Jon Lester. It was Wainwright's first World Series appearance since 2006 and first start. He allowed five runs and St. Louis lost, 8–1. In Game 5, a rematch against Lester, the Cardinals again lost, this time 3–1. Wainwright struck out 10 in seven innings, becoming the first Cardinal to reach double digits in strikeouts in a World Series game since Gibson against the Detroit Tigers in 1968. After the Cardinals took a 2–1 Series lead, the Red Sox won the final three games to take the title.
Wainwright won his second Gold Glove award in 2013. In the Cy Young balloting, Wainwright placed second, his second such ranking, and finished 23rd in the NL MVP voting.
==== 2014 ====
Starting for the Cardinals against the Reds on Opening Day, March 31, 2014, Wainwright won his 100th career decision. In seven innings, he struck out nine and gave up just three singles in a 1–0 win. At Nationals Park against Washington on April 17, he pitched a two-hit shutout, winning 8–0. Wainwright gave up the first hit in the second inning on a high infield chopper, but none after until two outs into the ninth. He walked three and struck out eight. It was his seventh career shutout. In an April 27 start against the Pirates, Wainwright tallied eight scoreless innings to extend a streak to 25 innings as the Cardinals won, 7–0, but was pulled before he could get a complete game due to concerns over his April 22 hyperextended right knee injury. His streak of 25 scoreless innings ended in the first inning on May 2 in a loss against the Cubs, to whom he allowed six runs.
On May 20, Wainwright pitched a one-hitter against the Diamondbacks. He retired the first 11 batters before giving up a double to Paul Goldschmidt in the fourth inning. After the hit, Wainwright retired the final 16 batters, facing only 28, one over the minimum for a perfect game. He walked none and struck out nine, throwing 115 pitches, 86 for strikes. It was Wainwright's seventh win of the year, tying for the National League lead, and his 106th career victory against 59 losses. It also tied him for eighth place with Sallee on the all-time Cardinals' pitching win list and was his eighth career shutout. Wainwright followed that effort with eight more scoreless innings on May 25. Between those two starts, he gave up just one walk and struck out a major-league-leading 21 batters in 17 scoreless innings. He was named NL Co-Player of the Week with Dodgers starter Josh Beckett, who threw a no-hitter on May 25. However, he missed his June 16 against the Mets due to elbow tendinitis, but an MRI showed no structural damage to the Tommy John surgically repaired ligament.
After leading the NL with a 1.79 ERA and 11 wins through July 6, Wainwright was selected to his third All-Star Game at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was selected as the NL's starting pitcher for the first time in his career. Besides two starts in which he gave up seven runs to the Giants and six to the Cubs, Wainwright had allowed 13 runs in 16 of his first 18 starts. Nine of those starts included totals with seven or more innings pitched and zero earned runs allowed. Per the Elias Sports Bureau (ESB), it was the first time in Major League history that any pitcher achieved that feat in his first 18 starts of the season.
When the Cardinals defeated the Brewers 10–2 on July 12, Wainwright finished his pre-All Star break total with a 12–4 record and a 1.83 ERA. Further, he joined Hall of Fame member Steve Carlton as the only Cardinals to post an ERA less than 2.00 and at least 12 wins before the All-Star break (1969). In that game, Wainwright posted his Major League-leading 15th start of the season with at least seven innings pitched and two or fewer runs allowed. At the plate, his RBI-single scored rookie Oscar Taveras for his 100th career hit.
In the All-Star Game, Wainwright incurred controversy over his remarks about facing leadoff hitter Derek Jeter. Jeter, who was retiring after the season, doubled on Wainwright's second pitch of the game. During interviews, he admitted that he gave Jeter an easy pitch to hit. "I was gonna give him a couple of pipe shots. He deserved it," Wainwright said. "I didn’t know he was gonna hit a double or I might have changed my mind." Wainwright later recanted, stating that it was in humor and that he was "not intentionally giving up hits out there".
Conversely, Jeter was appreciative. "He grooved them? The first one was a little cutter that he threw down and away. He probably assumed I was swinging. So he didn't groove the first one. The second was about 90, a two-seamer that stayed on a really good ... No, I don't know, man," he paused and smiled, drawing laughs from reporters. "I have no idea. If he grooved it, thank you. You still got to hit it."
Following the All-Star break, Wainwright temporarily struggled to keep the consistency of the first half of the season due to frequent elbow irritation. In June, he gave up just four earned runs in 31 IP for a 1.16 ERA, and followed that up with a 1.62 ERA in July. His results reversed in August when he allowed 22 ER in 38+1⁄3 IP for a 5.17 ERA. However, in September, he posted a 1.38 ERA in 39 IP with 29 SO and a 5–0 W–L. He was subsequently named the NL Pitcher of the Month for September.
After the season, Wainwright had a procedure to remove part of the cartilage of the right elbow on October 24. At times—commencing in June—he had altered his mechanics to mitigate the discomfort. In his third-to-last and second-to-last starts of the season—which were in the NLDS against the Dodgers and NLCS against the Giants—Wainwright was unable to complete five innings in both starts. This led to speculation Wainwright was pitching with pain, which he denied.
Through the 2014 season he had a career 132 ERA+, third-highest for an active pitcher who has a minimum of 1,000 innings, and a .643 winning percentage, fourth-highest for active pitchers. Wainwright finished third in the Cy Young voting for 2014, his third such placing, and fourth time he was positioned in the top three.
==== 2015 ====
The Cardinals selected Wainwright to make his fourth career Opening Day start, and the season-opening game for MLB in 2015, in what was also the first-ever MLB Opening Night game. He was credited with the win as the Cardinals defeated the Cubs at Wrigley Field, 3–0. On April 25, Wainwright left the game against the Brewers in the top of the fifth after suffering an ankle injury while batting. The next day, the Cardinals placed him on the 15-day disabled list, and announced the following day that he had an Achilles tendon rupture and would likely miss the remainder of the season. He underwent successful surgery to repair the tendon on April 30.
With a recovery initially expected to take nine to twelve months, Wainwright had made four appearances through that point in the season, going 2–1 with a 1.44 ERA. As the season progressed, he consistently stated his goal was to return to pitching before the end of the season. After working diligently to accelerate his recovery, the Cardinals announced on September 21 that he was cleared to resume baseball activities, two weeks prior to the conclusion of the regular season. His actual recovery took five months.
Making his first appearance of the season since April, Wainwright pitched a scoreless inning of relief in the first game of a doubleheader against Pittsburgh on September 30, an 8–2 loss. It was his first relief appearance since the 2006 World Series. Wainwright was named the Hutch Award winner for 2015.
==== 2016 ====
The Cardinals announced before spring training that Wainwright would be the Opening Day starter in 2016, his fifth time. For the three previous seasons, he had gone 41–19 with a 2.61 ERA. For the second consecutive season, the Cardinals opened the MLB season, this time at PNC Park against the Pittsburgh Pirates on April 3. The Cardinals lost the game, 4–1, with Wainwright taking the first loss of the season. He hit his first home run of season in a 10–3 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on May 2, also being credited with his second win. In each of four consecutive plate appearances spanning April 27 to May 7, he became the first Cardinal pitcher since 1900 to garner an extra base hit while batting, per Elias Sports Bureau. On the mound, he struggled early, yielding a 5.04 ERA in his first 16 starts of the season.
Wainwright pitched a three-hit, complete-game shutout and 5−0 win against Miami on July 15, 2016; the first hit he allowed was a double to Adeiny Hechavarria in the sixth inning. With four RBI against Colorado on September 20, Wainwright increased his season total to 18, the highest total for all pitchers in the designated hitter era – since 1973 – and the most since Ferguson Jenkins drove in 20 for the Cubs in 1971.
==== 2017 ====
On April 21, 2017, Wainwright struck out nine and hit a home run with four RBI as the Cardinals defeated the Milwaukee Brewers, 6−3. His May 27 appearance was the 330th of his career, tying him with Larry Jackson (1955−1962) for tenth place in games pitched for the Cardinals. while passing Al Hrabosky. Wainwright pitched six scoreless innings versus Los Angeles on June 1, while hitting a two-run home run facing Brandon McCarthy, for a 2−0 win.
On July 17, he passed Bill Doak for fifth place in wins (145) for the Cardinals. On the same day, Wainwright became the only active major league pitcher with multiple seasons of 10+ RBI (2016–17).
The Cardinals placed Wainwright on the 10-day DL on July 25 due to mid-back tightness, retroactive to July 23. It was the fourth time in his career that he had been placed on the DL. Wainwright was activated from the DL on August 6, and totaled 11 innings in three starts. On August 18, the Cardinals placed him back on the DL for right elbow impingement. Wainwright reported pain in his right elbow for the second consecutive season and displayed a precipitous decline in velocity in his most recent starts. Treatments on the right elbow that Wainwright received during the season included trimming cartilage and an injection of platelet-rich plasma into the joint. In 23 games he had started, he allowed a 5.12 ERA with a 12−5 W−L record. Wainwright returned to pitch on September 18 from the bullpen for the remainder of the season.
In 2017, Wainwright won his first career Silver Slugger Award, the first Cardinal pitcher to win the award since Bob Forsch (1980 and 1987) and Jason Marquis (2005). He batted .262/.279/.452, a career-high .731 OPS, and two home runs. Wainwright led all pitchers with seven runs scored and 11 RBI, and, among all with at least 40 plate appearances, in slugging percentage and OPS. He also hit .462 with runners in scoring position.
After the season, Wainwright underwent right elbow surgery to remove a cartilage flap, the first surgery on the elbow since having Tommy John surgery in 2011. The cartilage flap was believed to have caused a bone bruise which led to reduced velocity and efficacy of his breaking pitches. Recovery time was expected to take six weeks with full readiness in time for the 2018 season.
==== 2018 ====
Wainwright began the 2018 season on the 10-day disabled list with a left hamstring sprain. He was reactivated on April 5 but placed on the disabled list again with right elbow inflammation on April 22. Wainwright was activated once again on May 13 and started that same day against the San Diego Padres. He gave up two runs and walked six batters in 2+1⁄3 innings as San Diego beat St. Louis 5–3. Two days later, Wainwright was placed back on the 10-day DL before being transferred to the 60-day DL on May 17.
==== 2019 ====
Wainwright signed a one-year, $2 million contract extension with the Cardinals prior to the 2019 offseason. On April 24, 2019, Wainwright picked up his 150th win in a 5–2 victory against the Brewers. Over 31 starts during the regular season, he went 14–10 with a 4.19 ERA, striking out 153 over 171+2⁄3 innings. In the 2019 MLB postseason, Wainwright struck out 19 over 16+2⁄3 innings and had a 1.62 ERA.
==== 2020 ====
On November 12, 2019, Wainwright and the Cardinals agreed to a one-year contract for the 2020 season. On his 39th birthday, Wainwright pitched his first complete game since 2016 against the Cleveland Indians in a 7–2 win. He pitched a second, albeit 7-inning complete game against the Milwaukee Brewers on September 16. Over 10 starts for the 2020 season, Wainwright went 5–3 with a 3.15 ERA and 54 strikeouts over 65+2⁄3 innings.
==== 2021 ====
On January 28, 2021, Wainwright signed a one-year, $8 million contract to stay with the Cardinals. On April 26, Wainwright pitched a complete game against the Philadelphia Phillies in a 2–1 loss as Rhys Hoskins hit two solo home runs off him. It was the second such occurrence in his career to pitch a 9-inning complete game and lose since a 2–1 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2007.
Wainwright picked up his first win of the season in a 6–5 win over the New York Mets on May 3, while also picking up his 1,000th career strikeout at Busch Stadium; joining Bob Gibson as the only Cardinals pitchers with 1,000 strikeouts at their home ballparks. On June 14, Wainwright picked up his 1,900th strikeout against the Miami Marlins. On Father's Day, June 20, he pitched his second complete game of the year, albeit 7 innings in the first game of a doubleheader against the Atlanta Braves; striking out 11 while allowing just one run. On August 10, Wainwright pitched his first shutout since 2016, and his first ever Maddux against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park in a 4–0 Cardinals win, throwing 88 pitches. At 39, he became the oldest pitcher to record a shutout since Bartolo Colón in 2015. He was subsequently named National League Pitcher of the Month for August after going 5–1 with a 1.45 ERA, striking out 36 while walking just six over 44 innings. On September 3, Wainwright started against the Brewers with battery mate Yadier Molina, marking their 300th start as a battery. They are the fourth battery in MLB history to make 300 starts. The Cardinals won the game 15–4, with Wainwright picking up the win. While facing the Milwaukee Brewers on September 23, Wainwright recorded his 2,000th career strikeout against Luis Urías. Wainwright became the second pitcher in franchise history alongside Bob Gibson to reach the milestone.
On October 1, the Cardinals and Wainwright agreed on a one-year deal for the 2022 season.
Statistically for 2021, Wainwright had his best season since 2014, going 17–7 with a 3.05 ERA and 174 strikeouts in 206+1⁄3 innings. Wainwright was second in MLB in wins (17), third in innings pitched (206+1⁄3), tied for first in complete games (3) and tenth in walks and hits per inning pitched (1.057). He led the major leagues in sacrifice hits, with 14.
Wainwright finished seventh in the 2021 NL Cy Young Award voting.
==== 2022 ====
On October 4, 2021, Wainwright and the Cardinals agreed to a one-year, $17.5 million deal for the 2022 season
On April 7, 2022, Wainwright won his 100th game at Busch Stadium on Opening Day in a 9–0 win against the Pittsburgh Pirates, pitching six shutout innings with six strikeouts. On May 15, 2022, Wainwright and Molina made history claiming their 203rd win together, becoming the most successful battery in MLB history. Later that season on September 14, Wainwright and Molina set another MLB record by starting alongside one another for the 325th time, surpassing Mickey Lolich and Bill Freehan of the Detroit Tigers for the most starts by a battery.
In November 2022, it was announced that Wainwright intended to represent Team USA in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
==== 2023 ====
Wainwright announced that the 2023 season would be his last. On March 30, Wainwright sang the national anthem before the opening day game. In 21 starts for the Cardinals, Wainwright struggled to a 5–11 record and 7.40 ERA with 55 strikeouts in 101.0 innings of work.
On September 18, pitching at home against the division-leading Milwaukee Brewers, he won his 200th game, 1-0, pitching seven scoreless innings, giving up only four hits, walking two, striking out three. His 2,202 career strikeouts make him the 66th pitcher to have at least 2,200 strikeouts. His 200 wins make him the 122nd pitcher in baseball history to reach that milestone. His 200 wins, all with the Cardinals, rank him third in the team's history, joining Bob Gibson (251) and Jesse Haines (210).
At home on September 29, he batted for the first time since October 6, 2021. In the sixth inning with the team trailing 14-2, he pinch-hit for designated hitter Luken Baker. On the second pitch, he grounded out sharply to second base. It was his only at-bat that night.
Over his career, he had 10 home runs, 75 RBIs, and a .192 batting average. He has five seasons batting over .200. Defensively, he recorded a .982 fielding percentage, with only 10 errors in 569 total chances, which was 26 points higher than the league average at his position.
=== Annual statistical achievements ===
Notes: Through 2019 season. Per Baseball-Reference.com.
== Pitching style ==
Wainwright has a sinkerball, throwing it in the 90–92 miles per hour (145–148 km/h) range. He also throws a good deal of cutters 84–88 miles per hour (135–142 km/h) and curveballs 73–77 miles per hour (117–124 km/h) that have dropped more than 8 inches before from top to bottom of the pitch. Less commonly, he also throws a four-seam fastball 90–95 miles per hour (145–153 km/h) and an 84–86 miles per hour (135–138 km/h) changeup. He uses all of his pitches against left-handed hitters, but he does not use the changeup against right-handers. Wainwright's most-used pitch in two-strike counts is his curveball.
In spring training of 2013, he started incorporating an elevated four-seam fastball, making his curveball more effective.
== Discography ==
=== Studio albums ===
=== Singles ===
"—" denotes a release that did not chart.
== Outside baseball ==
=== Big League Impact ===
A fantasy football enthusiast, Wainwright created and hosts a fantasy football network in eight cities called Big League Impact, designed to raise money for various charities. In 2015, the organization raised more than $1 million total. Other major leaguers, including David Wright, Hunter Pence, and John Smoltz host in their respective cities.
The concept officially opened in July 2013 with the launch of a website called WainosWorld.com. In an interview with Fox Sports Midwest, Wainwright remarked that the program combined his love of fantasy football with his passion for helping the less fortunate. For a registration fee, all of which goes to charity, fans can assemble their own fantasy team and compete throughout the season against not only Wainwright but his current and former Cardinals teammates Allen Craig, David Freese, and Matt Holliday. Those with the best team records at season's end will receive prizes. The league raised $100,000 in 2013 and supported Operation Food Search and Water Missions International.
Wainwright was the recipient of the 2020 Roberto Clemente Award due to his work with Big League Impact alongside his contributions in helping build Haiti's Ferrier Village Secondary School.
=== As an actor ===
With longtime aspirations to host an episode of Saturday Night Live, Wainwright made his film debut in the 2016 comedy-drama Proximity, directed by Dan Steadman and filmed in the St. Louis area. The majority of the work done was completed in 2015, after the opportunity presented to Wainwright due in part to the Achilles tendon injury he had suffered early in the season.
=== Broadcasting ===
Adam Wainwright made his national TV broadcasting debut on October 6, 2020, calling the 2020 NLDS between the Miami Marlins and Atlanta Braves on Fox Sports 1 along with Adam Amin and former teammate A. J. Pierzynski. The trio worked together for the 2021 ALDS between the Astros and the Chicago White Sox and again in the 2023 ALDS between the Houston Astros and Minnesota Twins. Prior to the 2024 MLB season, Wainwright was hired as a full time color commentator for Fox Sports.
=== Musician ===
On March 30, 2023, Wainwright surprised his teammates by performing the national anthem prior to the Cardinals' home opener against the Toronto Blue Jays. After he accomplished his musical goal, he nervously admitted, "I didn't mess the words up." Wainwright aspires to be a country music singer after his baseball career concludes; he held a concert in Springfield, Illinois, in January 2023 for approximately 500 fans.
Wainwright has released three singles and one full-length album, Hey Y'all. It which was originally scheduled to be released on March 9, 2024 when he made his Grand Ole Opry debut, but was officially released on April 5, 2024.
=== Politics ===
In May 2025, Public Policy Polling, a polling firm affiliated with the Democratic Party, ran a poll in Missouri's 2nd congressional district gauging voters' interest in Wainwright relative to incumbent Republican Representative Ann Wagner, suggesting he was being recruited to run in the 2026 United States House of Representatives elections.
== Personal life ==
Wainwright married his high school sweetheart, Jenny Curry, in 2004. In a quirk of fate, he was in the midst of proposing to Curry in December 2003, when a telephone call interrupted him to inform him he'd been traded from the Braves to the Cardinals. Jenny holds a degree in interior design from Georgia Southern University. In the off-season, the Wainwrights reside on St. Simons Island, Georgia, with their four daughters and a son, whom they adopted in 2019. Wainwright has openly expressed his Christian faith, and is active in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denali | Denali | Denali ( də-NAH-lee), federally designated as Mount McKinley, is the highest mountain peak in North America, with a summit elevation of 20,310 feet (6,190 m) above sea level. It is the tallest mountain in the world from base to peak on land, measuring 18,000 ft (5,500 m). With a topographic prominence of 20,156 feet (6,144 m) and a topographic isolation of 4,621.1 miles (7,436.9 km), Denali is the third most prominent and third-most isolated peak on Earth, after Mount Everest and Aconcagua. Located in the Alaska Range in the interior of the U.S. state of Alaska, Denali is the centerpiece of Denali National Park and Preserve.
The Koyukon people who inhabit the area around the mountain have referred to the peak as "Denali" for centuries. In 1896, a gold prospector named it "Mount McKinley" in support of then–presidential candidate William McKinley, who later became the 25th president; McKinley's name was the official name recognized by the federal government of the United States from 1917 until 2015. In August 2015, 40 years after Alaska had officially named the mountain Denali, the United States Department of the Interior under the Obama administration changed the official federal name of the mountain also to Denali. In January 2025, the Department of the Interior under the Trump administration reverted the mountain's official federal name to Mount McKinley.
In 1903, James Wickersham recorded the first attempt at climbing Denali, which was unsuccessful. In 1906, Frederick Cook claimed the first ascent, but this ascent is unverified and its legitimacy questioned. The first verifiable ascent to Denali's summit was achieved on June 7, 1913, by climbers Hudson Stuck, Harry Karstens, Walter Harper, and Robert Tatum, who went by the South Summit. In 1951, Bradford Washburn pioneered the West Buttress route, considered to be the safest and easiest route, and therefore the most popular currently in use.
On September 2, 2015, the U.S. Geological Survey measured the mountain at 20,310 feet (6,190 m) high, 10 ft lower than the 20,320 feet (6,194 m) measured in 1952 using photogrammetry.
== Geology and features ==
Denali is a granitic pluton, mostly pink quartz monzonite, lifted by tectonic pressure from the subduction of the Pacific plate beneath the North American plate; at the same time, the sedimentary material above and around the mountain was stripped away by erosion. The forces that lifted Denali also caused many deep earthquakes in Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. The Pacific Plate is seismically active beneath Denali, a tectonic region that is known as the "McKinley cluster".
=== Structural geology ===
The high topography of Denali is related to the complex structural relationships created by the right-lateral Denali Fault and Denali Fault Bend. The Denali Fault is caused by stresses created by the low-angle subduction of the Yakutat microplate underneath Alaska. The Denali Fault Bend is characterized as a gentle restraining bend. The Denali Fault Bend represents a curvature in the Denali Fault that is approximately 75 km long. This curvature creates what is known as a "space problem". As the right-lateral movement along the Denali Fault continues, high compressional forces created at the fault bend essentially push the crust up in a vertical fashion. The longer the crust stays within the restraining bend, the higher the topography will be. Several active normal faults north of the restraining bend have recently been mapped with slip rates of approximately 2–6 mm/year. These normal faults help to accommodate the unusual curvature of the restraining bend.
=== Elevation ===
Denali has a summit elevation of 20,310 feet (6,190 m) above sea level, making it the highest peak in North America and the northernmost mountain above 19,685 feet (6,000 m) elevation in the world. Measured from base to peak at some 18,000 ft (5,500 m), it is among the largest mountains situated entirely above sea level. Denali rises from a sloping plain with elevations from 1,000 to 3,000 ft (300 to 910 m), for a base-to-peak height of 17,000 to 19,000 ft (5,000 to 6,000 m). By comparison, Mount Everest rises from the Tibetan Plateau at a much higher base elevation. Base elevations for Everest range from 13,800 ft (4,200 m) on the south side to 17,100 ft (5,200 m) on the Tibetan Plateau, for a base-to-peak height in the range of 12,000 to 15,300 ft (3,700 to 4,700 m). Denali's base-to-peak height is little more than half the 33,500 ft (10,200 m) of the volcano Mauna Kea, which lies mostly under water.
=== Geography of the mountain ===
Denali has two significant summits: the South Summit is the higher one, while the North Summit has an elevation of 19,470 ft (5,934 m) and a prominence of approximately 1,270 ft (387 m). The North Summit is sometimes counted as a separate peak (see e.g., fourteener) and sometimes not; it is rarely climbed, except by those doing routes on the north side of the massif.
Five large glaciers flow off the slopes of the mountain. The Peters Glacier lies on the northwest side of the massif, while the Muldrow Glacier falls from its northeast slopes. Just to the east of the Muldrow, and abutting the eastern side of the massif, is the Traleika Glacier. The Ruth Glacier lies to the southeast of the mountain, and the Kahiltna Glacier leads up to the southwest side of the mountain. With a length of 44 mi (71 km), the Kahiltna Glacier is the longest glacier in the Alaska Range.
== Naming ==
The Koyukon Athabaskans who inhabit the area around the mountain have, for centuries, referred to the peak as Dinale or Denali. The name is based on a Koyukon word for 'high' or 'tall'. During the Russian ownership of Alaska, the common name for the mountain was Bolshaya Gora (Russian: Большая Гора; bolshaya 'big'; gora 'mountain'), which is the Russian translation of Denali. It was briefly called Densmore's Mountain in the late 1880s and early 1890s after Frank Densmore, a gold prospector who was the first non-native Alaskan to reach the base of the mountain.
=== William A. Dickey ===
In 1896, gold prospector William Dickey named it McKinley as political support for then-presidential candidate William McKinley, who became president the following year.
One, however, W. A. Dickey, of a different type from the rest, recognized the surpassing height of the peak and its geographic import and gave it the name Mount McKinley. His exploration in 1896 was probably one of the first extensive journeys in this district since that of the Russian Malakoff in 1834. With three other men he ascended Susitna River to the trading station at the head of the delta; then constructed boats of whipsawed lumber and continued his journey up the main Susitna to the mouth of Indian Creek. From this place he explored a part of the upper canyon of the Susitna and also made a journey westward to the Chulitna, reaching the foot of the glacier which discharges into this river and has its source on the slopes of Mount McKinley. It was after this journey that he published his description of the mountain, in which he named it and stated its altitude as over 20,000 feet. He told the writer that he had no instruments, but made his estimate, which has proved to be remarkably accurate, with careful consideration of the atmospheric conditions, as well as of the probable distance to the base of the peak. In 1897 he made a second trip into this region, with one companion, and extended his previous explorations. He was the first to call attention to the great lowland drained by Tokichitna River and to the low divide which separates it from the Kuskokwim drainage, later explored by Spurr, Herron, and the writer.
The United States formally recognized the name Mount McKinley after President Woodrow Wilson signed the Mount McKinley National Park Act of February 26, 1917. In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared the north and south peaks of the mountain the "Churchill Peaks", in honor of British statesman Winston Churchill. The Alaska Board of Geographic Names changed the state name of the mountain to Denali in 1975, which was how it was referred to locally. However, a request in 1975 from the Alaska state legislature to the United States Board on Geographic Names to do the same at the federal level was blocked by Ohio congressman Ralph Regula, whose district included McKinley's home town of Canton.
On August 28, 2015, just ahead of a presidential visit to Alaska, the Barack Obama administration changed the mountain's official federal name to Denali, bringing it in line with the Alaska Geographic Board's designation. U.S. secretary of the interior Sally Jewell said the change had been "a long time coming". The renaming of the mountain received praise from Alaska's senior U.S. senator, Republican Lisa Murkowski, who had previously introduced legislation to accomplish the name change, but it drew criticism from several politicians from President McKinley's home state of Ohio, such as Governor John Kasich, U.S. senator Rob Portman, U.S. House speaker John Boehner, and Representative Bob Gibbs, who described Obama's action as "constitutional overreach" because he said an act of Congress was required to rename the mountain. The Alaska Dispatch News reported that the secretary of the interior has authority under federal law to change geographic names when the Board of Geographic Names does not act on a naming request within a "reasonable" period of time. Jewell told the Alaska Dispatch News that "I think any of us would think that 40 years is an unreasonable amount of time."
In December 2024, President-elect Donald Trump stated that he planned to revert the mountain's official federal name back to Mount McKinley during his second term, in honor of President William McKinley. Trump had previously proposed changing the name in 2017, drawing opposition from Alaska's Republican governor Mike Dunleavy. His 2017 proposal was strongly opposed by both Republican U.S. senators from Alaska, Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, who, along with Alaska state senator Scott Kawasaki, a Democrat, again expressed their preference for Denali in 2024. On January 20, 2025, shortly after his second inauguration, Trump signed an executive order requiring the secretary of the interior to revert the Obama-era name change within 30 days of signing, renaming Denali back to Mount McKinley in official maps and communications from the American federal government. The executive order does not change the name of Denali National Park. On January 23, 2025, the Department of the Interior changed the mountain's official federal name back to Mount McKinley. The same day, the Associated Press announced that it would use Mount McKinley instead of Denali, with the reasoning that as president, Trump has the authority to change federal geographical names of features lying within national borders.
Hudson Stuck, the organizer of the Stuck-Karstens Expedition, which was the first confirmed team to summit the mountain, preferred the name Denali over McKinley, referring to it as Denali nearly exclusively in his account of the expedition.
According to the Alaska Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development's official database of business licenses, businesses named after Denali outnumber those named after McKinley by a margin of six to one.
Indigenous names for Denali can be found in seven different Alaskan languages. The names fall into two categories. To the south of the Alaska Range in the Dena'ina and Ahtna languages the mountain is known by names that are translated as 'big mountain'. To the north of the Alaska Range in the Lower Tanana, Koyukon, Upper Kuskokwim, Holikachuk, and Deg Xinag languages the mountain is known by names that are translated as 'the high one', 'the tall one' (Koyukon, Lower and Middle Tanana, Upper Kuskokwim, Deg Xinag, and Holikachuk).
Asked about the importance of the mountain and its name, Will Mayo, former president of the Tanana Chiefs Conference, an organization that represents 42 Athabaskan tribes in the Alaskan interior, said: "It's not one homogeneous belief structure around the mountain, but we all agree that we're all deeply gratified by the acknowledgment of the importance of Denali to Alaska's people."
The following table lists the Alaskan Athabascan names for Denali.
== History ==
The Koyukon Athabaskans, living in the Yukon, Tanana and Kuskokwim basins, were the first Native Americans with access to the flanks of the mountain. A British naval captain and explorer, George Vancouver, is the first European on record to have sighted Denali, when he noted "distant stupendous mountains" while surveying the Knik Arm of the Cook Inlet on May 6, 1794. The Russian explorer Lavrenty Zagoskin explored the Tanana and Kuskokwim rivers in 1843 and 1844, and was likely the first European to sight the mountain from the other side.
William Dickey, a New Hampshire-born resident of Seattle, Washington, who had been digging for gold in the sands of the Susitna River, wrote, after his returning from Alaska, an account in the New York Sun that appeared on January 24, 1897. His report drew attention with the sentence "We have no doubt that this peak is the highest in North America, and estimate that it is over 20,000 feet (6,100 m) high." Until then, Mount Logan in Canada's Yukon Territory was believed to be the continent's highest point. Though later praised for his estimate, Dickey admitted that other prospector parties had also guessed the mountain to be over 20,000 feet (6,100 m). These estimates were confirmed in 1898 by the surveyor Robert Muldrow, who measured its elevation as 20,300 feet (6,200 m).
On November 5, 2012, the United States Mint released a twenty-five cent piece depicting Denali National Park. It is the fifteenth of the America the Beautiful Quarters series. The reverse features a Dall sheep with the peak of Denali in the background.
=== Climbing history ===
During the summer of 1902 scientist Alfred Brooks explored the flanks of the mountain as a part of an exploratory surveying party conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey. The party landed at Cook Inlet in late May, then traveled east, paralleling the Alaska Range, before reaching the slopes of Denali in early August. Camped on the flank of the mountain on August 3, Brooks noted later that while "the ascent of Mount McKinley had never been part of our plans", the party decided to delay one day so "that we might actually set foot on the slopes of the mountain". Setting off alone, with good weather, on August 4, Brooks aimed to reach a 10,000 feet (3,048 m) shoulder. At 7,500 feet (2,286 m), Brooks found his way blocked by sheer ice and, after leaving a small cairn as a marker, descended. After the party's return, Brooks co-authored a "Plan For Climbing Mt McKinley", published in National Geographic magazine in January 1903, with fellow party-member and topographer D. L. Raeburn, in which they suggested that future attempts at the summit should approach from the north, not the south. The report received substantial attention, and within a year, two climbing parties declared their intent to summit.
During the early summer of 1903, Judge James Wickersham, then of Eagle, Alaska, made the first recorded attempt to climb Denali, along with a party of four others. The group attempted to get as close to the mountain as possible via the Kantishna river by steamer, before offloading and following Chitsia Creek with a poling boat, mules and backpacks, a route suggested to them by Tanana Athabaskan people they met along the way. The party received further navigational assistance at Anotoktilon, an Athabaskan hunting camp, where residents gave the group detailed directions to reach the glaciers at the foot of Denali. On reaching the mountain, the mountaineers set up base camp on the lower portion of Peters Glacier. Aiming for the northwest buttress of Denali's north peak, they attempted to ascend directly; however, crevasses, ice fall and the lack of a clear passage caused them to turn and attempt to follow a spur via Jeffery Glacier where they believed they could see a way to the summit. After a dangerous ascent, at around 10,000 feet (3,048 m), Wickersham found that the route did not connect as it had appeared from below, instead discovering "a tremendous precipice beyond which we cannot go. Our only line of further ascent would be to climb the vertical wall of the mountain at our left, and that is impossible." This wall, now known as the Wickersham Wall, juts 15,000 feet (4,572 m) upwards from the glacier to the north peak of Denali. Because of the route's history of avalanche danger, it was not successfully climbed until 1963.
Later in the summer of 1903, Dr. Frederick Cook directed a team of five men on another attempt at the summit. Cook was already an experienced explorer and had been a party-member on successful arctic expeditions commanded both by Robert Peary and Roald Amundsen. Yet he struggled to obtain funding for his own expedition, eventually organizing it "on a shoestring budget" without any other experienced climbers. The party navigated up the Cook inlet and followed the path of the 1902 Brooks party towards Denali. Cook approached the mountain via the Peters Glacier, as Wickersham had done; however, he was able to overcome the ice fall that had caused the previous group to turn up the spur towards the Wickersham Wall. Despite avoiding this obstacle, on August 31, having reached an elevation of about 10,900 feet (3,322 m) on the northwest buttress of the north peak, the party found they had reached a dead end and could make no further progress. On the descent, the group completely circumnavigated the mountain, the first climbing party to do so. Although Cook's 1903 expedition did not reach the summit, he received acclaim for the accomplishment – a 1,000-mile (1,609 km) trek in which he not only circled the entire mountain but also found, on the descent, an accessible pass northeast of the Muldrow Glacier following the headwaters of the Toklat and Chulitna rivers.
In 1906, Cook initiated another expedition to Denali with co-leader Herschel Parker, a Columbia University professor of electrical engineering with extensive mountaineering experience. Belmore Browne, an experienced climber and five other men comprised the rest of the group. Cook and Parker's group spent most of the summer season exploring the southern and southeastern approaches to the mountain, eventually reaching a high point on Tokositna glacier, 25 miles (40 km) from the summit. During their explorations the party mapped out many of the tributaries and glaciers of the Susitna river along the mountain's south flank. As the summer ended, the team retreated to the coast and began to disperse. In September 1906, Cook and a single party-member, horseman Robert Barrill, journeyed towards the summit again, in what Cook later described as "a last desperate attempt" in a telegram to his financial backers. Cook and Barrill spent 12 days in total on the attempt, and claimed to have reached the summit via the Ruth Glacier.
Upon hearing Cook's claims, Parker and Browne were immediately suspicious. Browne later wrote that he knew Cook's claims were lies, just as "any New Yorker would know that no man could walk from the Brooklyn Bridge to Grant's Tomb [a distance of eight miles] in ten minutes." In May 1907, Harper's Magazine published Cook's account of the climb along with a photograph of what appeared to be Barrill standing on the summit. By 1909, Barrill had recanted at least part of his story about the climb, and others publicly questioned the account; however, Cook continued to assert his claim. The controversy continued for decades. In 1956, mountaineers Bradford Washburn and Walter Gonnason tried to settle the matter, with Gonnason attempting to follow Cook's purported route to the summit. Washburn noted inconsistencies between Cook's account of locations of glaciers and found a spot, at 5,400 feet (1,646 m) and 19 miles (31 km) southeast of the summit that appeared identical to the supposed summit image. Gonnason was not able to complete the climb, but because he was turned back by poor weather, felt that this did not definitely disprove Cook's story. In 1998, historian Robert Bryce discovered an original and un-cropped version of the "fake peak" photograph of Barrill standing on the promontory. It showed a wider view of surrounding features, appearing to definitively discount Cook's claim.
Given the skepticism concerning Cook's story, interest in claiming the first ascent remained. Miners and other Alaskans living in Kantishna and Fairbanks wanted the honors to go to local men. In 1909, four Alaska residents – Tom Lloyd, Peter Anderson, Billy Taylor, and Charles McGonagall – set out from Fairbanks, Alaska during late December with supplies and dogs that were in part paid for by bettors in a Fairbanks tavern. By March 1910, the men had established a base camp near one of the sites where the Brooks party had been and pressed on from the north via the Muldrow glacier. Unlike some previous expeditions, they discovered a pass, since named McGonagall Pass, which allowed them to bypass the Wickersham Wall and access the higher reaches of the mountain. At roughly 11,000 feet (3,353 m), Tom Lloyd, old and less physically fit than the others, stayed behind. According to their account, the remaining three men pioneered a route following Karstens Ridge around the Harper Icefall, then reached the upper basin before ascending to Pioneer Ridge. The three men carried a 14-foot-long (4.3 m) spruce pole. Around 19,000 feet (5,791 m), Charles McGonagall, older and having exhausted himself carrying the spruce pole, remained behind. On April 3, 1910, Billy Taylor and Peter Anderson scrambled the final few hundred feet to reach the north peak of Denali, at 19,470 feet (5,934 m) high, the shorter of the two peaks. The pair erected the pole near the top, with the hope that it would be visible from lower reaches to prove they had made it.
After the expedition, Tom Lloyd returned to Fairbanks, while the three others remained in Kantishna to mine. In Lloyd's recounting, all four men made it to the top of not only the north peak, but the higher south peak as well. When the remaining three men returned to town with conflicting accounts, the entire expedition's legitimacy was questioned. Several years later, another climbing group would claim to have seen the spruce pole in the distance, supporting their north peak claim. However, some continue to doubt they reached the summit. Outside of the single later climbing group, who were friendly with some of the Sourdough expedition men, no other group would ever see it. Jon Waterman, author of the book Chasing Denali, which explored the controversy, outlined several reasons to doubt the claim: There was never any photographic evidence. The four men climbed during the winter season, known for much more difficult conditions, along a route that has never been fully replicated. They were inexperienced climbers, ascending without any of the usual safety gear or any care for altitude sickness. They claimed to have ascended from 11,000 feet (3,353 m) to the top in less than 18 hours, unheard of at a time when siege-style alpinism was the norm. Yet Waterman says "these guys were men of the trail. They didn't care what anybody thought. They were just tough SOBs." He noted that the men were largely unlettered and that some of the ensuing doubt was related to their lack of sophistication in dealing with the press and the contemporary climbing establishment.
In 1912, the Parker-Browne expedition nearly reached the summit, turning back within just a few hundred yards/meters of it due to harsh weather. On July 7, the day after their descent, a 7.4-magnitude earthquake shattered the glacier they had ascended.
The first ascent of the main summit of Denali came on June 7, 1913, by a party directed by Hudson Stuck and Harry Karstens, along with Walter Harper and Robert Tatum. Karstens relocated to Alaska in the gold rush of 1897, and in subsequent years became involved in a variety of endeavors beyond mining, including helping establish dog mushing routes to deliver mail across vast swathes of territory and supporting expeditions led by naturalist Charles Sheldon near the base of Denali. Stuck was an English-born Episcopal priest who came to Alaska by chance. He became acclimated to the often harsh Alaskan environment because of his many travels between far-flung outposts within his district, climbing mountains as a hobby. At 21 years old, Harper was already known as a skilled and strong outdoorsman, the Alaska-born son of a Koyukon-Athabascan mother and Irish gold prospector father. Tatum, also 21 years old, was a theology student working at a Tanana mission, and the least experienced of the team. His primary responsibility on the trip was as a cook.
The team approached the peak from the north via the Muldrow glacier and McGonagall pass. While ferrying loads up to a camp at around 10,800 feet (3,292 m), they suffered a setback when a stray match accidentally set fire to some supplies, including several tents. The prior year's earthquake had left what had previously been described by the Parker-Browne expedition as a gentle slope ascended in no more than three days as a dangerous, ice-strewn morass on a knife-edged ridge (later named Karstens ridge). It would take the team three weeks to cover the same ground, as Karstens and Harper laboriously cut steps into the ice. On May 30, the team, with the help of some good weather, ascended to a new high camp, situated at 17,500 feet (5,334 m) in the Grand Basin between the north and south peaks. On June 7, the team made the summit attempt. Temperatures were below −20 °F (−29 °C) at times. Every man, and particularly Stuck, suffered from altitude sickness. By midday, Harper became the first climber to reach the summit, followed seconds later by Tatum and Karstens. Stuck arrived last, falling unconscious on the summit.
Using the mountain's contemporary name, Tatum later commented, "The view from the top of Mount McKinley is like looking out the windows of Heaven!" During the climb, Stuck spotted, via binoculars, the presence of a large pole near the North Summit; this report confirmed the Sourdough ascent, and it is widely believed presently that the Sourdoughs did succeed on the North Summit. However, the pole was never seen before or since, so there is still some doubt. Stuck also discovered that the Parker-Browne party were only about 200 feet (61 m) of elevation short of the true summit when they turned back. Stuck and Karstens' team achieved the uncontroversial first ascent of Denali's south peak; however, the news was met with muted interest by the wider climbing community. Appalachia Journal, then the official journal of the American Alpine Club, published a small notice of the accomplishment a year later.
The mountain is climbed regularly nowadays. In 2003, around 58% of climbers reached the top. But by that time, the mountain had claimed the lives of nearly 100 mountaineers. The vast majority of climbers use the West Buttress Route, pioneered in 1951 by Bradford Washburn, after an extensive aerial photographic analysis of the mountain. Climbers typically take two to four weeks to ascend Denali. It is one of the Seven Summits; summiting all of them is a challenge for mountaineers.
=== Accidents ===
From 1947 to 2018 in the United States "2,799 people were reported to be involved in mountaineering accidents" and 11% of these accidents occurred on Denali. Of these 2,799 accidents, 43% resulted in death and 8% of these deaths occurred on Denali.
=== Timeline ===
1896–1902: Surveys by Robert Muldrow, George Eldridge, Alfred Brooks.
1913: First ascent, by Hudson Stuck, Harry Karstens, Walter Harper, and Robert Tatum via the Muldrow Glacier route.
1932: Second ascent, by Alfred Lindley, Harry Liek, Grant Pearson, Erling Strom. (Both peaks were climbed.)
1947: Barbara Washburn becomes the first woman to reach the summit while her husband Bradford Washburn becomes the first person to summit twice.
1951: First ascent of the West Buttress Route, led by Bradford Washburn.
1954: First ascent of the very long South Buttress Route by George Argus, Elton Thayer (died on descent), Morton Wood, and Les Viereck. Deteriorating conditions behind the team pushed them to make the first traverse of Denali. The Great Traleika Cirque, where they camped just below the summit, was renamed Thayer Basin, in honor of the fallen climber.
1954 (May 27) First ascent via Northwest Buttress to North Peak by Fred Beckey, Donald McLean, Charles Wilson, Henry Meybohm, and Bill Hackett
1959: First ascent of the West Rib, now a popular, mildly technical route to the summit.
1961: First ascent of the Cassin Ridge, named for Riccardo Cassin and the best-known technical route on the mountain. The first ascent team members are: Riccardo Cassin, Luigi Airoldi, Luigi Alippi, Giancarlo Canali, Romano Perego, and Annibale Zucchi.
1962: First ascent of the southeast spur, team of six climbers (C. Hollister, H. Abrons, B. Everett, Jr., S. Silverstein, S. Cochrane, and C. Wren)
1963: A team of six climbers (W. Blesser, P. Lev, R. Newcomb, A. Read, J. Williamson, F. Wright) made the first ascent of the East Buttress. The summit was attained via Thayer Basin and Karstens Ridge. See AAJ 1964.
1963: Two teams make first ascents of two different routes on the Wickersham Wall.
1967: First winter ascent, via the West Buttress, by Gregg Blomberg, Dave Johnston, Art Davidson and Ray Genet.
1967: The 1967 Mount McKinley disaster; Seven members of Joe Wilcox's twelve-man expedition perish, while stranded for ten days near the summit, in what has been described as the worst storm on record. Up to that time, this was the third worst disaster in mountaineering history in terms of lives lost. Before July 1967 only four men had ever perished on Denali.
1970: First solo ascent by Naomi Uemura.
1970: First ascent by an all-female team (the "Denali Damsels"), led by Grace Hoeman and the later famous American high altitude mountaineer Arlene Blum together with Margaret Clark, Margaret Young, Faye Kerr and Dana Smith Isherwood.
1972: First descent on skis down the sheer southwest face, by Sylvain Saudan, "Skier of the Impossible".
1976: First solo ascent of the Cassin Ridge by Charlie Porter, a climb "ahead of its time".
1979: First ascent by dog team achieved by Susan Butcher, Ray Genet, Brian Okonek, Joe Redington, Sr., and Robert Stapleton.
1984: Uemura returns to make the first winter solo ascent, but dies after summitting. Tono Križo, František Korl and Blažej Adam from the Slovak Mountaineering Association climb a very direct route to the summit, now known as the Slovak Route, on the south face of the mountain, to the right of the Cassin Ridge. Sarah Doherty became the first amputee to reach the summit in August.
1988: First successful winter solo ascent. Vern Tejas climbed the West Buttress alone in February and March, summited successfully, and descended.
1989: Japanese climbing team of Noboru Yamada, Teruo Saegusa and Kozo Komatsu died of a presumed fall and exposure while making a winter attempt via the West Buttress route.
1990: Anatoli Boukreev climbed the West Rib in 10 hours and 30 mins from the base to the summit, at the time a record for the fastest ascent.
1995: French skiers Jean-Noel Urban and Nicolas Bonhomme, made the first ski descent down the Wickersham Wall, most of the face was 50°.
1997: First successful ascent up the West Fork of Traleika Glacier up to Karstens Ridge beneath Browne Tower. This path was named the "Butte Direct" by the two climbers Jim Wilson and Jim Blow.
2015: On June 24, a survey team led by Blaine Horner placed two global positioning receivers on the summit to determine the precise position and elevation of the summit. The summit snow depth was measured at 15 ft (4.6 m). The United States National Geodetic Survey later determined the summit elevation to be 20,310 ft (6,190 metres).
2019: On June 20, Karl Egloff (Swiss-Ecuadorian) set new speed records for the ascent (7h 40m) and round-trip (11h 44m), starting and returning to a base camp at 7,200 ft (2,200 m) on the Kahiltna Glacier.
== Weather station ==
The Japanese Alpine Club installed a meteorological station on a ridge near the summit of Denali at an elevation of 18,733 feet (5,710 m) in 1990. In 1998, this weather station was donated to the International Arctic Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. In June 2002, a weather station was placed at the 19,000-foot (5,800 m) level. This weather station was designed to transmit data in real-time for use by the climbing public and the science community. Since its establishment, annual upgrades to the equipment have been performed with instrumentation custom built for the extreme weather and altitude conditions. This weather station is the third-highest weather station in the world.
The weather station recorded a temperature of −75.5 °F (−59.7 °C) on December 1, 2003. On the previous day of November 30, 2003, a temperature of −74.4 °F (−59.1 °C) combined with a wind speed of 18.4 miles per hour (29.6 km/h) to produce a North American record windchill of −118.1 °F (−83.4 °C).
Even in July, this weather station has recorded temperatures as low as −22.9 °F (−30.5 °C) and windchills as low as −59.2 °F (−50.7 °C).
=== Historical record ===
According to the National Park Service, in 1932 the Liek-Lindley expedition recovered a self-recording minimum thermometer left near Browne's Tower, at about 15,000 feet (4,600 m), on Denali by the Stuck-Karstens party in 1913. The spirit thermometer was calibrated down to −95 °F (−71 °C), and the lowest recorded temperature was below that point. Harry J. Liek took the thermometer back to Washington, D.C. where it was tested by the United States Weather Bureau and found to be accurate. The lowest temperature that it had recorded was found to be approximately −100 °F (−73 °C). Another thermometer was placed at the 15,000-foot (4,600 m) level by the U.S. Army Natick Laboratory, and was there from 1950 to 1969. The lowest temperature recorded during that period was also −100 °F (−73 °C).
== Subpeaks and nearby mountains ==
Besides the North Summit mentioned above, other features on the massif which are sometimes included as separate peaks are:
South Buttress, 15,885 feet (4,842 m); mean prominence: 335 feet (102 m)
East Buttress high point, 14,730 feet (4,490 m); mean prominence: 380 feet (120 m)
East Buttress, most topographically prominent point, 14,650 feet (4,470 m); mean prominence: 600 feet (180 m)
Browne Tower, 14,530 feet (4,430 m); mean prominence: 75 feet (23 m)
Nearby peaks include:
Mount Crosson
Mount Foraker
Mount Silverthrone
Mount Hunter
Mount Huntington
Mount Dickey
The Moose's Tooth
== Taxonomic honors ==
denaliensis
Ceratozetella denaliensis (formerly Cyrtozetes denaliensis Behan-Pelletier, 1985) is a species of moss mite in the family Mycobatidae
Magnoavipes denaliensis Fiorillo et al., 2011 (literally "bird with large feet found in Denali") is a Magnoavipes ichnospecies of bird footprint from the Upper Cretaceous of Alaska and was a large heron-like bird (as large as a sandhill crane) with three toes and toe pads.
denali
Cosberella denali (Fjellberg, 1985) is a springtail in the genus Cosberella.
Proclossiana aphirape denali Klots, 1940 is a Boloria butterfly subspecies in the family Nymphalidae.
Symplecta denali (Alexander, 1955) is a species of crane fly in the family Limoniidae.
Tipula denali Alexander, 1969 is a species of crane fly in the family Tipulidae.
denalii
Erigeron denalii A. Nelson, 1945 or Denali fleabane is an Erigeron fleabane species.
mckinleyensis or mackinleyensis
Erebia mackinleyensis (Gunder, 1932) or Mt. McKinley alpine is a butterfly species of the subfamily Satyrinae of family Nymphalidae.
Oeneis mackinleyensis Dos Passos 1965 or Oeneis mckinleyensis Dos Passos 1949 is a butterfly species of the subfamily Satyrinae of family Nymphalidae (synonym of Oeneis bore)
Uredo mckinleyensis Cummins 1952 (sometimes spelled Uredo mackinleyensis) is a rust fungus species.
others:
Papaver mcconnellii Hultén 1945, synonym Papaver denalii Gjaerevoll 1963, is a poppy species.
== In popular culture ==
In 2019, American educational animated series Molly of Denali premiered on PBS and CBC Kids. The show depicts the daily life and culture of Molly, a young Alaskan Native girl and vlogger. The animated series has received acclaim for its representation of Indigenous Alaskan culture.
In the serialized speculative fiction multimedia narrative 17776, a cannon is built on top of Denali which is used to fire footballs at the continental United States |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Billboard_Hot_100_number_ones_of_2015 | List of Billboard Hot 100 number ones of 2015 | The Billboard Hot 100 is a chart that ranks the best-performing singles of the United States. Its data, compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published by Billboard magazine, is based collectively on each single's weekly physical and digital sales, as well as airplay and streaming.
During 2015, eight singles reached number one on the Hot 100; a ninth single, "Blank Space" by Taylor Swift, began its run at number one in November 2014. Of those nine number-one singles, three were collaborations. In total, ten acts topped the chart as either lead or featured artists, with six—Mark Ronson, Charlie Puth, Kendrick Lamar, Omi, The Weeknd and Justin Bieber—achieving their first Hot 100 number-one single. Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars' "Uptown Funk" was the longest-running number-one of the year, leading the chart for fourteen weeks; it subsequently topped the Billboard Year-End Hot 100.
== Chart history ==
== Number-one artists == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_McCombs | Tony McCombs | Tony McCombs (born August 24, 1974) is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Eastern Kentucky Colonels and was selected in the sixth round of the 1997 NFL draft. He played for the Arizona Cardinals from 1997 to 1998. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literary_and_Philosophical_Society_of_Newcastle_upon_Tyne# | Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne# | The Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne (or the Lit & Phil as it is popularly known) is a historical library in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, and the largest independent library outside London. The library is still available for both lending (to members) and as a free reference library. The society is a registered charity.
== Founding ==
Founded in 1793 as a "conversation club" by the Reverend William Turner and others – more than fifty years before the London Library – the annual subscription was originally one guinea. The Lit and Phil library contained works in French, Spanish, German and Latin; its contacts were international, and its members debated a wide range of issues, but religion and politics were prohibited. Women were first admitted to the library in 1804.
In February 2011, actor and comedian Alexander Armstrong became President of the Lit & Phil. He launched their funding appeal at a special gala event.
At the start of 2012, membership of the Library reached 2,000, the highest number since 1952.
== History ==
During the 19th and 20th centuries, the Lit & Phil was host to a long list of the intelligentsia of the era. Engineer and inventor George Stephenson showed his miner's lamp there, and in 1879, when Joseph Swan demonstrated his electric light bulbs, the Lit and Phil building became the first public building to be so illuminated.
The Society received in 1800 the country's first specimens of the wombat and the duck-billed platypus from John Hunter, Governor of New South Wales and honorary member of the Lit and Phil.
Between 1822 and 1825, a new building was created for the Society on Westgate Road, designed by John Green. The building is still in use today, with many original features including iron-work second-floor galleries.
=== Presidents ===
=== Notable members ===
Amongst the historic and contemporary members are the following: |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/André_Silva_(footballer,_born_1995) | André Silva (footballer, born 1995) | André Miguel Valente da Silva (European Portuguese: [ɐ̃ˈdɾɛ ˈsilvɐ]; born 6 November 1995) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a striker for La Liga club Elche.
An academy graduate of Porto, he impressed during his time with the reserve side before making his debut with the first team in 2015. He ultimately made 58 appearances for the club, scoring 24 goals before joining AC Milan in 2017. He went on to represent Sevilla and Eintracht Frankfurt on loan, signing a permanent contract with the latter in 2020. Following a club record-breaking campaign, in which he scored 28 times, he moved to RB Leipzig also in the Bundesliga for a reported fee of €23 million.
Silva represented Portugal at various youth levels, and was part of the squad which came second at the 2014 European Under-19 Championship. His senior international debut followed two years later, and he featured at the 2017 Confederations Cup where his team came third, also being selected for two World Cups and Euro 2020.
== Club career ==
=== Porto ===
==== Reserves ====
Silva was born in Baguim do Monte, a local parish in Gondomar, and started playing football with Porto-based Salgueiros after switching from swimming. He had a brief spell with neighbouring Boavista, but quickly returned to his previous club.
Silva finished his youth career with Porto, having signed with the juniors in 2011 at the age of 15. On 12 August 2013, he made his professional debut, coming on as a 77th-minute substitute for Tozé as the B team won 3–2 away against Beira-Mar in the Segunda Liga.
Silva finished his second season with 34 games and seven goals, helping Porto B to the 13th position in the second tier. Highlights included a brace on 4 January 2015, for a 3–0 home victory over Vitória de Guimarães B.
==== First team ====
Silva made his competitive debut for the first team on 29 December 2015, playing the full 90 minutes in a 1–3 home loss against Marítimo in the Taça da Liga. His maiden appearance in the Primeira Liga occurred four days later, as he replaced Vincent Aboubakar for the last 20 minutes of the 2–0 defeat at Sporting CP.
Silva started the 2015–16 campaign as fourth-choice striker behind Aboubakar and Dani Osvaldo, and his plight worsened in January 2016 with the acquisition of Suk Hyun-jun and Moussa Marega. However, after José Peseiro replaced Julen Lopetegui as manager, he received more opportunities, and scored his first league goal in a 4–0 home win over Boavista in the last match. He also started in the final of the Taça de Portugal on 22 May, helping his team recover from a 0–2 deficit against Braga with a brace, which included a bicycle kick in the last-minute (eventual 4–2 loss on penalties).
Silva began 2016–17 in good form, with goals in his first two league games against Rio Ave and Estoril, while also scoring in Porto's 1–1 draw at home to Roma in the UEFA Champions League play-off round. On 21 August 2016 he signed a new five-year contract, which included a release clause of €60 million.
=== Milan ===
On 12 June 2017, Silva moved to AC Milan on a five-year contract for a fee of €38 million with the additional €2 million depending on objectives. Upon signing, he told the press: "I'm very happy to have joined such a prestigious club with such a great history." He was given the number 9 shirt, previously worn by Gianluca Lapadula.
Silva made his debut for the Italian club on 27 July, playing 24 minutes in the 1–0 win against Universitatea Craiova in the third qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League. On 17 August, for the same competition but in the play-off round, he contributed two goals and one assist to a 6–0 home rout of Shkëndija. On 14 September, already in the group stage, he scored a hat-trick to help the visitors defeat Austria Wien 5–1; in the process, he became the first player to achieve the feat for Milan in Europe since Kaká in 2006, and he was included in UEFA's Europa League Team of the Week due to his performance. He scored his maiden goal in the Serie A on 11 March 2018, from a last-minute header in the 1–0 away win over Genoa.
On 11 August 2018, Silva joined Spanish club Sevilla on a season-long loan with the option to purchase for €35 million. He made his debut the following day, coming on for Luis Muriel at the hour mark of an eventual 2–1 loss against Barcelona in the Supercopa de España. He scored a hat-trick in his first La Liga match on 19 August in a 4–1 victory at Rayo Vallecano, equalling the feat of Romário who achieved this in 1993, and also scored a brace in a 3–0 home defeat of Real Madrid on 26 September.
On 25 November 2018, Silva scored the only goal in a win over Real Valladolid as Sevilla temporarily led the table. His performances declined over the course of the campaign, leading the Andalusians to not sign him on a permanent basis.
=== Eintracht Frankfurt ===
On 2 September 2019, Silva moved to Eintracht Frankfurt on a two-year loan deal, with Ante Rebić heading in the opposite direction. He made his Bundesliga debut 12 days later, playing the entire 2–1 defeat at Augsburg and partnering compatriot and former Porto teammate Gonçalo Paciência up front. He scored his first goal in the competition on 22 September, netting the first in a 2–2 home draw against Borussia Dortmund.
With the restart of the German league following the COVID-19 pandemic, Silva scored eight goals in ten games for a total of 12 in the campaign. This surpassed by one goal the record for top-scoring Portuguese in a German top-flight season, by Werder Bremen's Hugo Almeida.
On 10 September 2020, Silva signed a permanent three-year contract. He was Player of the Month for the following January, with seven goals from six games including three braces. With 28 goals, he bettered Bernd Hölzenbein's 44-year-old club record for goals in a top-flight campaign by one; only Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski scored more over the season.
=== RB Leipzig ===
Silva joined RB Leipzig on 2 July 2021, on a five-year contract for a fee of €23 million. On 20 August, he scored his first goal in a 4–0 win over VfB Stuttgart. His first in the Champions League came on 19 October, in a 3–2 away loss against Paris Saint-Germain in the group stage. He added two in six appearances in their victorious run in the DFB-Pokal.
On 2 August 2023, Silva moved to Spanish top-tier club Real Sociedad on a season-long loan with an option to buy. He made his debut on 30 September, as a 60th-minute substitute in the 3–0 home win over Athletic Bilbao.
On 3 February 2025, Silva was loaned to Werder Bremen until the end of the campaign.
=== Elche ===
Silva returned to the Spanish top division on 18 August 2025, on a one-year deal at Elche with the option of an additional year's extension.
== International career ==
=== Youth ===
Silva represented Portugal at every youth level. He participated with the under-20 team at the 2015 FIFA World Cup, scoring four goals in the group stage as the nation reached the quarter-finals. Previously, at the 2014 UEFA European Under-19 Championship, he became the first player ever to net four times in a single match (6–1 group stage defeat of Hungary), in an eventual runner-up finish for the under-19s.
On 8 September 2015, in his first appearance with the under-21 side, Silva scored a hat-trick in 19 minutes (both halves combined), contributing to a 6–1 win against Albania for the 2017 European Under-21 Championship qualifiers.
=== Senior ===
Silva was called up for the first time to the senior team by head coach Fernando Santos on 26 August 2016, playing the second half of a 5–0 friendly victory over Gibraltar in Porto on 1 September. He scored his first goal with Portugal's main squad on 7 October, featuring the entire 6–0 defeat of Andorra for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. Three days later, for the same competition, he netted three times in the first half of an eventual 6–0 thrashing of the Faroe Islands.
Silva was selected for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, making his tournament debut when he replaced Ricardo Quaresma for the last eight minutes of the 2–2 group stage draw with Mexico. He scored his first goal in the competition on 24 June, playing the full 90 minutes in the 4–0 win against New Zealand. In the third-place play-off, in which his team eventually defeated Mexico 2–1 after extra time, he had his early penalty saved by Guillermo Ochoa.
In May 2018, Silva was named in Portugal's final squad for the FIFA World Cup, also to be held in Russia. Late into that month, he scored the 1000th goal in the national team's history during the first half of a friendly with Tunisia in Braga. He made his debut in the competition on 15 June, replacing Gonçalo Guedes in the 80th minute of the 3–3 group stage draw against Spain.
Silva was selected for the delayed UEFA Euro 2020 tournament on 20 May 2021, replacing Diogo Jota in the 70th minute of a 1–0 loss to Belgium in the round of 16. In November 2022, he made the final squad for the World Cup in Qatar. His only appearance in an eventual quarter-final exit consisted of 30 minutes of the 2–1 defeat against South Korea in the group stage.
== Career statistics ==
=== Club ===
As of match played 8 March 2026
=== International ===
Scores and results list Portugal's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Silva goal.
== Honours ==
Porto B
LigaPro: 2015–16
RB Leipzig
DFB-Pokal: 2021–22, 2022–23
Portugal
UEFA Nations League: 2018–19
FIFA Confederations Cup third place: 2017
Individual
SJPF Segunda Liga Player of the Month: August/September 2015, December 2015
Segunda Liga Player of the Year: 2015–16
Segunda Liga Breakthrough Player of the Year: 2015–16
UEFA Champions League Breakthrough XI: 2016
Bundesliga Goal of the Month: June 2020
Bundesliga Player of the Month: January 2021
Bundesliga Team of the Season: 2020–21
Kicker Bundesliga Team of the Season: 2020–21 |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satoshi_Tajiri | Satoshi Tajiri | Satoshi Tajiri (Japanese: 田尻 智, Hepburn: Tajiri Satoshi; born August 28, 1965) is a Japanese video game designer and director who is the creator of the Pokémon franchise and the co-founder and president of video game developer Game Freak.
A fan of arcade games in his youth, Tajiri wrote for and edited his own video gaming fanzine Game Freak with Ken Sugimori, before evolving it into a development company of the same name. Tajiri claims that the joining of two Game Boys via a link cable inspired him to create a game which embodied the collection and companionship of his childhood hobby, insect collecting. The game, which became Pokémon Red and Pokémon Green, took six years to complete and went on to spark a multibillion-dollar franchise which reinvigorated Nintendo's handheld gaming scene. Tajiri continued to work as director for the Pokémon series until the development of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, when he changed his role to executive producer, which he holds to this day. Tajiri has also worked for other Game Freak projects.
== Early life ==
Satoshi Tajiri was born on August 28, 1965, in Setagaya, Tokyo. Tajiri grew up in Machida, Tokyo, which at the time still maintained a rural atmosphere and was rapidly growing. As a child, Tajiri enjoyed insect collecting as a hobby, which would be an inspiration for his later video game work. Other children called him "Dr. Bug", and he wanted to become an entomologist. As urban areas of Japan spread and more land was paved over, habitats for hunting bugs were lost. Tajiri wanted his games to allow children to have the feeling of catching and collecting creatures as he had.
He became fascinated with arcade games as a teenager, though his parents thought he was a delinquent for this pastime. He particularly enjoyed playing Taito's Space Invaders (1978), which drew him into other video games. Space Invaders got him interested in video games; after playing Space Invaders and its video game clones, he wanted to make his own sequel to Space Invaders. He was also inspired by Namco games designed around a single specific action, notably Dig Dug (1982). His interest eventually evolved into attempting to plan his own games. He took his Famicom apart to see how it worked, and won a contest for a video game idea sponsored by Sega.
Because of his fascination with video games, Tajiri frequently cut classes. He took make-up classes and eventually earned his high school diploma. Tajiri did not attend university, but instead attended a two-year technical degree program at the National Institute of Technology, Tokyo College, where he majored in electronics and computer science.
== Career ==
Tajiri wrote and edited a fanzine called Game Freak from 1981 to 1986, focusing on the arcade game scene. It was handwritten and stapled together. Satoshi created the Game Freak fanzine to help gamers with winning strategies and lists of easter eggs. The highest selling issue, at more than 10,000 copies, details how to get a high score in Xevious. Ken Sugimori, who later illustrated the first 151 Pokémon, saw the magazine at a dōjinshi shop, and became its illustrator. As more contributors came to Game Freak, Tajiri began to realize that most games were lacking in quality, and he and Sugimori decided the solution was to make their own games. Tajiri studied the Family BASIC game programming package, to better grasp the concepts of Famicom game design. He then purchased the requisite hardware for game development. Tajiri and Sugimori evolved the magazine into the video game development company Game Freak in 1989. Soon after, the two pitched their first game, an arcade-style game called Quinty, to Namco, who published the game. Tajiri also wrote as a freelance writer for the magazine Famicom Hisshōbon, later called Hippon, and reviewed arcade games for Family Computer Magazine and Famicom Tsūshin.
Tajiri first conceived the idea of Pokémon in 1990. The idea came together after he saw a Game Boy and the ability to communicate between Game Boys, and Tajiri decided Pokémon made the most sense on the handheld console. When he thought about the link cable being able to interact with two Game Boys, he envisioned bugs crawling back and forth, recalling his childhood love of bug collecting. Tajiri advanced the connectivity between handheld game consoles beyond Tetris style competition, by suggesting that Game Boys could use their link cables to trade collectibles.
When he first pitched the idea of Pokémon to Nintendo staff, they could not quite grasp the concept, but were impressed enough with Tajiri's game design reputation that they decided to explore it. Shigeru Miyamoto began to mentor Tajiri, guiding him during the creation process. Pokémon Red and Green took six years to produce, and nearly bankrupted Game Freak in the process; often, there was barely enough money to pay the employees. Five employees quit, and Tajiri did not take a salary, instead living off of his father's income. Investment from Creatures Inc. allowed Game Freak to complete the games, and in return, Creatures received one-third of the franchise rights.
Between the approval and completion stages of the project, Tajiri assisted in the design of two Mario spin-off games for Nintendo: Yoshi and the Japanese-only release Mario & Wario. He also worked on 1994's Pulseman for Sega.
Once the games were completed, very few media outlets gave it attention, believing the Game Boy was a dead console; a general lack of interest of merchandising convinced Tajiri that Nintendo would reject the games. The Pokémon games were not expected to do well, but sales steadily increased until the series found itself among Nintendo's top franchises. Rumors of a hidden Pokémon creature named Mew, which could only be obtained by exploiting programming errors, increased interest in the game. Tajiri had included Mew in the game in order to promote trading and interaction between players, but Nintendo was not aware of the creature upon release. The franchise helped Nintendo's waning sales. Tajiri deliberately toned down violence in his games. In this vein, he designed Pokémon creatures to faint rather than die upon their defeat, as he believed it was unhealthy for children to equate the concept of death with losing a game. After the completion and release of Red and Green in Japan, Tajiri later worked on 1997's Bushi Seiryūden: Futari no Yūsha. Tajiri continues to be involved in the more modern Pokémon games as well. For Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, he supervised the process from start to finish and approved all the text. While developing games, Tajiri works irregular hours, often laboring 24 hours at a time and resting 12 hours.
=== Inspirations ===
Tajiri cites Shigeru Miyamoto as a major influence, thinking of him as a sort of mentor. For this reason, his developmental style closely matches that of Miyamoto. In the Japanese version of the Pokémon anime, the main character is named Satoshi (Ash Ketchum in the English version), and his rival is Shigeru (Gary Oak in the English version).
Tajiri drew much of his inspiration from old Japanese TV shows and movies, including Godzilla and Ultraman. He has stated that if he did not design video games, he would most likely be in the anime field.
=== Awards and recognition ===
IGN named Tajiri one of the top 100 game creators of all time, mainly for his ability to have built Pokémon into a "worldwide phenomenon". Electronic Gaming Monthly credited Tajiri as one of the 10 most influential people who made the modern video game market. Video game magazine Edge placed Tajiri on their list of the "Hot 100 Game Developers of 2008". Tajiri, alongside Tsunekazu Ishihara, received the Special Award from the Computer Entertainment Developers Conference in 2011. The Economist has described Pokémon as "Japan's most successful export."
== Works ==
=== Games ===
=== Bibliography ===
Tajiri, Satoshi (2002). パックランドでつかまえて [A Catcher in Pac-Land: Video Game Youth Story] (in Japanese). Enterbrain. ISBN 4-7577-1004-6.
Tajiri, Satoshi (1996). 新ゲームデザイン [New Game Design] (in Japanese). Enix. ISBN 4-87025-858-7.
Miya, Shotaro (2004). 田尻智ポケモンを創った男 [Satoshi Tajiri: The Man Who Created Pokémon] (in Japanese). Ohta Publishing. ISBN 4-87233-833-2. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitian_Revolution | Haitian Revolution | The Haitian Revolution, also known as the Haitian War of Independence, was a successful insurrection by enslaved Africans against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, now the sovereign state of Haiti. The revolution was one of the only known slave rebellions in human history that led to the founding of a state which was both free from slavery (though not from forced labour) and ruled by former captives.
Vincent Ogé's 1790 revolt by free mulattoes (of mixed French and African ancestry) pressured the French Revolutionary government to grant them citizenship in May 1791, leading to further clashes with slave owners that destabilized Saint-Domingue and led to the slave revolt on 22 August 1791, which ended with the former colony's independence on 1 January 1804, with the ex-slave Toussaint Louverture emerging as its most prominent general. The successful revolution was a defining moment in the history of the Atlantic World and the revolution's effects on the institution of slavery were felt throughout the Americas. The end of French rule and the abolition of slavery in the former colony was followed by a successful defense of the freedoms the former slaves had won, and with the collaboration of already free people of color, of their independence from white Europeans.
The revolution was the largest slave uprising since Spartacus' unsuccessful revolt against the Roman Republic nearly 1,900 years earlier, and challenged long-held European beliefs about alleged black inferiority and about slaves' ability to achieve and maintain their own freedom. The rebels' organizational capacity and tenacity under pressure inspired stories that shocked and frightened slave owners in the hemisphere.
Compared to other Atlantic revolutions, the events in Haiti have received comparatively little public attention in retrospect: historian Michel-Rolph Trouillot characterizes the historiography of the Haitian Revolution as being "silenced" by that of the French Revolution.
== Background ==
=== Slave economy in Saint-Domingue ===
Much of Caribbean economic development in the 18th century was contingent on Europeans' demand for sugar. Plantation owners produced sugar as a commodity crop from cultivation of sugarcane, which required extensive labor. The colony of Saint-Domingue also had extensive coffee, cocoa, and indigo plantations, but these were smaller and less profitable than the sugar plantations. The commodity crops were traded for European goods.
Starting in the 1730s, French engineers constructed complex irrigation systems to increase sugarcane production. By the 1740s, Saint-Domingue, together with the British colony of Jamaica, had become the main suppliers of the world's sugar. Production of sugar depended on extensive manual labor provided by enslaved Africans. An average of 600 ships engaged every year in shipping products from Saint-Domingue to Bordeaux, and the value of the colony's crops and goods was almost equal in value to all of the products shipped from the Thirteen Colonies to Great Britain. The livelihood of 1 million of the approximately 25 million people who lived in France in 1789 depended directly upon the agricultural imports from Saint-Domingue, and several million indirectly depended upon trade from the colony to maintain their standard of living. Saint-Domingue was the most profitable French colony in the world, indeed one of the most profitable of all the European colonies in the 18th century.
Slavery sustained sugar production under harsh conditions; diseases such as malaria (brought from Africa) and yellow fever caused high mortality, thriving in the tropical Caribbean climate. In 1787 alone, approximately 20,000 slaves were transported from Africa to Saint-Domingue, in comparison to the roughly 38,000 slaves that were imported to the British West Indies. The death rate from yellow fever was such that at least 50% of the slaves from Africa died within a year of arriving, so while the white planters preferred to work their slaves as hard as possible, providing them only the bare minimum of food and shelter; they calculated that it was better to get the most work out of their slaves with the lowest expense possible, since they were probably going to die of yellow fever anyway. The death rate was so high that polyandry—one woman being married to several men at the same time—developed as a common form of marriage among the slaves. As slaves had no legal rights, rape by planters, their unmarried sons, or overseers was a common occurrence on the plantations.
=== Demographics ===
The largest sugar plantations and concentrations of slaves were in the north of the island, and the whites lived in fear of slave rebellion. Even by the standards of the Caribbean, French slave masters were extremely cruel in their treatment of slaves. They used the threat and acts of physical violence to maintain control and suppress efforts at rebellion. When slaves left the plantations or disobeyed their masters, they were subject to whipping or to more extreme torture such as castration or burning, the punishment being both a personal lesson and a warning for other slaves. King Louis XIV of France passed the Code Noir in 1685 in an attempt to regulate such violence and the treatment of slaves in general in the colony, but masters openly and consistently broke the code. During the 18th century, local legislation reversed parts of it.
In 1758, the planters began passing legislation restricting the rights of other groups of people until a rigid caste system was defined. Most historians classify the people of the era into three groups:
The first group were white colonists, or les blancs. This group was generally subdivided into the plantation owners and a lower class of whites who often served as overseers or day laborers, as well as artisans and shopkeepers.
The second group were free people of color, or gens de couleur libres, who were usually mixed-race (sometimes referred to as mulattoes), being of both African and French descent. These gens de couleur tended to be educated and literate, and the men often served in the army or as administrators on plantations. Many were children of white planters and enslaved mothers, or free women of color. Others had purchased their freedom from their owners through the sale of their own produce or artistic works. They often received education or artisan training, and sometimes inherited freedom or property from their fathers. Some gens de couleur owned and operated their own plantations and became slave owners.
The third group, outnumbering the others by a ratio of ten to one, was made up of mostly African-born slaves. A high rate of mortality among them meant that planters continually had to import new slaves. This kept their culture more African and separate from other people on the island. Many plantations had large concentrations of slaves from a particular region of Africa, and it was therefore somewhat easier for these groups to maintain elements of their culture, religion, and language. This also separated new slaves from Africa from creoles (slaves born in the colony), who already had kin networks and often had more prestigious roles on plantations and more opportunities for emancipation. Most slaves spoke a patois of the French language known as Haitian Creole, which was also used by island-born mulattoes and whites for communication with the workers.
The majority of the slaves were Yoruba from what is now modern Nigeria, Fon from what is now Benin, and Kongo from the Kingdom of Kongo in what is now modern northern Angola and the western Congo. The Kongolese at 40% were the largest of the African ethnic groups represented amongst the slaves. The slaves developed their own religion, a syncretic mixture of Catholicism and West African religions known as Vodou, usually called "voodoo" in English. This belief system implicitly rejected the Africans' status as slaves.
=== Social conflict ===
Saint-Domingue was a society seething with hatred, with white colonists and black slaves frequently coming into violent conflict. The French historian Paul Fregosi wrote:
"Whites, mulattos and blacks loathed each other. The poor whites couldn't stand the rich whites, the rich whites despised the poor whites, the middle-class whites were jealous of the aristocratic whites, the whites born in France looked down upon the locally born whites, mulattoes envied the whites, despised the blacks and were despised by the whites; free Negroes brutalized those who were still slaves, Haitian born blacks regarded those from Africa as savages. Everyone—quite rightly—lived in terror of everyone else. Haiti was hell, but Haiti was rich."Many of these conflicts involved slaves who had escaped the plantations. Many runaway slaves—called maroons—hid on the margins of large plantations, living off the land and what they could steal from their former masters. Others fled to towns, to blend in with urban slaves and freed blacks who often migrated to those areas for work. If caught, these runaway slaves would be severely and violently punished. However, some masters tolerated petit marronages, or short-term absences from plantations, knowing these allowed release of tensions.
The larger groups of runaway slaves who lived in the hillside woods away from white control often conducted violent raids on the island's sugar and coffee plantations. Although the numbers in these bands grew large (sometimes into the thousands), they generally lacked the leadership and strategy to accomplish large-scale objectives. The first effective maroon leader to emerge was the charismatic Haitian Vodou priest François Mackandal, who inspired his people by drawing on African traditions and religions. He united the maroon bands and established a network of secret organizations among plantation slaves, leading a rebellion from 1751 through 1757. Although Mackandal was captured by the French and burned at the stake in 1758, large armed maroon bands persisted in raids and harassment after his death.
=== Slavery in Enlightenment thought ===
French writer Guillaume Raynal attacked slavery in his history of European colonization. He warned, "the Africans only want a chief, sufficiently courageous, to lead them on to vengeance and slaughter." Raynal's Enlightenment philosophy went deeper than a prediction and reflected many similar philosophies, including those of Rousseau and Diderot. Raynal's admonition was written thirteen years before the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which highlighted freedom and liberty but did not abolish slavery.
In addition to Raynal's influence, Toussaint Louverture, a free black who was familiar with Enlightenment ideas within the context of European colonialism, would become a key "enlightened actor" in the Haitian Revolution. Enlightened thought divided the world into "enlightened leaders" and "ignorant masses." Louverture sought to bridge this divide between the popular masses and the enlightened few by striking a balance between Western Enlightened thought as a necessary means of winning liberation, and not propagating the notion that it was morally superior to the experiences and knowledge of people of color on Saint-Domingue. Louverture wrote a constitution for a new society in Saint-Domingue that abolished slavery. The existence of slavery in Enlightened society was an incongruity that had been left unaddressed by European scholars prior to the French Revolution. Louverture took on this inconsistency directly in his constitution. In addition, he exhibited a connection to Enlightenment scholars through the style, language,and accent of his text.
Like Louverture, Jean-Baptiste Belley was an active participant in the insurrection. The portrait of Belley by Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson depicts a man who encompasses the French view of its colonies, creating a stark dichotomy between the refinement of Enlightenment thought and the reality of the situation in Saint-Domingue, through the bust of Raynal and the figure of Belley, respectively. While distinguished, the portrait still portrays a man trapped by the confines of race. Girodet's portrayal of the former National Convention deputy is telling of the French opinion of colonial citizens by emphasizing the subject's sexuality and including an earring. Both of these racially charged symbols reveal the desire to undermine the colony's attempts at independent legitimacy, as citizens of the colonies were not able to access the elite class of French Revolutionaries because of their race.
== Situation in 1789 ==
=== Social stratification ===
In 1789, Saint-Domingue produced 60% of the world's coffee and 40% of the sugar imported by France and Britain. The colony was not only the most profitable possession of the French colonial empire, but it was the wealthiest and most prosperous colony in the Caribbean.
The colony's white population numbered 40,000; mulattoes and free blacks, 28,000; and black slaves, an estimated 452,000. This was almost half the total slave population in the Caribbean, estimated at one million that year. Enslaved blacks, regarded as the lowest class of colonial society, outnumbered whites and free people of color by a margin of almost eight to one.
Two-thirds of the slaves were African born, and they tended to be less submissive than those born in the Americas and raised in slave societies. The death rate in the Caribbean exceeded the birth rate, so imports of enslaved Africans were necessary to maintain the numbers required to work the plantations. The slave population declined at an annual rate of two to five percent, due to overwork, inadequate food and shelter, insufficient clothing and medical care, and an imbalance between the sexes, with more men than women. Some slaves were of a creole elite class of urban slaves and domestics, who worked as cooks, personal servants and artisans around the plantation house. This relatively privileged class was chiefly born in the Americas, while the under-class born in Africa labored hard, and often under abusive and brutal conditions.
Among Saint-Domingue's 40,000 white colonists, European-born Frenchmen monopolized administrative posts. The sugar planters, or grands blancs (literally, "big whites"), were chiefly minor aristocrats. Most returned to France as soon as possible, hoping to avoid the dreaded yellow fever, which regularly swept the colony. The lower-class whites, petits blancs (literally "small whites"), included artisans, shopkeepers, slave dealers, overseers, and day laborers.
Saint-Domingue's free people of color, or gens de couleur libres, numbered more than 28,000. Around that time, colonial legislatures, concerned with this growing and strengthening population, passed discriminatory laws that required these freedmen to wear distinctive clothing and limited where they could live. These laws also barred them from occupying many public offices. Many freedmen were also artisans and overseers, or domestic servants in the plantation houses. Le Cap Français (Le Cap), a northern port, had a large population of free people of color, including freed slaves. These men would become important leaders in the slave rebellion and later revolution.
=== Regional conflicts ===
Saint-Domingue's Northern province was the center of shipping and trading, and had the largest population of grands blancs. The Plaine-du-Nord on the northern shore of Saint-Domingue was the most fertile area, having the largest sugar plantations and therefore the most slaves. It was the area of greatest economic importance, especially as most of the colony's trade went through these ports. The largest and busiest port was Le Cap, the former capital of Saint-Domingue. Enslaved Africans in this region lived in large groups of workers in relative isolation, separated from the rest of the colony by the high mountain range known as the Massif du Nord.
The Western province, however, grew significantly after the colonial capital was moved to Port-au-Prince in 1751, becoming increasingly wealthy in the second half of the 18th century. The Southern province lagged in population and wealth because it was geographically separated from the rest of the colony. However, this isolation allowed freed slaves to find profit in trade with Jamaica, and they gained power and wealth here. In addition to these interregional tensions, there were conflicts between proponents of independence, those loyal to France, and allies of Britain and Spain—who coveted control of the valuable colony.
== Effects of the French Revolution ==
After the establishment of the French First Republic, the National Assembly made radical changes to French laws and, on 26 August 1789, published the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, declaring all men free and equal. The Declaration was ambiguous as to whether this equality applied to women, slaves, or citizens of the colonies, and thus influenced the desire for freedom and equality in Saint-Domingue. White planters saw it as an opportunity to gain independence from France, which would allow them to take control of the island and create trade regulations that would further their own wealth and power. However, the Haitian Revolution quickly became a test of the new French republic, as it radicalized the slavery question and forced French leaders to recognize the full meaning of their stated ideology.
The African population on the island began to hear of the agitation for independence by the planters, who had resented France's limitations on the island's foreign trade. The Africans mostly allied with the royalists and the British, as they understood that if Saint-Domingue's independence were to be led by white slave masters, it would probably mean even harsher treatment and increased injustice for the African population. The planters would be free to operate slavery as they pleased without the existing minimal accountability to their French peers.
Saint-Domingue's free people of color, most notably Julien Raimond, had been actively appealing to France for full civil equality with whites since the 1780s. Raimond used the French Revolution to make this the major colonial issue before the National Assembly. In October 1790, another wealthy free man of color, Vincent Ogé, demanded the right to vote under the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. When the colonial governor refused, Ogé led a brief 300-man insurgency in the area around Le Cap, fighting to end racial discrimination in the area. He was captured in early 1791, and brutally executed by being "broken on the wheel" before being beheaded. While Ogé was not fighting against slavery, his treatment was cited by later slave rebels as one of the factors in their decision to rise up in August 1791 and resist treaties with the colonists. The conflict up to this point was between factions of whites, and between whites and free people of color. Enslaved blacks watched from the sidelines.
Leading 18th-century French writer Count Mirabeau had once said the Saint-Domingue whites "slept at the foot of Vesuvius", suggesting the grave threat they faced should the majority of slaves launch a sustained major uprising.
== 1791 slave rebellion ==
=== Onset of the revolution ===
Guillaume Raynal attacked slavery in the 1780 edition of his history of European colonization. He also predicted a general slave revolt in the colonies, saying that there were signs of "the impending storm". One such sign was the action of the French revolutionary government to grant citizenship to wealthy free people of color in May 1791. Since white planters refused to comply with this decision, within two months isolated fighting broke out between the mulattoes and the whites. This added to the tense climate between mulattoes and grands blancs. Meanwhile, enslaved Black people, already resentful of both whites and mulattoes for maintaining the system of bondage, began to see their own opportunity for rebellion.
Raynal's prediction came true on the night of 21 August 1791, when the slaves of Saint-Domingue rose in revolt; thousands of slaves attended a secret vodou ceremony as a tropical storm came in — the lightning and the thunder were taken as auspicious omens — and later that night, the slaves began to kill their masters and plunged the colony into civil war. The signal to begin the revolt had been given by Dutty Boukman, a high priest of vodou and leader of the Maroon slaves, and Cecile Fatiman during a religious ceremony at Bois Caïman on the night of 14 August. Within the next ten days, slaves had taken control of the entire Northern Province in an unprecedented slave revolt. Whites kept control of only a few isolated, fortified camps. The slaves sought revenge on their masters through "pillage, rape, torture, mutilation, and death". The long years of oppression by the planters had left many blacks with a hatred of all whites, and the revolt was marked by extreme violence from the very start. The masters and mistresses were dragged from their beds to be killed, and the heads of French children were placed on pikes that were carried at the front of the rebel columns. In the south, beginning in September, thirteen thousand slaves and rebels led by Romaine-la-Prophétesse, based in Trou Coffy, took supplies from and burned plantations, freed slaves, and occupied (and burned) the area's two major cities, Léogâne and Jacmel.
The planters had long feared such a revolt, and were well armed with some defensive preparations. But within weeks, the number of slaves who joined the revolt in the north reached 100,000. Within the next two months, as the violence escalated, the slaves killed 4,000 whites and burned or destroyed 180 sugar plantations and hundreds of coffee and indigo plantations. At least 900 coffee plantations were destroyed, and the total damage inflicted over the next two weeks amounted to 2 million francs. In September 1791, the surviving whites organized into militias and struck back, killing about 15,000 blacks.
Though demanding freedom from slavery, the rebels did not demand independence from France at this point. Most of the rebel leaders professed to be fighting for the king of France, who they believed had issued a decree freeing the slaves, which had been suppressed by the colonial governor. As such, they were demanding their rights as Frenchmen which had been granted by the king.
By 1792, slave rebels controlled a third of Saint-Domingue. The success of the rebellion caused the National Assembly to realize it was facing an ominous situation. The Assembly granted civil and political rights to free men of color in the colonies in March 1792. Countries throughout Europe, as well as the United States, were shocked by the decision, but the Assembly was determined to stop the revolt. Apart from granting rights to free people of color, the Assembly dispatched 6,000 French soldiers to the island. A new governor sent by Paris, Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, abolished slavery in the Northern Province and had hostile relations with the planters, whom he saw as royalists. The same month, a coalition of whites and conservative free blacks and forces under French commissaire nationale Edmond de Saint-Léger put down the Trou Coffy uprising in the south, after André Rigaud, then based near Port-au-Prince, declined to ally with them.
=== Britain and Spain enter the conflict ===
Meanwhile, in 1793, France declared war on Great Britain. The grands blancs in Saint-Domingue, unhappy with Sonthonax, pleaded with British authorities in Jamaica for assistance against the Republican commissioners. The first Pitt ministry of Great Britain, in particular Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger and Secretary of State for War Henry Dundas, made plans to invade Saint-Domingue. Both men recognised the financial value of the colony and its status as a useful bargaining chip in possible peace negotiations with France. Furthermore, they were concerned the ongoing slave rebellion in Saint-Domingue could lead to similar unrest in the British West Indies. Dundas instructed Sir Adam Williamson, the lieutenant-governor of Jamaica, to sign an agreement with representatives of counterrevolutionary French colonists in the colony which promised to restore the ancien régime, discrimination against free people of color and protect slavery, a move that drew criticism from British abolitionists William Wilberforce and Thomas Clarkson. The troops who came to Saint-Domingue from Britain had an extremely low survival rate, often dying to diseases such as yellow fever. The British government would send less trained adolescents to maintain strong regiments. The incompetence of the new soldiers, combined with the ravaging of disease upon the army, led to a very unsuccessful campaign in Saint-Domingue. The American journalist James Perry notes that the great irony of the British campaign in Saint-Domingue was that it ended as a complete debacle, costing the British treasury millions of pounds and the British military thousands upon thousands of dead, all for nothing.
Spain, which controlled the rest of the island of Hispaniola (Santo Domingo), also joined the conflict and fought with Britain against France. The proportion of slaves was not as high in the Spanish portion of the island. Spanish forces invaded Saint-Domingue and were joined by the rebels. For most of the conflict, the British and Spanish supplied the rebels with food, ammunition, arms, medicine, naval support, and military advisors. By August 1793, there were only 3,500 French soldiers on the island. On 20 September 1793, about 600 British soldiers from Jamaica landed at Jérémie to be greeted with shouts of, "Vivent les Anglais!" from the French population. On 22 September 1793, Mole St. Nicolas, the main French naval base in Saint-Domingue, surrendered to the Royal Navy peacefully.
=== French declare slavery abolished ===
To prevent military disaster, and secure the colony for republican France as opposed to Britain, Spain, and French royalists, separately or in combination, the French commissioners Sonthonax and Étienne Polverel offered freedom to the slaves who would agree to fight alongside them. Then, under pressure, they gradually emancipated all the slaves of the colony. On 29 August 1793, Sonthonax proclaimed the abolition of slavery in the northern province. On 31 October, Étienne Polverel did the same in the other two western and southern provinces.
Sonthonax sent three of his deputies, namely the colonist Louis Duffay, the free black army officer Jean-Baptiste Belley and a free man of color, Jean-Baptiste Mills, to seek the National Convention's endorsement for the emancipation of slaves near the end of January 1794. On 4 February, Dufay gave a speech to the convention arguing that abolishing slavery was the only way to keep the colony in control of the French, and that former slaves would willingly work to restore the colony. The convention deputies agreed and made the dramatic decree that "slavery of the blacks is abolished in all the colonies; consequently, it decrees that all men living in the colonies, without distinction of color, are French citizens and enjoy all the rights guaranteed by the constitution".
The National Convention abolished slavery by law in France and all its colonies, and granted civil and political rights to all black men in the colonies. The French constitutions of 1793 and 1795 both included the abolition of slavery. The constitution of 1793 never went into effect, but that of 1795 did; it lasted until it was replaced by the consular and imperial constitutions under Napoleon Bonaparte. Despite racial tensions in Saint-Domingue, the French revolutionary government at the time welcomed abolition with a show of idealism and optimism. The emancipation of slaves was viewed as an example of liberty for other countries, much as the American Revolution was meant to serve as the first of many liberation movements. Georges Danton, one of the Frenchmen present at the meeting of the National Convention, expressed this sentiment:
Representatives of the French people, until now our decrees of liberty have been selfish, and only for ourselves. But today we proclaim it to the universe, and generations to come will glory in this decree; we are proclaiming universal liberty ... We are working for future generations; let us launch liberty into the colonies; the English are dead, today.
In nationalistic terms, the abolition of slavery also served as a moral triumph of France over England, as seen in the latter half of the above quote. Yet Toussaint Louverture did not stop working with the Spanish Army until sometime later, as he was suspicious of the French.
The British force that landed in Saint-Domingue in 1793 was too small to conquer the colony, being capable only of holding only few coastal enclaves. The French planters were disappointed as they had hoped to regain power; Sonthonax was relieved, as he had twice refused ultimatums from Commodore John Ford to surrender Port-au-Prince. In the meantime, a Spanish force under Captain-General Joaquín García y Moreno had marched into the Northern Province. Louverture, the ablest of the Haitian generals, had joined the Spanish, accepting an officer's commission in the Spanish Army and being made a knight in the Order of St. Isabella.
The main British force for the conquest of Saint-Domingue under General Charles Grey, nicknamed "No-flint Grey", and Admiral Sir John Jervis set sail from Portsmouth on 26 November 1793, which was in defiance of the well-known rule that the only time that one could campaign in the West Indies was from September to November, when the mosquitoes that carried malaria and yellow fever were scarce. After arriving in the West Indies in February 1794, Grey chose to conquer Martinique, Saint Lucia, and Guadeloupe. Troops under the command of John Whyte did not arrive in Saint-Domingue until 19 May 1794. Rather than attacking the main French bases at Le Cap and Port-de-Paix, Whyte chose to march towards Port-au-Prince, whose harbour was reported to have forty-five ships loaded with sugar. Whyte took Port-au-Prince, but Sonthonax and the French forces were allowed to leave in exchange for not burning the sugar-loaded ships. By May 1794, the French forces were severed in two by Toussaint, with Sonthonax commanding in the north and André Rigaud leading in the south. As slavery continued to exist in areas of Saint-Domingue under British occupation, the colony's Black residents were motivated to fight against them on the side of the French.
=== Spanish depart Saint Domingue ===
In May 1794, Toussaint suddenly joined the French and turned against the Spanish, ambushing his allies as they emerged from attending mass in a church at San Raphael on 6 May 1794. The Haitians soon expelled the Spanish from Saint-Domingue. Toussaint proved to be forgiving of the whites, insisting that he was fighting to assert the rights of the slaves as black French people to be free. He said he did not seek independence from France, and urged the surviving whites, including the former slave masters, to stay and work with him in rebuilding Saint-Domingue.
Rigaud had checked the British in the south, taking the town of Léogâne by storm and driving the British back to Port-au-Prince. During the course of 1794, most of the British forces were killed by yellow fever, the dreaded "black vomit" as the British called it. Within two months of arriving in Saint-Domingue, the British lost 40 officers and 600 men to yellow fever. Of Grey's 7,000 men, about 5,000 died of yellow fever while the Royal Navy reported losing "forty-six masters and eleven hundred men dead, chiefly of yellow fever". The British historian Sir John Fortescue wrote, "It is probably beneath the mark to say that twelve thousand Englishmen were buried in the West Indies in 1794". Rigaud failed in attempt to retake Port-au-Prince, but on Christmas Day 1794, he stormed and retook Tiburon in a surprise attack. The British lost about 300 men, and Rigaud's forces took no prisoners, summarily executing any soldier or sailor they captured.
=== British "great push" ===
At this point, Pitt decided to launch what he called "the great push" to conquer Saint-Domingue and the rest of the French West Indies, sending out the largest expedition Britain had yet mounted in its history, a force of about 30,000 men to be carried in 200 ships. Fortescue wrote that the aim of the British in the first expedition had been to destroy "the power of France in these pestilent islands ... only to discover when it was too late, that they practically destroyed the British army". By this point, it was well known that service in the West Indies was virtually a death sentence. In Dublin and Cork, soldiers from the 104th, 105th, 111th, and 112th regiments rioted when they learned that they were being sent to Saint-Domingue. The fleet for the "great push" left Portsmouth on 16 November 1795 and was wrecked by a storm, before sending out again on 9 December. The overall forces in St Domingue was at that time under the command of the lieutenant-governor of Jamaica, Sir Adam Williamson. He was optimistically given the title "Governor of St Domingue", and among his British forces were Jamaican "Black Shot" militias.
General Ralph Abercromby, the commander of the forces committed to the "great push", hesitated over which island to attack when he arrived in Barbados on 17 March 1796. He dispatched a force under Major General Gordon Forbes to Port-au-Prince. Forbes's attempt to take the French-held city of Léogâne ended in disaster. The French had built a deep defensive ditch with palisades and Forbes had neglected to bring along heavy artillery. The French commander, mulatto general Alexandre Pétion, proved to be an excellent artilleryman, who used the guns of his fort to disable two of the three ships of the line under Admiral Hyde Parker in the harbour, before turning his guns to a nearby British field battery; a French sortie led to a rout of Forbes' troops, who retreated back to Port-au-Prince. As more ships arrived with British troops, more soldiers died of yellow fever. By 1 June 1796, of the 1,000 from the 66th Regiment, only 198 had not been infected with yellow fever; and of the 1,000 men of the 69th Regiment, only 515 were not infected with yellow fever. Abercromby predicted that at the current rate of yellow fever infection, all of the men from the two regiments were dead by November. Ultimately, 10,000 British soldiers arrived in Saint Domingue by June, but aside from some skirmishing near Bombarde, the British remained in Port-au-Prince and other coastal enclaves, while yellow fever continued to ravage them. The government attracted criticism in the House of Commons about the mounting costs of the expedition to Saint-Domingue. In February 1797, General John Graves Simcoe arrived to replace Forbes with orders to pull back British forces to Port-au-Prince. As the human and financial costs of the expedition mounted, the British public demanded a withdrawal from Saint-Domingue, which was devouring money and soldiers, while failing to produce the expected profits.
On 11 April 1797, Colonel Thomas Maitland of the 62nd Regiment of Foot landed in Port-au-Prince, and wrote in a letter to his brother that British forces in Saint-Domingue had been "annihilated" by yellow fever. Service in Saint-Domingue was extremely unpopular in the British Army owing to the terrible death toll caused by yellow fever. One British officer wrote of his horror of seeing his friends "drowned in their own blood" while "some died raving Mad". Simcoe used the new British troops to push back French troops, but in a counter-offensive, Toussaint and Rigaud stopped the offensive. Toussaint retook the fortress at Mirebalais. On 7 June 1797, Toussaint attacked Fort Churchill in an assault that was as noted for its professionalism as for its ferocity. Under a storm of artillery, his troops placed ladders on the walls and were driven back four times, with heavy losses. Even though Toussaint had been repulsed, the British were astonished that he had turned a group of former slaves with no military experience into troops whose skills were the equal of a European army.
=== British withdrawal ===
In July 1797, Simcoe and Maitland sailed to London to advise a total withdrawal from Saint-Domingue. In March 1798 Maitland returned with a mandate to withdraw, at least from Port-au-Prince. On 10 May 1798, Maitland met with Toussaint to agree to an armistice, and on 18 May the British left Port-au-Prince. The British forces were reduced to only holding the western peninsular towns of Mole St Nicholas in the north and Jeremie in the south. The new governor of Jamaica, Alexander Lindsay, 6th Earl of Balcarres, urged Maitland not to withdraw from Mole St Nicholas. However, Toussaint sent a message to Balcarres, warning him that if he persisted, to remember that Jamaica was not far from St Domingue, and could be invaded.
Maitland knew that his forces could not defeat Toussaint, and that he had to take action to protect Jamaica from invasion. British morale had collapsed with the news that Toussaint had taken Port-au-Prince, and Maitland decided to abandon all of Saint-Domingue, writing that the expedition had become such a complete disaster that withdrawal was the only sensible thing to do, even though he did not have the authority to do so. On 31 August, Maitland and Toussaint signed an agreement whereby in exchange for the British pulling out of all of Saint-Domingue, Toussaint promised not to "meddle in the affairs of Jamaica". Rigaud took control of Jeremie without any cost to his forces, as Maitland withdrew his southern forces to Jamaica. In the end of 1798, Maitland withdrew the last of his forces from Mole St Nicholas, as Toussaint took command of the fortress. Maitland disbanded his "Black Shot" troops and left them in Saint-Domingue, fearing they might return to Jamaica and cause further unrest. Many of them subsequently joined Toussaint's army.
=== Toussaint consolidates control ===
After the departure of the British, Toussaint turned his attention to Rigaud, who was conspiring against him in the south of Saint Domingue. In June 1799, Rigaud initiated the War of the South against Toussaint's rule, sending a brutal offensive at Petit-Goâve and Grand-Goâve. Taking no prisoners, Rigaud's predominantly mulatto forces put blacks and whites to the sword. Though the United States was hostile towards Toussaint, the U.S. Navy agreed to support Toussaint's forces with the frigate USS General Greene, commanded by Captain Christopher Perry, providing fire support to the blacks as Toussaint laid siege to the city of Jacmel, held by mulatto forces under the command of Rigaud. To the United States, Rigaud's ties to France represented a threat to American commerce. On 11 March 1800, Toussaint took Jacmel and Rigaud fled on the French schooner La Diana. Though Toussaint maintained he was still loyal to France, to all intents and purposes, he ruled Saint Domingue as its dictator.
== Leadership of Louverture ==
=== Toussaint Louverture ===
Toussaint Louverture, although a self-educated former domestic slave, was one of the most successful black commanders. Like Jean François and Biassou, he initially fought for the Spanish crown. After the British had invaded Saint-Domingue, Louverture decided to fight for the French if they would agree to free all the slaves. Sonthonax had proclaimed an end to slavery on 29 August 1792. Louverture worked with a French general, Étienne Laveaux, to ensure that all slaves would be freed. Louverture abandoned the Spanish Army in the east and brought his forces over to the French side on 6 May 1794 after the Spanish refused to take steps to end slavery.
Under the military leadership of Toussaint, the former slaves succeeded in winning concessions from the British and expelled the Spanish forces. In the end, Toussaint essentially restored control of Saint-Domingue to France. Having made himself master of the island, however, Toussaint did not wish to surrender too much power to France. He began to rule the country as an effectively autonomous entity. Louverture overcame a succession of local rivals, including: the Commissioner Sonthonax, a French white man who gained support from many Haitians, angering Louverture; André Rigaud, a free man of color who fought to keep control of the South in the War of the South; and Comte d'Hédouville, who forced a fatal wedge between Rigaud and Louverture before escaping to France. Louverture led an invasion of neighboring Santo Domingo (December 1800), and freed the slaves there on 3 January 1801.
In 1801, Louverture issued a constitution for Saint-Domingue that decreed he would be governor-for-life and called for black autonomy and a sovereign black state. In response, Napoleon Bonaparte dispatched a large expeditionary force of French soldiers and warships to the island, led by Bonaparte's brother-in-law Charles Leclerc, to restore French rule. They were under secret instructions to restore slavery, at least in the formerly Spanish-held part of the island. Bonaparte ordered that Toussaint was to be treated with respect until the French forces were established; once that was done, Toussaint was to be summoned to Le Cap and arrested; if he failed to show, Leclerc was to wage "a war to the death" with no mercy and all of Toussaint's followers to be shot when captured. Once that was completed, slavery would be ultimately restored. The numerous French soldiers were accompanied by mulatto troops led by Alexandre Pétion and André Rigaud, mulatto leaders who had been defeated by Toussaint three years earlier.
=== Napoleon invades Haiti ===
The French arrived on 2 February 1802 at Le Cap with the Haitian commander Henri Christophe being ordered by Leclerc to turn over the city to the French. When Christophe refused, the French assaulted Le Cap and the Haitians set the city afire rather than surrender it. Leclerc sent Toussaint letters promising him: "Have no worries about your personal fortune. It will be safeguarded for you, since it has been only too well earned by your own efforts. Do not worry about the liberty of your fellow citizens". When Toussaint still failed to appear at Le Cap, Leclerc issued a proclamation on 17 February 1802: "General Toussaint and General Christophe are outlawed; all citizens are ordered to hunt them down, and treat them as rebels against the French Republic". Captain Marcus Rainsford, a British Army officer who visited Saint-Domingue observed the training of the Haitian Army, writing: "At a whistle, a whole brigade ran three or four hundred yards, and then, separating, threw themselves flat on the ground, changing to their backs and sides, and all the time keeping up a strong fire until recalled. This movement was executed with such facility and precision as totally to prevent cavalry from charging them in bushy and hilly country".
=== Haitian resistance and scorched-earth tactics ===
In a letter to Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Toussaint outlined his plans for defeating the French using scorched-earth: "Do not forget, while waiting for the rainy season which will rid us of our foes, that we have no other resource than destruction and fire. Bear in mind that the soil bathed with our sweat must not furnish our enemies with the smallest sustenance. Tear up the roads with shot; throw corpses and horses into all the foundations, burn and annihilate everything in order that those who have come to reduce us to slavery may have before their eyes the image of the hell which they deserve". Dessalines never received the letter as he had already taken to the field, evaded a French column sent to capture him and stormed Léogâne. The Haitians burned down Léogâne and killed all of the French with the Trinidadian historian C. L. R. James writing of Dessalines's actions at Léogâne: "Men, women and children, indeed all the whites who came into his hands, he massacred. And forbidding burial, he left stacks of corpses rotting in the sun to strike terror into the French detachments as they toiled behind his flying columns". The French had been expecting the Haitians to happily go back to being their slaves, as they believed it was natural for blacks to be the slaves of whites, and were stunned to learn how much the Haitians hated them for wanting to reduce them back to a life in chains. A visibly shocked General Pamphile de Lacroix after seeing the ruins of Léogâne wrote: "They heaped up bodies" which "still had their attitudes; they were bent over, their hands outstretched and beseeching; the ice of death had not effaced the look on their faces".
Leclerc ordered four French columns to march on Gonaives, which was the main Haitian base. One of the French columns was commanded by General Donatien de Rochambeau, a proud white supremacist and a supporter of slavery who detested the Haitians for wanting to be free. Toussaint tried to stop Rochambeau at Ravine-à-Couleuvre, a very narrow gully up in the mountains that the Haitians had filled with chopped down trees. In the ensuring Battle of Ravine-à-Couleuvres, after six hours of fierce hand-to-hand fighting with no quarter given on either side, the French finally broke through, albeit with heavy losses. During the battle, Toussaint personally took part in the fighting to lead his men in charges against the French. After losing 800 men, Toussaint ordered a retreat.
=== Crête-à-Pierrot fortress ===
The Haitians next tried to stop the French at a British-built fort up in the mountains called Crête-à-Pierrot, a battle that is remembered as a national epic in Haiti. While Toussaint took to the field, he left Dessalines in command of Crête-à-Pierrot, who from his fastness could see three French columns converging on the fort. Dessalines appeared before his men standing atop of a barrel of gunpowder, holding a lit torch, saying, "We are going to be attacked, and if the French put their feet in here, I shall blow everything up", leading his men to reply "We shall die for liberty!". The first of the French columns to appear before the fort was commanded by General Jean Boudet, whose men were harassed by skirmishers until they reached a deep ditch the Haitians had dug. As the French tried to cross the ditch, Dessalines ordered his men who were hiding to come out and open fire, hitting the French with a tremendous volley of artillery and musket fire, inflicting heavy losses on the attackers. General Boudet himself was wounded and as the French dead and wounded started to pile up in the ditch, the French retreated. The next French commander who tried to assault the ditch was General Charles Dugua, joined shortly afterwards by the column commanded by Leclerc. All of the French assaults ended in total failure, and after the failure of their last attack, the Haitians charged the French, cutting down any Frenchmen. General Dugua was killed, Leclerc was wounded and the French lost about 800 dead. The final French column to arrive was the one commanded by Rochambeau, who brought along heavy artillery that knocked out the Haitian artillery, though his attempt to storm the ditch also ended in failure with about 300 of his men killed. Over the following days, the French kept on bombarding and assaulting the fort, only to be repulsed every time while the Haitians defiantly sang songs of the French Revolution, celebrating the right of all men to be equal and free. The Haitian psychological warfare was successful with many French soldiers asking why they were fighting to enslave the Haitians, who were only asserting the rights promised by the Revolution to make all men free. Despite Bonaparte's attempt to keep his intention to restore slavery a secret, it was widely believed by both sides that was why the French had returned to Haiti, as a sugar plantation could only be profitable with slave labour. Finally after twenty days of siege with food and ammunition running out, Dessalines ordered his men to abandon the fort on the night of 24 March 1802 and the Haitians slipped out of the fort to fight another day. Even Rochambeau, who hated all blacks was forced to admit in a report: "Their retreat—this miraculous retreat from our trap—was an incredible feat of arms". The French had won, but they had lost 2,000 dead against an opponent whom they held in contempt on racial grounds, believing all blacks to be stupid and cowardly, and furthermore, that it was shortages of food and ammunition that forced the Haitians to retreat, not because of any feats of arms by the French army.
After the Battle of Crête-à-Pierrot, the Haitians abandoned conventional warfare and reverted to guerrilla tactics, making the French hold over much of the countryside from Le Cap down to the Artibonite valley very tenuous. With March, the rainy season came to Saint-Domingue, and as stagnant water collected, the mosquitoes began to breed, leading to yet another outbreak of yellow fever. By the end of March, 5,000 French soldiers had died of yellow fever and another 5,000 were hospitalized with yellow fever, leading to a worried Leclerc to write in his diary: "The rainy season has arrived. My troops are exhausted with fatigue and sickness".
=== Capture of Toussaint ===
On 25 April 1802, the situation suddenly changed when Christophe defected, along with much of the Haitian Army, to the French. Louverture was promised his freedom if he agreed to integrate his remaining troops into the French army. Louverture agreed to this on 6 May 1802. Just what motivated Toussaint to give up the fight has been the subject of much debate with most probable explanation being that he was just tired after 11 years of war. Under the terms of surrender, Leclerc gave his solemn word that slavery would not be restored in Saint-Domingue, that blacks could be officers in the French Army, and that the Haitian Army would be allowed to integrate into the French Army. Leclerc also gave Toussaint a plantation at Ennery. Toussaint was later deceived, seized by the French and shipped to France. He died months later in prison at Fort-de-Joux in the Jura Mountains. Shortly afterwards, the ferocious Dessalines rode into Le Cap to submit to France and was rewarded by being made the governor of Saint-Marc, a place that Dessalines ruled with his customary cruelty. However, the surrender of Christophe, Toussaint, and Dessalines did not mean the end of Haitian resistance. Throughout the countryside, guerrilla warfare continued and the French staged mass executions via firing squads, hanging, and drowning Haitians in bags. Rochambeau invented a new means of mass execution, which he called "fumigational-sulphurous baths": killing hundreds of Haitians in the holds of ships by burning sulphur to make sulphur dioxide to gas them.
== War of independence ==
=== Rebellion against reimposition of slavery ===
For a few months, the island was quiet under Napoleonic rule. But when it became apparent that the French intended to re-establish slavery (because they had nearly done so on Guadeloupe), black cultivators revolted in the summer of 1802. Yellow fever had decimated the French; by the middle of July 1802, the French lost about 10,000 dead to yellow fever. By September, Leclerc wrote in his diary that he had only 8,000 fit men left as yellow fever had killed the others.
In 1802, Napoleon added a Polish legion of around 5,200 to the forces sent to Saint-Domingue to fight off the slave rebellion. However, the Poles were told that there was a revolt of prisoners in Saint-Domingue. Upon arrival and the first fights, the Polish soldiers soon discovered that what was actually taking place in the colony was a rebellion of slaves fighting off their French masters for their freedom. During this time, there was a familiar situation going on back in their homeland as these Polish soldiers were fighting for their liberty from the occupying forces of Russia, Prussia, and Austria that began in 1772. Many Poles believed that if they fought for France, Bonaparte would reward them by restoring Polish independence, which had been ended with the Third Partition of Poland in 1795. As hopeful as the Haitians, many Poles were seeking union amongst themselves to win back their freedom and independence by organizing an uprising. As a result, many Polish soldiers admired their opponents, to eventually turn on the French army and join the Haitian slaves.
Haiti's first head of state Jean-Jacques Dessalines called Polish people "the White Negroes of Europe", which was then regarded a great honor, as it meant brotherhood between Poles and Haitians. Many years later François Duvalier, the president of Haiti who was known for his black nationalist and Pan-African views, used the same concept of "European white negroes" while referring to Polish people and glorifying their patriotism.
After Haiti gained its independence, the Poles acquired Haitian citizenship for their loyalty and support in overthrowing the French colonialists, and were called "black" by the Haitian constitution.
=== Dessalines and Pétion join Haitian forces ===
Dessalines and Pétion remained allied with France until they switched sides again, in October 1802, and fought against the French. As Leclerc lay dying of yellow fever and heard that Christophe and Dessalines had joined the rebels, he reacted by ordering all of the blacks living in Le Cap to be killed by drowning in the harbour. In November, Leclerc died of yellow fever, like much of his army.
His successor, the Vicomte de Rochambeau, fought an even more brutal campaign. Rochambeau waged a near-genocidal campaign against the Haitians, killing everyone who was black. Rochambeau imported about 15,000 attack dogs from Jamaica, who had been trained to savage blacks and mulattoes. (Other sources suggest the dogs may have been dogo cubanos sourced in their hundreds from Cuba rather than Jamaica.) At the Bay of Le Cap, Rochambeau had blacks drowned. No one would eat fish from the bay for months afterward, as no one wished to eat the fish that had eaten human flesh. Bonaparte, hearing that most of his army in Saint-Domingue had died of yellow fever and the French held only Port-au-Prince, Le Cap, and Les Cayes, sent about 20,000 reinforcements to Rochambeau.
Dessalines matched Rochambeau in his vicious cruelty. At Le Cap, when Rochambeau hanged 500 blacks, Dessalines replied by killing 500 whites and sticking their heads on spikes all around Le Cap, so that the French could see what he was planning on doing to them. Rochambeau's atrocities helped rally many former French loyalists to the rebel cause. Many on both sides had come to see the war as a race war where no mercy was to be given. The Haitians burned French prisoners alive, cut them up with axes, or tied them to a board and sawed them into two.
=== War between France and Britain ===
With Napoleon's inability to send the requested massive reinforcements after the outbreak of war on 18 May 1803 with the British, the Royal Navy immediately dispatched a squadron under Sir John Duckworth from Jamaica to cruise in the region, seeking to eliminate communication between the French outposts and to capture or destroy the French warships based in the colony. The Blockade of Saint-Domingue not only cut the French forces out from reinforcements and supplies from France, but also meant that the British began to supply arms to the Haitians. Trapped, engaged in a vicious race war, and with much of his army dying of yellow fever, Rochambeau fell to pieces. He lost interest in commanding his army and as James wrote, he "amused himself with sexual pleasures, military balls, banquets and the amassing of a personal fortune".
The Royal Navy squadrons soon blockaded the French-held ports of Cap Français and Môle-Saint-Nicolas on the Northern coast of the French colony. In the summer of 1803, when war broke out between the United Kingdom and the French Consulate, Saint-Domingue had been almost completely overrun by Haitian forces under the command of Jean-Jacques Dessalines. In the north of the country, the French forces were isolated in the two large ports of Cap Français and Môle-Saint-Nicolas and a few smaller settlements, all supplied by a French naval force based primarily at Cap Français.
On 28 June, the squadron encountered a French convoy from Les Cayes off Môle-Saint-Nicolas, capturing one ship although the other escaped. Two days later an independently sailing French frigate was chased down and captured in the same waters. On 24 July, another British squadron intercepted the main French squadron from Cap Français, which was attempting to break past the blockade and reach France. The British, led by Commodore John Loring gave chase, but one French ship of the line and a frigate escaped. Another ship of the line was trapped against the coast and captured after coming under fire from Haitian shore batteries. The remainder of the squadron was forced to fight two more actions on their return to Europe, but did eventually reach the Spanish port of Corunna.
On 8 October 1803, the French abandoned Port-au-Prince as Rochambeau decided to concentrate what was left of his army at Le Cap. Dessalines marched into Port-au-Prince, where he was welcomed as a hero by the 100 whites who had chosen to stay behind. Dessalines thanked them all for their kindness and belief in racial equality, but then he said that the French had treated him as less than human when he was a slave, and so to avenge his mistreatment, he promptly had the 100 whites all hanged. On 3 November, the frigate HMS Blanche captured a supply schooner near Cap Français, the last hope in supplying the French forces. On 16 November 1803, Dessalines began attacking the French blockhouses outside of Le Cap. The last battle on land of the Haitian Revolution, the Battle of Vertières, occurred on 18 November 1803, near Cap-Haïtien fought between Dessalines' army and the remaining French colonial army under the Vicomte de Rochambeau; the slave rebels and freed revolutionary soldiers won the battle. By this point, Perry observed that both sides were "a little mad" as the pressures of the war and yellow fever had taken their toll, and both the French and the Haitians fought with a reckless courage, seeing death in battle as preferable to a slow death by yellow fever or being tortured to death by the enemy.
=== Haitian victory ===
Rochambeau, seeing defeat inevitable, procrastinated until the last possible moment, but eventually was forced to surrender to the British commander—by the end of the month the garrison was starving, having reached the conclusion at a council of war that surrender was the only way to escape from this "place of death". Commodore Loring, however, refused the French permission to sail and agreed terms with Dessalines that permitted them to safely evacuate provided they had left the port by 1 December. On the night of 30 November 1803, 8,000 French soldiers and hundreds of white civilians boarded the British ships to take them away. One of Rochambeau's ships was almost wrecked while leaving the harbour, but was saved by a British lieutenant acting alone, who not only rescued the 900 people on board, but also refloated the ship. At Môle-Saint-Nicolas, General Louis de Noailles refused to surrender and instead sailed to Havana, Cuba in a fleet of small vessels on 3 December, but was intercepted and mortally wounded by a Royal Navy frigate. Soon after, the few remaining French-held towns in Saint-Domingue surrendered to the Royal Navy to prevent massacres by the Haitian army. Meanwhile, Dessalines led the rebellion until its completion, when the French forces were finally defeated by the end of 1803.
On 1 January 1804, from the city of Gonaïves, Dessalines officially declared the former colony's independence, renaming it "Haiti" after the indigenous Arawak name. Although he lasted from 1804 to 1806, several changes began taking place in Haiti. The independence of Haiti was a major blow to France and its colonial empire, but the French state would take several decades to recognize the loss of the colony. As the French retreated, Haiti, which had once been called the "Pearl of the Antilles", the richest French colony in the world, was impoverished, as its economy was in ruins after the revolution. Haiti struggled to recover economically from the war. The Haitians had paid a high price for their freedom, losing about 200,000 dead between 1791 and 1803, and unlike the majority of the European dead, who were killed by yellow fever, the majority of the Haitian dead were the victims of violence.
== Casualties ==
In the early 21st century, historian Robert L. Scheina estimated that the slave rebellion resulted in the death of 350,000 Haitians and 50,000 European troops. According to the Encyclopedia of African American Politics, "Between 1791 and independence in 1804 nearly 200,000 blacks died, as did thousands of mulattoes and as many as 100,000 French and British soldiers." Yellow fever caused the most deaths. Geggus points out that at least 3 of every 5 British troops sent there in 1791–1797 died of disease. There has been considerable debate over whether the number of deaths caused by disease was exaggerated.
An estimated 37,000 French soldiers were killed in action during the Haitian Revolution, exceeding the total French soldiers killed in action across various 19th-century colonial campaigns in Algeria, Mexico, Indochina, Tunisia, and West Africa, which resulted in approximately 10,000 French soldiers killed in action combined. Between 1793 and 1798, the expedition to Saint-Domingue had cost the British treasury four million pounds (in 1798 money) and 100,000 men either dead, wounded, or permanently disabled from the effects of yellow fever.
== Free republic ==
On 1 January 1804, Dessalines, the new leader under the dictatorial 1805 constitution, declared Haiti a free republic in the name of the Haitian people, which was followed by the massacre of the remaining whites. His secretary Boisrond-Tonnerre stated, "For our declaration of independence, we should have the skin of a white man for parchment, his skull for an inkwell, his blood for ink, and a bayonet for a pen!" Haiti was the first independent nation in Latin America, the first post-colonial independent black-led nation in the world, and the only nation whose independence was gained as part of a successful slave rebellion.
The country was damaged from years of war, its agriculture devastated, its formal commerce nonexistent. The country, therefore, had to be rebuilt. To realise this goal, Dessalines adopted the economic organisation of serfdom. He proclaimed that every citizen would belong to one of two categories, laborer or soldier. Furthermore, he proclaimed the mastery of the state over the individual and consequently ordered that all laborers would be bound to a plantation. Those that possessed skills outside of plantation work, like craftsmanship and artisans, were exempt from this ordinance. To avoid the appearance of slavery, however, Dessalines abolished the ultimate symbol of slavery, the whip. Likewise, the working day was shortened by a third. His chief motivator nonetheless was production, and to this aim he granted much freedom to the plantations' overseers. Barred from using the whip, many instead turned to lianes, which were thick vines abundant throughout the island, to persuade the laborers to keep working. Many of the workers likened the new labor system to slavery, much like Toussaint L'Ouverture's system, which caused resentment between Dessalines and his people. Workers were given a fourth of all wealth produced from their labor. Nevertheless, he succeeded in rebuilding much of the country and in raising production levels, thus slowly rebuilding the economy.
Dessalines paid large sums of money to liberate slaves on slave ships near the Haitian coast. He paid for the expenses of the returns of the thousands of Haitian refugees that left during the revolution.
Fearing a return of French forces, Dessalines first expanded and maintained a significant military force. During his reign, nearly 10% of able-bodied men were in active service resulting in a military force of up to 37,000 men. Furthermore, Dessalines ordered the construction of massive fortifications throughout the island, like the Citadelle Laferrière, the largest fortress in the Western Hemisphere. Cities and commercial centers were moved to the interior of the country, while less important ones were kept to the coast, so they could be burnt down completely to discourage the French; many commentators believe that this over-militarization contributed to many of Haiti's future problems. In fact, because young fit men were the most likely to be drafted into the army, the plantations were thus deprived of the workforce needed to function properly.
There was growing frustration between the workers, the elites, and Dessalines. A conspiracy led by the mulatto elites ultimately led to Dessalines' assassination and two separate sovereign states of Haiti.
== 1804 massacre of the French ==
The 1804 massacre was carried out against the remaining white population of French colonists and loyalists, both enemies and traitors of the revolution, by the black population of Haiti on the order of Jean-Jacques Dessalines, who declared the French as barbarians, demanding their expulsion and vengeance for their crimes. The massacre—which took place in the entire territory of Haiti—was carried out from early February 1804 until 22 April 1804. During February and March, Dessalines traveled among the cities of Haiti to assure himself that his orders were carried out. Despite his orders, the massacres were often not carried out until he personally visited the cities.
The course of the massacre showed an almost identical pattern in every city he visited. Before his arrival, there were only a few killings, despite his orders. When Dessalines arrived, he first spoke about the atrocities committed by former French authorities, such as Rochambeau and Leclerc, after which he demanded that his orders about mass killings of the area's French population be carried out. Reportedly, he also ordered the unwilling to take part in the killings, especially men of mixed-race, so that blame would not rest solely on the black population. Mass killings then took place on the streets and on places outside the cities. In parallel to the killings, plundering and rape also occurred. Women and children were generally killed last. White women were "often raped or pushed into forced marriages under threat of death".
By the end of April 1804, some 3,000 to 5,000 people had been killed practically eradicating the country's white population. Dessalines had specifically stated that France is "the real enemy of the new nation." This allowed certain categories of whites to be excluded from massacre who had to pledge their rejection to France: the Polish soldiers who deserted from the French army; the group of German colonists of Nord-Ouest who were inhabitants before the revolution; French widows who were allowed to keep their property; select male Frenchmen; and a group of medical doctors and professionals. Reportedly, also people with connections to Haitian notables were spared, as well as the women who agreed to marry non-white men. In the 1805 constitution that declared all its citizens as black, it specifically mentions the naturalizations of German and Polish peoples enacted by the government, as being exempt from Article XII that prohibited whites ("non-Haitians;" foreigners) from owning land.
== Post-Revolution era ==
An independent government was created in Haiti, but the country's society remained deeply affected by patterns established under French colonial rule. As in other French colonial societies, a class of free people of color had developed after centuries of French rule here. Many planters or young unmarried men had relations with African or Afro-Caribbean women, sometimes providing for their freedom and that of their children, as well as providing for education of the mixed-race children, especially the boys. Some were sent to France for education and training, and some joined the French military. The mulattoes who returned to Saint-Domingue became the elite of the people of color. As an educated class used to the French political system, they became the elite of Haitian society after the war's end. Many of them had used their social capital to acquire wealth, and some already owned land. Some had identified more with the French colonists than the slaves. Many of the free people of color, by contrast, were raised in French culture, had certain rights within colonial society, and generally spoke French and practiced Catholicism (with syncretic absorption of African religions.)
Following the assassination of Dessalines, another of Toussaint's black generals, Henri Christophe, succeeded his in control of the north, while Alexandre Pétion presided over mulatto rule in the south. There were large differences in governance between Petion's republic, and what would eventually become Christophe's kingdom. While the southern republic did not have as much focus on economic development, and put more attention on liberal land distribution and education, the northern kingdom went on to become relatively wealthy, though wealth distribution was disputed. As a result of temporary trade agreements between Christophe, the United States, and British colonies, Christophe was able to rebuild the northern region. There were large investments in education and public works, military infrastructure, and many chateaux, the most notable being the Sans Souci palace in Milot. However, much like his predecessors, this was achieved through forced labor which ultimately led to his downfall. Contrarily, Petion was beloved by his people, but despised by his northern counterpart.
A major effort by Christophe to capture Port-au-Prince in mid–1812 failed. The mulattoes were harassed by a pocket of black rebellion in their rear from February 1807 to May 1819 led by a black leader named Goman in the southern mountains of the Grand-Anse, who resisted several mulatto punitive expeditions. In 1819, the new mulatto leader, Jean-Pierre Boyer, sent six regiments into the Grand-Anse to ferret out Goman, who was trapped and shot off a 1,000-foot cliff. In 1820, the island nation was reunified after Christophe killed himself. Boyer with 20,000 troops marched into Cap-Haïtien, the northern capital, shortly afterward to establish his power over all of Haiti. Not too long after, Boyer was able to secure cooperation with the general of the neighboring Spanish Haiti, and in February 1822 began a 22 year long unification with the eastern state, which ended in 1844 with the outbreak of the Dominican War of Independence.
=== Independence debt ===
The nascent state's future was hobbled in 1825 when France under Charles X forced it (with French warships anchored off the coast during the negotiations) to pay 150 million gold francs in reparations to French ex-slaveholders—as a condition of French political recognition and to end the newly formed state's political and economic isolation. By an order of 17 April 1825, the King of France renounced his rights of sovereignty over Santo Domingo, and recognized the independence of Haiti. President Jean-Pierre Boyer believed that the constant threat of a French invasion was stymieing the Haitian economy and thus felt the need to settle the matter once and for all.
Though the amount of the reparations was reduced to 90 million francs in 1838, Haiti was unable to finish paying off its debt until 1947. The indemnity bankrupted the Haitian treasury and left the country's government deeply impoverished, causing long-term instability. Haiti was therefore forced to take out a loan from French banks, who provided the funds for the large first installment, severely affecting Haiti's ability to prosper.
=== Influence on other abolitionist and post-colonial movements ===
While Haiti suffered major economic setbacks during the early years of the post revolutionary era, the ideals of freedom and anti-colonialism never ceased to be part of the Haitian consciousness. Citizenship was offered to any slave or oppressed person that made it to Haiti's shores as mandated by Dessaline's constitution. All four of Haiti's earlier rulers, Dessalines, Christophe, Petion, and Boyer all had programs that involved swaying African Americans to resettle there and assure their freedom. Slave boats that were captured and brought to Haiti's shores resulted in the liberation and integration of all captives on board into Haitian society. On one occasion, President Alexandre Petion protected Jamaican slaves from re-enslavement after they escaped their plantation and landed in the southern city of Jérémie. On multiple occasions, Haiti's leaders offered asylum to liberal revolutionaries globally. One of the more notable examples of this included Haiti's involvement with Gran Colombia, where Dessalines and Petion both offered aid, ammunitions, and asylum to Francisco de Miranda and Simón Bolívar, who even went as far as to credit Haiti for the liberation of his country. Dessalines offered citizenship and assistance to slaves in Martinique and Guadeloupe so that they could start their own uprisings. Mexican nationalists, Francisco Javier Mina and José Joaquín de Herrera took asylum in Les Cayes and were welcomed by Petion during Mexico's War of Independence. The Greeks later received support from President Boyer during their fight against the Ottomans.
The end of the Haitian Revolution in 1804 marked the end of French colonialism on the island. However, the social conflict cultivated under slavery continued to affect the population for years to come. Mulatto domination of politics and economics, and urban life after the revolution, created a different kind of two-caste society, as most Haitians were rural subsistence farmers. The affranchi élite, who continued to rule Haiti while the formidable Haitian army kept them in power. France continued the slavery system in French Guiana, Martinique, and Guadeloupe.
== Influence on slavery in the Americas ==
Historians continue to debate the importance of the Haitian Revolution. David Geggus asks: "How much of a difference did it make?" A limited amount, he concludes, for slavery flourished in the western hemisphere for many more decades. In the opposing camp, African American historian W. E. B. Du Bois said that the Haitian Revolution was an economic pressure without which the British parliament would not have accepted abolitionism as readily.
Other historians say the Haitian Revolution influenced slave rebellions in the U.S. as well as in British colonies. The biggest slave revolt in U.S. history was the 1811 German Coast uprising in Louisiana. This slave rebellion was put down and the punishment the slaves received was so severe that no contemporary news reports about it exist. The neighboring revolution brought the slavery question to the forefront of U.S. politics, and though inspiring to the enslaved themselves the resulting intensification of racial divides and sectional politics ended the idealism of the Revolutionary period. The American President Thomas Jefferson—who was a slaveholder himself—refused to establish diplomatic relations with Haiti (the United States did not recognize Haiti until 1862) and imposed an economic embargo on trade with Haiti that also lasted until 1862 in an attempt to ensure the economic failure of the new republic as Jefferson wanted Haiti to fail, regarding a successful slave revolt in the West Indies as a dangerous example for American slaves.
Beginning during the slave insurrections of 1791, white refugees from Saint-Domingue fled to the United States, particularly to Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York, and Charleston. The immigration intensified after the journée (crisis) of 20 June 1793, and soon American families began to raise money and open up their homes to help exiles in what became the United States' first refugee crisis. While some white refugees blamed the French Revolutionary government for sparking the violence in Haiti, many supported the Republican regime and openly expressed their support of the Jacobins. There is also some historical evidence suggesting that displaying solidarity with the French Revolution was the easiest way for the refugees to earn the support and sympathy of the Americans, who had just recently lived through their own revolution. American slaveholders, in particular, commiserated with the French planters who had been forcibly removed from their plantations in Saint-Domingue. While the exiles found themselves in a peaceful situation in the United States—safe from the violence raging in both France and Haiti—their presence complicated the already precarious diplomatic relations among Britain, France, and the U.S.
Many of the whites and free people of color who left Saint-Domingue for the United States settled in southern Louisiana, adding many new members to its French-speaking, mixed-race, and black populations. The exiles causing the most alarm were the African slaves who came with their refugee owners. Some southern planters grew concerned that the presence of these slaves who had witnessed the revolution in Haiti would ignite similar revolts in the United States. Other planters, however, were confident they had the situation under control.
In 1807, Haiti was divided into two parts, the Republic of Haiti in the south, and the Kingdom of Haiti in the north. Land could not be privately owned; it reverted to the State through Biens Nationaux (national bonds), and no French whites could own land. The remaining French settlers were forced to leave the island. Those who refused were slaughtered. The Haitian State owned up to 90% of the land and the other 10% was leased in 5-year intervals.
Since the resistance and the murderous disease environment made it impossible for Napoleon to regain control over Haiti, he gave up hope of rebuilding a French New World empire. He decided to sell Louisiana to the U.S. The Haitian Revolution brought about two unintended consequences: the creation of a continental America and the virtual end of Napoleonic rule in the Americas.
There never again was such a large-scale slave rebellion. Napoleon reversed the French abolition of slavery in law, constitution, and practice, which had occurred between 1793 and 1801, and reinstated slavery in the French colonies in 1801–1803—which lasted until 1848.
== Relationship between the French and Haitian Revolutions ==
=== Reason for revolution ===
The Haitian Revolution was a revolution ignited from below, by the underrepresented majority of the population. A huge majority of the supporters of the Haitian revolution were slaves and freed Africans who were severely discriminated against by colonial society and the law.
=== Brutality ===
Despite the idealist, rational, and utopian thinking surrounding both uprisings, extreme brutality was a fundamental aspect of both uprisings. Besides initial cruelty that created the precarious conditions that bred the revolution, there was violence from both sides throughout the revolution. The period of violence during the French Revolution is known as the Reign of Terror. Waves of suspicion meant that the government rounded up and killed thousands of suspects, ranging from known aristocrats to people thought to oppose the leaders. They were killed by guillotine, "breaking at the wheel", mobs and other death machines: death toll estimates range from 18,000 to 40,000. Total casualties for the French Revolution are estimated at 2 million. In the Caribbean, total casualties totaled approximately 162,000. Violence in Haiti was largely characterized by military confrontations, riots, killing of slave owners and their families, and guerrilla warfare.
=== Lasting change ===
The Revolution in Haiti did not wait on the Revolution in France. The call for modification of society was influenced by the revolution in France, but once the hope for change found a place in the hearts of the Haitian people, there was no stopping the radical reformation that was occurring. The Enlightenment ideals and the initiation of the French Revolution were enough to inspire the Haitian Revolution, which evolved into the most successful and comprehensive slave rebellion in history. Just as the French were successful in transforming their society, so were the Haitians. On 4 April 1792, the French Legislative Assembly granted freedom to slaves in Saint-Domingue. The revolution culminated in 1804; Haiti was an independent state solely of freed peoples. The activities of the revolutions sparked change across the world. France's transformation was most influential in Europe, and Haiti's influence spanned every location that continued to practice slavery. John E. Baur honors Haiti as home of the most influential revolution in history.
== Historiographical debates ==
While acknowledging the cross-influences, most contemporary historians distinguish the Haitian Revolution from the French Revolution. Some also separate it from the earlier armed conflicts by free men of color who were seeking expansion of political rights for themselves, but not the abolition of slavery. These scholars show that if the agency of the enslaved blacks becomes the focus of studies, the Revolution's opening and closing dates are certain. From this premise, the narrative began with the enslaved blacks' bid for freedom through armed struggle and concluded with their victory over slavery powers and the creation of an independent state. In April 1791, a massive black insurgency in the north of the island rose violently against the plantation system, setting a precedent of resistance to racial slavery. In cooperation with their former mulatto rivals, blacks ended the Revolution in November 1803 when they decidedly defeated the French Army at the Battle of Vertières. The French had already lost a high proportion of their troops to yellow fever and other diseases. After acknowledging defeat in Saint-Domingue, Napoleon withdrew from North America, agreeing to the Louisiana Purchase by the United States.
Although the series of events during these years is known under the name of "Haitian Revolution", alternative views suggest that the entire affair was an assorted number of coincidental conflicts that ended with a fragile truce between free men of color and blacks. Historians debate whether the victorious Haitians were "intrinsically [a] revolutionary force". One thing is certain: Haiti became an independent country on 1 January 1804, when the council of generals chose Jean-Jacques Dessalines to assume the office of governor-general. One of the state's first significant documents was Dessaliness' "Liberty or Death" speech, which circulated broadly in the foreign press. In it, the new head of state made the case for the new nation's objective: the permanent abolition of slavery in Haiti.
The role of women in the Haitian Revolution was for a long time given little attention by historians, but has in recent years garnered significant attention.
== Contemporary press response ==
The revolution of African slaves brought many fears to colonies surrounding Haiti and the Caribbean. Prominent wealthy American slave owners, reading about the revolution, also read speculation about what might come in their own states. Anti-abolitionist critics of the revolution dubbed it "the horrors of Santo Domingo". However, newspapers like the Columbian Centinel took extra steps to support the revolution, comparing it to the American Revolution. The French media also played an important role in the Haitian Revolution, with contributions that made many French upstarts quite interested in the young, passionate Toussaint's writings of freedom.
There were many written discussions about the events in Haiti during the revolution in both France and England, however, they were generally written by anonymous authors. These texts also generally fell into two camps—one being proslavery authors who warned of a repetition of the violence of St. Domingue wherever abolition occurred; and the other being abolitionist authors who countered that white owners had sown the seeds of revolution.
However, all was not simple in the press. A top critic who significantly drove Toussaint into fear of backlash from France was Sonthonax, who was responsible for many outlooks of Haiti in the French newspapers. Yet Sonthonax was one of the few contenders who truly pushed for the independence of the African slaves and became a major factor in Toussaint's decision of declaring independence from France.
== In popular culture ==
Cuban writer Alejo Carpentier's second novel, The Kingdom of This World (1949), (translated into English 1957), explores the Haitian Revolution in depth. It is one of the novels that inaugurated the Latin American renaissance in fiction beginning in the mid-20th century.
Madison Smartt Bell wrote a trilogy called All Souls' Rising (1995) about the life of Toussaint Louverture and the slave uprising.
C. Richard Gillespie, former Towson University professor, wrote a novelization of Louverture's life in the Revolution titled Papa Toussaint (1998).
Though not referred to by name, Haiti is the backdrop for the 1990 Broadway musical Once on This Island by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty. The musical, based on the novel My Love, My Love by Rosa Guy, describes the social stratification of the island, and contains a song that briefly outlines the history of the Haitian Revolution.
In 2004, an exhibition of paintings entitled Caribbean Passion: Haiti 1804 by artist Kimathi Donkor, was held in London to celebrate the bicentenary of Haiti's revolution.
In 2010, author Isabel Allende wrote a historical novel entitled Island Beneath the Sea, which documents the Haitian Revolution through the eyes of a slave woman living on the island.
William Dietrich set his 2012 novel, The Emerald Storm during the Haitian Revolution.
The television mini-series The Feast of All Saints features the Haitian Revolution in its opening scene.
Philippe Niang directed the 2012 French two-part television film Toussaint Louverture, with Jimmy Jean-Louis playing the title role.
The film Top Five refers to a fictional film within the film called "Uprize", ostensibly about this revolution.
The role of Bois Caiman, Boukman, and Vodou generally, would become the subject of a controversial, discredited neo-evangelical theology in the 1990s that insisted that Haiti was pledged to the devil during the Revolution.
Jacobin, an American socialist periodical, uses an image of Toussaint Louverture for its logo.
== Literature about the Haitian Revolution ==
An Unbroken Agony: Haiti, From Revolution to the Kidnapping of a President
Bug-Jargal
The Crime of Napoleon
The Black Jacobins |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York_city_walls | York city walls | York has, since Roman times, been defended by walls of one form or another. To this day, substantial portions of the walls remain, and York has more miles of intact wall than any other city in England. They are known variously as York City Walls, the Bar Walls and the Roman walls (though this last is a misnomer as very little of the extant stonework is of Roman origin, and the course of the wall has been substantially altered since Roman times). The walls are generally 13 feet (4 m) high and 6 feet (1.8 m) wide. They are the longest town walls in England.
== History ==
=== Roman walls ===
The original walls were built around 71 AD, when the Romans erected a fort (castra) occupying about 50 acres or 21.5 hectares near the banks of the River Ouse. The rectangle of walls was built as part of the fort's defences. The foundations and the line of about half of these Roman walls form part of the existing walls, as follows:
a section (the west corner, including the Multangular Tower) in the Museum Gardens
the north-west and north-east sections between Bootham Bar and Monk Bar
a further stretch between Monk Bar and the Merchant Taylors' Hall, at the end of which the lower courses of the east corner of the Roman wall can be seen on the city-centre side of the existing wall.
The line of the rest of the Roman wall went south-west from the east corner, crossing the via principalis of the fortress where King's Square is now located. The south corner was in what is now Feasegate, and from here the wall continued northwest to the west corner. The point where the wall crossed the via praetoria is marked by a plaque in St Helen's Square near the Mansion House.
==== Multangular Tower ====
The Multangular Tower in the Museum Gardens is the most noticeable and intact structure remaining from the Roman walls. It was constructed as part of a series of eight similar defensive towers. The walls are almost certainly the creation of Septimius Severus; however, the Multangular Tower is probably a later addition of Constantine the Great around 310–320 AD. It has ten sides, based on a regular fourteen-sided figure designed so that a circle through the internal angles of the internal face is tangential to the curve. The rear four sides are missing to provide access to the interior of the tower. A low plinth or skirt extends out from the lowest course.
The tower stands almost 30 feet (9.1 m) tall, has an external diameter of 48.5 feet (14.8 m) at the base and 46 feet (14 m) above the skirt. Length of each side varies from 7.5 feet (2.3 m) to 11 feet (3.4 m) on the inner face. The tower projects beyond the curtain wall to a distance of 36.75 feet (11.20 m). The foundations are concrete, atop which the tower extends having a rubble and mortar core between ashlar faced courses of small magnesian limestone blocks. At 15 feet (4.6 m) a scarcement reduces the thickness of the wall from 5 feet (1.5 m) to 3.25 feet (0.99 m), which continues for a further 4 feet (1.2 m) before being capped by 11 feet (3.4 m) of 13th century masonry in which arrowslits can be seen.
==== East Angle Tower ====
Less well-known than the Multangular Tower is the East Angle Tower. It is visible above ground in the grounds of the Merchant Taylors Hall. Partly excavated in 1926, the remains that can be seen today were exposed in 1953.
=== After the Romans ===
The Danes occupied the city in 867. By this time the Roman defences were in poor repair, and the Danes demolished all the towers save the Multangular Tower and restored the walls.
The majority of the remaining walls, which encircle the whole of the medieval city, date from the 13th – 14th century. From the east corner of the Roman walls, the medieval wall extends to Layerthorpe Bridge. After the bridge, the King's Fishpool, a swamp created by the Normans' damming of the River Foss, provided adequate security for the city, and no walls were ever built in this area.
In the Middle Ages the defence of the city was further helped not just by the walls but on the rampart underneath and the ditch surrounding them. The ditch along the walls was once 60 feet (18.3m) wide and 10 feet (3m) deep. In modern times the ditch was almost all filled in and no longer exists. For this reason the ground directly around the walls is higher in most places than it would have been in medieval times.
The walls resume beyond the now canalised Foss at the Red Tower, a brick building which has been much restored over the years. They continue south and west around the Walmgate area, terminating in another tower (Fishergate Postern), near York Castle, which was formerly surrounded by its own walls and a moat.
A small stretch of wall on the west side of Tower Gardens terminates at Davy Tower, another brick tower located next to the River Ouse. This originally ran up to the castle walls, with a postern on Tower Street.
Beyond the Ouse, the walls resume at Skeldergate, where there was once another postern. They climb past Baile Hill, take a right turn and proceed north-west parallel to the Inner Ring Road. Near the railway station, they turn right again in a north-easterly direction, finishing at Barker Tower on the Ouse.
Barker Tower was once linked to Lendal Tower by a chain across the river, parallel to the 19th-century Lendal Bridge. A small stretch of wall then leads to the entrance to Museum Gardens, the Multangular Tower and the original line of the Roman walls.
The walls were repaired during the English Civil War by Parliamentarians as well as during the later Jacobite Risings due to fears of an invasion from Scotland.
The walls were restored in the Victorian period after falling into disrepair. The Victorians widened the wall-walk as well as extending it in some areas, (such as in the northern area with views of the cathedral), previously, in some areas, there probably would have only been narrow ledges that could be used to support a timber wall-walk in times of danger. They also rebuilt the battlements and sometimes the tops of the walls. Some slit windows are at the wrong height and some are narrow for the full width of the parapet. Some parts of the walls still have small holes called musket loops from the 17th century for muskets to fire from although they are of uncertain age due to restoration. In the northern area where you have views of the Cathedral, the walls were defended from interval towers which would have been higher than they are now after the Victorian restoration. Many of the merlons spaced along the walls were restored by the Victorians and few originals remain. Perhaps one of the most notable additions to the wall was Robin Hood tower, built in 1889.
Today the walls are a scheduled ancient monument and a grade I listed building.
== Bars ==
The walls are punctuated by four main gatehouses, or 'bars', (Bootham Bar, Monk Bar, Walmgate Bar and Micklegate Bar below). These restricted traffic in medieval times, and were used to extract tolls, as well as being defensive positions in times of war.
=== Bootham Bar ===
Although much of Bootham Bar was built in the 14th and 19th centuries, it also has some of the oldest surviving stonework, dating to the 11th century. It stands almost on the site of porta principalis dextra, the north western gate of Eboracum. It was named in the 12th century as barram de Bootham, meaning bar at the booths, after the nearby market booths. It was the last of the bars to lose its barbican, which was removed in 1835.
Land grant records from the 11th century suggest that the Roman Gate was still in use in the late 7th century
In the 14th century, a portcullis and barbican were added to the bar and its height increased to accommodate them. The gateway was damaged in the English Civil War siege of 1644 but repaired a year later. The barbican, and a section of wall, were demolished to make way for the construction of St Leonards Place in the 1830s.
Currently, the bar has doorways on the first floor and three windows to the northeast lighting the second floor. The portcullis slot is still visible but blocked and the portcullis itself is fixed into its current position. The southwest doorway has remained unchanged, but there was one to the west which is now marked by a low recess in the room's wall. The original entrance would have been from an adjoining house. Access is by a stone staircase to the first floor situated in St Leonard’s Place.
=== Monk Bar ===
This four-storey gatehouse is the tallest and most elaborate of the four, and was built in the early 14th century. It was intended as a self-contained fort, and each floor is capable of being defended separately. The current gatehouse was built to replace a 12th-century gate known as Munecagate, which stood 100 yards (91 m) to the north-west, on the site of the Roman gate porta decumana – that location is indicated by a slight dip in the earth rampart. From 1993 to 2020, Monk Bar housed a museum called the Richard III Experience at Monk Bar and today, it retains its portcullis in working order.
=== Walmgate Bar ===
Most of Walmgate Bar was built during the 14th century, although the inner gateway dates from the 12th century. It was originally called Walbegate, the word Walbe possibly being an Anglo-Scandinavian personal name. The Bar's most notable feature is its barbican, which is the only one surviving on a town gate in England. It also retains its portcullis and has reproduction 15th-century oak doors. On the inner side, an Elizabethan house, supported by stone Tuscan order columns (originally of Roman origin but modified in 1584), extends out over the gateway. The house was occupied until 1957.
The Bar has been repaired and restored many times over the years, most notably in 1648, following the 1644 Siege of York in the English Civil War when it was bombarded by cannon fire, and in 1840 after it had suffered years of neglect. It was also damaged in 1489 when, along with Fishergate Bar, it was burnt by rebels who were rioting over tax rises.
=== Micklegate Bar ===
The name of this four-storey-high gatehouse is from the Old Norse 'mykla gata' or 'great road', and leads onto Micklegate. It was the traditional ceremonial gate for monarchs entering the city, who, in a tradition dating to Richard II in 1389, touch the state sword when entering the gate.
The lower section was built in the 12th century while the top storeys in the 14th; the original barbican was removed in 1826. At least six reigning monarchs passed through this gate.
Its symbolic value led to traitors' severed heads being displayed on the defences. Heads left there to rot included: Henry Hotspur Percy (1403), Henry Scrope, 3rd Baron Scrope of Masham (1415), Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York (1461), and Thomas Percy, 7th Earl of Northumberland (1572).
The Bar was inhabited until the 20th century. The upper two floors contain living quarters, which today are a museum known as the City Walls Experience at Micklegate Bar. A restoration of the Bar was completed in late 2017.
== Minor bars ==
Besides the four main bars, there are two smaller bars.
=== Fishergate Bar ===
This Bar originally dates from around 1315, when it was documented as being called Barram Fishergate. It was bricked up following riots in 1489, but was reopened in 1827 and today provides pedestrian access through the walls between the Fishergate area (actually Fawcett Street/Paragon Street) and George Street.
=== Victoria Bar ===
As the name suggests, this bar is a 19th-century addition to the walls. It was opened in 1838 to provide direct access between Nunnery Lane and Bishophill. However, during its construction the remains of an ancient gateway were found beneath it. This was probably the gateway known in the 12th century as the lounelith or secluded gateway (in comparison to Micklegate Bar or the great bar located four hundred yards away). This was a small entrance to the city which dated back to early medieval times but was blocked up later with earth and stone, possibly during the period when the walls consisted solely of a wooden palisade before they were rebuilt in stone (from around 1250).
== Posterns ==
A postern is a secondary door or gate in a fortification such as a city wall or castle curtain wall. Posterns were often located in a concealed location which allowed the occupants to come and go inconspicuously. In the event of a siege, a postern could act as a sally port, allowing defenders to make a sortie on the besiegers. Placed in a less exposed, less visible location, they were usually relatively small, and therefore easily defensible.
The York City walls have many intact posterns along their length, as well as records of others that have been demolished due to the expansion of the city.
Castlegate Postern
The site of Castlegate postern is currently located under the pedestrian crossing on the B1227, Tower Street, in front of Clifford's Tower. The postern was demolished between 1826 and 1827.
Friargate Postern
Another postern that was demolished around 1840 and its location is to the northwest of St George's Field where it meets the end of the southern section of the Esplanade.
Skeldergate Postern (a.k.a. Crane Tower)
Records describe it as a narrow arch with round turrets to either side and is estimated to have been built around 1315. It was similar in appearance to the North Street Postern and had been intact until its demolition in 1808. It was located on Terry Avenue outside The Bonding Warehouse.
Red Tower
Red Tower marks an endpoint of the walls and is located on Foss Islands Road just south of its junction with Navigation Road. Records show that it was built around 1490 and is in good condition to this day.
North Street Postern Tower (a.k.a. Barker Tower)
Located on the west bank of the River Ouse on Wellington Row just to the north of Lendal Bridge. Built in the 14th century for use as a boom tower, it was restored for modern-day usage in 1930. Its original use was to have a chain secured to it and the other end attached to Lendal Tower on the opposite bank.
There was another postern very close to the North Street Postern. It was replaced by the Great North of England Railway Company for the multi-arch construction seen currently.
Lendal Tower
Located on the north bank of the River Ouse on Dame Judi Dench Walk, the tower served as the complimentary boom tower to the North Street Postern Tower and was built at the same time. It was converted in the 17th century to a water tower, though remains of the original structure can still be seen in the waterworks yard. It was restructured again in the 19th century for offices and is currently a holiday rental property.
Fishergate Postern (a.k.a. St George's Postern)
Recorded as being built in 1440, this postern is located on the corner of Fishergate and Piccadilly. It was altered in 1505 and was separated from the walls of York Castle by water. It has four floors. It is currently leased from the City Council to the Friends Of York Walls, who maintain displays of the walls within.
Layerthorpe Postern (a.k.a. Peasholme Green Postern)
This postern was located at the current junction of Peasholme Green, Layerthorpe, Foss Islands Road, and Jewbury. It was recorded as being built in the 13th century and demolished around 1829-30 during the construction of a new bridge over the River Foss.
== Towers ==
Other than the Postern Towers, the city walls have many interval towers. In 1972 the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England documented all the towers of the city walls and assigned them a number. There are 39 towers in total and they vary in build type. Only a few have recorded names. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackburn_Rovers_F.C. | Blackburn Rovers F.C. | Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. The club's motto is Arte et Labore, meaning "By Skill and Hard Work" in Latin. They have a long-standing rivalry with nearby club Burnley, with whom they contest the East Lancashire derby.
Blackburn Rovers was founded in 1875, becoming a founding member of The Football League in 1888. They won five FA Cup finals in the 19th century: 1884, 1885, 1886, 1890 and 1891. The team was crowned English League champions in 1911–12 and 1913–14, then won a sixth FA Cup in 1928. They were relegated for the first time in 1936, but returned to the top-flight as Second Division champions in 1938–39. Relegated in 1948, Rovers secured promotion again in 1957–58, but were relegated in 1966 and again in 1971. Blackburn won the Third Division title in 1974–75, and were again promoted in 1979–80 after suffering relegation the previous year. They won the Full Members' Cup in 1987.
In 1992, Rovers gained promotion to the new Premier League via the play-offs, a year after being taken over by local entrepreneur Jack Walker, who installed Kenny Dalglish as manager. In 1994–95, Rovers became Premier League champions. Relegated four seasons after being crowned champions, they secured promotion in 2001, and won the Football League Cup Final the following year. They spent eleven successive seasons in the Premier League, but were relegated in 2012 and again into the third tier in 2017. Blackburn secured promotion out of League One at the end of the 2017–18 season.
== History ==
=== Early years ===
The club was founded following a meeting, at the Leger Hotel, Blackburn, on 5 November 1875. The meeting was organised by two young men, namely John Lewis and Arthur Constantine, two old-boys of Shrewsbury School. The purpose of the meeting was "to discuss the possibility of forming a football club to play under Association rules". The first match played by Blackburn Rovers took place in Church, Lancashire on 18 December 1875 and was a 1–1 draw.
On 28 September 1878, Blackburn Rovers became one of 23 clubs to form the Lancashire Football Association. On 1 November 1879 the club played in the FA Cup for the first time, beating the Tyne Association Football Club 5–1. Rovers were eventually put out of the competition in the third round after suffering a heavy 6–0 defeat by Nottingham Forest.
On 25 March 1882 the club won through to the final of the FA Cup against the Old Etonians. Blackburn Rovers was the first provincial team to reach the final, but the result was a 1–0 defeat by the Old Etonians.
Rovers finally won the FA Cup on 29 March 1884 with a 2–1 victory over the Scottish team Queen's Park. The same teams played the FA Cup final again the next season, with Blackburn Rovers again emerging victorious, with a 2–0 score. Rovers repeated this success yet again the next season, winning the final replay 2–0 against West Bromwich Albion. For this three-in-a-row of FA Cup victories, the club was awarded a specially commissioned silver shield.
The 1885–86 season was the birth of the legal professional footballer, and Blackburn Rovers spent £615 on player wages for the season.
=== Football League commences ===
Blackburn Rovers were founder members of the Football League in 1888. Their first ever league match was played on 15 September 1888 against Accrington, in which they were held to a 5-5 draw. Blackburn Rovers eventually finished 4th in the inaugural Football League table. The following season they finished 3rd winning 12 of their 22 matches and scoring more goals than any other club in the competition, including a 9-1 victory over Notts County in November.
Blackburn Rovers again reached the FA Cup final on 29 March 1890 at the Kennington Oval. The club claimed the trophy for the fourth time, by beating Sheffield Wednesday a hefty 6–1 with left forward William Townley scoring three goals and becoming the first player to achieve a hat-trick in the FA Cup final.
The 1890–91 season saw Blackburn Rovers win the FA Cup for the fifth time against Notts County with a 3–1 victory. During the 1897–98 season the club were relegated but were elected back into the first division at the Football League's AGM along with Newcastle United. The season marked the beginning of Bob Crompton's 45-year association with the club, as a player and later an FA Cup-winning manager.
=== Early 20th century ===
Blackburn Rovers continued to struggle during the early years of the 20th century, but the results began a gradual improvement. Major renovations were made to Ewood Park: in 1905 the Darwen End was covered at a cost of £1680 and the new Nuttall Stand was opened on New Year's Day 1907. During the first three decades of the 20th century, Blackburn Rovers were still considered a top side in the English league. They were First Division champions in 1911–12 and 1913–14, and F.A Cup winners in 1927–28 with a 3–1 victory against Huddersfield Town, but the F.A Cup win was their last major trophy for nearly 70 years.
=== Mid 20th century ===
Blackburn Rovers maintained a respectable mid-table position in the First Division until they were finally relegated (along with Aston Villa) from the top flight (for the first time since the foundation of the league) in the 1935–36 season.
When the league resumed after the war, Blackburn Rovers were relegated in their second season (1947–48). At this time the tradition of burying a coffin began. The club remained in the second division for the following ten years. After promotion in 1958, they again returned to the mid-table position they had occupied in the earlier part of the century. During this time, they seldom made a serious challenge for a major trophy – although they did reach the 1960 FA Cup Final when managed by Scot Dally Duncan. Rovers lost this game 3–0 to Wolverhampton Wanderers after playing most of the game with only 10 men on the field following an injury to Dave Whelan, who broke a leg.
There were brief hopes of a return to glory in the 1963–64 season, when a remarkable 8–2 away win over West Ham United in east London on Boxing Day took them to the top of the league. Their lead of the league was short-lived, and they finished the season some way down the table, as the title was seized by a Liverpool side who would record a further 12 league titles over the next 26 years, while Blackburn's fortunes took a very different route. They were relegated from the First Division in 1966 and began a 26-year exile from the top division.
=== 1970s and 1980s ===
During the 1970s, Blackburn Rovers bounced between the Second and Third Divisions, winning the Third Division title in 1975, but never mounted a challenge for promotion to the First Division despite the efforts of successive managers to put the club back on track, and fell back into the Third Division in 1979. They went up as runners-up in the Third Division in 1980 and, save for one season in League One in 2017–18, have remained in the upper two tiers of the English league ever since. A second successive promotion was nearly achieved the following year, but the club missed out on goal difference, and promotion-winning manager Howard Kendall moved to Everton that summer. Kendall's successor, Bobby Saxton only managed mid-table finishes for the next three seasons, then nearly achieved promotion in the 1984–85 season, but a poor finish the following year (just one place above relegation) followed by an abysmal start to the 1986–87 season cost Saxton his job.
Saxton was replaced by Don Mackay, who steered them to a decent finish that season and also victory in the Full Members Cup. In the following three seasons Mackay re-established Rovers as promotion contenders, but they fell just short of promotion each time; the closest they came was in 1988–89 reached the Second Division play-off final in its last season of the home-away two-legged format – but lost to Crystal Palace. A defeat in the 1989–90 Second Division playoff semi-finals brought more frustration to Ewood Park, but the following season saw the club taken over by local steelworks owner and lifelong supporter Jack Walker (1929–2000).
=== 1990s ===
Following the Walker takeover Rovers finished 19th in the Second Division at the end of the 1990–91 season, but the new owner had made millions of pounds available to spend on new players and appointed Kenny Dalglish as manager in October 1991. Rovers secured promotion to the new FA Premier League at the end of 1991–92 season as play-off winners, ending 26 years outside the top flight.
Rovers made headlines in the summer of 1992 by paying an English record fee of £3.5million for the 22-year-old Southampton and England centre forward Alan Shearer. After finishing fourth in 1992–93 and runners-up in 1993–94, they went on to win the Premier League title in 1994–95. The title chase went down to the last game of the season, but despite Rovers losing to Liverpool they edged out rivals Manchester United to win the championship.
Kenny Dalglish moved upstairs to the position of Director of Football at the end of the Premier League winning season, and handed over the reins to his assistant Ray Harford. Blackburn Rovers made a poor start to the 1995–96 season, and found themselves in the bottom half for most of the first half of the season. Rovers also struggled in the Champions League and finished bottom of their group with just four points.
A poor start to the 1996–97 Premier League campaign saw Harford resign in late October with the club bottom of the division, having failed to win any of their first ten games. Relegation looked a real possibility, just two seasons after winning the league. After an abortive attempt to bring in Sven-Göran Eriksson as manager, long-serving coach Tony Parkes took over as manager for the rest of the campaign, narrowly steering the side to survival. That summer, the manager's job was taken by Roy Hodgson, who joined the club from Internazionale. UEFA Cup football was secured with a 6th-place finish. Rovers made a poor start to the 1998–99 campaign and Hodgson was sacked in December less than an hour after a 2–0 home defeat by bottom side Southampton, a result that locked Rovers in the relegation zone. He was replaced as manager by Brian Kidd. Kidd failed to save Rovers from relegation.
=== 2000s ===
In 1999–2000 Rovers began the season as promotion favourites, but with the club hovering just above the Division One relegation zone Brian Kidd was sacked in October and replaced in March by Graeme Souness. Jack Walker died just after the start of the 2000–01 season, and the club dedicated its promotion challenge in memory of their benefactor. Fittingly, they returned to the Premier League after a much improved season, finishing second behind Fulham.
In 2001–02, record signing Andy Cole was bought in for £8million, and Rovers won their first-ever League Cup by beating Tottenham Hotspur 2–1 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Cole scoring the winner in the 69th minute. The following season Rovers finished sixth to qualify for the UEFA Cup for the second season running. Souness left just after the start of 2004–05 to take charge at Newcastle, and he was replaced by Welsh national coach Mark Hughes. Hughes secured Rovers' Premier League survival for the 2004–05 season as well as an FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal, with Rovers finishing 15th once again. He led the team to sixth the following season and Rovers's third European qualification in five years.
Rovers reached the semi-final of the 2006–07 FA Cup, but lost to Chelsea in extra time, and finished that season's league in tenth, qualifying for the Intertoto Cup, which led to a short run in the 2007–08 UEFA Cup. In May 2008, Mark Hughes left Blackburn Rovers for the vacancy at Manchester City. He was replaced by Paul Ince, whose first job was to persuade some of the wantaway players to stay. with Archie Knox coming in as his assistant. Ince's time in charge started well, but following a run of eleven games without a win he was sacked in December 2008. Sam Allardyce was appointed as Ince's replacement and in 2009–10 he led the team to a tenth-place finish and a League Cup semi-final.
=== 2010 onwards ===
In November 2010, the Indian company V H Group bought Blackburn Rovers under the name of Venky's London Limited for £23 million. The new owners immediately sacked manager Sam Allardyce and replaced him with first-team coach Steve Kean, initially on a temporary basis, but by January 2011 he had been awarded a full-time contract until June 2013. Kean's appointment was shrouded in controversy since his agent Jerome Anderson had earlier played a major role in advising Venky's during the takeover of the club in the preceding months.
In December 2011, Blackburn Rovers posted an annual pre-tax loss of £18.6m for the year ending 30 June 2011. Despite this, the owners of Blackburn Rovers provided assurances over the continued funding of the club, even if they were relegated.
On 7 May 2012, Blackburn were relegated to the Championship after being defeated at home by Wigan Athletic in the penultimate game of the season, ending eleven years in the Premier League. At the start of the 2012–2013 season, Kean was given a chance by the owners to win promotion and kept his job as the manager. Ultimately though, pressure from the supporters who had been calling for the manager's removal for months resulted in his resignation as manager on 29 September 2012.
On 7 May 2017, Blackburn were relegated to League One. On 24 April 2018, the club were promoted back to the second tier with a 1–0 win at Doncaster Rovers.
In recent years, they have finished 15th (2018–2019), 11th (2019–2020), 15th (2020–2021), 8th (2021–2022), and 7th (2022–2023) in the Championship.
In the 2023–2024 season, Blackburn narrowly avoided relegation on the final matchday, finishing in 19th place after a 2–0 win against title winners Leicester City, their lowest finish since their promotion back to the Championship in 2018.
== Players ==
=== Current squad ===
As of 4 January 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.
For recent transfers, see 2025–26 Blackburn Rovers F.C. season.
=== Development/Academy squad ===
=== Notable players ===
For a list of notable Blackburn Rovers players in sortable-table format see List of Blackburn Rovers F.C. players.
== Staff ==
=== Footballing staff ===
As of 13 February 2026
=== Senior management ===
As of 13 February 2026
=== Club operations ===
As of 13 February 2026
== Awards ==
=== Player of the season ===
=== Season-by-season record ===
=== European football ===
== Managerial history ==
== Colours ==
Unlike most teams, Blackburn Rovers have only ever had one design to their home kit. The distinctive blue and white halved jersey is widely acknowledged as the "town colour". Although the design has remained the same, the side in which the colours fall has often changed. Blue has resided on the wearers left since 1946; prior to this, the blue and white often switched order almost yearly.
Blackburn Rovers' first kit is uncertain. The 1905 book; Book of Football by Jonathan Russell describes Blackburn Rovers' first kit as a white jersey with Maltese Cross on the wearers left breast, Trousers and a blue and white skull cap. The Maltese Cross notorious with the public schools in which the founders of the club were educated. In contrast an account from the Blackburn Standard on 6 January 1894 accounts the first kit as navy blue and white quartered jersey (quartered accounting for the shirts four panels front and back), white knickers and navy hose. This account is much more synonymous with the kit today. Photographic evidence from 1878 shows the team in Blue and white halved (quartered) jerseys, white shorts and blue socks, complete with blue and white cap and Maltese Cross.
== Badge ==
Through its history the club has adopted four badges as its crest; the Maltese Cross, the towns coat of arms, Lancashire Rose and the present day Blackburn Rovers Badge. From 1875 to approximately 1882 The Maltese Cross was present on the club's first ever home kit and was worn by both the Shrewsbury and Malvern school teams. Two former Malvernians and two former Salopians played in that first team, so there is a clear link with these public schools.
During FA Cup finals it is tradition for the club to adopt the town's coat of arms as their badge. This tradition has carried through all eight FA Cup finals the club has been a part of all the way to their last FA Cup final against Woverhampton Wanderers in 1960.
From roughly 1882 and excluding cup finals the club did not use a badge until 1974. In this year the club opted for an embroidered Lancashire Rose with the club's initials "B.R.F.C." below. This badge lasted unchanged for 15 years until it was 1989 due to visibility issues of the dark red rose on the dark blue of the shirt.
From 1989 to the present day the current Blackburn Rovers badge has been used. It has encompassed the previous badge in a newer design for the Lancashire Red Rose. Circling the rose is the team name "Blackburn Rovers F.C." and the date in which the club was founded "1875". At the base of the badge is the club motto, "Arte Et Labore" which translated means, "by skill and by labour". This motto has been taken from the town motto which was adopted in 1852.
== Grounds ==
=== Oozehead Ground 1875–1877 ===
Rovers first home ground was a field at Oozehead on Preston New Road to the north west of the town. This field was farmland and was owned by a local farmer; when Blackburn Rovers weren't using the field it was used to graze cows. In the centre of the field was a large watering hole, which on match days was covered with timber and turf.
=== Pleasington Cricket Ground 1877 ===
Due to the rough conditions at Oozehead, the committee felt an established sports ground would be best to play on. Therefore, during the 1877 season they acquired the use of Pleasington's cricket ground to the south west of the town. Play stopped on this ground after Henry Smith of Preston North End died of a heart attack whilst playing.
=== Alexandra Meadows 1877–1881 ===
Still adopting cricket grounds, the committee acquired the use of the East Lancashire Cricket Club's ground in the centre of the town, Alexandra Meadows. Sources differ as to the date of the first match played by Rovers at Alexandra Meadows. A programme from Clitheroe F.C. states that Clitheroe was the first team to beat Blackburn at Alexandra Meadows on 17 November 1877. Other sources indicate that the first match took place on 2 January 1878 with a Blackburn victory against Partick Thistle. It was on this ground Blackburn Rovers played for the first time under artificial light against Accrington on 4 November 1878.
=== Leamington Road 1881–1890 ===
Due to the increasing demand in football in the area and in particular for Blackburn Rovers the committee felt that a private ground was more fitting. Therefore, in 1881 the club moved to Leamington Road, Blackburn Rovers' first purpose built ground including a 700-person capacity seated grandstand, costing £500. The first game played at this ground was held on 8 October 1881 against Blackburn Olympic resulting in a 4–1 win for Rovers. Whilst at Leamington Road and under James Fielding the club won three FA Cups and was inaugurated into the Football League as a founding Member in 1888. Despite the club's success, they left Leamington Road due to an increase in lease costs.
=== Ewood Park 1890–present ===
Built in April 1882 as Ewood Bridge. The ground was an all purpose sporting venue hosting football, athletics and dog racing. The Blackburn Rovers committee felt this was the ideal venue for the club after having already played numerous games there in 1882. The first game played at the new Ewood Park ground was on 13 September 1890 against Accrington, the 0–0 draw was viewed by 10,000 people and on 31 October 1892 artificial lights were installed. Ewood sits on the bank of the River Darwen in Blackburn, Lancashire.
==== 1913 terrorist incident ====
An attempt was made to destroy the ground in 1913. As part of the suffragette bombing and arson campaign, suffragettes carried out a series of bombings and arson attacks nationwide to publicise their campaign for women's suffrage. In November 1913, suffragettes attempted to burn down Ewood Park's grandstand but were foiled. In the same year, suffragettes succeeded in burning down Arsenal's then South London stadium, and also attempted to burn down Preston North End's ground. More traditionally male sports were targeted in order to protest against male dominance.
== Supporters and rivalries ==
Blackburn Rovers supporters have formed several support clubs related to the team, and almost all of them are partially focused on making trips to Ewood Park easier. Rovers home games were well attended as a percentage of the Blackburn population throughout the 2000s with average attendances of around 25,000, equal to roughly a quarter of Blackburn's population (approximately 100,000). The supporters' long-running fanzine is called 4,000 Holes.
Clement Charnock and his brother Harry were Blackburn Rovers fans who introduced football into Russia in the 1880s.
Blackburn's primary rivals are Burnley, with whom they contest the East Lancashire derby. Other rivalries for Rovers include Manchester United, Preston North End, Bolton Wanderers and Wigan Athletic, all based in North-West England.
== Statistics and records ==
=== Records ===
Most League appearances:
Derek Fazackerley, 593+3 sub, 1970–71 to 1986–87
Record goalscorer:
Simon Garner, 194 goals (168 league), 1978–79 to 1991–92
Record attendance at Ewood Park:
62,255 v Bolton Wanderers, FA Cup 6th round, 2 March 1929
Transfer fee paid:
£8m to Manchester United for Andy Cole in December 2001£8m to Huddersfield Town for Jordan Rhodes in August 2012
Transfer fee received:
Up to £22m from Crystal Palace for Adam Wharton in February 2024.
Record win:
11–0 v Rossendale United, Ewood Park, FA Cup 1st round 13 October 1884
Record League win:
9–0 v Middlesbrough, Ewood Park, Division 2, 6 November 1954
Record away win:
8–2 v West Ham United, Division 1, 26 December 1963
Record League defeat:
0–8 v Arsenal, Division 1, 25 February 1933,
0–8 v Lincoln City, Division 2, 29 August 1953
Record home League defeat:
0–7 v Fulham, 3 November 2021.
Record aggregate League score:
13: 5–8 v Derby County, 6 September 1890
Most points gained in a season (2pts):
60 (1974–75)
Most points gained in a season (3pts):
91 (2000–01)
Fewest points gained in a season (2pts):
20 (1965–66)
Fewest points gained in a season (3pts):
31 (2011–12)
Most consecutive League appearances:
Walter Crook, 208 (1934–46)
Most goals scored by a player in a season:
Ted Harper, 43, Division 1, 1925–26
Most goals scored by a player in a match:
Tommy Briggs, 7 v Bristol Rovers, Ewood Park, Division 2, 5 February 1955
Most hat-tricks in a season:
8, 1963–64
Most individual hat-tricks:
13, Jack Southworth, 1887–1893
Most FA Cup appearances:
Ronnie Clayton, 56, 1949–1969
Most League Cup appearances:
Derek Fazackerley, 38, 1969–1987
Youngest player to appear for Rovers:
Harry Dennison, aged 16 yrs and 155 days against Bristol City, Division 1, 8 April 1911
Oldest player to appear for Rovers:
Bob Crompton, 40 yrs and 150 days against Bradford City, Division 1, 23 February 1920
Longest undefeated FA Cup run:
24 games including 3 consecutive FA Cup wins, 1884–86. Still an FA Cup record
Reference for above facts
== Honours ==
Source:
League
First Division / Premier League (level 1)
Champions: 1911–12, 1913–14, 1994–95
Runners-up: 1993–94
Second Division / First Division / Championship (level 2)
Champions: 1938–39
Runners-up: 1957–58, 2000–01
Play-off winners: 1992
Third Division / League One (level 3)
Champions: 1974–75
Runners-up: 1979–80, 2017–18
Cup
FA Cup
Winners (6): 1883–84, 1884–85, 1885–86, 1889–90, 1890–91, 1927–28
Runners-up: 1881–82, 1959–60
Football League Cup
Winners: 2001–02
FA Charity Shield
Winners: 1912
Runners-up: 1928, 1994, 1995
Full Members' Cup
Winners: 1986–87
Football League War Cup
Runners-up: 1939–40
Regional
Lancashire Cup
Winners (20): 1881–82, 1882–83, 1883–84, 1884–85, 1895–96, 1900–01, 1901–02, 1903–04, 1906–07, 1908–09, 1910–11, 1944–45, 1983–84, 1985–86, 1987–88, 1989–90, 2006–07, 2010–11, 2018–19, 2020–21 |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Prisoner_of_Azkaban | Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban | Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is a fantasy novel by British author J. K. Rowling. The third novel in the Harry Potter series, it follows the young wizard Harry Potter during his third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. With his friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, Harry investigates Sirius Black, an escaped prisoner who is believed to be one of Lord Voldemort's allies.
The book was published in the United Kingdom on 8 July 1999 by Bloomsbury and in the United States on 8 September 1999 by Scholastic, Inc. The book, which took Rowling one year to write, sold 64,000 copies in just three days after its release in the United Kingdom, and since has sold over three million in the country. The book won the 1999 Whitbread Children's Book Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and the 2000 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel and was short-listed for other awards, including the Hugo.
The film adaptation of the novel was released in 2004, grossing more than $810 million and earning critical acclaim. Video games based on the novel have also been released.
== Plot ==
During the summer, Harry accidentally performs magic at the home of his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon. After this incident, he uses The Knight Bus to travel to London, and spends the summer there. While staying at the Leaky Cauldron inn, Harry is visited by Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic, who warns him about Sirius Black, a mass murderer who escaped from the wizard prison Azkaban.
With Black at large, Dementors have been stationed at Hogwarts as a security measure. During a Care of Magical Creatures lesson with Hagrid, Draco Malfoy is injured after provoking a hippogriff named Buckbeak. Draco's father, Lucius Malfoy, gets Hagrid put on trial for owning a dangerous creature. Harry repeatedly faints in the presence of the Dementors, but eventually is taught by Professor Lupin how to repel them using the Patronus Charm. When Harry is unable to participate in weekend trips to Hogsmeade Village, Fred and George give him a magical map that shows him how to get there using a secret passage. At the Three Broomsticks pub, Harry overhears that Black is his godfather, that he betrayed Harry's parents to Voldemort, and that he now seeks to kill Harry as well.
When Ron's pet rat Scabbers disappears, he blames Hermione and her cat Crookshanks. Ron and Hermione stop talking to each other, although Hermione is distraught when Ron is attacked by Black inside the Gryffindor dormitory. After the attack, Black cannot be found. When Harry, Ron and Hermione learn that Buckbeak will be executed, they console Hagrid, and Ron and Hermione resume their friendship. Ron also finds Scabbers hiding in Hagrid's hut. As the friends make their way back to the castle, Ron is attacked by a large black dog, which drags him through the passageway leading to Hogsmeade. Harry and Hermione give chase, and find themselves in the Shrieking Shack, where the dog is revealed to be Black in his Animagus form. Lupin arrives, and Black states that he intends to kill Scabbers, not Harry. He explains that Scabbers is Peter Pettigrew, who betrayed Harry's parents to Voldemort and framed Black for mass murder. Black and Lupin compel Pettigrew to change into his human form, then haul him back to Hogwarts.
On the way to the castle, the full moon causes Lupin to transform into a werewolf. Pettigrew escapes and is pursued by Black, Harry and Hermione, who encounter Dementors and lose consciousness. They awaken in the castle, where Black is now being held captive. Harry and Hermione proclaim his innocence to Dumbledore, who suggests using Hermione's Time Turner. Harry and Hermione travel back in time and save both Black and Buckbeak, who fly away together. Snape blames Lupin for Black's disappearance and makes his werewolf identity public, which forces Lupin to resign. On the train back to London, Harry receives a letter from Black, expressing his gratitude to Harry for saving his life.
== Publication and reception ==
=== Pre-release history ===
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the third book in the Harry Potter series. The first, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, was published by Bloomsbury Publishing on 26 June 1997 and the second, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, was published on 2 July 1998. J. K. Rowling started to write the Prisoner of Azkaban the day after she finished The Chamber of Secrets. Rowling said in 2004 that Prisoner of Azkaban was "the best writing experience I ever had...I was in a very comfortable place writing (number) three. Immediate financial worries were over, and press attention wasn't yet by any means excessive".
=== Critical reception ===
Gregory Maguire wrote a review in The New York Times for Prisoner of Azkaban: in it he said, "So far, in terms of plot, the books do nothing new, but they do it brilliantly...so far, so good." In a newspaper review in The New York Times, it was said that "'The Prisoner of Azkaban' may be the best 'Harry Potter' book yet". A reviewer for KidsReads said, "This crisply-paced fantasy will leave you hungry for the four additional Harry books that J.K. Rowling is working on. Harry's third year is a charm. Don't miss it." Kirkus Reviews did not give a starred review but said, "a properly pulse-pounding climax...The main characters and the continuing story both come along so smartly...that the book seems shorter than its page count: have readers clear their calendars if they are fans, or get out of the way if they are not." Martha V. Parravano also gave a positive review for The Horn Book Magazine, calling it "quite a good book." In addition, a Publishers Weekly review said, "Rowling's wit never flags, whether constructing the workings of the wizard world...or tossing off quick jokes...The Potter spell is holding strong".
However, Anthony Holden, who was one of the judges against Prisoner of Azkaban for the Whitbread Award, was negative about the book, saying that the characters are "all black-and-white", and the "story-lines are predictable, the suspense minimal, the sentimentality cloying every page".
In 2012 it was ranked number 12 on a list of the top 100 children's novels published by School Library Journal.
=== Awards ===
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban won several awards, including the 1999 Booklist Editors' Choice Award, the 1999 Bram Stoker Award for Best Work for Young Readers, the 1999 FCBG Children's Book Award, the 1999 Whitbread Book of the Year for children's books, and the 2000 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel. It was also nominated for the 2000 Hugo Award for Best Novel, the first in the series nominated, but lost to A Deepness in the Sky. Prisoner of Azkaban additionally won the 2004 Indian Paintbrush Book Award and the 2004 Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award. Additionally, it was named an American Library Association Notable Children's Book in 2000 as well as one of their Best Books for Young Adults. As with the previous two books in the series, Prisoner of Azkaban won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize Gold Medal for children aged 9–11 and made the top of the New York Times Best Seller list. In both cases, it was the last in the series to do so. However, in the latter case, a Children's Best Sellers list was created just before the release of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in July 2000 in order to free up more room on the original list. In 2003, the novel was listed at number 24 on the BBC's survey The Big Read.
=== Sales ===
Prisoner of Azkaban sold more than 64,000 copies in the UK within three days of publication, which made it the fastest selling British book of the time. The sales total by 2012 is said by The Guardian to be 3,377,906.
== Editions ==
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was issued, prior to publication, in two distinct UK proof editions, and one US "Advance Reader's Edition". The first UK proof, in purple wrappers, differs from the second in a number of respects, and is thought to have been printed in a small edition of 50 copies. The second UK proof is in green wrappers and was printed in a somewhat larger run. The US Advance Reader's Edition is the last of its kind in the Harry Potter series, as no Advance Reader's Editions are known for books 4 through 7. The rear wrapper of the Advance Reader's Edition reveals the circumstances of the US publication of the book:
Due to the unprecedented demand for this book, we have moved the publication date up a full year. (We understand, we couldn't wait to read it either!). Accordingly, we have rushed to bring this Advance Reader's Edition to you as quickly as possible.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was released in hardcover in the UK on 8 July 1999 and in the US on 8 September. The UK edition was released at the unusually precise time of 3.45pm, so as to avoid children skipping school in order to purchase the book. The first state of the hardback edition features an error on p. 7, with an unintended carriage return in a block quote. Two further issues were released, both fixing the error. Across all three states, 5,150 were printed by Clays Ltd.
The British paperback edition was released on 1 April 2000, while the US paperback was released 1 October 2001.
Bloomsbury additionally released an adult edition with a different cover design to the original, in paperback on 10 July 2004 and in hardcover in October 2004. A hardcover special edition, featuring a green border and signature, was released on 8 July 1999. In May 2004, Bloomsbury released a Celebratory Edition, with a blue and purple border. On 1 November 2010, they released the 10th anniversary Signature edition illustrated by Clare Mellinsky and in July 2013 a new adult cover illustrated by Andrew Davidson, both these editions were designed by Webb & Webb Design Limited.
Beginning on 27 August 2013, Scholastic will release new covers for the paperback editions of Harry Potter in the United States to celebrate 15 years of the series. The covers were designed by the author and illustrator Kazu Kibuishi.
An illustrated version of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was released on 3 October 2017, and was illustrated by Jim Kay, who illustrated the previous two instalments. This includes over 115 new illustrations and will be followed by Illustrated editions of the following 4 novels in the future. Jim Kay announced on 6 October 2022 that he would not be illustrating the final two Harry Potter books and that his last work, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, would be released on 11 October 2022.
== Adaptations ==
=== Film ===
The film version of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was released in 2004 and was directed by Alfonso Cuarón from a screenplay by Steve Kloves. The film debuted at number one at the box office and held that position for two weeks. It made a total of $796.7 million worldwide, which made it the second highest-grossing film of 2004 behind Shrek 2. However, among all eight films in the Harry Potter series, Prisoner of Azkaban had the lowest total gross. The film placed at number 471 on Empire magazine's 2008 list of the 500 greatest movies of all time.
=== Video games ===
Three video games based on the book were released in 2004 by Electronic Arts. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wall_(philosopher) | John Wall (philosopher) | John Wall is an American educator and theoretical ethicist who teaches at Rutgers University Camden. He is director of the Childism Institute and co-director of the Children's Voting Colloquium.
== Research ==
Wall's research focuses on "the groundworks of moral life, particularly their relations to language, power, and childhood" and theoretical work where he argues that "ethical life is fundamentally creative", as well as for his concept of childism, or the empowerment of children by transforming norms.
== Career ==
Wall was born in 1965 in Leeds, United Kingdom and moved to the United States as a teenager. He obtained a BA, MA, and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and taught for one year at DePaul University before taking up a permanent position at Rutgers University.
At Rutgers University, Wall teaches in the departments of philosophy, religion, and childhood studies. He is the founding director of the Childism Institute and is the co-founder of the Children’s Voting Colloquium. In 2006, Wall assisted in the creation of a childhood studies doctoral program at Rutgers. He was also chair of the Childhood Studies and Religion Group at the American Academy of Religion. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonesome_Dove | Lonesome Dove | Lonesome Dove is a 1985 epic Western novel by American writer Larry McMurtry. It is the first published book of the Lonesome Dove series and the third installment in the series chronologically. It was a bestseller and won the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. In 1989, it was adapted as a TV miniseries starring Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Duvall, which won both critical and popular acclaim. McMurtry went on to write a sequel, Streets of Laredo (1993), and two prequels, Dead Man's Walk (1995) and Comanche Moon (1997), all of which were also adapted as TV series.
== Premise ==
The novel, set in the waning days of the Old West, centers on the relationships between several retired Texas Rangers and their adventures driving a cattle herd from Texas to Montana. The novel contains themes including old age, death, unrequited love, and friendship.
== Conception ==
The novel initially arose as a screenplay that McMurtry started writing with director Peter Bogdanovich. Originally titled Streets of Laredo, they wrote it with three movie stars in mind: John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, and Henry Fonda. Warner Bros. liked the script, but the actors were noncommittal, especially Wayne, who was wary of the melancholy nature of the film. McMurtry later bought back the script from the studio for $35,000 for development into a novel, while continuing to write other novels, including the Desert Rose and Cadillac Jack. He received inspiration for the title of the book after seeing the name Lonesome Dove Baptist Church on a bus near Fort Worth. Simon & Schuster bought the novel for $250,000, with Irving Lazar acting as his agent.
== Plot ==
In the late 1870s, Captain Woodrow F. Call and Captain Augustus "Gus" McCrae, two famous retired Texas Rangers, run the Hat Creek Cattle Company and Livery Emporium in the small Texas border town of Lonesome Dove. Working with them are Joshua Deets, an excellent tracker and scout from their Ranger days; Pea Eye Parker, another former Ranger who, while illiterate, is both loyal and reliable. Other characters include Bolivar, a retired Mexican bandit who works as their cook; and Newt Dobbs, a 17-year-old boy whose mother was a prostitute named Maggie and whose father is widely thought by the outfit to be Call, though Call has never acknowledged this.
Jake Spoon, another former Ranger, arrives in Lonesome Dove after an absence of more than 10 years, during which he has traveled widely across the United States. He reveals that he is on the run, having accidentally shot a dentist in Fort Smith, Arkansas. The dentist's brother happened to be the town's sheriff, July Johnson.
Reunited with Gus and Call, Jake's description of the Montana Territory inspires Call to gather a herd of cattle and drive them north, to begin the first cattle ranch north of the Yellowstone River. Call, who has grown restless in retirement, is attracted to the romantic notion of being the first to settle in a pristine country. Gus is less enthusiastic, but changes his mind when reminded that the love of his life, Clara, lives on the Platte River near Ogallala, Nebraska, which would be on the route to Montana. The Hat Creek outfit rustles thousands of cattle from across the border in Mexico and recruits local cowboys in preparation for the drive.
Ironically, Jake Spoon soon decides not to go at all, having made himself comfortable with the town's only prostitute, Lorena Wood, who is smitten with him after he promises to take her to San Francisco. At Lorena's insistence, however, Jake and she ultimately trail along behind the cattle drive.
In Fort Smith, the young and inexperienced sheriff, 24-year-old July Johnson, reluctantly departs town on the trail of Jake Spoon, taking his 12-year-old stepson Joe with him, and leaving the inept deputy sheriff Roscoe Brown in charge. July's wife Elmira, who regrets her recent marriage to him, leaves shortly afterwards to search for her former lover Dee Boot. Roscoe is sent after July to inform him of her disappearance, and has many misadventures and strange encounters through Arkansas and Texas, assisted by a young girl named Janey, who escapes from sexual slavery to accompany him. Roscoe eventually reunites with July and Joe when they rescue Janey and him from bandits in Texas.
As the cattle drive moves north through Texas, the Hat Creek company encounters dust storms, dangerous river crossings, and many other adventures. Jake tires of Lorena and abandons her to go gambling in Austin. Left alone, she is abducted by an Indian bandit named Blue Duck, a notorious and mercilessly vicious old nemesis of the Texas Rangers. Gus goes in pursuit, and while traveling along the Canadian River, he encounters July's group. Gus and July attack Blue Duck's bandit encampment, killing the bandits and rescuing Lorena; however, Blue Duck has already made his escape, having murdered Roscoe, Joe, and Janey in the process. A devastated July continues his journey in search of Elmira, while Gus and Lorena return to the cattle drive. Lorena has been repeatedly raped, and suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, is frightened of interacting with anybody other than Gus. The two still follow the cattle drive north, and sleep in a tent some distance behind the other cowboys.
Meanwhile, Jake Spoon is in Fort Worth. Hearing that July Johnson has been looking for him, Jake leaves Texas in a hurry in the company of the Suggs brothers, who are, he soon realizes, cruel bandits. Jake becomes increasingly alarmed by the brothers' actions as they travel north into Kansas; the gang progresses from robbery to cold-blooded murder, but Jake is too frightened and outnumbered to either kill them or escape. When the gang attacks a trail boss known to Gus and Call, the former Rangers of the Hat Creek outfit go in pursuit of them. The ex-Rangers are dismayed when they apprehend the Suggs brothers and find Jake alongside them. Jake pleads with his former comrades that he had no choice but to go along with things for fear of his own life, but Gus and Call stand firm that he has "crossed a line", and they solemnly hang him alongside the Suggs brothers. Newt, who had idolized Jake as a child, is left deeply upset.
Meanwhile, Elmira, pregnant with July's child, has come into the company of a rough buffalo hunter named Zwey, a simple man who seems to believe he is now "married" to her. Arriving in Nebraska, they come across the horse ranch of Clara Allen, Gus' former lover, whose husband, Bob, has become a brain-damaged invalid after being kicked in the head by a mustang. Clara delivers Elmira's baby son, but Elmira and Zwey leave almost immediately afterwards for Ogallala.
Dee Boot is held in the Ogallala jail, scheduled to be hanged for his accidental murder of a young boy; Elmira collapses while speaking to him, and Boot is hanged while she recuperates in a doctor's house, leaving her heartbroken and depressed. July arrives at Clara's ranch, learns what has transpired, and goes to see Elmira, but she refuses to speak to him. Shortly afterwards, she orders Zwey to take her east, back towards St. Louis. Anguished and heartbroken, July feels compelled to follow her, but at Clara's insistence, he remains at the ranch with her family and his son, instead, whom Clara has named Martin. Word later reaches them that Elmira and Zwey were killed by Sioux.
The Hat Creek outfit arrives in Nebraska, and Gus takes Lorena, Call, and Newt to visit Clara. Lorena, who has fallen in love with Gus, fears that Gus will abandon her for Clara. Clara is happy to see Gus, but has no desire to rekindle their romance, but she takes in Lorena, whose post-traumatic stress is easing and who quickly feels comfortable with Clara and her daughters. Gus, rebuffed by Clara and no longer Lorena's sole caretaker, decides to continue on the cattle drive and see the journey to Montana through to its end.
In Wyoming, several horses are stolen by half-starved Indians. Call, Gus, and Deets chase after them, and Deets is killed in the ensuing confrontation by the group's only remaining brave. Shortly afterward, Gus informs Newt that Call is his father, something about which Newt has always dreamed, but he is too upset by Deets' death to give it much thought.
After a desperate crossing through the arid basins of Wyoming, the cattle drive arrives in Montana, which proves to be as lush and beautiful as Jake had described. Scouting ahead of the main herd, Gus and Pea Eye are attacked by Blood Indians, and Gus is badly wounded by two arrows to the leg. Besieged in a makeshift dugout in the bank of the Musselshell River for several days, Gus' wounds become infected, and his health declines. After a heavy rain, he sends Pea Eye down the swollen river to seek help, but Pea Eye loses his clothing, boots, gun, and food in the river, and stumbles naked and unarmed for a 100-mile walk across the plains. Starving, delirious, and suffering from exposure, he is discovered by the rest of the cowboys on the verge of death. Call then sets out alone to rescue Gus.
Meanwhile, feverish and dying, Gus leaves the river shortly after Pea Eye, taking his chances and escaping the Indians. He makes it to Miles City, Montana, and collapses unconscious, waking to find that a doctor has sawed off his gangrenous leg. His other leg is also infected, but Gus refuses to let the doctor amputate it. Call arrives in Miles City and fruitlessly tries to convince Gus to have his other leg removed to save his life. Gus, however, would rather die than be an invalid. Gus asks Call to bury him in an orchard in Texas where he used to picnic with Clara, and Call begrudgingly agrees. After writing letters to Clara and Lorena, and urging Call to accept Newt as his son, Gus dies of blood poisoning. Call leaves Gus' body in storage in Miles City, intending to return him to Texas after the winter. He continues north with the cattle drive, despondent over losing his closest friend.
Eventually, the remaining members of the Hat Creek outfit establish a ranch in the fertile and ungrazed wilderness between the Missouri River and the Milk River. Call has depression all winter, no longer caring about the cattle drive or the ranch, and contemplating what to do about Newt. Before leaving in the spring, he puts Newt in charge of the ranch and gives him his horse, his rifle, and his family watch, but still cannot bring himself to publicly acknowledge the boy as his son. Newt is inwardly upset, but accepts the gifts, nonetheless. Call, ashamed of himself, leaves the ranch.
Call retrieves Gus's body, packed in a coffin with salt and charcoal, and begins the long journey south in an old buggy. In Nebraska, he gives Gus' letters to Clara and Lorena, and explains that Gus has left his half of the cattle interests to Lorena. Lorena is devastated by Gus' death and refuses to open her letter; standing silently by his coffin day and night, she suddenly faints. Clara considers the journey a whimsical folly typical of Gus, and urges Call to bury him on her ranch, instead, but Call refuses, having given Gus his word. Clara tells Call she despises him as a "vain coward" for refusing to claim Newt as his son, and he leaves Nebraska haunted by her condemnation.
The story of the cowboy transporting his dead friend's body spreads across the plains, and Call takes a circuitous route through Colorado and New Mexico to avoid the increasing attention. In Santa Rosa, he discovers that Blue Duck has been captured by a sheriff's deputy and is about to be hanged. Call visits Blue Duck in his jail cell, and Blue Duck taunts him, pointing out that he raided, killed, raped, and kidnapped with impunity throughout his life, despite the best efforts of the Texas Rangers. On the day of his hanging, on his way to the roof where the gallows await him, Blue Duck jumps out a third-story window, pulling along with him the sheriff's deputy who had caught him, killing them both.
Arriving back in Texas exhausted, despondent, and wounded from a bullet to his side, Call buries Gus by the spring in the orchard near San Antonio, true to his word. He then rides on to Lonesome Dove, where the cook Bolivar, who had abandoned the cattle drive before it left Texas, is delighted to see him again. In town, Call finds that the saloon has burned down; the proprietor, who had been madly in love with Lorena, committed suicide after her departure by burning down his saloon while he remained inside.
== Characters ==
Captain Woodrow F. Call – A co-owner of the Hat Creek outfit and former Texas Ranger, he is a largely silent leader of men and tireless worker who believes firmly in discipline, duty, and honor; he is a foil to his best friend Gus. In his preface, McMurtry describes Call as a Stoic.
Captain Augustus "Gus" McCrae – A co-owner of the Hat Creek outfit and former Texas Ranger, he is a lazy, loquacious, and charismatic rake with a fondness for alcohol, gambling, and whores; he is nonetheless a brave and competent fighter when required. He is tall and lanky, famed for his excellent eyesight, and has had silver hair since he was 30. He serves as a foil to his best friend, Call, and is described by McMurtry as an Epicurean.
Pea Eye Parker – The wrangler and blacksmith of the Hat Creek Cattle Company, Pea Eye served as a corporal in the Rangers under Gus and Call. Pea Eye (his real first name long forgotten) is not especially bright, but he is brave, reliable, and kind. He follows Call's lead without question.
Joshua Deets – An African-American former Ranger, Deets is a loyal ranch hand, and on the drive serves as the chief scout. He is an exceptional tracker who relies on his phenomenal instincts to lead the company out of harm's way. He is quiet and contemplative, but wise, compassionate, and trusted by all.
Newt Dobbs – A 17-year-old orphan, he was raised by Gus and Call. His mother was a prostitute named Maggie, who died when he was a child. He knows his mother was a prostitute, but has no idea who his father might be. Most observers, notably Gus and Clara Allen, are confident Call is his father. Though he begins the journey awkward and inexperienced, Newt develops into a competent and reliable cowboy, and despite his young age, is eventually given leadership of the ranch in Call's absence. In his preface, McMurtry refers to Newt as "the lonesome dove of the title."
Jake Spoon – A former Ranger, he left his friends 10 years ago to travel around America, returning to Texas near the beginning of the novel. Like Gus, Jake is a drinker, gambler, and womanizer. He possesses a great personal charm, but is lazy, selfish, and often careless.
Dishwater "Dish" Boggett – Though only 22, Dish is a cowboy of great skill and the "top hand" for Call's cattle drive. He suffers greatly from unrequited love for Lorena Wood. His nickname derives from once having drunk dishwater on a cattle drive, being so thirsty that he could not wait for the water barrel.
Bolivar – A former Mexican bandit and the cook for the Hat Creek Cattle Company, he is obsessed with loudly and unnecessarily ringing the dinner bell to call the company for dinner. Bolivar is uneasy about venturing far from the Rio Grande and abandons the cattle drive before it leaves Texas.
Po Campo – The cattle drive's enigmatic new cook, he was hired by Call in San Antonio after Bolivar's departure. He uses exotic ingredients such as grasshoppers in his meals and refuses to ride animals. He hints at being well-traveled, and also offhandedly remarks that he killed his wife.
Lorena Wood – A beautiful young woman from Alabama, she was coerced into prostitution by a former lover, later washing up in Lonesome Dove, where she works as the town's only whore. Lorena is taciturn, strong-willed, and often intimidating to the numerous cowboys who seek her affection, generally viewing her clients and admirers with contempt. Discontented with her life, Lorena initially harbors a dream of traveling to San Francisco, but her perspective changes dramatically after her experiences during the cattle drive.
Blue Duck – The son of Comanche war chief Buffalo Hump and his Mexican captive, Blue Duck leads a gang of renegade Indians and Caucasian criminals. Atrociously wicked and remorseless, he is feared across the plains as a ruthless murderer, rapist, and slaver. He has managed to evade the law even as the West gradually grows safer and more civilized.
July Johnson – The sheriff of the town of Fort Smith, Arkansas, July is a kind young man recently married to Elmira, whom he deeply loves despite her being openly disdainful of him. After his brother Ben is accidentally killed by Jake Spoon, July sets off in pursuit of him.
Elmira Johnson – A former whore from Kansas, she recently married July Johnson. She is unhappy with her life and has depression, eventually leaving Fort Smith to seek out her old love Dee Boot.
Roscoe Brown – The deputy sheriff of Fort Smith, Arkansas, Roscoe is a simple man in his 40s who is content to spend his life minding the sleepy town's jail, but is bullied by July's sister-in-law into tracking down the sheriff and his missing wife.
Joe – Elmira's son, he travels with July to find and arrest Jake Spoon.
Janey – A young girl whom Roscoe meets on his journey to find July, she was a slave to an old man living alone in the woods, but when Roscoe arrives, she escapes from captivity and travels with him, proving herself useful with her ability to catch animals to eat and her excellent aim when throwing rocks.
Clara Allen – Gus' former love, she declined his repeated marriage proposals during their youth in Texas – for reasons that were never entirely clear to Gus – instead marrying the horse trader Bob Allen and moving to a ranch near Ogallala, Nebraska. She still grieves for her sons who died of respiratory disease from the sod house in which Bob and she first lived, and treasures her daughters.
Jimmy and Ben Rainey, Bill and Pete Spettle, Soupy Jones, Needle Nelson, Jasper Fant, Bert Borum, Lippy Jones, Sean and Allen O'Brien – These other hands were hired by Call to work the cattle drive.
== Reception ==
Lonesome Dove was the winner of the 1986 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, and received favorable reviews. In The New York Times, Nicholas Lemann praised the novel as "thrilling and almost perfectly realized," calling it "the great cowboy novel". Writing for The Washington Post, Noel Perrin praised the dialogue and the breadth of the plot, viewing each scene as "freshly realized". Perin, however, criticized some characters as one-dimensional and only briefly used.
McMurtry himself eventually expressed dissatisfaction with the popularity of the novel, particularly after the miniseries adaptation. In the preface to the 2000 edition, he wrote: "It's hard to go wrong if one writes at length about the Old West, still the phantom leg of the American psyche. I thought I had written about a harsh time and some pretty harsh people, but to the public at large, I had produced something nearer to an idealization; instead of a poor man's Inferno, filled with violence, faithlessness' and betrayal, I had actually delivered a kind of Gone with the Wind of the West, a turnabout I'll be mulling over for a long, long time."
Assessing the novel's cultural legacy in 2019, Nasrullah Mambrol was more sympathetic than the author's self-assessment. "What McMurtry did was to reinvent the Western novel by taking its basic elements and elevating them to the level of epic." He reached "the height of his powers" with Lonesome Dove.
President Barack Obama awarded McMurtry with a National Humanities Medal in 2015, noting that readers of Lonesome Dove "found out something essential about their own souls, even if they’d never been out West or been on a ranch". Stephen King has described Lonesome Dove as his favorite book of all time.
== Adaptation ==
A television miniseries adaptation produced by Motown Productions was broadcast on CBS in 1989, starring Robert Duvall as Augustus McCrae and Tommy Lee Jones as Woodrow F. Call. The series was a commercial and critical success.
== Historical references ==
According to McMurtry, Gus and Call were not modeled after historical characters, but similarities exist with real-life cattle drivers Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving. When Goodnight and Loving's African-American guide Bose Ikard died, Goodnight carved a wooden grave marker for him, just as Call does for Deets. Upon Loving's death, Goodnight brought him home to be buried in Texas, as Call does for Augustus. (Goodnight himself appears as a minor but generally sympathetic character in this novel, and more so in the sequel, Streets of Laredo, and the prequels Dead Man's Walk and Comanche Moon.) Blue Duck also was a historical person, a paramour of Belle Starr, "Queen of the Oklahoma Outlaws".
According to McMurtry's memoir, Books: A Memoir, the ultimate sources for Gus and Call were Don Quixote, the crazy old knight, and Sancho Panza, the peasant pragmatist, from Don Quixote. He stated: "What is important that, early on, I read some version of Don Quixote and pondered the grave differences (comically cast) between Sancho and the Don. Between the two is where fiction, as I've mostly read and written it, lives."
Other books of the Lonesome Dove series feature other prominent historical events and locations such as the Texan Santa Fe Expedition, the Great Raid of 1840, and the King Ranch, and characters such as Buffalo Hump, John Wesley Hardin, and Judge Roy Bean. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_the_Giant | André the Giant | André René Roussimoff (French: [ɑ̃dʁe ʁəne ʁusimɔf]; 19 May 1946 – 28 January 1993), better known by his ring name André the Giant, was a French professional wrestler and actor. Dubbed "the Eighth Wonder of the World", Roussimoff was known for his great size, which was a result of gigantism caused by excess human growth hormone.
Beginning his career in 1966, Roussimoff relocated to North America in 1971. From 1973 to the mid-1980s, Roussimoff was booked by World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) promoter Vincent J. McMahon as a roving "special attraction" who wrestled for promotions throughout the United States, as well as in Japan for New Japan Pro-Wrestling. During the 1980s wrestling boom, Roussimoff became a mainstay of the WWWF (by then renamed the World Wrestling Federation), being paired with the villainous manager Bobby Heenan and feuding with Hulk Hogan. The two headlined WrestleMania III in 1987, and in 1988, he defeated Hogan to win the WWF Heavyweight Championship, his sole world heavyweight championship, on the first episode of The Main Event. As his WWF career wound down after WrestleMania VI in 1990, Roussimoff wrestled primarily for All Japan Pro-Wrestling, usually alongside Giant Baba, until his sudden death.
After his death in 1993, Roussimoff became the inaugural inductee into the newly created WWF Hall of Fame. He was later a charter member of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame; the latter describes him as being "one of the most recognizable figures in the world both as a professional wrestler and as a pop culture icon." Outside of wrestling, Roussimoff is best known for appearing as Fezzik, the giant in the 1987 film The Princess Bride.
== Early life ==
André René Roussimoff was born on 19 May 1946 in Coulommiers, Seine-et-Marne, the son of immigrants, Boris Roussimoff (1908–1993) and Mariann Roussimoff Stoeff (née Marasjek; 1910–1998); his father was Bulgarian and his mother was Polish. He was raised Catholic. He had two older siblings and two younger. His childhood nickname was Dédé (, French: [dede]). At birth, André weighed 13 lb (6 kg); as a child, he displayed symptoms of gigantism, and was noted as "a good head taller than other kids", with abnormally long hands. In a 1970s television interview, Roussimoff stated that his mother was 5 ft 2 in (157 cm) tall and his father 6 ft 2 in (188 cm) tall, and that according to his father his grandfather was 7 ft 8 in (234 cm) tall. By the time he was 12, Roussimoff stood 191 cm (6 ft 3 in).
Roussimoff was an average student, though good at mathematics. When he was 14, Rousimoff decided against further schooling and joined the workforce, believing what he learned was sufficient for a career as a farmhand. He did not drop out of school, as compulsory education laws in France were no longer applicable to those aged 14 or older.
Roussimoff spent years working on his father's farm in Molien, where, according to his brother Jacques, he could perform the work of three men. He also completed an apprenticeship in woodworking, and next worked in a factory that manufactured engines for hay balers. None of these brought him any satisfaction. While Roussimoff was growing up in the 1950s, the Irish playwright Samuel Beckett was one of several adults who sometimes drove local children to school, including Roussimoff and his siblings.
== Professional wrestling career ==
=== Early career (1964–1973) ===
At the age of 18, Roussimoff moved to Paris and was taught professional wrestling by a local promoter, Robert Lageat, who recognized the earning potential of Roussimoff's size. He trained at night and worked as a mover during the day to pay living expenses. Roussimoff was billed as "Géant Ferré", a name based on the Picardian folk hero Grand Ferré. This later became "Jean Ferre". Canadian promoter and wrestler Frank Valois met Roussimoff in 1966, years later to become his business manager and adviser.
Roussimoff began his career wrestling in his native France. He made his TV debut that year on French national television against Le Petit Prince. In 1968 he defeated Franz van Buyten for the FFCP World Heavyweight Championship In 1969 he appeared on the United Kingdom's World of Sport program's regular wrestling slot and defeated Jim Hussey, father of Mark Rocco. Roussimoff also began making a name for himself wrestling in Germany, Australia, New Zealand, and Africa.
He made his Japanese debut for the International Wrestling Enterprise in 1970, billed as "Monster Roussimoff". Wrestling as both a singles and tag team competitor, he quickly was made the IWA World Tag Team Champion alongside Michael Nador. During his time in Japan, doctors first informed Roussimoff that he suffered from acromegaly.
Roussimoff next moved to Montreal, Canada in 1971, where he became an immediate success, regularly selling out the Montreal Forum. Promoters eventually ran out of plausible opponents for him and, as the novelty of his size wore off, the gate receipts dwindled. Roussimoff was defeated by Adnan Al-Kaissie in Baghdad in 1971, and wrestled numerous times in 1971 for Verne Gagne's American Wrestling Association (AWA) as a special attraction.
=== Touring special attraction (1973–1984) ===
In 1973, Vincent J. McMahon, founder of the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), became Rousimoff's agent. McMahon suggested several changes to Roussimoff's booking and presentation to enhance his starpower. He felt Roussimoff should be portrayed as a large, immovable monster, and to enhance the perception of his size, McMahon discouraged Roussimoff from performing maneuvers such as dropkicks (although he was capable of performing such agile maneuvers before his health deteriorated in later life). He also began billing Roussimoff as "André the Giant" and set up a travel-intensive schedule, lending him to wrestling associations around the world, to keep him from becoming overexposed in any area. Promoters had to guarantee Roussimoff a certain amount of money as well as pay McMahon's WWF booking fee.On 24 March 1973, Roussimoff debuted in the World Wide Wrestling Federation (later World Wrestling Federation) as a fan favorite, defeating Frank Valois and Bull Pometti in a handicap match in Philadelphia. Two days later he made his debut in New York's Madison Square Garden, defeating Buddy Wolfe.
Roussimoff was one of professional wrestling's most beloved babyfaces throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. As such, Gorilla Monsoon often stated that Roussimoff had not been defeated in 15 years by pinfall or submission prior to WrestleMania III. He had lost matches outside of the WWF: a loss to Adnan Al-Kaissie in Baghdad, Iraq in 1971, pinfall losses to Don Leo Jonathan in Montreal in 1972, Killer Kowalski in Quebec City in 1972 two draws and a countout loss to The Sheik in Toronto in 1974 after a fireball was thrown in Andre's face, knockout to Jerry Lawler in Memphis in 1975 and a count out to Lawler in Louisville in 1977, draw with Bobo Brazil at a battle royal in Detroit in 1976, Ronnie Garvin in Knoxville in 1978, Stan Hansen by disqualification in Japan in 1981, Kamala by countout in Toronto in 1984 and Canek in Mexico in 1984 and submission losses in Japan to Strong Kobayashi in 1972 and Antonio Inoki in 1986. He also had sixty-minute time-limit draws with two of the three major world champions of the day, Harley Race in Houston in 1979 and Nick Bockwinkel in Chicago in 1976.
In 1976, at the second Showdown at Shea, Roussimoff fought professional boxer Chuck Wepner in an unscripted boxer-versus-wrestler fight. The wild fight was shown via telecast as part of the undercard of the Muhammad Ali versus Antonio Inoki fight and ended when he threw Wepner over the top rope and outside the ring and won via count-out.
In 1980, he feuded with Hulk Hogan, when, unlike their more famous matches in the late 1980s, Hogan was the villain and Roussimoff was the hero, wrestling him at Shea Stadium's third Showdown at Shea event and in Pennsylvania, where after Roussimoff pinned Hogan to win the match, Hogan bodyslammed him much like their legendary WrestleMania III match in 1987. The feud continued in Japan in 1982 and 1983 with their roles reversed and with Antonio Inoki also involved.
One of Roussimoff's feuds pitted him against the "Mongolian Giant" Killer Khan. According to the storyline, Khan snapped Roussimoff's ankle during a match on 2 May 1981 in Rochester, New York by leaping off the top rope and crashing down upon it with his knee-drop. In reality, he had broken his ankle getting out of bed the morning before the match. The injury and subsequent rehabilitation was worked into the existing Roussimoff/Khan storyline. After a stay at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, Roussimoff returned with payback on his mind. The two battled on 20 July 1981, at Madison Square Garden in a match that resulted in a double disqualification. Their feud continued as fans filled arenas up and down the east coast to witness their matches. On 14 November 1981 at the Philadelphia Spectrum, he decisively defeated Khan in what was billed as a "Mongolian stretcher match", in which the loser must be taken to the dressing room on a stretcher. The same type of match was also held in Toronto. In early 1982 the two also fought in a series of matches in Japan with Arnold Skaaland in Roussimoff's corner.
=== World Wrestling Federation (1984–1991) ===
==== Feud with the Heenan Family (1984–1987) ====
In 1982, Vincent J. McMahon sold the World Wide Wrestling Federation to his son, Vince McMahon As McMahon began to expand his newly acquired promotion to the national level, he required his wrestlers to appear exclusively for him. McMahon signed Roussimoff to these terms in 1984, although he still allowed him to work in Japan for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW).
Roussimoff feuded with Big John Studd over which of the two men was the "true giant" of wrestling. Throughout the early to mid-1980s, Roussimoff and Studd fought all over the world, battling to try to determine who the real giant of wrestling was. In 1984, Studd took the feud to a new level when he and partner Ken Patera knocked out Roussimoff during a televised tag-team match and proceeded to cut off his hair. After gaining revenge on Patera, Roussimoff met Studd in a "body slam challenge" at the first WrestleMania, held 31 March 1985, at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Roussimoff slammed Studd to win the match and collect the $15,000 prize, then proceeded to throw cash to the fans before having the bag taken from him by Studd's manager, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan.
At WrestleMania 2 on 7 April 1986, Roussimoff continued to display his dominance by winning a twenty-man battle royal which featured top National Football League stars and wrestlers. He last eliminated Bret Hart to win the contest.
Following a final tour with New Japan Pro-Wrestling in mid-1986, and a win in Austria over CWA World champion Otto Wanz, Roussimoff began appearing exclusively with the World Wrestling Federation.
After WrestleMania 2, Roussimoff continued his feud with Studd and King Kong Bundy. Around this time, Roussimoff requested a leave of absence to tend to his health, since the effects from his acromegaly were beginning to take their toll, as well as to tour Japan. He had also been cast in the film The Princess Bride. To explain his absence, a storyline was developed in which Heenan—suggesting that Roussimoff was secretly afraid of Studd and Bundy, whom Heenan bragged were unbeatable—challenged Roussimoff and a partner of his choosing to wrestle Studd and Bundy in a televised tag-team match. When Roussimoff failed to show, WWF president Jack Tunney indefinitely suspended him. Later in the summer of 1986, upon Roussimoff's return to the United States, he began wearing a mask and competing as the "Giant Machine" in a stable known as the Machines. Big Machine and Super Machine were the other members; Hulk Hogan (as "Hulk Machine") and Roddy Piper (as "Piper Machine") were also one-time members. The WWF's television announcers sold the Machines—a gimmick that was copied from the New Japan Pro-Wrestling character "Super Strong Machine", played by Japanese wrestler Junji Hirata, —as "a new tag-team from Japan" and claimed not to know the identities of the wrestlers, even though it was obvious to fans that it was Roussimoff competing as the Giant Machine. Heenan, Studd, and Bundy complained to Tunney, who eventually told Heenan that if it could be proven that Roussimoff and the Giant Machine were the same person, Roussimoff would be fired. Roussimoff thwarted Heenan, Studd, and Bundy at every turn. Then, in late 1986, the Giant Machine "disappeared" and Roussimoff was reinstated. Foreshadowing Roussimoff's heel turn, Heenan expressed his approval of the reinstatement but did not explain why.
==== Alliance with Bobby Heenan and Ted DiBiase (1987–1989) ====
Roussimoff agreed to turn heel in early 1987 to be the counter to the biggest "babyface" in professional wrestling at that time, Hulk Hogan. On an edition of Piper's Pit in 1987, Hogan was presented a trophy for being the WWF World Heavyweight Champion for three years; Roussimoff came out to congratulate him, shaking Hogan's hand with a strong grip, which surprised the Hulkster. On the following week's Piper's Pit, Roussimoff was presented a slightly smaller trophy for being "the only undefeated wrestler in wrestling history." Although he had suffered a handful of countout and disqualification losses in WWF, he had never been pinned or forced to submit in a WWF ring. Hogan came out to congratulate him and ended up being the focal point of the interview. Apparently annoyed, Roussimoff walked out in the midst of Hogan's speech. A discussion between Roussimoff and Hogan was scheduled, and on a Piper's Pit that aired 7 February 1987, the two met. Hogan was introduced first, followed by Roussimoff, who was led by longtime rival Bobby Heenan.
Speaking on behalf of his new protégé, Heenan accused Hogan of being Roussimoff's friend only so he would not have to defend his title against him. Hogan tried to reason with Roussimoff, but his pleas were ignored as he challenged Hogan to a match for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania III. Hogan was still seemingly in disbelief as to what Roussimoff was doing, prompting Heenan to say "You can't believe it? Maybe you'll believe this, Hogan" before Roussimoff ripped off the T-shirt and crucifix from Hogan, with the crucifix scratching Hogan's chest, causing him to bleed.
Following Hogan's acceptance of his challenge on a later edition of Piper's Pit, the two were part of a 20-man over-the-top-rope battle-royal on 14 March edition of Saturday Night's Main Event X at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. Although the battle royal was won by Hercules, Roussimoff claimed to have gained a psychological advantage over Hogan when he threw the WWF World Heavyweight Champion over the top rope. The match, which was actually taped on 21 February 1987, aired only two weeks before WrestleMania III to make it seem like Hogan had met his match in André the Giant.
At WrestleMania III, he was billed at 520 lb (236 kg), and the stress of such immense weight on his bones and joints resulted in constant pain. After recent back surgery, he was also wearing a brace underneath his wrestling singlet. In front of a record crowd, Hogan won the match after body-slamming Roussimoff (later dubbed "the bodyslam heard around the world"), followed by Hogan's running leg drop finisher. Years later, Hogan claimed that Roussimoff was so heavy, he felt more like 320 kg (700 lb), and that he tore his latissimus dorsi muscle when slamming him.
Another myth about the match is that no one, not even WWF owner Vince McMahon, knew until the day of the event whether Roussimoff would lose the match. In reality, he agreed to lose the match sometime before, mostly for health reasons. Contrary to popular belief, it was not the first time that Hogan had successfully body-slammed him in a WWF match. A then-heel Hogan had slammed a then-face Roussimoff following their match at the Showdown at Shea on 9 August 1980, though Roussimoff was somewhat lighter (around 210 kg (470 lb)) and more athletic at the time (Hogan also slammed him in a match in Hamburg, Pennsylvania, a month later). This took place in the territorial days of American wrestling three years before WWF began national expansion, so many of those who watched WrestleMania III had never seen the Giant slammed (Roussimoff had also previously allowed Harley Race, El Canek and Stan Hansen, among others, to slam him).
By the time of WrestleMania III, the WWF went national, giving more meaning to the Roussimoff–Hogan match that took place then. The feud between Roussimoff and Hogan simmered during the summer of 1987, as Roussimoff's health declined. The feud began heating up again when wrestlers were named the captains of rival teams at the inaugural Survivor Series event. During their approximately one minute of battling each other during the match, Hogan dominated Roussimoff and was on the brink of knocking him from the ring, but was tripped up by his partners, Bundy and One Man Gang, and would be counted out. Roussimoff went on to be the sole survivor of the match, pinning Bam Bam Bigelow before Hogan returned to the ring to attack André and knock him out of the ring. Roussimoff later got revenge when, after Hogan won a match against Bundy on Saturday Night's Main Event, he snuck up from behind and began choking Hogan to the brink of unconsciousness, not letting go even after an army of seven face-aligned wrestlers ran to the ring to try to pull him away; it took Hacksaw Jim Duggan breaking a piece of wood over his back (which he no-sold) for him to let go, after which Hogan was pulled to safety. As was the case with the SNME battle royal a year earlier, the series of events was one of the pieces that helped build interest in a possible one-on-one rematch between Hogan and Roussimoff, and to make it seem that Roussimoff was certain to win easily when they did meet. Meanwhile, Rousimoff returned to Germany in December 1987 for another match with Wanz, which he lost by countout.
In the meantime, the "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase failed to persuade Hogan to sell him the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. After failing to defeat Hogan in a subsequent series of matches, DiBiase turned to Roussimoff to win it for him. He and DiBiase had teamed several times in the past, including in Japan and in the WWF in the late 1970s and early 1980s when both were faces at the time, but this was not acknowledged during this new storyline. The earlier attack and DiBiase's insertion into the feud set up the Hogan-Roussimoff rematch on The Main Event, to air 5 February 1988, on a live broadcast on NBC. Acting as his hired gun, Roussimoff won the WWF World Heavyweight Championship from Hogan (his first singles title) in a match where it was later revealed that appointed referee Dave Hebner was "detained backstage", and a replacement (whom Hogan afterwards initially accused of having been paid by DiBiase to get plastic surgery to look like Dave, but was revealed to have been his evil twin brother, Earl Hebner), who made a three-count on Hogan while Hogan's left shoulder was off the mat.
After winning, Roussimoff "sold" the title to DiBiase; the transaction was declared invalid by then-WWF president Jack Tunney and the title was declared vacant. This was shown on WWF's NBC program The Main Event. At WrestleMania IV, Roussimoff and Hulk Hogan fought to a double disqualification in a WWF title tournament match (with the idea in the storyline saying that Roussimoff was again working on DiBiase's behalf in giving DiBiase a clearer path in the tournament). Afterward, Roussimoff and Hogan's feud died down after a steel cage match held at WrestleFest on 31 July 1988, in Milwaukee. Hogan was the winner.
At the inaugural SummerSlam pay-per-view held at Madison Square Garden, Roussimoff and DiBiase (billed as The Mega Bucks) faced Hogan and WWF World Heavyweight Champion "Macho Man" Randy Savage (known as The Mega Powers) in the main event, with Jesse "The Body" Ventura as the special guest referee. During the match, the Mega Powers' manager, Miss Elizabeth, distracted the Mega Bucks and Ventura when she climbed up on the ring apron, removed her yellow skirt and walked around in a pair of red panties. This allowed Hogan and Savage time to recover and eventually win the match with Hogan pinning DiBiase. Savage forced Ventura's hand down for the final three-count, due to Ventura's character historically being at odds with Hogan, and his unwillingness to count the fall.
Concurrent with the developing feud with the Mega Powers, Roussimoff was placed in a feud with Jim Duggan, which began after Duggan knocked out Roussimoff with a two-by-four board during a television taping. Despite Duggan's popularity with fans, Roussimoff regularly got the upper hand in the feud.
Roussimoff's next major feud was against Jake "The Snake" Roberts. In this storyline, it was said Roussimoff was afraid of snakes, something Roberts exposed on Saturday Night's Main Event when he threw his snake, Damien, on the frightened Roussimoff; as a result, he suffered a kayfabe mild heart attack and vowed revenge. During the next few weeks, Roberts frequently walked to ringside carrying his snake in its bag during Roussimoff's matches, causing the latter to run from the ring in fright. Throughout their feud (which culminated at WrestleMania V), Roberts constantly used Damien to gain a psychological edge over the much larger and stronger Roussimoff.
In 1989, Roussimoff and the returning Big John Studd briefly reprised their feud, beginning at WrestleMania V, when Studd was the referee in the match with Roberts, this time with Studd as a face and Roussimoff as the heel.
During the late summer and autumn of 1989, Roussimoff engaged in a brief feud, consisting almost entirely of house shows (non-televised events), and one televised match on 28 October 1989, at Madison Square Garden with then-WWF Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior. Roussimoff began to wear face paint with a similar design to The Warrior and began called himself "The Ultimate Giant" when he appeared on The Brother Love Show. The younger Warrior, the WWF's rising star, regularly squashed the aging Roussimoff in an attempt to showcase his star quality and promote him as the "next big thing".
==== Colossal Connection (1989–1990) ====
In late 1989, Roussimoff was joined with fellow Heenan Family member Haku to form a new tag team called the Colossal Connection, in part to fill a void left by the departure of Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson (the Brain Busters, who were also members of Heenan's stable) from the WWF, and also to continue to keep the aging Roussimoff in the main event spotlight. He lost to The Ultimate Warrior in 20 seconds at a house show in Cape Girardeau, Missouri on 11 December 1989. His last single match was a loss to The Ultimate Warrior on March 3, 1990, at a house show in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Colossal Connection immediately targeted WWF Tag Team Champions Demolition (who had recently won the belts from the Brain Busters). At a television taping on 13 December 1989, the Colossal Connection defeated Demolition to win the titles. Roussimoff and Haku successfully defended their title, mostly against Demolition, until WrestleMania VI on 1 April 1990, when Demolition took advantage of a mistimed move by the champions to regain the belts. After the match, a furious Heenan blamed him for the title loss and after shouting at him, before Heenan slapped him in the face; an angry Roussimoff responded with a slap of his own that sent Heenan staggering from the ring. Roussimoff also caught Haku's kick attempt, sending him reeling from the ring as well, prompting support and turning Roussimoff face for the first time since 1987. Due to his ongoing health issues, Roussimoff was unable to wrestle at the time of WrestleMania VI and Haku actually wrestled the entire match against Demolition without tagging him in.
On weekend television shows following WrestleMania VI, Bobby Heenan vowed to spit in Roussimoff's face when he came crawling back to the Heenan Family. He wrestled one more time with Haku, teaming up to face Demolition on a house show in Honolulu on 10 April, Roussimoff was knocked out of the ring and The Colossal Connection lost via count-out. After the match, Roussimoff and Haku would fight each other, marking the end of the team. His final WWF match of 1990 came at a combined WWF/All Japan/New Japan show on 13 April in Tokyo, Japan when he teamed with Giant Baba to defeat Demolition in a non-title match. Roussimoff won by pinning Smash.
==== Sporadic appearances (1990–1991) ====
Roussimoff returned in the winter of 1990, but it was not to the World Wrestling Federation. Instead, Roussimoff made an interview appearance for Herb Abrams' fledgling Universal Wrestling Federation on 11 October in Reseda, California. (the segment aired in 1991). He appeared in an interview segment with Captain Lou Albano and put over the UWF. The following month on 30 November at a house show in Miami, Florida, the World Wrestling Federation announced his return as a participant in the 1991 Royal Rumble (to be held in Miami two months later). Roussimoff was also mentioned as a participant on television but would ultimately back out due to a leg injury.
His on-air return finally took place at the WWF's Super-Stars & Stripes Forever USA Network special on 17 March 1991, when he came out to shake the hand of Big Boss Man after an altercation with Mr. Perfect. The following week at WrestleMania VII, he came to the aid of the Boss Man in his match against Mr. Perfect. Roussimoff finally returned to action on 26 April 1991, in a six-man tag-team matchup when he teamed with The Rockers in a winning effort against Mr. Fuji and The Orient Express at a house show in Belfast, Northern Ireland. On 11 May 1991 he participated in a 17-man battle-royal at a house show in Detroit, which was won by Kerry Von Erich. This was Andre's final WWF match, although he was involved in several subsequent storylines. His last major WWF storyline following WrestleMania VII had the major heel managers (Bobby Heenan, Sensational Sherri, Slick, and Mr. Fuji) trying to recruit Roussimoff one-by-one, only to be turned down in various humiliating ways (e.g. Heenan had his hand crushed, Sherri received a spanking, Slick got locked in the trunk of the car he was offering to Roussimoff, and Mr. Fuji got a pie in his face). Finally, Jimmy Hart appeared live on WWF Superstars to announce that he had successfully signed Roussimoff to tag-team with Earthquake. When asked to confirm this by Gene Okerlund, Roussimoff denied the claims. This led to Earthquake's attacking Roussimoff from behind (injuring his knee). Jimmy Hart would later get revenge for the humiliation by secretly signing Tugboat and forming the Natural Disasters. This led to Roussimoff's final major WWF appearance at SummerSlam 1991, where he seconded the Bushwhackers in their match against the Disasters. Roussimoff was on crutches at ringside, and after the Disasters won the match, they set out to attack him, but the Legion of Doom made their way to ringside and got in between them and the Giant, who was preparing to defend himself with one of his crutches. The Disasters left the ringside area as they were outnumbered by the Legion of Doom, the Bushwhackers and Roussimoff, who struck both Earthquake and Typhoon (the former Tugboat) with the crutch as they left. His final WWF appearance came at a house show in Paris, France, on 9 October 1991. He was in Davey Boy Smith's corner as the Bulldog faced Earthquake; Smith hit Earthquake with Roussimoff's crutch, allowing Smith to win.
=== All Japan Pro Wrestling; Universal Wrestling Association (1990–1992) ===
After WrestleMania VI, Roussimoff spent the rest of his in-ring career in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) and Mexico's Universal Wrestling Association (UWA), where he performed under the name "André el Gigante". He toured with AJPW three times per year, from 1990 to 1992, usually teaming with Giant Baba in tag-team matches.
Roussimoff made a couple of guest appearances for Herb Abrams' Universal Wrestling Federation, in 1991, feuding with Big John Studd, though he never had a match in the promotion.
In his last U.S. television appearance, Andre appeared on World Championship Wrestling's (WCW) Clash of the Champions XX special that aired on TBS on 2 September 1992, where he gave a brief interview. During the same event, he appeared alongside Gordon Solie and was later seen talking with him during the gala celebrating the 20th anniversary of wrestling on TBS.
He did his final tour of Mexico in 1992 in a selection of six-man tag matches alongside Bam Bam Bigelow and a variety of Lucha Libre stars facing among others Bad News Allen and future WWF Champion Yokozuna. Roussimoff made his final tour with AJPW from October to December 1992; he wrestled what became the final match of his career on 4 December 1992, teaming with Giant Baba and Rusher Kimura to defeat Haruka Eigen, Masanobu Fuchi, and Motoshi Okuma.
== Acting career ==
Roussimoff branched out into acting again in the 1970s and 1980s, after a 1967 French boxing film, making his USA acting debut playing a Sasquatch ("Bigfoot") in a two-part episode aired in 1976 on the television series The Six Million Dollar Man. He appeared in other television shows, including The Greatest American Hero, B. J. and the Bear, The Fall Guy and 1990's Zorro.
Towards the end of his career, Roussimoff appeared in several films. He had an uncredited appearance in the 1984 film Conan the Destroyer as Dagoth, the resurrected horned giant god who is killed by Conan (Arnold Schwarzenegger). That same year, he also made an appearance in Micki & Maude (billed as André Rousimmoff). He appeared most notably as Fezzik, his own favorite role, in the 1987 film The Princess Bride. Roussimoff found it novel and especially gratifying that no one stared at him on set during production. Both the film and his performance retain a devoted following. In a short interview with Lanny Poffo, André stated that the movie meant so much to him that he made his wrestling pals watch an advance copy of the VHS with him over and over again while supplying dinner, drinks, and sweetly asking each time, "Did you like my performance?".
In his last film, he had a cameo role as a circus giant in the comedy Trading Mom, which was released in 1994, a year after his death.
=== Filmography ===
== Personal life ==
Roussimoff was mentioned in the 1974 Guinness Book of World Records as the then-highest-paid wrestler in history. He earned an annual salary of approximately $400,000 (equivalent to $2,611,000 in 2025) at that time.
Robin Christensen is Roussimoff's only child. Her mother Jean Christensen (who died in 2008) became acquainted with Roussimoff through the wrestling business around 1972 or 1973. Christensen had regular contact with her father, but saw him only five times in her life. After his death, Christensen spoke positively about her father and became a guardian of his image and legacy.
In 1989, Roussimoff was arrested and charged with assault after he attacked a KCRG-TV cameraman shooting his match with The Ultimate Warrior at Cedar Rapids, Iowa's Five Seasons Center. While acquitted on the assault charge, he was fined $100 (equivalent to $260 in 2025) for criminal mischief and ordered to pay KCRG $233 (equivalent to $605 in 2025) in damage to its equipment.
William Goldman, the author of the novel and the screenplay of The Princess Bride, wrote in his nonfiction work Which Lie Did I Tell? that Roussimoff was one of the gentlest and most generous people he ever knew. Whenever Roussimoff ate with someone in a restaurant, he would pay, but he would also insist on paying when he was a guest. On one occasion, after Roussimoff attended a dinner with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Wilt Chamberlain, Schwarzenegger had quietly moved to the cashier to pay before Roussimoff could, but then found himself being physically lifted, carried from his table and deposited on top of his car by Roussimoff and Chamberlain.
Roussimoff owned a ranch in Ellerbe, North Carolina, looked after by two of his close friends. When he was not on the road, he loved spending time at the ranch, where he tended to his cattle, played with his dogs, and entertained friends. While there were custom-made chairs and a few other modifications in his home to accommodate his size, tales that everything in his home was custom-made for a large man are said to be exaggerated. Since Roussimoff could not easily go shopping due to his fame and size, he was known to spend hours watching and purchasing items from the shopping channel QVC.
=== Health ===
Roussimoff has been dubbed "the greatest drunk on Earth" for once consuming 119 12-US-fluid-ounce (350 mL) beers (in total, over 41 litres [72 imp pt] or 11.16 gallons) in six hours. In an appearance on Late Night with David Letterman on 23 January 1984, Roussimoff told David Letterman he once drank 117 beers. When Letterman asked if he was drunk, Roussimoff said he couldn't remember because he passed out. He also said he quit drinking beer 14 months prior to this appearance on Letterman.
On an episode of WWE's Legends of Wrestling, Mike Graham said Roussimoff once drank 156 16-US-fluid-ounce (470 mL) beers (over 73 litres [128 imp pt] or 19.5 gallons) in one sitting, which was confirmed by Dusty Rhodes. The Fabulous Moolah wrote in her autobiography that Roussimoff drank 127 beers at the bar of the Abraham Lincoln Hotel in Reading, Pennsylvania and later passed out in the lobby. The staff could not move him and had to leave him there until he awoke.
In a shoot interview, Ken Patera recalled an occasion where Roussimoff was challenged by Dick Murdoch to a beer drinking contest. After nine or so hours, Roussimoff had drunk 116 beers. A tale recounted by Cary Elwes in his book about the making of The Princess Bride has Roussimoff falling on top of somebody while drunk, after which the NYPD sent an undercover officer to follow Roussimoff around whenever he went out drinking in their city to make sure he did not fall on anyone again.
Another story says that, prior to his famous WrestleMania III match, Roussimoff drank 14 bottles of wine. Hulk Hogan has stated that Roussimoff drank a case of 12 bottles of Pouilly-Fuissé during a three-hour bus journey.
An urban legend exists surrounding Roussimoff's 1987 surgery in which his size made it impossible for the anesthesiologist to estimate a dosage via standard methods; consequently, his alcohol tolerance was used as a guideline instead. Some reports claim this is true.
Some stories of Roussimoff's eating have circulated, such as one dinner where he ate twelve 16-ounce steaks and fifteen lobsters in one sitting. However, according to his usual traveling partner Tim White, Roussimoff only ate so much on occasion to show off, saying, "He had a substantial appetite, but for his size, it was completely normal."
Roussimoff had severe pericardial effusion and underwent pericardiocentesis at Duke University Hospital in the 1980s.
== Death ==
On the morning of 28 January 1993, Roussimoff died of congestive heart failure and an apparent heart attack in his sleep, likely associated with his untreated acromegaly, at a Paris hotel, at the age of 46. After he visited and played cards in Molien with some of his oldest friends on the night of 27 January 1993, he returned to his hotel room around 1 a.m. CET on 28 January. Twelve hours later that afternoon, Roussimoff was found dead in his room by hotel management and his chauffeur. He was in Paris at the time to attend his father's funeral. While there, he had decided to extend his stay there to be with his mother on her birthday.
In his will, he specified that his remains should be cremated and "disposed of". Upon his death in Paris, his family in France held a funeral for him, intending to bury him near his father. When they learned of his wish to be cremated, his body was flown to the United States, where he was cremated according to his wishes. His ashes were scattered at his ranch in Ellerbe, North Carolina. Additionally, in accordance with his will, he left his estate to his daughter Robin, his sole beneficiary.
== Other media ==
Roussimoff made numerous appearances as himself in video games, starting with WWF WrestleMania. He also appears posthumously in Virtual Pro Wrestling 64, WWF No Mercy, Legends of Wrestling, Legends of Wrestling II, Showdown: Legends of Wrestling, WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw, WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2006, WWE Legends of WrestleMania, WWE All Stars, WWE 2K14, WWE 2K15, WWE 2K16, WWE 2K17, WWE 2K18, WWE 2K19, WWE 2K20, WWE 2K Battlegrounds, WWE 2K22, WWE 2K23, WWE 2K24, and many others.
In January 2005, WWE released André The Giant, a DVD focusing on the life and career of Roussimoff. The DVD is a reissue of the out-of-print André The Giant VHS made by Coliseum Video in 1985, with commentary by Michael Cole and Tazz replacing Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura's commentary on his WrestleMania match with Big John Studd. The video is hosted by Lord Alfred Hayes. Later matches, including his battles against Hulk Hogan while a heel, are not included on this VHS.
== Legacy ==
In 1993, when the then-World Wrestling Federation created the WWF Hall of Fame, André the Giant was the inaugural and sole inductee in the class of 1993.
Roussimoff was the inspiration for the 1998 film My Giant, written by his friend Billy Crystal, whom he had met during the filming of The Princess Bride.
Paul Wight, better known as Big Show, is more similar in body structure to Roussimoff than any other wrestler since Roussimoff's death. He was originally billed as the son of André during his stint in WCW (when he was known as simply "the Giant") despite there being no biological relationship. While also suffering from acromegaly, unlike Roussimoff, Wight did get surgery on his pituitary gland in the early 1990s, which successfully halted the progress of his condition. The former wrestler Giant González suffered from problems similar to those that Roussimoff had near the end of his life and died in 2010 due to diabetes complications.
In 1999, he was the subject of an episode of A&E Biography, titled André the Giant: Larger Than Life. The documentary covered his childhood and early life in France, as well as the beginning of his wrestling career, his struggles with acromegaly, his personal life, and his final years. His brother, Jacques Roussimoff, was interviewed for the documentary, as were fellow wrestling personalities Gorilla Monsoon, Tim White, Arnold Skaaland, Vince McMahon, Freddie Blassie, Killer Kowalski, Rene Goulet, and Frenchy Bernard, as well as wrestling historian Sheldon Goldberg. Several of his longtime hometown friends were interviewed as well. The documentary described Roussimoff as pro wrestling's "first and only international attraction" and that "on his broad shoulders, wrestling rose from its status as a questionable sport to become big business, and some might argue, performance art."
The Obey brand icon originated from wheatpaste posters that artist Shepard Fairey created based upon a photo of André the Giant that he had found in a newspaper.
Capcom's video game character Hugo, from the Street Fighter series (known as Andore in the Final Fight series) is based on him.
The 2014 graphic novel André The Giant: The Life and The Legend (First Second Books), written and drawn by Box Brown, tells the story of his life and career. Research for the book included interviews with his fellow wrestlers and actors such as Christopher Guest, Mandy Patinkin and others.
In 2017, Showtime released Waiting for Andre, a semi-fictional movie about the friendship between playwright Samuel Beckett and Roussimoff during the time Beckett lived in Ussy-sur-Marne, outside of Paris. A novel of the movie was published the following year by Steffan Piper (ISBN 9781980756217 / 198075621X from Amazon print on demand).
On 10 March 2014, episode of Raw, WrestleMania XXX host Hulk Hogan announced that in honor of Roussimoff's legacy, WWE was establishing the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, that would take place at the event, with the winner receiving the André the Giant Memorial Trophy (made in the likeness of Roussimoff). On 6 April 2014, at WrestleMania XXX, Cesaro won the match after eliminating Big Show using a body slam similar to the body slam Hulk Hogan used on Roussimoff at WrestleMania III. The battle royal has since become a yearly WrestleMania Weekend tradition.
=== Biopics ===
In 1999, Biography produced and aired a documentary called Andre The Giant: Larger Than Life.
On 9 May 2016, it was announced that a movie based on the 2015 authorized graphic novel biography André the Giant: Closer to Heaven was in the plans made by Lion Forge Comics along with producers Scott Steindorff, Dylan Russell and consulted by Roussimoff's daughter, Robin Christensen-Roussimoff.
On 10 April 2018, HBO aired a documentary film called André the Giant.
== Championships and accomplishments ==
50th State Big Time Wrestling
Texas Battle Royal (1977)
All Japan Pro Wrestling
World's Strongest Tag Determination League East Sports Special Award (1991) – with Giant Baba
Championship Wrestling from Florida
NWA Florida Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Dusty Rhodes
Fédération Française de Catch Professionnel
World Heavyweight Championship (France) (1 time)
Houston Wrestling
Two-Ring Battle Royal (1974, 1975)
International Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
Class of 2021
International Wrestling Enterprise
IWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Michael Nador
NWA Hollywood Wrestling
Los Angeles Battle Royal (1975, 1980)
NWA San Francisco
Cow Palace Battle Royal (1977)
New Japan Pro-Wrestling
International Wrestling Grand Prix (1985)
MSG League (1982)
MSG Tag League (1981) – with Rene Goulet
Sagawa Express Cup (1986)
Greatest 18 Club inductee
NWA Tri-State
NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Tri-State version) (1 time) – with Dusty Rhodes
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
Class of 2002
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Most Popular Wrestler of the Year (1977, 1982)
Match of the Year (1981) vs. Killer Khan on 2 May
Match of the Year (1988) vs. Hulk Hogan at The Main Event
Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (1988)
Editor's Award (1993)
Ranked No. 3 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003
Sports Illustrated
Ranked No. 16 of the 20 Greatest WWE Wrestlers Of All Time
Stampede Wrestling
Stampede Wrestling Hall of Fame (Class of 1995)
World Championship Wrestling (Australia)
NWA Austra-Asian Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ron Miller
World Wrestling Federation
WWF Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
WWF Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Haku
Slammy Award (1 time)
Bobby "The Brain" Heenan Scholarship Award (1987) with The Islanders (Haku and Tama), Hercules, King Kong Bundy and Harley Race
WWF Hall of Fame (Class of 1993)
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Feud of the Year (1981) vs. Killer Khan
Most Embarrassing Wrestler (1989)
Worst Feud of the Year (1984) vs. Big John Studd
Worst Feud of the Year (1989) vs. the Ultimate Warrior
Worst Worked Match of the Year (1987) vs. Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania 3
Worst Worked Match of the Year (1989) vs. the Ultimate Warrior on 31 October
Worst Tag Team (1990, 1991) with Giant Baba
Worst Wrestler (1989, 1991, 1992)
Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)
Canadian Wrestling Hall of Fame
Class of 2016
The Official Wrestling Museum
The Official Wrestling Museum Hall of Fame (2023) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telangana | Telangana | Telangana is a state in India situated in the south-central part of the Indian subcontinent on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the eleventh largest state by area and the twelfth most populated state in India, according to the 2011 census. On 2 June 2014, Telangana was separated from the northwestern part of United Andhra Pradesh as a newly formed state, with Hyderabad as its capital. It borders Maharashtra to the north, Chhattisgarh to the northeast, Andhra Pradesh to the southeast, and Karnataka to the southwest.
Telugu, one of the classical languages of India, is the most widely spoken and the primary official language of the Telangana state, whereas Urdu is recognised as the second official language. Additionally, several tribal languages such as Gondi, Kolami, Koya and Lambadi are spoken in different regions of the state.
The economy of Telangana is the eighth largest in India, with a gross state domestic product (GSDP) of ₹18 trillion (US$210 billion) and has a GSDP per capita of ₹390,564 (US$4,600) for the financial year 2024–25.
Telangana has emerged as a major focal point for IT software companies, industry and the services sector. The state is also the main administrative center of many Indian defence aerospace and research labs including Bharat Dynamics Limited, Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory, Defence Research and Development Organisation and Defence Research and Development Laboratory.
== Etymology ==
According to one popular theory, the name derives from Trilinga desha ("land of three lingas") as the region is home to 3 prominent Shaivite shrines: Kaleshwaram (present-day Telangana), Srisailam and Draksharama (present-day Andhra Pradesh).
According to Jayadheer Tirumala Rao, a historian, the name Telangana has Gondi origins. He asserts that it is derived from "Telangadh," which means "south" in the Gondi language, and has been referred in the "Gond script dating back to about 2,000 years."
One of the earliest recorded uses of a similar term is found in the name of Malik Maqbul Tilangani (14th century CE), who was called Tilangani, which implies that he was from Telangana. He was the commander of the Warangal Fort (Kataka Pāludu) and later Wazir (Minister) under Firuz Shah Tughlaq.
A 16th-century travel writer, Firishta, recorded in his book:
During the just reign of Ibrahim Kootb Shah, Tulingana, like Egypt, became the mart of the whole world. Merchants from Toorkistan, Arabia, and Persia resorted to it; and they met with such encouragement that they found in it inducements to return frequently. The greatest luxuries from foreign parts daily abounded at the king's hospitable board.
The word "Telinga" changed over time to "Telangana" and the name "Telangana" was designated to distinguish the predominantly Telugu region of the erstwhile Hyderabad State from its predominantly Marathi one, Marathwada. After Asaf Jahi ceded the Seemandhra region to the British, the rest of the Telugu region retained the name Telangana and the other parts were called Madras Presidency's Circars and Ceded Districts.
== History ==
Throughout antiquity and the Middle Ages, the Telangana region was part of multiple Indian empires; such as the Maurya, Satavahana, Vishnukundina, Chalukya, Chola, Rashtrakuta, Kakatiya, Delhi Sultanate, Bahmani Sultanate and Golconda Sultanate. During the 17th to 19th centuries, the region was ruled by the Mughals and Nizam of Hyderabad. In 1823, the Nizams ceded Northern Circars (in Coastal Andhra) and Ceded Districts (in Rayalaseema) to British India under a subsidiary alliance which reduced it to that of a landlocked princely state bounded on all sides by British India.
Following Indian Independence in 1947, Hyderabad state joined the Union of India in 1948 after a police action. In 1956, Hyderabad State was dissolved and its Telugu-speaking region Telangana was merged with the Andhra State to form Andhra Pradesh. A peasant-driven movement began to advocate for separation from Andhra Pradesh starting in the early 1950s, and continued until Telangana was granted statehood on 2 June 2014.
The historic city Golconda in pre-Independent Hyderabad established itself as a diamond trading centre, and until the end of the 19th century, the Golconda market was the primary source of the finest and largest diamonds in the world. Thus, the name Golconda Diamonds became synonymous with Golconda itself.
=== Early history ===
==== Aśmaka (Assaka) Mahajanapada ====
One of the earliest known political formations in the region of present-day Telangana was the ancient Aśmaka (Assaka) Mahajanapada, which flourished roughly between 700 BCE and 400 BCE. Distinguished as the only southern kingdom among the sixteen great Mahajanapadas of early Iron Age India, Aśmaka held an important place in the subcontinent's historical and cultural landscape.
Buddhist texts and the Puranas describe Aśmaka as a prosperous kingdom situated along the banks of the Godavari River, south of the Vindhya ranges. Its capital city, Podana—also referred to as Potali or Paudanyapura—is identified by most scholars with modern-day Bodhan in Telangana The prominence of Aśmaka in early historical texts highlights the deep antiquity and cultural significance of the Telangana region.
From 230 BCE to 220 CE, the Satavahana dynasty became the dominant power in this area. It originated from the lands between the Godavari and Krishna rivers and was based at Amaravathi and Dharanikota. After the decline of the Satavahanas, various dynasties, such as the Vakataka, Vishnukundina, Chalukya, Rashtrakuta and Western Chalukya, ruled the area.
=== Medieval period ===
The Telangana area experienced its golden age during the reign of the Kakatiya dynasty, which ruled most parts of the present-day Andhra Pradesh and Telangana from 1083 to 1323 CE. Rudrama Devi and Prataparudra II were prominent rulers from the this dynasty. The dynasty weakened with the attack of Malik Kafur in 1309 and was dissolved after the defeat of Prataparudra by the forces of Muhammad bin Tughluq in 1323.
The area came under the rule of the Delhi Sultanate in the 14th century, followed by the Bahmani Sultanate. Quli Qutb Mulk, a governor of Golconda, revolted against the Bahmani Sultanate and established the Qutb Shahi dynasty in 1518. On 21 September 1687, the Golconda Sultanate came under the rule of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb after a year-long siege of the Golconda fort.
During the early seventeenth century a strong cotton-weaving industry existed in Telangana. Large quantities of cotton were produced for domestic consumption and exporting. High quality plain and patterned cloth made of muslin and calico was produced.
In 1712, Qamar-ud-din Khan was appointed by emperor Farrukhsiyar as the viceroy of Deccan with the title Nizam-ul-Mulk (meaning "Administrator of the Realm"). He was later recalled to Delhi, with Mubariz Khan appointed as the viceroy. In 1724, Qamar-ud-din Khan defeated Mubariz Khan to reclaim the Deccan suba, establishing it as an autonomous province of the Mughal empire. He took the name Asif Jah, starting what came to be known as the Asaf Jahi dynasty. He named the area Hyderabad Deccan. Subsequent rulers retained the title Nizam ul-Mulk and were called Asif Jahi Nizams or nizams of Hyderabad. Hyderabad Nizams remained the tributary of marathas after suffering series of defeats paying annual chauth in return for retaining their domain. The Medak and Warangal divisions of Telangana were part of their realm.
When Asif Jah I died in 1748, there was political unrest due to contention for the throne among his sons, who were aided by opportunistic neighbouring states and colonial foreign forces. In 1769, Hyderabad city became the formal capital of the Nizams. The Nizam Nasir-ud-dawlah, Asaf Jah IV signed the subsidiary alliance with the British in 1799 and lost its control over the state's defence and foreign affairs.
All of the Telugu speaking regions of present-day Telangana, Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema were under the rule of Asaf Jahi I. However, after the second monarch, Nizam Ali Khan, Asaf Jah II (1762–1803), signed the Treaty of Subsidiary Alliance with the British in 1798, the rulers were soon under financial duress as the state had to pay the British East India Company lakhs of rupees a year to maintain the foreign troops.
The Nizam's government kept borrowing money from Palmer and Company in the first half of the 19th century, which it could not repay. Instead, the EIC paid-off the bank, and in return annexed the present-day Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions from the Nizams, which were since then referred to as Circars (which means the region sold to the British lords) and Ceded, respectively.
Hyderabad State became a princely state among the presidencies and provinces of British India.
In 1787, heavy flooding killed over 20,000, causing a plague which killed about 10,656 people in Telangana.
=== Modern period ===
When India became independent from the British Empire in 1947, the Nizam of Hyderabad did not want to merge with the Indian Union and wanted to remain independent. The Government of India annexed Hyderabad State on 17 September 1948 after a military operation called Operation Polo. It appointed a civil servant, M. K. Vellodi, as first chief minister of Hyderabad State on 26 January 1950. He administered the state with the help of English-educated bureaucrats from the Madras and Bombay states, who were familiar with British systems of administration unlike the bureaucrats of Hyderabad State who used a completely different administrative system. The official language of the state was switched from Urdu to English.
In 1952, Burgula Ramakrishna Rao was elected chief minister of the Hyderabad State in its first democratic election. During this time, there were violent agitations by some Telangana natives to send the Madras state bureaucrats back and implement a rule by the natives (mulkis) of Hyderabad. Syed Alam Sharjil was elected chief minister of Hyderabad after Dr. Burgula Ramakrishana Rao resigned from the post.
The Telangana Rebellion was a peasant revolt supported by the communists. It originated in the Telangana regions of the Hyderabad State between 1946 and 1951, led by the Communist Party of India (CPI).
The revolt began in the Nalgonda district against the feudal lords of Reddy and Velama castes. It quickly spread to the Warangal and Bidar districts. Peasant farmers and labourers revolted against the local feudal landlords (jagirdars and deshmukhs) and later against the Nizam Osman Ali Khan. The violent phase of the movement ended after the government of India's Operation Polo. Starting in 1951, the CPI shifted to a more moderate strategy of seeking to bring communism to India within the framework of Indian democracy.
In December 1953, the States Reorganisation Commission (SRC) was appointed to form states on a linguistic basis. An agreement was reached between Telangana leaders and Andhra leaders on 20 February 1956 to merge Telangana and Andhra with promises to safeguard Telangana's interests. After reorganisation in 1956, the region of Telangana was merged with Andhra State to form Andhra Pradesh.
Following this Gentlemen's agreement, the central government established the unified state of Andhra Pradesh on 1 November 1956. G.O 553 of 1959 from the united Andhra Pradesh state moved two revenue divisions of Bhadrachalam from East Godavari and Aswaraopeta from West Godavari to Khammam for administrative convenience.
There had been several movements to revoke the merger of Telangana and Andhra, major ones occurring in 1969, 1972, and 2009. The movement for a new state of Telangana gained momentum in the 21st century by an initiative of Kalvakuntla Chandrashekhar Rao from Bharat Rashtra Samithi later joined by the Telangana Political Joint Action Committee (TJAC), including political leadership representing the Telangana area. On 9 December 2009 the government of India announced the process of formation of the Telangana state. Violent protests led by people in the Coastal Andhra and Rayalseema regions occurred immediately after the announcement, and the decision was put on hold on 23 December 2009.
The movement continued in Hyderabad and other districts of Telangana. There were hundreds of claimed suicides, strikes, protests and disturbances to public life demanding separate statehood.
On 30 July 2013, the Congress Working Committee unanimously passed a resolution to recommend the formation of a separate Telangana state. After various stages the bill was placed in the Parliament of India in February 2014. In February 2014, Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 bill was passed by the Parliament of India for the formation of Telangana state, comprising ten districts from north-western Andhra Pradesh. The bill received the assent of the president and was published in the Gazette on 1 March 2014.
The state of Telangana was officially formed on 2 June 2014. Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao was elected as the first chief minister of Telangana, following elections in which the Bharat Rashtra Samithi party secured a majority. Hyderabad would remain as the joint capital of both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for a period. Within the decade, Hyderabad would become the capital of the state of Telangana, and a new capital was selected for Andhra Pradesh. Andhra Pradesh picked Amaravati as its capital and relocated its secretariat in 2016 and its legislature in 2017.
== Geography ==
Telangana is situated on the Deccan Plateau, in the central stretch of the eastern seaboard of the Indian Peninsula. It covers 112,077 square kilometres (43,273 sq mi). The region is drained by two major rivers, with about 79% of the Godavari River catchment area and about 69% of the Krishna River catchment area, but most of the land is arid. Telangana is also drained by several minor rivers such as the Bhima, the Maner, the Manjira, the Musi, and the Tungabhadra.
The annual rainfall is between 900 and 1500mm in northern Telangana and 700 to 900mm in southern Telangana, from the southwest monsoons. Telangana contains various soil types, some of which are red sandy loams (Chalaka), Red loamy sands (Dubba), lateritic soils, salt-affected soils, alluvial soils, shallow to medium black soils and very deep black cotton soils. These soil types allow the planting of a variety of fruits and vegetable crops such as mangoes, oranges, coconut, sugarcane, paddy, banana and flower crops.
=== Climate ===
Telangana is a semi-arid area and has a predominantly hot and dry climate. Summers start in March, and peak in mid-April with average high temperatures in the 37–38 °C (99–100 °F) range. The monsoon arrives in June and lasts until Late-September with about 755 mm (29.7 inches) of precipitation. A dry, mild winter starts in late November and lasts until early February with little humidity and average temperatures in the 22–23 °C (72–73 °F) range.
==== Ecology ====
The Central Deccan Plateau dry deciduous forests ecoregion covers much of the state, including Hyderabad. The characteristic vegetation is woodlands of Hardwickia binata and Albizia amara. Over 80% of the original forest cover has been cleared for agriculture, timber harvesting, or cattle grazing, but large blocks of forest can be found in Nagarjunsagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve and elsewhere. The more humid Eastern Highlands moist deciduous forests cover the Eastern Ghats in the eastern part of the state.
==== National parks and sanctuaries ====
Telangana has three National Parks: Kasu Brahmananda Reddy National Park in Hyderabad district, and Mahavir Harina Vanasthali National Park and Mrugavani National Park in Ranga Reddy district.
Wildlife sanctuaries in Telangana include Eturunagaram Wildlife Sanctuary and Pakhal Wildlife Sanctuary in Warangal District, Kawal Tiger Reserve and Pranahita Wildlife Sanctuary in Adilabad district, Kinnerasani Wildlife Sanctuary in Khammam district, Manjira Wildlife Sanctuary in Medak district, Nagarjunsagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve in Nalgonda and Mahbubnagar districts, Pocharam Wildlife Sanctuary in Medak and Nizamabad districts, Shivaram Wildlife Sanctuary in Karimnagar district.
Sacred groves are small areas of forest preserved by local people. Sacred groves provide sanctuary to the local flora and fauna. Some are included within other protected areas, like Kadalivanam in Nagarjunsagar–Srisailam Tiger Reserve, but most stand alone. There are 65 sacred groves in Telangana—two in Adilabad district, thirteen in Hyderabad district, four in Karimnagar district, four in Khammam district, nine in Mahbubnagar district, four in Medak district, nine in Nalgonda district, ten in Ranga Reddy district, and three in Warangal district.
== Demographics ==
=== Language ===
Telugu, one of the classical languages of India, is the official language of Telangana and Urdu is the second official language of the state. About 75% of the population of Telangana speak Telugu and 12% speak Urdu. Before 1948, Urdu was the official language of Hyderabad State, and due to a lack of Telugu-language educational institutions, Urdu was the language of the educated elite of Telangana. After 1948, once Hyderabad State joined the new Republic of India, Telugu became the language of government, and as Telugu was introduced as the medium of instruction in schools and colleges, the use of Urdu among non-Hyderabadi Muslims decreased. Both Telugu and Urdu are used in services across the state, such as the Telangana Legislature website, with Telugu and Urdu versions of the website available, as well as the Hyderabad metro, wherein both languages are used on station names and signs along with English and Hindi. The Urdu spoken in Telangana is called Hyderabadi Urdu, which in itself is a dialect of the larger Dakhini Urdu dialects of South India. Although the language is spoken by most Hyderabadi Muslims, the language in a literary context has long been lost, and standard Urdu is used. Hindi is spoken mainly in Hyderabad, as well as some other urban areas like Warangal. Lambadi, a language related to Rajasthani dialects, is used across the state. Marathi is predominant in regions bordering Maharashtra, especially in the old Adilabad district, while Kannada is spoken by significant minorities along some parts of the Karnataka border. The old Adilabad district has a large number of speakers of tribal languages such as Gondi and Kolami, while Koya is a language spoken by significant numbers in Bhadradi Kothagudem district and along the Chhattisgarh border.
Telangana ranked eighth in the Fiscal Health Index (FHI) 2025, with a score of 43.6.
=== Religion and culture ===
According to the 2011 census, Hindus form 85.1% of the state's population. Muslims form 12.7% and Christians form 1.3%.
Religious edifices like the Lakshmi Narasimha Temple in Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district, Makkah Masjid in Hyderabad, the ancient Bhadrakali Temple and Govinda Rajula Gutta in Warangal, Alampur Jogulamba Temple in Jogulamba Gadwal district and Medak Cathedral in Medak District, Kondagattu Anjaneya Swamy Temple in Jagtial District, Kothakonda Veerabhadra Swamy Temple, Lord Shiva temple in Vemulawada of Rajanna Sircilla district are several of its most famous places of worship. Buddhism also flourished in the region and many Aramams can be found.
Hyderabadi cuisine and Kakatiya architecture both from Telangana, are on the list of creativity UNESCO creative city of gastronomy and UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The cultural centers of Telangana, Hyderabad and Warangal, are noted for their wealth and renowned historical structures – Ramappa Temple (UNESCO World Heritage Site), Charminar, Qutb Shahi Tombs, Falaknuma Palace, Chowmahalla Palace, Warangal Fort, Kakatiya Kala Thoranam, Thousand Pillar Temple and the Bhongir Fort.
=== Literacy ===
According to the 2011 census, Telangana's literacy rate is 66.46%. Male literacy and female literacy are 74.95% and 57.92%, respectively. Hyderabad district has the highest literacy rate with 80.96% and Mahabubnagar district has the lowest with 56.06%.
In a 2019 report, the Key Indicators of Household Social Consumption on Education in India, by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Telangana has a literacy rate of 72.8% which is the fourth lowest among large states. It also has the second lowest literacy rate among rural women at 53.7%. 37.1% of the population aged 3–35 years received free education at pre-primary and higher levels in Telangana.
== Administrative divisions ==
The state is divided into 33 districts. The latest two new districts, Mulugu and Narayanpet, were formed on 17 February 2019. The districts are divided into 70 revenue divisions which are further divided into 584 mandals. There are a total of 10,909 revenue villages in the state. Each district is administered by a District Collector, each revenue division is headed by a Revenue Divisional Officer, and each mandal is managed by a Mandal Revenue Officer. Each village in every mandal is administered by a Village Revenue Officer (VRO) under the supervision of the Tahsildar (MRO).
The districts in the state are:
=== Local governments ===
There are a total of 15 cities in the state. Hyderabad is the biggest city in the state and 4th largest city in India. There are 9 municipal corporations and 107 municipalities in the state for urban governance. Each local body has its own elected councils and members and executive staffs for governance and administration.
There are 12,777 gram panchayats, 566 mandal praja parishads, and 31 zilla praja parishads in the state for rural governance.
== Government and politics ==
Telangana is governed by a parliamentary system of representative democracy, a feature the state shares with other Indian states. Universal suffrage is granted to residents. There are three branches of government.
Executive authority is vested in the Council of Ministers headed by the Chief Minister, although the titular head of government is the Governor. The governor is the head of state appointed by the President of India. The leader of the party or coalition with a majority in the Legislative Assembly is appointed as the chief minister by the governor, and the Council of Ministers are appointed by the governor on the advice of the chief minister. The Council of Ministers reports to the Legislative Assembly.
The legislature, the Telangana Legislative Assembly and the Telangana Legislative Council, consists of elected members and special office bearers such as the Speaker and Deputy Speaker, that are elected by the members. Assembly meetings are presided over by the speaker or the deputy speaker in the speaker's absence. The Assembly is bicameral with 119 Members of the Legislative Assembly and 40 Member of the Legislative Council. Terms of office run for five years unless the Assembly is dissolved prior to the completion of the term. The Legislative Council is a permanent body with one-third of members retiring every two years.
The judiciary is composed of the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad and a system of lower courts.
Auxiliary authorities known as panchayats, for which local body elections are regularly held, govern local affairs. The state contributes seats to Lok Sabha.
The main political parties in the regional politics are the Bharat Rashtra Samithi, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, Bharatiya Janata Party and Indian National Congress. Following the Telangana Legislative Assembly Election in 2023, the Indian National Congress under Anumula Revanth Reddy was elected to power.
== Economy ==
The economy of Telangana is mainly driven by agriculture. Two important rivers of
India, the Godavari and Krishna, flow through the state,
providing irrigation. Farmers in Telangana mainly depend on rain-fed water sources for irrigation. Rice is the major food crop. Other important crops are cotton, sugar cane, mango, and tobacco. Recently, crops used for vegetable oil production such as sunflower and peanuts have gained favour. There are many multi-state irrigation projects in development, including Godavari River Basin Irrigation Projects and Nagarjuna Sagar Dam, the world's highest masonry dam.
The state has also started to focus on the fields of information technology and biotechnology. Telangana is one of top IT-exporting states of India. There are 68 Special Economic Zones in the state.
Telangana is a mineral-rich state, with coal reserves at Singareni Collieries Company.
=== Agriculture ===
Rice is the major food crop and staple food of the state. Other important crops are maize, tobacco, mango, cotton and sugar cane. Agriculture has been the chief source of income for the state's economy. The Godavari and Krishna rivers flow through the state, providing irrigation. Apart from major rivers, there are small rivers like Tunga Bhadra, Bima, Dindi, Kinnerasani, Manjeera, Manair, Penganga, Pranahitha, peddavagu and Taliperu. There are many multi-state irrigation projects in development, including Godavari River Basin Irrigation Projects and Nagarjuna Sagar Dam, the world's highest masonry dam.
Agri Export Zones for the following produce have been proposed for the following locations:
Gherkins: Mahabubnagar, Rangareddy, Medak, Karimnagar, Warangal
Mangoes and grapes: Hyderabad, Rangareddy, Medak, Mahabubnagar
In 2019, environmental anthropologist Andrew Flachs raised concerns regarding the financial and social pressures experienced by small cotton farmers in Telangana after conducting ethnographic research in the area. The GM (genetically modified) seeds he focused on were introduced to combat pests and low yields. Within 10 years, GM cottonseeds, which are solely bred by private breeders, were able to capture more than 90% of the Indian market, which was formerly a public market. The privatisation of seed brands in formerly public markets has been accompanied by pesticides, fertilisers, consultations, and herbicides which are needed to manage the new monocultures. He found that this introduction, however, negatively impacted farmers’ ecological knowledge about seed choices and cotton-plant management.
Flachs surveyed farming households about their experiences with GM hybrid cottonseeds from 2012 to 2016. His research initially focused on the agricultural decision-making process among Telangana cotton farmers in the wake of genetically modified seed market expansion, then later on the concept of manci digubadi as a script. Manci digubadi means "good yields," with a more extended phrasing being "manci digubadi annakunthunnanu," which translates to "I’m hoping for good yields." The concept of manci digubadi, as described by Flachs, posits that seed choice should be made based on whether or not it has "good yields," which is dependent solely on what the individual believes is "good." Flachs further argues that this script is used in the absence of reliable experiential knowledge in the face of agricultural development and GMOs. This is because, in the pursuit of a good yield, cotton farmers learn little about the seeds they use before they switch to the next promising new brands, some of which have been smuggled in or bought on the black market. Marketing, the constant influx of new options, and the fear of missing out on popular seeds also contribute to the high turnover. This high turnover and the resulting lack of experiential knowledge have resulted in cotton farmers unwittingly planting the same type of seed multiple times because they are under different brand names. In contrast to this, farmers adopt and abandon seeds from public-sector-bred crops like rice and heirloom vegetables more slowly so they can rely more on experiential knowledge to make decisions.
Telangana cotton farmers are at risk for debt and suicide caused by agricultural pressures such as unreliable credit, pest problems, and agricultural management uncertainty. Flachs argues that seed choices and the rationalisation behind the choice are central to the agricultural political economy, as seed choice is "the first decision that cotton farmers make and one that they cannot take back." Flachs argues that cotton seed choices are driven less by economic rationalism and more by an aspiration to overcome generational poverty and historical marginalisation. Flachs found evidence in his work suggesting that many farmers' seed choices are influenced by the choices of their neighbours or more wealthy landowners. As an example of manci digubadi being used in place of experiential knowledge, Flachs gives the story of a farmer who had planted the Mahyco company's Neeraja cottonseed for nine years abandoned that seed in favour of Kaveri's Jaadoo seed after hearing reports that the Jaadoo seeds had done well in a neighbouring village. Farmers also seek advice from non-household experts such as pesticide shop managers and university extension agents. There is no objective cost-benefit analysis because the costs and benefits are ambiguous due to things variations of factors like weather and pests and farmers having no reliable measure for what constitutes a good yield for cotton.
=== Industries ===
Several major manufacturing and services industries are in operation mainly around Hyderabad. Automobiles and auto components, spices, mines and minerals, textiles and apparels, pharmaceutical, horticulture, and poultry farming are the main industries in Telangana.
In terms of services, Hyderabad is nicknamed "Cyberabad" due to the location of major software industries in the city. Prior to secession, it contributed 10% to India's and 98% to Andhra Pradesh's exports in the IT and ITES sectors in 2013 With Hyderabad in the front line of Telangana's goal to promote information technology in India, the city boasts the HITEC City as its premier hub. IT companies/hubs have also been set up in Warangal, Karimnagar, and Khammam.
The state government is in the process of developing industrial parks at different places, for specific groups of industries. The existing parks are Software Park at Hyderabad, HITEC City for software units, Apparel Park at Gundlapochampalli, Export Promotion Park at Pashamylaram, Biotechnology park at Turkapally.
Hyderabad is also a major site for healthcare-related industries including hospitals and pharmaceutical organisations such as Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences, Yashoda Hospitals, LV Prasad Eye Care, Akruti Institute of cosmetic and plastic surgery, Fever Hospital, Durgabai Deshmukh, Continental Hospitals and Apollo Hospitals. Many pharmaceutical and pharmaceutical-related companies like Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Shantha Biotechnics and Aragen (Formerly GVK BIO) are based out of Hyderabad.
In addition, Hyderabad-based healthcare non-profits include the Indian Heart Association, a cardiovascular disease NGO.
=== Tourism ===
Telangana Tourism Development Corporation (TGTDC) is a state government agency which promotes tourism in Telangana. Telangana has a variety of tourist attractions including historical places, monuments, forts, waterfalls, forests and temples.
==== Waterfalls ====
Kuntala Waterfall (45 metres (148 ft)) is located in Kuntala, Adilabad district.
Bogatha Waterfall is located in Wazeedu Mandal, Jayashankar Bhupalpally district, Telangana.
Savatula Gundam Waterfalls in Adilabad district
=== Media ===
The print media mainly consists of Telugu and English newspapers. Nava Telangana, Sakshi, Andhra Jyothi, Eenadu and Namaste Telangana are all Telugu newspapers. English newspapers are Deccan Chronicle, The Times of India, The Hindu, Telangana Today and The Hans India. Notable Urdu newspapers include Etemaad Daily, The Munsif Daily, and The Siasat Daily.
== Infrastructure ==
=== Irrigation projects ===
=== Public transport ===
The state is well connected with other states by means of road, rail and airways. The Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TGSRTC) is the major public transport corporation that connects all the cities and villages. Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station (M.G.B.S) in Hyderabad is the central bus-station of the state. Jubilee Bus Station in Secunderabad serves inter city bus services.
=== Roadways ===
The state has a total of 16 national highways and accounts for a total length of 3,550.69 km (2,206.30 mi).
=== Railways ===
The history of railways in this region dates back to 1874, during the rule of Nizam of Hyderabad. The Nizam's Guaranteed State Railway had its beginnings in a line built privately by the Nizam. Much to the dismay of the British authorities, the Nizam bore all the expenses for the construction of the line.
Today, it operates under the auspices of the South Central Railway founded in 1966. The landmark building Rail Nilayam in Secunderabad is the Zonal Headquarters office of South Central Railway. Secunderabad and Hyderabad are the main divisions of the South Central Railway that fall in the state.
=== Airports ===
Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad is an international airport serving the city of Hyderabad. It is the largest airport in the state and one of the busiest airports in the country. The government has plans to upgrade Warangal Airport, Nizamabad Airport and Ramagundam Airport - with plans to construct airports in Ramagundam and Kothagudem using the UDAN scheme.
Warangal has a domestic airport in Mamunooru which was established in the year 1930 during the Nizam period. All the exports and imports of Azam Jahi Mills, Warangal were done through the Warangal Airport.
== Culture ==
The state has a rich tradition in classical music, painting and folk performance arts such as Burra katha, Tholu bommalata (shadow puppet show), and Perini Shivatandavam, Gussadi dance, Kolatam and Bathukamma.
The important festivals of the state are Bonalu and Bathukamma.
=== Architecture ===
Badami Chalukya architecture is spread across the state, notable temple is Alampur Jogulamba Temple.
Chalukyas of Vemulavada built many temples such as Bheemeshvara temple, Raja Rajeswara Temple, Vemulawada.
Medieval forts such as the Bhongir Fort, Khammam Fort, and Rachakonda Fort are spread across the state. Among the notable ones is the Warangal Fort, which served as the capital of the Kakatiya dynasty. The Kakatiya Kala Thoranam within the fort has become a symbol of Telangana, and features on the state emblem. Ramappa Temple is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The fort complex, and Thousand Pillar Temple, are on the tentative list of the UNESCO World Heritage sites.
Kollapur, and Jataprole Samsthanams, Gadwal Samsthanam built temples in Dravidian architecture.
The Qutb Shahi dynasty established the city of Hyderabad as their capital. The Charminar, Golconda Fort, and Qutb Shahi tombs in Hyderabad were built by kings of the Qutb Shahi dynasty.
The Nizam era saw the construction of palaces such as the Chowmahalla Palace and Falaknuma Palace, as well as elaborate public buildings such as the Osmania General Hospital and Osmania University, all in Hyderabad.
==== Places of Worship ====
The state is home to places of worship built for different religions.
Hindu places of worship include Bhadrachalam Temple, Gnana Saraswati Temple, Yadagirigutta Temple, Ramappa Temple, Vemulawada Raja Rajeshwara temple, Kondagattu Anjaneya Swamy Temple, the Thousand Pillar Temple, and the Statue of Equality (Ramanuja).
Muslims worship at holy places such as Makkah Masjid near Charminar, Khairtabad Mosque, Mian Mishk Masjid, Toli Masjid and Spanish Mosque.
Christian places of worship include the Diocese of Dornakal of the Church of South India, Bahe Church of South India, and Medak Cathedral. There are also some Buddhist destinations, such as Nelakondapalli, Dhulikatta, Phanigiri and Kolanpaka.
Parsi Fire Temple, Secunderabad is a place of worship for the Parsis.
=== Cinema ===
Telugu cinema, also known by its sobriquet as Tollywood, is a part of Indian cinema producing films in the Telugu language, and is centred in the Hyderabad, Telangana neighbourhood of Film Nagar. In the early 1990s, the Telugu film industry had largely shifted from Chennai to Hyderabad. The Telugu film industry is the second-largest film industry in India next to Bollywood. In the years 2005, 2006 and 2008 the Telugu film industry produced the largest number of films in India, exceeding the number of films produced in Bollywood. The industry holds the Guinness World Record for the largest film production facility in the world.
=== Cuisine ===
Telangana cuisine is a unique and delicious cuisine that is influenced by the region's rich history of deccan and Telugu culture. The cuisine is known for its use of spices, millets, and rotis. Telangana cuisine also features a variety of other dishes, including biryani, haleem, and kebabs.
=== Visual arts ===
Indigenous art forms of Telangana include the Cheriyal scroll painting, Nirmal paintings, and Karimnagar Silver Filigree. A distinctive Persianate style of painting, called Deccan painting developed in the region during the medieval period.
Notable museums in the state include the Salar Jung Museum, which is one of the largest in India, Telangana State Archaeology Museum, City Museum, and Nizam Museum in Hyderabad, Warangal Museum in Warangal, and Alampur Museum in Alampur.
== Education ==
Telangana has multiple institutes of higher education along with numerous primary and secondary schools. The Department of Higher Education deals with matters relating to education at various levels in the state.
According to a 2019 report, the state has a literacy rate of 72.8%, which is one of the lowest in India. Schools in Telangana are run by the state government or private organisations, which include religious institutions. Some specialised schools such as the Kendriya Vidyalayas and Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas are run by agencies of the central government. As of 2017, there are 41,337 schools in the state, with about 70% of them being government schools.
Telangana is home to 27 universities, which include three central universities, 17 state universities, two deemed universities, and five private universities. The Osmania University in Hyderabad, established in 1918, is the oldest modern university in the state, and one of the largest university systems in the world. The University of Hyderabad consistently ranks among the top universities in the country. Apart from these, specialised Institutes of National Importance in the state include AIIMS Bibinagar, IIT Hyderabad, and NIT Warangal.
Other notable institutions include Indian School of Business, ICFAI Business School Hyderabad, Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad, Kakatiya University, International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad, NALSAR University of Law, Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences, National Institute of Fashion Technology Hyderabad, Footwear Design and Development Institute, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Hyderabad, and Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies, Basar, among others.
== Sports ==
The Hyderabad FC is a professional football club based in Hyderabad and plays in top-tier league of India, the Indian Super League. The home ground of the club is G.M.C Balayogi Athletic Stadium, in Gachibowli.
The Hyderabad cricket team is represented in the Ranji Trophy and has won twice. The Sunrisers Hyderabad, an Indian Premier League franchise, is based in Hyderabad and has won the trophy once. Deccan Chargers, a currently defunct franchise from Hyderabad, also won the Indian Premier League once. The Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium is the home ground of both Hyderabad cricket team and Sunrisers Hyderabad. It hosts international as well as domestic matches.
The Hyderabad Hunters, a Premier Badminton League franchise; the Telugu Titans, a Pro Kabaddi League franchise; the Hyderabad Sky, a UBA Pro Basketball League franchise and the Telugu Tigers, a Premier Futsal franchise are also based in Hyderabad. Hyderabad Hunters have won the Premier Badminton League title.
Other stadiums include G. M. C. Balayogi Athletic Stadium, Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium and Gachibowli Indoor Stadium.
== Notable people == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_II_of_England | Edward II of England | |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texaco | Texaco | Texaco, Inc. (a shortening of "The Texas Company") is an American oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an independent company until its refining operations merged into Chevron in 2001, at which time most of its station franchises were divested to Shell plc through its American division. It was one of the first gas stations to exist.
Texaco began as the "Texas Fuel Company", founded in 1902 in Beaumont, Texas, by Joseph S. Cullinan, Thomas J. Donoghue, and Arnold Schlaet upon the discovery of oil at Spindletop. The Texas Fuel Company was not set up to drill wells or to produce crude oil. To accomplish this, Cullinan organized the Producers Oil Company in 1902, as a group of investors affiliated with The Texas Fuel Company. Men such as John W. ("Bet A Million") Gates invested in "certificates of interest" to an amount of almost ninety thousand dollars. Future restructuring would merge Producers Oil Company and The Texas Fuel Company as Texaco when the company needed additional funding, which J.W. Gates provided in the amount of approximately $590,000 in return for company stock.
Texaco was one of the Seven Sisters which dominated the global petroleum industry from the mid-1940s to the 1970s. Its current logo features a white star in a red circle (a reference to the lone star of Texas), leading to the long-running advertising jingles "You can trust your car to the man who wears the star" and "Star of the American Road." The company was headquartered in Harrison, New York, near White Plains, prior to the merger with Chevron.
Texaco gasoline comes with Techron, an additive developed by Chevron, as of 2005, replacing the previous CleanSystem3. The Texaco brand is strong in the U.S., Latin America, and West Africa. It has a presence in Europe as well; for example, it is a well-known retail brand in the UK, with around 980 Texaco-branded service stations.
== History ==
=== 1902–59: Beginnings ===
Texaco was founded in Beaumont, Texas, as the "Texas Fuel Company" in 1902, by Jim Hogg, Joseph S. Cullinan, John Warne Gates, and Arnold Schlaet. On 1 May 1902, the Texas Company was formed from the assets of Texas Fuel assets, and additional capitalization. In 1905, it established an operation in Antwerp, Belgium, under the name Continental Petroleum Company, which it acquired control of in 1913. In 1915, Texaco moved to new 13 story offices on 1111 Rusk St., Houston, Texas. In 1928, Texaco became the first U.S. oil company to sell its gasoline nationwide under one single brand name in all of the then 48 states.
In 1931, Texaco purchased the Indian Oil Company, based in Illinois. This expanded Texaco's refining and marketing base in the Midwest and also gave Texaco the rights to Indian's Havoline motor oil, which became a Texaco product. The next year, Texaco introduced Fire Chief gasoline nationwide, a so-called "super-octane" motor fuel touted as meeting or exceeding government standards for gasoline for fire engines and other emergency vehicles. It was promoted through a radio program over NBC hosted by Ed Wynn, called the Texaco Fire Chief.
In 1936, the Texas Corporation purchased the Barco oil concession in Colombia, and formed a joint venture with Socony-Vacuum, now Mobil, to develop it. Over the next three years the company engaged in a highly challenging project to drill wells and build a pipeline to the coast across mountains and then through uncharted swamps and jungles. During this time, Texaco also illegally supplied the fascist Nationalist faction in the Spanish Civil War with a total 3,500,000 barrels (560,000 m3) of oil. For these illegal sales to Francisco Franco's fascist forces the company was fined $20,000 for violating the Neutrality Act of 1937, although it continued to sell to Franco on credit until the end of the war.
Also in 1936, marketing operations "East of Suez" (including Asia, East Africa, and Australasia) were placed into a joint venture with Standard Oil Company of California – Socal (now Chevron) – under the brand name Caltex, in exchange for Socal placing its Bahrain refinery and Arabian oilfields into the venture. The next year, Texaco commissioned industrial designer Walter Dorwin Teague to develop a modern service station design.
In 1938, Texaco introduced Sky Chief gasoline, a premium fuel developed from the ground up as a high-octane gasoline rather than just an ethylized regular product. In 1939, Texaco became one of the first oil companies to introduce a "Registered Rest Room" program to ensure that restroom facilities at all Texaco stations nationwide maintained a standard level of cleanliness to the motoring public.
After the onset of World War II in 1939, Texaco's CEO, Torkild Rieber, admirer of Hitler, hired pro-Nazi assistants who cabled Berlin "coded information about ships leaving New York for Britain and what their cargoes were." This espionage easily enabled Hitler to destroy the ships. In 1940, Rieber was forced to resign when his connections with German Nazism, and his illegal supply of oil to the fascist forces during the Spanish Civil War were made public by the Herald Tribune through information produced by British Security Coordination. Life Magazine portrayed Rieber's resignation as unfair, advocating that he only dined with Westrick, and lent him a company car.
During the war, Texaco ranked 93rd among United States corporations in the value of military production contracts. In 1947, Caltex expanded to include Texaco's European marketing operations. That same year, Texaco merged its British operation with Trinidad Leaseholds under the name Regent; it gained full control of Regent in 1956, but the Regent brand remained in use until 1968–9. In 1954, the company added the detergent additive Petrox to its "Sky Chief" gasoline, which was also souped up with higher octane to meet the antiknock needs of new cars with high-compression engines.
The next year, Texaco became the sole sponsor of The Huntley-Brinkley Report on NBC-TV. In 1959, the Texas Company changed its corporate name to Texaco, Inc. to better reflect the value of the Texaco brand name, which represented the biggest selling gasoline brand in the U.S. and only marketer selling gasoline under one brand name in all (by then) 50 states. It also acquired McColl-Frontenac Oil Company Ltd. of Canada and changes its name to Texaco Canada Limited. Around this time, Paragon Oil, a major fuel oil distribution company in the northeastern U.S., was acquired.
=== 1964–98: Various ventures ===
In 1964, Texaco introduced the "Matawan" service station design at a station in Matawan, New Jersey. Two years later, Texaco replaced the long-running banjo sign with a new hexagon logo that had previously been test-marketed with the "Matawan" station design introduced two years earlier. The new logo featured a red outline with TEXACO in black bold lettering and a small banjo logo with a red star and green T at bottom. The following year, the Regent name was replaced by Texaco at British petrol stations. In 1970, in response to increasingly-stringent federal vehicle emissions standards that would induce automakers to install catalytic converters requiring equipped vehicles to run on unleaded gasoline, Texaco introduced their first regular-octane no-lead gasoline at stations in the Los Angeles area and throughout Southern California. Lead-Free Texaco became available nationwide in 1974. On November 20, 1980, the Lake Peigneur/Jefferson Island disaster occurred. Two years later, a new service station design was introduced. Several product names were also changed with the advent of self-service, including Lead-free Texaco to Texaco Unleaded, Fire Chief to Texaco Regular, and Super Lead-free Sky Chief to Texaco Super Unleaded.
At the end of 1981 and the beginning of 1982, members of the Medellín Cartel (including Pablo Escobar), the Colombian military, the U.S.-based corporation Texas Petroleum, the Colombian legislature, small industrialists, and wealthy cattle ranchers came together in a series of meetings in Puerto Boyacá, and formed a paramilitary organization known as Muerte a Secuestradores ("Death to Kidnappers", MAS) to defend their economic interests, and to provide protection for local elites from kidnappings and extortion. By 1983, Colombian internal affairs had registered 240 political killings by MAS death squads, mostly community leaders, elected officials, and farmers.
On November 19, 1985, Pennzoil won a US$10.53-billion verdict against Texaco, the largest civil verdict in US history up to that date. The court case sprang from Texaco having established a signed contract to buy Getty Oil after Pennzoil entered into an unsigned—yet binding—buyout contract with Gordon Getty. In 1987, Texaco filed for bankruptcy. It was the largest in U.S. history until 2001.
In January 1988, Texaco became the first major corporation in the UK to declare compulsory testing for HIV, a decision denounced by the Lesbian and Gay Employment Rights organisation as 'disastrous, irresponsible and pointless.' It was picketed by protesters from ACT UP London in March 1989, who also called for a British boycott of its petroleum products.
In January 1989, Texaco and Saudi Aramco agreed to form a joint venture known as Star Enterprise in which Saudi Aramco would own a 50% share of Texaco's refining and marketing operations in the eastern U.S. and Gulf Coast. In 1989, Texaco introduced System3 gasolines in all three grades of fuel, featuring the latest detergent additive technology to improve performance by reducing deposits that clog fuel injection systems. The Toronto-based Texaco Canada Incorporated subsidiary was sold to Imperial Oil with all Texaco Canada retail operations converted to the Esso brand. Two years later, the company was awarded the National Medal of Arts. In 1993, several dozen tribal leaders and residents from the Ecuadoran Amazon filed a billion-dollar class-action lawsuit against Texaco, as a result of massive ecological pollution of the area and rivers around Texaco's Ecuadorian offshore drilling sites, causing toxic contamination of approximately 30,000 residents.
In 1994, Texaco's System3 gasolines were replaced by new CleanSystem3 gasoline, marketed with claims of improved engine performance through additives designed to clean carbon from car-engine intake valves and combustion chambers. In 1995, Texaco merged their Danish and Norwegian downstream operations with those of Norsk Hydro under the new brand HydroTexaco. This joint venture was sold in 2007 to Norwegian retail interests as YX Energi, following the purchase of Hydro by Statoil. In 1996, Texaco paid over $170 million to settle racial discrimination lawsuits filed by Black employees at the company. It was the largest racial-discrimination lawsuit settlement in the U.S. at the time, and was particularly damaging to Texaco's public relations when tapes were released of meetings with company executives planning to destroy incriminating evidence.
=== 1999–present: Chevron Corporation ===
In 1999, the company formed the joint venture Equilon with Shell Oil Company, combining their Western and Midwestern U.S. refining and marketing. This gave rise to the 2006 U.S. Supreme Court antitrust case of Texaco Inc. v. Dagher, which cleared both Texaco and Shell of any antitrust liability concerning the pricing of Equilon's gasoline. That same year, another joint venture, Motiva Enterprises, was formed with Shell Oil Company and Saudi Aramco in which the Star Enterprise operations were merged with the Eastern and Gulf Coast U.S. refining and marketing operations of Shell.
In October 2000, Chevron Corporation agreed to buy Texaco for US$36 billion (equivalent to $62 billion in 2025). The merger was completed October 9, 2001. As required by the FTC consent agreement, Texaco's interest in the Equilon and Motiva joint ventures were sold to Shell. Shell began re-branding its Texaco stations as Shell the next year. Around 2003, due to lack of demand, Texaco closed Refineria Panamá, a refinery in Colón, Panama. In July 2004, Chevron regained non-exclusive rights to the Texaco brand name in the U.S. The following year, in August, Texaco introduced the Techron additive into its fuels in the U.S. and parts of Latin America. In 2007, Delek Benelux took over marketing activities for Chevron in Benelux, including 869 filling stations, mostly under the Texaco brand. In 2010, Chevron ended retail operations in the Mid-Atlantic US, removing its brand from 450 stations in Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, New Jersey, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington, D.C.
== Corporate headquarters ==
Prior to the merger with Chevron, Texaco's headquarters was a 750,000-square-foot (70,000 m2) building in Harrison, in Westchester County, New York, near White Plains. In 2002, Chevron Corporation sold the former Texaco Headquarters to Morgan Stanley. Morgan Stanley bought the building and the surrounding 107 acres (43 ha) for $42 million.
Texaco leased 14 floors of the Chrysler Building in Midtown Manhattan, New York City in the 1930s. As part of the leasing agreement with Texaco the building opened the Cloud Club, a lunch club for executives. Texaco's move to Westchester County in 1977 contributed to the closure of the Cloud Club in 1979.
== Sponsorships ==
=== Sports ===
Texaco is associated with the Havoline brand of motor oil and other automotive products. It was one of the sponsors of NASCAR with many drivers, such as Davey Allison, Ernie Irvan, Dale Jarrett, Kenny Irwin Jr., Ricky Rudd, Jamie McMurray, Casey Mears, and Juan Pablo Montoya. Havoline continuously sponsored a car from the early 1980s to 2008. At the end of the 2008 season, Texaco/Havoline ended their sponsorship with NASCAR and Chip Ganassi Racing. This brought a 20-plus-year relationship with the sport to a close.
Texaco was also involved in open wheel racing, sponsoring the Texaco Grand Prix of Houston along with sponsoring drivers like Indianapolis 500 winner Mario Andretti and his son Michael.
In Formula One, Texaco sponsored the Team Lotus in 1972 and 1973, and McLaren from 1974 to 1978. The company returned to Grand Prix racing at a smaller scale in 1997, with their brands appearing on the Stewart SF01 car. Their association with the team and its successor, Jaguar Racing, continued until the end of 2001, in the same timeline they also sponsored ITV's Formula 1 Coverage.
Texaco sponsored the Tom Walkinshaw Racing Rover Vitesse factory team at the 1985 and 1986 European Touring Car Championship (ETCC) under their Bastos brand, and the Ford Sierra RS500 factory cars entered by Eggenberger Motorsport in the 1987 World Touring Car Championship (plus the 1988 ETCC and other European-based championships). Texaco also sponsored cars in the 1987 World Rally Championship.
From 1987 to 1993, Texaco was the major sponsor (through its Australian Caltex offshoot) Colin Bond Racing in Australian touring car racing, first with the Alfa Romeo 75 in 1987, then the Ford Sierra RS500 from 1988 to 1992 and then Toyota Corollas in 1993. From 2000 until 2007, it was title sponsor of Stone Brothers Racing with Russell Ingall winning the 2005 championship. In 2016, Caltex became title sponsor of the Triple Eight Race Engineering car of Craig Lowndes, having previously been an associate sponsor of the team.
From 1984 to 1998, Texaco were the title sponsors of the main One Day International cricket tournament in England, the Texaco Trophy. It also sponsored the Texaco Cup, a football tournament for clubs of the British Isles.
=== Entertainment broadcast (music or comedy/variety) ===
Texaco was long associated with the Metropolitan Opera as sole sponsor of its radio broadcasts for 63 years. It was identified as well with such entertainment legends as Ed Wynn, Fred Allen and Milton Berle (many of their shows were originally sponsored by Texaco – see Texaco Star Theatre, which includes the sponsorship lyrics of the opening theme: "We're the men of Texaco, We work from Maine to Mexico..."). Berle's program was broadcast in the same time slot as Fulton J. Sheen's religious program for a while, thus leading to Berle's oft-quoted quip, "We both have the same boss – Sky Chief!"
Texaco was also the sponsor of the weekly Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts, which air to this day since its inception in 1931.
In the 1930s, comedian Ed Wynn hosted a half hour stand-up comedy/variety show on the NBC Radio Network, billed as "The Texaco Fire Chief", a reference to its regular grade gasoline. This trend continued into the late 1940s, when Wynn was replaced by Milton Berle as television becoming the dominant medium. The title was changed to the 60-minute Texaco Star Theater, which was also broadcast on NBC.
In a 1983 video for their song, "Cruel Summer", members of girl group Bananarama are depicted as working as mechanics at a Texaco gas station.
== Environmental issues ==
From 1965 to 1993, Texaco participated in a consortium to develop the Lago Agrio oil field in Ecuador. The company was accused of extensive environmental damage from these operations, and faces legal claims from both private plaintiffs and from the government of Ecuador. The case was widely publicized by environmental activists and was the subject of Crude, a 2009 documentary film by Joe Berlinger.
In turn, Texaco's owner Chevron claims that it was being unfairly targeted as a deep pocket defendant, when the actual responsibility lies with the government and its national oil company, Petroecuador.
Texaco allegedly decided to forgo their standard drilling practices in favor for a minor savings on the cost to produce a barrel of crude oil (approximately $3/barrel). Texaco allegedly dumped toxic wastewater directly into rivers and waste into unlined pits, and created pits that were fitted with overflow pipes to nearby waterways, with pits also never being emptied after the drilling operations were concluded. In total, it is estimated that over 18 billion gallons of toxic waste were released into the Amazon rainforest. In addition to the liquid pollution, it is alleged that workers burned off toxic natural gasses and some liquid waste, thus releasing highly toxic dioxins into the atmosphere.
== Diversification ==
The NiMH chemistry used in modern hybrid vehicles was invented by ECD Ovonics founder Stan Ovshinsky, and Dr. Masahiko Oshitani of the Yuasa Company In 1994, General Motors acquired a controlling interest in Ovonics's battery development and manufacturing. On October 10, 2001, Texaco purchased GM's share in GM Ovonics, and Chevron completed its acquisition of Texaco six days later. In 2003, Texaco Ovonics Battery Systems was restructured into Cobasys, a 50/50 joint venture between Chevron and Energy Conversion Devices (ECD) Ovonics.
== Leadership ==
=== President ===
Joseph S. Cullinan, 1902–1913
Elgood C. Lufkin, 1913–1920
Amos L. Beaty, 1920–1926
Ralph C. Holmes, 1926–1933
William S. Rodgers, 1933–1944
Harry T. Klein, 1944–1952
John S. Leach, 1952–1953
Augustus C. Long, 1953–1956
James W. Foley, 1956–1963
J. Howard Rambin Jr, 1964
Marion J. Epley, 1965–1970
Maurice F. Granville, 1970–1971
John K. McKinley, 1971–1983
Alfred C. DeCrane Jr, 1983–1986
James W. Kinnear, 1987–1993
=== Chairman of the Board ===
Elgood C. Lufkin, 1920–1926
Amos L. Beaty, 1926–1927
Ralph C. Holmes, –1933
Charles B. Ames, 1933–1935
Torkild Rieber, 1935–1940
William S. Rodgers, 1944–1953
John S. Leach, 1953–1956
Augustus C. Long, 1956–1965
J. Howard Rambin Jr, 1965–1970
Marion J. Epley, 1970–1971
Maurice F. Granville, 1971–1980
John K. McKinley, 1980–1986
Alfred C. DeCrane Jr, 1987–1996
Peter I. Bijur, 1997–2001
Glenn F. Tilton, 2001 |
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